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CITY COUNCIL REGULAR SESSION
MONDAY, APRIL 24, 2000
MUNICIPAL BUILDING COUNCIL CHAMBERS
3800 UNIVERSITY BOULEVARD
7:30 P.M.
The City Council convened in Regular Session in the Municipal Building Council
Chambers on April 24, 2000, with the following members present: Mayor Lewis
presiding, Council Members Ballanfant, Bertini, Grubb and May. The City Manager,
City Secretary, City Attorney, Finance Director, Police Chief and Public Works Director
were also present.
The notice for this meeting was posted in accordance with the Texas Government Code,
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Chapter 551, on the 20 day of April 2000 at 3:30 p.m.
Ordinance relating to railings.
Matters related to the second and final reading of Ordinance No. 1645.
Mayor Lewis read the caption of Ordinance No. 1645 as follows:
An ordinance relating to railings; amending the code of ordinances of the City of West
University Place, Texas; and containing findings and provisions relating to the subject.
Copies of Ordinance No. 1645, in the form proposed for adoption, were available in the
Council Chambers.
Mr. Dougherty reported that the Building Official suggested amending Section 1015.1 of
the 1994 SBCCI Building Code by changing the requirement of a 6-inch railing to a 4-
inch railing. This change would reduce the risk of a child falling through a guardrail.
A motion was made by Council Member May, seconded by Council Member Grubb, to
adopt Ordinance No. 1645 on the second and final reading.
A vote was taken on the motion with the following result:
Voting Aye: Mayor Lewis, Council Members Ballanfant, Bertini, Grubb
and May
Voting Nay: None
Absent: None
Ordinance relating to personnel policies.
Matters related to the first reading of Ordinance No. 1639.
Mayor Lewis read the caption of Ordinance No. 1639 as follows:
City Council Regular Session, April 24, 2000
An ordinance relating to personnel policies; adopting a new personnel handbook;
providing an effective date; and containing findings and provisions relating to the subject
Copies of Ordinance No. 1639, in the form proposed for adoption, were available in the
Council Chambers.
City Manager Sherman Yehl reported that from time to time, the City’s handbook of
personnel policies is revised to reflect changes in policy, law, or benefits. The current
handbook was adopted on February 10, 1997. Working with staff from the City’s
Employee Development Group, this handbook has now been revised and updated for
Y2K. The following are some of the major changes:
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Formalizes a policy that employees will be at 95% of the mid-range after six years of
service and 95% of top range after 12 years of standard service in a position;
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Provides exempt employees the ability to retire and receive health benefits with at
least 10 years of service in the Texas Municipal Retirement System and with at least
three years of service with the City;
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Adds two additional classifications to the exempt employee list;
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Clarifies worker’s compensation provisions;
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Increases tuition reimbursement from $1,500 per year to $2,000 per year, but requires
payback of the reimbursement if the employee leaves within one year after receiving
reimbursement; and
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Provides part-time employees with pro-rated benefits.
A motion was made by Council Member Grubb, seconded by Council Member May, to
adopt Ordinance No. 1639 on the first reading.
A vote was taken on the motion with the following result:
Voting Aye: Mayor Lewis, Council Members Ballanfant, Bertini, Grubb
and May
Voting Nay: None
Absent: None
Ordinance relating to the comprehensive plan.
Matters related to the first reading of Ordinance No. 1641.
Mayor Lewis read the caption of Ordinance No. 1641 as follows:
An ordinance adopting an amended comprehensive plan; amending the code of
ordinances; and containing findings and provisions relating to the subject
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City Council Regular Session, April 24, 2000
Copies of Ordinance No. 1641, in the form proposed for adoption, were available in the
Council Chambers.
City Attorney Jim Dougherty reported that a joint public hearing was held in March to
consider the proposed Comprehensive Plan and the Zoning and Planning Commission
has issued their final report in favor of the plan.
Members of the Zoning and Planning Commission present at the meeting were Chairman
Charles Nelson, Bob Higley, Stephen Pohl and Larry Kelly.
Mr. Pohl thanked the sub-committee for their work on the comprehensive plan.
A motion was made by Council Member Ballanfant, seconded by Council Member May,
to adopt Ordinance No. 1641 on the first reading with the following amendments: strike
the last sentence in Article IV, Section 4.01(b). In Article V, Section 5.01(a) the word
appearance would be removed from the second sentence.
A vote was taken on the motion with the following result:
Voting Aye: Mayor Lewis, Council Members Ballanfant, Bertini, Grubb
and May
Voting Nay: None
Absent: None
Ordinance regarding peripheral areas and the commercial district.
