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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 11.26.2013 CC-WNotice of Meetingof the Governing od of the City of Georgetown, Tex Tuesday, day, i oven 1. er 26, 2013 The Georgetown City Council will meet on Tuesday, November 26, 2013 at 3:00 PM at the Council Chambers, at 101 E. 7"' St., Georgetown, Texas The city of Georgetown is committed to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If you require assistance in participating at a public meeting due to a disability, as defined under the ADA, reasonable assistance, adaptations, or accommodations will be provided upon request. Please contact the City Secretary's Office, at least four (4) days prior to the scheduled meeting date, at (512) 930-3652 or City Hall at 113 East 81h Street for additional information; TTY users route through Relay Texas at 711. Policy Develop ment/Rview Workshop s — Call to order at 3:00 PM A Discussion and possible direction on an update from the Housing Advisory Board regarding the implementation of the Housing Element -- Jennifer C. Bills, AICP, LEED AP, Housing Coordinator and Tim Todd, Housing Advisory Board Chair Council Present. Gonzalez absent. With a Powerpoint Presentation, Bills introduced Tim Todd and Clay Woodard, member of the Housing Advisory Board, to the City Council. Todd said he has seen how the Housing Element has developed over the past few years. He spoke about the purpose of the Housing Advisory Board and how it is to serve the City regarding lower income housing. He reviewed the history of the adoption of the Housing Element of the City's Comprehensive Plan. He said, since the Element has been adopted, they have been working to come up with implementation steps for housing. He said they have been looking at medium housing for folks that are at a less than 80% for income. He spoke about housing tax credits and how developers wishing to use Housing Tax Credits must get a resolution of support from the Council to apply. He said the Housing Element recognizes the need for more affordable housing in Georgetown. He said they established that there is an owner occupied deficiency of 1,569 homes and rental deficiency of 2,902. He said the Board created seven policy recommendations to address those needs. He said they prioritized those recommendations. He said the high priority recommendations are for one to five years. He said the high priority is to develop a program though which workforce housing developers can receive incentives to provide new housing units. He said the other high priority is to determine suitable multifamily zoning locations with sufficient services and land use compatibility. He summarized their medium high and medium priority items as well. He said the City will continue to seek out County CDBG and State HOME funds in support of adorable housing initiatives. He said the Board has been working on identifying locations for workforce multifamily development. Woodard said, when they are talking about housing deficits, they are talking about people who make $56,000 or below and have a hard time finding housing in this city. He said the single family deficit takes care of itself in a sense because the code of construction helps to provide more workforce housing. He said multi -family housing is a problem, however. He said we know workforce housing requirements are growing. He said they have the people coming into town working in hospitality, retail, fire and police and the City wants those people to live here as well. He spoke about how to incentivize people into building housing that is affordable to people making $56,000 a year or less. He spoke about the process the Board went through in order to choose areas for where to put this housing. He said they wanted areas that are already set up to accept a multi -family development and handle the utilities. He said there are 14-15 areas in town where the infrastructure was already in place. He showed Council a map of the workforce multi -family locations. He said they do not want one school district to be burdened with multi -family housing. Bills spoke about some of the incentives they could offer to the developers. She said the Board has started to look at what kinds of incentives are valuable to the developers by looking at current multi -family projects that are being developed. She said they have been looking at density bonuses, reduced setbacks and varying standards on landscaping and parking. She said the other option is to look at are fee waivers for development review. She said they wanted to get feedback and know if they are working in the right direction. Jonrowe thanked Bills and the Board members for the time and effort. She asked if there is anything Council can do to speed up the process. Jonrowe thinks this is a good and asked for the best way to move this issue forward. She said she does think there is a shortage of multi -family housing in Georgetown. She noted any of the City employees should be able to afford to live here. Jonrowe asked how many of the Board members actually grew up in multi -family housing. Woodard said they sometimes view workforce housing as fulfilling a transition period as well. He said most of the Board probably views this as a means to an end. Jonrowe said she thinks the people they are seeking to serve may have heard some things that make them feel they are being marginalized. She said it is important to treat this issue with the upmost care and being cognizant that this is not just a segment of the population but real people. She said it is a sensitive topic for her and others as well. Hammerlun asked and Todd said he feels the City could bring concrete measures by February or March of next year. Hammerlun spoke about recently living in multi -family housing. He said he is in the architectural engineering business in Georgetown and his employees cannot find housing in this community. Hammerlun said he would like to see some additional data and demographics for multi -family housing. He said he appreciates the diversity of the proposed locations across the area. He asked that they figure out a way to do this while also integrating the development community itself. He spoke about the incentives and how the City needs to be careful about how the city presents this information. Fought said he is an army brat and is empathic with the idea of providing affordable