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HomeMy WebLinkAbout052311R CC Min0 The City of West University Place A Neighborhood City CITY COUNCIL Bob Kelly, Mayor Bob Fry, Councilmember George Boehme, Councilmember Steven Segal, Councilmember Chuck Guffey, Councilmember STAFF Michael Ross, City Manager Alan Petrov, City Attorney Thelma Lenz, City Secretary CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES The City Council of the City of West University Place, Texas, met in special and regular sessions on Monday, May 23, 2011, in the Municipal Building, 3800 University, West University Place, Texas beginning at 5:00 p.m. SPECIAL WORKSHOP (Conference Room) CALL TO ORDER Mayor Kelly called the meeting to order at 5:05 p.m. Council and staff in attendance were: Mayor Pro Tern Fry, Councilmembers Boehme, Guffey, and Segal, City Manager Ross, City Secretary Lenz, City Attorney Petrov, and Assistant Public Works Director Beach. Also in attendance were City Planner Scarcella and Council-Elect members Yehle and Johnson. Agenda items were discussed as follows: Moratorium on Certain Residential Development Matters related to a moratorium on property development in accordance with the requirements of Chapter 212, Subchapter E, of the Texas Local Government Code, on platted lots within the City that do not abut constructed streets. Zoning and Planning Commission Chair Steve Brown and Commissioners Bob Higley and Dick Yehle were also present. Commissioner DeDe DeStephano was present a short time, but had to leave. At 5:05 p.m., Councilmember Segal moved to recess the special workshop and convene into Execution Session in accordance with Section 551.071 in Chapter 551 of the Texas Government Code (consultation with legal counsel to seek or receive legal advice). Mayor Pro Tern Fry seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Kelly, Fry, Boehme, Guffey, Segal Noes: None Absent: None At 5:50 p.m., Mayor Pro Tern Fry moved to close the Executive Session and reconvene into the special workshop. Councilmember Segal seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. City Council Minutes, May 23, 2011 Ayes: Kelly, Fry, Boehme, Guffey, Segal Noes: None Absent: None With no action taken related to the Executive Session, at 5:50 p.m. Mayor Pro Tem Fry moved to adjourn the special workshop. Councilmember Boehme seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Kelly, Fry, Boehme, Guffey, Segal Noes: None Absent: None REGULAR MEETING (Council Chambers) Agenda items were as follows: Mayor Kelly called the meeting to order at 6:40 p.m. All present for the special workshop was also present for the regular meeting. Chief Walker was also in attendance for the regular session. Councilmember Guffey led the Pledge of Allegiance and Pledge to the Texas Flags. City Secretary Lenz confirmed that Notice of the special and regular meetings was duly posted in accordance with the Texas Government Code, Chapter 551. At 6:46 p.m., Mayor Pro Tern Fry moved to recess the regular meeting to convene into a special meeting of the City of West University Place Employee Benefits Trust. Councilmember Segal seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Kelly, Fry, Boehme, Segal, and Guffey Noes: None Absent: None After adjourning the Employee Benefits Trust meeting (see those Minutes for action), Mayor Pro Tem Fry moved to reconvene the regular meeting at 6:53 p.m. Councilmember Segal seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Kelly, Fry, Boehme, Segal, and Guffey Noes: None Absent: None 2. Employee Health Insurance Consideration and action on authorizing the transfer of funds from the City of West University Place to the City of West University Place Employee Benefits Trust to pay for employee-related benefits. HR Director Standorf presented and said that this action formalizes the process of funding the Employee Benefits Trust from the City of West University Place on a monthly basis, beginning with the September 2011 contribution. She said staff recommends that Council authorize the continued transfer of funds in the amount of $1,560,000. Councilmember Segal moved to approve the continued transfer of funds in the amount of $1,560,000. Councilmember Boehme seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Page 2 of 6 City Council Minutes, May 23, 2011 Ayes: Kelly, Fry, Boehme, Segal, and Guffey Noes: None Absent: None 3. Public Comments Mayor Kelly announced that several people signed up on the citizen participation sign-in roster to speak on the moratorium. He explained that the public hearing on the moratorium was closed at the last meeting, so no discussion on that particular item could be addressed. Diane Wylie, 6338 Mercer, spoke to address her concerns regarding notification for meetings, particularly the one for the last meeting, which included the moratorium item, which was advertised in the Houston Chronicle instead of our local paper. City Manager Ross said he would speak with Ms. Wylie after the meeting to provide explanations. Parker Stuckey, Owner and President of Parker Stuckey Residential and the representative (contract owner) of 6340 Mercer and 6344 Mercer spoke regarding the interpretation of street area along Virginia Avenue by City Attorney Petrov. City Attorney Petrov asked Mr. Stuckey how is that not related to the moratorium? Mr. Stuckey replied that their application was made before the moratorium took effect. City Attorney Petrov said he doesn't think it's appropriate for this time. Mr. Stuckey said he thinks it needs to be reviewed by City Council and needs to be made public. He said they asked the City for a public option to speak about this and City staff has not been able to provide a process for them to do so; so, he thinks the City Council meeting is the best venue to for that. City Attorney Petrov stated to Mr. Stuckey that he should have received a letter from him regarding the City's interpretation. He said there is a process to appeal that interpretation. Mr. Stuckey said that was not made in response to an official application. He said that was made to a request for his interpretation. Mr. Stuckey said what they have now is an official application. He said because their application was filed before the moratorium took place, they want to talk with Council and make open to the public what they are planning to do and how it meets the City ordinances. Mr. Petrov advised Council that Mr. Stuckey could be allowed to speak as long as he sticks with a description of his proposal and not discuss the merits of a moratorium. Mr. Stuckey said in January, he approached City Planner Scarcella and asked her about the properties at 6340 and 6344 Mercer that according to the 1920 and 1928 plats consists of four lots, each of the unique