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ccswks 08-09-1989 ( 253 SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL AUGUST 9, 1989 The Schertz City Council convened in Special Workshop Session, Wednesday, August 9, 1989 at 7:00 p.m. in the Conference Room of the Municipal Complex, 1400 Schertz Parkway, Schertz, Texas. The following members were present: Mayor Earl W. Sawyer, presiding; Earl Hartzog; Hal Baldwin; Barbara Stanhope; Mary Marsh; and Ken Greenwald. Staff present were City Manager Kerry R. Sweatt and City Secretary June G. Krause. II Discussion of items to be heard at public hearing with the Planning & Zoning Commission on August 5, 1989: A. Article XXV, Regulation on Non-Conforming Uses, Section 2, Change of use and Section 7, Change in ownership or tenant. Mr. Sweatt reminded Council this has been discussed at one or two workshop and we are now corning up for public hearing. Council agreed it was time to go for a public hearing. B. Article XXIII, Amendments, Section 2 This also had been discussed previously and was ready for public hearing. C. Article XXVI, Administration, Section 5, Adult-Oriented Uses. After rece~v~ng thanks for a job well done, Mr. Sweatt advised that staff will be following up on licensing and regulations in another ordinance later on. He said that all agencies have passed ordinances at least as stringent as this one. The Counties' will be similar to those in the cities. D. Article XXIII, Amendments, Section 4, Public Notice and Procedures for Amendments. Mr. Sweatt advised that, as previously discussed and after this publ ic hearing and passage of the ordinance, there will be two separate public hearings on zoning matters. Planning & Zoning will have one and we will give notice of both public hearings at the same time. #2 HEARING OF RESIDENTS: None 13 Discussion of the first reading of an ordinance amending the Code by revising Section 18-76 providing for school zones on FM 1518. Mayor Sawyer advised that the City Manager had asked that action on this ordinance be held for two or three weeks. \ 254 '~ Mr. Sweatt said this originally carne as a recommendation from the Department of Hiqhways and Public Transportation. During earlier workshop discussions, some questions were raised. We have discussed this with the Highway Department and are goinq to discuss with the Traffic Engineer. We hope to be able to work this out with the Hiqhway Department and leave the school zone as it is. We would like to enlarge the zone but the Hiqhway Department is reluctant. Mayor Sawyer said this item will be table until Mr. Sweatt has the differences worked out with the Highway Department. '4 Discussion of the final reading of an ordinance amending the Code by revising Sections 18-75 and 18-76 providing for extended school zones. Mr. Hartzog said he was opposed to the 20 miles per hour school zone for Schertz Parkway. He said he did not feel it necessary. He said he was on the fence post about Elbel Road at this time. Schertz Parkway is a major thoroughfare and we should extend the sidewalks on Elbel Road. Mr. Greenwald said his reluctance with 20 MPH on Elbel is that the kids coming out of the High School parkinq lot do not obey the 30 MPH speed, so why would we think they would obey the 20 MPH speed limit. Mr. Sweatt said the point of lowerinq the speed limit throuqh the school zones is to try to make all people aware of the schools and to drive safely where children are coming out onto the streets. He said we bel ieve the postinq of school zones will I have a positive affect on driver's conduct. We could cut the time limits in these areas to 7:45 to 8:45 in the morninqs and 3:00 to 4:00 in the afternoons. We do feel Randolph Avenue does need some special attention, by moving the zone about two blocks down the street. The original recommendation for Schertz Parkway called for it to be all the way down passed Pecan Drive; but we have discussed decreasing that. The Elbel Road zone will be from the fireplug all the way north to just past the GVEC Sub Station. Mr. Baldwin said the most effective zone was on Randolph where the Crossing Guard rolled the siqn out into the middle of the street. Mrs. Marsh said she agreed that enforcement is the answer and stiff fines are the only way to qet their attention. Mr. Baldwin said that even if you cannot enforce the 20 MPH, you still need to set the zone because of possible liability to the City. That way, we would be trying our best to control traffic. Mrs. Stanhope said at first she was hesitant about zones on Schertz Parkway but she noticed some of San Antonio I s major thorouqhfares have numerous school zones. ( 6)f:;r; L.. U VI Mr. Hartzog asked about a school zone on Lindberg. said we would take a look at it after school starts. Mr. Sweatt Mr. Sweatt said the other part of the Code we need to clean up is that it shows a 30 MPH school zone on Jack Haysj and it is no longer recognized by the Highway Department. If there is a need for this later on, we will work with the Highway Department on it. Mr. Greenwald said, in that respect, we still have the school zone on FM 78 but FM 78 has been designated as a hazardous road by the School District and the children are bussed. Mr. Sweatt said one