2017 04 27 WS MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR WORK SESSION OF THE
CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN
APRIL 27 2017
The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas met in a Regular Work Session on Thursday,
April 27 2017 at 531 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
Robert Hoskins
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 April 27, 2017, City Council Regular Work Session with a
quorum present at 5.31 P M. all members were present with the exception of Council Member
McCartney who arrived at 5.45 P M
DISCUSSIONS
Discuss the City of Baytown 2017 2018 Implementation Plan
City Manager Davis presented the agenda item and stated that the 2017 2018 Implementation
Plan (the 'Plan") was the product of many hours worked from the collaboration of the Council,
Department Heads and Management He noted that the Plan included the resulting comments
from the Much 25th Council retreat as well as those of the subsequent and was submitted to
Council and Department Heads for comments He further noted that the final Plan was submitted
to the Council via email for their review and comments Additionally City Manager Davis stated
that the Plan could and would change depending on the needs and desires of the Council
The Council had no comments or changes to the Plan as submitted
City Manager Davis noted that being that there were no additional comments related to the Plan,
it would be submitted to the Department Heads in order for it to become the basis for their
upcoming budget formation Lastly, he asked the Council to communicate with him throughout
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April 27, 2017
Page 2 of 6
the budget process regarding changes additions, exclusions, or adjustments related to the budget
and the Plan
Discuss the City of Baytown Fireworks Ordinance
City Manager Davis introduced the agenda item and stated that during a discussion with the
Mayor it was a reality that the City's Fireworks Ordinance is, similar to other communities
unenforceable therefore, they wanted to revisit the strategies related to this item in order to
better enforce the code He stated that they came up with the following three (3) main options
1) completely abandon the regulation of fireworks and let people use fireworks as they
deem appropriate, in which he noted staff was not in favor of as this option is a safety
concern due to (i) our proximity to petrochemical plants and (ii) because of the large
Influx of fireworks users that would come into our community as the surrounding
communities are very restrictive of the use of fireworks,
2) restrict the use of fireworks to certain sensitive areas in order concentrate enforcement
efforts which is not feasible considering that the entire City can be considered a sensitive
areas due to the surrounding petrochemical companies, or
3) put more boots and observers on the ground to assist with enforcement
City Manager Davis noted that the Fire Marshal's Office has taken on different strategies in order
to reduce the number of illegal fireworks in the city limits and that in the past staff would offer
to confiscate fireworks in lieu of a citation which is a practice that they want to try and get away
from in the future
In response to a question from Council Member Sam regarding a current legislative bill that
would extend the number of holidays where fireworks could be sold, Mr Mike Lester Health
Director stated that the bill is ongoing however the County would have to adopt the additional
holidays in order for them to be sold within its jurisdiction.
