City Council 5-20-25

[0:00:00] Thursday, May 20th. This meeting is officially called to order. As usual, we will start with our chaplain prayer and pledges. And we welcome U Gary Jenkins and Marcela Jenkins to lead us in both. Morning, mayor and council members. Good morning, everybody. Today is special. And so as I get ready to pray, I want to remind you of a passage that we find in the book of Romans chapter 13:es 1 and 2. Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. We honor our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, our current mayor, the Honorable Brenda Gunner, our incoming mayor, the Honorable Tom Thompson, and members of the city council, those present, and those that are about to be sworn in in a few moments. Let's pray. Precious Father in heaven, in the name of Jesus, we bow before you as a city and we seek your face and your counsel and we ask you to hear our prayer and to grant us the petition and the supplications that we place before you. We thank you for all of the members of the city council, those that will be sworn in and those that will be stepping aside. We thank you for our honorable mayor, Brenda Gunter, and we thank you, Lord, for our mayor elect, the honorable Tom Thompson. We pray God that you guide this new

[0:02:05] administration with wisdom, knowledge, revelation, understanding, and compassion in a way that will glorify you and honor those who live, work, and do business in the city of St. Angelo. We thank you for this great honor to pray and to seek your face and your counsel. For it is written, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. And amen to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for it stands under. Honor the Texas flag to be Texas under God. One indivisible We only have one um proclamation this morning and it is for the National Trauma Awareness Month. So those who are in the audience to receive this, please come forward. Trauma is a profound, widespread, and costly public health issue that stems from physical injury directly impacting the emotional, psychological, and financial well-being of our families and

[0:04:08] communities across the nation. Trauma is caused by physical forces, including but not limited to natural man-made disasters, violence, neglect, or other deeply distressing events or adverse childhood experiences. And it often leads to long-term physical and mental health challenges, including physical disability, depression, anxiety, addiction, and chronic illness. Awareness, prevention, and early intervention are vital to mitigating the impacts of trauma, promoting resilience, fostering healing, and influencing safe behaviors. Addressing trauma requires a united effort among the public, healthc care providers, educators, first responders, social workers, faithbased organizations, and community leaders to ensure access to traumainformed care services and support. Resilience building strategies such as strengthening social connections, promoting self-care, and creating supportive environments can empower individuals and communities to recover and thrive in the face of adver adversity. National Trauma Awareness Month provides an opportunity to educate the public, advocate for trauma-informed policies, and celebrate the strength and courage of trauma survivors. Therefore, I, Brenda Gunter, mayor of the city of St. San Angelo, Texas on behalf of the city council and together with members and leaders of hospitals, healthcare organizations, public safety organizations, government entities, and community organizations do hereby proclaim the month of May 2025 as National Trauma Awareness Month and call upon all citizens, organizations, and government agencies to raise awareness, engage in efforts to prevent trauma, support survivors, and foster communities of resilience. and healing. Would you like to come forward and offer some words, please? Thank you so much for recognizing May as

[0:06:10] trauma awareness month. Our trauma services team at Shannon and regional team members focus on awaren awareness and prevention of traumatic injuries. We also work to ensure that when trauma does occur from physical injury that our patients and team members caring for them have the education and all the resources that they need. Addressing trauma truly requires a united effort among so many key players in our own community and surrounding areas. As shared in the proclamation, National Trauma Awareness Month provides a crucial platform to educate the public about trauma, advocate for policies that support trauma-informed care, and acknowledge the resilience and strength of our trauma survivors. One amazing way that we are acknowledging our trauma survivors this month is the celebration for National Trauma Survivors Day tomorrow from 11 to 2 at the Shannon downtown campus. and we would love if you could join us for that celebration. Thank you. We will now move into the public comment section of the agenda. Members of the public may raise issues or concerns not listed on the regular agenda during this time. To participate, please sign in with the city clerk prior to the beginning of the meeting. Speakers will be called in the order they signed in. When speaking, citizens must speak from

[0:08:12] the podium. Address all comments to the Diaz and begin by stating your name and address or single member district number and limit their remarks to three minutes or less. Are there any public comments? Sylvia Martinez. Good morning, uh, Mr. Valenuela and city council. I come today before you and see if y'all can help me. I live at 818 Sanasinto and uh, it's getting ridiculous. It's uh, the cars are parked like if I live in uh, California on one side. Um, this past week, my trash was not picked up. I stopped my uh trash man and he said that it would uh he's afraid that he will run into the cars. Now um my question is why if y'all giving out these permits, why can't they park in the back like the uh the parking is in the Southland or anywhere? I like those houses and everything. My question is why can't they park in the back? Because it's getting ridiculous. Um the kids park uh playing in the streets, you know, and all these cars parked in one site, one after the cars. When I get out of the driveway, we can't see incoming cars because they're parked just one after the other. It's, you know, if you're uh passing all these permits, make sure and think of the people like me that I've been there 40 years, but it's you're not thinking about that. You're just thinking of these houses being built and the people that live there are suffering for all these cars that are parking in our where the the trash the trash can't see where

