City Council Preview – November 13, 2012
Your City Council will meet on Tuesday, November 13 at 3pm in the Work Session Room at City Hall at 215 E. McKinney Street. We’ll begin in Closed Session prior to attending to two items in an open Work Session and having action on two other items during a Special Called Session. You can find the entire agenda along with back-up information by clicking here.
GAS DRILLING ORDINANCE
We will have our second round of closed sessions and work sessions on this important topic. To access an abundance of details about this process, please visit our Gas Well Inspections Division website. You might also find helpful information and perspective on the Denton Stakeholder Drilling Advisory Group’s website. The council’s discussion on this ordinance has only just begun – we were intentionally sparse with our comments last week (as I predicted in last week’s council preview post) due to our ongoing research and discussions of our legal framework. You can expect us to dig into things more considerably this week. In fact, I’m expecting that at least another work session will be created in order to give us ample time to do our due diligence with this ordinance. As things stand now, this would be the last work session prior to the day of a scheduled vote. My list of questions and suggestions is growing by the minute and I imagine my colleagues lists are as well.
Speaking of my list of questions, I’m copying below from a chart I’ve created with major subject areas of interest for further inquiry to give you an idea of what’s on my mind:
| ISSUE/TOPIC |
| Questions from Nov 6 worksession |
| Vested Rights or Preemption provisions |
| Zoning |
| Cathodic Protection |
| Protected Uses |
| Setback |
| Reduction of Setbacks |
| Open Pits, frac pits, processed water pits |
| Closed loop systems |
| Land Farming |
| Vapor Recovery Units |
| Green Completions and Flaring |
| Water Conservation, Use, and Recycling |
| Air, water, and soil testing pre- and post-drilling |
| Green or low toxicity drilling fluid |
| Low-bleed or no-bleed pneumatic valves and fittings |
| Compressor Stations |
| TIME LIMITS: How long to permits or applications for permits last? |
| Timeline for unpermitted wells |
| Establish an Incentive Program for unpermitted wells |
| Amendment to State Law 245 |
| Public Access to Information |
EVERS PARK BRIDGE AND TRAIL PROJECT
TxDOT has put out a call for projects for their Transportation Enhancement Program. We will be discussing the possibility of proposing a project to create a bike and pedestrian trail connecting Evers Park, Evers Park Elementary School, Strickland Middle School, and North Branch Library to the McKamy Evers Estate and North Point subdivisions to the north. This project would also extend the hard surface trail north to the UNT Discovery Center and North Lakes Park, and south to connected with the planned bicycle lanes on Windsor and Hinkle Streets and the existing Cooper Creek Trail. Check out a map of all this below (click the image to see it in full size)…
LINDA McNATT ANIMAL CARE AND ADOPTION CENTER FACILITY
As most of you know, Denton, in partnership with the Denton Animal Shelter Foundation, is on a path to create a new center to care for abused, neglected, and stray animals. Check out the Animal Shelter Foundation website for more details on this exciting project. We will be approving the expenditure of funds to move forward with the design phase of the project. The Committee on the Environment, of which I am a member, voted to recommend that the council consider pursuing LEED certification of this facility.
As always, if you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me at kevin.roden@cityofdenton.com or 940.206.5239.
Welcome to Denton, Food Trucks!
The Denton City Council unanimously voted in favor of new food truck rules on Tuesday night aimed at opening our city to this type of business. If you are a current food truck operator in another city or an up-and-coming food truck operator, here’s what you should know:
CLICK HERE for a link to the Mobile Food Establishment Permit Packet and checklist
CLICK HERE for a link to the new ordinance
As was evident from our first food truck festival held just a couple weeks back, there is a real, demonstrated demand for this food option in town. Check out the picture above taken by DFW Food Truck Foodie, who also wrote this great write-up of the evening.
There are also several opportunities for people in other businesses to play along. Perhaps you want to create Denton’s first food truck park? Maybe you want to create the first commissary by which such operators and other emerging chefs and bakers can base their operations? Maybe you own a business and have extra parking lot space in an area already zoned for restaurants and you want to host food trucks on your property from time to time? Perhaps you want to begin inviting food trucks to be a part of your event or party? Many new options have opened up…
The council has also committed to reviewing these new rules after 6 months. Our goal with that is to assess what changes need to be made and to discover any unintended consequences of the new ordinance. This is our first go at it, so there will no doubt be growing pains. Please keep us informed of problems with this ordinance so that we can review that in 6 months.
