HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 11.08.2022 CC-SMinutes of the
City Council
City of Georgetown, Texas
Tuesday, November 8, 2022
The Georgetown City Council met on Tuesday, November 8, 2022 at 2:00 PM at Georgetown Public
Library, Friends Room, 402 W. 8th Street.
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Workshop with Planning & Zoning Commission
The following Members were in attendance:
Present were: Josh Schroeder, Amanda Parr, Shawn Hood, Mike Triggs, Kevin Pitts, Joseph (fake) French
IV, Ron Garland, Ben Stewart
Agenda Notice
This is a special joint meeting of the City Council and Planning and Zoning Commission to
discuss the Unified Development Code rewrite and Council priorities. No action will be taken
at this meeting.
1. Regular Session
1.a joint Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council Workshop
Presentation and Discussion regarding City Council Goals and the Unified Development
Code (UDC) Diagnostic and rewrite process -- Sofia Nelson, Planning Director
Welcome
Sofia Nelson explained the purpose of this meeting was to make sure that P&Z and City
Council are aligned in their intentions and goals for the city to prepare for our UDC
rewrite process.
Introductions
Chance Sparks, Freese & Nichols introduced Alexis Garcia, Reese Wilson and Liz Reinstaff
Nelson focused the conversation between Council and P&Z; difficult parts of their roles
and making decisions on projects, etc. We will go over the survey results and establish
guiding principles for UDC Steering Committee to use in their decisions and
recommendations.
Overview of Work Completed in 2022 and Project Background
Alexis explained the purpose of the meeting and the code; UDC, Capital Improvement
Planning, etc. Code is a component of the principles reflected in the Comp Plan and
allows the Comp Plan to be useable and enforceable.
Code diagnostic phase: Involving the community/allowing them to be participants in the
rewrite, branding, etc. Assessing where the code can be improved and how these changes
can be implemented. This will be done with Steering Committee meetings, a project
website with an online survey for citizens and a Study Area tour to see examples of
successes in other communities. This will be held between now and May 2023.
Code drafting: May 2023 through May 2024 will include the draft code elements of
general provisions and procedures, subdivision regulations, zoning regulations,
environmental stormwater regulations and then any remaining regulations.
Code testing: May 2024 through November 2024. Addressing how the code applies and
works with real world projects. Adoption aimed for 2 years (Oct. 2024). It was noted that it
is common to amend the ordinance after it's adopted.
Staff projects there will be at least ten Steering Committee meetings, focus groups, and
open houses to reach the broad community at different stages of the plan development.
Discussion: Focused Questions
Mayor asked P&Z what cases stood out to them in the past year (what cases where
Council and P&Z were not on the same page.
McCoy PUD Discussion: The group discussed how the site was reviewed and would be
developed as a PUD to get the allowances and items that the city wanted, and which
would work for the developer as well. The strict code zoning areas do not always apply to
a project. The only way someone can develop the area they want is to develop a PUD with
a single zone.
Perthuis: another issue was that they wanted to waive the Heritage Tree removal
process.
Dickey: problem with the Comp Plan is that there are a lot of projects wanting a PUD
because they can't meet the Comp Plan requirements. P&Z and staff struggle with
flexibility in zoning. They request more definition specificity between MF-2 and MF-1.
Heintzmann: PUD developers are asking for many variances from the code.
Ercel: When the UDC was first developed, the PUD was supposed to be a site -specific
plan, not debating zoning, but more the layout of the property. There is now more
arguing about zoning classifications because it puts more flexibility in the site plan to the
benefit of the developer. A PUD is supposed to be a mechanism for projects that are
good despite not complying with the zoning.
Dickey/Perthuis: Lots of projects anticipate denial by Council after their P&Z meeting
denial and then opt to come back as a PUD, resulting in them sitting on the land for
another 6-12 months.
Future Land Use Map was discussed.
Perthuis: It works better on developed areas. Areas where there is less
development/outlying areas don't follow the FLUM as closely because it's hard to predict
what that area may need in the future.
The Comprehensive Plan/UDC have competing goals, there will be certain areas where
you only partially comply with code because it doesn't follow the Comp Plan.
Perthuis: For example, partially compliant in health/safety/welfare is more pressing than
use/zoning with neighboring properties.
Ratio Discussion
Dickey: Staff has tried to push developers to make ratios more compliant, but then
politics drive and allow more leniency from code requirements.
SUP process: viewed differently than a rezone, can see the surrounding area.
Ercel: Comp Plan is a guide, not a rule; cannot enforce that outside city limits per state
law.
Mayor: To what extent does market/economics impact our decisions? Answer: Can't factor
in.
Pre -Workshop Results and Discussion
UDC doesn't offer nuance/flexibility by design. There are limits on what you can and
cannot do with zoning. Not predicable when there's not a clear set of rules to get from
point A to point B. Asking to know exactly what is planned for the site is not feasible for
every project.
Sparks: summarized the survey results and showed the Guiding Principles that were
derived from the survey.
Guiding principles slide 21:
• Development standards should be clear, create high -quality development and nimble
• enough to adapt to rapid growth and new development trends.
• Development process and criteria used for decision making is as important as
• development standards.
• Zoning categories should balance certainty and flexibility.
• Ensure alignment between UDC and 2030 Plan and Small Area Plans.
• Code writing process should be transparent and involve a thorough code testing
• process to ensure the right -size development regulation.
• Updating the outdated UDC is a high priority and keeping on timeline is essential.
All were generally in agreement with these principles.
Next Steps: advisory committee meetings, focused conversations with code users,
diagnostic review and report development.
Each member was asked to place three dots on the principles to identify which were most
important to them.
Meeting adjourned.
Adjournment
Moved by Kevin Pitts; seconded by Joseph (jake) French IV to Adjourn at 3:35 pm.
Motion Adjourn: 7 - 0
Voting For: Amanda Parr, Shawn Hood, Mike Triggs, Kevin Pitts, Joseph (jake) French IV, Ron
Garland, Ben St art
Voting Agains : one
These minute ere ap oved at the meeting of L311gen22 ZoZZ
1
Mayor Attest