Council deadlocks on heated notice proposal

By David Wilfong

Herald-Banner Staff

There was only one action item on the agenda for Monday night's Rockwall City Council meeting, but that lone proposal raised temperatures sufficiently as the council deadlocked at 3-3 with one member absent on a measure to increase the proximity for which individual notices would be sent to property owners near an area where a zoning change or special use permit was being petitioned before council.

Councilmember Matt Scott brought the proposal to the table, suggesting that property owners within 1,000 feet of a proposed zoning change would be sent individual notices from the city through the mail. Current standards require that property owners within 200 feet receive individual notices.

Scott explained that he had brought the measure up once before and it had failed. He said that he thought the makeup of the council had changed significantly and that he wanted it brought up for a vote again.

"It was something that I wanted to change when I got on the council," Scott said. "I'd had a situation where I didn't get notice of something that was changed near where I live and it affected me and it just seemed to me that our notice of 200 feet adjacency to a proposed zoning change was real limited given the fact that certain businesses can have a much greater impact on an area than the 200 feet immediately surrounding it."

Scott then explained that he brought the measure bach up after a recent situation where a auto repair center had tried to get a permit to open at the shopping center on State Highway 66 and Lakeshore Drive near the shoreline of Lake Ray Hubbard. The measure first passed the council with a vote of 4-3, but citizen complaints led the council to reverse its decision on second reading with the permit being denied 5-1. At the time Scott had remarked that, though he voted against the measure both times, if he had been the petitioner he would have had a negative view of the city for reversing its vote. He also said that if a wider area of residents had been notified of the first meeting, more of the opposition to the special use permit would have been voiced during the first reading.

Due to a prior request, Bill Bricker, a local developer who had served on the Planning and Zoning Commission, was allowed to address the council of the issue. Bricker said that he felt that 1,000 feet was excessive. He added that such notice was also published in the newspaper and available online. He said he believed that taking the area of notice out too far could create undue concern with property owners that he termed as being "beyond the horizon" of potential effects of a zoning change. He said that during past P&Z meetings, he had property owners who showed up at the meeting only because they thought they were required to come because of the notice.

"I think that most people like me, who have an interest in the general welfare and development of the city are constantly surveying the many means of gathering information about these processes and like me tonight, will come to the meetings to make their opinions public," Bricker said.

Scott later rebutted that assertion.

"I don't dispute that there are other ways to get information," Scott said. "I think you're the exception, not the rule. I don't think most folks are looking to see what's going on. Most folks are too busy with family and work and a myriad of other things. And the only way they find out about something is if they're notified and if it's going to directly affect them.

"We have a town of 35,000 and in the last election we had less than a thousand people vote."

Councilmember Margo Nielsen then moved in support of a staff recommendation for a "tiered" notification based on property acreage and to have staff review the fee structure and return to council with a policy statement in writing for a final council vote.

Scott seconded the motion, telling Bricker that the proposed notice system outlined by the city staff was far less than what he had originally asked for.

City Planning Director Robert LaCroix also showed the council a web-based notification system that he found in use by the City of Frisco that featured an interactive map of the city in which zoning change areas and special use permits are highlighted in coded colors and the web surfer can click on the area for details of any issues before the council. LaCroix said that he believed such a system could be implemented in Rockwall in the spring to assist in keeping citizens informed.

LaCroix aslo noted that there are 2,000 subscribers to the city's "E-News" mailing list and that the city's agendas are distributed that way as well.

"Honestly, I think the notice is a good thing, but it's gone way beyond that in the last few years," LaCroix said. "I think we're getting way more 'global' with it for the entire city."

Mayor Bill Cecil said that he could support a review of the fee structures but that he had concerns about raising the 200-foot limit.

"I think it could be very confusing," Cecil said. "I did not support it on the last time it came up. With E-News and the website and social media I think there's less need there's less need to expand that than we've had in the past. I would really like to see this posted on the website ... which it is not now. I do know that it goes out in the E-News, so that covers that. At some point I really think we need to look at social media. But I think we have a good standard. I think it works well."

Councilmembers Glen Farris and Cliff Sevier then voiced opposition to changiung the city's requirements as well.

Farris quipped that he was glad social media had been brought up twice before he got the microphone.

"It's a less expensive way to notify the citizens," Farris said. "According to Robert (LaCroix), it's a more efficient way to notify the citizens. He said most of the citizens knew about a particular issue in their area before the notices went out. I'm not going to advocate spending any more money for notices. It is important that people are notified. And I believe the 200 feet rule is adequate with that. I believe with the city moving forward with its social media and other methods of getting the information out that you'll find more of our citizens will be exposed to this."

Sevier said he didn't really see much of a change since the council looked at the issue in 2007. He said that regardless of where the notification line is drawn there will be someone wanting it to go further.