housing. He said he got a little confused about the target income range. Todd said the target range is between $40,000 and $56,000. Gonzalez arrived at the dais. Hesser spoke about some of the incentives and said he would like to city to pursue all type of alternatives. Hesser asked and Bills described the low income housing tax credits. She described this process as well. Hesser said his concern is that we need to pay attention to the schools. Brainard asked to see the map of the proposed multi -family locations and Bills described the thought process behind choosing the locations. Bill said this is really a five year map. Brainard asked what type of housing is the main issue. Bills said when they started the study, single family was an issue but now it is more concerning multi -family housing. Bainard asked about the housing measures that are in place that people are not taking advantage of. Bills described these for Council. Brainard asked and Todd said diversified multi -planned communities are the way to go. Brainard asked and Bills spoke about how the City would implement this. Eason said she has sat through this discussion before and noted the problem has only gotten worse. She said her service on GEDCO has also reinforced her opinion of the need for workforce housing and housing for workers in Georgetown. She spoke about "LiveMork/Play." She said she would echo everything Jonrowe and Hammerlun said. She spoke about parking concerns as well as the importance of looking at the elderly population looking for multi -family housing as well. Gonzalez said he does not like the idea of high density and said it makes things become them and us. He said the City should incentivize developers to have a mix in their master plans. He said the workforce and affordable housing should be spread throughout the community. Mayor provided his opinion on this issue and said the City should build some formulas for the amount of workforce housing the City wants. He spoke about the effect of workforce housing on the local schools. There was much discussion. B Presentation and possible direction to staff regarding final design concept of Phase Two of the Creative Playscape -- Eric Nuner, Assistant Parks and Recreation Director, Kimberly Garrett, Parks and Recreation Director and Laurie Brewer, Assistant City Manager With a Powerpoint Presentation, Garrett began the presentation and introduced members of the Parks and Recreation Board. She said this is a follow up from the September presentation on the original plan for the Creative Playscape. She said the City has had several public meetings and youth design charrettes and she said they have a design that balances what community wanted to the budget that the City set. She said the Parks Board has been involved throughout the process. She said the City saved some elements of the current playscape that will be used in landscaping. Brian Bunkowski showed Council a footprint of the proposal of the final design concept for the playscape. He said the gray areas are the footprint of the current playscape and the new one is almost double the size of what we had. He said they were able to incorporate the "historic timeline of Georgetown" concept into the play environment. He described the pods and the periods each pod represents. He showed Council a rendering of the entry of the playscape. He described each of the pods in great detail including the pre -settlement period, settlement period, industrial period, the surge and the new millennium. He provided Council with a recap of the play areas and the cost of building this design, totaling $557,150. Garrett said the original plan was three times as big as this proposal but noted the original plan would have been $1.2 million. She spoke about the benefits of the playscape and the current design including more space for creativity and exercise. She said the proposed playscape is increased size, has durable components, exceeds ADA requirements, addresses safety, shade utilization and it is a signature destination. She said it is estimated that between 25,000 and 30,000 children use the playscape each year. She spoke about the next steps of the process and said they are seeking approval to move forward with the final design concept and a max allowable budget. Mayor asked about where the dollars will come from. Garrett said the money for this project will be coming from the 2008 voter approved bonds for San Gabriel Park improvements. Eason said she thinks the project looks great and asked about the restroom upgrade. She noted she has no further questions. Brainard asked and Garrett said they would use existing parking at the recreation center. He asked and Garrett said they will be working on a master plan for San Gabriel Park and explore opportunities to add parking. Brainard said he appreciates singe access in and out on the park. Fought asked and Garrett said the cost to take it down and test the old materials has been paid for and it was about $10,000 and was paid for by the maintenance. Fought said and Garrett summarized the 2008 bonds and how much of that money has been used so far and for what projects. He said he likes the project but noted $557,150 for a playscape is a lot of money. He said he would really like to have seen it stay at $500,000. He said he would make a motion that the maximum allowable budget be $500,000. Garrett said there is a component in there for $40,000 that is rubberized surfacing which was highly requested. Hammerlun asked about the fencing and Garrett said they are doing an open metal fencing called design master. She said it is five feet tall and the City will also be using it on the trail. Hammerlun said he would like to see more information on that feature. Hammerlun asked and they spoke about the drainage improvements in the area. Jonrowe asked and Garrett said the average neighborhood playscape costs between $35,000-$40,000. Jonrowe said this is not going to be a typical playground and added it will bring sales tax revenue and economic development to the City. Jonrowe asked and Garrett said the budget for this playscape in the bond issue was $500,000 because that was staffs best guess in 2011. Jonrowe asked and Garrett said the costs are probably a little higher now than they were in 2011. Gonzalez said he is happy to see it was paired down and added the City is putting a lot of money in parks and trails and it