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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN AUG 05 1980 REGULAR SESSION CITY COUNCIL - CITY OF BEAUMONT HELD AUGUST 5, 1980 BE IT REMEMBERED that the City Council of the City of Beaumont , Texas, met in regular session this the 5th day of August , 1980 , with the following present : HONORABLE : Maurice Meyers Mayor Tom Combs , Jr . Councilman, Ward I Evelyn M. Lord Councilman, Ward II Calvin Williams Councilman , Ward III Wayne Turner Councilman , Ward IV Ray Riley City Manager Kenneth Wall City Attorney Myrtle Corgey City Clerk -000- The Invocation was given by Rabbi Norman Lipson, Temple Emanuel . The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Councilman Williams . -000- The following items of the Consent Agenda were considered : The Minutes of the regular City Council session held July 29, 1980; Resolution 80-260 accepting the bid of Norvell Wilder Supply Company for furnishing three check valves for repairs to the pump at the Mulberry Street Lift Station at a cost of $1 , 208 .70; and Resolution 80-261 accepting the bid of Vaughn and Associates for furnishing sporting equipment for use by the Parks and Recreation Department at $1 ,032 . The Consent Agenda was approved on a motion made by Councilman Combs and seconded by Councilman Turner . Question : Ayes : All Nayes : None -000- Ordinance No. 80-78 granting a specific use permit for expansion of . a cemetery located at 1990 Gill Street was considered : ORDINANCE NO. 80-78 ENTITLED AN ORDINANCE FOR THE ISSUANCE OF A SPECIFIC USE PERMIT FOR A CEMETERY FOR A 1 . 0 ACRE TRACT HEREIN DESCRIBED IN ACCORDANCE WITH A CEMETERY PLOT PLAN AND DRAINAGE PLAN. The ordinance was approved on a motion made by Councilman Lord and secon- ded by Councilman Williams . Question : Ayes : All Nayes : None -000- An ordinance changing the zoning from R-3 to I-2 for 9. 87 acres and from C-1 to I-2 for 8 . 5 acres at 5250 College Street (requested by Southern Iron and Metal Company) was considered : AN ORDINANCE ENTITLED AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 30 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF BEAUMONT, TEXAS , AND IN PAR- TICULAR THE BOUNDARIES OF THE ZONING DISTRICTS AS INDICATED UPON THE ZONING MAP OF BEAUMONT, TEXAS , BY CHANGING A 9. 87 ACRE TRACT OUT OF THE CHARLES -132- August 5 , 1980 WILLIAMS SURVEY, BEAUMONT , JEFFERSON COUNTY, TEXAS AS HEREINAFTER DESCRIBED , PRESENTLY ZONED R-3 TO I-2 ; BY CHAlNGING AN 8 . 5 ACRE TRACT OUT OF THE CHARLES WILLIAMS SURVEY, BEAUMONT, JEFFERSON COUNTY, TEXAS , AS HEREINAFTER DESCRIBED, PRESENTLY ZONED C-1 TO I-2; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND PROVIDING A PENALTY. A motion to approve the ordinance was made by Councilman Combs ; Councilman Turner seconded the motion. Because of protests involving this change request , the three-fourths rule for approval -- requiring four out of five positive votes -- was invoked. The ordinance failed to pass on the following vote : Question : Ayes : Mayor Meyers Nayes : Councilman Lord Councilman Combs Councilman Williams Councilman Turner -000- Ordinance. No. 80-79 authorizing execution of a contract for an option to purchase the former County T.B. Hospital property on Delaware Street (site to be acquired by the City for relocation of the Beaumont Art Museum - funded by the Museum at appraised value estimated at $255 ,000) was consid- ered : ORDINANCE NO. 80-79 ENTITLED AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTION OF AN OPTION AGREEMENT WITH JEFFERSON COUNTY FOR THE PURCHASE OF 19. 95 ACRES OF LAND IN THE FRENCH SUBDIVISION COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE JEFFERSON COUNTY TUBERCULOSIS HOSPITAL PROPERTY; AND PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY. The ordinance was approved on a motion made by Councilman Combs and secon- ded by Councilman Lord. Question : Ayes : All Nayes : None -000- Resolution 80-262 authorizing purchase of approximately 12. 