Richardson City Council Work Session September 25th, 2023
OPENING
All councilmembers are present as well as City Manager Don Magner and City Secretary Aimee Nemer.
Councilman Corcoran leads a prayer and the pledges.
Minutes of previous meetings, including the Council Goals session minutes, are approved unanimously.
One public speaker gives a heartfelt plea to Council to keep the needs of future generations in mind when deciding their priorities.
The next item is recognition of Girl Scout Troop 2126 and their recent projects to raise money for a dog water fountain.
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE
The first significant item is a discussion on the Comprehensive Plan Update. Mark Bowers from Kimley-Horn begins the presentation. Mark implies that the direction has been established from the first round of community feedback. He states that the second round of feedback will be to confirm this direction. The second round of feedback will begin on Oct. 1st and continue through Nov. 5th. Two Community Workshops are planned for Oct. 10th, 6:30 p.m. at the temporary City Hall, and Oct. 28th, 10:00 a.m. at Heights Rec Center. This will be the second of three rounds of feedback. The third round of feedback is planned for Summer 2024. Ambassadors are still being recruited to conduct community meetings. If you have a group that would like to give feedback, please email AskEnvisionRichardson.@cor.gov for more information on the Ambassador program. The city has reached out to several community faith groups and organizations to conduct feedback sessions. Some have declined to participate. Two are described as “unresponsive”, Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church and the Indian Association of North Texas. (JN: I’m surprised to see Mt. Pisgah listed as unresponsive. Council was just there taking a tour. Is it possible that there are other ways to reach out to these organizations that the city is not utilizing?)
Monica Heid from Prologue Planning continues the presentation. She presents the preliminary Vision statement as follows: “Richardson is a dynamic, diverse, and inclusive community, with a small town feel and big city amenities, where people are connected and engaged, decision-making is collaborative and innovative, and fiscal, social, and natural resources are managed sustainably. It is a safe, livable, and attractive place with opportunity for people and businesses to grow.”
(JN: Yes, this was definitely created from a word cloud…)
We also have some preliminary Guiding Principles. For Land Use, “Actively encourage the reuse, redevelopment, repurposing, and renovation of older, underachieving retail, office, and industrial space”
For Public Infrastructure, “Promote Richardson’s identity at entry points, along major corridors, and at key views into the city.”
For Neighborhoods & Housing, “Evaluate existing City neighborhood initiatives to determine if they should be revised, or if new programs could be developed, to provide even more positive impact to Richardson neighborhoods.” (JN: I think it’s time to include renters in our neighborhood discussions. Safety and security need to be addressed to increase quality of life for renters and ensure that multi-family developments have a beneficial impact on the surrounding community.)
For Reinvestment Areas, “Involve property owners, neighbors, and other interested parties in the creation of development concepts for the Reinvestment Areas.”
Mark returns to continue the presentation. He starts by explaining the “Place Types” approach. This approach describes the desired character of the place but doesn’t indicate single land uses. Instead, Mark explains that this approach would establish a mix of land uses to match the desired character and pedestrian experience for the place. Mark also describes the types of housing that could be considered “missing middle housing”. In the upcoming feedback sessions, Cottages, Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), and Townhomes will be the types of housing people can give feedback on. Specifically, the community will be asked how each of these housing types should be utilized in Neighborhood Residential, Neighborhood Mixed-Use, and Regional Employment place types. The community will also be asked which place types are most appropriate for the proposed Reinvestment Areas.
As Mark concludes, he emphasizes that the role of consultants is that of facilitators. This plan needs to come from the community. Councilwoman Justice compliments the focus on the community.
APPRAISAL DISTRICT UPDATES
The next discussion is on appointments to the Dallas and Collin Appraisal Districts. City Manager Don Magner introduces newly appointed Finance Director Anita Cothran. This is her first Richardson City Council meeting. Asst. Finance Director Todd Gastorf begins the presentation. For Collin Central Appraisal District (CCAD), taxing entities (cities, school boards, etc.) get a percentage of votes proportionate to their share of the district’s tax levy. In CCAD, Richardson got approx. 1.5% of the total vote (77 of 5,000 votes) in 2021. Each entity can nominate five candidates. After the nomination period, entities allocate their votes to the candidates they choose. Richardson chose not to nominate any candidates and split the votes among four incumbents in 2021. That year, a candidate needed 339 votes to become a boardmember. The five candidates with the most votes become the voting board for the appraisal district. The current makeup of the CCAD Board is two members from Plano, and one member each from Allen, Frisco, and McKinney.
For Dallas Central Appraisal District (DCAD), boardmembers representing the City of Dallas, Dallas ISD, Dallas County, Suburban Cities, and Suburban School Districts make up the voting board. The Suburban Cities and School Districts representatives are elected, and the rest are appointed by the entity they represent. Each Suburban City can nominate one candidate. After the nomination period, each Suburban City gets one vote for their preferred candidate. A candidate must receive 16 out of the 30 Suburban City votes to become a boardmember. A runoff is triggered if no single candidate gets at least 16 votes. The current Suburban Cities boardmember is Michael Hurtt of DeSoto.
Staff recommends allocating the CCAD votes among existing boardmembers once again. Staff also recommends voting for the current DCAD Suburban Cities member. Council will vote on or before Dec. 11th.
If Prop 4 is passed in the upcoming Nov. Constitutional Amendment election, some changes to the makeup of the appraisal district boards will take place. The voting members of the board will increase from five to eight with five being appointed by the taxing units and the other three being elected directly by voters. Boardmembers would serve four-year terms.
