2017 02 09 WS MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR WORK SESSION OF THE
CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN
FEBRUARY 9, 2017
The City Council of the City of Baytown Texas met in a Regular Work Session on Thursday
February 09 2017, at 6 12 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
David McCartney
Council Member
Chris Presley
Council Member
Terry Sam
Council Member
Stephen DonCarlos Mayor
Rick Davis
City Manager
Ignacio Ramirez
City Attorney
Leticia Brysch
City Clerk
Keith Dougherty
Sergeant at Arms
Mayor DonCarlos convened the Febmary 9, 2017, City Council Regular Work Session with a
quorum present at 6 12 P M. all members were present with the exception of Council Member
Hoskins who was absent
DISCUSSIONS
Discuss future land use plan and growth along Bayway Drive corridor
Mrs Tiffany Foster Planning and Community Development Services Director presented the
item and stated that the land use plan is a guiding document that is part of the City's 2007
Comprehensive Plan, which was revised in 2013 through the ULDC and city wide rezoning
process She stated that tins plan basically gives guidance of a 20 to 40 year lookout to where
different types of development should be and how to individually zone every single parcel within
large swaths or land or corridors
Mrs Foster presented the council with a map that identified the land use plan, both the existing
and proposed, for an area identified as the Bayway Corridor She noted that the existing map
showed that the land along Bayway along with the neighborhoods on either side are zoned low to
medium residential which means that it allows for some commercial development, but very
small and residential She further noted that there has been a lot of commercial development
interest along Bayway such as the new building for Dollar General among others She stated that
there s a developer that has shown interest in purchasing some land along Bayway to build office
space for a cross fit studio, contractors office and a self -storage facility, but in order for the
City Council Regular Work Session
February 09 2017
Page 2 of 4
developer to build the self storage facility the property would have to be rezoned to General
Commercial (GC)
Mrs Foster stated that this last development interest prompted staff to review this area already
knowing that there were some conflicts with having the lots fronting Bayway Drive as residential
as they don't want a residential home facing Bayway m it continues to grow City Manager Davis
noted that the City has received numerous requests from adjacent neighborhoods in this area for
more commercial development along this corridor, such as grocenes and other such things
which would not be permitted under neighborhood serving commercial Mrs Foster clarified this
statement by stating that neighborhood serving commercial does allow for some commercial
development but it just limits the size of said development She further noted for example that a
grocery store could be developed in neighborhood commercial, but would just be limited to be
no more than 10,000 square feet or a restaurant that could not exceed 5,000 square feet She
stated that the intent of the neighborhood serving commercial was to limit the size of the
commercial development that only serve small areas or small neighborhoods
Mrs Foster noted that in their review they noted that Bayway is a truck route and portions of
Bayway already have a lot of commercial interest which resulted in staffs conclusion that the
zoning for this area needed to change She identified the proposed land use map which takes the
land along Bayway Drive on both sides that is fronting the road and turning it into a commercial
corridor She stated that the change being proposed on the land use map is expanding the
industrial buffer, which is now land that has been acquired over the years by Exxon that is now
encroaching along Bayway Additionally she stated that this would change the 2013 zoning of
residential to an industrial buffer because that is what it is now and will make it stay as a green
space
Council Member Sam noted that when he and his family moved to Baytown in the 70s they
lived off of Bayway Drive and the area fronting the road had a lot of commercial buildings,
restaurants etc
Council Member McCartney stated that he owned 10 acres off of Bayway between Baker and
Petterson and he bought it as mixed use but the map shows it as general commercial Mrs Foster
stated that this area would have been changed in 2013 and no other changes have been made to
this parcel since that time so whatever use is shown on the map in front of them that is what was
approved by the council in 2013
Council Member McCartney also stated by changing the zoning from neighborhood serving
commercial to general commercial opens up the uses that residential areas may not want next to
them similar to the issues that are happening along Alexander Drive. He noted that it may be
best to zone m you go in order to limit what can be placed in these areas in order to not get
something that you don't want Mrs Foster stated that at this time, the proposal is only for the
rezoning of the three properties in question whereas the applicant is proposing one and the City
is proposing two adjacent parcels
City Council Regular Work Session
February 09 2017
Page 3 of 4
During further discussion, Mrs Foster stated that if the intent is to develop and redevelop this
area, general commercial will give you more options than neighborhood serving
commercial She noted that there are more protections with general commercial such as larger
distance requirements between a commercial building and a residence, it is 20 feet for open
space in general commercial and only five (5) feet in neighborhood serving commercial She