needs to manage this money more carefully. He said he thinks this is a huge jump forward and said we need to keep in mind there is a budget for all these things. Hesser asked about maintenance and the cost of what it would be to maintain it. Hesser said he has not been a supporter of this because the old playscape was not maintained properly. Nuner said the City did properly maintain the current playscape and noted, because of the wood material, it had run its course and become expensive. He said the maintenance on this new playscape will be much less. Motion by Jonrowe, second by Eason to direct staff to move forward with the project as presented at the current budgeted amount. Motion to amend by Fought, second by Gonzalez that the maximum budget for the project be $500,000. Eason spoke about why she opposes the amendment. Eason said these bonds have already been approved by the voters. He said this has been dealt with for a long time and it has gone to task forces and children about their wants and needs for a playscape. Brandenburg asked if Council would be receptive of having another workshop with that information and feedback from the public meetings and data collected from the community. Hammerlun said it seems to him that staff has already identified opportunities for alternative pricing. He said it seems there are at least a couple of opportunities to reduce costs but added that also needs to be looked at according to long term maintenance costs. He said it may be worth it to have an additional workshop. There was agreement that there will be another workshop with more information on the figures and public workshops. Fought and Jonrowe withdrew their motions. C American Traffic Solutions: Crossing Guard School Bus Stop Enforcement System -- Wayne Nero, Chief of Police Nero said he is here to talk about school bus arm violations. He said there are a lot of incidents of drivers ignoring it and driving past it when the bus is stopped. He introduced Mr. Cantu to speak on this issue as it applies to Georgetown. Cantu said this is the latest endeavor they have been working on to increase traffic safety in GISD. He said they studied this issue for 39 days and said they found 431 violations of the stop arms in Georgetown. He spoke about why this is a very serious matter. He spoke about the crossing guard program and said this is a nationwide effort and will cost us next to nothing and we might even save a life. David Jackson with American Traffic Solutions walked the Council through a crossing guard program. He said American Traffic Solutions would contract with GISD and the City would then establish an MOU with the school district in order to issue citations for stop arm violations. He showed Council a video of violations. He said most violations occur with the same buses around apartment complexes and larger multi -family housing areas. He provided Council with the program basics. He said a set of cameras are installed on the bus next to the stop arm. He said this video will record any violations. He said the video would be sent to the police department where a citation could be mailed. He spoke about how well it is working and said they got started in Metro Atlanta. He said they bring in a film crew and shoot a public service announcement in the City in order to make the public aware of this initiative. He continued to speak about their public awareness tools. He described the implementation process for the Council. He spoke about how this would be funded and said this would be no out of pocket cost for the city. Mayor asked and Cantu said that the school buses in Georgetown are old and some are as old as 15 years. He said there is no program in place to enlarge the flashing reds but noted they will look into that. Gonzalez said he would like to see more information regarding the city's procedures and the revenue sharing on this project. Nero said the Council will see follow up documentation and an Ordinance that addresses these issues prior to implementation. He said the impact on our staff is negligible. Jonrowe said kids do not know when they are in a dangerous situation and added this initiative is very important. She does want to see a little more information on municipal court time and what the violators will be charged. She added she is wondering if the violators are the same people or just random people. Nero said the starting fine can be all the way up to $1,200 for the first offense. Jonrowe spoke about the importance of doing a real media blitz about this. Hammerlun said it is great to see the collaborative effort with GISD. He asked and they spoke about how they determine which buses they go on and which they do not go on. Hesser asked and Jackson said they will ask GISD to rotate the cameras over time. Hesser asked and Jackson spoke about picking the most dangerous routes to place the cameras. Brainard asked and Nero said the cameras on the buses are only internal. Brainard said he supports the concept. There was much discussion. Meeting recessed to Executive Session — 5:25PM Executive Sessioii In compliance with the Open Meetings Act, Chapter 551, Government Code, Vernon's Texas Codes, Annotated, the items listed below will be discussed in closed session and are subject to action in the regular session. D Sec. 551.071: Consultation with Attorney - Advice from attorney about pending or contemplated litigation and other matters on which the attorney has a duty to advise the City Council, including agenda items - Rivery Update - LCRA Update Sec. 551.086: Competitive Matters - Discussion and possible action regarding the proposed approval of a Renewable Energy contract between the City of Georgetown and Energy DeFrance (EDF) -- Jim Briggs, General Manager of Utilities and Chris Foster, Utilities Financial Analyst Sec. 551.087: Deliberation Regarding Economic Development Negotiations - Westinghouse Road Development Meeting returned to Open Session and adjourned — 6:23PM Certificate of Postina I, Jessica Brettle, City Secretary for the City of Georgetown, Texas, do hereby certify that this Notice of Meeting was posted at City Hall, 113 E. 8th Street, a place readily accessible to the general public at all times, on the day of , 2013, at , and remained so posted for at least 72 hours preceding the scheduled time of said meeting. Jessica Brettle, City Secretary tj r Approved: Mayorr� orge arver t s City Secretary TM