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2012 05 10 WS MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR WORK SESSION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN May 10, 2012 The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas met in a Regular Work Session on Thursday, May 10, 2012, at 4:30 P.M., in the Council Chamber of the Baytown City Hall, 2401 Market Street, Baytown, Texas with the following in attendance: Brandon Capetillo Council Member David McCartney Council Member Mercedes Renteria Council Member Terry Sain Council Member Stephen DonCarlos Mayor Robert D. Leiper Ron Bottoms Kevin Troller Ignacio Ramirez Leticia Brysch Keith Dougherty City Manager Deputy City Manager Assistant City Manager City Attorney City Clerk Sergeant at Arms Mayor DonCarlos convened the May 10, 2012, City Council Regular Work Session with a quorum present at 4:30 P.M., all members were present with the exception of Council Member Renteria who arrived at 4:42 P.M and Council Members Robert Hoskins and Scott Shcley who were absent. 1. DISCUSSIONS a. Waterfront Development Case Study Presentation and Discussion Administration. Mayor DonCarlos presented the agenda item to receive a presentation by University of Houston architecture students on the Baytown Waterfront Development Case Study and discuss the future of waterfront development. Nick Woolery presented an overview of what lead to the presentation and stated that 100 years ago there was a discovery of the Goose Creek Oil Field and shape this area to what it looks like today, in 2008 there were many community meetings in which concluded to developing a masterplan for the water front and in February of 2012, there was the Mayor Institute on City Design. He stated that the Mayor's Institute study provided the following feedback: City Council Regular Work Session May 10, 2012 Page 2 of 6 Preserve the waterfront as a public landscape; keep the waterfront public and accessible; capitalize on the waterfront; use parks and trails to connect the areas to the rest of the city; and Capitalize on the views from the site (such as the bridge, the water, and the interstate) 2) Identify incentives to get the desirable types of development; incentivize to types of uses desired exploring all tools to incentive development; and identify ways to incentivize the preservation of open space; 3) Plan for uses that will active the site of the major destination; use zoning as a tool to ensure that the site has layers of activities (an industrial development encourages a more appropriate location); balance the needs for open space and recreation space; and build on the history of the site as a mean to attract visitors; 4) Development the waterfront with a commitment to future generations; evaluate the environmental and topographical conditions on the site to determine building location; and maintain the wetlands and wooded areas if possible; 5) Connect plans for the waterfront and Cedar Bayou be sure to include cedar bayou in the planning of the site; and utilize cedar bayou as a recreational amenity. Mr. Woolery introduced Susan Rogers, a Professor for the University of Houston. Ms. Rogers stated that Ms. Melanie Arena would present an introduction to the basic site conditions that were analyzed in the first part of the architectural studio and each team would present a brief overview of their urban design plan. Ms. Arena stated that some of the conditions of the site affected the decision of each team when designing their own masterplan. She stated that the boundaries for the waterfront were defined by Hwy 146 and proposed grand parkway to the north, the waterfront to the south, cedar bayou on the east, and the Fred Hartman Bridge to the west. Ms. Arena stated that the various land conditions for the area were Bayland Island, the Bridgewater Events Center, Goose Creek Oil Field, an area of undeveloped wetlands, Evergreen Golf course and it's adjacent neighborhood, and a large area of old forest along cedar bayou. She stated that all groups wanted to preserve the Goose Creek Oil Field, the large area of wetlands, and the old forest along cedar bayou so they remained untouched in the designs. She indicated that the topography for the site varies from starting at sea level and sometimes 30 feet above sea level and each of the designs take advantage of the highest land which is the most appropriate level for future development to eliminate flooding and storm surge risks. Due to frequent hurricanes and easy flooding, many of the designs had to accommodate flood levels by elevating buildings and also being conscious of the storm surge adjusted the plans accordingly. Because most of the commercial business is on Garth Road and it generates much revenue and attracts people, all groups incorporated it into their plans by developing it further or extending it to the site. And as addressed in the Mayor's Institute, all were interested in expanding Baytown's Park City