stated that the masonry standards are the same for both zoning areas but the setbacks for general
commercial are further off the street than if it were in neighborhood serving commercial She
further stated that there's more open green space than in neighborhood serving commercial
because in the latter zone the area can be covered up to 90%, whereas the former is up to 75%
Mrs Foster stated that staff wants to look at more opportunities to redevelop in this area and
general commercial will allow a potential developer more options particularly since many lots
along Bayway Drive are a lot smaller and of difficult configurations She stated that staff
believes that this area is a commercial corridor and by changing the land use plan to general
commercial it will allow developers to come in look at the lots and have more options to
redevelop the lots to commercial
Council Member Presley asked if a developer still had the option to request a zoning change in
this area Mrs Foster stated that if the land use plan stays as it is, which is low to medium
density you cannot get commercial zoning in this area and that if the land use plan is changed
then council can review the requested zoning on a case by case basis
Council discussed the uses allowed in general commercial versus neighborhood serving
commercial and ways to control what use can be introduced next to a neighborhood, such as
creating an overlay district City Manager Davis noted that even with these overlays, the
developer would still have to deal with the setback and ground cover requirements and in order
to eliminate those, staff would have to tum the neighborhood serving commercial into general
commercial He also noted that the best option was to make the land use map change and then
deal with zoning request on a case by case basis
Council Member Johnson stated that his biggest concern and those of his constituents in this area
relates to the use of self storage and storage facilities He stated that he'd spoken to the applicant
and she wants to open an office space and a cross fit which is fine and is allowed under the
current zoning however the self -storage facility which is not allowed in neighborhood serving
commercial and is the reason for this rezoning request, is not the type of use that is (1) needed in
this area or (2) desired in this area by the local residents He noted that he has a concern with
approving a rezoning for general commercial and then having the applicant decide to only build
the self -storage facility and forgo the office space and cross fit Council Member Johnson stated
that there are 20 storage facilities in Baytown, with 9 10 of them being located between 110 and
Bayway Drive and of those one has an application to add twenty-six RV and boating spaces He
stated that the city does not need any more storage facilities and questioned whether the city
could set a moratonum on storage facilities in town. Council Member Johnson requested that the
zoning nem be suspended for a period of time to allow staff and council more time to review the
request Additionally, he noted that he had not spoken to the applicant about pulling the zoning
item tonight and voting on it at a future meeting
City Council Regular Work Session
February 09 2017
Page 4 of 4
Council Member Presley stated that from the information received from staff the applicant
wants to build the office space and cross fit first and then build the storage space as demand
requires it therefore holding off on the rezoning should not be an issue at this time Council
Member McCartney noted that the office space and cross fit is already allowed in the existing
zoning so that should not be a problem
Mrs Foster noted that if council felt that there were too many storage facilities in the city, staff
could look at something similar to what was done with multi family housing to have more
control over this issue Council Member McCartney noted that these types of storage facilities
are allowed anywhere there is mixed use or general commercial zoning Council Member
Johnson asked if there was a way to restrict these facilities Mrs Foster stated that staff could
look at this use and see what options they could bring back to the council for their
consideration She noted that a true moratorium could not be done on the use but there are some
options that can be explored further Council Member Johnson stated that he was going to make
a motion to suspend item 3 b regarding the rezoning of the properties along Bayway Drive to
allow time for review
Mrs Foster noted that even if the item is tabled and new regulations are approved regarding
storage facilities, we would have an existing rezoning application on file, which means that any
new restriction could not be applied retroactively Council Member Presley noted that if council
denied the rezoning request the item could not be brought back before the council for another
six (6) months Council Member Johnson stated that he had heard from his constituents and he
was not opposed to denying the request this evening
b Discuss an ordinance authorizing a master equity lease agreement, a maintenance
agreement, and other related documents with Enterprise Fleet Management, Inc., and its
associate, affiliate, and subsidiary companies for the leasing of seventeen (17) vehicles for
the Police Department through The Interlocal Purchasing System
This item was not discussed
c Discuss any or all of the agenda items on the City Council Regular Meeting Agenda
for February 09, 2016, which is attached below
This item was not discussed
2 ADJOURN
With there being no further business to discuss Mayor DonCarlos adjourned the February 09
2017;,City Council Regular Work Session at 6:31 P M
Leticia Brysch City CI
City of Baytown