ccswks 09-30-1993
272
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
SEPTEMBER 29, 1993
The Schertz City Council convened in Special Workshop Session,
Wednesday, September 29, 1993 at 7:00 p.m. in the conference
room of the Municipal Complex, 1400 Schertz Parkway, Schertz,
Texas. The followinq members were present: Mayor Earl W.
Sawyer, presidinq; Joe Potempa; Hal Baldwin; Barbara
Stanhope; Mary Marsh and Ken Greenwald. Staff present were
City Manaqer Kerry Sweatt, Administrative Assistant Mark
Marquez, Police Chief Norman Aqee and Deputy City Secretary
Norma Althouse.
Mayor Sawyer announced they will move to #4 on the aqenda as
the first item of business this eveninq.
#4 Discuss settinq a public hearinG on the proposed
Technos Reinvestment Zone.
Mark Marquez introduced Philip Neal, President of Technos
Corporation, and his wife Sabina to everyone. Mr. Marquez
related it is required by State law that, before you can pass a
tax abatement ordinance, you must have a Reinvestment Zone.
The public hearinq to consider the Reinvestment Zone and the
tax abatement is scheduled for October 5, 1993.
Mark Marquez further stated Technos Corporation will be located
on 4.39 acres of land just off FM 3009, on the same side of the
road as Southwest Precast. This reinvestment zone will
encompass only that area and no more. They had requested this
tax abatement several months aqo, but we asked them to delay
the public hearinqs because we were riqht in the middle of the
budqet process and they aqreed to do so. Accordinq to our
quidelines, they can be qranted a 36% tax abatement.
Mr. Marquez then informed those present that Technos
Corporation constructs larqe industrial fans for allover the
world and employs 25-30 people. Their building will cost
around $350,000 and the foundation alone approximately
$100,000.
Philip Neal explained that Technos Corporation repairs and
manufactures larqe industrial fans for the cement industry and
for steel mills. Their employees are specialized employees.
Beinq the type of business they are, ninety-five percent of
their work comes from out of the area, from places like
Pittsburqh and Buffalo. They expect to double their work force
in 1-2 years and are buildinq with expansion in mind.
Mr. Neal went on to say they are a twelve year old company and
very profitable. The product they manufacture and repair has
to do with pollution control and due to qovernment requlations,
is a product that is required by law. They are a clean
company, they do not use contaminatinq materials and their
by-products/scrap are not contaminants.
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Mark Marquez noted that from the standpoint of economic
development, Technos Corporation is the ideal company and he
feels a tax abatement is appropriate. The Economic Development
Task Force met on this and thinks the tax abatement is a good
deal.
Philip Neal added to his previous remarks that Technos
Corporation is a good neighbor. They have been in San Antonio
for many years and have been a good neighbor there.
Mr.
from
are.
Baldwin asked if they are moving their entire operation
San Antonio to Schertz and Philip Neal replied yes they
Mayor Sawyer
meeting and
arms.
thanked Mr. and Mrs. Neal for coming to
said the City of Schertz welcomes them with
the
open
Mr. Greenwald commented that the Planning and Zoning
Commission approved the plat for Technos Corporation at their
meeting last night.
Sabina Neal explained they have a lot of faith in their builder
and feel everything will be first class;
Mr. Potempa inquired as to when the public hearing will be
held and was informed by Mr. Sweatt it will be October 5th.
Mrs. Marsh questioned when construction will start on the
building and Philip Neal replied they expect to be moved in by
January, 1994.
At this time Mayor Sawyer returned to Item #1 on the agenda.
#1 HEARING OF RESIDENTS:
There was none.
#2 Discuss setting a public hearing on an amendment
to the Zoning Ordinance clarifYing the definition of side
yard setbacks.
Mr. Sweatt, referring to the public hearing on Dove Meadows,
said if you recall, there was some ambiguity about our
definition of side yard setbacks and a potential for conflict.
The Planning and Zoning Commission reviewed the definition and
found some conflict, so they have forwarded a recommendation to
you clarifying the definition and asking that a public hearing
be scheduled. The wording for the proposed change says the
side yard is measured from the footprint or building wall out
as opposed to the overhang or any projections thereto.
Mrs. Marsh questioned then if after this when you use the word
footprint, that's what you're talking about and Mr. Sweatt
acknowledged that's correct.