Council Regular Work Session May 10, 2012 Page 3 of 6 system. All of the masterplans incorporated Goose Creek Trail into the site and continue to develop park spaces along it. Miriam Alcantara, Nathan Nguyen, Karen Brenner, Alejandro Gonzalez, Ivan Lopez, Nicholas Massaad, Tien Pham, Joseph Robles, and Zubair Ulhaq, students of the University of Houston provided presentations of their recommendations to the waterfront which included various facilities, an extension of Lee College as a four year university, parks, trails, various types of events, and more. The group consisting of Ms. Arena, Ms. Alcantara, and Mr. Nguyen was presented. Ms. Alcantara stated that one of the first problems noticed was the difficulty of accessing the site. Ms. Alcantara stated that they wanted to make a connection between the city and the coast by allowing the people to pass through the site and making connections between the city landmarks, such as Lee College, and the city. She stated that they wanted to maintain the natural landscape of the site and proposed that the site be developed as a sustainable community. She stated the existing Evergreen golf course would be converted into farmland and pastures with produce on the site such as fruits and vegetables that can be sold to surrounding restaurants. Ms. Arena stated that they developed a program of five major zones that could accommodate the plan listed as Bayland Island Zone, the Historical Zone, Education Center Zone, Evergreen Zone, and the Agricultural Zone. She stated that the recommendations to include in those zones were: expanding the Bridgewater Events Center to include things such as a theatre hall, yacht club, or lecture hall for academic purposes; to include a culture center such a museum to tell about the history of the oil field, to have an art market, to have an outdoor concert hall or theatre with productions from Lee College; include a library, classrooms or research facility, include possibly a wetlands center to preserve that area of the site and how it contributes to the environment; to have a community center, community garden, or canoeing; to have a large agricultural zone that includes crops, pasture lands, or an open market. Ms. Arena stated that the Goose Creek Trail was extended to the site and continued along the coast and the extension brought specific streets into the area such as Lee Road, Main Street, and Alexander Drive. She indicated that Wyoming Street was extended to the Bridgewater Events Center. Mr. Nguyen stated that he developed an Agricultural Hub to educate people on how to use land more responsibly and how to bring people closer to the fruit source. His hub provided a three layer facility. Ms. Arena's project included coastal housing and she stated that the housing was an eight tower facility spread out by a small pathway for passing with access to the water. The group consisting of Mr. Lopez, Mr. Gonzalez, and Ms. Brenner was presented. Mr. Lopez stated that the name of their project the REConnect which was to connect the area back to city through the use of recreation and open space. He stated that the site would be City Council Regular Work Session May 10, 2012 Page 4 of 6 considered as a park with a building being brought into the park with Phase I integrating several paths within the site along the coast which would be a boardwalk that would allow people to be closer the bay, making it easier to access the site as well as within the site serve as connections to other buildings through bike trails. Mr. Lopez indicated that Phase II would incorporate manicured parks and sports fields within the site bring in out of town guests. He stated that Phase III would connect the public facilities along the paths and Phase IV would incorporate the housing. Mr. Gonzalez stated that the housing units would be residential single family and multifamily and lifted for flooding purposes. He indicated that he designed the Loop which is a sports center to play and watch live sports. He stated that he incorporates three different programs: a gym, natatorium and sporting goods store. He indicated that the building was lifted to create shaded area to play sports under the building. He also stated that the sites within the building are connected in a loop which will serve as a bike and walking trail that will connect all of the areas within the building to include a water fountain, swimming pool, skateboard parks, etc and also serve as entertainment by allowing people to sit, enjoy food and watch others play sports. Ms. Brenner stated that she developed the Deck with the main idea to be an outside entertainment area that would bring people together to enjoy this public space from many different ages and groups. she stated that areas include water feature, urban beach, shops and museum and the deck would go up and down and allow for areas under the deck to serve as the shop locations, an urban beach with a museum that can be seen form the Hartman