concern is not so much the pedestrian crossing, but people walking along the shoulders of the roadways. That does fit the Highway Department criteria for slowing traffic. He said when he meets with them on FM 1518, he will talk to them about Jack Hays and FM 78 also. Mr. Hartzog asked if the City could look for a grant to put in sidewalks on Elbel Road; and maybe get the schools to investigate a grant also. '5 Discussion of the final reading of an ordinance amendinq the Code, Section 18-131 Traffic Safety Hazards. Mr. Sweatt said this ordinance sets up a triangular zone on corner lots. If the property owner will not remove the bush, tree, etc., we can file a lien against the property for removal. If a bUilding is in this zone, it would be non-conforming. If it were taken down, then it would not be replaced. '6 Discussion of the final reading of an ordinance amending the Code, Section 2-8 Competitive Bids for purchases and sales; bidder's security. Mr. Sweatt advised that the purpose of this ordinance is to change the current ordinance by raising the limit up to $5,000 from the present $3,000 for securing bids on purchase of items for the city. We currentl y require any purchase in excess of $3,000 to have formal bids. We would continue to solicit bids on informal basis for items under $5,000. '7 Discussion of the final reading of an ordinance adopting a Water Manaqement Plan. Mr. Sweatt commented that action is being taken throughout the Metrocom area on this subject as we are all facing the same problem. We believe a united approach to be best. Stage 1 is Water Awareness, initiated when the water level is at 628 feet. Stage 2 is a Water Watch, initiated when the water level is at 628 feet. Stage 3 is a Water Warning, when the level is at 612 feet and call s for mandatory conservation, with a surcharge of I \ 256 ~ $2.00 per thousand gallons in excess of 15,000 gallons and calls for alternate days waterinq of lawns. Stage 4 is a Water Emerqency, call inq for a 30% reduction in usage and a $3.00 surcharge for usage in excess of 13,000 gallons and prohibits all non-essential water uses. This staqe also calls for water rationing and pressure reduction, if necessary. At this staqe, a very serious condition exist. Mr. Sweatt recommended this be placed on the next aqenda as we are now in Stage 2 and almost to Staqe 3. '8 Discussion of recolDIDendations of the Planning Br Zoning Commission on the Cosaic Futures, Inc. Subdivision. Mayor Sawyer advised that the Council toured this subdivision the previous niqht. Mr. Hartzog said he would not disaqree with the size of the streets, if this thing is approved he wanted the 100-year Flood Plain to be identified by an engineer, any enqineer, as long as it is approved by FEEMA. He thouqht Council should not authorize the plattinq of this property or sellinq of any lots until the map amendment is approved. Mrs. Marsh aqreed, sayinq that when Mr. Decker was at a workshop, did he not say that the survey has been completed but he has not received it yet. She added that everything hinges on that enqineer's survey and the establishment of the Flood Plain. Mr. Sweatt said Mr. Decker told us he tried to to take data from the approved plat and do surveys to determine if those plats and the correct. qet his enqineer some preliminary information was Mr. Sweatt said what he thinks Mr. Decker is trying to qet Council to say is that here are thinqs that are exceptions and if he knew that the City would aqree to accept those, being different from the current requlations, he would proceed with acquiring this property and brinq it up to meet all the other conditions. Mr. Decker is simply wantinq the City to say we will accept a street of certain width or whatever. Mr. Greenwald said that P&Z pretty much concurs with most of what he asked for. Some thinqs they can not aqree with because, for instance, he wants to give us the easements, when he does not even know where the easements are located. Mr. Greenwald said he did not see anythinq wronq with Council accepting the easement, if he knows for sure that is where the lines are. Mr. Baldwin said the Council needs a list of everythinq we feel is wronq with the property, and say what we agree we will allow that is wrong with it, and those things that he has to fix. Then he has to look at those thinqs that need to be fixed and decide if he can afford to do that and buy the property or not. ) ( '- 257 Mr. Sweatt said the list given with the proposal covers just about everything but the Flood Plain. Mr. Greenwald suggested adding one item to the list - that being that he must have the amended map first, as approved by FEEMA. Mrs. Marsh said that being the case, she would recommend that Council take under consideration and go ahead and prepare a document, telling him what we would permit and what we expect of him before any action is taken. Mr. Hartzog asked about condemnation. Mr. Sweatt said we have the authority, even outside our city limits. He said at this stage he did not feel it would be necessary. He had talked with Mr. Decker, who fel t all the property owners are in agreement with the exception of one lady. Mr. Willman said Council will have Mr. Riedel involved with the entrance from FM 78. Our