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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-15-1984 Regular Meeting (2)• ' • ;~ . • • AGENDA REGULAR MEETING OF THE LA PORTS PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION TO BE HELD NOVEMBER 15, 1984, IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF THE CITY HALL, 604 WEST FAIRMONT PARKWAY, LA PORTS, TEXAS, BEGINNING AT 7:00 P.M. 1. CALL TO ORDER ~f,,.~ 2. CONSIDER THE APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE PUBLIC HEARING AND REGULAR MEETING HELD ON OCTOBER 30, 1984 3. REVIEW AND DISCUSS PROPOSED SUBDIVISION ORDINANCE AND RELATED ELEMENTS OF THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN - B. Speake 4. ADJOURNMENT s • ., r . t • • • OPTIONAL READING FOR NOVEMBER 15, 1984 SECTION PAGES SCO~,~, C0MPREHENSIV~PLAN1,VO~U1~1~~.,1, 1.6 1-50 thru 1-57 Community Facilities Plan 5-700 TABLE B 5-800 ZONING ORpIT]GNGE VOLUME 2, APPENDIX 1~ 32-33 Required Developed Open Space/Lot 37 Amenity and Open Space Density Bonus A - 4 ~.~ ~~ C~ MINUTES OF THE ~i REGULAR MEETING OF THE LA PORTE PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION NOVEMBER 15, 1984 1. The meeting was called to order by Chairman Doug Latimer Latimer at 7:00 F.M. Members of the Commission Present: Chairman Doug Latimer, Members Lola Phillips, Bruce Hammack, Charlie Doug Boyle, and Janet Graves Members of the C~miss~Q~A_b~ent: Karl Johnston and Bobby Blackwell • Ci,~y Sta~~resent: Assistant City Attorney John Armstrong and City Engineer Bob Speake ' 2. The Commission considered the approval of the minutes of the Public Hearing and Regular Meeting held on October 30, 1984. Motio,~was n~d_g~y~~acg Ei~~~nack ~.,Q_~pprove ~g_~~,a~es as g~gse,D,~gd. Second by Lola Phillips. The motion carried, 5 ayes and 0 nays." Ayes: Latimer, Hammack, Phillips, Boyle, Graves Nays: None 3. The Commission reviewed and discussed the proposed subdivision ordinance and related elements of the Comprehensive Plan. The following discussion was held. FLOOD PLAIN MANAGEMENT PROGRAM The meeting was then turned over to City Engineer Bob Speake who, with the assistance of Assistant City Attorney Armstrong, briefed the Commission on the November 15, 1984 Flood Insurance Study meeting at City hall with Representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD), Mayor Virginia Cline, and members of the staff involved in the City Flood Plain Management Program. Mr. Speake stated that, at that meeting, FEMA officially presented the results of the revised Flood Minutes, Regulaeting La Porte Planni and Zoning Commission November 15, 1984, Page 2 Insurance Study originally presented to the city for approval two years ago. The major change between the original 1982 study and the 1984 version is that most of Fairmont Park is no longer in the 100 year flood plain. Mr. Speake stated that the City uses the Federal Insurance Agency program as its primary vehicle for flood plain management. That program is carried out by means of the City Flood Hazard Prevention Ordinance. That ordinance makes the Commission the body which approves Base Flood Elevation (BFE) variances. Furthermore, flood plain control measures are included in the proposed Development and Zoning Ordinances. Mr. Speake further advised the Commission that the November 15 FEMA meeting formally begins the process of conversion from the emergency to the regular phase of the Federal Insurance Program. That process normally takes nine months. Within the next month, FEMA will begin advertising the new Base Flood Elevations in t11e local newspapers. They are required to do that twice during the statutory 90 day appeals period. After that period, if there are no formal objections filed with FEMA, the six months adoption period begins, during which it is required that the City revise its Flood Hazard Prevention Ordinance in a manner suitable to FEMA to incorporate the features of the regular program. Those features, for the most part, deal with subdividing the A zones to incorporate flood hazard (risk) factors and the establishment of the new V zones. Mr. Speake stated that staff opinion is that the best interests of the City would be served by adopting the FIA study and revised ordinance as soon as possible. FEMA has an accelerated adoption schedule which provides for the City to move as swiftly as possible if there are no citizen appeals lodged. Assistant City Attorney John Armstrong has already prepared a draft of the revised Flood Hazard Prevention Ordinance, which is now under FEMA review. Once the staff (and HCFCD) has finished its technical review of the study and FEMA has approved our draft ordinance, the staff would be in position to have the ordinance reviewed by the Commission before sending it to Council for adoption. The accelerated process could shorten the adoption process by three to four months. No timetable for the adoption process has been established yet. Minutes, Regula~eeting La Porte Planni b and Zoning Commission ' November 15, 1984, Page 3 DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCE During the remainder of the meeting, the Commission , led by • Mr. Speake, reviewed the platting process outlined in the proposed new Development Ordinance, concentrating on the Sketch Plan, General Plan, and Preliminary Plat procedures. Mr. Speake stated that only Final Plats are contemplated by the state law,. but that Preliminary Plats have been widely used for many years in Texas. General Plans are of more recent vintage, having come about to cover those situations where the developer acquires a large tract of land and market forces will only permit development of a portion at one time. The