At the October 25, 2023 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, a workshop and discussion was held in relation to the Planning and Zoning Commission bylaws. The majority of the discussion was based on bylaw language which states "When a Commission Member has no legal obligation to abstain from voting, the Commission Member is prohibited from casting a vote of abstention and must cast an "aye or yes" vote or "nay or no" vote. This language was discussed as being unclear when in practice the abstention vote, when not legally required, is counted as a no vote. The Commission requested that staff review and provide modified language to ensure clarity.
Staff reviewed the City Council Rules of Conduct and Procedure in relation to how City Council views non legally obligated abstentions. From that review, staff is proposing to modify the Planning and Zoning Commission bylaws to be consistent with the language in the City Council rules and procedures. The following updated bylaw language is proposed:
When a Commission Member has no legal obligation to abstain from voting, then an abstention shall be recorded in the minutes as an abstention and shall procedurally be treated as a “no” vote.
The proposed language clearly identifies that if an abstention vote is made without a legal obligation that it will be treated as if the Commissioner voted "no".
At the October 11, 2023 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, staff presented a proposed Unified Development Code (UDC) amendment based on House Bill (HB) 3699 which provided provisions that gives the governing municipal body of Schertz the option to give administrative approval authority to staff in relation to subdivision plats. The proposed UDC amendment would grant staff the authority to approve subdivision plats. This proposed UDC amendment would modify the type of items that will be heard by the Planning and Zoning Commission to the following:
- The Commission would make recommendations on the following:
- Amendments to the Comprehensive Land Plan
- Zone Change Requests
- Specific Use Permit Requests
- UDC Amendments and establishing or amending a zoning district
- Development Agreements as set forth in the LGC and UDC
- If forwarded by the City Manager or his/her designee, the Planning and Zoning Commission would act on the following:
- Subdivision Master Plans,
- Site Plan,
- Plats to include: Preliminary Plat, Final Plat, Amending Plat, Minor Plat, Replat,
- Waivers related to Article 12, Subdivisions
- Appeals to Staff Determinations
At the October 11, 2023 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting a public hearing was held and a unanimous recommendation of approval for the UDC amendment was provided.
At the November 14, 2023 City Council meeting, Ordinance 23-S-29 was presented which if approved would amend the UDC in relation to administrative approval authority to staff in relation to subdivision plats. At this City Council meeting, a public hearing was held and City Council unanimously approved the first reading of the Ordinance. The final reading of this Ordinance is scheduled for the December 5th City Council meeting and if approved the updated UDC language and approval authority of subdivision plats will be modified effective the final reading.
Based on the proposed UDC amendment, if approved, no longer requiring subdivision plats (preliminary, final or replats) to be heard by the Planning and Zoning Commission, the necessity for two meetings per month has been reviewed. Based on research completed on the Planning and Zoning Commission agendas for the last several years along with surrounding cities meeting scheduled, staff is recommending that the bylaws be modified to reduce the regularly scheduled meetings to one (1) meeting per month. This would be consistent with the City of Cibolo, New Braunfels, Seguin, Selma, and Universal City all of which only meet once per month. In reviewing the previous years (2021, 2022, 2023) Planning and Zoning Commission agendas between 7 and 10 meetings each year have either been cancelled due to no agenda items or have only had plats listed for action.
By having the only Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, which staff recommends being the first Wednesday of the month, the applicant can assume that their item will be through both readings at City Council the following month, based on a typical meeting and process schedule. If the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting is scheduled for a different week, the applicant will no longer have a clear expectation of when their item would be heard by City Council. Additionally, if the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting is later in the month it could add an additional month onto the overall project timeline for final approval by City Counil. By having one (1) Planning and Zoning Commission meeting a month staff can create a calendar for the year which would identify which Planning and Zoning Commission meeting and associated City Council meetings and application would be on. This will assist applicants in knowing the timeline for their application and when to expect deadlines for their project. Staff feels this is an added benefit for the applicants and will add transparency on when items will be heard by the Commission and City Council which will also assist interested residents for a specific project.
Staff recommends amending the bylaws as follows:
Meetings shall generally be held on the first Wednesday of the month. Meetings will be cancelled if there are no items to be considered. The meeting schedule may be adjusted to account for holidays.
Based on added clarity for the Planning and Zoning Commissioners, staff recommends approval of amending the bylaws in relation to abstention votes. Additionally, based on the reduction in cases to be heard by the Commission, consistency with surround municipalities, and added clarity for the applicants and residents in relation to project public hearing schedules, staff recommends approval of amending the bylaws to have one (1) Planning and Zoning Commission meeting a month, and for the meeting to be scheduled the first Wednesday of the month. |