[0:10:17] the trash cans are at. Joe Spano is in the back of the room today and so if you will just touch base with him, he'll be glad. And I called them. Yes. And I called them all week and they did not pick my trash and I waited a whole week to pick it up. And that's ridiculous because uh we paid for our trash and it's not getting picked up. So my problem is that when you all pass uh a permit, you all should uh think of the parking. And I'm thinking now all these houses are getting built. How about the water for these people that are we going to have enough water for all these pe you know all these people that are getting these houses built later on? Are we going to have enough water? Are we going to you know for all these people? It's it's we're you going to have to deal with water if we don't you don't have enough water now. Yeah, we have it now for the people that live, but later on we are we dealing with enough issues because I see we have to deal with issues maybe 20, 30 years from now. I might not be here, but the these young kids, you know, they're going to deal with it. This is going to have to be faced later on. And I feel that I appreciate your concerns. We do have enough water. We've looked for to the future to make sure we have plans for water and we thank you for your concerns. Thank you. That concludes the private uh the public comment section of our agenda. We will now move into the consent agenda or the old business. Our I will ask city council members if there's an item they would like to pull for the cons from the consent agenda. Starting with Larry. No ma'am. Karen. No, ma'am. Lucy, for the last time. No, ma'am. Okay, Harry. No, ma'am. Tommy,

[0:12:21] call him. Nothing to pull. No. Now, Tom, we went out of order just to catch you off guard. Sorry. With that, may I have a motion for approval of the consent agenda as presented today? So, move second. Sounds like everybody's approving it and second it. So, I think in fact it's approved. With that, do you need a formal who made the motion and who seconded? So, who made the motion first? Heert. Tommy Heert made the motion and Larry second it. And everybody voted yay. It's done. The regular agenda will be done um with the new members. So we will first of all go into our special agenda which is presentation of certificates of election administration of oath of office for mayor and single member districts four and six. At this time I formally re uh I'm going to uh say the following. Thank you Tom. Before we begin the special agenda I would like to recognize council member Thompson who requests to make a formal statement. At this time, I formally resign my position. I formally resign my position as city council member for single member district 2. This seat will remain vacant pending the results of the runoff election for June 7th, 2025. Thank you, Tom. Do we need to take any action? Any motion? Thank you. We will continue with our special agenda. So, this uh Mayor uh Mayor Gunter is supposed to take her position at the left side of the podium. So, I'll just get up and go take that position. We begin by recognizing the newly

[0:14:28] elected city council member for single member for District 4. Mr. Patrick Keelley, would you please come forward? Hand you this. Thank you, Mayor Gunnar. Uh, Mayor Thompson. I look forward to working with you in the future. Um, thank everyone who came out and voted um four against me. We had a pretty good turnout. I love that. That's what uh I was looking for u you know in the election. Um I want to thank my wife and my kids that got to come here today. Teachers. They'll be back shortly. I promise. Uh my mother, my grandmother, the um a lot of women in my life that uh guided me. So thank them for coming to that. And uh thank y'all. Look forward to working for you. Judge Daniel, would you like to come forward? Raise your right hand. I, Patrick Keelley, I, Patrick Keelley, do solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear or affirm that I will faithfully execute the duties that I will faithfully execute the duties of the office of St. Angelo City Council of the office of St. Angelo City Council, single member district 4, single member district 4 of the state of Texas of the state of Texas and will to the best of my ability and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and laws the Constitution and laws of the United States and of this state of the United States and of this state. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations. Thank you. Next, we recognize the newly elected

[0:16:44] city council member for single member district 6, Mrs. Mary Coffee. Would you please come forward? I want to thank everyone just like Patrick said for uh mainly getting out and voting, getting your opinion. ions and all shown and stated. I look very forward to working with everyone here. U I've enjoyed this process immensely. Uh I'm ready to get to work. I'm ready to get to work for you, for everyone in this room, and I'm just so proud and so so happy to be here. I wish I had more words of wisdom, but um thank you for the vote of confidence, for your faith in the process, and this is going to be a great next four years. We've got good people, and they're ready to go to work just like I am. So, thank you. Thank you very much. Daniels will be here today. Here's your hand. I, Mary Coffee, I, Mary Coffee, do solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear and affirm that I will faithfully execute the duties that I will faithfully execute the duties of the office of the office of the St. Angelo City Council of the St. Angelo City Council, single member district 6, single member district 6 of the state of Texas of the state of Texas. And will to the best of my ability and will and to the very best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and laws the Constitution and the laws of the United

[0:18:47] States and of this state of the United States and of Texas. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations. Thank you very much. I will ask Thompson, Mayor Elect, to please come forward. As I look out upon the crowd here, I see a wonderful group of people. I see people that have supported me and have tolerated me and have just been the best people in the world to work with. First of all, I'd like to thank God for putting me in this spot at this time. Number two, I want to thank my wife and my family. For those of y'all that don't believe, I had siblings that did beat me up quite often. videos. They are in row two. All right. With the mother-in-law. How appropriate. But as I look back um and think about the past eight years I've gone up here to city council, I've always looked at this as a joy and a pleasure, as an honor to serve. So many people say, "I can't believe how you do it or why you do it." But you don't know until you get involved how much you can help somebody. I want to thank, you know, uh, I ran with mayor candidate Gary Jenkins. Um, Julie Angelie was my campaign finance chair. Mclofflin was my campaign finance manager. But I I can go on and on about the the people that stood behind me and said, "Go forward and do what you need to do." Um, and in that situation, you just pray you make the right moves and you moved forward. As I've commonly, as I've said quite often, you take moments like this and you take opportunities to ask why and why not. If somebody says you can't do

