1 CITY OF
2 LAND USE AND ZONING
3 COMMITTEE
4
5
6 Proceedings held on Tuesday, October 2,
7 2007, commencing at 5:00 p.m., City Hall, Council
8 Chambers, 1st Floor,
9 Diane M. Tropia, a Notary Public in and for the State
10 of
11
12 PRESENT:
13 MICHAEL CORRIGAN, Chair.
CLAY YARBOROUGH, Vice Chair.
14 MIA JONES, Committee Member.
ART SHAD, Committee Member.
15 JACK WEBB, Committee Member.
16
ALSO PRESENT:
17
BILL BISHOP, City Council Member.
18 JOHN CROFTS, Deputy Director, Planning Dept.
SEAN KELLY, Planning and Development Dept.
19 KEN AVERY, Planning and Development Dept.
20 JESSICA STEPHENS, Legislative Assistant.
MERRIANE LAHMEUR, Legislative Assistant.
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Diane M.
Tropia,
2
1 P R O C E E D I N G S
2 October 2, 2007 5:00 p.m.
3 - - -
4 THE CHAIRMAN: Okay. Ladies and gentlemen,
5 I have five o'clock on my watch, so we will call
6 to order the Tuesday, October 2nd meeting of the
7 Land Use and Zoning Committee.
8 Let the record reflect that Land Use and
9 Committee members present are Councilman
10 Yarborough, he's vice chairman; I'm chairman,
11 Councilmember Michael Corrigan; Councilmember
12 Art Shad and Councilmember Jack Webb are all
13 here.
14 Also, visiting with us at this point is
15 Councilman Bill Bishop.
16 Councilman Bishop, it's always good to see
17 you.
18 We have a good agenda tonight and we'll
19 work towards going through it.
20 Mr. Bishop, are you here on a particular
21 bill?
22 MR. BISHOP: Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman. I am
23 here about two particular bills.
24 THE CHAIRMAN: Okay. We'll go ahead and
25 take those up if you would like.
Diane M.
Tropia,
3
1 MR. BISHOP: I appreciate that.
2 The first one is 2007-928, a rezoning.
3 THE CHAIRMAN: Page 12, 2007-928, and that
4 is a public hearing. We will open that public
5 hearing. I show no speakers for -928.
6 (Mr. Hainline approaches the podium.)
7 THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Hainline.
8 AUDIENCE MEMBER: There are other speakers.
9 THE CHAIRMAN: All right. We'll start with
10 Mr. Hainline and then we'll go from there.
11 MR. HAINLINE: T.R. Hainline, 1301
12 Riverplace Boulevard, and we're the agent for
13 the applicants in 2007-928, which is a PUD
14 rezoning out at Monument and St. Johns Bluff.
15 I'm really not here to make a presentation
16 tonight. As you can see on your agenda, this
17 matter is being deferred at the request of
18 Councilman Bishop.
19 There is a community meeting which is going
20 to be held on October 11th to present to the
21 community where we are on this rezoning. It is
22 the second community meeting. There was another
23 one back in March, actually. I think it was --
24 it might have been March or April, and we've
25 worked on it a lot since then.
Diane M.
Tropia,
4
1 And I guess what I'd like to do is just let
2 you know that we have -- we did hear the
3 community's concerns at that time. We have been
4 working with the Planning Department staff and
5 with Councilman Bishop to address those
6 community concerns and our current plan, which
7 we'll present to the community on October the
8 11th, preserves more than half the site, would
9 place it in a conservation easement. And the
10 bill, as Councilman Bishop has amended it, would
11 not -- the rezoning would not become effective
12 until that portion of the property is placed in
13 a conservation easement.
14 Furthermore, we have made changes and
15 revisions to the plan to keep it consistent with
16 the concerns and ideas that were expressed at
17 that previous community meeting.