ordinance states that mobile homes must be set back 25 feet from the public street so those mobile homes that are there now are illegal. Mr. Baldwin said that street is a private road and not a public street so it could be grandfathered. Mr. Sweatt said what staff has suggested is to have this on the September 5th agenda for action. We would have this on the agenda of the August 30th workshop and have Mr. Decker present. Mr. Sweatt said whether or not Council takes final action is not vital but this way we will have something to shoot at. Mr. Sweat said there are currently two resolutions, on either the plat or deed records, that basically says we will not accept anything. One of the things is that we will have to remove those from the plat or deed records. Nothing can happen until this is accomplished. '9 Discussion of ratifying City Manager filing preliminary application for Energy Management Grants. Mr. Sweatt said we have made application to the Governor's office of Budget and Planning for two separate grants. One of which is very explicit, we have completed the paper work and are calling for a resolution on Council's behalf. As we understand, the Energy Management Center is funded through some oil overcharge fines or forfeitures that were made by the State against a number of oil companies for overcharges in the past. So there is a pool of money that is the result of payments by oil companies for overcharges. They have set up a request for Energy Management Programs, new and innovative programs. We submitted a Centralized Fuel Management Program basically a computer control for gas and diesel. Estimated total cost of the project is $45,000. This is an item that we very definitely need. This seems to be a good candidate for this kind of grant. We believe, ~ 25~ '\ for a city of this size, it is very innovative approach. Therefore, we have asked that you pass a resolution in support. The other program we are still developing. This one we really believe has a lot of potential. As you know GVEC has a peak load program. In the homes today, some 6,000 accounts have that automatic device, shuttinq off the account when the load reaches the peak. For commercial accounts such as the City, we obviously cannot shut down, since the peak time is about 4:00 to 7:45 in the afternoon. What we could do is put an auxiliary generator on and when the siqnals says it is time to conserve enerqy, we could say fine, cut us off from GVEC lines and exercise our auxiliary generator to power up our buildinq for that period of time. It makes sense. We believe $20,200 grant would implement the proqram and qet us a qenerator that we are in desperate need of. We have submitted a letter to reserve our place in the process, to ratify both applications iand if they will recognize our letter and hold our place in line, then we will corne back to Council for another resolution. , 10 Consider and take action on a resolution stating a commitment to proposed grant projects. Mayor Sawyer introduced a resolution and read the caption as follows: RESOLUTION NO. 89-R-7 A RESOLUTION BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SCHERTZ, TEXAS, STATING THEIR COMMITMENT TO SUPPORT THE FLEET MANAGEMENT REFUELING SYSTEM. Mr. Hartzog moved to adopt the resolution stating a commitment to proposed qrant projects. Mrs. Marsh seconded the motion, which carried with the followinq vote: AYES: Councilmembers Hartzoq, Baldwin, Stanhope, Marsh and Greenwald. NAYS: None #11 CITY MANAGER"S REPORT: A. In reqards to a question that has been raised, we have secured information and furnished to you in your packets a description of a proposed 16" pipe line that is going through our community. It is a private refined oil pipe line. It is fOllowing an existinq easement through the Schirmerville area, cuts across FM 1604, FM 1518 then continuing in a northeastern direction. Mr. Hartzog asked if the line is on our tax roll and will the new one be on the roll. Mr. Sweatt said normally companies like that submit a rendition to all taxing entitiesi but he would check to be sure. (/ 259 B. We are continuing to meet with Garden Ridge Water Corporation regarding a. Certificate of Convenience and Necessity near our storage tank and existing water lines outside our city 1 imi ts . It appears we will request a Certificate of Convenience and Necessity covering our tower site and portion of outside of our city limits. We have some customers outside the city limit and we will suggest that those customers be decertified to us so that we can continue to serve existing customers. We will withhold filing an objection until we can get this resolved. C. Business Appreciation dinner on the 17th of August and the YMCA Invitation Meet on the 12th. #12 ITEMS BY COUNCIL: Mrs. Marsh: A. Gave an Economic Development Task Force update, stating their guest was Todd Beebe who has been a Commercial Industrial Realtor for 14 years. The Marketing Committee brochures are due in by the 21st. After that they wi II start on the v ideo. They talked about marketing ,one item being the race track and the problems they are having acquiring the property for that. They discussed forming a coalition of cities to go up and talk to the Governor about what an economic