During further discussion various options that would help mitigate the fireworks issue within the
city were mentioned, such as increasing the minimum fine amount for each citation from $100
to $500 a public education and communication strategy to inform the public of the city's codes
regarding fireworks and the resulting penalties, the placement of signs at the firework sales
stands location informing the public that they cannot use fireworks within the city limits or if
they refuse, the placement of an uniformed officer to notify the public of said restrictions the use
of Blackboard connect to do a reverse notification informing the public two (2) weeks prior to
each of the named holidays of the fireworks ordinance and the use of other public service
announcements etc
Mayor DonCarlos stated that the use of fireworks has gotten worse over the years and it seems
that in the past the public was more knowledgeable and responsible about where they could or
could not use their fireworks He noted that in the past few years it seems that there is a flagrant
disregard for the fireworks ordinance and the City does just enough enforcement and education
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April 27 2017
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to get itself bad publicity He further noted that in his opinion the public needed to be better
educated about the Fireworks Ordinance and the enforcement efforts could be achieved through
better communication and public service announcements
City Manager Davis stated that the City's strategy moving forward with the Fireworks Ordinance
is that of deployment, education, enforcement and follow up The Council requested information
and stats regarding the amount of manpower being used to regulate fireworks across the city
Assistant Fire Chief, Bernard Olive stated that during New Year's Eve and the July 4th holidays,
his entire team which is made up of five (5) Fire Marshals take to the streets to try and answer
the many calls that come in related to illegal fireworks He noted that the illegal use of fireworks
is not concentrated in any one place but exist throughout the entire city He stated that in 2016
while they had 80 calls of illegal fireworks no citations were issued because the main goal was
to be in compliance, so once the offenders agree to comply with the ordinance they moved along
to handle the next call He further noted that it takes approximately 15 20 minutes to complete a
citation which would slow them down even more versus the five (5) minutes it takes to have a
conversation with a citizen and just get compliance
The Council and staff briefly discussed the issue of celebmtory gunshots during these holiday
seasons and it was noted that the Baytown Police Department is responsible for responding to
these violations in which they take these offenses very senously
City Manager Davis recommended that staff put together a communications strategy that's
implemented immediately to educate the public about the City's Fireworks Ordinance and along
with the upcoming enforcement efforts
Assistant City Attorney, Karen Homer stated that another item that could assist with the
enforcement of the Fireworks Ordinance is to include the adherence to the City's Fireworks
Ordinance in the development agreements She stated that currently this provision is not
included in the development agreement but could be, in order to limit the pockets of areas that
allow fireworks The consensus of Council was that staff should move forward with this item
Mrs Homer, in response, noted that there are some development agreements related to the
existing involuntary annexation that are already out for signature and do not include the
Fireworks Ordinance provision but all others will have it moving forward
City Manager Davis stated that staff will move forward with enforcement and communication
c Receive and discuss an update regarding the City of Baytown's Development
Process
City Manager Davis presented the agenda item and stated that about a year ago, Nick Woolery
assisted in completing a performance review of the development review process and permitting,
which resulted in several recommendations Additionally he stated that since then staff has
worked to implement the recommendations and further introduced the City's new Development
Director, Steven Rhea
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April 27, 2017
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Mr Rhea stated that it's been about three (3) months since he started with the City and further
presented an update on some of the changes made to get us where we are today some upcoming
changes and projects that are in the mix and the current status as it relates to the development
process He presented the Council with two (2) bar graphs that showed the number of permits
with plan reviews and permits without plan reviews comparing those numbers from 2016 to the
year to -date for 2017 He noted that the year -to date numbers for both types of permits are on
point with those of last year which means that development has not slowed down in the past
year He further noted that last year the City was at about 47 commercial permits compared to
53 for this year, and that the residential increased at a smaller margin of about four (4) or five (5)
permits from last year
Mr Rhea stated that cities tend to benchmark themselves to surrounding communities, therefore
in this case, Baytown is being compared to LaPorte Pasadena, Deer Park Pearland, Texas City,
and League City for the time period beginning February 2017 to the present He stated that at this
time Baytown takes 10 days to review and process for residential permits other cities around us
have a time frame the ranges anywhere from 3 5 days to 2 3 weeks. He stated that Pearland is at
10 days ,lust like Baytown and League City and LaPorte are both at 3 5 days He further stated
that currently Baytown takes up to 13 days to process a commercial permit which is contrary to
the rumors that it takes 6 8 weeks for a commercial permit with a plan review to be processed
