2012 06 28 WS MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR WORK SESSION OF THE
CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN
June 28, 2012
The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas met in a Regular Work Session
on Thursday, June 28, 2012, at 5:00 P.M., in the Council Chamber of the Baytown City
Hall, 2401 Market Street, Baytown, Texas with the following in attendance:
Robert Hoskins 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 June 28, 2012, City Council Regular Work Session with
a quorum present at 5:00 P.M., all members were present with the exception of Council
Member Renteria who arrived at 5:04 P.M., and Council Members Sain and Sheley who
were both absent.
1. DISCUSSIONS
a. Discuss the City of Baytown's Participation Regarding Bay Oaks Harbor
Subdivision Streets - Administration.
City Manager Leiper presented the agenda item to discuss the City of Baytown's
participation regarding Bay Oaks Harbor Subdivision Streets and stated that Bay Oaks
Harbor was built in the late 70's, early 80's as a private community in which at that time
were not required to build the streets and utilities to the City's standards. Additionally, he
stated that the utilities were also considered private and that the development had a
shared CCN with the City.
City Manager Leiper stated that since that time, the developer had gone bankrupt and the
water system had been taken over by TCEQ leaving the residents left with a lot of
problems related to the developers. City Manager Leiper stated that the system was
taken -over by the City and the City advanced $165,000 to bring the system up to the
City's standard. Additionally, he stated that the residents began repaying the City in 2008
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June 28, 2012
Page 2 of 4
through a utility bill assessment of $15 per month and so far $120,000 of the $165,000
cost has been repaid. He stated that a little over a year remains on the assessment.
City Manager Leiper stated that various plans were developed over the years to address
the substandard streets, which is a much more costly repair than the utilities were. He
suggested that repairing the streets may be done in a similar way to that of the utility
repair. He stated that in one of the plans to address the condition of the streets, the
residents of BOH created a Public Improvement District (PID) in 2009 but that the
developer who was going to use the PID never followed through on his plans. He
indicated that the PID remains in place. A PID allows the levy of fees for PID projects
and the fees are assessed along with property taxes and are due and payable by all
property owners just like property taxes. The same rules for payment and delinquency
apply to PID charges.
City Manager Leiper stated that if Council was interested, the City could implement a
plan whereby the City advances the estimated $1.725 million for street reconstruction of
the main street. He said that the repairs would include streets with concrete, appropriate
drainage and width which would meet City standards. He stated that the funding would
come from existing street bonds that have been left over funds from previous years.
Additionally, Mr. Leiper stated that payment would be annually on the tax bill and at the
time in which this would start, the utility repayments would be completed. City Manager
Leiper stated that the utilities is only paid by those people who are connected to the
utilities and the assessment would be paid by every property owner at the per lot level.
During further discussion, City Manager Leiper stated that in terms of the other streets in
the area, another option was explored which would redo all of the streets at a cost of
about $3 million, but he was not comfortable with taking that much money out of the
bond program at once. He stated that his recommendation was at the time that the main
streets are deeded to the City, that the City take ownership of all of the streets with the
understanding between the property owners association that the City would do patch
repairs on the loop streets until after 2015, which at that time the voters would be asked
to reauthorize the street maintenance sales tax. City Manager Leiper stated that
under state law the street maintenance sales taxes could only be used to repair or
replace streets that were in the City on the date of the last election.
City Manager Leiper stated that while the main street would be concrete, staff's proposal
is to do a base restore and overlay and create 16 to 18 foot wide asphalt loop streets using
street maintenance sales tax on a pay as you go basis.
Mayor DonCarlos inquired if the drainage would continue to have open ditches. City
Manager Leiper stated that it would be a combination to the extinct of putting in limited
collection systems and that to put in a pure underground drainage system is cost
prohibitive. Additionally, he stated that all of the loop streets would be open ditches
because currently they surface drain down to the main street and the plan is to provide the
most cost effective system to improve the area.
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June 28, 2012
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Members of Council stated comments in supportive of the proposed plan.
City Manager Leiper stated that the City's engineer would develop the design for the
streets in house to help lower the cost, but would consider comments from the POA's
engineer. He also stated for clarification that although comments are encouraged, the City
would be responsible for the street's maintenance and therefore the City would determine
the final design. City Manager Leiper stated that the next steps in formalizing this process
are:
• Determine the cost of Public Improvements,
• Prepare Service Plan and Assessment Plan,
• City Council Approve Service Plan and Assessment Plan by Ordinance,
• Conduct Public Hearing with regard to assessment roll related to conference of
benefit of the person/property paying the assessment, and
• Approve Assessment Roll and Levy by Ordinance.
City Manager Leiper inquired if the streets to be reconstructed would have to be deeded
from the Property Owners Association to the City before work could begin. Mr. David
Hawes stated that the assessment would begin when Council decides it and could be
included in the ordinance calling for the assessment.
Mayor DonCarlos stated that all involved in the process need to be sure that the drainage
issues are taken care of to make the area better and not worse.
Council Member McCartney stated that the projected start date would be somewhere in
the middle of 2013.
b. Discuss Noise Ordinance - Administration.
City Manager Leiper presented the agenda item to discuss the noise ordinance and stated
that City's current noise ordinance addresses noise that originates in the City and that
Council has the option to extend the application of that to 5,000 feet by state law. He
stated that the ordinance does not contain specific decibel levels and that information
would have to be placed in the ordinance, such as was done with the Nuisance
Ordinance.
Council was provided a survey from surrounding cities that showed what other cities
were doing in relation to decibel levels. City Manager Leiper stated that he would like
participation and input from the Council Members in drafting this ordinance. He stated
that his concern was that Baytown is unique to many cities in the sense that there are a
number of operations such as mobile noise sources other than radios and even flight
noises in which the City received complaints about. He stated that he wanted to make
sure that we were addressing the problem and don't add a level of expectations that the
police would respond to and recommended an exemption or different standard for safety
requirements.
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June 28, 2012
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City Manager Leiper stated that if Council was interested in changing the City's noise
ordinance, in order to set specific threshold criteria and also to provide an ability to issue
citations for noises originating in our ETJ (within 5,000 ft. of the City limits), staff
would develop a draft ordinance that's reasonable and enforceable for consideration at an
upcoming meeting.
Mayor DonCarlos inquired as to what the City does in the event someone rides down the
road with loud music. Chief Dougherty stated that the City has a disorderly conduct by
noise citation which is a Class C violation if done in the presence of an officer. He the
officers would let the individual know that what they are doing is unlawful; if it is
recurring then a citation would be issued if done in the presence of an officer. Chief
Dougherty stated that it is the unreasonable of the noise, which is subjective and the
officers have to be able to explain the level of the noise.
In conclusion of the discussion, members of Council agreed that the industry noise is a
concern and stated supportive comments on providing protection for the citizens by
having an enforceable noise ordinance.
2. ADJOURN
With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor DonCarlos adjourned the June 28,
2012, City Council Regular Work Session at 5:38 P.M.