ccswks 01-11-1984
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SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
JANUARY 11, 1984
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The Schertz City Council convened in Special Workshop Session, Wednesday,
January 11, 1984, at 7:00 P.M. in the Conference Room of the Municipal
Complex, 1400 Live Oak Road with the following members present: Mayor
Earl W. Sawyer, presiding; Charles B. Sharpe; Hal Baldwin; Ross Hoover;
Adolph Aguilar and Ken Greenwald.
#1 HEARING OF RESIDENTS: A. Ms. liz Mueller reported that the Humane
Society members had gotten together with
the Library Board and the plans for the "Vegas Night" are looking good.
Ms. Mueller also wanted to know if there was any money in the budget to
concrete some sidewalks and the old dog runs at the Animal Shelter. Mr.
Hoover advised that the Kiwanis Club was coming up with the money and the
Jaycees would do the work.
Ms. Mueller then had a request for money to support a Teen Center, as the kids
need somewhere to go besides on the streets where drugs and alcohol are so
plentiful. Mayor Sawyer said that first she should get wi th other parents
and come up with a plan. You have to have someone to run it and no one wants
the job. He also asked if they had approached the school district as they
have a lot of room not being utilized at night. Mr. Sharpe suggested they
might use the library conference room. Mr. Aguilar suggested the need to
start small and get established before going on. Mayor Sawyer ended by 0
saying that a lot of centers have been started in Schertz before but all of .
them failed because of a lack of a plan.
Mr. Merwin Willman mentioned that December, January and February are the
months that the City is averaging to determine people's sewer rates for
the entire year. With all the cold weather, people have had to let their
water run to keep from freezing and it does not seem fair to Mr. Willman.
The City Manager suggested that Council let him look at the next water bills,
compare them and if there is a major difference, he will come back to Council
for their decision on this.
#l-A RESOLUTION: Mayor Sawyer introduced and read the caption on a
resolution as follows:
RESOLUTION NO. 84-R-l
A RESOLUTION BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SCHERTZ, TEXAS,
AUTHORIZING AND DIRECTING THE INSTITUTION OF PROCEEDINGS IN
EMINENT DOMAIN FOR THE PURPOSES OF ACQUIRING AN EASEMENT FOR
SEWER AND DRAINAGE PURPOSES. '
Mr. Sharpe moved to pass the resolution authorizing and directing the
institution of proceedings in eminent domain for the purposes of acquiring
an easement for sewer and drainage purposes. Mr. Greenwald seconded the
motion which carried with the following vote:
AYES: Councilmembers Sharpe, Baldwin, Hoover, Aguilar and Greenwald.
NAYS: None
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#2 Reflections on Guadalupe County REACT.
Mr. Gilmore said that from what he can determine from the City Attorney, some
of the proposals presented by REACT are commendable but some could place the
City in jeopardy. Neighborhood Watch programs are ,operated entirely by
citizens with police jurisdiction, some people may object to strangers being
in their neighborhoods. As for their request for a central base station in
the police department, we no longer have an extra room nor the auxilliary
power for any extra equipment. Also the attorney feels we could be in
jeopardy on several things - possible injury to the REACT people, juvenile
cases could be compromised.
At this point, Council discussed the urgent need to get cost figures on a
larger generator that would provide sufficient power for lights as well as
dispatcher equipment in cases of power failure.
Mr. Gilmore went on to say that crowd control was only to be done by trained
police officers. REACT needs to come up with a plan on disaster that could
be used in coordination with the City's plan. The Highway Safety Breaks are
a very good thing but of course need to be coordinated with the Highway Depart-
ment. The Attorney could not immediately give us a definite no on the use
of a police radio but the legality is questionable at this time. Mr. Gilmore
said the whole thing is commendable but it could cause trouble and needs to
be refi ned.
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Council discussed the various items saying they liked the Halloween and
4th of July things REACT has been doing and felt citizens would accept anyone
in their neighborhoods, knowing that they are there to help.
Mr. Sharpe said he felt they would be very good on the Neighborhood watch
program and he would volunteer to work with REACT to get something started.
He agreed that they should not be in the police station, if they want that then
let them get certified.