and completed He noted that on avemge the City takes 13 days to complete the commercial
permit process, which is on par with other cities but is not exactly what we wants He noted that
LaPorte is 7 10 days, Pasadena is at 10 days League City is at 10 days Texas City is 3 4 weeks,
Deer Park is 4 weeks and Pentland is 10 15 days Mr Rhea stated that the City is always looking
to improve and noted that three (3) months ago, the City was taking about 16 days for a
commercial plan review and 13 days for a residential plan review, whereas, currently those
averages have dropped to 13 days for a commercial plan review and 10 days for residential plan
review
Mr Rhea stated that these improvements to the average processing time have been accomplished
through many steps taken already to include the process review completed by Mrs Tiffany
Foster, Director of Planning and Development Services that set out changes needed to be made
in order to streamline and improve the permitting and plan review processes He stated that the
studies and implementation plan focused on the end user and how to make the processes easier
on the customer, therefore things were added such as check list, online submittal fortes, online
payment systems, updates to the GIS system and some over the counter permitting for simple
permit to include garage sales, driveway, etc Mr Rhea stated that some upcoming changes
include expanding the over the counter services and the continued implementation of the better
building program to help with the large inventory customers He noted that the Assistant Chief
Building Official/Plans Examiner is no longer with the City, so while the Planning Department
does have a vacancy in a key position it has rearranged staff himself included, to conduct the
plan reviews He also noted that the goal is to not slow down and continue to conduct plan
reviews in order to meet the interim goal of 5 7 days for a residential plan review and 10-15 for a
commercial plan review He stated that a position for a full time plans examiner has been posted
and changes were made to the permit counter process to include anything that can be pulled out
of the formal process in order to reduce the strain on staff time
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April 27, 2017
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Mr Rhea presented an update on the current development projects to include the following
• the Hilton Garden Inn is about 6 8 weeks from opening
• the Kroger on Alexander and H E B me currently working
• Project Raven a petrochemical operation- is forthcoming, and
• the Fitzgerald Property on Highway 146 and 110 is undertaking a mixed use development of
145 acres to include retail big box residential and multi family,
• continued interest of two master planned communities north of I 10
• Houston Methodist San Jacinto will be in next week to conduct their submission review for
their hospital expansion project, and
• Mambo's Seafood is looking to build on 110 next to Salt Grass Steakhouse
City Manager Davis stated in response to a question from Council Member Saim that the
Marriott does not have a conference component to their hotel, but also noted that the Hilton
Garden Inn would have about 5,000 square feet of conference space
Council Member Presley stated that he was more concerned with the little guys in Districts I and
2 i.e. the smaller developments and contractors and other misc residential work and wants to
make sure that the process is also made easier for them
Mayor DonCarlos stated that the staff should look at creating a formal program to train and grow
the City's own Plans Examiner from existing staff to help slow down the current revolving
door Additionally he noted that Planning needed more support and resources to deal with their
work load
Council Member Presley stated that the plans review process in the Fire Department could also
be improved to ensure consistency and efficiency, i.e if the exit sign has to be in green lettering
to know where it is in the Code and enforce it across the board City Manager Davis stated that
staff would look into flus issue
Council Member McCartney stated that he wants to be sure that staff is providing quality work
and review within the proposed timelines even if it takes a little more time in the review process
to be certain that things are done right the first time rather pushing something through that is not
quite tight in order to meet a set timeline Mr Rheas stated that staff is looking to be expedite,
but also provide a quality review, which is why it's important to have a quality plans examiner
that can move things along as well as, have that attention to the details Mr Rhea further stated
that he welcomed Council or anyone for that matter to contact him directly if there's an issue
with their development or need some additional support although he s already reached out to
every developer that has a current or existing project in the City
City Manager Davis stated that the City of Baytown is a regulatory entity that works to ensure
that what is built in the city is safe appropriate and in the best interest of the citizens He noted
that the City does not work for the development community, but instead regulates them so there
will always be some tension between the regulated and the regulator Additionally, he noted that
it was his hope that Council understood that staff has every motivation, intention and desire to
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April 27 2017
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make this the best process in the state because the continued economic development depends on
the City of Baytown being the best
d Discuss any or all of the agenda items on the City Council Regular Meeting Agenda
for April 27, 2017, which is attached below
This item was not discussed
ADJOURN
With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor DonCarlos adjourned the April 27 2017,
City Council Regi Work Session at 6 18 P M
Le cia Bry1ch City Cler
City of Baytown
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