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I DON'T HAVE A, I DON'T HAVE A SCRIPT, BUT THAT'S OKAY.
IT IS, UH, WHAT TIME IS IT ANYWAYS? WAY AFTER WHEN WE'RE SUPPOSED TO START.
WE'LL KEEP, UH, CALL THE MEETING TO ORDER ON FEBRUARY 6TH, 2024.
UH, I'M THE CHAIRMAN FOR THE, UH, BUILDING RELATED FIRE APPEALS ADVISORY BOARD.
AND, UH, DO WE WANT TO, UH, GO AHEAD AND CALL ROLL.
MELISSA, CAN YOU DO A ROLL CALL, PLEASE? MR. EPCOR? HERE.
MR. ESI? MR. MCFARLAND? MR. CORRERA? MR. HOSFORD? MR. RAMZI? MR. SALIBA? PRESENT? MR. DEL TORO? PRESENT.
MR. CUNTZ? MR. COLBERTSON? MR. RUST? MR. ROSS? MR. SMITH? MR. LEOS? HERE.
MR. BURRIS? MS. CARPENTER? MR. SETTLER? MR. HANLEY? HERE.
CAN CHAIR, CAN WE GET, UH, SPANISH TRANSLATION? YES, PLEASE.
DO WE, UH, HAVE ANY PUBLIC COMMENTS? NO.
UH, THEN LET'S GO TO THE FIRST, UH, AGENDA ITEM, THE BRIEFING OF POSSIBLE ACTION ON THE FOLLOWING ITEMS FIRST.
JUST, YEAH, JUST, JUST THE ONE LINE.
UM, SO THIS IS BRIEFING AN ACTION ON AN AMENDMENT TO CHAPTER 28 SIGN CODE, SPECIFICALLY CHAPTER 28 DASH 70 SPECIFIC URBAN CORRIDORS, UC, SIX, SAN PEDRO URBAN CORRIDOR DISTRICT.
I'M THE DIRECTOR FOR CITY'S TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT, AND I'M BRINGING FORWARD THIS ITEM THAT IS PART OF A LARGER INITIATIVE THAT OUR DEPARTMENT HAS BEEN WORKING ON.
I PROMISE TO MAKE THIS AS QUICK AND PAINLESS AS POSSIBLE SO YOU CAN GO BACK TO, UH, YOUR DAY.
AND AGAIN, FOR THOSE ONLINE, THANK YOU FOR JOINING.
SO, UM, IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T HEARD, UH, VIA HAS BEEN WORKING ON A, UH, A MASS TRANSIT PROJECT, UM, BRINGING ADVANCED RAPID TRANSIT, UH, WITH THEIR BUS, UH, WHICH IS GONNA BE FASTER AND FREQUENT SERVICE ALONG, UH, TWO CORRIDORS.
THE FIRST ONE, WHICH IS KNOWN AS THE GREEN LINE, IS ALONG SAN PEDRO WITH THE CONSTRUCTION LIMITS GOING FROM THE AIRPORT TO STEVE'S.
UM, AND THEN THE SECOND LINE THAT THEY ARE WORKING ON THAT'S IN DEVELOPMENT IS THE SILVER LINE, WHICH WILL GO FROM OUR LADY OF THE LAKE UNIVERSITY ON COMMERCE, ALL THE WAY TO THE FROST BANK CENTER ON HOUSTON STREET.
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AGAIN, IS THE FIRST ONE.UH, THEY ARE CURRENTLY WRAPPING UP, UM, UH, THE DESIGN PROCESS, UM, AND THEY WILL BE, UH, STARTING CONSTRUCTION LATE NEXT YEAR.
THIS IS A FEDERALLY FUNDED PROJECT, UM, THAT, UH, IS PART OF THEIR, UM, IS PART OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S, UH, GRANT PROGRAM.
AND, UM, WE ARE, UH, FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO GET, UH, OVER 400 MILLION, UH, DOLLARS IN FUNDING IN ORDER TO EXECUTE THIS PROJECT.
SO, UM, THE CITY'S ROLE IN THAT, OF COURSE, IS BECAUSE SINCE THIS IS ALONG OUR RIGHT OF WAY, UH, WE HAVE A ROLE IN MAKING SURE THAT THE, UH, DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION MEETS ALL OF OUR CODES AND REGULATIONS.
