FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70

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1 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 THE FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING HELD ON THE 24TH DAY OF OCTOBER, 2011, IN THE FLOWER MOUND TOWN HALL, LOCATED AT 2121 CROSS TIMBERS ROAD IN THE TOWN OF FLOWER MOUND, COUNTY OF DENTON, TEXAS, AT 6:30 PM The Planning & Zoning Commission met in a regular session and work session with the following members present: Tom Goss Chair Dennis McKaige Vice Chair Mellany Lamb Commissioner, Place 1 Bjorn Vandug Commissioner, Place 4 Jeff Whittaker Commissioner, Place 7 Lina Ramey Commissioner, Place 8 Eddie White Commissioner, Place 9 Constituting a quorum with the following members absent: Crystal Levonius Commissioner, Place 2 Mike McCall Commissioner, Place 6 Places 8 and 9 of the Commission do not vote on items unless they sit in place of one of the regular members, Places 1-7.) And the following members of Town staff present: Mark Wise Alan Lathrom Doug Powell Edith Marvin Tommy Dalton Fred Calhoun Amy Mathews Cindi Price Town Council Liaison Town Attorney Executive Director Town Engineer Planning Manager Fire Engineering Specialist Senior Planner Administrative Assistant A. CALL TO ORDER REGULAR SESSION Chair Goss called the regular session to order at 6:30 p.m. B. INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Vice Chair McKaige led the invocation. Commissioner Whittaker led the Pledge of Allegiance. C. CITIZENS/VISITORS COMMENTS

2 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 There were none. D. COMMISSION MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS Commissioner Whittaker reminded everyone October 24 was the first day for early voting for the election coming up on November 4. On the ballot was a dedicated sales tax reauthorization for the Town, covering important issues such as land use expenditures, the fire control district, and crime control district. He urged everyone to vote. Vice Chair McKaige said for future feedback from Planning staff, he was looking for a status report on two particular projects. The first was at the southwest corner of FM 1171 and Bruton Orand, the Tom Thumb site. About five months ago, they did some leveling, scooped the lot, and put up some temporary fencing, but the activity seemed to have stopped. The cutting to move the fill took about 15 feet of soil out of there, so he was concerned about safety for the adjacent neighborhood. The second had to do with new signage going up on Bridlewood Boulevard for the infill site as discussed by the Master Plan Update Steering Committee. There seemed to be activity going on there. E. REGULAR ITEMS 1. Consider approval of the minutes of the October 10, 2011, Planning and Zoning Commission Regular Session and Work Session. Commissioner Deliberation Commissioner Whittaker moved to approve the minutes of the October 10, 2011, Planning and Zoning Commission Regular Session and Work Session as presented. Vice Chair McKaige seconded the motion. VOTE ON THE MOTION AYES: Whittaker, White, McKaige, Vandug NAYS: None ABSTAIN: Lamb, Ramey ABSENT: Levonius, McCall The motion passed with a vote of Consider a request for a Record Plat (RC Suncrest, Phase II) to create a residential subdivision. The property is located at the northeast corner of Timber Creek Road and Kirkpatrick Lane. Staff Presentation Tommy Dalton, Planning Manager, said the subject property was planned for medium density residential. Part of it was zoned SF-10 and another part zoned PD-

3 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of with SFDM. The record plat showed the general outline and configuration of the development. The two zoning districts were separated by the drainage easement, which contained floodplain. They might recall when they came forward with the development plan, there was a small piece of wetland that encroached into the property. Since then, they had worked on all of the civil engineering details associated with the record plat, and the applicant had discussed the issue with the Corps, who regulated jurisdictional waters. There was a letter in their packet from the Corps that stated that portion of the wetland was not jurisdictional; therefore, they were able to plat that portion of the property as a residential lot. Applicant Presentation Von Beougher, G & A Consultants, Lewisville Mr. Beougher said Mr. Dalton covered all of the issues. Most of the hurdles were crossed with the zoning and development plan, so they were asking for approval of the plat that evening. Questions and Answers Commissioner Whittaker said he recalled when they last heard this project, there was participation from the audience asking for parkland to be placed somewhere around Lot 32. The applicant said he would consider it. He asked what the final outcome was of that consideration. Mr. Beougher said Lot 38X, the entire floodplain area, was open space and over five acres, so that was the consideration. Mr. Dalton said there was discussion at Council regarding the request made by the adjacent neighbors at P&Z. The applicant had looked at options of providing a trail along the eastern boundary of the floodplain, but the Town s ordinances prohibited construction or construction-related activity within the Town s regulated floodplain, so that was a major obstacle. In terms of parkland, the PALS Board made a recommendation for cash in lieu of land, and the Council accepted that. Commissioner Whittaker said, so that was where the issue stood, and what they were voting on. Mr. Dalton said correct, and the record plat met all of the Town s minimum regulations for parks, dimension control, and things of that nature. Commission Deliberation Vice Chair McKaige moved to approve Record Plat (RC Suncrest, Phase II) to create a residential subdivision. Commissioner Lamb seconded the motion. VOTE ON THE MOTION

4 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 AYES: Ramey, Vandug, McKaige, Lamb, White, Whittaker NAYS: None ABSTAIN: None ABSENT: Levonius, McCall The motion passed with a vote of Public Hearing to consider a request for a Replat (RP Caddis Health Plaza) to create a non-residential subdivision. The property is located at 4001 Long Prairie Road. 4. Consider a request for a Site Plan (SP Caddis Health Plaza) to develop a medical office building. The property is located at 4001 Long Prairie Road. Staff Presentation Amy Mathews, Senior Planner, said the subject property was planned for SPA 4 with professional office uses and zoned PD-118 for Office uses. The replat showed all of the required setbacks and easements. There had been no changes since the conceptual plan. The site plan showed the building footprint, parking area trees, compatibility buffers, four existing trees to remain, and the retention pond and bridge. She then showed the elevations and said there had been no changes. Applicant Presentation Keith Smith, Caddis Health Partners, Dallas Mr. Smith said the plans were almost exactly what was presented in their zoning case. They had provided for Hill Country architecture for the 42,500-squarefoot building. It would be clad with stone veneers and a combination of trellises made out of medal and possibly some wood. The focal point for the project would be the retention pond, with a fountain feature and bridge across the center to facilitate movement of pedestrians parking on the opposite side. The building would house approximately a dozen medical office uses, including the pharmacy with drive-through. He showed the enhanced elevations from different viewpoints. He said they were saving three of the specimen trees. The Town noticed the trunk was split on another tree, and it did not look like the tree would survive, so they gave them the go ahead to remove it. It also went through the ECC and met their approval. Enhanced patterned concrete would be scattered around the site. There would be approximately 12 covered parking spaces attached to the back side of the building. There would be an engineered stone wall, and the bridge would also be fronted with stone. There would be a plastic liner in the pond to make sure it would hold water at a constant level. They were planting a variety of trees. Questions and Answers

5 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 Commissioner Whittaker said he mentioned the SUP for the pharmacy. They stated their intention was for that to be a home-based or localized pharmacy. He asked if they had made progress on who that would be. Mr. Smith said yes, but the lease was not signed, so he would not mention the name. It was approximately 1,000 square feet. Vice Chair McKaige asked him to touch upon the driveway spacing issue and how that got resolved, and the sewer complication having to do with the Rosewood project scheduling. Mr. Smith said they were running a sewer line to the north across four tracts, and had easements going all the way north to connect in. The engineering had already been done on that and reviewed by the city. They were not able to obtain an easement going to the south. TxDOT had approved the driveway spacing. They had to put in a left-turn lane, and had obtained an easement from the property owner to the north of them, so they would go ahead and install that road now. Those plans were already approved by the city. In Favor None In Opposition None Close Public Hearing Commission Deliberation (RP 07-11) Commissioner Vandug moved to approve Replat (RP Caddis Health Plaza) to create a non-residential subdivision. Commissioner Whittaker seconded the motion. VOTE ON THE MOTION (RP 07-11) AYES: Whittaker, White, Lamb, McKaige, Vandug, Ramey NAYS: None ABSTAIN: None ABSENT: Levonius, McCall The motion passed with a vote of 6-0. Commission Deliberation (SP 08-11) Commissioner Vandug moved to approve Site Plan (SP Caddis Health Plaza) to develop a medical office building. Vice Chair McKaige seconded the motion. VOTE ON THE MOTION (SP 08-11)

6 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 AYES: Ramey, Vandug, McKaige, Lamb, White, Whittaker NAYS: None ABSTAIN: None ABSENT: Levonius, McCall The motion passed with a vote of Public Hearing to consider a request for a Specific Use Permit (SUP/SP Kroger Signature Store and Fuel Station) to permit a convenience store with gasoline sales use, and a site plan to expand an existing grocery store with an exception to the access management policy and criteria, regarding driveway spacing, contained in the Town's Engineering Design Criteria and Construction Standards adopted through Chapter 32 of the Code of Ordinances. The property is located at 2709 Cross Timbers Road. Staff Presentation Tommy Dalton, Planning Manager, said the subject property was planned as part of SPA 1 with existing retail uses and zoned Commercial District-2. The site plan showed the expansion of the building, the fuel component, landscaping adjustments to help provide additional buffering for the fuel component, and the two deceleration lanes in accordance with Code, one along FM 1171 and one along FM There was also an exception request. According to current engineering standards, the existing driveway was too close to the intersection. Since the site was being redeveloped, they had to request an exception to that standard in order to keep the drive entrance where it was. They were not looking to move it or change it. In terms of the landscape plan, no major changes were proposed. They were keeping the 25-foot buffer, which met the current requirement. They were replacing some dead trees and adding a couple more. They were expanding the one area to provide further buffer depth in front of the fuel component. They were proposing some additional trees to break up the rear façade. The Town received correspondence from the owner of the vacant tract next to the Lifetime Fitness detention pond, and he left it at their places. She was in opposition to the request. He then showed the elevations and renderings, and said the canopy and kiosk of the fuel component would match the color and material of the building. Applicant Presentation Barry Knight, 5400 Renaissance Tower, Dallas Mr. Knight said Kroger was proposing over $14 million in improvements to the site. They were asking for an SUP for a fuel center, with a 112-square-foot kiosk, five pumps, and two electric car charging stations. They were looking for an addition of 20,000 square feet of floor area. The two deceleration lanes were over $500,000 worth of improvements. There had been a right-turn decel lane for FM 1171, but that was taken out when the current improvements were made. He

7 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 showed the proposed rendering of the new store, and said they were upgrading the exterior with brick and stone, as well as a metal roof. The fuel center would look like the main building. It would provide discount-priced gasoline, competition in the area, and make the deal work from a financial standpoint for Kroger. With the economy across the country, these sites were all competing for dollars from the national headquarters, and this was approved with the fuel center. The fuel center was the wave of the future for Kroger, because the margins in food sales were tighter. It provided a convenient service, and customers were able to take advantage of the savings on fuel costs. More landscaping was being added in front of the fuel center and in the rear. Kroger studied different locations for the fuel center and they, along with their consultants, determined this was the most efficient and effective location for both customer convenience and circulation for the shopping center. It was mentioned about the variance for the driveway spacing. Those driveways were already there. They were not asking to add or change the locations of the driveways, just utilize what they had. Those driveways were lawfully put in place, and they were needed for the circulation of the existing shopping center, as well as for the proposed re-development of the Kroger facility. They respectfully requested that they approve the Specific Use Permit and site plan. Gary Huddleston, Kroger, Director of Consumer Affairs, Irving Mr. Huddleston said Kroger came to the DFW area in For the past 55 years, they had served millions of customers in the area and been very active in the community. They operated 85 stores in the North Texas area, including two stores in Flower Mound. They opened the store on FM 1171 on June 29, The square footage was 59,213; they proposed to add another 20,000 square feet. In 1994 they built the store at a cost of $6.4 million. Since that time, they had remodeled it several times. In 1997, they did a minor remodel and spent $154,000. In 1999, they remodeled the store and spent $577,000. In 2004, they did a major remodel and spent $1.8 million. Today they were proposing to spend $14.3 million. Their other store on FM 3040 opened on August 26, 2006, and they spent $9.5 million on that. So, over the past 17 years, Kroger had invested over $12 million in capital in Flower Mound. They were extremely grateful for their customers that had embraced their stores. Today at the FM 1171 store, they employed 130 associates, many of whom were Town residents. With the expansion of the store and addition of the fuel center, they would add 75 to 80 associates to their team. Mr. Huddleston said beside the expansion, their plans called for a new interior décor package, with stained and polished concrete floors, new restrooms, expanded floral shop, six new express checkout lanes, expanded produce, expanded fresh cut fruit, expanded natural foods, new tortillaria and enhanced bakery, expanded deli, new cheese/olive bar, expanded sushi area, Starbucks, expanded meat/seafood area, enhanced wine department, and a more efficient pharmacy with drive-up window. They wanted to gauge what their customers thought about the expansion and addition of a fuel center, so from October 12 through 22 they asked their customers to complete a simple survey form. It had the site plan on it. People could select whether they supported it, yes or no, put

8 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 their name and address, and provide comments. They got 981 total responses, and of that number, 978 voted yes and three voted no. That gave them a 99.7% favorable. They then verified how many were Flower Mound residents. Out of the 816 residents, 815 said yes and one said no, for a 99.9% favorable. He had copies of the surveys with him, and also put them on a jump drive to give to staff. Questions and Answers Vice Chair McKaige asked about the numeric impact of parking on the site. Mr. Knight said some parking spaces were being taken for the fuel center, but the required parking was met. He asked if he wanted specific numbers. Vice Chair McKaige said he was trying to gauge the net reduction at the site. After the project was completed, there would be less parking available for shoppers, and the number was more than 10% of the current. Their staff packet indicated 383 and a loss of 43. He asked them to address the shrinking of the parking. Michael Clark, Winkelmann & Associates, Dallas Mr. Clark said the shrinkage in parking was realistic in this day and age, from the standpoint of the age of the store. It was done under different parking criteria. The Town s new parking criteria actually encouraged overlaps of use like this and reductions in parking, and they were well within the Town s tolerance for what their desire was for that offset in parking. Vice Chair McKaige asked them to describe the sewer line relocation. His understanding was they needed to relocate a major sewer line because of its transit through the site of the future gas pumps, if approved. Mr. Clark said there was a sewer line that needed to be relocated in conjunction with the fuel center, but he would not describe it as a major sewer line. Vice Chair McKaige said he assumed based on the location of the line that it did not service Kroger, but some up-line customer, maybe other folks in the strip center to the west. He asked if they were signed on, and how those kinds of changes worked; whether it was unilateral; and if it affected their sewer performance in anyway, or if that had been examined. Edith Marvin, Town Engineer, said it had been examined. It was a service line that ran to the small retail building on the northwest side of the Kroger. There was a six-inch private line from that building to the Town sewer system on FM In order to locate the fuel center, the line would need to be moved out of the way, and due to the grades, the line would need to be replaced with an eightinch line through the relocation area. Vice Chair McKaige said, so it was a private, smaller-sized sewer line and not major Town infrastructure.