As always, let me know if you have any questions or comments – kevin.roden@cityofdenton.com or 940-206-5239.
City Council Preview – November 6, 2012
While many Americans tune in to their favorite cable news network eagerly awaiting the results of Tuesday’s Presidential election, local democracy will continue to be operating in Denton at our City Council meeting. We kick things off with a special Closed Session at 3pm, followed by a 4:30pm Work Session (open to the public), followed by our 6:30 Regular Session at City Hall on E. McKinney Street.
Click here to see the full agenda for Tuesday’s meeting along with back-up material. Here are a couple items of particular interest…
FOOD TRUCK ORDINANCE UP FOR VOTE
It has been over a year since council first called to amend our food ordinance in order to open up the city of Denton to food trucks. We had our last marathon work session on the proposed ordinance on Monday afternoon and all signs are pointing to successful passage of this item (Consent Agenda Item 4M). Many of you saw the success of Denton’s first food truck festival – Friday Nite Bites – on October 26. Let me take a second to recap just what that event did for our community…
One of the main goal of the events was to help promote the return and expansion of Friday night service. DCTA has just informed us that they carried 2030 passengers on Friday night, a 31% increase in typical Friday night traffic. We also made sure to promote DCTA in all the marketing and media coverage before and after the event.
We are estimating about 3000 people attended the event – an obvious showing of interest in food trucks. Lines for each truck were consistently about an hour wait.
Most of the trucks sold out before the night was over. We demonstrated that Denton is a market worth taking seriously. A prominent blogger who follows the DFW food truck scene said the Denton event was “one of the best food truck festivals I have attended,” and reported great reviews from the operators.
Several great earned media stories were generated in the lead-up to this event. Here are a couple that came out recently:
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D Magazine “Side Dish” writer posted this comparing us to other cities trying to get in on the food truck craze – http://sidedish.dmagazine.com/2012/10/26/food-trucks-are-hitting-the-streets-in-denton-keller-and-carrollton-denton-foodie-truck-festival-tonight/
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DFW Food Truck Foodie blog put this review out after our event – http://networkedblogs.com/E0Yoi
I’ll be posting more details after the vote, but if you are a current food truck operator or have one in the works, you’ll want to be among the first to get your annual permit from Denton to get in on the ground floor of this emerging market in our great city.
GAS DRILLING ORDINANCE
Tuesday will mark the first time the city council will have significant conversations on the substance of the proposed natural gas drilling ordinance. Check out the Gas Well Inspection Division website for all the details of the proposed ordinance as it now stands.
Several voice have been a part of this process over the last several months – concerned citizens from all perspectives, industry representatives, environmental organizations, the city’s Task Force, the Planning and Zoning Commission, and many more. One group in particular, the Denton Stakeholder Drilling Advisory Group (DAG) has even been logging their thoughts and suggestions on a regular basis – check it out here.
For those paying attention to this discussion, here are some words of caution if you come out on Tuesday afternoon. First, while our meeting starts at 3pm, it begins with a Closed Session and we aren’t scheduled to come back into a public Work Session until at least 4:30pm. Don’t come too early. Second, council will receive the first part of two lengthy and significant briefings on the legal landscape surrounding this issue during Tuesday’s meeting. Because the second part of this discussion will not take place until the November 13 meeting, there is a high possibility that you will be underwhelmed with our public discussion of the issue this week. Prudence dictates that we have a thorough briefing on all the pertinent issues prior to requesting precisely what we want and what we do not want in this ordinance. You will most likely find a more significant discussion of issues during next week’s Work Session. It is at that time that you will get a good sense for the direction of the council and just what we are looking for in this ordinance. Please be patient as we do our due diligence on this important topic.