274
Mayor Sawyer asked when the public hearinq is scheduled and was
informed it is scheduled for October 5th.
'3 Discuss settinq
Darwin E. and Patricia
tract of land from R-1
Dwellinq District.
a
Peek
Sinqle
public hearinq on a request by
to rezone an eiqht (8) acre
Family to R-4 Multi-Family
Mr. Sweatt advised that Darwin Peek has made a request for a
zoninq chanqe and the public hearinq is scheduled for October
5th. Notices (10 of them) were mailed to property owners
within 300'. Someone made copies of the notice and added the
comment "A total of 192 apartment units may be built in this
area with Dimrock beinq an entrance/exit for the development."
and distributed it to all of the homeowners in Woodland Oaks.
The City has received over 100 replies and 98% of those
notified disapprove of the zoninq chanqe. Planninq and Zoninq
held a public hearing last niqht and the house was full and
overflowing. The Planninq and Zoninq Commission is
recommendinq denial of the request.
Mrs. Marsh asked where this property is
Sweatt pointed it out on the map sayinq Mr.
frontage on Maske Road.
located and Mr.
Peek has 650' of
Mrs. Marsh then declared the information she has before her is
insufficient for her to make up her mind about anythinq and
she's not ready for a public hearinq.
Mr. Sweatt explained the public hearinq is already set. Under
our procedures when an application is received, it starts the
process and the public hearinq notices for both the Commission
and the Council are run concurrently. This was decided upon in
an effort to streamline the process.
Mr. Baldwin asked if Mr. Peek has a developer and Mayor
Sawyer replied he does not. Mr. Baldwin continued on saying
then that Mr. Peek is doinq this on his own. Mayor admitted
that's correct. Mr. and Mrs. Peek feel their land should be
zoned for apartments.
Mr. Sweatt divulged that Maske Road presents both drainaqe
problems and access problems.
Indicatinq she thinks Mr. Peek is shootinq himself in the
foot, Mrs. Marsh wondered if anyone had talked with Darwin
Peek because she considers him to be a very reasonable man.
Did anyone ask him to hold off for awhile? We need nice
apartments in the City and this would be a beautiful location.
Mrs. Marsh went on to say she feels this was handled wronq by
Planninq and Zoninq. It is so important for Planninq and
Zoninq and the Economic Development Task Force to work
together.
Mr.
had
Greenwald related that Steve Simonson and the
spoken with Mr. Peek. His request met one of
Commission
the four
2'"" ...
.~ 1:- ':I
criteria (economic and development change in the area) for
recommending a publiC hearing.
Mrs. Marsh repeated her thoughts that Darwin Peek is going to
get shot in the foot. This whole thing will get a lot of
publicity and the next time someone comes in with a good piece
of land to build some apartments, they'll get shot in the foot
because a precedence has been set. Mayor Sawyer disagreed
about a precedence being set.
There was a brief discussion on proposed apartments within the
City and Mark Marquez admitted he is working with two people
who are thinking of building apartments.
Mr. Baldwin agreed with Mrs. Marsh and acknowledged we don't
have many opportunities to get nice developments in the City.
Mayor Sawyer reminded everyone a 3/4 vote by City Council is
required to overturn the recommendation by Planning and Zoning.
Mr. Sawyer then added it was explained to Darwin Peek that
Maske Road needs to be improved and Mr. Peek feels he should
not be obligated to do it.
Mr. Sweatt reiterated that the Commission's decision last
night was to recommend denial of Darwin Peek's request.
Mr. Baldwin recalled a previous decision of the City Council
when the land where Woodland Oaks is was rezoned and people
from Oak Forest and Deer Haven objected to the building of
houses on those little lots and didn't want them in their
neighborhood. City Council approved the rezoning anyway, and
now Woodland Oaks is here and it's a good subdivision.
Mayor Sawyer wasn't sure whether or not they should
roster at their public hearing for people who wish to
The opinion of the Council was to run a roster, but set
limit.
run a
speak.
a time
#5 Discuss City
annexation request.
of
San
Antonio's
response to
Mr. Sweatt indicated he felt the City had been treated very
shabbily by the City of San Antonio. Mayor Sawyer sent a
letter to Mayor Wolff who responded saying he was going to
forward the request to the Annexation Committee. We then
received a letter from the San Antonio Planning Department,
signed by someone other than the Planning Director, basically
stating they don't see any benefits to the City of San Antonio
for a unilateral release and the City of Schertz should
consider offering some area to San Antonio in exchange.
