2022 05 12 WS Minutes MINUTES OF THE REGULAR WORK SESSION OF THE
CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN
May 12, 2022
The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas, met in a Regular Work Session on Thursday,
May 12, 2022, at 5:32 P.M. in the Hullum Conference Room of the Baytown City Hall, 2401
Market Street, Baytown, Texas with the following in attendance:
Laura Alvarado Council Member
Charles Johnson Council Member
Heather Betancourth Council Member
Jacob Powell Council Member
Mike Lester Council Member
Chris Presley Mayor Pro Tem
Rick Davis City Manager
Trevor Fanning Interim City Attorney
Angela Jackson City Clerk
Mayor Pro Tem Presley convened the May 12, 2022, City Council Regular Work Session with a
quorum present at 5:32 P.M., all members were present with the exception of Council Member
Charles Johnson who arrived at 5:39 P.M., and Council Member Heather Betancourth who arrived
at 5:40 P.M., and Mayor Brandon Capetillo, who was absent.
1. DISCUSSIONS
a. Discuss proposed revisions to the Baytown Community Center Rental Policies and
Procedures regarding serving/consuming alcoholic beverages, and related items.
Mayor Pro Tern Presley asked the Parks and Recreation Director Clifford Hatch to provide his
report, who then introduced Fire Chief Kenneth Dobson and Deputy Fire Marshal Joseph Hebert
who also discussed some of the issues regarding the proposed revisions for serving or consuming
alcoholic beverages at the Baytown Community Center. The main issue with not being able to
serve or consume alcohol at the Baytown Community Center is due to a lack of a sprinkler system
being installed throughout the building, with the exception of the Tejas Room.
Mayor Pro Tem Presley asked if the Tejas Room in the Community Center would be allowed to
serve alcohol or not. Deputy Fire Marshal Joseph Herbert replied the Tejas Room had a max
occupancy of fifty(50)people, at best,because it only had one exit. If it were to serve or consume
alcohol, Mr. Herbert believed they would not want to have a vendor come in but it would have to
be a private event. As long as fire extinguishers were in there, it would fall under that threshold.
Mr. Herbert cautioned against triggering an inspection as it did not meet the code at that time and
the City would have to fail the inspection, which the Tejas Room was occupied daily by people.
With that, Mayor Pro Tem Presley presumed that fifty or less people could consume alcohol at the
Tejas Room and asked if Council need to make a change for that to occur. Parks and Recreation
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May 12,2022
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Director Clifford Hatch confirmed that Council would have to make a change for that to occur.
Mr. Hatch offered that staff could put a Consent Item on the next Council Meeting agenda if
Council wished to proceed. Deputy Fire Marshal Herbert added they would have to confirm with
the Building Division in the City's Planning Department if that were to change the building
classification because that may trigger an inspection. The Tejas Room was classified as an A3 at
that moment and once they offer the option to serve or consume alcohol, it would turn into an A2
classification.
Mr.Hatch stated the Parks and Recreation ordinances,policies,rules,etc.,had been vetted through
the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board for Council. As soon as the Board was in agreement
with the fire code requirements and the policy revisions then it would be ready to go. Mayor Pro
Tem Presley therefore asked Council if there was a desire to continue to make that change as far
as allowing alcohol to be served or consumed in the Tejas Room. Council Member Alvarado
wished to see if that would trigger a change in the building classification, and if nothing happened,
she did not see a problem. However, Council Member Alvarado pondered if it would be worth it.
Council Member Lester noted if Council were to try to do that to the whole building, that would
change the perspective for the whole building and noted that was what Mr. Herbert wished to
prevent. The issue of fire watch not being intended for that type of use, Council Member Lester
stated he did not have much of a problem with that as that was more of a policy issue. There was
no law that said they could not do fire watch every night. Council Member Lester understood
alcohol would change the function of the building which would require additional actions and they
would need to stay away from that. Yet, if a small family group wanted to get together and have a
birthday party with alcohol, then they should be able to do that.
Mr. Hatch suggested they could talk offline about that and also request some quotes on how much
it would cost to install a fire-sprinkler system at the Baytown Community Center. A quarter of a
million dollars was thrown out there, but that was just a guess. Mr. Hatch stated it would not be a
small figure.
