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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 10.08.2007 CC-WThe City Council of the City of Georgetown, Texas, met in Regular Session on the above date with Mayor Gary Nelon presiding. Council Present: Council Absent: Patty Eason, Gabe Sansing, Keith Brainard, Bill Pat Berryman Sattler, Farley Snell, Ben Oliver Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager; Patricia E. Carls, City Attorney; Jessica Hamilton, Deputy City Secretary; Ed Polasek, Principal Planner; Jennifer Bills, Housing Coordinator; Jim Briggs, Assistant City Manager for Utility Operations; Tom Yantis, Assistant City Manager; Mark Thomas, Economic Development Director; Terri Calhoun, Paralegal; Mark Miller, Director of Transportation Services; Tom Benz, Systems Engineering Manager A Future Land Use Plan Update -- Edward G. Polasek, AICP, Principal Planner Ed Polasek gave a brief update of the land use map and the implementation section of the Land Use Plan. Polasek displayed a future land use map and said the big change with this map is they took off parcels. He added, by taking off parcels, they wanted to make three things clear: it is not a zoning map, it is not a current land use map, and it is a non -parcel specific land use map. He said this will give Council more flexibiltiy and discretion. He said the map was created to follow the node concept for regional, community, neighborhood and commercial hubs. He said it emphasizes the protection of future employment centers. He added there are a lot of mixed-use categories that will allow for greater innovation of land usage. He described the various mixed-use categories that were present. He said residential categories are reflective of utility provision. He added there are not many high density residential areas on the map because they usually occur more in mixed use areas. He described the difference between moderate density and lower density residential areas. Polasek said the last area is the agricultural -rural residential. He added this is generally outside of our growth area where the City is not going to emphasize providing utilties for long term support. Polasek said the next section they are working on is the implementation section. He said the plan compliance area focuses on zoning districts, development standards, and consistency with the Comprehensive Plan. He said the implementation section says development proposals that are inconsistent with the plan will not be approved until the proposal is amended. He described the amendment process. He said the City will prepare an annual report card to document the Implementation progress. He said the City will revise and update the plan every five years to remain consistent with the City Charter requirements and the language for the Comprehensive Plan. He said they have set October 19th as the deadline for public comment on this issue. He said the Mayor has given staff the date of November 15th for the Steering Committee to review the map and plan. He said they are going to send it to the Planning and Zoning Commission on December 4th, and they will be coming back on January 7th or January 8th for final presentation by the consultant and possible plan approval. He added P&Z will be making an actual recommendation to City Council at that time and he said January 22nd will be the first City Council reading of the plan. Sansing asked if this incorporates the ETJ boundary with Hutto. Polasek said that boundary was cut off from the map. Oliver said he finds it interesting that almost all of the agricultural rural -residential areas are east of 130 in the ETJ. Polasek said, in the five year amendment process, they would anticipate changing some of the land use categories in that area as they find out how utility provisions are going to work out. He added they are calling it agricultural rural -residential because they are not able to service that area at this time. He said, if they have the capacity to grow, they can change the map during the annual amendment process as they discuss utility availabilty and utility expansion. Snell said, in the ETJ, the City does not encourage development because City Council Meeting Minutes/October 8. 2007 Page 1 of 3 Pages it lacks the infrastructure. h:_ added developers may plan their own infrastrucL,, e if they are willing to do so. Snell asked if the City will proactively zone and not wait for someone else to come into the City in order to change it. Polasek said the only recommendation for proactive zoning is within the employment center areas. He said this limitation is in order to protect the growth corridors for those centers. Snell said Council needs to take greater responsibility on applications for a change in the land use plan. Polasek said the definitions of the district tiers now give the Council more discretion in zoning. Snell said he finds it exciting that this is a land use plan that Council should not tinker with unless there is a strong reason to do so. Mayor added, through the definitions of the plan, there is a lot more flexibility for the land owners and developers to operate within these areas. Sansing said the only thing that concerns him about setting boundaries with others is the only area that Georgetown can grow is out to the Northwest toward Florence. Eason said quality versus quantity is the desire. She added, with control and quality growth, Georgetown will be in better shape than surrounding communities. Brainard asked about the location for the new high school and the justification for building it in that area. Polasek said they have seen new subdivisions to the West, but the location is central to the geographic area of the school district. Brainard asked if, at the public hearings, there were people who felt their property rights were being impinged upon. Polasek said there is still some feeling the City should have a parcel specific land use map. He added staff is trying to avoid this so Council can have more latitude on zoning decisions. Mayor said the Steering Committee had representation on this issue from all of the constituent groups. He added, when they made the decision for Council recommendation, there was unanimity as it relates to going forward with this plan as presented. B Proposed Affordable Housing Definition and Housing Master Plan Priorities -- Jennifer Bills, Housing Coordinator With a Powerpoint presentation, Bills spoke about the creation of the Housing and Neighborhood Development Department and the Housing Advisory Board. She said the next step is to create the Housing Element of the Comprehensive Plan. She gave Council statistics, saying the 2006 estimated population is 44,286, which translates to 17,554 estimated households within the city limits. She added the amount of households is about a 70% increase from the 2000 census. She said the area median income (AMI) is $62,494 per household. She said the largest employment sectors in Georgetown are health care and social services, retail trade, GISD, and the City of Georgetown. Bills said the fastest growing employment sectors are the middle