HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_P&Z_12.04.2001
P&Z Meeting
December 4, 2001
Page 1
Minutes
Planning and Zoning Commission
City of Georgetown, TX
Tuesday, December 4, 2001 AT 6:00 P.M.
Patrick Walsh, Chair, called the December 4, 2001, Planning and Zoning meeting to order at 6:03 p.m.
Gabe Sansing, Vice-Chair, was present. Other members present were Chris Aadnesen, Richard
Glasco, Marjorie Herbert, Audrey McDonald, and Robert Seamans. Staff present was Amelia
Sondgeroth, Development Services Director, Tammye Sharpe, Staff Recorder, David Munk,
Development Engineer, Melissa Murphy, Development Planner, Jim Babcock, Development
Technician, and Patricia Carls, City Attorney.
1. Action from Executive Session - None
On the Consent Agenda.
2. Consideration of the Minutes of the October 11, 2001, Workshop Meeting, and November 6,
2001, Regular Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting.
3. Consideration and possible action on a Public Hearing for the Variance to the Subdivision
Regulations for Shell’s Addition, Block 18, Lot 1, located at 603 East 7th Street. Robert
Seamans asked for this item to be removed from the Consent Agenda and put on to the Regular
Agenda.
Marjorie Herbert made the motion to approve the consent agenda item #2. Gabe Sansing seconded
the motion. The motion passed with a vote of 5-0, with Chris Aadnesen and Audrey McDonald
abstaining from voting.
On the Regular Agenda
3. Consideration and possible action on a Public Hearing for the Variance to the Subdivision
Regulations for Shell’s Addition, Block 18, Lot 1, located at 603 East 7th Street. Jim Babcock
gave the staff report. Walsh asked the order of date when the string line inspection was done.
Babcock said that a string-line was put down, an inspector went over and approved it, and the
forms were set. Babcock said, another inspector, when there should have been a form survey
done, came by and said the original approval had been predicated on the distance from the edge of
the street, and not from the actual property line – this was the sequence of events that happened
to find out the forms ended up in the wrong place. Randy Wright, applicant, said he applied to build
a garage in his backyard, and put the string-line up by using the surveyor’s metal pin - he assumed
that was the property line, and put up his string-line based on his assumption, even adding on an
additional 5’. Wright got approval (green tag) from the inspector for his string-line, and at that time
had one row of forms in place. Wright said the second inspector came by and said that he felt like
there was an encroachment, so Wright came and filed for a variance with the City. Wright said that
his measurement to what was already there would have the garage being 34’ from the pavement off
6th Street; and from College it is approximately 28’. Walsh clarified that the existing 12’ x 16’ shed
was on a wooden foundation, and also that Wright applied for a building permit. Sansing asked
Wright where he was with his construction. Wright said that the forms were up and the steel beams
had been put in, but the concrete has not been poured. Will Moore, neighboring resident, was very
unhappy with the inspector’s approval of the string-line without measuring, and also went through
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December 4, 2001
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the findings of facts in the staff report. Moore asked how many encroachment variances have been
granted in the last 12 months. Herbert said that the staff report implies that the encroachments
were from existing older buildings. Moore said that he found no circumstances that necessitated
approval, except that Wright has already laid out his forms based on what an inspector told him.
Moore also asked what was the conflict in the ordinance. Sondgeroth said that the zoning
ordinance allows a 10’ setback there, but on the plat, there was a 25’ setback showing, so that was
the conflict. Seamans said he did not feel that giving a variance to cover-up the mistake by the City
would be right. Aadnesen said that the variance should be granted to the owner because with the
information that he was given by the inspector, he went ahead and did what he thought was right.
Herbert agreed with Aadnesen, and added that she felt like variances should be looked at on a
case by case basis. Herbert said that in regards to this case, it was perfectly reasonable and fair to
go ahead and grant the variance because 1) the owner had the okay from the City, 2) no
surrounding property value would be damaged by the encroachment, and 3) there are 10’ setbacks,
in general, in this area. Glasco and McDonald were in favor of granting the variance because they
felt that the owner had done all he was required to do by the City, making it the only fair thing to do.