Councilman Barrios asks why we don’t nominate anyone from Richardson. Staff sort of explains that we have nominated members from other Suburban Cities in the past on the DCAD side. On the CCAD side, we used to have someone from Richardson serving as Chair of the Board, but it is unlikely to achieve that again with our small voting percentage. Council agrees with staff’s recommendations to vote for current members, and Mayor Dubey thanks Todd for “muddying up” the topic.
NNO, COTTONWOOD, & HARVEST FEST
The next discussion is on Oct. 3rd’s National Night Out event. Chief Tittle provides an overview of past events. Every event so far has raised thousands of pounds of food donations for the Network of Community Ministries. 125 different parties are planned for this year’s event. Some city-sponsored events will be held at parks, including Durham Park, Mimosa Park, Richland Park, Yale Park, and Glenville Park. Community events will also be held by other community organizations at Cottonwood Park, Woodland Park, Foxboro Park, Lookout Park, and Wyndsor Estates Park. Opening remarks for the evening’s events will be held at the RPD Multipurpose Room at 200 N. Greenville Ave. at 5:30 p.m. This year’s events will also host current Miss Texas Ellie Breaux (Not to be confused with Miss Texas USA or Miss Texas World). Chief Tittle touts Richardson’s 1st Place wins across the years, but no details are shared about the criteria or if that translates to a safer community.
Next is a discussion on the upcoming Fall Cottonwood Art Fest and Huffhines Harvest Fest. Parks & Rec Director Yvonne Falgout presents. The Cottonwood Art Festival will take place Oct. 7th & 8th at Cottonwood Park. This year’s featured artist is Erin Curry. Huffhines Harvest Fest will take place Oct. 21st & 22nd at Huffhines Park. Harvest Fest will also feature Pawtoberbest on Saturday, Oct. 21st. This event features a dog & owner costume contest.
SPRING CREEK CHANNELIZATION VARIANCE
The next discussion is an important one. Mobility & Special Projects Manager Daniel Herrig presents the plan to connect the Cotton Belt Trail system and a proposed creek channelization project in the Cityline area. As best I can tell, The Cotton Belt Trail currently extends from Watauga to Grapevine in Tarrant County. This project plans to connect the existing trail from Grapevine all the way to Plano by connecting existing trail systems throughout cities along the way. The Richardson portion is proposed to connect trails running from the city’s border near UTD across and through Cityline, generally following the Silver Line rail. A pedestrian bridge across Spring Creek will need to be constructed in Cityline in order to connect the existing trail to Plano’s trail to the north. The presenter is confusing in the way he presents this next piece of information, so I hope I have it right. It sounds like the Spring Creek pedestrian bridge project is in a floodplain and also requires mitigation for upstream flooding. Riprap is proposed to help mitigate flooding. (JN: I thought riprap was used for erosion control. Maybe someone smarter than me can explain it.) Channelization is also proposed, which means they want to modify the path of the creek. It looks like they want to open up the area of the creek underneath the proposed bridge to install riprap. (JN: It sounds like the channelization is needed because of the bridge construction. I’m not sure if the benefits outweigh the costs here. I’m pretty sure we have walkable paths in Cityline that already cross the creek.) Current ordinance does not allow any channelization of the creek, so a variance would be needed to approve this. (JN: It is really important for Council and the Public to understand the reason for the prohibition of channelization on the creek in the first place, but that is not explained, and no one asks about it.) Staff proposes approving the variance and cites “public welfare” as the reason. They also state that this bridge would be safer than using existing sidewalks because it would be wider and have no conflict with vehicles. (JN: I have questions. I don’t think I agree with this statement.) Councilman Dorian comments that it would be a “nice architectural piece”. No one asks any questions about the impact on the natural environment. Again, it is glaringly obvious that we need to add an environmental impact analysis to these processes. I’m also curious why a public hearing wasn’t required for this variance request.
PUBLIC HEARING - 77 WEDDING & EVENT CENTER
There is one public hearing at this work session. This is for ZF 23-08, a special permit request for an event center at 1801 N. Plano Rd. This zoning file is also covered in the Sep. 5th CPC meeting notes. Development Services Director Sam Chavez presents a background of the request. Council asks questions of the applicant, most of them already covered in the CPC hearing. One public comment is submitted in favor of the request. No more discussion takes place before Council unanimously approves the request.
CONSENT AGENDA & CLOSING
The next item isn’t part of the consent agenda for some reason. It’s a simple vote codifying the approval of ZF 23-06, the UTD transit-oriented mixed-use development. This ordinance is passed unanimously.
The consent agenda is also passed unanimously. It includes an ordinance codifying the changes to the Administrative Code presented at the Sep. 18th Council meeting. The second item is approval of the aforementioned Cotton Belt Trail Variance Request. The third item codifies Council’s budget decisions to double the amount of longevity pay and add a floating holiday for city employees. This costs just over $600K. Four bid awards are also included. The first is $760K to KIK Underground LLC for alley improvements. The second is $90K to Silsbee Toyota for three Priuses. The third is $590K to Bond Equipment Company Inc. for three solid waste trucks. The fourth includes two HVAC annual requirements contracts to Trane Technologies and Texas Air Systems for $150K and $80K respectively. The final consent agenda item officially makes Balfour Beatty the Construction Manager At Risk for the City Hall Campus project, and it costs $100K to do so.
Council discusses a recent UTD voter registration event, an event where Don Magner ate the most pancakes, the season opener of Eisemann Presents, Hispanic Heritage Month, the North Texas Disability Chamber awards ceremony, the North Texas Commission awards ceremony, the RPD Public Safety Expo, and the meeting adjourns.