Now, if you haven’t voted, do it on Tuesday. And then come back to the polls in May for a much more important vote – the 2013 City Council elections…
Food Truck Line-up for Friday Night
This Friday will bring about two long-awaited things to Denton – a cold front and a bunch of food trucks! Join us from 5pm to 10pm at the Downtown Denton Transit Center for Friday Nite Bites, Denton’s first food truck festival. If you haven’t yet, go here to see my blog post about this event on the Denton Convention and Visitor Bureau’s website. Also, check out today’s write-up in the Denton Record-Chronicle.
I’m writing this to acquaint you with the trucks we have lined up for Friday night. Start fasting now so that you can try all 10 that evening…
THE PICKLED CARROT
Facebook – @ThePkldCarrot
Denton-based! Already becoming a favorite in town. Vietnamese street food, Banh Mi, and a local cucumber limeade to pair.
SHIITAKE SWERVE
Facebook – @ShiitakeSwerve
Denton-based! Vegeterian soul-food gourmet tacos and sandwiches. It will open your mind.
CRAZY FISH
Facebook – @CrazyFishUSA – website
Sushi on a food truck, kids. They tout their specialty sauces as a secret to their success.
BOMBAY CHOPSTIX
@bombayfood – website
One of the newest trucks to hit the streets of DFW – fusion of the best of South and East Asian street food brought to the West.
THE BUTCHER’S SON
Facebook – @TheButchersSon – website
Gourmet sandwiches, sliders, and more – most with a sausage connection. I tried 3 of their sliders recently and you should, too.
THREE LIONS
Facebook – @ThreeLionsTruck – website
England-inspired cuisine. Fish and chips, curry, meat pies. Friday’s weather will pair quite well with their menu.
ROCK and ROLL TACOS
Facebook – @randrtacos – website
A tasty, gourmet twist on the traditional street taco. No food truck festival is complete without a taco option and these guys won out.
GANDOLFO’S
Facebook – @Gandolfosdallas
Serving up all your pastrami favorites in this New York-inspired deli on a truck.
CUP CAKIN MACHINE
Facebook – @CupCakinMachine – website
We made sure we had two dessert-based trucks. You like cupcakes? You’ll love them – check out their flavors this week on their website.
ROCKSTAR BAKESHOP
Facebook – @Rockstarbakes – website
Gourmet whoopie pies and premium small-batch ice cream options. Check out their site for the Fall flavors.
Fixing Democracy – the Committee for Citizen Engagement
There are several council committees, comprised of three council members each, which are designed to provide greater focus and work on a particular area. A few months ago, I proposed that we create a Committee for Citizen Engagement. The Council voted unanimously to create it and we met on Friday, October 12 for the first time to begin mapping out an ambitious agenda aimed at finding more avenues for involving our citizens with the policies and processes of their city government. I am proud to chair the committee along with my fellow council members Dalton Gregory and Jim Engelbrecht.
In the next couple of months, we will be developing a list of goals, some short-term and some long-term, prioritizing them and presenting them to entire council for further direction and discussion. I want to provide you with our initial list, in no particular order, and seek feedback from you on what needs to be added to this…
- Use the Committee for Citizen Engagement to advise the council and staff on citizen engagement relating to major council policy decisions.
- Review City Council meeting norms and policies – are we as innovative as we can be in order to involve the public in our decision making? Look at agendas, searchable minutes and videos, postscripts with vote totals, use of new tech tools to get feedback, etc.
- Review how we utilize our Boards and Commissions – are we making the best use of our citizen volunteers and experts?
- How can we better engage and involve our neighborhoods?
- Review of EngageDenton.com – are we utilizing all the potential of this great feedback tool?
- Review of TRAK-IT and allowing access to citizens
- Council District-specific citizen reports on a regular basis (gather info by council district on several levels: building permits, crime stats, street closures and work, money spent, new businesses, development projects, code enforcement issues, etc.)
- How can we work to increase voter info and participation?
- Pursue an open data policy
- How can we better involve our youth?
- Develop a 311 system
- How can we better involve our citizens in the budgeting process?
- Review of the Public Communication Office
- Identify unengaged segments of our population and develop plans to engage them better (ethnically, geographically, socio-economically, etc.)
What would you add to this list?