AND SO WE HAVE A ROLE IN THAT REVIEW PROCESS.
UM, PART OF THAT, UH, PROJECT INCLUDES, UH, LOOKING AT, UH, WHAT WE NEED TO DO TO MAKE SURE THAT WE ARE, UH, CREATING THOSE COMPACT, LIVABLE AND WALKABLE NEIGHBORHOODS ALONG THIS CORRIDOR, UH, BECAUSE NOW WE'RE OFFERING THAT MULTIMODAL TRANSPORTATION ACCESS.
YES, THERE IS BUS SERVICE ALONG THIS CORRIDOR, UH, BUT SOMETIMES YOU'RE LOOKING AT, UH, 20 TO 30 MINUTES, UM, IN, IN THE FREQUENCY RATE, WHICH MEANS THAT THOSE WHO WOULD OPT INTO USING IT AREN'T LIKELY GOING TO BECAUSE OF THE WAIT TIME.
UM, AND THIS SERVICE IS BRINGING A 10 MINUTE, UH, FREQUENCY DURING THE WEEKDAYS, UM, AND 15 MINUTE FREQUENCY ALONG THE WEEKENDS.
SO AGAIN, THIS, THIS IS ANOTHER OPTION NOW THAT PEOPLE CAN UTILIZE, UM, GOING FROM, UH, NORTH OF DOWNTOWN DOWN INTO THE DOWNTOWN AREA AND FURTHER SOUTH, UM, AND BACK AND FORTH.
AND SO, FINALLY, UH, AGAIN, THIS IS A GREAT PROJECT TO DO.
AND SO WHAT WE NEED TO DO IS ALIGN A LOT OF THE, UH, POLICIES THAT WE HAVE BEEN DEVELOPING OVER THE YEARS, UH, IN, IN ORDER TO CREATE WHAT'S GOOD TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT.
UM, FEEL LIKE THIS THING IS JUST NOT WORKING RIGHT? IT'S LIKE SPORADIC.
SO WHAT WE'VE BEEN WORKING ON SINCE EARLIER THIS YEAR IS THE CREATION OF A TRANSIT ORIENTED POLICY FRAMEWORK.
UH, THIS CAME OUT OF A CCR, UH, THAT WAS, UH, WRITTEN AND, UM, AUTHORED BY DISTRICTS 10, ONE AND FIVE.
UM, AND PART OF THAT PROCESS INCLUDES CREATING A, A FRAMEWORK, WHICH GIVES US A LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS TO WORK ON, UM, OVER THE NEXT, UH, OVER THE NEXT PHASE, WHICH IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATION PLAN.
PART OF PHASE ONE INCLUDES AN UPDATE TO OUR CURRENT TOD ZONING DISTRICT.
THERE ARE THREE, SO AGAIN, IF, IF YOU SEE ON THIS SLIDE, THERE ARE THREE, UH, ORGAN OR THREE, UH, GROUPS THAT ARE PART OF THIS PROCESS.
UM, TWO FALL UNDER THE HOUSING COMMISSION, WHICH IS THEIR TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP, AND THE REMOVING BARRIERS GROUP, AS WELL AS OUR TASK FORCE THAT LOOKED AT OUR TOD ZONING DISTRICT, THE TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP, UM, LOOKED AT, UH, THE ENTIRE UNIFIED DEVELOPMENT CODE TO DETERMINE WHAT RECOMMENDATIONS WE NEED TO WORK ON IN ORDER TO ALIGN HOUSING AND TRANSIT TOGETHER AND IDENTIFY OTHER BARRIERS, UH, TO MAKE SURE THAT WE ARE, UM, MAKING THOSE RECOMMENDED CHANGES FOR THE NEXT UDC AMENDMENT PROCESS.
UH, THE REMOVING BARRIERS WORKED ON, UH, RECOMMENDATIONS RELATING TO HOUSING AFFORDABILITY AND ANTI DISPLACEMENT, BECAUSE AS YOU KNOW, UH, IT COMES WITH DEVELOPMENT IS INCREASE IN PROPERTY VALUES.
UM, AND SO THAT, THAT IS CONCERNING FOR THOSE, UH, THAT, THAT LIVE ALONG THESE CORRIDORS, UH, AND MAKING SURE THAT THEY ARE ABLE TO STAY IN THEIR HOMES.
