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2021 09 09 WS MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR WORK SESSION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN September 9, 2021 The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas met in a Regular Work Session on Thursday, September 9, 2021, at 5:30 P.M., in the Council Chamber of the Baytown City Hall, 2401 Market Street, Baytown, Texas with the following in attendance: Laura Alvarado Chris Presley Charles Johnson Heather Betancourth Jacob Powell Mike Lester Brandon Capetillo Kevin Troller Karen Homer Angela Jackson Mayor Pro Tern Council Member Council Member Council Member Council Member Council Member Mayor Acting City Manager City Attorney Acting City Clerk Mayor Capetillo convened the September 9, 2021, City Council Regular Work Session with a quorum present at 5:35 P.M., all members were present. 1. a. Receive and discuss a presentation/update regarding improvements made to the Development Process. Director of Planning and Development Services Martin Scribner presented the item and noted they had made some improvements to increase transparency between the City and the citizens, and also engage the public, in regards to developments that are occurring in the City. He noted that the Planning Department, with the help of the Community Engagement staff, had put together a page on the Baytown Engage website for those intended purposes. Principal Planning Manager Francesca Linder proceeded to provide an overview of the Development Permit Application Hub on the Baytown Engage website, located at www.baytownengage.com/dev, which includes an interactive GIS map with pins to indicate the locations of all of their development applications. The pink pins represent all of the current applications, and the blue pins represent all of the closed applications. She noted that by clicking on the pins, it will take you to the project page of each application, which indicates what they are requesting, the applicant's name, a legal description of the property, the current and proposed use, if applicable, what the future land use plan is, as well as provide a little bit of background on the case. Also, on the right side of the page will list the city staff member that is responsible for managing each case, which will allow you to email them if you have questions. City Council Work Session Minutes September 9, 2021 Page 2 of 5 In regards to rezoning applications, Ms. Linder further noted that they also included the typical zoning process which outlines the five steps in the zoning process and included the Document Library, which consists of the vicinity map, the zoning map which shows the zoning for the surrounding area, and also have a Future Land Use Plan map. As each case progresses, more documents will be added in this particular section. They will also add the staff report and the Planning and Zoning Commission recommendations to the Council, as it goes through the process. In the particular rezoning case that Ms. Linder was demonstrating to Council, it had actually been withdrawn; therefore, it would indicate at the top that the application was withdrawn by the applicant. What it means is that this property had already been noticed, meaning they turned in their application, staff processed it, started going through the process, sent out the notices to all the properties within 300 feet, posted signs on the location, posted it in the Baytown Sun, and it is posted on the notice board. However, something happened and the applicant decided to hold back, but Ms. Linder noted they would still have it on the website because everybody in the area was noticed, and we want to make sure they know what is going on, but it is not moving forward at this time. Once it is ready to move forward, they will have the dates of the public hearings, and they will be able to access the agendas from the link provided. Going back to what Mr. Scribner mentioned earlier, Ms. Linder indicated that this will be a two- way street in that the citizens or residents will be able to provide feedback on each case and can attach a picture, a document, or a petition to their submittal, which in turn staff will present to the Planning and Zoning Commission as well as to Council. Ms. Linder further noted that they also have a Frequently Asked Questions ("FAQs") section on the page and explained the typical setup, which basically provides the status of each case and they can inform residents of Neighborhood Open Houses, as well as add more information as each case progresses. Lastly, Ms. Linder pointed out the completed Development Pen -nit Applications, which are the ones that have already progressed through the Planning and Zoning Commission and the City Council, so if someone is interested, they can click it and they can watch the meeting and see when an application got approved and what concerns the Council had, if any. The closed cases will be kept online for several months after the completion date in case someone wants to follow up on a case, they can reach out to staff and they will help them. Mr. Scribner highlighted a key feature in regards to the required posted signs found around town that they may come upon at the sites. They have simplified their signs overall because they felt they were too wordy and if you are driving down the street, it is tough to see what is going on without stopping and walking up to it. Therefore, they have created a QR code for each one of the signs that will take you directly to the Baytown Engage website, which provides quicker access to the related information for that particular development case. Ms. Linder also noted that they will be updating the notice letters sent to property owners by incorporating the QR Code on them as well. She reiterated that their end goal is for the City to be more transparent and make it easier for the residents to access information and reach out to staff, if needed. City Council Work Session Minutes September 9, 2021 Page 3 of 5 Mayor Capetillo opened the floor for questions and comments from Council. Council Member Charles Johnson inquired as to whether the residents could sign up to speak at upcoming public hearings beforehand instead of them having to wait to sign up on the day of at the Council meetings because they have had people that come late to the meeting and were not able to sign in on time. Acting City