to low income jobs. She compared the supply versus demand of housing. She said, in order to afford a $120,000 house, gross annual income needs to be approximately $50,000. She noted 45.5% of households earn less than $50,000 a year, yet the City's supply of housing under $120,000 is 21.5%. She said this means that people are either renting or they are paying too much for their housing. Bills described the state of housing in Georgetown. She said, according to the Williamson Central Appraisal District, there are approximately 12,000 single-family homes in Georgetown. She noted only 2,500 of those houses are affordable to households that earn $50,000 or less. She added only about 20-30 properties worth $125,0000 or less are for sale at any given time. She noted homes worth less than $120,000 are located more toward the center of town. She added some of those houses are worth less than $40,000 and are in disrepair. Bills showed a graph of home sales information from the Community Impact Newspaper. She said the graph shows most of the housing being produced in Georgetown is of the higher range in price. Bills defined the term attainable housing, saying it is any housing unit, either owned or rented that is affordable to households that make 80% of the Georgetown Area Median Income (AMI) or less. She said, for the 2006 AMI, this means households making less than $49,995 ($24.00/hr). She explained the different categories of attainable housing. She said the workforce housing is of the 50%-80% range of Georgetown AMI. She said the second category is entry-level workforce housing, which are households whose total income falls between 30% and 50% of AMI. She added the last category is minimum wage housing who are people making just enough to live at less than $9.00/hr. She said the Board would like to focus the City efforts on the workforce housing category. She added the workforce level is where there is the biggest gap in affordable housing. She said the next step is to put attainable housing into the Housing Element of the Comprehensive Plan. She noted the Housing Element will build on definitions and will contain criteria for future development. She said the Housing Element will also establish which programs to pursue over the next 20 years. Bills spoke about grant funding efforts. She said, in the spring, the City will be applying through Williamson County for Community Development Block Grants. She added, once the City's population hits 50,000, they can begin to secure CDBG money directly from HUD. She explained the HOME funding program options available. Bills said she will be working on educating the public. She said she will also be contacting neighborhood groups and homeowners associations about setting up a website with content to keep neighborhoods informed. She said she will also create a yearly brochure on the state of housing in Georgetown. She said the next steps in this project are to select a housing consultant and begin work on the Housing Element of the Comprehensive Plan. She also said they will be working on the CDBG grant application and will assist The Caring Place in utilizing rebuild funds for home rehabilitation. Sansing said there is no rebuild fund for the Caring Place. Mayor added the City Manager has that fund at this time. Speaker Hartley Sappington, chair of the Housing Advisory Board, said the Board keeps coming back to the 50%-80% range of households. He said this continues to be an area of weakness for housing. He noted there is affordable rental housing available, but it gets very competitive. He said they are looking for developers who can think creatively about building a variety of housing styles. He said the Board would like to have additional incentives built in for builders that cater to the median City Council Meeting Minutes/October 8. 2007 Page 2 of 3 Pages 50-80% population. He saic..,s wants these people to have the opportunity to ..acome residents of Georgetown and have the ability to buy a house. Sattler asked Bills about the City's relationship with Habitat for Humanity. Bills said they have received CDBG money and are working with Habitat to rebuild the Old Mill Village. Sattler asked if the City has an inventory of land that the City owns and is not using. Bills said she could sort out the areas of land that are not being used. Yantis said Habitat came to staff three or four years ago with that request. Yantis said the City has many lots that are not being used, but most of them are not available for housing because of where they are located. Yantis suggested that the City look at non -city owned properties that are currently underutilized and form creative ways of how we can redevelop those areas. Sattler asked and Yantis said they do not have this inventory developed but it is an opportunity to pursue in the future. Sattler asked and Yantis said that it would not be an extensive process to get that information together. Mayor asked Carls about conveying property. Carls said it is a long process but there are some exceptions for affordable housing. Yantis said the the City would not actually end up owning the property, but would be a broker between the owner and the affordable housing provider. Sattler asked and Yantis said they have not contacted the County or GISD about underutilized property, but they could do that if they wanted. Carls said they did discover that, for some properties that had no owners listed, WCAD marked the City of Georgetown as the owner. She added the City thought they were the title owner, but they were not. She said there would be some administrative issues to work through and the title is not an insignificant issue. Sansing said he is hopeful the line item under social service funding will take underutilized and unoccupied properties and turn them into attainable housing. Sattler asked if there is a legal process to get title to the underutilized and unoccupied properties. Yantis said, if they identify a property that is not meeting Code standards, the City gives the owners the ability to bring the property up to Code. Yantis added, if the owners do not bring it up to Code, the City has a process whereby they can abate the problem on their own and assess the property with a lien. Yantis noted they can not force the change of title. Brandenburg said it can take years to change a title. Snell asked and Yantis said the houses in Old Mill Village sell for between $60,000-$70,000 and fall into the 30%-50% range of Georgetown AMI. Snell asked and Yantis confirmed that this area is catered toward a different population than the one the Housing Element would like to serve. Brainard said they should consider the use of income as a measure of ability to pay. He added the use of the average sale price can be misleading and that a median sale price might be more relevant. 4:52pm --- Recessed for Executive Session 6:04pm --- Reopened to Open Session and Adjourned These minutes were prepared by Assistant City Secretary Jessica Hamilton. The meeting was adjourned at 06:04 PM. City Council Meeting Minutes/October 8. 2007 Page 3 of 3 Pages City Secretary Sandr' Lee