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2021 11 15 WS MinutesMINUTES OF THE SPECIAL WORK SESSION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN November 15, 2021 The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas met in a Special Work Session on Monday, November 151, 2021, at 5:30 P.M., in the Hullum Conference Room 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 Rick Davis Karen Horner Raquel Martinez Mike Holden Mayor Pro Tern Council Member Council Member Council Member Council Member Council Member Mayor City Manager City Attorney Deputy City Clerk Sergeant at Arms Mayor Capetillo convened the November 15, 2021, City Council Special Work Session with a quorum present at 5:31 P.M., all members were present. 1. DISCUSSIONS a. Discuss and review proposed redistricting maps. First Assistant City Attorney Trevor Fanning introduced Dr. Robert Klein from Rice University who crafted the options (maps B2 and B3) presented to Council. Dr. Klein communicated that option B3 was their final recommendation in light of the issues regarding the movement of the Baytown Nature Center. He noted there were only about two legal issues they were worried about. One issue was the "one person, one vote" and the other was having districts that looked "ugly or gerryinandered." For the "one person, one vote" issue, Dr. Klein stated the law was they could not have more than a 10% difference from their largest to smallest district. Dr. Klein explained the City of Baytown was at a 37% difference before they started the exercise of "one person, one vote." He further listed the other criteria, keeping all incumbents in their district. When drawing boundaries and finding that an incumbent was living in another person's district, this was sometimes known as pairing up. The second criteria was maintaining the boundaries. The third, Dr. Klein stated, was that there were communities of interest of specifically Hispanic populations that have had historically two districts —Districts 1 and 2. He noted those districts have been underpopulated with most of the growth being outside of Downtown Baytown. Dr. Klein then explained there City Council Special Work Session Minutes November 18, 2019 Page 2 of 9 were some irregularities with the original plans. For the parts of District 6 running along the eastern border, they had expressed wanting to bring that down. He stated they needed most importantly to bring in populations once they kept the Nature Center in District 3. Dr. Klein believed that plan B3 met all of those needs and criteria. Mayor Capetillo then discussed a few key things. He explained from his understandings they had to stay within census tracks. Mayor Capetillo voiced wanting to keep neighborhoods together as much as possible and expressed his dislike for dividing neighborhoods. The Mayor also queried for a few key data points. He asked specifically when looking at the balance of Hispanic populations or other demographics, what were the findings that were unique or key drivers that supported 133? In response to Mayor Capetillo's question, Dr. Klein believed the biggest driver was growth. He noted that Baytown's growth was substantial. The Downtown area, Districts 1 and 2, were developing more towards commercial/non-residential. Dr. Klein stated most residential and population growth was in the periphery. The challenge, as Dr. Klein relayed, was to keep Districts 1 and 2 at their majority -minority. Dr. Klein believed they had kept it at a 64%—almost 60%. He noted they were not under any legal requirement, but that they took the guidelines given to them by Council. Dr. Klein pointed out that they did try to not breakup neighborhoods; however, he mentioned in plan 3 there was an overwriting interest to keep it into the "one person, one vote" because that was where they could get in trouble with the justice department. Thus, they did split some neighborhoods. Yet, Dr. Klein specified they never broke up streets nor precincts. They also paid attention to what they called "traditional communities of interest." He noted that they were caught off guard by the Nature Center and its history. Dr. Klein commented that during redistricting, he hadn't realized how important it was to keep it in its district. Mayor Capetillo discussed a bit further on the Nature Center. He noted nobody was there but Wooster itself. People were still on the roles in the 2010 census even though they weren't there after the fact. The Nature Center, from the Mayor's perspective, was just geographic. He added that as far as size, there's nobody there other than the few streets on the front of it. Dr. Klein mentioned that usually when moving a block, they work with the census blocks and tracks because there is somebody there, however, with the Nature Center there was not. Dr. Klein further elaborated that they did have to take some land around it where enough people were there. Dr. Klein noted of the changes City Attorney Karen Horner had sent them. The biggest one being driven by the Nature Center. Dr. Klein cautioned moving forward with the way the community was growing, it would be difficult to maintain those district boundaries. Dr. Klein further discussed the census. He discussed its accuracy in -spite of it being late, the COVID pandemic, the fact that Baytown was clearly growing, and the decisions Council made about Downtown development. Mayor Capetillo commented that they had a large ETJ so they were in fact going to grow there and he also expressed wanting to consider their inner-city. He noted Districts 1 