Clerk Angela Jackson requested Ms. Linder to add a link that directs them to her so they can submit a request to sign up to speak at the Council meetings. Council Member Heather Betancourth complimented the staff on doing such a great job in making the whole process so efficient and transparent to the public. Council Member Jacob Powell also provided kudos to the staff. He inquired on the completed applications since he noticed they still had the comment form attached, and Ms. Linder confinned they could snake it inactive once it is completed and closed. Ms. Linder noted that with Baytown Engage, they have really great functionality. Staff receives notifications whenever something is posted, and they can look to see how people are accessing it, whether they are looking at it from QR code, directly to the site, emails, things like that. Even if they do change or remove the comment form, she indicated that they will have the Who's Listening feature available so they can always reach out to the case manager. Council Member Laura Alvarado inquired if the zoning and subdivision code regulations were available for referencing on the site for the particular projects and Ms. Linder confinned they had links to go to the City of Baytown webpage where they can find the packets provided to a developer that references the code requirements. Mayor Capetillo commended the staff on doing such a great job and using technology in the best interest of both, the City staff and the citizens of Baytown. b. Discuss the City's Neighborhood Traffic Management Policy. Director of Public Works and Engineering Frank Simoneaux presented the item and noted that they wanted to provide updates on the Traffic Management Policy based on their comments that were provided on two previous occasions, which was to make a simpler process, have it much less onerous on the residents, and have some flexibility in the implementation of the policy. In order to accomplish those goals, they turned to the Process Improvement and Community Engagement Specialist, Jamie Eustace. Mr. Simoneaux noted that a couple of things he did want to reinforce is that the purpose of traffic calming is to reduce speeding and/or traffic volume and does not include stop signs or speed limit changes. The policy that they currently have and what they are proposing, does not include any changes to the existing process for stop signs or speed limit changes, but rather, this policy is only for speed cushions. Ms. Eustace, also the Library Director, proceeded to provide an overview of the process improvement for the Traffic Management Policy. She noted that they used graphics to make it City Council Work Session Minutes September 9, 2021 Page 4 of 5 more accessible visually to people, which they incorporated into a road map, and they took a few pages of the process and condensed it into seven steps, which are as follows : 1) Submit an application on the Baytown Engage website to initiate the traffic management process, 2) It the street qualifies, the City will conduct a traffic study in the neighborhood impact area, 3) After the Study is complete, the City shares results with the individuals or group that submitted the application, 4) If the impact area meets the requirements for a traffic calming plan, the City will begin an engagement process to receive neighborhood feedback on the proposed plan, 5) The City will collect and analyze the engagement data from the neighborhood impact area, 6) If the neighborhood is in favor of the traffic calming plan, the plan will go to the Planning and Zoning Commission for approval, and 7) Implementation of the plan, which consists of installing the traffic calming devices, if funding allows. Ms. Eustace indicated that they created another graphic representation in regards to some Frequently Asked Questions ("FAQs"), which looks friendly and does not look like a legal document, and directs everyone to the Neighborhood Traffic Management page on the Baytown Engage website. She proceeded to demonstrate the different features of the webpage to Council. Assistant City Manager Nick Woolery noted that as Ms. Eustace has indicated, the new process makes it really easy for the resident or neighborhood group to report an issue, which initiates the communication process with staff, and in return it makes it easier for staff to engage the neighborhood in the process. Council provided feedback on the presentation regarding the process improvement for the Traffic Management Policy, and staff proceeded to answer questions from Council as it pertained to whether information from the Baytown app is being merged or linked with the Baytown Engage site, ensuring that traffic studies were being performed during peak hours, as well as funding options for implementation of the traffic calming plans. C. Discuss any or all of the agenda items on the City Council Regular Meeting Agenda for September 9, 2021. Council Member Chris Presley inquired on the emails they received as it pertained to the Limited Purpose Annexation ("LPA") item on the regular agenda, which Acting City Manager Kevin Troller proceeded to explain. He noted that he had included the actual chart that is on the Baytown Engage website, which makes it clear what can be done in a Limited Purpose Annexation area, which can be put in a Council District and the residents can take part in the election. However, this particular annexation will not be finalized until November, therefore, they will not be able to vote in this mayoral election. City Attorney Karen Horner indicated that this would be the first residential area being annexed as a Limited Purpose Annexation. She clarified that it is statutory that residents would be allowed to vote at upcoming elections once the LPA annexation process is completed, being that the thought process is that the limited purpose annexations will eventually come into the City pursuant to the different strategic partnership agreements which have time limits built into them for when they are required to be fully annexed, which in this case it will be in thirty years. Mr. Scribner noted some of the benefits for annexing LPAs into the City of Baytown. City Council Work Session Minutes September 9, 2021 Page 5 of 5 2. ADJOURN With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor Brandon Capetillo adjourned the September 9, 2021, City Council Regular Work Session at 6:14 P.M. City of Baytown