[0:20:51] something, you say, "Well, why not?" Let's try to get around that. Let's try not to face headwinds, but let's try to have, you know, win in ourselves and to move forward. I just want to thank everybody for coming here today. I want everybody to know that our future is great. We're going to take this and it's like a relay lace relay race. We're going to take the baton and we're going to move forward and we're going to try to make the best decisions for our city council and our city for the next four, 8, 12, and 16 years moving forward. Thank y'all. [Applause] Ready? I'm ready. Okay. Raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, Tom Thompson, I, Tom Thompson, do solemnly swear or affirm. Do swall do solemnly swear and affirm that I will faithfully execute the duties that I will faithfully execute the duties of the office of of the office of mayor of the city of St. Angelo mayor for the city of St. Angelo of the state of Texas of the state of Texas and will to the best of my ability and will to the best of my ability preserve protect and defend preserve protect and defend the Constitution and laws the Constitution and laws of the United States of the United States of this state and this state so help me God so help me God. Congratulations. Thank you. [Applause] Okay, Thomas, you stay here. Right now, please join me in uh recognizing Councilman Larry Miller. will you come down here, please? Larry's been on council for four years now. Larry came on in uh 2021 and Larry ran on infrastructure, streets, and common sense and green

[0:22:56] space and parks. All right. And a little bit of everything in there. You left out pickle ball. And I left out pickle ball. Um, what people don't realize and what got Larry here was 30 years of military service in the Air Force. And when he uh got done there, he spent 10 years as a teacher. And Larry took a focus on youth and our future. Um, his wife Patricia, we just call her Pat, has been a a dream for us to have at events and we we thank you for loaning us your husband for four years and and we can't say enough. um the four years you've done, you've been very adamant. You said you you spoke your conscience. You voted how you thought your district and you've represented your district. Well, thank you. Uh the least I can say is thank you so much for four years of very dedicated service. Thank you very much. So, we're going to leave this picture here. Now we'd like to have single member district 4 Lucy Gonzalez come down for her awards. Sweet. Oh, you you you have a speech. Well, yes, I do. Okay, let me go first with mine. I will shorten mine. Um, for those of you that don't know Lucy, you've really missed a blessing. Uh, Lucy spent 26 and a half years criminal justice parole division. Um, she she worked after that and pondered around

[0:24:59] and she finally said, "I I don't know what I want to do, but number one, she she took a a dedication to taking care of kids and trying to make the future better." And I think what really cool about Lucy was this all started because you wanted a sidewalk and she wanted a sidewalk to go to a school so the kids didn't have to walk on a khichi path. And some people don't realize what will be the one catalyst. What will be the trigger to make you go forward, get involved and work hard and I've watched two or three different videos of what Lucy talked about. And that was to me when I sat back and looked at it, it was the main thing that moved her was, I think I can do this. And she kept trying to talk herself out of it, which all all of us have done that here. We've all tried to talk ourselves out of doing something. And Lucy, I you took words from the Lord and your friends and everybody else. And you move forward. And all I can say was that is probably one of the best 10 years of dedication you have done with fight and grit for SMD4 that you can ever have. And with that, I want to I want to give you these awards, but then we're going to let you have the speech. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Oh, we're going to take a picture. Let's take our picture. Let me have a little one because we have to see the the big 10. Good morning everyone. First and foremost, I want to give thanks to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for granting me the opportunity to serve my community for the past 10 years. It has truly been an honor and a privilege. To my husband, thank you for your unwavering support and understanding and for being my sounding board during my speech rehearsals and covering me in prayer through every step of this journey. To my daughter, thank you for being here today. You're the best cheerleader a mom

[0:27:02] could ask for. Your constant encouragement and presence mean more to me than words can express. I'd like to also take a moment to honor the woman whose influence played a tremendous role in me standing here today, my mom. She passed away in 2019, but I was blessed to have her by my side as I was sworn into office not once but twice. My mother taught me that life isn't about winning or losing. It's about giving your best. She instilled in me the value of effort of simply trying and has and this has covered me through many challenges in my life. I want to extend a my heartfelt thanks to my sisters and brother for the unwavering love and support throughout my life. Your belief in me has always been a source of strength. A special thank you to my sister Linda Rice for serving as my campaign treasurer in 2017 and for always being a powerful motivator. Your encouragement and dedication mean the world to me. To my nieces and nephews, thank you for always cheering me on through phone calls and texts. Your support has meant so much. A special thank you to my niece Amy Connor and Dr. Andrea Robato for your help during my 2015 campaign. You were an essential part of this journey. To Jean and Willie Hernandez, thank you for your constant encouragement over the years. It has carried me through many moments. As I close this chapter of my service, I want to take a moment to express my deepest gratitude to McGunter for the leadership and for the vision you've brought to our community. To my fellow council members, thank you for your partnership. Serving along your side has been a true honor. I also want to recognize our city manager, Daniel