bridge with auditorium seating and place to show fountain, movies and light shows. Mr. Gonzalez stated that he developed the ConnectInn with the concept of being a hotel. He stated that it would be in two pieces: recreation and business. He indicated that the area would have vehicular and pedestrian separation with the pedestrian area being elevated. The group consisting of Mr. Ulhaq, Mr. Robles, Mr. Massaad, and Ms. Pharr was presented. Mr. Ulhaq stated that the plan calls for minimal intervention to the wetlands and in order to protect the national habitat they wanted to maintain the oil field and golf course. He indicated that from analyzing the flood plan that this southwest coastal region was surprisingly not prone to flooding and is open for safe development. Mr. Robles stated that the north edge becomes the threshold to the city allowing for public access to the coast. He stated that to facilitate growth into the site, the master plan extends the main streets to the existing city grid streets. He indicated that business 146 is put above street level and thus clearing space below to allow residents to use paths. He stated that the space below can be used for light industrial purposes, residential hubs and public amenities. City Council Regular Work Session May 10, 2012 Page 5 of 6 Mr. Massaad stated that the shift of Evergreen redefines infrastructure and pulling back allows for the vehicular transportation to be zoned off from the coast thus allowing for a pedestrian friendly zone. He stated that a pedestrian pathway network is instilled and raised above the street level and filters through residential housing to the north that extends to the coast. Bayland Island becomes the center of the historic site and seen as a gateway to Baytown. He indicated that adjacent to the oil field is developed into an environmental zone and is a catalyst for sustainable issues for water wetlands and the coast. Ms. Pham stated that occupying the water edge such as restaurants, clubs and outdoor theater, offers an experience for residents and tourist to venture to the waterfront. She stated that looking at the master plan as a whole; these programs provide incentives for pedestrians to occupy the coast. Further discussion ensued regarding individual projects. Mr. Ulhaq stated that his project was called the Academy of Science which was research and institutional component because they would examine sustainable issues and development. He stated that the project was based on the needs to integrate public and private settings in which a building becomes more than a singular entity. He stated that the space is shared between infrastructural connections and social programming. He stated that along the bottom circulation can occur through social restaurants or activities such as local library or research center that can be shared by a specialized academy. Mr. Ulhaq stated that this would add to an asset for Baytown since there is only Lee College and could feed into that four year university. Additionally, Mr. Ulhaq indicated that he added Lee College as a four university so that research could be done there and it adds for more institutional research ability. Mr. Robles stated that he developed a project that included a hotel and park that architecturally adds as a gateway to bring people from the area to the waterfront. He stated that the hotel has an outdoor lecture hall, green spaces, that lead down to the waterfront. Mr. Massaad stated that his proposal is located on the night life and theater front, a social center that includes a pool, shops, restaurants and Community Theater that are organized in overlapping tiers. Ms. Pham stated that for the residential components of the masterplan, she proposed a block of multifamily condominiums that is designed to promote sustainable building. Mr. Massaad showed a rendering of master plan. At the conclusion of the presentation, Ms. Rogers provided Council with a book presentation of each project. City Council Regular Work Session May 10, 2012 Page 6 of 6 Mayor DonCarlos stated that Baytown has the last undeveloped bay front in Harris County and the presentations give the Council ideas to think about. He expressed appreciation to the all involved in the process. Council Member Renteria inquired if there was consideration of plans for a rest stop area due to the new Hwy 99 Parkway being developed. One of the students stated that a rest stop and motels were considered as a trade off since there was a railroad that intersects it. Mayor DonCarlos stated that on all of the projects that the development was low on the water as it should be and inquired if the consensus from the students was for the City to do nothing with the interior of track. One of the students stated that they wanted to preserve as much wetlands as possible. 2. ADJOURN With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor DonCarlos adjourned the May 10, 2012, City Council Regular Work Session at 5:38 P.M.