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MINUTES
The Development Services Committee of the City of Garland convened in regular session at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, December 12, 2022, in the Work Session Room, 200 North Fifth Street, Garland, Texas, with the following members:
Present:
Dylan Hedrick, Chair
Jeff Bass, Council Member
Deborah Morris, Council Member
Staff Present:
Jud Rex, Assistant City Manager
Phillip Urrutia, Assistant City Manager
Brian England, City Attorney
Will Guerin, Planning Director
Brita Van Horne, Building Official
Matt Grubisich, Parks Director
Art Munoz, Animal Services Director
Courtney Vanover, Recording Secretary
Attendees:
Robert John Smith - Deputy Mayor Pro Tem, Guest
1.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
a.
Approval of the Minutes of the November 15, 2022 meeting.
Motion was made by Council Member Jeff Bass to approve the minutes as presented and seconded by Council Member Morris. Motion carried unanimously.
2.
ITEMS FOR INDIVIDUAL CONSIDERATION
a.
Public Comment
Persons who wish to address the Committee on any item on the agenda are allowed three minutes to speak. Testimony may be held until the item is considered or given at the beginning of any DSC meeting. Invited testimony may also occur at any time, subject to a request of the member of the Committee and approval of the Chair.
b.
Downtown Automotive Overlay District Review
This item was pulled and will be discussed at an Executive Session at the January 17, 2023 Development Services meeting.
c.
Review of GDC Tree Mitigation Requirements
Will Guerin and Matt Grubisich presented the red lines for the Tree Preservation Mitigation Ordinance to reflect the following:
Offsite Tree Planting - Removing the provision
30% Limitation to Credit
Adding a Provision regarding the "Take Area"
There was discussion between Committee and Staff.
The Committee requested for Staff to provide a draft ordinance to be presented to Council to reflect the following changes:
Species of Species
Red Cedar being referenced back to section 4.54 and then striking "of the same species"
d.
Review Requirements for EV Charging Spaces and Parking Requirements
Council Member Bass requested that the Committee review the GDC requirements for EV Charging Spaces and Parking Requirements. Council Member Bass stated the way that the GDC is currently written, an EV Charging spot at a business does not count as a parking spot for their required minimum parking spaces.
Will Guerin provided the Committee with the following information. Mr. Guerin stated that the GDC currently does not clarify one way or another in reference to EV Stations as it is Staff's interpretation of it. For example if a business has 15 required parking spaces per the Park Ratio for Retail, they can have EV Stations, but those spaces do not count as required parking. Those spots would be considered extra spaces.
Brita Van Horne stated that the City does not have a list of all EV Charging Stations. The City does not have a way to report that out for permitting purposes.
Jud Rex advised the Committee that the GDC is silent at this time and Staff has the flexibility to look at the situation and see how it is structured. Most developments come through as Planned Development and there is an opportunity for Plan Commission and City Council to review detail plans and better understand the scenario.
There was discussion between Committee and Staff.
The Committee voted to keep the current GDC Requirements as is and present this item to Council at a future time.
e.
Consider Changes to Zoning Rules Regarding Pet Retail Stores
Will Guerin provided the Zoning Rules and Definition of PET STORE as the following: A retail establishment offering small animals for sale (no livestock) where all creatures are housed within the building, and the sale of pet foods and supplies. May include pet grooming salon, indoor pet care/play/boarding and/or small animal veterinary services as accessory use(s).
Allowed by SUP in:
Neighborhood Services (NS)
Downtown Historic
Downtown Square
Allowed by right in:
Community Retail (CR)
Light Commercial (LC)
Heavy Commercial (HC)
Urban Residential (UB)
Urban Business (UB)
Downtown-Uptown
Downtown-Suburban Corridor
Council Member Morris stated that the Humane Society and several other reputable groups have approached her and other Council Members showing documentation that dogs and cats being sold in Retail Pet Stores in many areas in Texas were despite their claims, the animals were being purchased from puppy mills. The animals are being advertised as AKC Certified, when in fact that is not true. It has been requested that Garland ban Retail Pet Stores from operating in the City.
Art Munoz, Director of Animal Services provided the City's inspection process. Animals being sold in the City of Garland must have a permit with Animal Services. Once the application has been submitted to Animal Services an inspection is conducted. The inspection includes the following:
Rabies and other shots up to date
Veterinarian conducting an inspection
Location is clean
City of Garland Permit is visible for the public to see
The permit is then renewed annually, with typically no inspections done within the year. Animal Services is in the process of creating a new permitting process and will be presenting that to the Committee once a model has been completed.
Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Smith spoke in reference to this item stating that the request is for the Development Services Committee to discuss whether the City wants these types of retail stores allowed either by Right, SUP or not at all. As well as what zoning categories they may or may not be allowed in. When a pet has not been sold, the pet is then surrendered and brought to the Animal Shelter, and in turn taxpayers have to bare the financial burden.
Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Smith would like the Development Services Committee to eliminate the ability for new business's to come in that have this model, but the current places of business with this model can remain.
There was further discussion between the Committee and Staff.
The Committee advised Staff to draft an Ordinance and present to Council that clearly defines and prohibits any future zoning use in the City of Garland for Retail sales of dogs and cats.
The Committee will have subsequent meetings about the nine other cities in Texas and how they have handled the scaling back of existing operations.
3.
ADJOURN
There being no further business to come before the Development Services Committee, the meeting was adjourned at 4:58 p.m.
CITY OF GARLAND, TEXAS
/s/ Dylan Hedrick, Chair
/s/ Courtney Vanover, Recording Secretary
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