[0:29:07] Venuela, assistant city managers Rick Weise and Michael Dayne, and the entire city staff. Your dedication and professionalism has made our work possible. And finally, to the citizens of St. Angelo, thank you. Thank you for your trust, your support, and for allowing me to represent you. Being a part of this community and this council has been one of the greatest honors of my life. I will always hold this close to my heart. Thank you and may God bless continue to bless St. Angel. Mayor Gunnar. We need like a bigger desk like for y'all to realize the commitment somebody makes when they step forward as mayor. And a lot of times it's what you see and more the time it's what you don't see people do off the dis. Brenda Gunner was elected St. Angeles mayor in 2017 and reelected in 2021 for her second term. She owned and operates a restaurant downtown called Miss Hatties. One of seven children, Brenda was raised in a small rural community in northwest Kansas. And after graduating from Kansas State University, Brenda had a long and successful career in the fashion industry in Dallas and New York, working in executive roles uh high pro for high-profile brands such as Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdales, and Calvin Klein. Since moving to St. Angela in 1999, she

[0:31:10] has focused her efforts on improving the quality of life in the city. She's had an extensive portfolio of civic involvement with organizations such as downtown San Angelo, ASU's College of Business Advisory Council, the St. Angelo Area Foundation, the United Way, and many more. In addition, she represents the city of St. Angelo on the ports to Plains Alliance board. She champion she championed the redevelopment of current revitalization of St. Angelo's historic downtown, which today enjoys a bustling nightife that complements everinccreasing business, retail, residential, and recreational offerings. As chair of downtown St. Angelo's design and promotions committee, she authorized a 42-page walking tour brochure. She spearheaded St. Angelo's sheep spectacular, which celebrates the community history and heritage in the sheep industry. As part of this initiative, more than 100 decorative fiberglass sheep statues have been placed around St. Angelo. She was honored as citizen of the year in 2009 by the Chamber of Commerce. She received the Jefferson Award in 2011 and was named small business champion of the year in 2018 and was recognized as a pillar of St. Angelo in 2019. A brief list of her accomplishments was the Hickory Aquifer expansion project and the closure of the Ford Ranch which helped secure our water. West Texas Water Partnership which is ongoing working with the Ford Stockton Holdings. This is a project for many years in advance. Requires a lot of foresight. The Lake Nazworthy sewer project. We just celebrated the trunk main approval here in the past two weeks. And also the Koncho River water reclamation project. That project is so pivotal for us. That might get us to a net zero on water in time. And that is outstanding. But she was chair of those initiatives just on water. in streets, major street projects, Southland Boulevard and College Hills. Downtown Chadurn Streetscape, North Chadron project and Bell Street. I'll throw Martin Luther King in there. I'll throw 29th Street. There was a focus when we all came on eight years ago. The citizens of St. Angela wanted us to focus on infrastructure and streets. And

[0:33:11] she carried that torch. Economic development. This one is going to keep St. Angela on the map for years to come. is the porch to plains southward expansion. Brenda was pivotal in making sure we stayed on that porch to plains I27 map and corridor. Had she not been there, I don't know if we'd have pulled that off. We loved her, I would say, her grit and dedication to making sure St. Angelo was the primary path in that travel north. Um, she also was pivotable in the St. Angelo Railport at the airport skyline aviation jet center um and also the Angelo State University facility which will have an open house this afternoon. Howard College airframe the AMP technology classes and parks the the parks got by with a minimal budget but they had 100% support and quite often you heard Brenda say what they accomplished with what little they have been given is just outstanding but they Brenda always had their back. uh renovations to Unidad Park, Brentwood, Bell Park, Brown Municipal Park, and Kirby Park. And also two spat two splash pads fall under that umbrella also. And in the future, she leaves here. She didn't quit. All right. She was still working to the very last hour and she was working last week and we worked on things uh things for the river stage, the convention center, and also the animal shelter. And with that, Miss Brenda, I all I can say is from the council and from the future mayor, I just want to thank you for being a friend and a guidance, and you stuck with your motto of planes, trains, automobiles, and let's not spend anybody's money. All right? I have to tell y'all a funny story. I know her brother-in-law in Kansas, and he runs a feedard of the year in Kansas. and I think I want to be king of I know a guy. But I met him and figured out that his wife was Brenda's sister. And I asked him, I said, "Brenda doesn't spend much money. She's pretty tight." He said, "Oh, they're sisters. Don't worry, I don't get to spend much." And I always wanted to say, "Well, you know what?