Mrs. Marsh asked Mr. Sweatt if he sent a letter in reply, but
Mr. Sweatt answered he had not. Instead, he had called City
Manager Alex Briseno and expressed his feelings about the whole
situation.
~7h
Mrs. Marsh then stated she would have sent a letter to Mayor
Wolff lettinq him know what his people are doinq.
Mr. Sweatt observed that may be what Mayor Sawyer wishes to do.
Mr. Greenwald recommended notifYinq the people who had asked
to be annexed about this response and lettinq them know they
should petition San Antonio to provide services to them or let
them qo.
Mayor Sawyer recommended goinq through the politicians.
Mr. Sweatt disclosed that nine property owners had siqned the
petition for annexation which represent 27% of the property
owners in the area and 35% of the total acreaqe in the Thomas
Williams Subdivision. He he is not sure how all the property
owners feel about annexation and whether or not they would be
willinq to qet more siqnatures.
Mayor Sawyer admitted that some of them had objected to being
annexed.
Mr. Greenwald revealed he had received two calls from people
who did not want to be annexed by Schertz and did not realize
they were in San Antonio's ETJ. When told they were in San
Antonio's ETJ, they said if they had to make a choice between
San Antonio and Schertz for beinq annexed, they would rather be
in Schertz.
Mr. Baldwin acknowledged receiving similar calls and as a
matter of fact, some of them didn't want to be annexed by
anyone. Mr. Baldwin then noted that 27% of the property
owners is not a very high percentaqe.
Mayor Sawyer still wanted to proceed with letters to
politicians asking for their help.
'6 EXECUTIVE
Vernon's Texas Civil
land acquisition.
SESSION: Called under
Statutes, Section 2
Article
(f) to
6252-17
discuss
Mayor Sawyer called the executive session at 8:00 p.m. and
advised the citizens and staff present that this was a private
session and asked everyone except City Council and the City
Manager to please leave the room.
Mayor Sawyer reopened the meetinq at 8:20 p.m.
'7 Consider and -take action, if. any, on the above
executive session.
Mrs. Marsh moved to proceed with land acquisition as discussed
in executive session. Mr. Potempa seconded the motion, which
carried with the followinq vote:
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~77
AYES: Councilmembers Potempa, Baldwin, Stanhope, Marsh
and Greenwald.
NAYS: None.
#8 CITY MANAGER'S REPORT: A. Announced there will
be a meetinq in Sequin at 2:00 p.m. October 5th on the high
speed rail. Mr. Baldwin asked what we know about it and Mr.
Sweatt replied very little. There will be a two mile corridor
of right-of-way, but the location is unknown. Also, there will
be some historically significant property in the right-of-way.
Mayor Sawyer asked if there's anyone who can attend the meeting
and Mrs. Stanhope volunteered.
B. Related the Texas Department of Transportation can
temporarily reduce the speed on FM 3009 to 40 mph, but they
need our consensus. The Council gave their consensus.
C. Advised we have received the County nominations for the TIF
District and they are Chuck Sharpe and Christy Shriver.
D. Suqgested the Council think about a method of selecting a
nominee for the Guadalupe Appraisal District. We need to make
our nomination known by October 15th.
Mayor Sawyer asked that a method for selecting nominees for GAD
be placed on the next workshop agenda.
Mr. Baldwin remarked the school will nominate Malford Brehm.
Mayor Sawyer commented all the cities out here on this end of
the County don't have enough votes to get one person on the
Board. We should find out if Ms. Powers is running again and
throw our support behind her.
E. Referred to the 1987 Street Bond Projects and said we have
received six bids for improvements to Main St. and Schertz
Parkway Overlay. The low bid was $146,569.15 from Clark
Construction. Ford Engineering recommends considering awarding
the bid to Clark. Pointed out that even though they were the
low bid, that exceeds our estimate by $20,000. This will be
placed on the action agenda for next Tuesday.