UM, AND THEN LASTLY, AGAIN, IS THAT ZONING DISTRICT.
AND SO I'M GONNA GET TO WHY WE'RE HERE TODAY.
UH, SO OUR TOD ZONING CODE, UH, WAS WRITTEN IN 2001.
IT'S BEEN UNDERUTILIZED ONLY THREE CASES IN OVER 20 YEARS, AND CURRENTLY IT'S ALLOWED ANYWHERE WITHIN A HALF MILE OF ANY BUS STOP.
UM, AND, UH, SO THE PROCESS THAT WE WENT THROUGH, UH, TO UPDATE THE CODE INCLUDES, UH, A TASK FORCE THAT INCLUDED NEIGHBORHOODS SO WE CAN MAKE SURE THAT WE ALLOW THOSE OPTIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT WHILE RESPECTING NEIGHBORHOODS.
UH, THIS PROCESS TO UPDATE THE CODE DOES NOT REZONE ANY PROPERTY.
THIS IS NOT A REZONING, THIS IS NOT A FORCED REZONING.
THIS IS JUST AN UPDATE TO THE CODE.
SO PEOPLE HAVE AN OPTION TO REZONE TO SHOULD THEY WANNA REZONE, UM, UH, AND IF THEY CHOOSE TO REZONE, THEY WILL STILL HAVE TO GO THROUGH THAT CURRENT REZONING PROCESS, WHICH IS A PUBLIC HEARING PROCESS.
OUR TASK FORCE, UH, WAS ABOUT 26 MEMBERS THAT INCLUDED 13 NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATIONS AND COUNCIL DISTRICT REPRESENTATION, AS WELL AS 13 RESIDENTS THAT REPRESENTED ORGANIZATIONS THAT HAVE THAT EXPERTISE IN DEVELOPMENT, HOUSING, AND TRANSIT, AS WELL AS OUR, UM, AGENCIES THAT WE WORK WITH, SUCH AS THE METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION, CENTRAL, WHICH IS IN THE DOWNTOWN AREA, AND OF COURSE, VIA.
AND WE BEGAN MEETING IN FEBRUARY, UH, TO START REVIEWING THE CODE.
UH, WE COMPLETED THAT PROCESS AT THE END OF SEPTEMBER.
AND, UM, AT THE BEGINNING OF OCTOBER, WE HAD A DRAFT FRAMEWORK AS WELL AS THE DRAFT CODE, UH, FOR, UH, UH, PUBLIC FEEDBACK AND INPUT THAT WE HAVE BEEN LISTENING TO OVER THE PAST ALMOST TWO AND A HALF MONTHS.
UM, AND THROUGH THAT PROCESS, GOING TO, UH, BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS, UH, THERE HAVE
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BEEN AMENDMENTS MADE BASED ON THAT INPUT.AND SO NOW WE'RE GETTING READY TO GO TO COUNCIL, UH, LATER THIS MONTH.
UM, SO PART OF THE PROCESS, UH, WITH THAT ZONING CODE INCLUDES, UM, AS YOU KNOW, ZONING CODES HAVE SETBACKS, THEY HAVE HEIGHT REGULATIONS, UM, AND, AND PART OF THIS PROCESS INCLUDES, UH, PUSHING THE BUILDINGS AS CLOSE AS YOU CAN TO THE CORRIDOR.
UH, AGAIN, THEY STILL HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE ENTITLEMENTS PROCESS TO DETERMINE WHERE THEIR EASEMENTS AND UTILITIES ARE, BUT AGAIN, WE WANNA GIVE DEVELOPMENT THE FLEXIBILITY, UH, TO PUSH THOSE BUILDINGS AS CLOSE TO THE STREET AS POSSIBLE.
SO YOU CREATE THE PEDESTRIAN EXPERIENCE AND WALKABILITY ALONG COURT, ALONG THE CORRIDOR AS THEY, AS PEOPLE ARE WALKING FROM STATION TO STATION OR FROM SERVICE, UH, TO RETAIL, TO RESTAURANTS OR HOME.
UM, AND SO, UM, THE, THE TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP, UM, HAD IDENTIFIED THAT THERE ARE, THERE ARE SOME BARRIERS IN ORDER TO ALLOW THAT, THAT FLEXIBILITY TO PUSH THE BUILDINGS TO CLOSER TO THE STREET.