9 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 Ms. Marvin said correct. Vice Chair McKaige said he was uncomfortable with gas pumps near frontage at major intersections. He asked about the anticipated queuing at the gas pumps, and if there was a hold space and bypass. He was assuming they were going to be outstandingly successful, and people were going to want that dime. Mr. Clark said the fuel center was set up to allow queuing. First there was the spacing at the pump. Then there was a 30-foot stacking area on both the north side and south side of the fuel center. Vice Chair McKaige said the reason he asked was because it was not clear on his print that the queuing did not occupy that main access road. He asked if it was separate. Mr. Clark said correct. Vice Chair McKaige said obviously his concern was that if something happened at a pump, like someone locked their keys in the car, they could wind up backing into a major thoroughfare and would need an alternate plan. His last question had to do with exit strategy. An SUP moved with the owner, not with the property. That was different than their normal zoning cases. In the event that Kroger was no longer there, his concern would be what happened to the gas pumps. He had been through communities where other folks had abandoned their interest, and the community was left with some pretty unsightly things. He asked if there was an exit strategy, if this did not go as anticipated. Mr. Huddleston said they had no plans to leave. Kroger had been in the area for 55 years and had been operating as a food store for 125 years. But, Kroger would have to remove the fuel tanks and station, if indeed they did leave the area. Vice Chair McKaige asked if that was staff s understanding. He said he did not read that in the SUP report. The question was whether that remediation was covered contractually. Alan Lathrom, Town Attorney, said the Town recently changed that provision of the SUP ordinance, where it now ran with the property rather than being personal to the applicant. He thought that was done while he was off the Commission. Vice Chair McKaige said, so remediation was covered. Mr. Lathrom said no, remediation was not covered, but the SUP ran with the property now rather than being specific to the owner. Vice Chair McKaige said he was still open on remediation language somewhere in the deal.

10 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 Mr. Lathrom said there was no obligation under the Town s Code of Ordinances to have a remediation plan or policy in place. Vice Chair McKaige said, but he thought the applicant indicated they had such a commitment. Mr. Knight said if they had to remove the fuel pumps, they certainly would remove them. As an attorney, he was wondering about whether zoning was going to be personal, and he did not think that it was. Kroger had no intention of selling the site, but if it was another food store, they could still utilize the fuel center. Vice Chair McKaige said he tried to couch it in a worst-case scenario, only because he had observed it in other communities. The facts were abandoned service stations were unsightly. Mr. Knight said TCEQ, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, oversaw that. If that was not being taken over and utilized by someone else, a smart property owner would take care of that situation to avoid future liability, and Kroger was a smart property owner. Mr. Huddleston said the environmental protection group would require them to take out the abandoned fuel center and also the tank. Commissioner Whittaker said he had spent a lot of time quizzing people on this opportunity and looking at it himself. He made the statement earlier in his presentation that a consultant he retained deemed the site of the fuel pumps the most efficient and effective placement on the property. He asked him to elaborate on why that particular spot in their parking lot was the most efficient and effective. Mr. Knight said it had good visibility; it was close to the front entrance of the Kroger store; it had good circulation between the two driveways; it had adequate stacking space; and it was good from both a marketing as well as functional standpoint. He did not believe he said there was an independent consultant on that, other than their engineers. Commissioner Whittaker said he had heard this presentation a number of times, and as he communicated, he was an almost daily shopper at this property. Hardly a day went by that he did not go past it. He visited them on Saturday and again on Sunday. On both occasions, customers were parked all the way from their front door down the main drag all the way to the FM 1171 cross, so the place they were proposing to put the fuel station was where people generally chose to park. That was why he wondered why this was the best place to put it, and why not closer to the corner where he hardly ever saw anyone park. His concern was both traffic flow and safety of their clientele. Mr. Knight said the parking met the requirements, but as far as the location where customers parked, he thought he would leave it to Kroger as far as their

11 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 marketing efforts, because they wanted customer convenience more than anyone. He thought they actually looked at whether the corner would work. Mr. Clark said he was the consultant Mr. Knight alluded to that looked at it. They spent a fair amount of time trying to locate a spot on the site where the fuel center would fit, would not obstruct main drives, and also would allow the fuel trucks to enter and exit. If they moved it to the corner, there were several things. It was a little more prominent there, and in all fairness, staff had let them know that might be an issue. It lost a significant amount of more parking due to the angles that were up there, as opposed to being more square, and in addition they could not get a truck in and out of the corner without completely disrupting the rest of the parking lot. So, all of those things factored together, and this was the place they settled on as the most viable. Commissioner Whittaker said he had spoken to people, homeowners associations, hospital board, all across the community. He did not disagree with the numbers he presented as to how many people were in favor of having this, but every time he spoke to someone and said this was where the pumps were going to be, they kind of took a deep breath, scrunched up their face, and asked why they wanted to put it there. He saw problems with traffic flow coming in off 1171, with the existing opening they were asking for the exception to keep. He saw people coming in there at a reasonably high rate of speed, and encountering someone coming in or out of the pumping station, and that being a problem. He asked if they were open at all to amending the proposal, not being granted the exception and not maintaining that opening in the curb, but still putting the pumps where they were proposed to be. Mr. Huddleston said as part of the expansion, there would be another entrance to the store, so more and more customers would be utilizing that part of the parking lot. They would not be in favor of closing that entrance for exactly the reasons stated earlier, because of circulation of the parking lot for customers coming in to use the fuel center and potentially exit, for customers of the shopping center and not just the Kroger store, and also the ability to get a fuel truck into the site, efficiently put the fuel into the ground, and exit the parking lot. They had heard the exact same thing he talked about, and that was specifically why on the survey they put the site plan, so the customers they talked to knew exactly where they proposed to put the fuel center. Commissioner Vandug asked where the fuel truck would park, and what would be an average time they would be occupying that space. Mr. Clark said the fuel trucks would park on the street side of the fuel center, and typically it was a 15-minute process. Commissioner Ramey asked if they had considered making the driveway that was in violation a one-way driveway just to exit the parking lot. Mr. Clark said no.

12 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 Commissioner Ramey said it would help traffic flow, and they had another driveway coming into the parking lot. Mr. Clark said yes, they had other driveways coming into the parking lot. This also functioned as a complete shopping center, with property down FM That was a median opening driveway on FM 1171, which also served properties to the west, so the driveways served more than just Kroger. They had not considered closing it or making it a right out only. Mr. Huddleston said in addition they were proposing the decel lanes on FM 1171, and that would help circulation. Commissioner White said the write-up identified it as a convenience store with gasoline sales. He asked if there would be anything sold there other than gas. It was only 112 square feet. Mr. Knight said it was not a convenience store. As a matter of fact, a motor vehicle fuel station was a permitted use in C-2, and they were batteries, tire changing, and spark plug replacement short of being allowed this use by right. It was the interpretation of the Town that the closest use to this was a convenience store with a fuel center, but a 112-square-foot kiosk was not a convenience store. Commissioner White said when they remodeled the building, the façade would change dramatically and be elevated some from what it was today. He asked what would happen to the rest of the center, like over by the bagel shop, barber shop, and donut shop, and if there would be some revitalization of that part as well. Mr. Knight said the owner could speak to that particular issue, but with the new elevation for the Kroger, there had been a lot of work done with city staff to try to make it in harmony with the existing center. That was why there was the element of the band along the lower level that continued on with the same color and brick scheme of the rest of the center. Commissioner White said, so the landlord was going to do improvements to that side as well. Mr. Knight said he did not know. He could ask the owner of the property, who he thought was planning to speak that evening. They only controlled what was done on the Kroger site. Commissioner White said it looked great, but his concern was about the other part of it. Herb Weitzman, Weitzman Group, said they had been there a very long time; they developed the center, and also operated the northeast and northwest corners. They planned to do something. They just needed to know what they were going to

13 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 approve, so they could play off the design. He just recently saw pictures of this, and what was requested by the Planning department. They were the most proactive, non-mall shopping center company in the State of Texas, so they were long-term players and would fix it up. Mr. Dalton said they had long discussions with the applicant near the beginning about how that transition would work and the importance of trying to harmonize the development. All of the brick area and wainscoting was the existing brick out there today, so that was one of their coordinating elements. The roofing elements were also remaining, so that component would stay. The roofing material on the two main entrances would be the same material. They had made a good attempt of maintaining the existing brick and coordinating the color off this development. In terms of what happened to the other side, the Town had not received any applications for changes to the balance of the building. This was the first they had heard of any intention to do that. Commissioner Lamb asked why it was more difficult to get a tanker in the corner for refueling. Mr. Clark said it would be very difficult. It would eat up a ton of parking spaces, and then the fuel truck would have to make an S-curve to get back out the drive onto FM It was just not practical. Also, it was parking for the shopping center, which was not really within Kroger s control. Commissioner Lamb said she still had an issue with it. If it came when there was high traffic during the day, she just did not see how it was going to maneuver where the fuel station was currently proposed. Mr. Clark said there were people who did nothing but operate fuel centers, and this was not the first one they had tried to build. They were very confident that this was how the fuel center would operate. The delivery times would be adjusted, because they would not want to come and obstruct people from getting in. That was counterproductive for everybody, both the fuel center and the store. Commissioner Lamb said she understood that, but it seemed like it would be a non-issue at the other area, and they could make that S if they were not coming during the prime time for people to be shopping. They said in the introductory that their national headquarters liked this and approved it. She asked if they had ever been to this Kroger location on a Sunday before a Cowboys game. Mr. Huddleston said yes, their petroleum engineers had come to the store at busy times, maybe not necessarily a Sunday before a Cowboys game, but certainly on Saturdays and Sundays. In terms of circulation, the delivery truck would come in, refuel, and then exit and be very efficient. If it was over at the corner, it could not come down that driveway, and it would be impossible to make that S-turn with an 18-wheel truck.

14 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 Commissioner White asked if there was any consideration to extending the slow-down lane to the second driveway to help traffic exiting onto FM Mr. Clark said he did not recall talking to staff about that, but his fear in a situation like that was that if someone had their blinker on, they would not know whether they were turning in the first drive or the second drive, and they had to make the decision to turn right. He thought it was an accident waiting to happen, whether this site or another site. It created other problems. He was correct they had to make a right turn into a main lane of traffic, but that was fairly consistent with every street in the Metroplex, so it was a regular situation. It was an irregular situation if they let people go through the drive into the second drive. Commissioner Vandug asked if this did not get approved, what their intention was for the expansion of the store. Mr. Huddleston said if it was not approved, they would definitely regroup, but it would be his recommendation that they not move forward with it, because they needed the sales of the fuel station in order to recapture their $14.3 million investment. Brenda Theriot, 1720 Mistletoe Drive, Flower Mound Ms. Theriot said she went to their store probably five times a week. She loved Kroger. She asked what their timeframe was for building this; how it would affect someone like her who depended on the store; how long they would take away the space to build the gas station; and if the building would still be functional while they were expanding. She had an SUV, so she could not turn left off She had to go around to the back of the store. Mr. Huddleston thanked her for her business. He said their intent was to operate the store. They had done a number of expansions in their 125-year history, and tried to minimize customer disruption at all costs, but certainly did ask for their customers patience. He believed it would take close to 12 months to complete the expansion and add the fuel center. Mr. Weitzman said they had worked with Kroger on this, looked at the corner and looked at it here, because they had traffic coming into the stores on the west and east sides of their store. They did a lot of these, and some were on the corner and some in this location. This was a concern for each and every one of them for safety, etc. They thought this fit into a plan that worked. He had gone into a gas station many times on a tiny site, and the fuel truck was there, and he never really had a problem. He just weaved around them to find a pump. He thought this was laid out such that it had great access around it and good visibility. It was pretty much see-through. They just put one in at the Kroger at the corner of Parker and the Tollway and another at the Kroger at Legacy and Independence. This worked very well from a competitive standpoint and Kroger operating successful stores. The grocery business was changing. They had a tough issue with their median break on the east side of the center. They never got notice from

15 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 TxDOT, but the access entrance was closed. It took two and a half years working with the city and Senator Jane Nelson to get TxDOT to let them put a hooded left turn in, which basically served the store, because their volume was really dropping. As the young lady said a minute ago, she had to come in on Churchill, go behind the center and weave her way around to get in, and that was not good at all. They survived that, but almost lost Kroger. He thought this was just another way for this store to remain competitive and create longevity. It took a huge investment to fix these stores up, and this was a big capital expenditure for them to add the space to the west. This would create a beautiful new store. They were long term and were going to fix up their sides, too. From what he had seen in their centers all around the state, this was a tremendous convenience for the customer, because there were a lot of gas stations closing up, so to have this was a plus. They thought it was a good plan and a great asset. In Favor Bryan Webb, 4112 High Road, Flower Mound Mr. Webb said the gentleman from Kroger pointed out how long they had been there, but did not point out what a great citizen they had been. When walking into the store, one passed by Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. They quietly supported many civic groups in town, as well as CCA. The competitive landscape for the grocery business was changing in Flower Mound. Wal-Mart was moving in; Tom Thumb was coming in. That would cost Kroger some customers that were coming to them today. They would go someplace else for whatever reason, more convenience or what have you. They were not looking to run. They were coming to the table with their checkbook and writing a check for $14 million as an investment in their community. They provided products they all used. He believed they might be the first ones to provide electric car charging stations. Since his employer had the only mass-produced, fully-electric vehicle in the country, he was happy to hear that. Remodeling their store was good for competition and good for the consumer, and they would retain a valued member of the community. Commissioner Vandug asked a really good question about what happened if they did not go this way. That was going to be one of the things he asked them to think about. Oftentimes they were faced with asking, if they approved something, what would happen. He thought it was a fair question to ask if they did not approve it, what would happen. If no investment was made in this store, it would dwindle, because there would be newer, shinier stores around that would attract their customers. He had seen it happen before, and thought it was a reasonable likelihood that this could end up empty. So, they had a choice between allowing a good corporate citizen to invest $14 million in the community, or risk having the store vacant. He would like to see them invest and stay part of the community. Suzy Britz, 2624 Misty Glen, Flower Mound Ms. Britz said she was a realtor and homeowner. She was representing the property owner at 2750 Churchill Drive, who had her attorney send the opposition letter. She was also there on a personal note as a citizen to voice her concerns.