#9 ITEMS BY COUNCIL: Marv Marsh:
Schertz Business Association held its meeting
Kerry Sweatt spoke for about 45 minutes.
1. Noted
yesterday
the
and
2. Informed Council the Schertz Equestrian Center, over 27
acres between FM 78 and Elbel on the Cibolo side, offers a
a course for jumping and offers riding lessons.
3. Commented how nice the Cibolo Creek area looks and asked if
we're going to plant wildflower seeds. Mr. Sweatt replied we
could do that.
27R
4. Stated the float went to the Medina fair and won a special
award. It will be in six more places before November.
s. The nominatinq committee for 1994 officers for the Schertz
Business Association consists of Dot Harborth (chairman), Gail
Douqlas and Laura Gutierrez.
6. Notified everyone that December 2nd is the Christmas Tree
Liqhtinq.
7. Mentioned the Trail Riders Dinner and Dance is always
scheduled in February. This year they will have a silent
auction in conjunction with the event to raise money.
8. Remarked that Carl Harborth was a quest speaker at the
Schertz Business Association meetinq. He has to qive a speech
five times to qualify for a speech contest throuqh the FFA.
9. Advised the next Business Association meetinq is October
26th.
10. Related there is a VFW breakfast every 3rd Saturday and a
meetinq every 2nd Monday. They are holdinq a fundraiser on
October 10th which is a country music showcase.
Joe PotemDa: 1. Noted that the Guadalupe County Weekly is a
free paper and the Schertz leqal notices are in it. You can
qet a copy at Wuest's.
2. Said he received a call from Malford Ackermann about the
fact the Seguin-Gazette is delivered in Cibolo and wondered if
we can have it delivered in Schertz. Mr. Sweatt indicated he
will speak with them about it. Mayor Sawyer recalled that one
other time they tried to come up with enouqh subscribers to
make it profitable for them to deliver it.
3. Remarked he had read Mr. Golla's letter about how
beautiful the Cibolo Creek area is lookinq and it's true the
bottom looks good, but there is graffiti at the top on the
railroad tressel. There's also qraffiti on the side of the
cleaners and the car lot. Can we do anythinq about it?
Mr. Sweatt commented they have talked about usinq people for
these thinqs who are obliqated, as part of a court's decision,
to provide community service, but it takes a permit from the
property owner to allow them to do it.
Chief Agee acknowledqed he had spoken to Judqe Cinnamon about
teen court people doinq it, but some property owners are wary
there will be an accident and they will be held responsible.
Barbara StanhoDe: Mentioned, also, how nice the Cibolo Creek
area looks.
:~: ! '
Referring to that same general area, Mayor Sawyer remarked
some tall weeds still standing, Mrs. Marsh indicated the
County sign had fallen down, and Mr. Baldwin commented on
old barricade just laying there.
on
old
an
Ken Greenwald: 1. Showed a copy of the Taco Bell site
and said there's a playground package included in it.
plan
Mary Marsh asked how many square feet the Taco Bell will have
and Mr. Greenwald replied approximately 2800 square feet.
2. Reported that the final plat for Woodland Oaks, Unit 5, was
approved by Planning and Zoning with a couple of contingencies.
There was a brief discussion on how far the end of the Woodland
Oaks property is from Schertz Parkway with Mr. Sweatt saying
it's about 500' - there is another owner involved.
3. Noted that the Master Plan for Woodland Oaks, Units 5 and 6
was also approved by Planning and Zoning.
To this Mr. Sweatt added that the parkland requirement for
these two units is almost two acres.
#10 ITEMS BY MAYOR: 1. Informed everyone that the
bonfire at the school is scheduled for October 13th.
2. Related that Mr. Aguilar told him the City of Schertz sign
on FM 78 looks awful and wondered why whoever owns it doesn't
come up with a plan to fix it up.
Mary Marsh disclosed that GVEC owns a chunk of the sign and
yes, it is an ugly sign for a growing City. She will bring it
up at the next Business Association meeting.
,. 11 ADJOURNMENT
Mayor Sawyer adjourned
the me~~~~;;;~~M /--
.. Mayor, City of SChe~ Texas
ATTEST:
C -,' /j ,
/-M-t./)-1l4f/' (j, [UL/~-t-ULe>'
Deputy City S#cretary,
City of Schertz, Texas