Matters related to the first reading of Ordinance No. 1643.
Mayor Lewis read the caption of Ordinance No. 1643 as follows:
An ordinance amending the zoning ordinance and code of ordinances of the City of West
University Place, Texas regarding peripheral areas and the commercial district, with
companion and conforming amendments; prescribing an effective date and transitional
provisions; and containing findings and provisions relating to the subject.
Copies of Ordinance No. 1643, in the form proposed for adoption, were available in the
Council Chambers.
Mr. Dougherty stated that Ordinance No. 1643 would amend the zoning ordinance with
respect to the peripheral areas and some of the commercial districts. A joint public
hearing was held in March to consider the proposed amendments and the Zoning and
Planning Commission has issued their final report in favor of the plan.
Mr. Nelson thanked the sub-committee from the Zoning and Planning Commission for
undertaking the proposals. He also thanked the City Manager and Staff for their support.
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City Council Regular Session, April 24, 2000
Mr. Nelson stated that one of the areas that may need further attention is those 50 x 100
lots on the perimeter. Traffic and safety is a concern so the Commission would like to
control ingress and egress out of those lots. Density on these lots is also a concern.
Mr. Higley reported that one of the proposed changes has to do with garage dimensions.
He stated that garage dimensions form the common denominator for the determination of
the size of a structure on the periphery. It is a density issue. The question before the city
council is whether or not a 50 x 100 foot lot can be subdivided effectively under these
particular amendments to allow for two units on this size lot. The proposed garage size
for a townhouse on these lots is 12’ per space x 25’. Mr. Higley stated that there was
some division on their committee and that the vote on these proposals was 3 to 2 in favor
of the amendment. He asked that the City Council vote in favor of the proposed
amendments.
Mr. Pohl reported that he was one of the two descending votes and his issue had to do
with the 50 x 100 lots. He stated that if you use the larger garage dimensions, only one
unit will be allowed on the lot and the only thing that is left is a single-family home. The
townhouse code has ultimately been changed to a single-family ordinance. He
encouraged the City Council to vote “no” on the proposed amendments until this matter
is addressed further.
Mr. Kelly stated that basically the issue is whether the city has a townhouse area or
whether the proposed amendment has effectively spot zoned 50 x 100 lots into single-
family dwellings. He felt that when someone finds out that they can not develop their lot
into two townhouses, they may develop one single-family dwelling that has different
dimensions than the interior homes. The person who owns that lot may lose value or a
poor quality home may be built. Mr. Kelly encouraged the City Council to vote against
the proposed amendments.
Mr. Higley pointed out that one of the proposed amendments relating to framed area of
all buildings on a building site in the perimeter of the city now allows for 100% use of the
building site.
Mayor Lewis recognized that a person attending the meeting wished to speak during the
discussion. She asked the City Attorney if she could allow this person to speak since the
time for citizen comments had already passed.
The City Attorney stated that the Council would have to vote to suspend the rules to
allow this person to speak. It would take two-thirds vote to suspend the rules.
Council Member Ballanfant asked the City Attorney if he viewed this particular proposal
spot zoning.
Mr. Dougherty responded that he did not view the proposal as spot zoning. The "classic
spot zoning case" is one where one lot--or maybe a very small site--would be picked out
and moved from one district to another, for example, from single-family to multi-family
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City Council Regular Session, April 24, 2000
or from multi-family to commercial. It refers to "the act of rezoning a small parcel out of
context from the rest of its neighbors," and the current proposal does not do that.
Council Member Grubb commented that he was in favor of including the larger garage
dimensions. He stated that his own garage was almost the same size as the proposed
dimensions and that it was insufficient to park two cars and a number of bicycles. On the
periphery, if someone does not have an adequate garage, then they will be parking on the
interior streets in front of someone else’s home.
Council Member May commented that the garage issue proposed is such that it does yield
a 50 x 100 foot lot unbuildable. In most cases, the townhouse development that was done
earlier, under the old rules, was beneficial to the community. The ones that were not
beneficial were not due to zoning but to overall quality. He stated that if someone has a
piece of property that they could previously build two townhomes and they can now only
build one, their sale price is limited by the market and the only place to make that up is in
the quality of the development, and the quality will suffer. Council Member May stated
that he hoped the proposed amendments would not leave those pieces of property
decaying and not developed.
Mayor Lewis asked Mr. Higley if by limiting townhouse development to one per 50 foot
lot, does that imply that the only way to really have a townhouse development, which is
perceived as more than one unit, would be that one person would have to then own at
least two lots to in effect have a townhouse development.