Sansing was for the variance because of the zoning. Walsh was opposed with the reasoning that
granting a variance would not be the correct way to fix the mistake. Aadnesen made the motion to
recommend approval of the variance to Section 34020 f.4, of the Subdivision Regulations, to allow
a building to encroach approximately five feet over the platted building setback line on College
Street and approximately ten feet over the platted building setback line on 6th Street for Shell’s
Addition, Block 18, lot 1, located at 603 East 7th Street. Sansing seconded the motion, which
passed with a vote of 5-2, with Walsh and Seamans opposed.
4. Consideration and possible action on Public Hearing for the Century Plan Amendment of 20
acres, more or less, out of the Joseph Fish Survey, to change from Intensity Level 1 to Intensity
Level 3 and Intensity Level 4, or any more restrictive classification, located off of Williams Drive,
Southwest of Olde Oak Estates located of Williams Drive. David Munk gave the staff report.
Seamans had concern about the positioning of the posting signs. Murphy gave information about
how the signs were given to the clients to put out and about the notification of persons within 200’
of the proposed development. Steve Richmond, one of the owners, wants to tie in with the
water/wastewater system that was put in with the new HEB development. Richmond said owners
are required to change the intensity level, then submit an application for annexation by the City for
the rear part of the property, and then go through a zoning process to rezone from agricultural to
the different zonings that are needed to do what they want with the property. Richmond said this
property was bought 11 years ago with the intent of having some commercial along the front and
single-family ½-acre lots in the rear portion of the property. Charlie Ross, who lives at 207 Olde
Oak Dr., did not want apartments and prefers no commercial, but not opposed to single-family
residences. Harris Young, who lives at 211 Olde Oak Dr., and Kathy Starnes, who lives at 237 Old
Oak Dr., are both concerned about more traffic on Williams Drive, and opposed to any commercial
development. Richmond said they did not have specific plans for the property, and would not be
breaking ground for 12 to 24 months from now, so the plans he would tell the neighbors now might
change from actual development. Richmond is required to have an intensity level, and to deny him
his request would reduce the potential for development, said Sondgeroth. Richmond said he has
done on-site septic systems on large projects, but would prefer to be connected to the City’s
wastewater system if he could. Sansing said that intensity level four would allow for residential
development. Glasco said that the applicant has done all the City has requested, and supports the
request. Property owner’s rights to see what kind of a plan that Richmond was going to have for
the property was an issue for Walsh, and was not supportive of the request. Murphy said the
century plan was only looking at water capacity, wastewater capacity, and transportation capacity–
to make a decision if the property would hold the type of intensity level the applicant was asking for.
Applicant has to come to do concept plan, to do annexation plan, and then get the property zoned
before he could put any buildings or uses on it, said Murphy. Seamans said that Richmond bought
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December 4, 2001
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the property as a speculative piece of property, and has taken all the steps that are required of him
from the City, and believes that Richmond was right in taking the step to upgrade his property by
this request. Aadnesen made the motion to recommend to the City Council the approval of a
Century Plan Amendment of 20.0 acres, more or less, out of the Joseph Fish Survey, to change
from Intensity Level 1 to Intensity Level 3 and Intensity Level 4, or any more restrictive
classification. Gabe Sansing seconded the motion, which passed with a vote of 6-1, with Walsh
opposing.
Walsh called for a brief recess at 7:32 p.m. Meeting was reconvened at 7:37 p.m.
5. Consideration and possible action on Public Hearing for the Public Review Final Plat of 10.985
acres out of the William Addison Survey, to be known as Windridge Village Subdivision, and
located 200 feet east of 3rd Street at Holly Street. Melissa Murphy made the staff report. Frank
Hauser, who lives at 2446 CR 152, said that he would be giving the applicant an easement to run a
pipe under Hauser’s property. Easement would be adjacent to Holly Street, said Hauser, where
there is a steep slope and it can be maintained by himself or by the City. Hauser was in favor of
this project as long as the pipeline was put in the easement given to the applicant. John Gavurnik
confirmed what Hauser had said. Glasco asked if the townhouses were going to be connected.
Gavurnik said that it would be a 7-unit building; being the most expensive product on the property.