Mayor Pro Tem Presley was not in favor of alcohol consumption at the Community Center as it
was a City Hall complex and there were a million other venues to drink alcohol. Council Member
Powell also believed they did not need to make a significant investment for the sake of a subset of
events since the Tejas Room was being used now, without alcohol. Council Member Alvarado
thought the same way and suggested they could post something about the City's Evergreen
Clubhouse, where they could serve alcohol.
b. Discuss providing minimal water service to annexed property located at Wright Lane.
Council Member Lester introduced the item to Council and noted that Mr.Tom Kincaid has owned
property down at the end to the left of Tri-City Beach Road for twenty-plus years. Mr. Kincaid's
property was a part of the city limits and was not provided any basic services, such as water and
sewer. Since being elected to Council, Council Member Lester had several discussions with Mr.
Kincaid. He had told Mr. Kincaid that sewer was not an option since it would require putting in
another lift station, which the cost would be extraordinary. In regards to providing water service,
Council Member Lester noted the City could push water anywhere. Thus, he had discussed the
matter with City Manager Rick Davis and Public Works and Engineering Director Frank
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May 12,2022
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Simoneaux. In Council Member Lester's opinion, the City needed to provide minimal services or
the City would need to de-annex that property. Again, Mr. Kincaid had lived there for twenty-plus
years and since a portion of his property was in the city limits and he been paying taxes on those
services, Council Member Lester insisted the City needed to do something.
Director of Public Works and Engineering Frank Simoneaux relayed he was asked to look at what
it would take to run water services down to Wright Lane on Tri-City Beach. He displayed a map
via a PowerPoint presentation showing the location of the property. The service requirements the
City worked under required to have a maintained thirty-five psi under normal conditions and
twenty psi under fire flow conditions. Mr. Simoneaux explained those were Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality (TCEQ) requirements. In addition, the City's ordinance required for fire
hydrants to be spaced at five hundred feet in residential areas. Given those requirements, the
proposal was to run an extendable drawbench lying down Tri-City Beach Road to Wright Lane.
Mr. Simoneaux stated it was probable—having done all the analysis on the size required—because
it would ultimately depend on the development that would occur on the area East of Tri-City Beach
Road. That area would develop as residential, and it would be served as it developed.
Mr. Simoneaux had an engineer firm look at their run through of a water model. He noted that
smaller lines would not maintain the required pressure residual, so it would need to be a larger
line, and to run a twelve-inch line for that extent would cost about $750,000. However, Mr.
Simoneaux took a moment to discuss the issues of adding that water line. If the City ran that line
at that moment, the City would have very low domain. There were only about four or five
residential units there that used an average of 0.37 gallons per minute, per connection. The line,
itself, from Bay Island Boulevard to Wright Boulevard would hold over 30,000 gallons of water.
Since it would have very little use, the City would have to flush that line weekly to maintain
freshwater. As a result, that would be two hours of staff time of flushing water and over 30,000
gallons of water dumped on the ground and wasted each week.
With that, Mr. Simoneaux's recommendation was that it would be development-driven. He noted
Economic Development Manager Bret Gardella was present and could discuss some of the
potential development coming with the completion of Highway 99 and the golf course. Mr.
Gardella discussed that thirteen acres in the surrounding area would be a residential-type of project
and noted that for it to be residential,the City would need to serve it because it was within the city
limits.Mr. Gardella further noted there would be additional housing that would be developed down
that direction sooner than Mr. Simoneaux had been aware of.
The secondary part of the rest of the development that would happen on the south side, was that
Mr. Gardella stated he had conversations with management about creating a second Tax Increment
Redevelopment Zone ("TIRZ"). Mr. Gardella assured he was working within the boundaries of
the second TIRZ and would present it to Council for consideration. With the TIRZ, Mr. Gardella
noted there was a lot of developable land down in the subject area and a lot of increment that could
be created. As already known, there was the golf course and the development next to it that would
extend, and Mr. Gardella affirmed that was a TIRZ function.