Mr. Nelson replied that right now if there are developments on both sides of a single 50
foot wide lot, there can be just one additional townhouse placed on that lot.
Mayor Lewis asked if that would still be called a townhouse.
Mr. Nelson said yes, it would be called a townhouse. It is zoned in a townhouse area but
someone could put in a single-family if they so choose. But since it is on the perimeter of
the city, a townhouse has relaxed rules, larger density and a number of other set back
rules that allow them the added benefit that they would not necessarily have on a single-
family lot.
Mayor Lewis commented that if a single-family dwelling is built on a lot zoned for
townhouse, they are allowed to build a house equal to 100% of the square footage of the
lot. Whereas, on that same 50 x 100 foot lot in the interior, you can only build 80%. So,
you are allowing fewer buildings but you are actually allowing a larger dwelling.
Mr. Nelson stated that if a lot is zoned townhouse, a person can choose to use the
townhouse rules and build a single-family home.
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City Council Regular Session, April 24, 2000
Mayor Lewis asked for a vote to suspend the rules to allow comments from those
attending the meeting.
Voting Aye: Mayor Lewis, Council Members Ballanfant and May
Voting Nay: Council Members Bertini and Grubb
Absent: None
The rules were not suspended and the floor was not opened for additional comments from
citizens.
A motion was made by Council Member Bertini, seconded by Council Member Grubb, to
adopt Ordinance No. 1643 as presented on the first reading.
A vote was taken on the motion with the following result:
Voting Aye: Council Members Ballanfant, Bertini and Grubb
Voting Nay: Mayor Lewis and Council Member May
Absent: None
The motion passed.
Public hearing regarding sidewalks.
Matters related to calling a public hearing for May 22, 2000 regarding the construction,
reconstruction, or repair of sidewalks along the 4000 block of Bissonnet and at 3783
Nottingham.
A motion was made by Council Member Grubb, seconded by Council Member Bertini, to
not call a public hearing but to request the City Manager to notify the property owner of
the 4000 block of Bissonnet to report within 30 days about their timing for the
installation of the sidewalk and to notify the property owners at 3783 Nottingham about
the possibility of installing a sidewalk but to remove the construction fencing from the
site immediately.
A vote was taken on the motion with the following result:
Voting Aye: Mayor Lewis, Council Members Ballanfant, Bertini, Grubb
and May
Voting Nay: None
Absent: None
Fencing in the city center.
Matters related to the use of sales tax revenue for improvements to the fencing in the city
center.
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City Council Regular Session, April 24, 2000
A motion was made by Council Member May, seconded by Council Member Grubb, to
reschedule the above agenda item for the next special session of the city council.
A vote was taken on the motion with the following result:
Voting Aye: Mayor Lewis, Council Members Ballanfant, Bertini, Grubb
and May
Voting Nay: None
Absent: None
Salary adjustment for Police and Fire personnel.
Matters related to the use of sales tax revenue for a one-time salary adjustment for Police
and Fire personnel.
A motion was made by Council Member Grubb, seconded by Council Member May, to
reschedule the above agenda item for the next special session of the city council.
A vote was taken on the motion with the following result:
Voting Aye: Mayor Lewis, Council Members Ballanfant, Bertini, Grubb
and May
Voting Nay: None
Absent: None
City Council minutes.
Matters related to the minutes of the Special and Regular Sessions conducted on April 10,
2000 and Special Session conducted on April 13, 2000.
A motion was made by Council Member May, seconded by Council Member Ballanfant,
to approve the minutes as presented.
A vote was taken on the motion with the following result:
Voting Aye: Mayor Lewis, Council Members Ballanfant, Bertini, Grubb
and May
Voting Nay: None
Absent: None
Staff report.
The City Manager reported that Harris County Appraisal District is in the process of re-
appraising properties and the information indicates that there is a 10% across the board
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City Council Regular Session, April 24, 2000
increase in West University. He asked that any calls from residents be directed to the
Finance Department.
Council comments.
Council Member Ballanfant commended the Zoning and Planning Commission and the
citizens for their harmonious effort in creating a comprehensive plan that met the
interests of the entire city.
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Council Member Bertini commented that heavy trash day is Saturday, April 29 from 8
a.m. to 4 p.m..
Adjournment.
With no further business to come before the City Council at this time, a motion was made
by Council Member Ballanfant, seconded by Council Member May, to adjourn. The
Regular Session adjourned at 8:29 p.m.
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