16 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 She wondered how the pharmacy drive-through on the west side was going to be handled, because right now when someone came around the corner, they were lucky if they did not run into somebody when they turned right, and there was not a pharmacy drive-through there now. Also, she recently listed the property, and the past several months, they had had problems with people parking cars that were currently employees of restaurants and different places in the strip. So, there was already a parking concern, and she was wondering how all of that was going to be handled. She was not in favor or opposed. She shopped at Kroger and loved Kroger. Those were just some concerns to think about. Jody Smith, 3705 Sarah Springs Trail, Flower Mound Ms. Smith said she was glad to have the opportunity to speak in favor of Kroger. A lot of very good questions were asked. She wanted to hearken back to 1990 when they first met over this issue. She was the only woman on Planning and Zoning, so she asked the parking and safety questions. People were aggravated with her, but Kroger from the beginning met everything they asked them to do. They were not only a very good group to work with, they spent meetings and meetings and hours talking about things like the truck delivery in the back and the glazing color of the windows. It was very interesting. This was one of the first major stores in town, and they met all of their needs. She was very much in support of this. The store had been redone before. They did a very good job when they turned the store over, because they did not want to lose that money. She heard the concerns about the gas station at the corner, and she was almost at that point to yield to Edith Marvin s office and trust in their judgment on that one. Her fear, when she heard they were proposing a fuel station, was that it was going to go on the corner, and she was not sure if that would be the appropriate place. She hoped this could be done quickly. Kroger had been a great partner from the development industry. She asked them to please consider approving this, and said it would be a great asset to the community. In Opposition None Close Public Hearing Commission Deliberation Commissioner Whittaker said the letter from Ms. Cooper stated she had not received proper notice. He just wanted to confirm with staff that this was properly noticed and had met all of the requirements. Mr. Dalton said yes, if they looked in the packet for the list of notified property owners, Ms. Cooper was on that list at the same address that was on her letter, and those notices were mailed in accordance with state law. Commissioner Whittaker thanked Kroger for considering making an investment of this size in Flower Mound. He said he was in there nearly every day. They had a very strong clientele from the side of town he came from. When he

17 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 asked people if they shopped there, it was almost a consistent yes. It did not matter to him if Tom Thumb came into Bruton Orand, or if Wal-Mart came in where Albertson s used to be. He was not changing where he was going. He just had significant concerns on safety on this one. He did not think it would take more than one or two people rolling in off of 1171, making a right on this traffic cut, trying to decide what pump they wanted to go in, backing somebody up on 1171, and getting rear-ended. He thought that was going to happen. He would suggest Plan B would have been a better option, where he would suggest removing an exception to the access management policy, so this could move forward. Vice Chair McKaige said he jotted down the positives and negatives to boil down where his current thinking was. The expansion and improvement was a very welcome improvement for Flower Mound. It was a great project and significant investment. The gas pumps troubled him. He did not think it was in keeping with the original master plan for that corner, which did not include a gas station. They already had a large gas station on the northeast corner and another a quarter mile down the road to the east. Parking availability was reduced 43 spaces. He frequented this store often, and at times it was difficult. Removing 43 would exacerbate that situation. He felt he was being held hostage for $14 million. He either did not want $14 million invested in his town, or he had to give up his feelings about the gas pumps. That was an uncomfortable position to be put in. He thought this was another one of those little steps they took as a community that ate away at their desire to be a rural town with a small-town feeling. Commissioner White said the question about the pharmacy was a great question, because he was one of the people that entered off FM 1171, but exited out the back, because taking a left out of there onto FM 1171 was almost impossible. There were a lot of cars that went out the back to circle around by the Sonic. He just wanted to make sure once that pharmacy drive-through went in, there would still be room for two-way traffic. Mr. Dalton said what would be left would be the fire lane, which would accommodate two-way traffic. It was typical of any drive aisle in a parking area, and it met the Town s queuing and bypass requirements for a drive-through. Chair Goss said, so there would be a lane for the drive-through window, plus a single lane being accessed either way for the fire lane. Mr. Dalton showed the plan and pointed out the area. Commissioner White asked for the width of the fire lane. Mr. Dalton said 24 feet [off microphone]. Commissioner Lamb said the expansion piece of this was tremendous. She was a regular shopper at Kroger, because her family had special dietary needs. They did a very good job of addressing that with their Nature s Market, so she did not have to drive to Central Market or Whole Foods to get those types of items.

18 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 She was disappointed to hear it was conditional. She hoped that was not the case. She obviously had some issues with the fuel station location, but wanted to say that she appreciated what they did for the community and thought it was a beautiful rendering of what they proposed to do. She hoped they would go through with it, whatever they chose to do that evening. Commissioner Lamb moved to recommend denial of Specific Use Permit SUP/SP Kroger Signature Store and Fuel Station to permit a convenience store with gasoline sales use, and a site plan to expand an existing grocery store. Vice Chair McKaige seconded the motion. VOTE ON THE MOTION AYES: Whittaker, Lamb, McKaige, Vandug NAYS: White, Ramey ABSTAIN: None ABSENT: Levonius, McCall The motion passed with a vote of 4-2. [Chair Goss called for a 10-minute break.] 6. Public Hearing to consider a request for rezoning (Z Ridge Bluff Estates on Lake Grapevine) from Agricultural District (A) uses to Single- Family District-10 (SF-10) uses. The property is generally located west of Simmons Road and south of Holly Lane. 7. Consider a request for a Development Plan (DP Ridge Bluff Estates on Lake Grapevine) to develop a residential subdivision. The property is generally located west of Simmons Road and south of Holly Lane. Staff Presentation Amy Mathews, Senior Planner, said the entire property was 9.67 acres total. Nine acres were the subject of the rezoning request to change from Agricultural to SF-10. The remaining.67 acres were currently platted as part of the North Lake Highlands subdivision and zoned SF-10. The entire property was master-planned for medium density residential and part of the Cross Timbers Protection Area. She showed several pictures of the existing neighborhood streets and the project site. She said the residential process generally included six steps for development. The land use and zoning designated the type of use and minimum lot sizes. The development plan and record plat were part of the platting process. That was when the bulk of the engineering was done. Then the last steps were the public improvements and building permits. In regard to Ridge Bluff, the land use was in place. It was master-planned for medium density residential. So, with these applications, they were looking at the zoning and development plan. The next step after that would be the record plat, which was generally a four to six-month

19 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 process for P&Z approval. The three lots that were part of North Lake Highlands caused it to be a replat, so public notice would be required. Then all public improvements had to be accepted by the Town before they could obtain any building permits for the project. The main components of the development plan were the 29 residential lots, the main access off Holly, the emergency access from Corps property, the three specimen trees, the areas of steep slope over 12% which were not being disturbed, and the lift station. The applicant was going above and beyond the requirements for landscaping, providing street buffer landscaping and additional trees and landscaping around the lift station. Ms. Mathews said staff had received several questions and concerns. The first had to do with land use. The subject property and the existing North Lake Highlands subdivision were both shown on the land use plan as medium density residential. In doing their research, staff found that this land use had been in place in that area since North Lake Highlands was zoned SF-10, and had average lot sizes of 10,000 square feet, although a lot of the people owned double lots or had platted two lots together. So, this proposal was in keeping with the Master Plan. The property was also located in the Cross Timbers Protection Area. Per the Master Plan, development could occur in that area according to the existing land use, which was what the applicant was proposing. Since the adoption of the Master Plan in 2001, which created the Cross Timbers Protection Area, the Town had adopted and amended its tree ordinance and adopted SMARTGrowth requirements that required environmental assessments. Those were done for this property. According to the ESA and EPP, which were in the packet, there was an area of upland habitat on the property. Trees would only be removed with infrastructure and the homes, and those impacts to the habitat would be mitigated in accordance with Town Code. Ms. Mathews said there had also been a question regarding the deed restrictions for the North Lake Highlands subdivision, and whether a roadway could be built on one of the existing residential lots, but it was the Town s policy not to enforce deed restrictions. Ms. Mathews said regarding the roads, there was one existing way in off Consolvo from Simmons. Someone would go from Consolvo to Mistletoe to Holly Lane. There had been discussion about a possible connection to Cedar Crest, but it did not extend to the property, so in order to get access from it, they would have to acquire the land from private property owners. The developer of the property could not be required to improve all of the roads because of rough proportionality. Rough proportionality was established by a Supreme Court ruling, and the State had associated laws. The purpose was to attribute the developer s share of roadway improvements based on the proportionate impact of the new development. It was applied to external roadways impacted by the development and acknowledged the presence of existing traffic s impact to a roadway. For example, because all of the traffic on Consolvo would not be from the proposed project, then the Town could not force the developer to pay to improve all of the streets leading back to Simmons. She showed a cross section of a typical roadway that ran through the area. The right-of-way for all of the streets in the area was 35 feet, and the typical

20 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 pavement width end to end was approximately 15 feet. There were bar ditches on the side, and an existing two-inch waterline that was being replaced by a new eight-inch waterline. Ms. Mathews said they were proposing to put in the new four-inch sewer line in the same location where the old two-inch waterline was being abandoned, as close to the edge of pavement as possible. The four-inch force main would be pumped into a manhole at Consolvo and Simmons, and the new line and lift station would be completely paid for and constructed by the applicant and maintained by the Town. In order for anyone else in the area to connect to the sewer, new gravity lines would have to be constructed in the development. It would have to go down to the lift station and be pumped back to the same location. Ms. Mathews said although the tree canopy did hang over the road, the trees were on the other side of the drainage ditch, so they did not need to be removed in order to install the sewer line. However, construction could impact the root zone. With that in mind, there were Best Management Practices such as root pruning and boring that had been used in the past, which would greatly reduce the impacts to trees. Although the details were not complete, since the detailed engineering came with the next phase, it was planned that the new four-inch line would go as close to the edge of pavement as possible. Ms. Mathews said the outer areas of the property would drain directly onto Corps property per their standards. The inner lots would drain to the street, which would drain to the outfall areas. Holly Lane would drain through the outfall and then onto Corps property. Ms. Mathews said they had received many quotes from the vision statement of SMARTGrowth from neighbors. She said the project met all of the applicable criteria of the SMARTGrowth analysis required for development: adequate public infrastructure, adequate public facilities, adequate public services, environmental quality, and community character. That information was contained in their packet. Applicant Presentation Jeff Crannell, Crannell Engineering, Highland Village Mr. Crannell said he was there on behalf of the owner to request a new subdivision in town, which met all of the criteria of the city. They had been on this project about two and a half years and were moving along great, and then all of a sudden residents called and said they did not like it. He was blindsided by that. He had the pleasure of meeting numerous adjacent homeowners last week in a meeting. They were very cordial to allow him to come and discuss the project, and to see if they could bridge the gap a little bit, because he knew there was some opposition. It looked like he had the opportunity to meet some more neighbors that evening. Basically they had nine acres of Ag-zoned land and then three platted lots in the North Lake Highlands subdivision. The plan was to request a zoning change in accordance with the Master Plan to medium density residential. They had 29

21 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 total lots, but out of that total, they were taking out the three lots that faced Holly and facing only two lots toward their internal streets, so there was a net difference of 26 additional lots. They were required by ordinance to provide sanitary sewer. They were also told from day one by the Fire Marshal to give them a second point of access, because a long, dead-end, narrow, rural road was not ideal for emergency services. It took them about 18 months working closely with the Army Corps of Engineers to get an agreement with them. They evaluated other adjacent options, none of which were feasible at this point in time. They might become feasible in the future, but they just did not own land and did not have contiguous right-of-way. They could not force people to sell them property, and could not build a road on someone else s property. They had an agreement with the Corps that the emergency access would benefit the Twin Lakes Marina, which also had one long road in and out. The current residents had one long road in, so this would improve their emergency access. That was one plus on their side of the equation. Their site would meet or exceed the city s ordinances for development standards and criteria. Mr. Crannell said when they first looked at the project, they looked at what they were adjacent to. They evaluated the North Lake Highlands subdivision and the surrounding areas so they could be compatible. They wanted to bring in a subdivision that would not stand out, and would be similar to, if not identical to, what they had right now. Their site would have 26 new lots; 21 that were 10,000 to 10,999 square feet; six that were 11,000 to 20,000 square feet; and two that were over 20,000 square feet. The second thing they looked at were the trees. He liked trees, and wanted trees on his property. He wanted to save every tree possible. With the tree ordinance requirements from the EPP and all of the issues that were there, they adapted to those ordinances and did their best to work within the confines of the site. There were some areas that were fairly open and some that were heavily wooded. So, they looked at the roadway pattern to try and hit as much of the open space as possible, leaving the rim lots on the south to be in those treed areas. There were five specimen trees onsite, and they tried to work around all of them, but were not able to do that. They were able to save three of the specimen trees. In doing the street pattern if they lost one specimen tree, but saved 10 to 15 other nice trees on the other side of the road, they evaluated that, so they did not just throw straight streets in there. They adapted to what they had. Everybody wanted trees on their property, so the more they saved the better. Mr. Crannell said as the North Lake Highlands subdivision was currently platted, there were 23 lots that were 10,000 square feet or less, nine lots that were between 10,000 and 20,000 square feet, which accounted for five that had been replatted, and four lots that were over 20,000 square feet. On the southern part of the site the lots were almost all 10,000 square feet, so that was their border. The roads were asphalt and approximately 16 feet wide, with 35 feet of right-of-way. Some folks owned more than one lot and some of those lots were vacant, but they were platted and could be built on. The dwelling sizes ranged from 816 square feet to 2,755 square feet. The home sizes in Ridge Bluff would be a little larger. So to compare, Ridge Bluff had 21 lots between 10,000 and 10,999; they had 23. Ridge Bluff had six lots between 11,000 and 20,000; they had nine. Ridge Bluff had two lots over 20,000; they had four. It was a fairly close

