HomeMy WebLinkAbout12062007 BSC Agenda Item 2 • •
City of West University Place
A Neighborhood City
CJ Recycled Paper
Building & Standards Commissio 0 0
Located in the Bill Watson Conference Room, C
3800 University Blvd, �/
West University Place, Texas 77005 �"
Meeting Minutes
November 1, 2007
MEMBERS PRESENT: Bryant Slimp, David Flame, Brian Hoogendam, Dr. Peter
Benjamin, Dave Miller, Muddy McDaniel, Frank Griffin and
Gerry Spedale
MEMBERS ABSENT: J. Denis Powers
STAFF PRESENT: City Planner Debbie Scarcella, Permit Technician Josie
Orosco, James L. Dougherty and Urban Forester Craig Koehl
GUESTS PRESENT: Robert Riquelmy
[Call to Order] Bryant Slimp called the meeting to order at 6:07 p.m.
1. Notices, Rules, Etc. Bryant Slimp welcomed new and returning BSC members, visitors and staff
members to the meeting. All BSC members and staff gave a brief introduction of themselves.
Bryant Slimp stated Dave Miller, Muddy McDaniel, Frank Griffin and Gerry Spedale would be
the alternate voting members.
2. Meeting Minutes. Muddy McDaniel made a motion to approve the October 1, 2007 minutes as
amended. Dr. Peter Benjamin seconded the motion. AYES: Bryant Slimp, David Flame, Brian
Hoogendam and Dr. Peter Benjamin. NOES: None. ABSTAIN: None. Meeting minutes passed.
3. Urban Forest Code Amendments. Dave Miller stated that during their recent joint meeting
with City Council, Michael Talianchich, City Council member, thought the requirement for
heritage trees was excessive. Mr. Talianchich did not like the idea of having to go before the
BSC board to get .variance to remove a heritage tree. Dave Miller stated that both Phyllis
Cohen and Chuck`Huffy had question rather people should be required to replace damaged or
diseased trees. Dave Miller stated that Mayor Bob Kelly seems to have been involved in drafting
the existing tree ordinance and questi ed why changes needed to be made. City Council told
BSC to press on and keep them advise . Dave Miller/stated one of the local newspapers
published an article that was accurate r garding the changes to the urban forest code amendments
on October 24, 2007. Mr. Miller sugges ed that James Dougherty start drafting the ordinance.
Mr. Miller suggested the BSC discuss th open issues that have not been worked out. The items
at hand are as follows:
• Minimum tree requirements
• Canopy requirements
• Dollars per square inch of replacement trees
3800 University Boulevard • West University Place, Texas 77005-2899 • 713•668•4441 • www.westu.org
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Building and Standards Commission Meeting Minutes
Noveinber 1, 2007
Dave Miller suggested two other new issues be looked at. The first issue being that the Criteria
Manuel be renamed to something that has "tree"in the title so that it gets filed in the correct
place and that people are aware that it pertains to tree issues. The second issue being to compile
everything into one document. Brian Hoogendam asked that the BSC discuss the replacement
requirements for heritage trees. There was general discussion regarding the requirements of
residents/contractors going before the BSC to get approval to remove heritage trees. BSC asked
that Debbie Scarcella give a visual presentation of different size lots with tree planting
placement. Each diagram included the following: size of lot, canopy coverage, setback
requirements, right-of-way dimensions, limits of structures and minimum-planting standards.
Brian Hoogendam asked Craig Koehl what the size limitations were to relocate a tree. Craig
stated, that in his opinion, the maximum size of tree that you should try to relocate is about a
seven to eight inch tree. Beyond that, it is very difficult to get 75% of that tree's critical root
zone. If you cannot get 75% of the critical root zone, then the tree will not survive. There was
general discussion regarding Debbie Scarcella's visual presentation. Craig Koehl stated that as
he drives around other cities, he thinks that the 50% canopy coverage requirement is a little stiff.
Craig stated that City of Shenandoah, Fort Worth and some other city's canopy coverage
requirement is 30% but he is not sure if he wants to get that low for the City of West University
Place. There was general discussion regarding what the canopy area should be. There was
general discussion regarding the requirements of the location of the replacement trees.
Dave Miller suggested that there be a workshop meeting in the next couple of weeks and asked
that staff bring copies of recent tree disposition submissions that have been submitted to the City
and work them up and draw the radii and what the canopy coverage would be on each lot. Both
Debbie Scarcella and Craig Koehl stated they would not enough time to gather all the
information. It was agreed that staff would bring the requested information to the December
meeting. David Flame made a motion to have James Dougherty start drafting the ordinance
based on the spreadsheet. Frank Griffin seconded the motion. AYES: Bryant Slimp, David
Flame, Muddy McDaniel and Frank Griffin. NOES: None. ABSTAIN: None. Motion passed.
BSC and staff reviewed the aerial canopy coverage for the City of West University on-line.
There was general discussion regarding some of the canopy coverage areas on different sizes of
lots in the City.
[Adjournment]
Dave Miller made a motion to adjourn. Muddy McDaniel seconded the motion. AYES: Bryant
S limp, David Flame, Muddy McDaniel and Frank Griffin. NOES: None. ABSTAIN: None.
Meeting adjourned at 7:42 p.m.
PASSED THIS DAY OF , 2007
Bryant Slimp, Chairman
ATTEST:
Ms. Josie M. Orosco, Permit Technician
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