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HomeMy WebLinkAbout012609R CC Min0 (WON The City of West University Place A Neighborhood City CITY COUNCIL STAFF Bob Kelly, Mayor Michael Ross, City Manager Bob Fry, Councilmember Alan Petrov, City Attorney Phyllis Cohen, Councilmember Thelma Lenz, City Secretary Chuck Guffey, Councilmember Michael Talianchich, Councilmember CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES City Council of the City of West University Place, Texas, met in special session Monday, January 26, 2009, in the Municipal Building, 3800 University Boulevard, West University Place, Texas, beginning at 5:30 p.m. to consider the following: Council and staff in attendance: Mayor Kelly, Mayor Pro Tern Fry, Councilmembers Guffey, Cohen, and Talianchich, City Manager Ross, City Secretary Lenz, City Planner Scarcella, City Attorney Petrov, ZPC Chair Brown, Fire Chief Rails, and Police Chief Walker. MAYOR KELLY CALLED THE SPECIAL MEETING TO ORDER AT 5:30 P.M. IN THE COUNCIL CONFERENCE ROOM Special Agenda items were as follows: 1. Fence-like Hedges and Emergency Side-yard Access Discussion regarding possible ordinance changes relating to fence-like hedges and emergency side-yard excess. City Planner Scarcella and ZPC Chair Brown presented this item. Mr. Brown stated that guidance is sought from Council on this matter because the City does not have a current effective way to regulate these type hedges without an ordinance and said the issue is protection of the front-yard setback as a semi-public, highly regulated buffer. He said this issue could be resolved by adopting some of the concepts in existing ordinances that manage visibility triangles and allow low fences near townhomes. After discussion, it was decided that this issue should probably be taken to the public and so Mr. Brown stated that ZPC will begin the process of bringing this forward to Council and suggested that when it is time for a joint public hearing special effort be made to contact residents who might be affected. 2. Amendment to Allow Front Yard Maneuvering Areas on Some Sites Consideration and possible action to amend the Code of Ordinances to allow front yard maneuvering areas on some sites. City Planner Scarcella and ZPC Chair Brown presented this item. Mr. Brown said the primary issue for this proposed amendment is safety and said the exception would apply only to sites that are accessible from roadways marked for four lanes or more and will include properties on Buffalo Speedway. After discussion, Mr. Brown stated that the ZPC will probably have this item on the February 23, 2009 agenda to request that Council call for a Joint Public Hearing. City Council Minutes, January 26, 2009 Councilmember Cohen moved to adjourn the special meeting at 6:05 p.m. Mayor Pro Tem Fry seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Kelly, Fry, Guffey, Cohen, and Talianchich Noes: None Absent: None ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING (BEGINNING AT 6:30 P.M. IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS) Regular Agenda items were as follows: Pledge of Allegiance Pledge to the Texas Flag Notice: Matters related to the notice of this meeting. City Secretary Lenz confirmed that the notice of this meeting was duly posted in accordance with the Texas Government Code, Chapter 551. 3. Public Comments This is an opportunity for citizens to speak to Council relating to agenda or non-agenda items. Speakers are required to address Council at the microphone and give their name and address before addressing their concerns. [Note: State law will not permit the City Council to fully discuss, debate, or consider items that are not on the agenda. Items that cannot be referred to the City Staff for action may be placed on the agenda of a future City Council meeting.] Ed Heathcott, 2929 Arbuckle, spoke positively about the streetlights Gregg Thompson, 3758 Plumb, came forward to speak about leaf blowers as a resident and as owner of a landscape company. He said a few years ago when River Oaks were considering banning leaf blowers from their neighborhood, he and other landscape companies did studies to show how much extra time it would require on the average home if there were no leaf blowers and, as a result, they found that the costs were significant enough to where River Oaks didn't ban the them. Mr. Thompson said he's not exactly sure what changes were made to their ordinance, but he believes one was the times of the day during the week and on the weekend when they allowed the use of them. Mr. Thompson suggested that West U Council consider restricting the number of the blowers that can be going at any one time on a property and maybe also require certain type models that are quieter and have better emissions. City Manager Ross will follow-up with Mr. Thompson to try and get the results of the survey as well as information about the decibels of the leaf blowers that Mr. Thompson's company now uses. Joe Foster, 3715 Tangley, came forward to speak on leaf blowers. He then read an email he sent to the Police Chief, City Manager, and Mayor Kelly. He asked City Secretary Lenz to read the results of a 2000 survey relating to leaf blowers, which she did. (1) Do you use a lawn garden survey? Yes=210.5; No=236.5; (2) Does your service use gasoline powered leaf blowers? Yes=313.5; No=205.5; (3) Would you support a voluntary ban on GPLBs? Yes=352; No=172; and (4) Would you support a mandatory ban on GPLBs? Yes=404.5; No=139.5. Mr. Foster then commented that the results to ban them entirely were slanted was because the people that replied on a voluntary ban said they didn't think it would work. City Council Minutes, January 26, 2009 4. Leaf Blower Noise Discussion of citizen concerns regarding leaf blower noise and possible referral for further action. Councilmember Talianchich stated that it is his thought that leaf blowers are noise pollutants and emission pollutants and that there are other choices such as electric and battery operated leaf blowers and thinks the gasoline ones are a menace as far as noise goes. He said if Council can't agree on banning these instruments, then lowering the decibel rating of allowable leaf blowers should definitely be considered. Councilmember Cohen stated that she would be very interested in learning about the other models. She said assuming they are equally effective, she thinks it is important to find out the cost difference and difference in decibel level and pollutant qualities, which would be helpful before further evaluation. She said it would also be helpful to know if and where they have been banned or if not banned, what restrictions have been placed on them and what communities have done in our area. Councilmember Guffey said there is definitely a difference between leaf blowers, but doesn't think the price is that much difference because from what he knows, the workers are charging the same price to do the yards regardless of the type of leaf blower. He said he believes that the really cheap ones don't have enough power and so they don't use a muffler on the engine, which we might want to require they have. He said we might not want to start off banning them, but it might be a good idea to go ahead and put restrictions so that people have to use quieter ones. Mayor Kelly said he agrees that more information on the types of leaf blowers, their efficiency and costs is needed and said he believes that if it the equipment is less efficient it's going to raise the cost because if it's going to take them longer then they are going to charge you more. He said he doesn't like leaf blowers, either, but says they help clean up West University Place and wonders how we would police the decibel levels. He also stated why stop at leaf blowers and why not ban or limit other noises such as construction work with home builders, lawnmowers, weedeaters, and so on. As requested by Council, City Manager Ross will look into the different models, decibel levels, costs, etc., and will provide Council with the information for review and future consideration. 