22 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 comparison. He talked to the homeowners and said they were trying to blend. They just did not come in and slap on a lot of lots, cut down a bunch of trees, build some streets, and just tear the place up. They actually cared about what they were doing. He had lived in the area for 16 years. They were not some developer from out of town or out of state. He personally was a Town Engineer for Double Oak for eight years and Copper Canyon for six years. He had sat on these commissions, and was a planning and zoning commissioner for his hometown. It was tough to blend in quality development with current citizens. There were always concerns. Progress was tough, so Flower Mound in their wisdom had developed ordinances and requirements, like the Master Plan and SMARTGrowth, and they took those to heart. They believed in those. They were not asking for variances, or asking to deviate from their current standards. That was why they were there. They thought they had a good program. They had brought a lot of projects in front of the Commission and other cities in the area, and wereproud of them. They were all meaningful uses in those cities. He did not want to have to walk into Kroger and hang his head. Mr. Crannell said the neighbors had valid concerns. They would increase traffic, and would bring construction traffic down their roads. They would be a pain in the rear while this was going on, but in the long run, it would be a quality development. He could not build four houses or 10 houses or 26 houses without creating that. It was just a way of life. He knew they just went through the waterline upgrade, and he heard about their headaches with the construction traffic, open ditches, and delays. Those were valid concerns, but temporary concerns. They hoped to minimize that as much as possible, but any construction would cause that. They hoped to preserve what they had, because they wanted that, too. They wanted that rural feel, nice house, and nice environment for their kids to live and grow in and feel safe. Hopefully, that door was open for them to come in and adapt to what they already enjoyed, because they really enjoyed their lifestyle out there. They loved their neighborhood. They had beautiful, tree-lined streets. They were 14 to 16 feet wide at the most, and they had to slow down and wave to their neighbors, but it was still a functional roadway system. It still worked, and he assumed police and fire could get down there if they needed to, so they hoped they could get down there also. Mr. Crannell said they went out and counted cars for a couple of days in the morning and afternoon to see how much traffic was coming out of Consolvo. There were 39 cars exiting in the morning and 18 coming back in. In the afternoon, there were 26 exiting and 33 coming back in. So, they were looking at a fairly minimal use of that road. It did not serve a lot of lots down there. They would add 26 additional lots, and using the traffic engineer s requirements of trip generation, that was an additional 20 trips in the morning and 20 trips in the evening. He thought it would be more than that, possibly 50 trips per day. If they did generate that many, at rush hour they would get one car about every minute and ten seconds, using his numbers. If they used the IT numbers, it was about one car every three minutes, but he did not believe that number. So, there was going to be an increase in traffic, but one car every minute and ten seconds during rush hour and probably one car every ten minutes during non-rush hour time was workable. It

23 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 would not change the quality of life in that neighborhood; it would not be a major impact or create the end of the world to the North Lake Highlands subdivision. It was a manageable increase. They were at the very end of any raw land down there. The Corps property was on all sides, so nobody would be adding anymore cars on top of their cars. He looked at some uses in Ag zoning that could be built on the property, like a day camp for children, natural gas facility, or a dog kennel. All would generate additional traffic on that road. They did not want any of those. They wanted to put in a nice subdivision that would bring 26 additional singlefamily homes to the neighborhood and nice families, and that was it. Mr. Crannell said after meeting the homeowners, some great ideas came up. They looked at them early on, but they picked up more emphasis after talking to these folks. At the end of Holly Lane and Mistletoe, there was a potential street connection through an old well lot and through two landowners to connect into Cedar Crest. He would love to build a road there, and if they could acquire that land, they would build a road there and give these folks two ways in and out. They were told by both property owners that controlled that land that they were not interested. One group said they would start talking to him if they started at about a $50,000 price tag. That was about $100 a square foot for land. He did not know if that was reasonable, but if that right of way was available, they would build that road, because then they would have two ways in and out of that property. He just did not have any way of building on someone else s property. The Town of Flower Mound had condemnation proceedings. They had abilities they as a private landowner did not, so if somebody could acquire right of way, they would love to bring that road in. It would be a great idea from the residents. The other option was to consider taking Cedar Crest all the way through behind the lots on Holly Lane and then connect into their street pattern. Again, they did not have control over the land. It took out two of the specimen trees they had saved, and it ran right through a heavily treed area. The lady on Holly Lane said she did not want a road behind her or beside her, so that road connection was not feasible. Mr. Crannell said they were following the master plan. The Master Plan was established and voted on by this Commission and the Council. It served as a guideline of what could be built in that area, so they took that to heart. They were not asking for anything different. The folks in the audience would like them to change the Master Plan. He did not agree. They wanted to see this blend in. He wanted what they had, nothing more and nothing less. That was what was in front of them. They met all of the Town s ordinances and requirements. They knew they were going to cut down some trees and mitigated for those. They provided emergency access for the area. Their lot sizes blended and were congruous. Questions and Answers Chair Goss asked him to explain how the drainage was going to work. Mr. Crannell said almost 95% of the site drained into Corps property, most of it directly. There was a half-acre of land that drained toward Holly Lane, made a U-turn, and then came down the ditch. He had been told that when it rained, the

24 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 folks there had water in their house. That was a concern. They would catch all of the water on Holly Lane on the south side, and put inlets on the road to catch their surface water coming down the street, and underground pipe it all the way down. So, it would basically bypass all of Holly Lane and that ditch. None of their water would leave their property. There was still a significant amount of water that came from the north down Oriole, crossed under and over the road, and flooded that intersection. In talking to the city, he said he would love to help improve that drainage ditch and culvert under the road. He did not have an easement, but would be happy to visit with the homeowner, and if they granted an easement, they would come in with their abilities, while their construction equipment was out there, and improve that ditch to where it would convey the 100-year storm. Vice Chair McKaige said he was a little confused as to the traffic issue, so he wanted staff to refresh them on the Town requirements, the traffic study and what it showed. He thought they heard three different iterations of traffic numbers. He wanted to make sure they treated this application as they would other applications of a similar nature. Ms. Marvin said they had two different sets of information available through the Town. What was in their staff report reflected the traffic generated through the 8 th Edition of the Trip Generation Manual by ITE. It reflected the 23 trips for the morning peak hour, 17 out and 6 in, and then the 31 trips for the evening peak hour, 11 out and 20 in. In addition to that information, and at the request of the neighborhood, the Town set up some counters. That information closely reflected the information provided through the trip generation manual. For the p.m. peak, they had a total of 27, with 7 of those being out and 20 in, and for the a.m. peak, they had a total of 31 vehicles with 22 out and 9 in. So, they actually had two different sets of information. What was in the staff report was what they generated for all developments. Vice Chair McKaige said, so the sample mirrored the typical analysis. He asked how recent the sample was. Ms. Marvin said it was taken October 20. Mr. Dalton said part of SMARTGrowth required a transportation analysis, which was Attachment B:5 of the zoning item. That analysis showed that this development did not exceed the 5% threshold along any Town collector or arterial link. So, that was analyzed more on a macro level, and it passed SMARTGrowth. Then the Town actually looked at it at a micro level as well. Commissioner Whittaker said he drove the property that day, and went down Holly. He asked where the road would extend through, and how he would get back to the property that was going to be developed. Mr. Dalton said he would drive down Holly Lane to the end and turn left. There was right-of-way there south of Holly Lane that would be the connection the

25 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 developer was proposing to make at that location. The development plan showed that at the top left-hand corner. Commissioner Whittaker said, so basically the existing roads turned into the proposed development. It seemed like it would be almost a night and day difference between the road surface, the road width, and the look. He asked if that was what they were proposing. Ms. Marvin said yes, for the new development to occur, they needed to build their roads to meet the current standards, which was a 30-foot back-to-back concrete curb and gutter street inside a 50-foot right-of-way. Mr. Dalton said there were different areas in town where there were preexisting asphalt roads, or even driveways on commercial property, where the new standard was concrete, and they had connected to it, so it was not unusual. There would be a connection point and a transition from the end of the asphalt on Holly Lane to the concrete new section within the development, but it would be a noticeable difference when traveling from asphalt to concrete. Chair Goss said mountain bikers on the Northshore bike trail would be crossing the emergency access roadway. He asked how they would handle that. Mr. Crannell said the Corps was dictating how they handled it. They were saying to keep that open and level across there. That was part of their many discussions with the Fire Department and the Corps. They got them all in one room and worked it out. They agreed to put a flat concrete edge strip and then use pavers with crushed granite to act as the fire lane, so it would blend in with the Corps property. Chair Goss pointed out the form filled out by LISD indicated that McKamy Middle School, after this development was approved, only had 15 additional students capacity, so this was as close as they had ever gotten to full capacity at one of their schools. That was just a heads up to the staff and to the citizens that they were reaching the limit at McKamy, according to SMARTGrowth. Commissioner Whittaker said he was trying to visualize how the second access point was going to play out. He asked what the surface was going to be. Mr. Crannell said for the two access points onto Holly, the Town required concrete. Commissioner Whittaker said when he drove the property that day, he came down Mistletoe, and there was a Mercedes parked in the road. It took him a little trouble to get around the Mercedes. He was picturing that if a fire happened in there, and there were fire engines coming down the street, they were not going to get past there. The road was not wide enough. Then he tried to figure out how he would turn emergency vehicles around in that neighborhood, and then go all the way back out to Simmons to Murrell Park, and come back in the emergency access.

26 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 Mr. Crannell said if a home in that subdivision was on fire, that might be the route he would take once that path was put in, but that was a Fire Department question. Commissioner Whittaker said he just wanted to make sure he had the design concept right. Mr. Crannell said that was exactly it. Their roads would be up to city standards, because they did not have a choice. The existing roads were not up to current standards, but there were a lot of roads in Flower Mound, Double Oak, Copper Canyon, etc., that were that wide, and they made it work. Commissioner Whittaker said that was exactly what he was thinking; it felt like he was in Double Oak. Mr. Crannell said that was what these folks loved. He loved it, too. Commissioner Vandug said back to the drainage, he was looking at the property southbound from Holly Lane, and about halfway it started sloping up. Mr. Crannell said there was a ridge that cut through there. Commissioner Vandug said he mentioned the drainage would drain out from the property. He asked if they were leveling it. Mr. Crannell said they tried to adapt to existing grade as best they could, so they ditched it and piped it. Commissioner Vandug said it looked like a lot of the water from the southern part would drain to about the middle of the property. He asked if it would be drained out to the sides from that point. Mr. Crannell said yes. The northeast corner drained to the north, and then it made a U-turn and came back south and ended up in the draw. The other area there drained to the west. They were going to catch it and collect it at the one discharge point. Commissioner Vandug asked assuming this was approved, what timeframe they were looking at for complete build out. Mr. Crannell said it took another nine months, 12 months to be conservative, from approval of the concept stage and zoning to get back through the system the second time. Then there was a two to three-year build out of infrastructure and houses, but that was market driven. The market today was not as rapid as it was, so they had that to deal with.

27 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 Vice Chair McKaige said his question had to do with Green Oaks Drive and Murrell Park Drive. He asked if there were any utilities in those roads. Ms. Marvin said the Town did not show any utilities in that area on their maps, but it was Corps property, so it was possible they had added things without it being added to their maps. Vice Chair McKaige said the one went to the marina, and he was pretty certain there was infrastructure in there. He was not certain what it was. Ms. Marvin said the Corps had come to them on several occasions trying to get water service from this general area down to Murrell Park, so there was a gap there they were trying to fill, but they could not get easements across private property, so that had been pretty much a dead end for them as far as coming from any of these neighborhoods. There was no right-of-way that fronted their property. Commissioner Lamb asked if the emergency access would be gated. Mr. Crannell said there would be two gates, one on their side of the cul-desac and one on the Corps property. Commissioner Lamb said on the drainage, he stated he desired to buy some easement from the property owner there. It was almost a 90-degree angle, how they would have to pipe it today without additional easement. Mr. Crannell said they did not need an easement. Their site could be designed and built to drain only into Corps property, and that was what they proposed with that pipe, but Commissioner Lamb asked if the water could handle those angles. Mr. Crannell said oh yes, they could make water turn corners. What he was saying was that they would love to come in and help that homeowner who had a drainage problem, and fix that during the construction of the subdivision. They would have their equipment there, and would be able to absorb that cost into this project, so if they could get a drainage easement there, and handle all of the water coming down Oriole, he thought they could help out the homeowner. Commissioner Lamb said she personally hated to see the upland habitat go. That was probably one-third of the property. She asked where it was located. Mr. Crannell said the only reason they were under upland habitat was because they bordered Lake Grapevine. That being said, most of it wrapped around the east corner. They went to the Parks Board and said they would love to give them a one-acre park, but they, in their wisdom, said they did not want a one-acre pocket park. A lot of that habitat would be preserved in those back areas, because they did not want to build down there. They were bringing the houses up tight and preserving that whole back strip there. He thought that was what people would

28 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 want to buy and build on, so that habitat would remain. Those were the trees they hoped would remain. There was only about 4.6 acres of upland habitat on their site, and they would preserve a little over half of it. Commissioner White asked if there had been any work done on some of the drainage area. It seemed like a lot of it was draining into the area that exceeded the 12% grade. Mr. Crannell said almost all of that was going to stay natural. Commissioner White said the drains on the east side and down at the south looked like it was draining into the slope area. There would be a lot more water going through there, because they were directing it there. He asked if any analysis was done, or if there was any concern about whether that would cause anymore wash out issues. Mr. Crannell said they would drain the front yards toward the street, which meant they would actually reduce the area that would drain backwards. More than likely there would be no impact on it, but they might concentrate on a few spots for preserving that. That would be part of the fine-tune analysis they would do at final plans. They were not to that point yet. If they were lucky enough to get to that point, they would be very sensitive, because that was probably a very erosive area, but he thought they would actually reduce the amount of water flowing through those based on the front yards draining forward. Ms. Marvin said one of the criteria required by the Corps of Engineers for the outfalls was that the water not come at them at a speed faster than five feet-persecond, and that note was included on the site plan. They were not to that phase of design yet, so had not reviewed anything from the applicant that was to that level of detail. That would come with the record plat, but when the information did come through, staff would ensure the Corps requirements were met. The five feetper-second was not considered an erosive velocity. Commissioner Whittaker said at the place they were currently in the process, they were not required to have their sewer plan in the hands of the Town. He asked if they had drafted that yet. Mr. Crannell said they had looked at it conceptually, and that was where the alignments came from for the force main. Commissioner Whittaker asked for confirmation that for the lift station and high-pressure sewage line, they had not developed their statistics on pressures they would have to use and designed the network yet. Mr. Crannell said no, they had not gotten to that level.