The City wanted to see TIRZ used for city infrastructure projects.Therefore,Mr. Gardella fittingly
believed the discussed item was a city infrastructure project. He and Council Member Lester had
discussed how a TIRZ could service those people who lived in the City for decades who had not
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May 12,2022
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gotten those services. Mr. Gardella further discussed how the TIRZ would take some time to be
created; however, once created, the virgin ground would give the City a ton of increment over the
next twenty to thirty years if it were to still exist. If they had some time with that particular property
owner and considering the other development coming online, Mr. Gardella believed the TIRZ
would be the best financial tool the City could use to satisfy those needs in that growing part of
Baytown.
Council Member Lester discussed matters concerning the addition of fire hydrants. He asked Fire
Chief Kenneth Dobson if it were an Emergency Services District ("ESD") that serviced the
discussed area. Mr. Dobson was not aware of any entity that served that area. In addition to adding
fire hydrants, Council Member Lester asked if in a full-blown house fire, how long would those
seven hundred gallons last and Chief Dobson answered not long. There were a lot of factors, but
they would have to wait for water to be brought by trucks. Council Member Lester commented it
would be nice to have fire hydrants down there. In his opinion, the City needed to look at that area
and commit to providing basic minimum services. Council Member Lester had not been aware of
the thirteen acres of residential development. He projected that by installing a water line,that could
potentially encourage development.
Council Member Betancourth asked if Council Member Lester was okay with waiting for the
creation of the second TIRZ, or was he looking to do something sooner and Council Member
Lester stated a TIRZ did not take a year or so to create. He would agree that the TIRZ could address
the utility and infrastructure issues. In the event that it would take ten or fifteen years, Council
Member Lester would start pushing other alternatives. On another note, Mr. Kincaid was on a well
and septic system. The wells were, figuratively, starting to go south as there was methane in their
water. Council Member Lester implied it could perhaps be from the landfill across the bayou.
City Manager Rick Davis inquired for an estimated time frame on the development of that
property. Mr. Gardella replied the owner of the thirteen acres had two interested parties. The
challenge had been the lack of utilities in that area, that being why he suggested creating a second
TIRZ. Mr. Gardella would say within the next six months the TIRZ could be created. Mr.
Simoneaux noted they had hired Kimley-Horn to do a master plan of that area along with the TIRZ
evaluation and planning to be done.That plan was coming to its completion within the next couple
of months where it could then be turned over to the TIRZ to create that term. Mayor Pro Tern
Presley questioned if they could advance fund that. Mr. Davis asked Mr. Gardella if they could
underwrite that and seek reimbursement and Mr. Gardella responded he would check with their
consultant.
Council Member Alvarado inquired if the City had any American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds
since it would be used for infrastructure. Mr. Simoneaux answered ARPA money had been planned
to be used on the City's wastewater system and noted he would further explain the matter in the
next Council Meeting. Mr. Davis advised if the answer was yes on that, then they could program
that in to the current year's capital projects and get the reimbursement back into the Capital
Improvement Project (CIP) budget. That would be a strategy he would recommend, as the
development of that area was imminent.
Council Member Lester expressed his appreciation to his colleagues for hearing the issue out and
liked the idea of a second TIRZ. With the residential development, Council Member Lester asked
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May 12,2022
Page 5 of 5
if Mr. Simoneaux was thinking about adding a lift station or sewer line or,just provide water, and
Mr. Simoneaux replied that would be part of the developers' plan. Mr. Gardella added that
eventually there would certainly have to be since the City was anticipating a higher-end market,
and with that they would need both water and sewer. Mr. Gardella had also met with Kimley Horn
and discussed about having a lift station or some type of packaged service that would go down that
direction. He further discussed possible directions for water service to which Mr. Davis suggested
he collaborate with Mr. Simoneaux on that.
In the event they could not utilize the TIRZ to reimburse the city, Mr. Davis queried if Council
would like to continue to program that into the budget regardless. Council Member Lester noted
that development down there would demand it away. If utilities was what was holding
development up, Council Member Lester suggested they provide them.
c. Discuss any or all of the agenda items on the City Council Regular Meeting Agenda
for May 12, 2022,which is attached below.
Council had nothing to discuss on the item.
2. ADJOURN
With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor Pro Tern Presley adjourned the May 12,
2022, City Council Regular Work Session at 5:55 P.M.
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Angela J c son, C. k '11.6
City of B own _
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