and 2 were pretty much locked. Mayor Capetillo then noted that he wanted to open up to Council about those key things. Council Member Chris Presley stated he was good with the recommendation but did have a question. Council Member Presley referenced the presentation slide in front of Council and City Council Special Work Session Minutes November 18, 2019 Page 3 of 9 questioned the boundaries of the presented districts. He supposed would not a straight line have made more sense —however, he did note that apparently there were complications with a straight line. Dr. Klein stated District 3 does not have much change due to there being too many people and they didn't want to break the street up. Dr. Klein reasoned that if someone lived across the street of another, they should be in the same district. He explained that they had stayed on the idea of not breaking up communities or streets. Mayor Pro Tem Laura Alvarado stated that she was ok with the way it was and that they were fairly accurate to what they had imagined. Her question was directed more towards staff being that when 99 builds out, would that be an ETJ or would that be city limits? She and Council Member Mike Lester had spoken previously about the possibility to share areas of 99 due to their proximity. First Assistant City Attorney Fanning replied ETJ to his understanding. Council Member Heather Betancourth stated as far as District 4 goes, there were no changes between the two maps so she had no preference. Council Member Charles Johnson requested for the minority break down on District 3, and while Dr. Klein searched, Council Member Johnson then asked his second question. That question being, what was the driver for Country Club Manor and Country Club Cove moving to District 4. Dr. Klein responded to the latter question that population was probably it. They were basically working with Districts 1 and 2. In response to Council Member Johnson first question, Dr. Klein answered 39% Hispanic population (18 years and over) in District 3, and the African -American population of the same age range would be 33%. Council Member Johnson further deliberated that he liked the map, but questioned why Ashbel Cove was not on the map as a part of District 3 as they had previously done a limited purpose annexation for it. Dr. Klein replied that the short answer was the census did not report it in the community yet. He further specified, in regards to voting, they would count but not for redistricting. In regards to November 2022, Council Member Johnson asked if they had a large number of individuals from that Ashbel Cove area, would they then extend and consider redistricting again? Dr. Klein answered it was up to Council. Mayor Capetillo mentioned that was something they know was going to come, so should they consider that in the analysis. Dr. Klein clarified that they could draw boundaries anytime they wanted; however, they could not use anything but the census data for drawing those boundaries. Council Member Johnson assessed then it wasn't going to show until November. Mayor Capetillo suggested they could come back in '23. Council Member Johnson also clarified that this was not what he'd like to see, but so that they would all have accurate information. Additionally, Dr. Klein commented that people do move. Mayor Capetillo then asked if they take action say in 3 years, what data would they use. He noted they couldn't do a new census for the city. Dr. Klein explained that once the annexation took into effect, they would have to go back to the 2020 census data. Other things such as the American Community Survey that's in auxiliary cannot be used for this purpose. They could only use the numbers they got. Mayor Capetillo clarified they were not going to make a decision but hear input for now, and recommended having a meeting or two where they could adopt them. First Assistant City Attorney Fanning noted that they did have it on the consent item for a hearing. He stated they could pull that if Council wanted to do a hearing in December and then move on in January. City Council Special Work Session Minutes November 18, 2019 Page 4 of 9 Council Member Jacob Powell had no preference on either option. Council Member Lester stated he'd probably go with B3 because it sounded to him that the consensus was headed that way. His only comment was that District 6 currently had three voting sites and with B3 they now had four voting sites. Council Member Lester gave a follow-up question being whichever one they decide —expressing his thoughts on B3—how would they notify those citizens of their new district and council person? Mayor Pro Tern Alvarado relayed that she herself went through that and gave Council Member Lester her recommendations. Mayor Capetillo summarized that there was a general leaning towards B3 and moved on to the next item. b. Discuss possible revisions to the Park Pavilions and Community Center Rental Policies and Procedures regarding serving/consuming alcoholic beverages, charging admission fees, and related items. Mayor Capetillo began the discussion addressing ticketed events. It was understood that there couldn't be those kind of events at the community center. Mayor Capetillo expressed that he would like to look at allowing people to hold events that charged a fee. Council Member Johnson questioned why they were not, and Council Member Powell also voiced his curiosity as to how the policy was written. First Assistant City Attorney Fanning stated that the policy, in regards to alcohol, approved certain locations and that this location was not. Mayor Capetillo responded they could get past that with Council's consensus, and he reminded them that there were two components to this agenda item. First Assistant City Attorney Fanning again referenced the policy and stated they could not —when it comes to private entities that were not a non -profit — sell tickets with profit. Mayor Capetillo recommended they just rent the place. There was then extended discussion entailing allowing entities to rent. Council Member Presley asked if there was a limitation in place in the event entities were running a business. Mayor Capetillo suggested allowing businesses to rent twice a year. First Assistant City Attorney Fanning stated there was an aspect in the policy that does say they could not monopolize the facility. Council Member Johnson commented that they didn't necessarily have to say twice a year. In reference to the policy, Council Member Johnson specified they would just need to be clear on how they define monopolizing and that after he did not see why they shouldn't. Mayor Pro Tern Alvarado and Mayor Capetillo inquired for the numbers and how often people request ticketed events. Interim Parks and Recreation Director Clifford Hatch did not give the specific numbers, but did mention that the city does sell ticketed event which the city and other non- profits could do. Council Member Betancourth voiced that she had no issues with it. Council Member Lester stated if it starts to be a problem, they could fix it to which Council Member Betancourth agreed saying that surely staff could manage the monopolizing. Mayor Capetillo then spoke over allowing the consumption and selling of alcohol. He commented that he had no issue. The Mayor brought up the example of Evergreen where alcohol was allowed and stated he hadn't heard of any issues. City Council Special Work Session Minutes November 18, 2019 Page 5 of 9 First Assistant City Attorney Fanning backtracked and commented again on the topic of monopolizing the community center. He stated the current policy did not define monopoly but did say no single activity of special interests shall be committed to monopolize any facility. First Assistant City Attorney Fanning continued reciting the policy stating the frequency of usage of the facility would be at the approval of the Director of Parks and Recreation. Mayor Capetillo stated they would let staff decide what that was. Council Member Lester continued the discussion on alcohol in asking First Assistant City Attorney Fanning if he knew what the current alcohol policy was at Evergreen. First Assistant City Attorney Fanning replied that they had to get a pen -nit. Council Member Johnson then questioned when it came to police officers and alcohol being served, would Council say they'd want 'Y' amount of police officers per 25 or 30 so individuals. Assistant Director of Parks and Recreation Clifford Hatch replied that they would have to have two officers and if they go over a hundred or so then it would be up to the Parks Director. Council Member Betancourth indicated that would be paid separately and not a city expense. Council Member Johnson asked once more for the number of two officers for how many people. Mr. Hatch responded they try to do about a hundred but that it depends on the event. He also mentioned when they get event insurance, they'd have to say the parameters of the party and they could then get that infonnation. City Manager Rick Davis then summarized that it appeared there was an appetite of this kind of policy. The appropriate pathway was to put something together and move it to Parks and Recreation for consideration. Then, it would come back to Council. Mayor Pro Tern Alvarado clarified then that if the community center served alcohol, would they require officers as well and Mr. Hatch confirmed they would. Mayor Capetillo suggested they adopted the same policy as Evergreen. City Manager Davis commented he and Mr. Hatch could look at this together. Council Member Johnson noted it would have to be Baytown PD and not Sheriff or Constable. Mayor Pro Tern Alvarado countered as long as it was an officer. Mr. Hatch responded that they would rather have all Baytown police. If Baytown could not staff it, they would then supplement with Harris County Constables. Mayor Capetillo's only question was would this apply to certain rooms in the community center or any. Mayor Pro Tern Alvarado voiced she would just go with the bigger rooms, but that they'd have to see the policy they corne up with. Mayor Capetillo advocated again keeping it the same as Evergreen, and then moved on to the next item. C. Discuss The Cottages at San Jacinto Boulevard Development. Director of Planning and Development Service Martin Scribner introduced Ms. Tiffany Foster who presented the item to Council. Ms. Foster, representative for REME Company gave her greetings and began with bringing to remembrance years ago when they designed San Jacinto Boulevard. She stated following construction, the city put in place an overlay district to cover that area which brought restrictions and rules that were over and above what was in their yield in their zoning code. Ms. Foster also mentioned they looked at having mixed -use type of developments, such as: commercial and residential. She also noted they did say they had wanted some type of higher density residential. City Council Special Work Session Minutes November 18, 2019 Page 6 of 9 Ms. Foster then began explaining to Council what they were viewing in the presentation. She described the overlaying district was broken up into three different tiers: commercial; mixed -use closer to I-10; and residential moving down south. The property they were examining was roughly 13.5 acres, and she explained the City of Baytown at that time designated it for a higher density residential use. Ms. Foster defined that what they're presenting to Council was a project showing a higher density residential with a horizontal multi -family and single-family detached residential units that would be owned and managed by one particular owner. Ms. Foster then introduced REME Company's Daniel Blanco who would talk them through the concept of a different type of housing for the City of Baytown. Mr. Daniel Blanco with REME Company introduced himself as well as the team who was present, that had collaborated on this particular project. Mr. Blanco explained they were a community real estate developer who focused on mixed -use commercial and residential. How they do that is by a lot of research and development. He stated they did not typically pick up their team and go all over, what they did was pick who had the most success in that city and then bring those individuals to the table. After assembling that team, that was how they got to where they were next —site specific curation. Mr. Blanco then began discussing the property itself. He explained the zoning was a good buffer between general commercial and low -to -mid density residential. Mr. Blanco noted it acted as a good transitional element for the proposed project and that it had all the utilities. He acknowledged that it was intended to be a high density residential and expressed they did want to keep those characteristics. The property was also next to a regional detention pond intended for the watershed of San Jacinto Boulevard. Mr. Blanco noted that the interesting part of the city's overlay district was that they did not want to have the on -site surface detention take up all the projects along San Jacinto, and so they were trying to get everybody into that regional detention facility. He recognized because they were the first project, there was not a defined regional facility so they were having to create one for their project. It just so happened that the property was adjacent to the city -owned detention facility and being where they saw an opportunity to provide amenities, he noted they were utilizing that detention to be the detention for their site as well and turn it into a public amenity, which would be a wet -bottom pond with walking trails all the way around it. Mr. Blanco expressed that they wanted to attract quality residents and to be more transitionary from commercial to low -mid density residentials. He clarified they did not want an apartment complex, did not want to target low -to -moderate income, and they were not subsidized housing. Mr. Blanco explained what they created was a single-family detached residential community. They used the tenn "cottages" to define their small homes. He further explained it was a gated community with in -hand security and 24/7 maintenance (front yards, backyards, etc.). Mr. Blanco specified they were trying to create a luxury lifestyle with hassle -free living that had the perks of a single-family. They highly amenitized every unit and stated they would have an attached garage and private yards. They have also identified areas for parklets throughout the community like a dog park and dog wash station. Mr. Blanco also explained they tried to make City Council Special Work Session Minutes November 18, 2019 Page 7 of 9 sure their parking was concealed in alleyways and connected their public amenity to the San Jac. trail system. Mayor Pro Tern Alvarado commented they currently had a cottage development with alley parking at Shady Hill. They constantly receive calls due to neighbors parking their cars blocking other neighbors. She noted that they did have a visitor's parking, but they did not want to park there. Mayor Pro Tem. Alvarado questioned Mr. Blanco how would they handle that. Her recommendation was creating their own HOA ordinance and using towing signs. Mr. Blanco reiterated that every unit had their own dedicated parking spots depending on the number of bedrooms in that unit. He also clarified that this was a 4-rank community with one owner that operated like a multi -family development but was single-family units. Mr. Blanco then answered Mayor Pro Tern Alvarado's question in saying that how he would police that was through their property management company. He explained the beauty of having on -site maintenance and on - site representation was that it would be a quick golf cart ride from the leasing center over to handle the issue. Mr. Blanco also presented Council with floor plan examples and recapped on their housing concept. It had the feel of a traditional neighborhood development with the maintenance -free luxuries of an apartment complex. City Manager Davis inquired for the rents. Mr. Blanco responded that they pulled data from the local garden -style apartment complexes and typically demanded a 15-20% premium that came from all the amenities. Ms. Foster added in comparison to Alta, a garden -style apartment complex, one bedroom was roughly $1,200 a month plus $200- $300 for a garage and dedicated parking. So, their one bedroom would have a premium of 15%- 30% higher. Mr. Blanco stated $1,500-$1,600 was their target. City Manager Davis noted that then this would not attract people seeking affordable housing, it was for people who are trying to attain a certain lifestyle. Ms. Foster agreed that it was for the lifestyle of a young professional who was coming to the market not ready to purchase a home yet. A "lock -and -leave" concept. Mr. Blanco expanded that they did target the 40% of the population between 25 and 55 years old in Baytown —especially those 55 and up moving out of their houses, downsizing, and wanting a house with free maintenance. How they acquire those people was by the quality and luxury they provide. Council Member Powell had a question for staff, did they have any plans to extend Archer Road through that area? Council Member Betancourth believed they didn't. Ms. Foster replied that the extension of Archer Road was currently on the current major thoroughfare plan. With the development of San Jacinto and Santavy, the city had decided it was not necessary. She also noted the engineering difficulties with the Harris County flood control ditch being there. What they had discussed with this project was that the city would move forward with the cleaning up of the thoroughfare plan. Ms. Foster explained that in a couple of months they would go through the comprehensive plan update which was already in progress. Council Member Powell noted that there were no proposed exits. If they ever were to extend Archer, he recommended leaving room for an exit. Council Member Presley queried if they had developed this concept in other cities. Mr. Blanco replied they had in the San Antonio market and that this would be their first project here. Council City Council Special Work Session Minutes November 18, 2019 Page 8 of 9 Member Presley questioned further if there were no projects they could look at in the Houston area. Mr. Blanco answered everything was under construction, the established ones were in San Antonio but that they had a list of "stuff' in the Houston area too they could provide Council. Council Member Presley stated they would like to see that list in San Antonio and Houston. Mr. Blanco notified they would also distribute example videos of the communities. At 6:28 p.m., Mayor Capetillo walked out of the meeting. One final point Mr. Blanco discussed was that the compelling nature of this development was having long-term tenants. On a traditional multi -family market, they would get a 1-to-18-month turnaround period from tenant to tenant, whereas here, they were locking in tenants for 5 years. Additionally, Mr. Scribner pointed out that they were anticipating the timeline for this with the PUD overlay was going to the Planning and Zoning Commission the following night, then have a second hearing in December, and without any hiccups then come back to Council in January. Council Member Lester requested Mr. Blanco to have the floor plans available to them. Mr. Blanco said they did have floor plan as well as elevation examples. Mayor Pro Tern Alvarado in reference to the pages in front of Council, stated that the City Clerk would make copies for Council if they wanted thetas and closed item 1.c. d. Discuss any or all of the agenda items on the City Council Special Meeting Agenda for November 15, 2021, which is attached below. City Manager Davis announced the Fire Chief was going to quickly touch on a couple of items that they were going to consider that night on the agenda. The Fire Chief noted the items were about the fire engines and improving their fleet cycle. They were looking forward to using the fire control funds until they had saved up enough money to purchase the apparatus. The Fire Chief stated they started looking at the lease purchase options. In talking with city staff, they came up with the idea of drawing a loan from the general fund while still doing the repayment the same way which was having three years of payments. The Fire Chief stated the reasons why they wanted to do that was because they needed more and newer fire apparatus so that their reserve feet would also be strong. He explained their reserve fleet was not in great shape due to losing a truck in an accident a couple of years ago and also delays with COVID. They had been seeing significant cost increases and regular annual cost increases. He also noted they would get the prepayment which is about $50,000. Council Member Johnson questioned how much each truck cost. The Fire Chief answered about $780k-$790k. He mentioned they had previously discussed, when he first came to the city four years ago, that they had purchased Engine 2 at $699k. Other trucks, they had previously bought at $850k three years ago and that they have now scaled back with smaller trucks which would put them in a better position to continue to purchase. Council Member Johnson further questioned how many were they going to get. The Fire Chief responded they were going to get two now and that the total was $1.5m to $4.57m. City Manager Davis noted this would save them tens of thousands of dollars. City Council Special Work Session Minutes November 18, 2019 Page 9 of 9 Council Member Powell cautioned they were going to reach their end of life around the same time and they should keep that in mind for a few years down the road. The Fire Chief noted Director of Finance Victor Brownlees was not in attendance but they had looked at funding moving forward and that it was in good shape. Lastly, the Fire Chief noted they did have a debt - payment from the training field that would end in about six or seven years which would free up funding. 2. ADJOURN With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor Pro Tern Laura Alvarado adjourned the November 15, 2021, City Council Special Work Session at 6:31 P.M. Angela Jackson, City Clerk City of Baytown