The single-family homes would begin in the 90’s, and the townhouses would be in the 120 -130’s
range. Gavurnik said that there were 4 single-family plans with different options where they could
do about 8 different single-family plans. The square footage was 1178 to 1500, carport would be a
standard, and a garage would be an option. Glasco asked about the parking. Gavurnik said there
was going to be a two car garage in front of each – two off-street parking places for each unit, and
there was guest parking throughout the community. Gabe Sansing made the motion to
recommend to the City Council the approval of the Public Review Final Plat of 10.985 acres out of
the William Addison Survey, to be known as Windridge Village, located east of Holly Street and
between 2nd and 3rd Streets, provided that the technical issues are addressed prior to City Council
consideration. Glasco seconded the motion, which passed with a vote of 7-0.
6&7.Consideration and possible action on Public Hearing for a Rezoning of 69.28 acres out of the
William Addison Survey, from A, Agricultural, to R-HD, Residential High Density, and for a
Park, Unit Two, located on Southwestern Boulevard. Melissa Murphy gave the staff report.
Seamans asked if the Parks & Recreation Board had approved the placing of the 2.05-acre sub-
parkland. Murphy said the Board approved the placing of it because it had quite a few street
intersections with it and it was pretty central to the development, along with having street frontage
on three sides of it. The size and the location of the parkland were approved. Gabe Sansing had
a concern about the lot sizes. Lot sizes were not a requirement on a Concept Plan, said Murphy,
and the lot sizes were similar, if not the same, as they had at the last P & Z meeting, with the
smallest of the lots being 5040 square feet – 42’ x 120’ lot. Sondgeroth brought out that the
required lot width of a high-density lot was 35’ width, being a minimum of 3500 square feet - so this
was exceeding the high-density residential standards. The applicants have bigger lots on the
tracts that they are not concentrating on at this time - to the south and east. Walsh asked what the
lot count was on the requested portion. Murphy said that she thought it was 530. Cummins said
that it would be hard to tell now because the size of the property had changed with the road
changes and the property addition of 2.43 acres. Walsh asked what would become of Churchill
Farms Drive if the property owners behind chose not to connect or tie-in. Murphy said that the only
safeguard against that would be platting the property; therefore the City would require that they
provide connectivity, as it would stub-out to that property, and the owners would have to essentially
comply with City current standards for stub-out streets. Walsh said property owners could dedicate
the right-of-way for the stub, but not have to build that piece of the road. Murphy said that the
piece of the road was usually built out – brought right up to the property line – and provided a safe-
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December 4, 2001
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guard for home buyers to know that it was a stub out street, and was going to provide connectivity
to future neighborhoods. Seamans said there was a private residence between the property
and the rest home that was just adjacent to St. Helen’s Catholic Church, and asked how the City
was going to force this person, that had his home set way back off the road, to build a road across
their land. Murphy said that the street connectivity would not come into play for couple of years,
but this would be building up assurances for when the owner did sell the property, the ability to
stub-out and extend the street through when development happens. Murphy said that Churchill
Farms Drive was built to be as a collector level street. Sansing again said that he was very
concerned about the lots being 42’ wide, and is adamant that they should be 50’ wide. Biggar said
that nothing had been changed to what they were intending to do from the last Planning & Zoning
meeting, except they added parkland, and took a portion of Section Three and converted that to
represent the one tract. Seamans was concerned about the traffic congestion and the potential
flooding problems with Smith Branch; the increase of impervious coverage and the number of cars.
Walsh was also concerned about the traffic congestion. David Munk said Raymond would do the
drainage study, and water detention would not be required because it was at the lower reaches of
the drainage basin. Munk said the developer was paying to have Chang model the creek (city
model) to make sure that the creek would not rise or back up. Munk said, concerning the traffic,
that Southwestern Boulevard is about 44’ wide. Walsh was concerned about Churchill Farms
Drive becoming a thoroughfare between Hwy 130 and Hwy 29. Munk said that to ensure that
Churchill Farms Drive would stay a neighborhood street, City could have T–intersection that would
control the traffic. Cummins said that Georgetown had historically used stop signs to discourage
drivers from cutting through neighborhoods. Cummins said that the idea of collector streets was
to take traffic off Hwy 29 and put it on to a collector that runs parallel direction – collector would be
cheaper to build than to upgrade Hwy 29. Cummins said that the tract was between Hwy 29 and
Inner Loop, which was a perfect position for traffic. The Inner Loop would be the central
thoroughfare around the town eventually; that’s why it was built in the first place, said Cummins.