AND THE ONE OF THOSE BARRIERS WAS, UH, LITTLE KNOWN, UM, REGULATIONS IN CHAPTER 28, WHICH REGULATE SIGNS THAT THERE WERE, UH, SOME REGULATIONS RELATING TO BUILDING SETBACKS IN THE URBAN CORRIDORS IN THIS CHAPTER.
UM, AND SO, UH, THE DISCUSSION CAME FROM BOTH THE TASK FORCE AS WELL AS THE TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP THAT, UH, WE NEED TO MAKE SURE SIGNS ARE REGULATING SIGNS.
UM, SO THAT WAY, UM, AS DEVELOPERS OR AS MOM AND POPS ARE DEVELOPING, THEY'RE NOT HAVING TO BE CONFUSED AND LOOK FROM CODE TO CODE TO DETERMINE WHAT ARE MY REGULATIONS IN ORDER TO BUILD MY SITE.
UM, AND SO, UH, THE PROPOSAL WAS TO, UM, REMOVE ALL OF THOSE BUILDING SETBACK REQUIREMENTS IN THE URBAN CORRIDOR DISTRICTS, UH, THAT WOULD HAVE ADVANCED RAPID TRANSIT LINES, UH, FROM THE SIGN CODE.
SO ALL THAT YOU HAD TO DO WAS GO DIRECTLY TO CHAPTER 35 FOR ANY BUILDING SETBACKS.
UM, AND ALTHOUGH, UH, RECOMMENDATION WAS TO TOUCH ALL SIX OF 'EM, RIGHT NOW, WHAT WE'RE DOING BECAUSE OF THE GREEN LINE, IS ONLY COMING TO YOU FOR A RECOMMENDATION FOR ONE OF 'EM, WHICH IS ON THE SAN PEDRO CORRIDOR DISTRICT.
UM, AND, UH, WHAT, WHAT WE'LL DO IS WE'RE ASKING TO REMOVE THAT SECTION OF THE CODE, UH, WHICH I SHOW HERE ON THIS SCREEN.
UM, AND THAT WAY, AGAIN, AS SOMEBODY IS DEVELOPING ON THE PROPERTY, THEY JUST HAVE TO COMPLY WITH THE, UM, IT HAS ZERO MINIMUM BUILDING SETBACKS AND A MAXIMUM BUILDING SETBACK OF 25 FEET.
UM, AND AGAIN, THEY WOULD STILL HAVE TO COMPLY WITH CHAPTER 28 FOR ALL SIGNS BECAUSE THERE ARE NO SIGN REGULATIONS RELATED TO THIS DISTRICT IN, IN THE ZONING CODE.
AGAIN, YOU WOULD JUST FOLLOW THE CHAPTER 28 FOR SIGNS AND, AND YOUR PLACEMENT OF THOSE SIGNS.
UH, AND AGAIN, JUST LIKE, UH, IT CURRENTLY WORKS TODAY, IF A DEVELOPER WANTS TO ADD A SIGN, THEY JUST HAVE TO WORK WITH THEIR, WITH THEIR SITE PLAN, UM, AND ALL OF THEIR REGULATIONS.
AND IF THEY WANNA PLACE A SIGN, UM, UH, DIFFERENTLY THAN WHAT THE CODE ALLOWS IN CHAPTER 28, THEY HAVE TO GO THROUGH THAT, THAT VARIANCE PROCESS TOO.
UH, BUT AGAIN, OUR PROPOSAL IS JUST TO REMOVE THAT SECTION RELATING TO BUILDING SETBACKS JUST FOR THE SAN PEDRO, UH, URBAN CORRIDOR DISTRICT AND RENUMBER EVERYTHING ELSE.
SO THAT IS OUR PROPOSAL, UH, TODAY TO THIS GROUP.
UM, JUST WANTED TO ALSO GIVE YOU A LITTLE BIT ABOUT OUR ENGAGEMENT OVER, UH, THE LAST, UM, 11 MONTHS NOW.
UM, SO WE HAD OVER A HUNDRED MEETINGS AND OUTREACH ACTIVITIES.
UH, WE HAD A SURVEY WITH OVER A THOUSAND RESPONSES, AND ALL OF THE DOCUMENTS FROM ALL THREE GROUPS WERE AVAILABLE ON OUR ESSAY SPEAKUP SITE FROM THE BEGINNING.