[0:35:12] That has always been an outstanding thing for San Angelo. We've been very frugal and we've always been very cautious with what we do." And with that, Brenda, I just want to say on behalf of San Angelo and everybody here, thank you so much for eight years of hard work. Thank you. Yeah. I'll let you talk a little bit. Thank you everyone. Um, no one can do this job unless you have the support of friends, families, and citizens. And today is my day to thank you for every single day that you were there to help me get done what we needed to do. I committed when I ran for mayor that we would take care of the primary responsibilities of the city of St. Angelo and that would be street infrastructure, police and fire and make sure that we had enough water for the future. And I'm proud to say today that we have negotiated enough water to take us through the next 70 years plus. So the citizens of St. Angelo do not have to worry about their water supply for the future because you can't be a city and you can't be a quality of life city if you don't have water. Cities were formed around water. If you look at where cities are today, water is where they ca where people settled. That's the reason we have Fort Koncho today. I'm a big believer in our history because I think if we don't protect our history, we don't protect our heritage. And each of us have heritage, whether it's the city we live in or the family we were born into. We must always honor our family, our friends, and our heritage. And I will continue to fight to make sure that we never forget what has made St. Angelo the city that it is. And I want to thank the council members who served with

[0:37:15] me because they helped me secure the things that I believe we needed to do. We maximize our greatest assets, including Lake Nazworthy, including the airport, including the river projects, including the fort, and including our downtown area. All of it was meant to be focused on preserving and protecting the quality of life that the city and the citizens of St. Angelo so desperately need. Thanks to everyone here, city staff, city management, and everyone else for what you have done to make this city great. And I have to add to those great assets that we have. It's Goodfield Air Force Base, and I see Colonel McGinness out there in the audience, and I thank you for being here. that Goodfield Air Force Base is such a key to who we are, what we are, and what we need to be in the future. It protects our nation. It protects our city. It will protect our citizens in the future. And we want to thank everyone who has served in the Goodville Air Force Base because you become a part of our community. Thank you for being here today. It's my pleasure and my honor to have served you. You gave me the honor of being able to do that. Thank you. Thank you. Bren, if you'll come stand back here one more time. This was unannounced, but only one previous time in our

[0:39:19] history have we done this for somebody else. And this is an award you earn from dedicated service, relentless pursuit for your job. not only what you do uh for the city, but what the city doesn't see that you do behind the scenes. And Brenda has taken that um to a level that we all will try hard to follow. With that, we're going to present Mayor Gunnar for the second time in St. Angelo's history with a key to the city. [Laughter] And right now we're going to conclude our special session. We're going to take about 30 minutes for reception. What we will need is the first the front half of the hall right here for everybody to move back. So they have to reset and replplit the room. But let's all move out and go for the reception for a little bit. Thank you. Is 9:47 and we will call this meeting back to order. Um we're going to start with the regular agenda. New business. Comments regarding items on the regular agenda may be made by the public when each item is discussed as outlined above. To participate, please sign in with the city clerk prior to beginning of the meeting. Speakers will be called in order they signed in. Comments are limited to less than three minutes. Applicants, proponents, and appellants are exempt from the time limit above and instead must limit the remarks to less than five minutes. We'll go with first item. Item A, first reading and public hearing of an ordinance for PD25-01, a request for a zone change from neighborhood commercial, general commercial, single family residential, and two family residential zoning districts to a planned development zoning district with a two-based zoning of a low-rise multif family for an assisted living community and is related amenities. Presentation my made by Aaron Venoy. Aaron, you're on. Thank you, mayor, city council. Mr. Valenuela, Aaron Venoy, director of planning

[0:41:22] development services. This morning we have a plan development request for the Baptist retirement community. Uh very similar to what you saw a few months ago with the Village East community. Uh they have three different kind of major properties here. Uh that have all the way from single family housing, duplexes, uh a couple of triplex and then the uh the high-rise that is what they call it over here. That's a five-story structure. This is in the neighborhood of Reagan and Paul Anne. It splits districts between number three Harry Thomas and number four Mr. Patrick Keley. The vision plan is neighborhood and campus institutional. It is about 70 acres and it's request to reszone to a plan development. So here's what the current zoning is on the left side. You can see they have a lot of different mixed zoning uh that has come in over the years. Although those structures have been there obviously it's not really general commercial. it's not really neighborhood commercial. Um, and what we're doing with the planned development here is to consolidate these properties so that they eventually can come and split them off individually. And so we're modifying lot sizes and doing an underlying zoning to to help them. The vision plan is set up correctly being campus and institutional. This is a campus u for the u the Baptist retirement community. Their ministries there. The only area that doesn't have the vision plan currently is right up there on the on the top right. So, here are the modifications on the development standards. Um, we are using a RM1 development standard as our base for the pro for the plan development. And then we're modifying anything that you see here in red. Those are modifying to fit the sizes of lots that they have out there currently. Our current zoning doesn't actually fit it. And so a plan development is the way to do that. Um you can see down here uh you can see there's a couple of number three notes on sideyards and things. Basically when those structures were built there were some sideyards that would now be non-conforming. So we're making the plan development to make them conforming. Uh