Cummins added that Southwestern Blvd. was one of the largest width roads in town and was set
up to accommodate the kind of traffic that we were looking at, and it would be extended by the
owner if he decided to pursue the second section of this tract.
Marjorie Herbert made the motion to recommend to the City Council the approval of the rezoning of
69.28 acres out of the William Addison Survey, from A, Agricultural, to R-HD, Residential High
Density, to be known as University Park, Unit Two, located on Southwestern Boulevard. Glasco
seconds the motion, which passed with a vote of 5-2, with Seamans and Sansing opposing.
Richard Glasco made the motion to recommend to the City Council approval of the Concept Plan of
69.28 acres out of the William Addison Survey, to be known as University Park, Unit Two, located
on Southwestern Boulevard. Marjorie Herbert seconded the motion, which passed with a vote of
5-2, with Seamans and Sansing opposing.
8. Staff comments and reports.
a. Council action update.
1. Woodlake Subdivision was approved by City Council re as long as there is a development
agreement to address all the frontage C-1 part along Williams Drive
2. Rivery tract had a number of requirements asked for, which were:
a. placement of LCRA sub-station within the development to be 500 feet away from the
River Hills neighborhood
b. proposing drainage and the parks next to the river
c. tree specifications – tree sizes types of trees and more trees within the parking lot
locations
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December 4, 2001
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d. third lane proposed for the access road on IH-35, there was no written approval from
TxDOT saying they would allow the road – there was 45 days given to get everything in
order and approved
b. Director’s report
1. “Future Land Use” Open House and Round Table Discussion at Georgetown ISD
Commons, located at 603 Lakeway Drive, Thursday, January 10, 2002, at 7:00 p.m. Ed
Polasek made the correction of the location of the High School to be 211 N. Austin Avenue.
Sondgeroth said City Council said to proceed with the Century Plan Amendment Land Use
process. There has been citizen input, and a completed survey (results are not all in), and
a Open House – first one will be January 10, 2002 at 7:00, 211 N. Austin Avenue,
Commons at Georgetown High School. Second meeting will be on January 31, 2002,
Thursday. Sondgeroth wants a location that would be in the southeast part of the
community. St. Helen’s Community Hall has been suggested. Sondgeroth said that it is
very important that the Development Ordinance and the Century Plan Amendment Process
are consistent with each other. The map will be a product of the community, and would
need the input of the business areas and long term residents of Georgetown. Aadnesen
asked what the format of an Open Forum was. Sondgeroth said that the first Open House
would basically have five areas of discussion: transportation, land use, environment,
community character, and economic development. Tables will be set up, with a facilitator,
for each of these five areas and those who attend will be able to bring their issues of
concerns, and then to move on to the next tables, voicing their concerns for each area.
After the session, all the concerns, questions, and ideas will be tabulated, and combined to
be able to bring to the January 31st session. Seamans suggested Tippitt Middle School
(on Leander Road) for the second session to be held at. Sondgeroth said that newspaper
notice and mail-outs to the homeowners associations are being done to help obtain
participators in these sessions. Walsh was concerned that the City does all that it can to
notify people about these sessions.
2. GIS Program. Ed Polasek showed the Commissioners several maps that staff was working
on updating with current information. Polasek also told the Commissioners that the City
was in the process of buying aerial photos of Williamson County from Capco. Sondgeroth
said that this type of photography is used to do engineering work for road and drainage
improvements. The County wanted the same photos for help in their road construction
projects, so the City and the County are combining funds to purchase a set of these photos.
12. Commissioners comments and reports. Walsh brought up the reappointments by the City Council,
and asked for an email on the results of whose terms had expired and how much time is left for
those who are still Commissioners.
Gabe Sansing made the motion to adjourn. Audrey McDonald seconded. Motion passed with 5-0
vote. Meeting was adjourned at 9:37 p.m.
/tas