29 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 Commissioner Whittaker said people who knew these things advised him that dropping a lift station and a high-pressure sewage line was not as easy as saying it was done. He asked if he anticipated any problems with this. Mr. Crannell said no, he did not. They were pumping uphill and crosscountry, and it had to get all the way across Simmons Road, so there was a lot of design, but it had to work. They had no options. Otherwise, raw effluent would go into Lake Grapevine, and there would be a lot of people not happy with them. They designed and built a lot of lift stations, and specifically around lakes. He thought Highland Village had maybe 25 of them. They were designed; they functioned; they flowed. Janvier Scott, 2829 Bob White Lane, Flower Mound Ms. Scott said she did not see anything about a tree survey on the Town website, and they had like 498 trees. She asked if they had a breakdown of the trees that were being taken down. Ms. Mathews said the tree survey was included in the online plans. Jared Martin was also in attendance if they had specific questions. Chair Goss said, so a tree survey was done, and it was part of the packet material on the website, which was put on there the Thursday before the meeting in the agendas section. Ms. Mathews said yes, and the big circles were the specimen trees, which were part of the ECC recommendation that would be going onto Council. Mr. Dalton said the tree survey was located under the landscape plan link online, and it was the last sheet. T.D. Hathcock, 1605 Mistletoe, Flower Mound Mr. Hathcock asked where they were going to get power, and if they were tying into the current system. The reason he asked was that living in that neighborhood, there were two power failures a month. He marked them on his calendar. It had been that way since he moved there. Chair Goss asked what power company it was. Mr. Hathcock said Oncor. Chair Goss said, then Oncor would provide the power. Mr. Hathcock said, and they would tap into what they had now. Chair Goss said right.

30 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 Ann Christian, 4017 Oakdale Lane, Flower Mound Ms. Christian asked what the Town s plan for road improvements was going forward. Chair Goss said the Town maintained what was called a Capital Improvement Plan, which had future road improvements on it, and he thought there was no plan to do anything to the roads down there. Ms. Marvin confirmed that currently on the five-year Capital Improvement Plan, there were no roadway improvements for that area. Sherri Posey, 4017 Holly Lane, Flower Mound Ms. Posey said as a nurse, she was very conscious about safety, and was concerned about the emergency entrance/exit for this neighborhood. She did not know if they had driven all the way down Simmons to the park area, but it was a very windy area, so she wondered about the time that would be tacked onto an already emergency situation. She agreed they might not be able to make it down their roads in a timely fashion. Also, they brushed on the technique for minimizing root damage while doing construction. She asked what kind of research had been done. They had an awful lot of trees at stake that would be impacted, maybe not immediately, but over a long period of time. She asked if that technique was widely used, and if there was any data on the effectiveness of the tree salvage. Chair Goss said in the engineering business, there was what was called Best Business Practice, and boring under tree roots he thought was one of those. Ms. Marvin said that was one of the techniques the Town used when they got to something they did not want to disturb. It was also a technique the phone and power companies utilized. It was one of several that could be used. Again, they had not gotten to the exact location of that force main yet. When they got to that point, they would look at the proposed route and more of the specifics, but today they just had a rough schematic of which side of the road it needed to go on. That was based on placing the sewer on the opposite side of the road from the water, which was their standard practice. Ms. Posey asked if the sewer line was something that would be decided and discussed prior to the final yes or no on this development. Ms. Marvin said it was part of the record plat application. When they brought that forward for their review, it had to be accompanied by a full set of civil plans. It was at that point they looked at its exact location and layout, and how it got through the streets. Chair Goss said on the roads in Murrell Park, he thought both Fire and Police would tell her they were very serviceable for their vehicles.

31 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 Robin Werner, 4004 Oakdale, Flower Mound Ms. Werner said she had lived there for over 20 years. She loved her home and her trees. She asked if he had documentation on how long the lift station would last; and if it was a two or three-year fix, whether the taxpayers would then have to clean up the mess and put in a full-blown pump station, if it did not work. Mr. Crannell said they had designed probably 12 lift stations over the past 10 years, and they were all completely in service now. Outside of routine maintenance, where the pumps needed to be pulled maybe once a year and cleaned and maintained, there was very minimal maintenance long term. Force mains were hardly ever dug up and hardly ever had problems. They were just not under that much force and pressure. Ms. Werner asked where those lift stations were. Mr. Crannell said they were just starting construction on one in the city of Justin. There was one in Highland Village Ms. Werner said she would like to see documentation on some that had been in place for a couple of years. She did not think that was too much to ask. Mr. Crannell said the cities would have that documentation. Chair Goss explained once the developer built it to the city s specifications, the city took it over and it was their responsibility. She needed to talk to the cities about their maintenance of lift stations. Ms. Werner asked if those kinds of sewer systems were in the Town now. Chair Goss said there were lift stations all over town. Ms. Marvin said yes, because it was a lake community. The lift stations had a lot to do with topography. When a property dropped downhill, and they needed to get the sewage uphill to get it to the treatment plant in the southeast part of town, the lift stations helped to get the sewage up the hill, so it could be tied back into a gravity line. If she would like a list of all of the Town s lift stations, she could get her that information. There were quite a few. Ms. Werner said it was a steep grade. She asked how far it had to go to the nearest pump station. Ms. Marvin said this actually dropped into a gravity line before it got to the next lift station at Kipling. In order for this development to get to the zoning stage, the Town had to have their consultants that managed their models check that point of discharge where they were going to outfall the sewage from their force main all the way down to the treatment plant to make sure there was capacity in the lines.

32 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 Ms. Werner asked if information on how the sewer lines worked was online, and if their success rate was available to the public. Ms. Marvin said they did not place information on lift stations that they had town-wide on the website, but would be happy to get that information to her. Ms. Werner said good. Also, on the protected trees, they all voted to have the SMARTGrowth plan and open spaces, and to have a beautiful town. She wanted to know when a protected tree was leveled, what it was worth to the Town. She knew builders got fined. She was curious what the fines were. She was seeing an awful lot of ones that were not supposed to get knocked down getting leveled by various builders. She asked if it was a fine per tree or per age. Mr. Dalton said it really depended on the location of the tree. When they visited a site and looked at the possible location of a sewer line within right-of-way, in close proximity to the edge of pavement, it was generally in an area where the drainage swale was. When they walked this site, they did not immediately detect a tree that for sure would need to be removed. They talked about some Best Management Practices that could be used to help reduce the impact to the trees, although that was not a guarantee that those trees would survive the trenching or boring. In terms of what the trees were worth, the Town s tree ordinance said if the tree in a proposed development was located within Town right-of-way or a Town-required easement, there was no requirement for mitigation. There were incentives for developers to try to design around trees, especially specimen and protected trees, which generally cost more. It was a graduated scale. The higher quality the tree, based on size and classification, the greater the cost to replace or mitigate it. But, if it was located within right-of-way, like many of the trees discussed in relation to the location of this force main, or even some others on the site, they were not subject to mitigation. If a developer was out constructing on a site and haphazardly knocked over trees, there were fines associated with that. Jared Martin, Environmental Review Analyst, said for unauthorized removal of protected trees, it was $250 per-caliper-inch and replacement with five times the caliper inches. For unauthorized removal of specimen trees, it was $500 percaliper-inch and replacement with ten times the caliper inches. For authorized removals, it depended on where the trees were located, as to what the mitigation would be. Ms. Werner said this was right-of-way for the road, but this was only being put in because of this development. So, basically it was cheaper for the excavators to come in and wipe them all out and pay the fines. She thought that was wrong. Joel Shafer, 1661 Oriole, Flower Mound Mr. Shafer said the applicant provided a compelling assessment of how the new neighborhood was supposed to blend in with the characteristics of the old neighborhood. It showed there were 23 new lots in comparison to the existing 21 medium density lots. He could not help but notice that not an insignificant portion

33 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 of those 21 existing lots were vacant and owned by the same property owner as the house lots. So, he thought it would be more helpful to compare a count of the actual housing in the existing neighborhood compared to the housing proposed in the new neighborhood. John Richardson, 4016 Holly Lane, Flower Mound Mr. Richardson said when he went outside his back door, he could see four houses, and out of those four houses, there were four kids that went to McKamy. They were putting in 26 houses, and it said they were only going to have five kids go to McKamy. He questioned the math on the sheet. The numbers did not seem to add up, and it looked like the school was already at capacity. Chair Goss said those were standard calculations to generate students for each level of school that came to them from LISD, and their certification that it met their SMARTGrowth capacity. The Town had to accept their calculations. Jose Briones, 4020 Holly Lane, Flower Mound Mr. Briones said no mention had been made of the impact on pedestrian safety. There were no sidewalks and no street lights. He asked if there would be any impact on pedestrian safety with the additional cars, and given the increased use of the roads, how that was consistent with the American Disabilities Act. He said in theory, they should also have access to the roads and have sidewalks. Chair Goss asked if any pedestrian studies had been done. Ms. Marvin said there had not been any pedestrian studies. To address the question about the Texas Disabilities requirements, any new construction must be built in accordance with those requirements. There was not a requirement to go back to older streets in an existing condition that were not being touched and add sidewalks or ramps or anything like that. Mr. Briones said he understood that, but the additional impact on the use of the road should also be taken into account. Jeffrey Castellanos, 3800 and 3804 Consolvo, Flower Mound Mr. Castellanos said he lived on the corner, so they could not come in or out of that neighborhood without passing his house. In addition to the pedestrians, he could not tell them how many mountain bikers came by his house every day to access the trailhead, so he was not sure that impact had been measured. He was curious if the results of the traffic study were from before or after it was moved. Initially, the rubber things were placed down the street across from the barn, which eliminated about 10 houses from that study, so he was not sure it was completely accurate. Even after it was moved to his empty lot, he still missed it.

34 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 Ms. Marvin said after they received the concern that it was placed in the wrong location, they moved it, and the counts did not reflect the previous location. Commissioner Vandug asked if Holly Lane would be the primary fire access. Fred Calhoun, Fire Engineering Specialist, said as far as running route, they would go down Simmons, enter at Consolvo, and that would be the primary way in. The idea was that if they came in that way and saw that there was some kind of blockage, they could radio ahead and the rest of the units could go on down Simmons and come in the back way through Murrell Park. That secondary access would help both this subdivision and the other subdivisions. Commissioner Vandug said a couple of years ago, the lake was pretty high, and the Corps road was underwater for two or three weeks before they got it fixed. He asked if they made any improvements afterwards, and the road was now above the max level of the lake, or if that could still be an issue. Mr. Calhoun said he could not speak to that. Obviously, water on the road could be a hindrance, but that would be secondary, and only used when the primary was out. In working with the Corps, they constructed the road so it was at least the minimum 75,000 pounds, so they could get apparatus over it. Rick Lipscomb, 3936 Consolvo, Flower Mound Mr. Lipscomb said they talked about Cedar Crest. He asked if there had been any study on just running the sewer line there and using city easement to get to the property instead of coming all the way down Consolvo and Holly. there. Chair Goss said he thought the point was the city did not have an easement Mr. Lipscomb asked if the city had the capability of using eminent domain or something like that across that property. Ms. Marvin said the Town did not have a history of condemning for private developments, only for a public need on the Capital Improvement program. Dominic Cure, 4016 Oakdale Lane, Flower Mound Mr. Cure asked what made specific trees special. He said he hiked through that area a lot, and was there when they checked all of the trees. There were some pretty big trees that they were just going to take out. Then he asked if they had seen how much water went through there behind 4101 Holly Lane. He said it was a lot. They would need a pretty big culvert. Also, he was on those trails a lot, and was concerned all of that water running down through there would wash them out.