[0:43:25] these still will uh go through, you know, if they ever do any modifications, they'll still go through building permits, but this really sets the zoning for that property. We did also put in there that the five-story complex obviously is allowed u as well as single family and two family. They do have some vacant lots. So they would like to develop some new spots in the in the future. Our rationale just looking at the surrounding area uh it is mostly neighborhood while Main Street is a main corridor that goes up and connects to 19th and 18th. There are some small businesses as well as Atmas Gas in the area. It is got a it does have a neighborhood corridor feel. Uh there is no immediate impact on the natural environment and the property has been existing for many many years. So here you can kind of see how they're laying out some of the lots. Uh just that they if they in the future choose to uh sell those off uh to individuals that would be within the complex, but then the lot would go back to the complex uh upon the time of that person left uh or or wanted to sell it or whatever the case may be. So this did go to planning commission. Uh they did hear this in April. Um they did vote four to zero to approve this plan development. Um we do have those five uh conditions within the plan development as well as our development table. And with that I'll be happy to answer any questions with this sitting forward. We'll just roll through the district. Harry it's in your district. Got some comments? Well, well, we really been working with Baptist Memorial for about eight months. Uh they the citizens uh the residents over there were notified like last summer sometime or or late last uh spring that they were going to lose their exemptions for property tax. And so been working through with Aaron over there to try to get something done. And finally, uh, we're going to bring this forward. I I move to approve this thing as presented because I think ultimately

[0:45:29] what'll do this step one in a multi-step that will allow those citizens to get their exemptions back. Also, we have a motion. You know, before we go for a second, Patrick, have you got any comments on this? Yeah, I'd like to ask a question. Yes, sir. Good morning. There he goes. Uh, I said I was going to keep my mouth shut in my first meeting, but just a quick question on the um on the minimum lot area square footage. Are those smaller than normal? Is that the the ones in red? Like is that why they're in red? Yes. So So for our single family normal, our normal is 50 by 100. So 5,000 square feet. Same with the two family, that's normally a a 6,000 ft minimum. But looking at their plat, their proposed plat that they may bring forward, it doesn't quite fit. And so with a plan development, we're able to go and modify those lot sizes to fit what their needs will be, what they have. Um what's the what would be the size of a like a patio home? A patio home, if it's a zero lot line, I want to say it's 35 by 75 uh is the lot dimensions. And I think they're 3500 square feet. This is still bigger than that. Probably most of these are bigger than that. They don't have any desire at this time to do patio homes. If they wanted to come and do an amendment to their plan development, they could. if they have some blank spaces to do that. At this time, those lots that they are creating that are vacant, they're looking at adding additional duplexes or single family homes. Okay. And then Harry, from the sounds of it, doing this would allow them to get their over 65 exemption, working on it. That's not our decision, but it might help. Correct. Right. This is only the first step, right? But this allows them to go forward with this. Uh the appraisal district sent letters to uh Baptist Memorial uh Christian Village East and Rio Koncho and told them they were getting ready to lose that exemption last year. City worked with Christian Village East last last fall last sir late last summer and we got a resolution for them and Rio Control is still working through

[0:47:32] whatever they're they're going uh going to do. But I think this is first step one. Uh they can't go any further than and until we've uh approved this. Thank you, Aaron. Karen or Mary, have y'all got any comments? He Yes. Um there is some litigation taking place with respect to to this. So that that obviously does not include us whatsoever. So, um, are we approving a plat at the same time or you you just referenced that's what it would likely be when platted? Correct. That'll be their next steps to actually plat out the property and submit that plat. So, we're only doing the zoning at this time, getting the zoning correct so that those lots are conforming when they come forward. Right. Okay. Good. That's that's what I thought, but something triggered. Maybe we were doing something with a plat. Okay, I'm good. I'll I'll second Harry's motion. Okay. I have a first from Harry and a second from Tommy Heert. Any public comment? Sylvia Martinez. No. Okay. Uh Dr. Joyce Moren Smith. Um so Dr. if you will say your name and what district you're in. I'm Dr. Joyce Morren Smith. I live at Baptist Memorial. Close enough. Been there a little over a year and a half. And somehow I just could not sit and do nothing when I saw what was happening. I have been to Austin. I um testified with the committee on Senate Bill 37 art beating too hard on me here. 1237 and that uh committee voted

[0:49:36] unanimously for u our exemption. a lot of other changes being made and it went to the Senate and the vote was 30 to1. So it's now they're looking at it with the 2525 that the House bill was which also went through unanimously and then the governor will be signing it. So we feel pretty strongly about uh the support we're getting. I think one of the major reasons was because it's already hit Houston. They took away the uh exemption for the Catholic nuns and priests retirement center and that's getting pretty low. What I want to tell you today is a little bit about Baptist. It's kind of the best kept secret in St. Angelo. It's a group of very unique people. We've got judges, military colonels. We've got a pretty high class group out there. The age range is from 62 to 105. Not very many 62s, probably more 70s, but the mean median age is 84. We are one, in my opinion, one of our serious problems as they're selling out is they cannot make us just move out because we have life estate contracts. Not everybody does. Some people are renting, but the majority of that facility is going away after all these years and all the work that St. Angelo and Elsie Gay are put into it. The streets are not, you guys are mentioning the size of the lots. The streets are not all the right size either. And that's a concern I have because most of these people uh have the typical aging problems, low