UM, AND WE'VE HAD NEARLY 26,000 HITS ON OUR ESSAY SPEAKUP SITE.
UH, SO THESE ARE THE, UM, UH, THE STEPS, UH, THAT WE, THAT WE STARTED IN OCTOBER TO MOVE THROUGH THE APPROVAL PROCESS FOR BOTH THE FRAMEWORK AS WELL AS THE UPDATED TO THE ZONING CODE.
UM, SO OUR LAST STEP IS TO CITY COUNCIL ON DECEMBER 19TH AFTER TODAY.
UM, SO WE RECOMMEND APPROVAL OF THE PROPOSED AMENDMENTS AND MOVING THE ITEM FORWARD TO COUNCIL.
SO I'LL LEAVE IT ON THIS SLIDE FOR THAT AMENDMENT FOR YOU.
SO I'M HERE FOR ANY QUESTIONS.
DOES THIS SPECIFICALLY NEED TO SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE SAN PEDRO CORRIDOR AS PART OF REMOVING THAT? IS IS 'CAUSE THIS IS FOR THAT SPECIFICALLY, RIGHT? OH, FOR YOUR MOTION, YES.
YEAH, YOU CAN, YOU CAN INCLUDE THAT LANGUAGE.
BUT RIGHT NOW THE ONLY THING THAT'S IN FRONT OF YOU IS 28 DASH 74 SAN PEDRO.
JUST FOR QUICK, I DON'T WANT TO GET INTO THE DEPTH OF EVERYTHING Y'ALL BEEN DOING FOR ALL THESE MONTHS, BUT JUST FOR MY GENERAL KNOWLEDGE, HOW MANY OF THESE, UH, IS, I MEAN, THERE'S, THERE'S A LOT OF PEOPLE THAT PLAN ON USING THIS CORRIDOR FOR THAT PURPOSE.
SO AGAIN, RIGHT NOW, BECAUSE THIS IS NOT A REZONING THAT THE CITY IS INITIATING, UM, THIS WOULD ALL BE A VOLUNTARY.
SO IF SOMEBODY WANTED TO REZONE, TOD IS ANOTHER OPTION, AND THEY WOULD GO THROUGH THAT REZONING PROCESS.
IF THEY'RE WITHIN THE BOUNDARY FOR IT.
THIS JOLES, I KNOW YOU'RE REMOVING A SETBACK.
SO WHAT WOULD THE NEW ONES BE? SO THE, THE NEW SETBACKS FOR TOD IS A ZERO MINIMUM SETBACK.
UM, AGAIN, GIVING THAT FLEXIBILITY, IT'S, IT'S VERY
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CONSISTENT WITH OUR CURRENT, UH, COMMERCIAL DISTRICTS THAT HAVE ZERO MINIMUM SETBACKS.UH, C TWO C3, THEY HAVE ZERO MINIMUM SETBACKS.
UM, AND, UH, THE MAXIMUM FRONT SETBACK FOR THE TOD IS, UH, 25 FEET.
AGAIN, WE WANT TO GIVE THE FLEXIBILITY, BUT ALSO, UH, ENCOURAGE PUSHING THOSE BUILDINGS MORE CLOSER TO THE STREET.
THIS ROBERT LEY, UH, I MOVE REMOVAL OF THE CITY'S RECOMMENDATION TO DELETE SECTION 28 70 SUB ARTICLE D UH, RELATED TO SAN PEDRO SUB ACCIDENT.
DO WE HAVE A SECOND? I GOT, I'LL SECOND IT.
HAVE A MOTION A SECOND TO APPROVE THE DELETION OF THE LANGUAGE IN SECTION D IN THE OTHER DISCUSSION.
THERE IS NO UPDATES FROM THE CITY AND, UM, I JUST WANNA THANK YOU ALL FOR ATTENDING AND THANK YOU FOR THE FOLKS ONLINE FOR JUMPING ON QUICKLY.
UM, THAT SHOULDN'T HAPPEN AGAIN, BUT AGAIN, APPRECIATE YOUR PATIENCE.
THERE'S NO OTHER, UH, BUSINESS THAT WE NEED TO ATTEND TO THIS MORNING.
CALL FOR ADJOURN ADJOURNMENT AT NINE FIFTY SIX.