NOTE: This project, after over a year of work, is progressing substantially with quality work being completed by all parties involved. The below outlined issue does not reflect my optimism and confidence in the project at large.
—- Begin OpEd Submitted to Denton Record Chronicle (2/23/19) —-
The recent article published Saturday (2/23/19), "Denton seeks public's feedback on the new zoning map, documents" informed residents of upcoming changes to the Denton Development Code (DDC) and the zoning map and reiterated the city's request for public feedback. Unfortunately, the draft zoning map is currently unavailable for review, though it had been previously made public on February 15th. The impetuous behind such removal is concerning.
I received an invite to the first DDC Advisory Committee meeting to be held on March 28, 2018. Since that date, three members of the Planning and Zoning Commission and three members of the City Council have met for more than sixty hours over the past year to read, review and consider the DDC and new zoning map. A literal page turn of deep review has been conducted by commissioners, council members, city staff and city-paid consultants to ensure the most effective rollout of these substantial changes. The momentum has led to a busy month in February for both the P&Z Commission and City Council with an aggressive timeline to receive public feedback and adoption of new DDC and zoning map. One factor in establishing this timeline was to have the current city council, who have spent significant time on this project, see it to completion before new council members are elected later this spring. (At which time it would be appropriate to bring them up to speed and, potentially, erase the great momentum of the project).
Even as recently as the P&Z meeting on February 20, the commission was advocating for the public feedback of the changes and using our knowledge of pending changes to help inform decisions.
The momentum of this project, well over a year of work, ground to a halt on Friday afternoon. During the DDC Advisory Committee meeting, the attending three city council members decided to remove the zoning map from public review. The rationale for its removal is not fully clear but it includes a hesitation of the mayor to proceed with the rezoning that was required in this project. Yes, the new zoning map requires consolidation of current zoning classifications - effectively reducing the number of zones in the city. While there are certainly challenges in changing the zones across all of Denton, I am confident the challenges also provide the city of Denton a unique opportunity to guide planning and economic developing for years to come. Aside from my personal opinions on this, I am shocked that the council members that serve on the DDC Advisory Committee decided, after months of work and after the map was made public, that they had objections to this rezoning. Further, I am concerned that an ad-hoc sub-committee had the authority to remove this public document. There was no city council vote on the matter and four members of our city council were not involved in this decision.
I have requested information regarding the Planning and Zoning Commission's role in this matter and its ability to speak about this but I have not received any response from the city on this topic, as of this writing.
My hope is the elected officials of this city do not back down from challenges when given the opportunity to act, on behalf of their constituents, to correct a broken zoning map and to elevate the planning of our city far past what was codified in 2003, sixteen years ago. What took place in the basement of city hall on Friday, sadly, presents a weak image of Denton and Denton is stronger than that.
—- End OpEd —-
—- Begin Email to Denton Development Code Rewrite Committee (2/28/19) —
Mayor Watts and fellow DCRC Committee Members,
Thank you for the work you have put forth in the Development Code rewrite and new zoning map projects. I believe, with the help of city staff and Clarion, Denton is being better positioned for the continued growth our city enjoys.
I know I have been absent from most meetings but I trust my fellow P&Z Commissioners have exceeded the expectations of the entire P&Z commission in their thoughtfulness and attention to detail as they have served most faithfully week in and week out.
I am confident that Scott, Richard, and Ron will adequately convey the feedback from the P&Z Special Called Session yesterday, but I wanted to include my voice directly into the conversation. I am convinced that the direction of the DCRC, city council and P&Z in regards to the zoning map has been the correct one for the city. I was disappointed the learn that the DCRC decided to pull the zoning map from public review and post a new one without notice or detail of changes made.
I understand the precipice of such decision was primarily based on RD-5x zoning locations and split-zoning issues but the changes in the map are significantly broader in application. Though I believe I understand the rationale, the implication of blanketly changing all RD-5x to RR will create 880 properties that are deemed RR but do not meet the city required dimensional standard of 5 acres. Leaving the split-zoning will perpetuate 370 properties with split-zoning, many of which, I imagine, would be easy cleanups. That is 1,250 potential cases that the city would need to individually review, P&Z publically hear, and council would publically hear. Hours upon hours of work; work I believe to be better used elsewhere. My encouragement is to look more closely at the RD-5x properties and the split-zoning properties to uncover opportunities for compromise. We as a city can proactively correct issues now while still being sensitive to properties owners who might be more greatly affected.
It is worth noting that there might be greater neighbor issues in the consolation of districts than the RD-5x and split-zoning issues. For example, DR-1 will, all of a sudden, be allowed multi-family. Why the difference in prioritization or scrutiny over RD-5x?
As much as I can, I urge the DCRC, city staff, and council to hold captive a unique opportunity to guide development for Denton. I am not in favor of rolling out the exact same map that has been broken, in many ways, for 17 years.
Thank you for all the time you have given to this and for you taking even more time to read my email.
Andrew Rozell
Chair, Planning and Zoning Commission
—- End Communication —-