35 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 Chair Goss asked Mr. Martin to give the definitions of the trees. He said as far as the water question, the engineers would project the flows and make sure they handled them alright. Mr. Martin said the Town s definition of a protected tree was any tree on the Town s list of identified species that was six inches in diameter or larger. A specimen tree was any tree on that list that reached a specific size for that species. For example, a post oak was in the large species category, so it had to be 25 inches in diameter. A cedar elm would be on the medium list, which was 19 inches, and then they had a small list, which was 13 inches. Chair Goss asked where people could find those sizes. Mr. Martin said they were in the tree ordinance in Chapter 94 of the Code, which was on the Town s website. Linda Dollahite, 4009 Holly Lane, Flower Mound Ms. Dollahite said if the sewer line went down Consolvo, Mistletoe and Holly on the opposite side of where the water was put in, there were some gas meters that might be affected. She asked if it would affect those meters, as far as how far over they had to go. Some were up by the houses, but there were several that were not. Also, their water turn-offs were in the ground there, and if they dug on the opposite side to put the sewer in, it could affect those turn-offs. Chair Goss assured her the Town would identify those gas lines and make sure there was no interaction, and protect all of the cut-offs. Ms. Dollahite said also, coming around Holly, there was a turn there that could be pretty tricky, especially for large trucks coming through with supplies and equipment. Her concern was there might be times when those big trucks were turning that they might run into her meter, and if it was hit and knocked over, who would pay for that. She asked if the developer would pay. Ms. Marvin said the Town had regulations in place. If their contractor out there working on the waterline ran into any of their private property, they just needed to report it to the engineering department or the inspector that was out there on the site. If there was a development project going on, and their contractor damaged any of their private property, same thing. They should call the engineering department or let the inspector know. Even with a private development, the Town would still have an inspector on site that visited at least twice a day. Ms. Dollahite said when her neighbor s was hit previously, and it was broken on her side, she had to pay for it, so that was her concern. Ms. Marvin said if the Town s contractor or a developer s contractor ran into their private property, then they needed to report it to them, so they could come

36 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 look at it and see if they were the responsible party. If so, they had provisions in place in their standards that required them to make those repairs. David Werner, 4004 Oakdale, Flower Mound Mr. Werner said the developer said he was trying to blend in with their neighborhood as best as possible, but they were taking a lot that was designed for a house and making a road with 30 or 40 cars driving through there with headlights shining on those homes across there. To him that was changing their quality of life in a dramatic way. Then he asked if there was anyway they could guarantee that those trees they were going to put the sewer pipe through would not be damaged. Chair Goss said no, there was no way. It was just Best Business Practice to try to preserve them. Mr. Werner said well, the best business practice was sometimes not the best. He actually owned that canopy that was shown earlier, and his grandfather planted those trees 45 years ago. They were priceless to him. He was just wondering if there was no guarantee that they were not going to be damaged, how they solved a problem like that. Ms. Marvin said the sewer line was proposed to stay within the 35-foot right-of-way that was required when the subdivision went in. The developer was not proposing to get easements on any private property to place the sewer line. Mike Black, 4100 Holly Lane, Flower Mound Mr. Black said the trees Mr. Werner was referring to were planted literally by his grandfather, just outside the right-of-way of the street. Now, of course, they had grown into the street, and they were 80-feet tall. They were the pride of their neighborhood. It just made their neighborhood gorgeous. That sewer line was going to have to go at the base of those trees. The engineer advised him that he could put the sewer line down the center of the street. He asked if Flower Mound would approve that to save those trees. Press Theriot, 1720 Mistletoe Drive, Flower Mound Mr. Theriot said it was his understanding they were going to be running sewer lines all through their properties. He asked if it was correct that they would not have access to those sewer lines, and were supposed to stay on their septic systems. Chair Goss said correct. Mr. Theriot said also when he bought his property, he spent an awful lot of time getting variances on road expansion and waterlines. For the past three or four months, his entire ranch had been tipped over. He now had five fire hydrants and a

37 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 pasture with no grass. It was unfortunate they had to help with this infrastructure expansion, and their lifestyles were uprooted with no advantage to them. In Favor None In Opposition Katelyn Rood, 1621 Oriole Drive, Flower Mound Ms. Rood said she agreed with the concerns that had been brought up. She opposed the rezoning and development of Ridge Bluff Estates on Lake Grapevine. The streets in her neighborhood were not big enough to handle 60 more cars. The kids in her neighborhood liked to play outside and ride their bikes on these streets. It would not be safe for them to ride if there were 60 more cars driving on their streets. When the Town put in the new waterlines, the school buses would not come into their neighborhood to pick them up due to the construction vehicles and the difficulty of trying to maneuver around the construction. She had to walk amongst the construction vehicles into the Wright Estates to catch the bus in the mornings, and in the afternoons she had to walk back from the Wright Estates to get home. She took some pictures to show how small their streets were, and how difficult it would be to add more cars. Lee Allison, Allison Engineering Group, Denton Mr. Allison said the North Lake Highlands 2 HOA asked him to help them pull together their thoughts, better understand the development process, and address some concerns. The HOA really did not oppose the zoning as a zoning case, insomuch as they had concerns with the development issues. Unfortunately, their first line of defense was through the zoning process, which was where there were public hearings and opportunities to provide input. They were trying to bring forth their issues and concerns, possibly to even get some joint meetings between the city, the developer, and the neighborhood. If the development concerns could be worked out, they would probably be appreciative of the zoning and the continuation of the activities out there. Mr. Allison said they started out with some recommendations: 1) Postpone or table the zoning and development plan requests until such time that the development issues could be worked out, thereby keeping the neighborhood in the process. Obviously, they would only want that to continue as long as there were reasonable concerns. 2) Explore further the possibility of extending Cedar Crest and the cost difference between the different options, such as what it would cost to acquire that property, and what savings there would be in terms of shorter runs for sewer lines, waterlines, etc. 3) Consider Town participation in the extension of Cedar Crest. Granted the Town was not there to help developers, but the extension of Cedar Crest would not just help this developer, it would help that area of town by improving emergency response times, improving water distribution, wastewater collection, etc. There was a lot of justification for the Town to participate to some degree in this project. 4) Investigate the installation of a low-pressure sewer

38 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 collection system. He had done a number of those, particularly in areas near lakes. The nice thing was every home could connect directly into the system. It was a less expensive way to help eliminate septic systems and transfer people over into collection systems, and it was less expensive for the developer to install. Some towns were opposed to that, because they did not have any familiarity with them, but there were a number of them in the state, and they were regulated by TCEQ. He thought it was a very viable option for the Town to consider. Mr. Allison said part of the reasoning was that zoning was a legislative process. Towns had much more flexibility in the consideration of zoning than they did of platting. In a straight platting case, if a developer met all of the Town s requirements, the Town was obligated to approve that, except in the case of replats. So, they were asking that this zoning and development plan be postponed. This development had so many issues with it they thought more parameters needed to be defined during the development process, even if the detailed designs could not be established at that particular time. They would not like to see the zoning approved, and then later on the land not be able to be developed, and then they had zoning in place that would not be easily reversed. There was a strong possibility this development could not occur. Flower Mound, like most towns, did not enforce deed restrictions; however, as indicated by the Local Government Code and Town ordinances, replats required a public hearing, which implied more of a legislative process than administerial process, and an opportunity to be more flexible in their decision making. They required that deed restrictions not be violated. The counsel for the association had found case law almost identical to this one that verified that the changing of a lot from a lot to a public street was a violation of the deed restrictions, when those lots were restricted to residential use only. That lot was no longer residential use. Approval of a 75% majority of the landowners was required to change any deed restrictions. That being the case, for all practical purposes, all this development had was a 35-foot right-of-way at the west end of Holly Lane as access, and based upon the attitude of the constituents that evening, he did not think there was a very good chance of getting that changed in the deed restrictions. So, the Town did have a consideration and concern regarding the violation of the deed restrictions, maybe not over what the color of the paint on each house should be, but certainly in relation to rights-of-way and roads. Mr. Allison said there had been five replats in this neighborhood, all for the purpose of combining lots thereby reducing the density. The development plan was under consideration, but there were a lot of issues with it, such as the further extension of a long, dead-end road. This was just a loop at the end of a dead end. Some emergency access had been provided through the Corps parkland, but it did not really improve or decrease the response times for emergency vehicles. It just simply provided a second access. The Cedar Crest access would shorten the distance needed to extend sanitary sewer; it would allow a way to loop the water system; and would help maintain access and emergency response times as required. The sanitary sewer along Consolvo and Holly Lane could require the cutting of pavement, which was an expensive cost. Otherwise it could affect trees. The city did not protect trees in its right-of-way when the city was doing work there, but the Town did not have to extend that privilege to the developer. The Town could

39 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 require the developer to not damage any of the trees. Related to that, there were also Best Management Practices that could be looked at, and maybe those parameters could be expressed in greater detail in the development plan. Mr. Allison said there was a home at 4101 Holly Lane that flooded. Mr. Crannell had come up with some concepts on how to address that. He suggested that it would be good to get those concepts in writing, and discuss that further with the homeowner and HOA before approving a development plan. There were other concerns: 1) How traffic would be managed during construction, and if construction traffic would be required to use the emergency access through the Corps roads, or if it would be allowed to go through the neighborhood; 2) how school bus service would be provided; 3) how garbage collection would be provided, if the streets were blocked, and if there were extra charges by Waste Management for the trouble, who would bear that cost; 4) how mail service would be provided, as well as special deliveries; 5) how would emergency services be taken care of. They believed those issues should be looked at with the development plan, at least with parameters added to it. They should not just look at simple lines on a piece of paper of where things were going to go. They strongly believed the extension of Cedar Crest was a very viable possibility that should be thoroughly reviewed, including sit-down meetings with the property owners, developers, and HOA. It could be a win-win situation for everybody. They respectfully requested that they at least table or postpone the zoning and the development plan until those issues could be looked at in complete detail. Craig Christian, 4017 Oakdale Lane, Flower Mound Mr. Christian passed out some materials. He thanked those who came out to their neighborhood, and said he was sure they now understood why they liked it. Driving into their community was a departure from the city; it was actually entering the country. That was what they liked about it. They liked their roads the way they were, because they gave it a country feel, but realized there were issues with that. That was one of the reasons they were there that evening. He also wanted to thank Mr. Crannell for coming out. He was very gracious. He might have the opinion they did not like him, but that was not the case. They did like him. He was working on a very tough project. They felt for him, but he did not have much to work with, and they respectfully disagreed with his findings and his plan. Mr. Christian said there were two key issues. The rezoning to SF-10 was inconsistent with their current community and, in their opinion, the rezoning and development plan did not satisfy the vision in SMARTGrowth. He showed an overview of the area and said outside of their community, the lots were two acres or greater. A lot of their properties had been replatted into one, and those that were not replatted, those houses had been there for a long time and those properties owned by the same people, who had no interest in developing that land. So, in reality, they were not SF-10. It was very difficult to believe that any community coming in with SF-10 would blend with theirs. It was just not possible.

40 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 Mr. Christian said the three lots proposed to be the entrance to Ridge Bluff Estates were part of their deed restrictions and dictated as residential properties. The rezoning request might fit the Master Plan, but it violated their deed restrictions. All lots in their subdivision were to be used only for residential purposes. Any original lot was restricted to one residence, and no lot shall be used for profit or commercial purposes. There was a case in Texarkana, Cole vs. Cummings, that if they changed some of the names on the documentation, it was their neighborhood, and exactly what they were talking about here. The court sided with the neighborhood and granted a permanent injunction, because it was a violation. The court found that construction of a driveway or street in a subdivision protected by a residential use covenant substantially interferes with the use and enjoyment of the other lots in the subdivision. He had heard from many sources that the Town did not enforce deed restrictions; however, municipal code stated that they had to oppose a replatting such as this, where it was going from a residence to a street. That was the law. Mr. Christian said they had a number of safety concerns. They were a small community, and many had lived there for years. They all knew each other and knew where the kids played. If they doubled the size of the community, and had new people new to the community, that would become an issue. They already had problems with delivery vehicles speeding down their roads. They had no idea when they rounded a corner what might happen or who might be standing there. The second concern was emergency vehicles. Their roads were very narrow, 13.5-feetwide on Consolvo. They had major issues with two cars getting by each other, but if it was a bigger vehicle, specifically a fire truck or ambulance, they could not get by. They had to pull into the bar ditch or somebody s yard to let them by. They had blind corners, one-way roads, and no street lights. Because they did not have sidewalks, their neighbors walked their pets and children in the bar ditches where they pulled off. That would be a safety concern as the traffic increased. When the waterline was put in recently, the high school bus would not come into their community anymore. They had to cross private property to get their kids on the school bus. If they were afraid to come into their neighborhood, that said something. They were anticipating a minimum of 150 to 200 additional car trips per day. Large vehicles had difficulty making their corners, some backed all the way out. They had their streets repaved two years ago, and the asphalt was not holding up. It was not intended for high construction or heavy vehicles. He showed some pictures, and said with construction vehicles, they would not be able to get in and out of their community. Mr. Christian said he would not belabor the drainage issues. They dealt with it, and dug out their own ditches. What they did not want was for vehicles to be sitting in the way or driving off into the ditches, clogging them up. When they put the waterlines in, they never dug the bar ditches back out, they just covered them up, and then water ran straight into the houses. 97% of them opposed this development, because there was no positive for the current community. Their roads would be impacted, and it would take them longer to get in and out of their community. Regarding the secondary emergency access, he had a boat at the marina, and drove that road through the park. It was minutes difference in

41 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 response time. There was no way they could make it through the park and around the back side, if construction was blocking their primary entrance. Samantha Wood, 1605 Mistletoe, Flower Mound Ms. Wood said the vision was very important to Flower Mound. It was one of the things the Town had relied on for many years. It talked about the unique country atmosphere and quality of life. Those were things they saw consistently throughout the documentation of Flower Mound. Out of the five points in the SMARTGrowth Plan, three talked about quality of life, and that was the one thing that was really important to them. They heard about the people who had been in this neighborhood for 20 to 30 years; grandfathers had been there. Mrs. Consolvo was still there, and her family built Consolvo. They knew that some commissioners and others on Town Council had actually stood where she was and said they would like them to uphold the vision. That was the same thing they were asking; uphold the vision of Flower Mound and preserve their quality of life. The SMARTGrowth plan also talked about McKamy. In their packet, it talked about how in January 2011, enrollment was 20 points down. Now they were in October, so she was curious what the enrollment was in August of 2011 and what the projected enrollment was for August of 2012 to see if they had already used those 20 places up. This development would not be there for another year or two. Ms. Wood said they understood there were no detailed plans for the sewer lines, but that was part of what scared them. This was their only opportunity to get in front of them and make their points. After this, it would be turned over to the land developer and the Town to make the decisions for them. That was why they were belaboring the point and talking about the trees. The trees had grown into the rights-of-way, so they would definitely be hitting the root structure of those. They asked if they could put the sewer lines down the middle of the road, and were told they would have to be nine feet from the waterlines, and that would have to be decided later when the sewer plans came out. They talked about the specimen trees being 25 feet in diameter. These were huge trees, 70 to 80 feet, twice the width of that room. They were massive, massive trees. Those who had driven down had actually seen them. They talked about the drainage. One thing to consider was that a lot of grading would have to be done to these lots in order to roll the water off the front, down into the street, and off the back down into the trenches behind. She was not an engineer, but they were talking about 382 trees that were going to be left on the property. She wondered how they would grade around those without damaging them. There were also three rare birds that were nesting in the Lake Grapevine area fairly close to this site. They had been spotted in August and September and May. She wondered if they had done a study on those to confirm whether those three rare birds were showing up in this neighborhood. They talked about the upland habitat. In the package, it said 75% of the land was upland habitat. When this was done, they would only be saving 13%, and 40% of the specimen trees were going to be removed off Ridge Bluff. It was in the Cross Timbers Protection Area, which was heavily treed. There were 40+ protected and specimen trees in North Lake Highlands that were in right-of-