boom that would be to all the surrounding cities. The Contact Team is still pursuing gathering of all their information and by the time they get through they will have an excellent package. Community Relations - Discussed the Business Appreciation Dinner and they have gotten 35 or 40 surveys back and hope to have that done before too long. Public Relations - they talked about the news releases going out now and the proclamation. Mr. Beebe was very impressed with our efforts and it appears we are doing all the right things. The Texas Department of Commerce is about the most important contact available and you can not do it on your own I you have to use state offices. An Industrial Familiarization Tour is corning in october. Schertz and Cibolo will have a total of about 30 minutes. It is a very structured type thing, with everything planned in advance. B. How do we stand on the census. Mr. Sweatt said we have been communicating and have receive information from them. Steve Simonson is our designated contact and will be going to a meeting soon. We continue to supplY data to the Census Bureau. Mrs. Marsh asked if there are going to be designated people to work with these people. Mr. Sweatt said yes, we have furnished names. They have requested a place to interview census takers and we have agreed to that. C. The Swim Team project has been very successful and the members thanked the sponsors for their support. Mr. Hartzog: Appreciation Schertz. A. If there is any food purchased for the Business Dinner, he recommended that it be purchased in \ 2,g(D "'-J1' .,) ~ B. He was concerned when he noticed in the paper that Universal City has dropped out of the United Suburban Cities. He asked if there are any problems. Mayor Sawyer said he attended a meeting with Mr. Sweatt and was not very impressed with some of our friends on the other side of the creek. Mr. Sweatt said he did not know the reason. C. Are we going to get the Metrocom maps. Mr. Sweatt said they have secured funding and we have submitted our revised maps, showing our city limits and new streets. They are movinq forward with the project. D. The Corridor Council - the Metrocom got money from Wal Mart to represent the Metrocom on the Council. Do we want to be a votinq member or can we reduce to the $500 membership. Mayor Sawyer said he feels that if we have the opportunity to take a leadership role, we should take it. We have someone to adequatel y represent us and we should be a voting member. We have about 14 miles of I-35 frontaqe, countinq both sides. Mr. Sweatt said we have included the $1500 for the votinq membership in our budget. Mr. Sweatt said he felt it was well worthwhile because of our frontaqe. Many of the other cities do not have direct frontage on 1-35. E. The water pressure was down on Sunday. He asked if the booster pumps have been turned on yet. Mr. Sweatt said yes, but we do not have radio controls in, today it is manually controlled. We have had problems with the elevated storage and have had a lot of breaks this summer. F. He said he thought staff did an excellent job on the budqet packaqe. Mrs. StanhoDe: A. She thanked staff for getting the area around the bridqe cleaned up. B. The Doq Dip will be held on the next Saturday at the Animal Control Shelter. Mr. Baldwin: A. Reported on the Guadalupe County Appraisal District meeting, saYing they did adopt a budqet that is $10,000 or $11,000 less than last year. There was a long discussion on the appointments of the Appraisal Review Board. This requires people that have some knowledqe of real estate - we need to be sure the people are qualified. There was discussion that perhaps some are on the board just for the pay, they get $75 a day and sometime only have three appointments. Another thing is they got concurrence to send letters to all taxing jurisdictions to discuss the feaSibility of consolidating collections. There was no opposition; however, there were some comments about who would do the collecting. ( '-- j 261 Mr ~__QreenwC!..l.g: A. There was a meeting of the CVADAC on Monday night. They are meeting in the new building and are concerned about the water and electric billing. GVEC checked, and the bills went down about $80. They can't locate the water meter. Mr. Baldwin advised that the School District has just approved the Sheltered Workshop for handicapped adults to go in that building. Perhaps they can share some of the costs. # 13 ITEMS BY MAYOR: A. Coors is having trouble getting recycl ing plant open in San Antonio. Maybe we should contact them to look out here again. B. Al though Universal City does not want Alamo Iron Works, we should write a letter asking them to move to Schertz. C. The Swim Meet is on Saturday from 8:00 to 12:00 noon. D. Met with our new Housing Authority Director, Mr. Porter. Mayor Sawyer said he will be requesting that Mr. Porter meet with Council in the future. He has some good plans for the Housing Authority. He knows our interest is strictly in senior citizens. Mr. Sweatt announced that he will be out of town over the weekend and that Mr. Simonson would be in charge. #14 ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business, Mayor Sawyer declared the meeting to be adjourned at 9:21 p.m. ATTEST: , \