General Plan procedure is particularly important for La Porte to enables review of projects for conformance to the Comprehensive Plan. Sketch Plan Review, as proposed in the ordinance, is a new invention and most of the meeting was involved in discussing that process. Development Plats, also a new vehicle, will be discussed at the December 20 meeting., Mr. Speake furnished each member with new handout materials, specifically "Bluebook" pages F-4 through F-8 and I-1 through I-14. The Section F materials are for later discussion. The Section I handouts are a draft of Section 7 of the proposed new Public Improvements Criteria Manual (PICM). Section 7 deals with Platting Graphic Standards, many of which are now in the proposed new Development Ordinance. Mr. Speake recommends those standards be removed from the ordinance and incorporated by reference to the PICM. Mr. Speake then led the Commission through a discussion of the Sketch Plan review. SKETCH PLAN REVIEW Mr. Speake stated that he recommends upgrading the importance of the Sketch Plan review even more than has been previously recommended. His opinion is that the Sketch Plan review process encourages the freest exchange of ideas between the developer and the City staff. Beyond this stage, the developer has made a creative and financial commitment to a particular land use concept, as reflected in his proposed General Plan and/or Preliminary Plat. By using the La Porte Development Checklist (Bluebook pages I- 10 thru I-13), the developer can think his way through the entire development process without having to engage the expensive services of one or more consultants. He can disclose his full intentions to the staff, without elaborate plans or drawings, and he can • Minutes, Regular~eeting La Porte Plannin and Zoning Commission November 15, 1984, Page 4 learn from the staff more fully which of his ideas can cause him the most problems in obtaining City project approval. The the Sketch Plan review process can benefit any developer, • large or small, by highlighting those obstacles he must get around to make his project a reality. Because of this, Mr. Review process be made waiver being granted Community Development. be required and that 7.01 be adopted.. Speake recommends that the Sketch Plan Mandatory for all developers, with a at the discretion of the Director of He also recommends that the checklist the graphic standards in PICM Section Several eommissio.ners objected to certain aspects of the proposed Sketch Plan Review procedure, particularly the requirement that it be made mandatory and that it may be beyond the capability of the small developer to handle without consultant support. After considerable discussion, the consensus was that 1) The mandatory requirement would be acceptable provided that and a) A time limit is established for staff review, b) The developer can proceed to file a Preliminary Plat regardless of the outcome of the Sketch Plat Review. 2) Comment on the proposed Sketch Plat Procedure be solicited from developers and consultants concerned with the La Porte area GENERAL PLANS Mr. Speake outlined the proposed General Plan platting procedure as contained in PICM Section 7.02. He emphasized that the staff cannot fully evaluate large, phased projects for conformance to the Comprehensive plan without a General Plan. Assistant Attorney Armstrong raised the question whether or not the General Plan commits the developer to a future land plan. Mr. Speake replied that, possibly in the area of street and utility extensions, it does somewhat, but that the information the General Plan provides is not detailed enough to commit the developer to a future land use plan. He retains some latitude in shifting streets and utilities to accomodate a new future design. General Plans are not contemplated by the current City Subdivision Ordinance. A Minutes, Regula eting La Porte Planni and Zoning Commission November 15, 1984, Page 5 PRELIMINARY PLATS During the remainder of the meeting, the Commission reviewed the Preliminary Plat process, a process which has been well established in Texas for many years. Mr. Speake reminded the commissioners that, once a good Sketch Plan review has been completed, the major obstacles in the way of Commission approval of the developer's land plan have at least been identified. Then, if the developer has done a good job devising ways around those obstacles, the Preliminary Plat should represent that land plan which has the greatest chance of being approved by the Commission. Mr. Speake ad,~vised the Commission that developers and consultants will recognize La Porte's Preliminary Plat process as being very similar to the process used by other jurisdictions locally. The main difference in La Porte is the requirement for field surveying at the Preliminary Plat stage to tie the property to the La Porte survey monument network both horizontally and vertically. The staff feels that, given our Sketch Plan review, the developer can commit to a particularly land plan for his Preliminary Plat with reasonable safety. Therefore, problems due to survey "busts" can be disclosed during Preliminary Platting without wasting the developer's. money. This will get street and utility extension design started earlier and, thus, the construction of improvements can be speeded up by several months. Construction startup is especially desirable to avoid project completion during our rainy winters. 4. There being no further business to come before the Commission, the meeting was duly adjourned at 9:05 P.M. Respe fully su mitted: ~,GLSt. aura Hall Assistant City Secretary Passed & Approved this the day of , 1984. oug Latimer, Chairman