#3 Discussion of "0ver 65" property tax exemptions. Council discussed
different exemptions and agreed a $10,000 exemption would be appropriate.
Mr. Gilmore was to have an ordinance ready for passage at the flirst regular
meeting in February.
#4 Discussion of possible annexation on FM 1518. Mr. Baldwin said he
had asked that this be on the agenda. He was talking about both south and
north 1518, where people are putting in trailers, slabs etc., and we really
should have some control over what goes in - the only way being by annexation.
Mr. Gilmore said that once we purchase Schaefer Road Water Supply, then we
need to consider annexation south. They have several areas there that are
about to boom. There is a lot of planning that needs to be done on that side,
for instance how do we get there?
Mr. Sharpe said that maybe we could get Randolph to open a gate to give access
to IH10.
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There were no objections to the Mayor's suggestion that Council should look
at annexing on the creek side of north FM 1518.
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#5 Discussion of Zoning Change requests.
A. ZC #45 - rezoning 128 acres from PO to R-l. Mr. Gilmore said that
although the Planning & Zoning had recommended rezoning this to R-1, it
would be just like saying we don't want any building going on. We have
a request, that came in before the P&Z made their recommendation, so why
not honor the request or just table this for now.
During the, discu~sion on this change, it was suggested a meeting with the
Highway Department might be beneficial to both them and the City. Mr.
Gilmore said the Highway people would be out the next week to see if we
have sufficient right of way to widen 3009. It was decided that the
Council should pass a resolution asking the Highway Department to widen
3009 and also another resolution concurring with Cibo10's request for
improvements to FM 1103.
B. ZC #48 - rezone 265 acres from PO to M-l. Mr. Gilmore pointed out that
this is the area between the railroad track on FM 3009. He said that in
looking at the ordinance, M-2 is more restricti~e than the M-l classification
and this is the only area that could be zoned M-2. If we zone M-l, it will
just require another request later.
At this point Mayor Sawyer said that before with another Council, it was
decided that the City Manager would decide what the difference is between
M-l and M-2 industrial. He then asked this Council if they agree to let
the City Manager make this type decision and Council concurred with that.
C. ZC #50 rezoning 96 acres from R-l to PUD. This was identified as the
request by Larry Thomas for the area adjoining Deer Haven. Referring to
the public hearing and the petition against the rezoning that was presented,
Mayor Sawyer reminded Council that State law says that if 20% of the property
owners are against the rezoning, then it will take 3/4 of the Council to pass
the zoning. This will of course mean that the vote would have to be at least
4 to 1.
Mr. Gilmore said that looking at the entire city right now, everytBing leads
into FM 3009. We have discussed extending Live Oak Road and the 1973 plan
called for a road through Deer Haven and the current Plan has arterial ex-
tentions between FM 78 and FM3009. There is no way 1200 to 1500 acres of
land between FM 1518 and FM 3009 can be developed without another artery.
This PUD has stub outs and Horseshoe Oaks has stub outs that could go to
Maske Road. That would leave about 900 feet in between the two developments,
but already there is a developer interested in that area. The Highway Depart-
ment has already verified that it would take development before FM 3009
would be widened. If we take Live Oak Road to 135 now is the time to talk
to the Highway Department about getting an overpass at 135 & Live Oak even
if we are talking about a 5 to 15 year built out.
Council then discussed at length some of the items brought out at the public
hearing - such as the retention pond. It could be used for a play area,
since it is unlikely that water would ever remain there over 24 hours.
The developer has said he would leave as many trees as possible because it
also adds to the cost of the property as well as looks.
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Mr. Larry Thomas answered questions of Council and said that he would give
the City a two-year no-build on the FM3009 frontage to give the City time
to revise our ordinances on restrictive traffic on main thoroughfares. He
even said that whether or not the PUD was approved, he would work with us
on amending our ordinances. He agreed to changing the stub-out on the
back side of the PUD and to putting in an additional stub-out on the south
side if that is what Council wants.
Mayor Sawyer called for a recess at 9:58 P.M.
The Regular meeting was reconvened by the Mayor at 10:04 P.M.
Mr. Sharpe gave a report on vacant platted lots in the City which showed that
there are many of the larger R-l lots available but less than 1% of the R-2
lots are still vacant. Mr. Sharpe said he thought this was a good project
especially if we had the modifications on stub-outs.
