2018 08 23 WS Minutes MINUTES OF THE REGULAR WORK SESSION OF THE
CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN
AUGUST 23, 2018
The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas met in a Regular Work Session on Thursday,
August 23, 2018, at 5:31 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 Mayor Pro Tem
David Himsel Council Member
Chris Presley Council Member
Heather Betancourth Council Member
Stephen DonCarlos Mayor
Rick Davis City Manager
Ignacio Ramirez City Attorney
Leticia Brysch City Clerk
Mayor DonCarlos convened the August 23, 2018, City Council Regular Work Session with a
quorum present at 5:31 P.M., all members were present with the exception of Council Member
Alvarado who arrived at 5:50 P.M.
1. DISCUSSIONS
a. Discuss amending the Unified Land Development Code regarding current
requirements for the hotel/motel land uses in the City of Baytown.
Planning and Development Services Director Tiffany Foster presented the item and stated that
back in May the Council approved some different standards for hotels, which would set out new
standards in the ULDC for hotels and motels. She noted that staff had requested to restrict
exterior access hotels, so all hotels would (1) only have access through the interior of the
building; i.e., access through interior hallways and (2) required to have about two thousand
square foot of additional space for recreation or meeting space or breakfast area. There was one
area that was excluded from those restrictions per the request of a council member.
Since that time, there are a number of motels that are either under construction or in the pipeline
for construction that will come in under the old regulations as they already had permits in place
before the new regulations were adopted in May. She noted that maybe it is because people are
more hypersensitive to the number of hotels that are already in the pipeline that it has been
requested that those requirements be applied throughout the entire city instead of excluding a
portion of the city as it is now. Mrs. Foster noted that staff is seeking direction from the Council
on how they would like to proceed on this matter.
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August 23,2018
Page 2 of 4
Council Member Presley noted that he was the council member that requested reconsideration of
this item as there have been some unintended consequences, whereby prohibited exterior-access
hotels throughout the city except in District Two, it created a hot bed for the construction of
outside access hotels. He noted that he would like for District Two and any area that was
excluded from the adopted regulations from last May be included, as the Council is always able
to consider any special circumstances on a case by case basis. He noted that he still does not
believe that hotels or exterior-access hotels scattered throughout the city are necessarily a bad
thing; however, with the current standards, these hotels would be concentrated in one area of the
City only.
The Council briefly discussed the item and had a consensus that staff should move forward and
set the same standards and regulations for hotels and motels throughout the City.
Mrs. Foster thanked the Council for their direction and noted that staff will begin the process of
an application to amend the ULDC for the city manager to initiate the process and bring it back
for Council's consideration as soon as possible, but noted that there are some restrictions on the
resubmission of a zoning application, and staff will work with the Legal Department to
determine a timeline for this item.
b. Receive and discuss a presentation regarding the City's proposed Public Safety
Facility.
City Manager Rick Davis presented the item and introduced two representatives of the Architects
Design Group, Ms. Melissa Volker and Mr. Tom Powell, who would present the Council with
the latest concepts associated with a proposed emergency services central building that will
encompass the police station and fire administration.
Ms. Volker gave a little history of the project and noted that last year, they completed a needs
assessment on the Baytown Police Department and at that time presented the Council with three
options on how it could be developed in phases. She noted that out of that presentation, the
Council felt that based on the cost difference in phases, it really did not make sense to do this
type of project in phases and decided to "just do it all at once!" Additionally, Ms. Volker noted
that the Council requested that going forward the design of the building include space for the
Fire Administration building.
Ms. Volker noted that with the new direction, they met with both the Police and Fire staff to tour
the facilities and identify their current and future needs, in order to create a building that would
meet all these needs within the existing site, which was achieved with the main building, but
many of the smaller buildings are still being worked on. Ms. Volker identified the existing
buildings on the current site with the property to the north being the old Angel Brothers property,
which is currently being used by the Police Department for its fleet maintenance and a storage
facility.
Mr. Powell noted that one of the things that they wanted to be cognizant of as they designed this
space was the practicality of a building, in order to allow for the construction of the new building
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August 23,2018
Page 3 of 4
while still operating the old building. With this in mind, it was decided to place the building
directly behind the current police building, and then oriented the courts, the EOC and the police
academy to a back courtyard that is more of a staff area.
Ms. Volker noted that the buildings are all similarly oriented and the secured area for staff only
would include the police vehicle maintenance area, the fire vehicle maintenance area; staff
parking, which has tripled from the existing, and the main building with multiple floors. The
first floor is the public lobby coming off of the main plaza where the records, cleaning room and
community amenities would be housed; along with the back area for evidence and other social
services. The second floor is a control area with lockers in the back and patrol across the whole
front of the floor. The third floor is criminal investigations, special operations and community
services that include crime prevention and training. The top or fourth floor would be for Police
and Fire administration.
Mr. Powell showed two renditions of the building; one that is all the red brick and the other with
red brick on one side and white brick on the other side of the building.
Ms. Volker noted that because the norm for public buildings is to not allow people to be able to
park right up against the building, they designed a public plaza that would lead into the buildings
but will also have safety features built in.
The consensus from the Council was to go with the design of the building façade with the red
brick.
Council Member Hoskins noted that the area to the north of the property that used to belong to
Angel Brothers does not seem integrated into the design and requested that the consultants look
at ways of incorporating the entire space into the design of the new facility and its grounds to
maintain the security of the area but also have good curb appeal from N. Main.
Ms. Volker noted that that they could certainly look into designing the area with the use of the
property to the north. She noted that the current design does not really touch that area per the
direction that they received before, but could certainly look at using the entire site. Police Chief
Keith Dougherty noted that the property to the north is currently being used by the Police
Department and includes some storage, the car wash, some police vehicle maintenance and
parking.
The Council asked about the high water vehicles purchased after Hurricane Harvey. Chief
Dougherty noted that the Police Department has four vehicles that are being stored in the Police
area, which is not covered parking at this time.
Fire Chief Kenneth Dobson noted that the Fire Department has one high water vehicle at each of
the seven fire stations and two at Fire Administration. He noted that the extra vehicles are older
vehicles that are no longer in service and are being used for parts. He further stated that the
trucks are not under covered parking at this time.
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August 23,2018
Page 4 of 4
Mr. Powell noted that they are still in the discussion phases for the design of the complex and
will continue discussions in order to meet the garages and storage needs for both PD and Fire.
He also noted that the new design includes two access points to the property, the one to the
public off of N. Main and a secured back access for staff only.
The Council discussed the history and purchase of the property to the north of the site that was
purchased from Angel Brothers. After a brief discussion, the Council requested that staff look
into the environmental concerns on the property and report back with a plan to deal with them
and the number of underground tanks.
The Council discussed the site plan further and felt comfortable that the initial design contained
the facilities and spaces needed to meet the needs of both the Police and Fire Department at this
location, and requested that the next iteration of this design have better utilization of the entire
site and make sure that curb appeal is protected and, if possible, enhanced.
Mr. Davis stated that staff is still looking into ways of funding this project, including but not
limited to: a public/private partnership, the designation of IDA monies and the issuance of debt.
He noted that staff is working on a financial plan for this project by the end of the year. Mr.
Davis further noted that the hope is that the City will begin the construction for this facility in
2020 and have it fully functional before the end of 2021.
c. Discuss any or all of the agenda items on the City Council Regular Meeting Agenda
for August 23,2018,which is attached below.
This item was not discussed.
2. ADJOURN
With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor DonCarlos adjourned the August 23,
2018, City Council Regular Work Session at 6:18 P.M. '
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