42 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 way and on private properties. Those were trees they could not get their arms around; trees that were older than the Town of Flower Mound. Ms. Wood said when they met with Mr. Crannell, he talked about blending with the character of the neighborhood. So, for comparison, they had 32 homes on 40 acres. There might be more plots, but they could not build on those plots because of the septic systems they were required to have, so it actually was 32 homes on 40 acres versus 28 homes on nine acres. They had one-third to nine-acre lots versus their 10,000-square-foot to half-acre lots. Their homes were one to two stories, spread apart by acres. These homes would be 20 feet apart with a minimum of 2,000 square feet. They had been told the lots were going to go for $150,000. She knew the Town did not concern itself with the cost, but at $150,000 for a piece of land, and the 1:5 ratio of land to homes, that was a $750,000 to $1 million home. If they were going to spend that kind of money on a 2,000-square-foot home, that was around $400 a square foot. Most people were going to build up and want a big home, so they were looking at two to three stories. She envisioned more like brownstone townhomes. The homes out there today were ranch and lake style. Two lots recently sold in April for $30,000 each, so it was nowhere close to the $150,000. Theirs was an established neighborhood from 1960, with residents who had been there for 20+ years. Ms. Wood showed some pictures of the canopy on Consolvo, blind corner, and bar ditch. She said when they heard about this recently, they did not feel they were being unreasonable in their request. They were not asking for the land to remain Agricultural. They understood it would be developed. What they were asking was for the land to be developed in a smarter way that represented the SMARTGrowth plan. They wanted to see options and alternatives. Some of the options they looked at were lower density, one-acre rural lots, and routing the sewer up Cedar Crest. It was a half-mile shorter, and would have no 90-degree turns. Based on the $40 per linear foot for a high pressure system, that was a savings of $100,000. They looked at the entrance off Cedar Crest, and wanted to hear what options the developer and the Town had for them. They wanted to work through this. So, she was asking for their support in opposition of this. She wanted to end with a quote from their Mayor: Mayor Rheudasil also embodied the values on which this community was built, and those of us who follow in his footsteps have a responsibility to carry the vision forward to ensure our community s high quality of life. Chair Goss noted for the record that this presentation was also supported by the following persons, who chose not to speak: Janice Black, Mike Black, Carol Rood, Hana Bickley, Ann Christian, Sherri Posey, Linda Jacobs, and J.C. Castellanos. Rosangela Boyd, 4020 Holly Lane, Flower Mound Ms. Boyd said she lived a few yards from the proposed entrance to the development. They could see the commitment of their neighborhood, staying close to 11:00 at night. Unlike some of her neighbors, she was not born in Texas. She

43 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 chose to relocate to Flower Mound, because of the values the Town upheld. When they looked for houses in the area, they looked at many, and could have bought a newer home at a much lower price, but the reason they fell in love with the house they eventually bought was precisely because of the kind of neighborhood it was. They appreciated having the road they had, and loved to see the lots that were big and not cookie cutter, and full of old, tall trees. They really enjoyed the atmosphere there. She could listen to birds when she came home from work all stressed out, and leave her doors open because she knew the fine people who lived in that neighborhood. That was why she was there to oppose the rezoning and development of Ridge Bluff Estates, not because she was opposing progress. What she saw was continuing to be threatened by the high density, when comparing their neighborhood to the proposed neighborhood. Even though there were assurances of Best Practices, there was really no guarantee that their trees would not be impacted by this. Her primary concern was safety, because by doubling the number of vehicles she could only imagine the kind of trouble they might get into. She was there to ask them to consider a few things before they made a decision. She asked them what they would do if they were in their shoes; if they lived in their neighborhood and were a parent or grandparent who had to worry about the safety of their kids when they went out to play or ride their bikes; if they had to wonder if their loved ones would make it safely to the end of the neighborhood when they got behind the wheel, went around the corners, and met up with a delivery truck or school bus. She asked them to consider that on their behalf, and if their answers to those questions were what she thought they would be, they would have the same concerns about all they were losing and nothing they were gaining. She asked them to also oppose the current proposal. Todd Chocholaty, 4008 Holly Lane, Flower Mound Mr. Chocholaty said most of the stuff had already been covered, but he wanted to talk about one thing. He lived at the corner of Mistletoe and Holly. Ms. Mathews presentation was great, but it did not show the 90-degree turn right in front of his house. He was not sure if she left that out, or perhaps it was really telling about their traffic situation. If they wanted an experience, they should come on out. They could go down to where Ridge Bluff Estates was proposed to go in, pull out, hit the gas, and head for his corner right about the same time the school bus was heading around that corner. He guaranteed it would give them a whole new religion and a whole new view of traffic studies. The traffic study told them a lot about numbers of cars, and that was all well and good, but it was the conditions of that traffic, not the traffic itself, that really mattered. He suffered from significant health conditions, and had been rescued by Station 3 four times. When they parked the ambulance and fire truck in front of his house, that neighborhood was cut off. If there was a delivery truck and they had to go around through the park, he did not know if he would still be alive. They had a young gentleman renting a house at the end of the road, who came screaming around that corner, and it was something to behold. His driveway was right around the hairpin, blind corner. They pulled out of the driveway, and the poor gentleman came around the corner and went right into the ditch. So, again it was not just about the traffic study, it was the condition of that traffic. He asked them to come out and see.

44 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 Linda Hazelton, 3810 Consolvo Drive, Flower Mound Ms. Hazelton said she had lived there about ten years, and had 2.5 acres, so not exactly a 10,000-square-foot lot. Many of her concerns had been addressed. The reason they were hearing the same things over and over again was because they all felt so deeply about this. She understood feelings were not economy, but this just made no sense to those who already lived there. Traffic studies did not reflect the reality of what would happen when traffic was doubled on those roads. She was a tree hugger, and extremely concerned about the trees. If Cedar Crest was not an option, and they approved this development, she would like to see the sewers go down the center of the road as opposed to along the right-of-way, in order to preserve the existing trees. Secondly, she had heard a number of statements that were not satisfying to her, so she was very concerned. She did not believe it was in keeping with the vision of Flower Mound. It was certainly not in keeping with the vision of their neighborhood. Someone said rather blithely that they could all sell those 10,000-square-foot lots, those who owned two of them, but they did not sell them because they were neighbors. They liked it the way it was. She was not opposed to any development, but this development was not in keeping with what their neighborhood was like now. She knew some of them came out and looked around and drove, and some of them came and talked to them. They appreciated that. If they did not, the photographs did not do it justice. So, if this went forward, which she hoped it would not, she was wondering then, since the roads were so good through the park, as they had been told, if they could route all of the construction traffic through the park and the emergency access, and put the sewer down the middle, and at least that would alleviate some of the concerns they had, and things they went through recently with the waterline construction. Suzanne Chocholaty, 4008 Holly Lane, Flower Mound Ms. Chocholaty said their lot had 14 pine trees on it. When they built the house, they did not want to destroy any of the trees, so they built the house straight up. They had a three-story house. If this neighborhood went in, she would like for all of it to be larger lots with septic systems. She was opposed to this development and to the sewer line. The sewer line would go one mile down Consolvo, down Mistletoe, down Holly, and right through her property. She thought it was kind of humorous that the developer said they could not force someone to sell their land for the road Cedar Crest, but they could come right through their property killing their trees. Those trees were over 60 years old and 80 feet tall. They were huge. When they looked at this house, their inspector said the house was in such bad condition, they should walk away. He even stopped the inspection and said he did not want to waste their money. She and her husband decided not to buy it, and then thought about it, and bought it, because they loved those trees. They had been remodeling the house over the past few years, and there was no way anyone could tell her that if they ran a sewer line through those roots, it would not harm the trees. She guaranteed them that within five years, those trees would be dead, the developer would be gone, and she would be left with dead trees. They moved to Flower Mound because it was beautiful and full of

45 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 trees, and had a tree ordinance. She was there fighting for seven, 60-year-old trees. If that happened, she thought they should change their vision statement, because they would not be complying with what it said, and change their logo and chop that off and make it a little stub of a tree, because that was what they were doing. All of the trees down Consolvo, Mistletoe and Holly were going to die, just so they could have 28 homes on nine acres. Also, she seriously questioned his comparison chart. According to him, she was one of the four lots at 20,000 square feet, because they had a half-acre, so his numbers were way off. Linda Dollahite, 4009 Holly Lane, Flower Mound Ms. Dollahite said she had been a resident of North Lake Highlands for 24 years. It was an awesome little section, tucked away. Like many had said, it was a little piece of country back there and really nice. She hated to see them lose their trees, and hated to see the sewer line come in. She opposed the Ridge Bluff Estates as it was proposed. She was willing, as many of them were, if they would take a look at lesser homes in the area, on larger lots, so there would be less traffic and no damage to their trees, so they could all be happy with what was going on. It was peaceful there, and a beautiful place for kids to grow up. The birds did sing, and the trees were awesome. She just hoped they would consider a lot of things that had been said, and they could rethink everything and postpone this temporarily and start again later. Saundra Russell, 4050 Consolvo, Flower Mound Ms. Russell said her family adamantly opposed this rezoning and development of Ridge Bluff Estates. She was not trying to be funny, but there was no ridge, no bluff, and at 10,000-square-foot lots, there were sure no estates. In 1997, they purchased 5+ acres at the end of Consolvo Drive. They loved their land and their home. She had invested a fortune in arborists, trying to save trees. Now they were just willy-nilly killing them. The trees were one of the main reasons they chose to move from Coppell to what they thought was an ideal location in Flower Mound. According to the Town s website, the Town was recently named Tree City USA for the 17 th year. That meant somewhere, somehow, somebody cared about the trees. Just on her street of Consolvo on the north side, if the sewer line was run down that street, there were a minimum of 20 majestic trees that were too close to the side of the roadway. Who knows whether the tree was there first or the road there first. Those could not be replaced for any amount of money. It was not possible. Even with Best Management Practices and boring under the roots, that in combination with the excessive heat and drought they had had this year, any arborist worth his salt would tell them those trees would not survive. Permitting an additional 29 homes on nine acres in their neighborhood completely doubled it. In conclusion, her family strongly opposed this, and they asked the Town to please do the same. Bettye Odle, 1735 Mistletoe, Flower Mound

46 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 Ms. Odle said she was an over 25-year resident of North Lake Highlands. She did not oppose development, but she opposed this development, and from all she had read and learned, and she had been in that hall many times, she had come to the conclusion every time that the way she felt was in concert with the way the Town of Flower Mound felt. That was why she loved Flower Mound and why she had always felt at home here. In constraints of time, almost everything had been said, but she wanted to read aloud some of the words that were written by the officials of Flower Mound for Flower Mound. One was the Strategic Goal, entitled Flower Mound Flavor: Maintain Flower Mound s unique feel, distinctive look through extensive use of trees and open spaces, as well as high development standards that provide vibrant sustainable neighborhoods and development. There were some key words in there, and they all held true in their case. Also, the Long- Term Objective was: Pursue creative, low density development and conservation. The way she read that, it was opposed to medium and high density development, and opposed to disregard for trees and land. She did not think killing trees was in the picture there. Then the real key to what she wanted to say was Number 4 in the Purpose and Objectives of SMARTGrowth: Ensure that development is respective of and appropriately integrated Ridge Bluff Estates on Lake Grapevine as proposed was totally out of context with the Town of Flower Mound s purpose and objectives. To allow this development to proceed as proposed would go against everything they espoused and everything they loved about Flower Mound, and in no way ensured the development was respective of and appropriately integrated with their existing neighborhood. She asked them to please say no. John Richardson, 4016 Holly Lane, Flower Mound Mr. Richardson said they moved to Flower Mound in Their house was as old as the city, He had the original house on Holly and the 2.5 acres around it. They could tell by the way the trees were lined up. They were not opposed to development per se. Two new houses had been built next to his property, and that was fine. That was a controlled, slow growth, and it did not interfere with their kids or anything else. He was going to read different things in the SMARTGrowth and Master Plan, and how none of it seemed to fall into line with what was being proposed. This was a town that all of them loved. They had a tremendously tough job, and they probably did not get thanked enough, from the Kroger thing to not having AutoZone in the city. There were reasons they had these plans. There were facts, and there was truth, and a lot of times it seemed like they were getting locked up in the facts, but they were not seeing the truth. The truth was this did not match their neighborhood. It would ruin the neighborhood in every aspect they could possibly think of. They talked about a quality of life. Everybody had a different vision on that. His was his family and his neighborhood, and one of his passions was soccer. He could not play with boys out in the front yard if they had a car going by every minute. He had maybe six cars go by at all on Holly Lane. Now they were going to have 30 more come by on a dead-end loop. Walking down and seeing deer and all of the other wildlife that came off of that upland habitat was going to be gone. There was no way they could put those houses in and not knock out those trees. He did not care what he was saying. It was not going to happen. He had seen 12-point bucks walking

