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Home My WebLink About1972-10-12 - Special City CouncilOctober 12, 1972 Stephenville,Texas The City Council met in a called meeting, Thursday, October 12, 1972 at 1:00 p.m. Members present were: Toby Stone, Garland Loudermilk, W. M. Irwin, Charles Riggins, Raymond Anderson, Larry Hammett and Doug Smithey. Others present were: City Administrator Shelton and Director of Public Works Gann. The members of the Planning Commission present were: Mr. C. H. Maguire, Jr., Mrs. Jim Whitacre, Mr. Clinton Cox, Mr. Bill Christian, Mr. Perry Elliott, Mr. Marion Porter, Mrs. J. C. Terrell, Jr., Mrs. Don Coan, Dr. W. 0. Trogdon, Mrs. Ken Dorris, and Mr. George Black. Mayor Jones said the purpose of this meeting was to discuss the Smithey and Christian Sub Division and Sanitary Landfill sites. Mayor Jones asked for discussion on the Smithey and Christian Sub Division first. Councilman Smithey stated at this time that he was not arguing the fact that the preliminary plat did not conform to the Sub Division Ordinance but that he was questioning the fact that they were being 'deprived of reasonable use'of the land", which he quoted from Article 12, section A, page 39 of the Sub Division Ordinance. Councilman Smithey also stated that the size of the turn around area is more than sufficient for a fire truck or other large vehicle. Mr. Maguire spoke before the Council at this time, explaining the action .taken by the Planning Commission in rejecting the preliminary plat of the Smithey and Christian Sub Division. Mr. Maguire stated that the plat did not conform to the Sub Division Ordinance as there were two variances. STEPHENVILLE BANK AND TRUST COMPANY STEPHENVILLE. TEXAS 76401 October r, 2972 E Jayor Don Jones ty of Stephenville ephenville, ° 76401 Dear Dona sterday, our Planning Commission had a 22 hour meeting. At this meeting, :appointed two subcommittees to do preliminary studies on all zoning request d subdivision request. We think that these subcommittees will help our regular meeting to move along more orderly. The majority of this 22 hour period was taken +ap With discussion of the Smithey d Christian Addition. At our meeting last month, we had plats on the addition eomitted to us which did not conform with the subdivision ordinance. We, herefore, rejected the plats and informed the developers what they would need to do to receive our recommended approval to the Council of the addition. At that times Mr. Smithey agreed to redraw the plats with those corrections. Following this agreement, l pars ®Wally appeared before the Council and stated t at there would be a variance from the ordinance concerning the length of the ul- de-sac street, but that all other parts of the ordinance would conform. Yesterday, Mr. Bill Christian appeared both as a member of the Commission and to present to the Commission new plats on the addition. Fe presented the same plats we had previously objected to and after taking up some hour of the Commission's time, he said that if we wouldn't approve that plan, he did have another one to submit. This was not in accordance with our rules since the plats should be presented in advance to the City Administrator for our meeting. We looked at the new plans and plats and found that they were drawn exactly as promised at our last meeting and the radius of the Cul-de -sac conformed to the ordinance by being 80 feet of street area and the building line was drain on the plat. Mr, Christian continued to argue in favor of the old plat and stated that the Cul -de -sac could be widened from 66 feet of street area to 72 feint of street area by Infringing on the 92 foot area between the curb and property line. Even by doing this, there would still be this additional Mayor Don (ones -Page 2- October 5, 1972 variance from the ordinance. Mr. Seth Moore was at the meeting and he and Mr. Christian, at the request of some of the Commission members, left the room to try to work out an agreement to where the street could go through Mr. Moore's property to Phelps Street. We did riot know the outcome of this discussion when Mr. Christian returned to the room. The motion was made and seconded th'6t we recommend the approval of the plat with the 72 foot Cul -die -.sac. This motion was rejected by a vote of five to two with one bst tiom, The motion was made and seconded that we recommend approval of the second group of plans. Before the vote on the motion was called for, Mr. Christian stated that he was not ready to submit these plans for approval and withdrew them Mr. Doug Smithey was present at the latter part of the mting, but made no request or offered anything different from his partner's presentation. Mr, Christian's sale objection to complying with the ordinance was that it would reduce the number of lots he as a .developer could self if such reasoning were to be allowed to prevail the next developer could plead that he couldn't make his lot sixes or building lines conform to our ordinances because he couldn't sell as manic lots: At one time in the round table discussion, Mr. Christian made the statement that there was a 30 day clause in the ordinance; and since we had not acted on the plans in a 30 day period, the ordinance says that they are approved by default. This cannot be the case, And Where Should Be No Building Permits On This Ad itio issued On That Basis. We spent two hours on these plans which when presented last month and which were not presented in accordance with the ordinance, We spent 21 hours yesterday on the same set of plans which were still not according to the ordinance, I personally feel that our Commission was "looped" by Mr. Christian having us spend over an hour on the old plans' before bringing out from 'tinder the :table " ,the plans we had requested and his -partner had agreed to present to cis . 1 made the statement to the Commission4n the presence of Mr. Smithey and I would like my statement passed on to the City Council that every "road block" and disagreement we have had concerning subdivision planning and long range water and sewer planning has been between developers who are members of the City Council. We have had no trouble with developers who are not members of the City Council. We think thers is a definite conflict of interest, concerning the rules and policies of the City Council for the citizens in general!conceming long range planning and developing, between developers who sit on the City'Council and persist in trying to go around this long range planning program and the sub- division and zoning ordinances. People with this continued conflict -of interest should resign from the City Council and Pdannia g Commission. Although they may decline to vote, they lead the discussion to influence the decision. yours, E e air 1 �i C. H. M guir lry jla cos Mir. Marshall Shelton. City administrator City of Stephenville He said they only had the Sub Division Ordinance to go by and if they were not to go by it, then there was no need ;' %for the Ordinance or the Planning Commission. He also stated that the Commission did not see these variances as hardships as far as the "Hardship Clause$' of the Ordinance was con - cerned. Dr. W. 0. Trogdon, Mrs. Ken Dorris, Mr. Clinton Cox, Mr. Perry Elliott, Mrs. Don Coan, Mrs. Jim Whitacre, all spoke in behalf of the Planning Commission and the reasons they did not approve the preliminary plat as presented. Mr. Bill Christian spoke in support of the plat as presented. It was generally agreed among the Council that they would like to uphold the Planning Commission in their ruling but would also like to see the developer and Commission work something out that would be satisfactory for both. It was decided by the Council to look at the plat again at another--meeting before making any final decisions. Mayor Jones, at this time, reported that Eddie Caudle would not extend the option on property for the Landfill site, which expires October 16, 1972, After some discussion, the motion was made by Councilman Stone to let the option expire and to take all necessary steps to acquire one of the sites available. To get the Commissioners' approval then to core them. Motion was seconded by Councilman Riggins. Motion carried, with Councilmen Irwin and Hammett voting against. Mayor Jones asked the Council to thinking of some guidelines to be set for the Tax Assessor - Collector on delinquent taxes, Which had not had delinquent notices sent out for several years. Mayor Jones adjourned the meeting. ATTEST: C y SAcretary Em