"The one that Matt (Scott) brought up was a good case," Sevier said. "There was another one that was brought up that I thought was absolutely totally the opposite. That was, we didn't notify the people in the county when we wanted to do something in the city and they were all upset. It can get to a point where there's no end. Two-hundred feet, 400 feet, a thousand feet — it doesn't matter how far you go out, the person just on the other side of that line is always going to say, 'It's only 50 more feet away.'"

Scott immediately challenged the position of Cecil, Farris and Sevier.

"I guess it just bothers me," Scott said. "I never heard elected officials consistently say they want to stop, or impede, getting information to their citizens. And that's what I hear the three of you doing for the second time on this issue. I don't dispute that social media is a wonderful way to get information out. It's also a wonderful way to get misinformation out, as every member of this council is fully aware. And I think it's so embarassing to say that we're going to rely on somebody's Facebook page to put up notice of something that the City of Rockwall is doing. I think that's our responsibility. So, it's just disappointing to me that elected officials are concerned about giving notice to their citizens. That's disappointing to me as a council person and a citizen."

Mayor Pro Tem Sweet also said he took exception.

"I'm with you, and I supported our direction in terms of moving forward with communicating with our folks that we represent — our citizens — with social media ... as far as social media aspects are concerned," Sweet said. "I think we should definitely figure out a way to do that."

Sweet added that he also felt that the auto repair case illustrated the need to get more citizen input up front, and reminded the council that the motion was only to get the council to draft a resolution and review fee structures which would then come back to the council for a vote.

"I don't think that moving forward and asking for the information ... I'm trying to put my arms around why in the world you wouldn't want to know how that's going to go," Sweet concluded.

Sevier and Farris both responded to Scott's criticism.

"I guess that when you sit here in front of the citizens you pick and choose the words that you feel are most appropriate to make the other people feel like they're less than efficient in the job that they're trying to do for the community well," Sevier said. "I don't totally agree with the words that are picked in this case. 'Not caring' is a pretty significant word to use about the citizens that we sit here and try to represent. I can just think back, and I haven't been here as long as Matt (Scott), nor Bill(Cecil), nor Margo (Nielsen), but I can look at many of 200-foot notices that went out and there was times we would get one reply out of 60 sent out — no replies out of 100 sent out. I don't think that we're not doing our job informing the people. I think that Robert (LaCroix)'s correct in what he said with the e-mails that go out, with the Rockwall water (bill) — and we depend on it a lot, we use that a lot on everything — for notification. For big items, for important items for our city we use that also as a notification. So I think that with the electronic stuff that we have and everything that we're doing — we're looking at cutting costs — this is a great way to reduce costs. I don't know what the cost would be if we moved it to a thousand feet. But I could just about assure you if the same people were bringing it up at a thousand feet, and they happened to be 50 feet on the other side of that, and they wanted to put a big store or something near their house, they would come in here and they would say, 'You know, I was just 50 feet away from that and I wish I had gotten a notification, cause I sure wouldn't want that in my back yard.' I don't thinbk that you're ever going to get to a point where it's gonna end."

Farris made a point to clarify his endorsement of social media.

"Matt, I understand that there's a lot of social media out there that's misleading or incorrect," Farris said. "However, the social media that I'm referring to, and I think that everybody else is referring to, is the social media that this city generates. What it generates, that goes out on our Facebook — should we decide to use that — and our Twitter, and our blog, etc., will be the truth. It will not be the untruth. It will say, 'There's a zoning request change on X property.' I think that's important. And I think in this economic time I favor giving that venue a chance to see if it works before I give this venue (expanded notification) a chance to work.

"Second of all, apathy is the key to me, because as I've sat on this council for three-ish years, like Cliff said, there'll be one return. There'll be no returns. There'll be three returns. It's apathetic.

"However ... I do note ... and number three, it is my job as a council member to represent every single citizen of this community — those that send in the cards, and those that don't. And in this case, the vast majority of those people don't send in their opinion. That's where my leadership comes, and that's where my job is."

Scott then responded that he felt the other councilmembers were citing the added costs of expanded notices before knowing exactly what that cost would be, then challenged Sevier for changing his vote on the auto repair center on the basis of complaints from residents living mnore than 200 feet away. Sevier responded that it was on the same basis that Scott had changed one of his votes on another issue. With Scott shaking his head and asking for clarification, Cecil halted the exchange and directed the council members to cast their vote.

A deadlocked vote with Sweet, Scott and Nielsen voting yes and Cecil, Sevier and Farris voting no meant that the motion died for lack of a majority.

Upon clarification, LaCroix noted that zoning changes and special use permits were sent out on E-News as part of the overall agandas of both the city council and the planning and zoning commission. Cecil moved for these notices to also be sent via E-News and website postings as separate individual items.

Scott questioned Cecil on the added measure.

"Following y'alls logic ... why?" Scott asked. "If the only people that count are the people who get notices within 200 feet, why do you care if anybody else in the city gets it?"

After a brief and terse exchange between Scott and Cecil, the vote was then taken with the measure passing 6-0.