18 Again, I'll -- I think this is actually
19 scheduled to be deferred not one but two cycles
20 in order to have no votes prior to the
21 October 11 community meeting. And the Planning
22 Department also has withheld its recommendation
23 at this point. So I'll be making a full
24 presentation at that meeting, I guess, in a
25 month's time.
Diane M.
Tropia,
5
1 And with that, I'll just reserve any time
2 to respond to any comments which may be made
3 that I feel would need to be responded to. So
4 I'll reserve some rebuttal for that.
5 Thank you.
6 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Mr. Hainline.
7 And for the record, he is correct that we
8 will not be taking action on this bill tonight.
9 We will finish -- we'll have this public hearing
10 and then continue it at the end.
11 We do have several other speakers. The
12 next is Lad Hawkins.
13 (Audience member approaches the podium.)
14 THE CHAIRMAN: Good evening.
15 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Good evening.
16 Lad Hawkins. I live at 1924 Holly Oaks
18 I'm the president of the Greater Arlington
19 Civic Council. This matter has come up a number
20 of times over the years, and the community feels
21 that this piece of property was established and
22 turned over to the Port Authority initially as a
23 buffer around Craig Field and that, in good
24 faith, this thing should remain trees and should
25 not be developed in commercial structures.
Diane M.
Tropia,
6
1 From a safety standpoint, it's a lot safer
2 to have trees right at the end of the runway
3 than it is to have a CVS pharmacy.
4 I'm also on the CPAC's Land Use and Zoning
5 Committee, and they have also opposed this
6 proposed PUD.
7 I urge you to vote against it.
8 Thank you.
9 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you.
10 Our next speaker is Dianne Wiles, followed
11 by Dale Parsons.
12 (Audience member approaches the podium.)
13 THE CHAIRMAN: Good evening.
14 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Good evening.
15 My name is Dianne, and my husband and I
16 live at
17 years. Our home is right next to this parcel of
18 land.
19 I bought my home on the premise that it
20 states in the comp plan that Craig would not
21 extend the runway. Also, the 1999 public record
22 states that -- and I quote -- JPA's buffer zone
23 for aircraft flyover at
24 JAA is really giving our computer --
25 community a one-two punch with all of this.
Diane M.
Tropia,
7
1 Our community has been opposed to any
2 development on this land since at least 2002.
3 We have been patient and good neighbors when it
4 comes to the increasing air traffic that
5 continue to fly below the 500 foot minimum. It
6 is the only buffer left at the end of the runway
7 and our neighborhood. The City just took the
8 rest of the trees down on the southeast corner
9 of Monument and St. Johns Bluff for a retention
10 pond.
11 I still have questions on how this property
12 received the zero zoning it currently has.
13 After speaking with the Planning and Development
14 Department, they told me it used to have ACRI
15 zoning, which no longer exists. Planning and
16 Development informed me that they gave this
17 parcel of land CRO zoning, feeling it was an
18 appropriate zoning.
19 If this land was already developed or not
20 across the street from an airport, it would have
21 been appropriate. It should have received the
22 same zoning as the airport, PBF-3. We still do
23 not know exactly when this happened.
24 On September 26th, the City Council -- at
25 the City Council public hearing, the lawyer
Diane M.
Tropia,
8
1 representing the applicant/developer stated that
2 this development is appropriate neighborhood
3 commercial. I am not an expert, but learning a
4 little bit about zoning. How can a high traffic
5 drug store be compatible with the neighborhood
6 if it's only 120 feet away from my front door?
7 They are planning to develop -- planning to
8 put the development literally in the front and
9 backyards of our homes with very little -- homes
10 with very little or in some cases no tree
11 buffer.
12 The proposed land use is not compatible
13 with the surrounding area. It is in a
14 safety/noise zone, according to the airport. I
15 also do not believe that this development is in
16 compliance with many of FAA's guidelines.
17 I understand JAA's need to create revenue.
18 Is leasing the portion of trees protecting us
19 from the airport noise and pollution the right
20 way for JAA to create revenue?