5. Parking Discussion of citizen concerns regarding overnight automobile parking and parking across sidewalks and possible referral for further action. Dick Yehle spoke and said the issue of clogged streets has come up continuously and that people are using the street as their permanently parking place. He said the ZPC has gone as far as it can go in creating off-street parking places and he said an overnight ban will be the most effective and simplest way to address street parking and people will be encouraged to use their driveways and garages for the intended purpose. Mayor Kelly asked Mr. Yehle what would having a ban from 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. accomplish. Mr. Yehle said people knowing they won't be able to park in the street overnight, would perhaps clear their driveways and garages and start using them as places to park their cars. He said he believes it would lead to less parking in the streets during the day because driveways and garages would become places where cars would normally be parked. Mayor Kelly asked if this is something that the ZPC would look into. Mr. Yehle said as a planning issue maybe, but not as a zoning issue. City Attorney Petrov said it could be somewhat related because of the planning issue and the idea of making sure the residential lots have sufficient parking for people if you are going to ban parking from the public streets, but a ban of parking from City Council Minutes, January 26, 2009 public streets will not fall under the zoning code, but rather the part of the code that regulates the streets right-of-ways and parking. City Attorney Petrov continued by saying that it would take Council action independent of the Zoning and Planning Commission to enact something like that, but Council could definitely seek input from the Commission regarding planning. Councilmember Cohen said more information is needed so that Council can evaluate the data in order to make an informed decision. City Manager Ross said our traffic engineers recently did a study and recommended no further prohibitions. After further discussion, City Manager Ross was asked to provide tangible information to Council for consideration and review, including information from the city manager of Southside Place, as well as data from the traffic engineers. 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 meeting minutes of December 8, 2008, January 12, 2009 and City Council special meeting minutes of January 5, 2009. B. Resolution Appointing Friends of West U Parks. Inc., Board Member Consideration and possible action on a resolution of the City Council of the City of West University Place, Texas, approving the appointment of Robin McGowan and Julie Foster to the Friends of West U Parks, Inc., Board. C. City Secretary Salary Matters related to City Secretary's salary. D. Fee Schedule Matters related to the City's Fee Schedule including review of proposed changes and consideration of an ordinance on the second and final reading. Councilmember Fry moved to approve the Consent Agenda. Councilmember Cohen seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Kelly, Fry, Guffey, Cohen, and Talianchich Noes: None Absent: None 7. Receiving of Reports The following topics will be reported on and/or discussed by City Council. A. Veteran's Display in West University Place Discussion relating to proposed items to be displayed at City Hall in honor of our veterans. Steven Segal presented the discussion on behalf of the committee - Ed Heathcott, Art Smith, Dick Yehle and Council Liaison Chuck Guffey - and explained the origin of this concept was the helmet Art Smith's father wore as an Air Raid Warden in West U from 1942-1945 whose job it City Council Minutes, January 26, 2009 was to walk around town to be sure that curtains were drawn and the City was dark. He said Mr. Smith also manned a wooden tower that was behind the fire station identifying planes that flew overhead. Mr. Segal showed some of the memorabilia, including the helmet, an arm band, and an article about the air raid wardens from a book by John Hamlet called Pigtails and Inkwells - A Story about Growing Up in West U. Mr. Segal said the committee proposes that there be a permanent display in the walls of City Hall that will allow the helmet to be affixed where people can touch it, have a description of what went on, have the air raid badge, and have the book encased in glass or plexiglass and have it open to the page where you can read about the air raids. Councilmember Cohen suggested having a map in the display depicting the location of the wooden tower. As requested by Council, City Manager Ross said that staff will put a budget together for a display case and other expenses to be associated with this project and bring it to Council for consideration and approval. Mr. Segal said if Council approves the idea and it's publicized, we can see what develops from there and have a better idea of what type of display will be warranted. After his presentation, Mr. Segal gave the memorabilia to the City Secretary for safekeeping. Councilmember Guffey requested the City Manager to do a press release. 8. Executive Session (if necessary) Council reserves the right to at any time during the session convene in a closed session pursuant to Chapter 551 of the Texas Government Code, for reasons including but not limited to: Section 551.071 (consultation with legal counsel to seek or receive legal advice or consultation regarding pending or contemplated litigation); Section 551.072 (discussion about the value or transfer of real property and other real estate matters; Section 551.074 (personnel matters); 551.076 (deliberation about security devices); Section 551.087 (deliberation regarding economic development). 9. Convene into Open Session Take action, if any 10. Adjournment Councilmember Cohen moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:20 p.m. Mayor Pro Tem Fry seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Kelly, Fry, Guffey, Cohen, and Talianchich Noes: None Absent: None a?E~T 0i Prepared by: ` elma A. Lenz, City Secretary Date Approved: