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2021 03 25 WS MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR WORK SESSION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN March 25, 2021 The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas met in a Regular Work Session on Thursday, March 25, 2021, at 5:39 P.M., in the Council Chamber of the Baytown City Hall, 2401 Market Street, Baytown, Texas with the following in attendance: Laura Alvarado Council Member Jacob Powell Council Member Charles Johnson Council Member Mike Lester Council Member Chris Presley Council Member Heather Betancourth Mayor Pro Tern Brandon Capetillo Mayor Rick Davis City Manager Karen Horner City Attorney Leticia Brysch City Clerk Richard Whitaker Interim Sergeant at Arms Mayor Capetillo convened the March 25, 2021, City Council Regular Work Session with a quorum present at 5:39 P.M., all members were present. 1. DISCUSSIONS a. Receive and discuss an update on the City's development and permitting processes. Director of Planning and Community Development Services Martin Scribner presented the updates on the City's development and penmitting processes. He stated that in comparison to past statistics the decrease in residential pen -nits could be attributed to the pandemic, but noted that the numbers increased. He stated that the commercial pen -nits were close to last year's numbers and inspections were down. He stated that although code enforcement cases were not down, a trend showed they'd probably double last year's numbers because pen -nits would increase as the remedy for code enforcement include getting a permit for some type of building. Mr. Scribner stated that each code enforcement officer carried an average of 65 cases, which was almost twice the nonnal. He stated demolitions averaged at 50 to 60 per year, the PNC items decreased, and the Board of Adjustments items were down. He stated that the City's residential permit process averaged about 15 days for review and noted that the national average was close to 30 days. He stated that approximately 95% of the City's residential pen -nits were approved on the first pass. City Council Work Session Minutes March 25, 2021 Page 2 of 4 Mr. Scribner stated that the commercial review process was more complicated to specify an average, but averaged the review time to roughly 30 days or less. He noted that improvements to the review process were made in the last year or two and because of the pandemic the building permitting division went to 100% percent digital plan review and paperless for permit review. He stated that staff created or revised dozens of residential checklists, created an online inspection request system, created new website links to allow applicants to apply for the pen -nits online, and instituted an online payment system. He also noted that the Planning department was reorganized and increased staffing to maximize efficiency. Further during the discussion, as it related to measuring customer service, Mr. Scribner stated that there was a plan to continue roundtable discussions to receive feedback on changes made to processes. He stated that the public would have the option to complete a simple three -question customer satisfaction survey through EnerGov and staff would continue to communicate with customers one-on-one to gauge their customer service experience. He noted that staff would consider whether to have the meetings virtual, in -person, or both in an effort to reach all. He further mentioned that collected material was formatted in a way to where a meeting could be done as needed. He stated that EnerGov was expected to go live mid -May of the current year and there was a plan to create a tutorial video of the processes that would be available on the website. He also noted that paper applications would continue to be received but then phased out. Additionally, Assistant Director of Planning and Community Development Nathan Deitrich further noted that anyone interested in doing a meeting could sign up through Baytown Engage and staff would correspond with them regarding their interest. With regards to the comprehensive plan, Mr. Scribner stated that the Baytown Engage Site was launched and the Steering Committee was assembled. He stated that staff participated to a virtual listening session, as well as, a City tour with the consultant. He stated that there would be a bi- weekly meeting with the consultant and the first Steering Committee was planned for the following week of the March 25, 2021, meeting. He further stated that there would be two listening sessions scheduled and then a virtual town hall meeting in April. In an effort to address council's past questions regarding the necessity of certain accessory residential building permits specifically, fences, driveways, paving, carports, pools, and roofs, etc., Mr. Scribner stated that there were changes to the process of such permits. He stated that the permits were necessary for the purpose of assuring that a person is aware of building rules so that he/she builds a structure safely on their own property to where it does not affect the neighboring property in case of a disaster event. Mr. Scribner stated that other improvements included the following: an applicant would receive an express review, whereas the pen -nit goes in and out the door in 48 hours; a structure under 100 hundred square feet did not require a pennit; and a structure less than 350 square feet did not need engineer drawings. He noted that a carport of 300 square feet would need readable reasonable drawings, but it would not have to be engineered drawings. He further stated that there was a plan to review the fee structure to snake sure they were equitable. City Council Work Session Minutes March 25, 2021 Page 3 of 4 During discussion of the building code as it related to the older areas of town, Mr. Scribner stated the City adopted the 2015 International existing building code in 2018 to allow flexibility in applying such codes to the buildings already in existence. He noted that the Unified Land Development Code (ULDC) should be updated. He stated that traditional zoning did not always work in older parts of town so the form -based code, a new zoning code for Baytown, would be used as it concentrated less on prescriptive uses and more on context. He explained that the code focused on how the building types fit together, the space it created, what the streetscape would look like, and how various elements linked together. He stated that the code was more predictable than traditional zoning code in the ULDC and would provide flexibility to the developer. Mr. Scribner stated that certain incentives could be built into the code to help eliminate some of the time, financial, and physical barriers. He stated that other ways to help eliminate barriers included expanding the incentive program, providing tax and fee abatements, expanding revitalization incentives, creating new incentive zones, infrastructure improvements, and continue to remove substandard structures. He recommended that the City purchase and rehabilitate some of the buildings in the older areas then rent out those spaces to local businesses. Additionally, he noted that the last downtown plan was done in 2007 and further recommended to have a meeting with a nonprofit organization called Main Street America, as they specialize in helping cities revitalize their downtown areas, to continue marketing the downtown area. During the comments from the council members, the following inquiries and requests were made: if the code enforcement cases mentioned within the permitting process were from the pennitting process and which of those were residential code enforcement violations; if there were strategies for the sections of town where there were just slabs; recommendation for council to receive some sort of activity log for granted or denied pen -nits; request for a simple graphic that listed everything that required a permit throughout the city. In response to the council members inquires and request, Mr. Scribner stated that the requested reports could be generated once EnerGov became live. He stated that staff was working on an all-inclusive development guidebook that would answer as many questions as possible and it would also be available on the website. He noted that there was a universal pen -nit in place that covered pretty much everything residential, so the applicant would be able to specify their area of interest to address simple cases and eliminate them from a stringent process. Additionally, he noted that consideration was also made towards emergencies cases. b. Discuss any or all of the agenda items on the City Council Regular Meeting Agenda for March 25, 2021. Mayor Capetillo requested Finance Director, Victor Brownlees present a synopsis of consent agenda item b.r. Mr. Brownlees stated that agenda item b.r. was a year-end adjustment of technical entries which should be minimal to none the following year. City Council Work Session Minutes March 25, 2021 Page 4 of 4 2. ADJOURN With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor Capetillo adjourned the March 25, 2021, City Council Regular Work Session at 6:29 P.M. Angela JAdkson, City of Baytown