47 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 down his street. That was not going to happen anymore. That was the beauty living by the lake. They had their own issues living by the lake, like crazy bugs that nobody else got, but they could have lived anywhere, and they picked this area. It might say it was SF-10, but it was not. He could not build on his quarter-acre in the back, and neither could any of his neighbors. They adamantly opposed this. Curt Smith on behalf of Carroll O Keefe, 1717 Mistletoe, 4016 Orly Lane, Flower Mound Mr. Smith said his wife was not able to be there, so she asked him to read this note: Ladies and Gentlemen, I have asked Curt Smith to read my statement on my behalf, as I am on a business trip. My name is Carroll O Keefe. I am the property owner at 1717 Mistletoe and 4016 Orly Lane, which constitutes acres of land. I am strongly opposed to the development of Ridge Bluff Estates. My husband and I have lived on this property for 19 years. We have acquired the property to breed thoroughbred and Warmblood horses. We love this wonderful community, enjoy the country lifestyle, superb quality of life, and enjoy the abundance of wildlife. All of the citizens of North Lake Highlands serve as stewards in this community. We enjoy the minimal crime rate. The Ridge Bluff Estates development would produce multiple safety hazards, as well as diminish our quality of life in the community. The North Lake Highlands community is a safe place with neighbors who have known one another for many years. Our unique neighborhood will be destroyed with this high density development impacting wildlife, our quality of life, and the safety of citizens who reside there. I urge all of you to oppose the Ridge Bluff Estates development. Curtis Smith, 4016 Orly Lane, Flower Mound Mr. Smith said when he and his wife moved to Flower Mound, city hall occupied half of a mobile home trailer on the southeast corner of 2499 and Other than a gas station and a liquor store, Flower Mound was basically an agricultural area with a few residents. The population was less than 5,000. Where they lived then was a small cabin that had been moved onto the property from the lake, when the lake was built in They had unpaved streets, no city water, no garbage pickup, no city sewage, and no payments to the city. They also did not need permits for fences, sheds, shelters, burn piles, or repairing their homes. They very much enjoyed their way of life at that time. By the mid-90s they decided to buy a house on their property, because they were living in 1,000 square feet, but they were forced to apply to the city for a variance to build on their property, where their existing house still stood today. The application costs were in excess of $20,000, with no guarantees that they could build, so they did not build. They eventually bought an existing house adjacent to their property. A few years later they decided to look for another place to live, because life was becoming more complicated and more costly, but they decided to stay because they really enjoyed their neighbors and neighborhood, despite the intrusion of progress. A week ago, he turned 75 years old. He begged them to reconsider what they were planning to do to a quiet, comfortable, congenial, crime-free neighborhood that had gone along with their vision of progress for a number of years, even though it had not added

48 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 appreciably to their desire to remain there. The current proposal for the Ridge Bluff Estates would definitely have a drastically adverse effect on his neighbors and where he planned to spend the last years of his life. Ann Burton, 1701 Oriole, Flower Mound Ms. Burton said when she bought this property, she bought it because it abutted Corps property and her husband was a fisherman, but she had remained there for over 19 years because of her wonderful, beautiful, intelligent grandchildren that enjoyed playing in the front. She asked them to not take that away, because without her kids, she would not stay there. Jose Briones, 4020 Holly Lane, Flower Mound Mr. Briones said he agreed with the concerns that had been brought up, and opposed the rezoning and development of Ridge Bluff Estates. He moved there with his family six years ago, and the most important reason for choosing Flower Mound and the current home was the beauty and tranquility of the neighborhood. The site was unique in its vegetation, trees, environment, and people. The development as proposed would have a very negative impact on their quality of life, and went against everything the neighborhood was about, and what the Town of Flower Mound expressed on its own website in its vision of the future of the Town. He had significant concerns regarding pedestrian and children safety, as well as increased probability of accidents due to the road capacity and lack of sidewalks and street lights. In his opinion, this development would significantly increase the hazards to the people living in his neighborhood. He was also concerned about the impact of proposed utility construction to the plants and trees of the neighborhood and resulting negative impact on property values. While he understood the owners had a right to develop their property, what he requested from that assembly was that when those rights were exercised they did not trample on the rights of others. The plan for this development was not consistent with the surrounding area, and it was frankly beyond him why that was. The development would have the effect of destroying his neighborhood from one where it was safe to walk and visit neighbors to one that would preclude them from safely leaving their homes. The following individuals also filled out speaker cards, indicating their opposition, but did not speak: Robin Werner David Werner Rick Lipscomb Kim Kaplan Lisa Shafer Joel Shafer Laura Richardson Charley Posey Press Theriot

49 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 Close Public Hearing Commission Deliberation (Z 01-10) Commissioner Lamb said she agreed with the gentleman who spoke on behalf of these people about tabling this until it could be revisited. She thought there was a little more work that needed to be done by the developer, just to make sure that everything had been exhausted first. Chair Goss said if they wanted to consider tabling this, their options would be to table it to a date certain, one of their future meetings, or table it indefinitely. Typically, they had tabled it to a date certain if there was one issue to be resolved or question answered. In this case with multiple questions to be answered they might consider tabling it to an indefinite time in the future, and then reschedule. Commissioner Whittaker asked the attorney if they needed to be specific as to why they were tabling it and what the timeframe was, or could they do what the Chair was suggesting and just table it indefinitely. Mr. Lathrom said they did not have to be specific about why they were tabling it. If they wanted to get some direction or address some issues, he thought it would behoove them to spell out what they were looking for; otherwise, tabling it would just be an exercise in futility. If they had questions regarding the issues that were raised that could be addressed by staff, they were happy to do that. If they had questions regarding the legal issues that were raised, he would be happy to address those in an executive session. Commissioner Lamb said what she heard from Mr. Crannell that evening was that one of the landowners off Cedar Crest was willing to sell their land. It was just maybe not the price he could live with. So, she thought it was still an option that needed to be seriously considered. It made sense that it was less disruptive and less costly as far as infrastructure for sewer. That was what she was asking, if more time could be spent to look at that before they either approved or killed this. Mr. Crannell said one of the owners was in the audience. He asked if she would be willing to sell her land for a reasonable price to connect a road through to Cedar Crest, or would she want a road behind her house... Ms. Dollahite said [from the audience and partially inaudible] she did not mind if there was a road behind her house. She was on the corner of Holly Lane Chair Goss said he did not think they wanted to negotiate with people in the audience, but that was one issue that could be resolved. Vice Chair McKaige said it was a tough case. He could support tabling. He thought the zoning was pretty straightforward. Like it or not, their community was very similar to SF-10 zoning, and given a legal challenge, he did not think they would prevail. However, the development plan, he thought, required a lot more

50 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 work. Specifically, he would like to know more about what infrastructure was in Glen Oaks and Murrell Park Road. They both offered an opportunity to bring utilities in, such as sewer, from the south side, and avoid what he thought was some of the major disruption that the community feared. Failing that, he would suggest that the Council take up this discussion. The developer had written $83,000 worth of checks to the Town for parks dedication and tree remediation issues. That was a significant amount of money. Perhaps the Town Council could arrange with the developer some cost sharing to accomplish the acquisition and easements that were needed, and make some of this problem easier to deal with. They needed some time to do that. It would require some coordination and consensus among the Council Members, and he really had no idea where the developer and the landowner came out, so that was an argument to take a little time and maybe figure something out. He thought there was some room there to do something. He also had some questions on the school numbers. He went back and looked at the last case they heard that involved McKamy. It was The Preserve at Flower Mound, the Toll Brothers project at FM 2499 and Chaparral. He dug out their SMARTGrowth analysis and looked at the numbers, and thought there was some cause for concern. He was not certain the numbers for that development, meaning the number of kids that The Preserve would generate, were in the numbers they were looking at that evening for this project. If that be the case, it would fail the test, and development would automatically be denied. That was a very important issue they needed to clear up, so a little more time would help them be sure they knew what they were talking about and did this right. There were some safety issues. He had been around town a long time, and knew what that lake in flood stage was like. He wanted to hear what the plan was when the lake was flooded. He did not know that he would want to hang his hat on a fire truck coming down that at flood stage. They needed to see some data and feel better about that decision. The deed restriction issue required a little lawyering. Indeed, he thought the three lots in the deed restrictions indicated exclusive residential use, and they saw some case work that indicated they could not do what was proposed. That was a legal question, and another reason to slow down and find out what they were talking about and where the lawyers might come out on that. To sum up, there was a pretty good case to table this for a while. He was not certain of an indefinite. His experience had been that a shorter leash encouraged both parties, in this case the Town and the developer, to get going and do some compromising. An indefinite would just extend their pain as a community. Commissioner Whittaker said this had been an uncomfortable night. They had been in a position where they had practically had to say no to development twice. That was not where he wanted to be, and where they had been for the last six months, where they had had developments where they had had to issue variances to pass, one project in Wellington and one project on 2499 and Chaparral. Where they had seen commonality there was that those projects did blend with the neighborhood; they blended with the walls, homes, etc., and more homeowners had spoken out in favor of the projects rather than against them. And, when a homeowner spoke against a project, the developer reached out to satisfy their problems. So that was where he was willing to go. He would be happy to draft

51 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 language for a motion asking for this to be tabled, and he would agree to make it to a period certain. Mr. Dalton said if the Commission did go down the road of tabling, he wanted to remind them of their upcoming schedule. This was the last meeting in October. They only had one meeting in November on the 14 th. Likewise, there was only one meeting in December on the 12 th. If they were looking at January, those dates would include the 9 th and 23 rd. Vice Chair McKaige moved to table Agenda Item 6 (Z Ridge Bluff Estates on Lake Grapevine) to the January 9, 2012, Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. Commissioner Whittaker seconded the motion. VOTE ON THE MOTION (Z 01-10) AYES: Ramey, Vandug, McKaige, Lamb, White, Whittaker NAYS: None ABSTAIN: None ABSENT: Levonius, McCall The motion passed with a vote of 6-0. Commission Deliberation (DP 02-10) Vice Chair McKaige moved to table Agenda Item 7 (DP Ridge Bluff Estates on Lake Grapevine) to the January 9, 2012, Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. Commissioner Whittaker seconded the motion. VOTE ON THE MOTION (DP 02-10) AYES: Whittaker, White, Lamb, McKaige, Vandug, Ramey NAYS: None ABSTAIN: None ABSENT: Levonius, McCall The motion passed with a vote of 6-0. Mr. Dalton explained to the audience that because the items were tabled to a date certain, staff would not send out additional property owner notifications. F. ADJOURNMENT Commissioner Whittaker made a motion to adjourn the regular meeting, and Vice Chair McKaige seconded the motion. All were in favor. Chair Goss adjourned the regular meeting at 11:24 p.m.

52 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 i. WORK SESSION 11:29 p.m. Presenters Purpose a. Presentation and discussion regarding proposed amendments to various sections of Subpart B, Land Development Regulations, of the Code of Ordinances. Tommy Dalton, Planning Manager Matt Hotelling, Traffic Engineer Edith Marvin, Town Engineer The purpose of this work session item was to explain additional amendments to the Land Development Regulations, specifically the engineering-related items, and solicit feedback from the Commission. Staff also followed up on some concerns brought up at the previous work session related to scenic roadways and scenic corridors. The following presentation was given:

53 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 Land Development Regulation Update October 24, 2011 Planning and Zoning Commission Work Session Land Development Regulations (LDR) Sub part of the Town s Code of Ordinances Chapter 74: General Provisions Chapter 78: Administration Chapter 82: Development Standards Chapter 86: Signs Chapter 90: Subdivisions Chapter 94: Trees Chapter 98: Zoning

54 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 LDR Update Address minor housekeeping items Increase accuracy and consistency Improve efficiency October 10, Follow up Impact to Scenic Corridor

55 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of Comp Plan: Adopted 1/4/ Language

56 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 Sec Special roadway and area standards (Ord ) Adopted 10/17/94 Sec Special roadway and area standards. New residential subdivisions within a specific plan area or with frontage on principal, country or scenic roadways shall be subject to the following standards: (1) Specific plan area. New residential subdivisions within a specific plan area shall conform to the land use and planning guidelines established in the comprehensive master plan for such areas. (2) Special roadways. New residential subdivisions with frontage on a principal, country or scenic roadway shall be subject to the following standards: a. Landscaped buffer. A landscaped buffer shall be provided adjacent to such roadway as required in section (2)a, landscaping and screening applicability. Such landscaped buffer shall be located in a dedicated easement or separate parcel, and shall be maintained by the mandatory homeowners' association. b. Scenic roadway setback. The scenic roadways designated in the comprehensive master plan, namely FM 1171 from Old Settlers Road west to U.S. 377 and FM 2499 from FM 3040 (Flower Mound Road) south to the town limits, are to have the maximum preservation of existing natural features, trees and views, extensive landscaping of the roadside where it does not currently exist, and limitations on density of new development within 1,000 feet of the roadway centerline. Compliance with this section shall be at the determination of the town council, upon recommendation by the planning and zoning commission. Master Plan 2001 Scenic Road

57 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 Master Plan 2001 Scenic Road

58 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 Master Plan 2001 Scenic Road

59 FLOWER MOUND PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, of 70 Sec Special roadway and area standards (Ord ) Adopted 10/17/94 Sec Special roadway and area standards. New residential subdivisions within a specific plan area or with frontage on principal, country or scenic roadways shall be subject to the following standards: (1) Specific plan area. New residential subdivisions within a specific plan area shall conform to the land use and planning guidelines established in the comprehensive master plan for such areas. (2) Special roadways. New residential subdivisions with frontage on a principal, country or scenic roadway shall be subject to the following standards: a. Landscaped buffer. A landscaped buffer shall be provided adjacent to such roadway as required in section (2)a, landscaping and screening applicability. Such landscaped buffer shall be located in a dedicated easement or separate parcel, and shall be maintained by the mandatory homeowners' association. b. Scenic roadway setback. The scenic roadways designated in the comprehensive master plan, namely FM 1171 from Old Settlers Road west to U.S. 377 and FM 2499 from FM 3040 (Flower Mound Road) south to the town limits, are to have the maximum preservation of existing natural features, trees and views, extensive landscaping of the roadside where it does not currently exist, and limitations on density of new development within 1,000 feet of the roadway centerline. Compliance with this section shall be at the determination of the town council, upon recommendation by the planning and zoning commission.