[0:51:42] vision, low hearing, physical disabilities, and a lot of them are smart enough not to be driving anymore. So, guess what? They do have for transportation to get to the mailbox, to get to the pharmacy, to the medical facility, and the other things they need. They ride their motorized wheelchair in the street. They Why don't you find a comfortable place to wrap this one up? You hit your five minutes of comment. Okay. But go ahead and finish up. Summarize. No, I wish we could trade. We can't. Go ahead, Doc. What I found is that these streets are occupied with these people. Some of the streets are so narrow that you couldn't pass a car on. They've got beautiful curbs, but you can't get a wheelchair up it. These are things that I'm hoping that our planning committee will look at as they look at the size of those uh lots. Actually, they're not lots. It's just a plot out there that the houses were put on at somebody's desire. So, it's a there's a serious issue there. Well, with with what you've told us, what what we're talking about, Ryan, is just a reszoning. It's not really the planning part, but it's it's the zoning part. And we we've heard what you've said today. I would say when this goes to planning and they discuss housing for you to make sure that you get to the planning meetings also to make sure your voice is concerned. Mayor, if I might. Yes, sir. If memory serves me correctly, the streets belong to Baptist Memorial. They do not belong to the city. And so when they were designed, how many ever years ago were they, they may not have been designed to city standards. They That's part of what you've got out there right now. Yes. sidewalks and the streets actually are not part of of the city. They belong to Baptist Memorial. Part of their plan for

[0:53:46] selling the houses is also getting the streets to a standard that the city can take them over as well as the infra infrastructure that's uh that's there. But I'll uh I'll conclude and we'll talk later. All right. Thank you. I have a a first from Harry, a second from Heert. We've had public comment. All those in favor of approving as presented, say I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. 60. Item B, first reading and public hearing of an ordinance for Z25-15, a request for zone change from the general commercial zoning district to the low-rise multif family residential located at 3013, 3017, 3021, 3025, and 3029 Waco Street. Aaron, you're on. Thank you, mayor. This is a resoning for an area that had uh some general commercial and has not developed along uh the Houston Heart frontage. It's an area that has been vacant for a long time. It is surprisingly in the Bluffs neighborhood. Uh it does fall under district number two that is currently vacant. It is a vision plan of neighborhood center about 7 uh.735 acres and again it's going from general commercial to low-rise multif family. So you can see our notification area. We did send out 21 notices uh for this uh project. We did not receive any in support or opposition. Uh there are a couple of contractor yards here. There is a business there. And then everything else has started to fill in as residential in the area. So here you see the zoning on the left where you've got this area of general commercial that comes in a little bit of neighborhood commercial and then residential around. And the vision plan has been kind of neighborhood commercial thinking that along the Houston heart uh fronted way uh would be maybe small businesses, low-rise multif family, those types of things. And so coming in here, changing

[0:55:49] the general commercial to a low-rise multif family does fit with the neighborhood uh center uh vision plan. So again, this is a blend of residential and commercial. Uh the approval of the the zone change will help develop this vacant lot almost as an an infill area. Appears to be no immediate adverse effects to the natural environment. This did go to planning commission uh in April uh with a approval of a 4 to zero vote in recommendation. Um and we do recommend approval of the zone change from general commercial to low-rise multif family. This will be very similar to the one that's about two blocks to the southeast. Um they are going to develop the land. We have not quite seen the site plan yet, but uh when we do the see the site plan, that's when we address parking, drainage, and all those other infrastructure issues. Any questions? So Erin, this puts this on the tax ro and for development and future income for the city, correct? Yes, sir. And it's not part of the infield program. It is not. It's outside of our designated areas. U but it is a vacant lot that's within an established neighborhood or vacant lots. Obviously, they were cut across when Houston Hart came through there and nobody's really developed them yet. I think it's great to see this finally developed. I'll go down the road from left to right. Somebody has comment. I just move approval, mayor. Okay. I have a first from Tommy Heert. Second. A second from Harry Thomas. Any public comment, Sylvia Martinez. Sylvia mayor um council I I hope that they think um that uh you all think and pass if when y'all pass it that uh they do the parking in the back and uh the business-wise I hope that they don't put the entry like they did in San Hasinto the um the to when we go in San Hansinto, they did the entry to this business and this business right as we

[0:57:53] go in and it's real close. We're going in to the San Hasinto street and right in here we go to this business and write that I hope that they don't do this with this deal that they're trying to do here because it's going to be a mess and I hope that the future when they do this all these new houses they will do the you know all this parking in the back so the you know they won't have the hassle we're going through, you know, with the parking and I hope you consider that in the future. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Sylvia. Any more public comment? No, sir. All right. I have a Who' I get a first from? Harry or Tommy? You got a first from Tommy? Second from Absolutely. I'm sorry, Patrick. Hey, Aaron. On on that um So, Tom mentioned tax roles. It's currently on the tax roles, is it not? It is. It's just vacant property and so it's not really producing a whole lot of property taxes back. Has somebody already come forward asking to develop it if it's changed zoning? Is that why this request is up there? Yes, sir. They have they did a replat last month at planning commission as well as the first hearing of the the reszoning. So yes, they are planning to move forward this summer. Perfect. Thank you. Cool. Karen or Mary, any questions with that? We've got a first and a second. We've had public comment. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries 60. Item C, first reading and public hearing of an ordinance for Z25-16, a request for a zone change from the low-rise multif family residential zoning district to the general commercial zoning district located at 517 West 18th, lots 4 through 8 and lots 9 and 10 on a zone change from low-rise multif family multifamily residential zoning to neighborhood commercial zoning district. Aaron, you're on. Thank you, mayor. Uh Aaron Venoy, planning and development services director. This case is a resoning for