After much discussion, Mayor Sawyer asked that this item be on the next agenda.
#6 EXECUTIVE SESSION: None needed. Mayor Sawyer informed Council that
the City did win a Summary Judgement on the
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Civil Rights suit.
Mayor Sawyer said he had received a letter from a John C. Schertz who
would like to talk to someone about Schertz to see if there was any kinship.
Mr. Sawyer said he would be bringing two resolution before Council at the
next meeting. Both were going to cities along IH 35 asking them to contact
the Highway System for study on improving IH 35 and seeking an alternate
route between San Antonio and Austin.
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#7 CITY MANAGER'S REPORT: Mr. Gilmore said he and Mr. Anderson had
,~; discussed the BVYA contract and reworded
the portion on repairs. Also BVYA will prepare a plan and present it to
Council the first workshop in March on ways to come up with money for some
needed major repairs to the fields. Mayor Sawyer suggested that Mr. Ander-
son come up and talk to the County Judge about getting some money from them.
Mr. Gilmore reminded everyone of Congressman Patman's Town meeting at 5:30 PM
on the 20th of January in .the Community Center. Mayor Sawyer said he had
offered for the City to furnish coffee and cookies for this event.
#8 ITEMS BY COUNCIL: Mr. Greenwald briefed Council on a BVYA meeting
where they discussed the work that needed to be
done. He said he had discussed some of it with Jerry Graham and Jerry has
started what he can; however, there is just no way that all of the projected
plans can be done on the Parks budget. The Scorer booth is in bad shape.
Mr. Graham has $1000 budgeted for repairs and maintenance and Mr. Anderson
said he has a contractor that will donate all the labor if the City will buy
the materials. Council felt this would be money well spent and instructed
the City Manager to come up with the necessary funds to meet the expected
$1536.00 materials cost.
Mr. Gilmore said it was brought up at Planning and Zoning that one developer
was talking about putting in a swimming pool and tennis courts and we need
to be very careful of that sort of thing.
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Mr. Baldwin mentioned talking to Mr. Brooks of Cibolo about their ordinance
on FM 1103 and said he felt we should support them in this, which Council
agreed we would.
Mr. Baldwin said he had seen an article in the paper stating that Cibolo II
is searching for surface water. Mr. Baldwin said he has always advocated L-~
Schertz do the same thing because in case of drought our wells could be
greatly affected.
Mr. Baldwin also asked why some of the capital improvements money could not
be used to help improvements to the animal s~elter and BVYA.
Mayo~ Sawyer said he had no objection to spending it but let's do it wisely.
Mr. Hoover had talked with the people that are having vandalism problems
at the cemetary off River Road and they would like to put in a gate to
maybe help keep some of the undesirables out. Mr. Gilmore said he would
be happy to discuss it with them but first we need to find out if it is
an easement or private property.
Mr. Hoover said he read in the newspaper where Randolph AFB was going with
Universal City on their animal contract. Mr. Sharpe said he had been talking
with Colonel Davis about this after reading it in the papers and would find
out what he could as far as bids etc.
Mr. Sharpe said he thought it would be appropriate to have a proclamation
honoring the Jaycees.
Mr. Sharpe reminded Council of the Employee of the Quarter presentation
on January 18th at 4:45 P.M. in the Police Department. Also the ribbon
cutting at Action Auction on the 12th at 11:00 AM.
Mr. Agu~lar reported that the Library Board would be submitting names for
appointments to the Library Board as well as their officers for this year.
They will also be having their annual Book Sale March 30-31 and April 1st
and asked if they could sell some surplus items at their sale rather than
through auction.
Mr. Sharpe reminded staff again to be sure and put something on the water
bills each month. He said also that the Rotary Club is still considering
sponsoring something like a Senior Citizen non-profit corporation. They
are looking for someone to put up front money.
#9 ITEMS BY MAYOR: Mayor Sawyer said he is for this type of development
(meaning the Larry Thomas PUO) - we have finally
gotten development to come in this city and they need places to live.
Without housing, you are not going to get industry.
#10 ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business t come before Council,
Mayor Sawyer declared the meeting djourned at 11:24 PM.
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