21 With all the development surrounding the
22 airport, Craig is outgrowing its location.
23 Let's keep the airport as it is, keep the little
24 bit of trees surrounding the airport in place.
25 In closing, I would like to bring to the
Diane M.
Tropia,
9
1 attention of the committee that if this
2 development goes forward, it could devastate the
3 value of our homes. The way I see it, JAA is
4 reaching into our pockets, taking money from the
5 equity in our homes.
6 Since safety is the number one issue right
7 now at hand at JAA and
8 recommending that this application for zoning be
9 denied due to unclear deed and zoning, the
10 safety zone it is in, the close proximity of
11 residential homes to the planned development,
12 and the close proximity to the homes to the
13 planned development.
14 Please take the time to review all the
15 letters from the community and the information
16 that's been presented to you.
17 Thank you so much for your time.
18 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you.
19 Our next speaker is Dale Parsons, followed
20 by Edwin Barnard.
21 (Audience member approaches the podium.)
22 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Good evening.
23 Dale Parsons,
24 We are opposed to this rezoning because not
25 too long ago, just since I've lived in that
Diane M.
Tropia,
10
1 area, there was an accident, and the plane went
2 down in those woods. And so it's best to keep
3 those as woods, not buildings. If there had
4 been buildings there, I have no idea what would
5 have happened with that plane and the residents
6 in that area or the buildings or businesses. So
7 we are opposed to any changes to that.
8 Thank you.
9 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you.
10 Edwin Barnard, followed by Dave Evans.
11 (Audience member approaches the podium.)
12 THE CHAIRMAN: Good evening.
13 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thank you.
14 In the application for the hearing, it said
15 you had to be a quasi expert in the field that
16 you'd be talking about. And having lived there
17 in Holly Oaks for 35 years, I feel I'm an expert
18 about the area. And having been in the
19 architectural, engineering, and planning
20 business for almost 50 years, I think I qualify
21 for an expert in that.
22 I sent every one of you a dissertation on
23 ten reasons why this should not be built, and
24 it's backed up with information direct from the
25 Internet and from the City of
Diane M.
Tropia,
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1 Web sites. I also sent to you, on this
2 committee, a dissertation on the inappropriate
3 pieces missing from -- or appropriate pieces
4 that should be there for the application that,
5 to me, would make it null and void.
6 One of the things that CVS -- which is
7 supposedly the pharmacy going in there -- they
8 want to have consensus of the neighborhoods in
9 which they go into. They don't want to disturb
10 the culture.
11 The mayor has stated that he doesn't want
12 any more spot, strip zones in a lot of his
13 information. And the revised Craig comp plan,
14 which may go into effect or may not, is
15 committing the city of
16 one way or another to $139,747,867 to the year
17 2012 for the continued commitment to Craig Field
18 to support two businesses and a flight school.
19 And also in that change to the comp plan
20 it says you will be buying out residences that
21 are in the noise zone that are affected by it,
22 and I figured generally you're talking about
23 $50 million to $100 million, both ends of the
24 runway.
25 The comp plan, zoning plan, the master plan
Diane M.
Tropia,
12
1 for
2 comp plan, which just came out for -- or the
3 master plan for Craig Field shows this lot not
4 developable, and that was just published in
5 August.
6 Also, zoning signs that are supposed to go
7 up five days after the application is filed did
8 not go up for a month.
9 The letters that were sent out came out
10 after you had already heard this thing twice in
11 the LUZ. We knew nothing about it. And we hope
12 you'll take that in consideration.
13 Now, as far as the community and the
14 community meeting, no one in the community,
15 except maybe a few diehards that say you can't
16 fight City Hall, wants a development on that
17 lot. And also in communication with CVS, I'm
18 starting to get the feeling they want to go with
19 the wishes of the community.
20 Thank you.
21 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you.
22 Our last speaker that I have a card for is
23 Dave Evans.