and each of them individual. He said two of those lots face onto Mercer and the other two faced onto Virginia, which was an active and in-use right-of-way used as a street. Mr. Stuckey said according to City records, both Poor Farm Ditch and Virginia Avenue, existed as early as 1917, but the street was platted in 1920 and dedicated as right-of-way, which the City accepted, which is evidenced by the 1954 agreement with the Harris County Flood Control whereby Page 3 of 6 City Council Minutes, May 23, 2011 they gave some rights of that area to Harris County. He said had the City not accepted it originally, it would have no right to grant rights to Harris County. Mr. Stuckey said another contention City Attorney Petrov made in his letter to them was that the street was never in use, but he said there are homes all along Virginia that take access from Virginia. He said if the original intent of the plat and the original intent of the City were to make those lots one buildable lot, why would the owners all the way down Mercer build their garages three feet from a fence line and three feet from a property line. He said it is very obvious that Virginia Street existed, which means that it still exists as right-of-way and meets the definition of street area. Michael Streitmann, 6341 Mercer, spoke to say that he taught his kids how to ride bikes on Virginia Court because it is a protected dead-end street and said his kids have never been able to make a right off of Duke onto Virginia Avenue. He said he has never seen that street or jogged that street and said he has been in almost every backyard that borders Virginia Avenue and they are fenced all the way to ditch. Mr. Streitmann said if he tried to jog down Virginia Avenue today, the police would probably be called because he would be trespassing on somebody's property. He said you can make all the arguments in the world about what use to be there in 1924 or 1940, but as of May 2011, he doesn't see a street. 4. Moratorium on Certain Residential Development Matters related to an ordinance regarding a moratorium on property development in accordance with the requirements of Chapter 212, Subchapter E, of the Texas Local Government Code, on platted lots within the City that do not abut constructed streets. Zoning and Planning Commission Steve Brown, 3305 Rice Boulevard, spoke to say that the Zoning and Planning Commission had a Public Hearing in the Conference Room this evening on whether or not to impose a 120-day moratorium on platted lots within the City that do not abut constructed streets. He said following the closing of the hearing, the Zoning and Planning and Commission motioned to recommend to City Council that the 120-day moratorium be put in place and the motion passed unanimously. Mayor Pro Tern Fry moved to adopt the Zoning and Planning Commission's recommendation to grant the moratorium ordinance. Councilmember Boehme seconded the motion. Councilmember Segal said he will vote for this moratorium, but understands the position that the moratorium does not apply to the Stuckey property, because they applied for their application first; so, it will be a separate channel for them. He said, however, he does believe the moratorium is important in order to give the City time to review the ordinance to see what we want to do with the other properties and to give the Zoning and Planning Commission a chance to have hearings and give the public a chance to respond without having any basis to decide whether they are right on their analysis of a street or not. He said that has to be determined through the legal process and the City's administrative process. Councilmember Boehme said we are not talking today about the merits of subdividing those lots, but rather the merits of granting a moratorium. He said the moratorium is a provision that is afforded us under State law to say "stop" so that we can shake this out and make it as clear as possible. He said the 120 days will give us time to have a huge amount of deliberation and conversation. He said he thinks granting the moratorium is a good idea. Page 4 of 6 City Council Minutes, May 23, 2011 At this time, Mayor Pro Tem Fry called the question on the motion. Councilmember Segal seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Kelly, Fry, Boehme, Segal, and Guffey Noes: None Absent: None A vote was made on the motion to approve the ordinance. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Kelly, Fry, Boehme, Segal, and Guffey Noes: None Absent: None 5. Ordinance Canvassing Election Returns Matters related to the consideration and adoption of an ordinance canvassing the returns and declaring the results of the General Election held on May 14, 2011; containing findings and provisions related to the subject; and declaring an emergency. Councilmember Segal moved to adopt the ordinance canvassing the recorded vote. Councilmember Boehme seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Kelly, Fry, Boehme, Segal, and Guffey Noes: None Absent: None 6. Consent Agenda All Consent Agenda items listed are considered to be routine by the City Council and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a Council member requests in which event the item will be removed from the Consent Agenda and considered in its normal sequence on the agenda. A. City Council Minutes Approve City Council minutes of May 9, 2011 and Special Meeting Minutes of May 16, 2011. B. Municipal Setting Designation Matters related to the consideration and approval of a resolution supporting the application of a Municipal Setting Designation and corresponding Indemnity Agreement. Councilmember Guffey moved to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. Mayor Pro Tem Fry seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Kelly, Fry, Boehme, Segal, and Guffey Noes: None Absent: None 7. Reports by Council/Staff Councilmember Segal provided a brief report on House Bill 350, which involves merging the funds in the pension plan. He said the Governor is expected to sign it and said it will impact us favorably by reducing our unfunded liability and annual contribution rate. Page 5 of 6 City Council Minutes, May 23, 2011 Mayor Kelly recognized elected officials in the audience. Outgoing Mayor and Council provided comments and were recognized for their service. 8. Adjourn With no further business before the Council, at 7:25 p.m., Councilmember Boehme moved to adjourn the regular meeting. Mayor Pro Tern Fry seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Kelly, Fry, Boehme, Guffey, Segal Noes: None Absent: None a 0 r V Meeting adjourned. Immediately following the Council meeting, the mayor, a social reception was held for the outgoing ma*Qr and council. Thelma A. Lenz, 44A~ l_I Date roved Page 6 of 6