[0:59:56] this property right here. You can see that it fronts on Bryant uh backs up to Hudson and 18th Street. The address just happens to be off of 18th Street. Bryant obviously is one of our major uh commercial corridors and this is right before it starts hitting Houston heart to the south. Um this neighborhood is Blackshere. It is in district number four. Mr. Patrick Keelley. The vision plan is transitional just over an acre and it is a reszone from low-rise multif family and this says general commercial. It is actually um going to a general commercial at the front and neighborhood commercial here at the back and we'll show you that in just a moment. So again, we sent out notices as we do for all of our zoning cases. Um at the time of uh planning commission, we did not have any in support or any opposed. Uh we did have a couple of folks that came and just listened to see what it was. Their concerns were just protecting the neighborhood. Uh but there was no formal opposed or for at this time uh for this case. This is just looking at the lot uh looking back towards it. Right now it's being utilized um for vehicles storage uh for sale. Um there are some things that they will do to improve that over the time, but they're really trying to get the zoning correct because uh it is RM1 low-rise multif family. it has not developed that way for many, many years. The property owners have somebody that may want to now lease it or potentially buy it. And the first step is always getting the zoning correct. So again, here's that zoning map. You can see all the commercial areas that we have through there. There are just a few little residential areas, but then it turns back to commercial as you head south. You can see the vision plan is transitional. Uh transitional really means is how do you transition from this commercial corridor back over to the neighborhood? And that's where we're looking at these these lots um if you see these are all lots through here. These are lots through here as well. There's um four through 10 total. Nine and 10 back here. They're both uh 50 foot wide. That is where they're going to have the neighborhood commercial that

[1:01:59] matches up with the neighborhood commercial here. The front side is going to match up with the general commercial there. So currently um the surrounding area is commercial. It does front a major arterial. So it is a high visibility lot um lending to having some more heavy more commercial entities in that area. And so uh we we believe this will start helping that vacant lot develop in a in a more productive way. So staff recommends that we do go from the low-rise multif family residential to general commercial on the lots that are 4 through eight that front North Bryant Boulevard and recommends that lots 9 through 10 which are those back two lots about 100 ft into the property from Hudson Street to be neighborhood commercial which is a lower intensity commercial. Uh planning commission did see this on in April. Uh they did recommend approval uh 4 to zero. Um, and then we just have that uh general note that we have for things like that that there's already activities going on there that we just know that they will need to do a development review for those activities u within our zoning ordinance. With that, I'll be happy to answer any questions. I like to note any development here will have to go in front of a group, but and I'll throw this one back to Patrick here in a minute. It's but as I look at that, go back one slide if you can, Aaron. Yes, sir. That's a very busy street. And so how they the egress and everything ingress on that street. I'm curious how you're going to do that because we don't on the other side of the street we have the Chick-fil-A and the way they actually build their turn. We get some congestion in there. Do they have any discussion about how we're going to move forward with that here? Well, if they have access off of Bryant that is a text dot rightway, they would have to engage with text dot to get an appropriate access point from there. I would have to look back maybe at one of these. I don't think that they're utilizing it that way. The city does. This is the 18th Street. Uh we would have control of what the access would be there if they came through with simply just a simple parking lot permit to come and pave.

[1:04:01] Where would that actual approach come through uh and be able to start utilizing that lot in that area? Okay. Thank you, Patrick. Any questions? No. It uh I'm in favor of this personally, so I move that we approve it. All right. I've got first second. Got a second from Tommy. Any public comment? Uh Sylvia Martinez. Did you have anything? No. Okay. Are you good, Silia? I'm good. All right. Thank you. I've got a first and a second. And public comments been covered. All those in favor say I. All those opposed? None carry 60. With that, that will end the regular session. We've got a close session, which we don't have anything to go upstairs and discuss this point. It'll be followup and administrative issues. Uh 10A is consider uh we don't have anything in executive session. 10B announcements and considerations for f future agenda items. Karen Mary Patrick H He no sir what I would like to say is we need to look on the schedule for our um enterprise and general fund meetings for July. We need to get those scheduled. I would like for every council person to get a list of their appointments for all the open board vacancies and get those moved u as soon as possible. I would like to take the opportunity and this was something brought up by uh during the campaign of potentially one meeting per quarter being held in the evening that people can attend one council meeting. I think we'll try that at one per quarter uh to follow up on campaign promises not by myself but other people that I thought were very good ideas. And with that, is anybody else got any other future agenda items to add? So, can I get a motion to close? Second. We got a first and a second to close the meeting. The official meeting is closed. All the way. All those in favor? I I'm used to being the eye guy over there,

Captured 2026-07-26 · source: youtube.com/watch?v=JiC5fxmA5hA