Notes from November P&Z Meeting

The Planning & Zoning Commission met on Tuesday, November 3, 2009.  They had not met since August.

Commission members present were Gregg Michel, Chair; Alex Blue, Vice Chair; Richard Hawk; Bert Buys; Sandra Ethridge; Joe Edmond; and Mike McGlothing.  Members absent were Ron Hozza, Jerry Cotton, and Steve Ritchie.  Also present at the meeting were Council members Cynthia Massey and David Legendre, EDC President Ardie Garner, City Administrator Rick Schroder, Ethics Commission Member Blair Weaverm and Garrie Gillaspie.

Mike McGlothing agreed to be the secretary for P&Z since no one else had stepped forward to do it.

At 7:06 p.m. the public hearing was opened to give all interested persons the right to appear and be heard on proposed amendments to the zoning ordinance regarding allowed building heights in residental and commercial districts.

The first speaker was Garrie Gillaspie.  She said the current height of residential buildings was limited to two floors, each 11.5 feet, resulting in a total height of 23 feet.  The proposed amendments increase the maximum height to 30 feet (15 feet on each floor) increasing the allowed height by 7 feet.  The proposed amendments also increase the height of a commercial building to 40 feet, and do not include the height of a steeple, for instance.  She thinks that there should be some kind of limit on steeple height, roof pitch, etc.  She also suggested that the ordinances of other small Texas Hill Country towns should be reviewed with reference to building height limits to see how they compare to the limits being proposed by City Staff.

Ardie Garner also spoke about the proposed amendments.  She thinks Helotes already has some residential buildings that are 38 feet tall, but she couldn’t provide any specific examples.  She thinks commercial buildings should be even taller than 40 feet.  She said she thinks the City should take a survey of the buildings already in Helotes before they make a decision.

The hearing was closed at 7:15 p.m.

There will be another public hearing on these height amendments at the Council meeting scheduled for Thursday, November 12, 2009.

Rick Schroder said he was bringing these amendments to P&Z because the current ordinance does not make sense.

Some of these proposed amendments are: 

Building height is to be defined as the vertical distance from the lowest point on the finished ground floor to the highest point of the roof structure, including parapet walls, heating and ventilation equipment, and other mechanical equipment located on the roof.  Where the ground floor is at least 5 feet below the adjoining finished grade, the space shall be considered a basement and not considered the finished ground floor of the building.  Other architectural details unrelated to a roof’s function, such as a church steeple, are not included in the calculation of building height.

Single-family homes can have a maximum height of 30 feet (previously 23 feet), a maximum of two floors at 15 feet each (previously 11.5 feet each).

In multi-family residential development, no building shall exceed 40 feet in height (previously 35 feet).

In townhouse and garden home single-family residential development, no building shall exceed 30 feet in height (previously 35 feet).

In two-family residential development (R-2), no building shall exceed 30 feet in height (previously 23 feet).

In office and professional development, no building shall exceed 40 feet in height (previously 23 feet).

No commercial accessory buildings shall be more than 15 feet in height (previously 11.5 feet).

No buildings in B-2, B-3, B-4, and I-1 zoning shall exceed 40 feet (previously 23 feet).

In the Old Town Helotes Special District, commercial accessory buildings are allowed to be 40 feet in height (previously 23 feet), and residential accessory buildings are allowed to be 30 feet in height (previously 23 feet).

For points of comparison, the tower at the end of the new building going up next to the new CVS is 40 feet tall.  The lowest point on the finished ground floor to the top of the building (excluding the tower), measures 23 to 24 feet; the Helotes Crossing building (next to Public Storage) is 32 feet tall; the lighthouse-type tower at the Public Storage is 36 feet tall; the lighthouse tower of the new Children’s Lighthouse day care center is 32 to 33 feet tall.

Rick said he chose the proposed one-floor height of 15 feet based on his review of the ordinances of other small towns.  He couldn’t remember exactly which small towns, but he thinks they were small towns in the midwest and east (of the U.S.).  (What about other small towns in the Texas Hill Country??  That would provide a better comparison, I’d think.)

Helotes’ Building Inspector, Bruce Bealor, wrote a letter addressing these proposed height changes.  In it he stated, “The majority of the local ordinances [of ours and other similarly-sized towns] I have read limit the height of residences and commercial buildings in areas with limited fire protection resources to two stories or 35 feet.  The height includes equipment, parapet walls, antennas, etc.  For commercial buildings, 35 feet will allow for two usable floors with space between floors for equipment and wiring and space on a flat roof for HVAC equipment that can be shielded from sight with a parapet wall.”

When asked about adding height to a building by increasing the thickness of the foundation, Rick said that he didn’t think that anyone would increase the thickness of their foundation just to get a better view.

Gregg Michel was concerned that the wording of the ordinance was too informal, and Rick’s comparison between the old height requirements and the new proposed ones by saying that 30 feet is not so much different from 23 feet (when some of the amendments would allow an increase from 23 feet to 40 feet – a difference of 17 feet.)  Several changes were explained by “in my opinion” this or that, when, in fact, someone else could have a different opinion.  He also thinks that Rick determined the maximum heights allowable in the proposed amendments based on what is, what we already have in Helotes, not on what we think should be acceptable, and what is acceptable should be determined by Helotes’ master plan and what is considered the norm.

Apparently no one on P&Z agreed with Gregg, because no one had anything to say about the master plan, which absolutely should be considered when amending ordinances, and no one suggested increasing or decreasing any of the recommended height allowances.

A motion was made to recommend approval of the City Staff’s proposed amendments (as detailed above).  It was seconded and approved unanimously.  Rick will come up with a definition of a “floor,” not related to measurement but to use.  Architectural details, such as a church steeple, are not to be considered in building height; however, they are subject to complying with the Design Standards and approval by P&Z.

[In my experience on ARB (who enforced {word loosely used} the Design Standards before that task was given to P&Z), the Design Standards are rarely, if ever, enforced.  I'm not even sure they can be.  They outline (or suggest) things such as building design being "Hill Country" architecture, building materials being stone or stucco, roofs being standing seam metal, etc., but, off-hand, I don't recall anyone being forced to do any of those things.  Some builders want to comply, but if they didn't want to, they could always get variances.  So, in my opinion, to say that P&Z still has some control over the overall height of buildings through the Design Standards, doesn't really mean much.]

The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 5:38 pm and is filed under City Hall. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.