9 acres of land in the Heflebower and Scott Subdivision , J. W. Bullock Survey, for the pro- posed Service Center site from James L. C. McFaddin , Jr. et ux at a cost of $120, 000. 00 was approved on a motion made by Councilman Turner and se- conded by Councilman Combs . Question : Ayes : All Nayes : None -000 Ordinance No. 80-80 accepting the bid of Bella Company for construction of street , drainage and sanitary sewer improvements along Buford and Carroll Streets (CAP Projects) at a cost of $1 ,976,429. 50 and authorizing transfer of funds was considered : ORDINANCE NO. 80-80 ENTITLED AN ORDINANCE TRANSFERRING $200, 000 FROM THE WATER IMPROVEMENT FUND TO THE STREET CONSTRUCTION FUND AWARDING A BID TO BELLA COMPANY OF BEAUMONT FOR THE BUFORD AND CARROLL STREET PROJECT; PROVIDING FOR SEVERA- BILITY AND PROVIDING FOR REPEAL. The ordinance was approved on a motion made by Councilman Combs and secon- ded by Councilman Williams. Question : Ayes : All Nayes : '_None -133- August 5, 1980 Resolution 80-263 increasing Roofing Contractor ' s bond requirements to $5 , 000. 00 and Building Contractor ' s bond requirements to $15,000 . 00 was approved on a motion made by Councilman Combs and seconded by Councilman Turner. Question : Ayes : All Nayes : None -000- Resolution 80-264 authorizing final payment of $229, 956.62 to F. Gatlin Asphalt Company for the 1979 Street Maintenance Project was approved on a motion made by Councilman Williams and seconded by Councilman Lord. Question : Ayes : All Nayes : None -000- Resolution 80-265 appointing Bishop Bernard Ganter & Idelfonso Gonzales to the Advisory Board of the Community Health Clinic for two-year terms was approved on a motion made by Councilman Williams and seconded by Councilman Turner. Question : Ayes : All Nayes : None -000- Resolution 80-266 authorizing payment to the Lower Neches Valley Authority (not to exceed $6, 234. 90) and Halliburton (not to exceed $2 ,825. 31) for emergency repairs to the LNVA Canal at the end of Scott Drive in accordance with conditions of an easement granted to the City was approved on a motion made by Councilman Turner and seconded by Councilman Williams. Question : Ayes : All Nayes : None -000- Councilman Williams resigned as Mayor Pro Tem because of the start of the new school session and his increased workload. -000- Mr . Rudolph Antoine , 4640 St . Louis , addressed Council to question the cost of the storm drainage for the proposed Buford/Carroll Streets pro- ject , the collapse of the storm drainage system at Hemlock and Grant Streets , and called for better Parks & Recreation communication concern- ing the south end of Beaumont and tennis courts being constructed. Mr . J. C. Leggett , 1849 Washington Boulevard, again expressed his con- cern about the poor drainage along Washington Boulevard. -000- There being no further business, the meeting was recessed before continu- ing with the City Council Workshop Session. -000- I , Myrtle Corgey , City Clerk of the City of Beaumont , Texas , certify .that the above is a true copy of the Minutes of the regular City Council session held August 5, 1980. Myrtle Corgey City Clerk -134- August 5, 1980 EXCERPT FROM REGULAR CITY COUNCIL SESSION HELD AUGUST 5 , 1980 CITY MANAGER RAY RILEY: Item 2 is an ordinance "ENTITLED AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 30 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF BEAUMONT , TEXAS , AND IN PARTICULAR THE BOUNDARIES OF THE ZONING DISTRICTS AS INDICATED UPON THE ZONING MAP OF BEAUMONT , TEXAS , BY CHANGING A 9. 87 ACRE TRACT OUT OF THE CHARLES WILLIAMS SURVEY , BEAUMONT , JEF- FERSON COUNTY, TEXAS , AS HEREINAFTER DESCRIBED , PRESENTLY ZONED R-3 TO I-2 ; BY CHANGING AN 8 . 5 ACRE TRACT OUT OF THE CHARLES WILLIAMS SURVEY , BEAUMONT , JEFFERSON COUNTY, TEXAS, AS HEREINAFTER DESCRIBED, PRESENTLY ZONED C-1 TO I-2 ; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND PROVIDING A PENALTY. " I believe that the City Attorney might have a report concerning the protests which have been re- ceived by property owners in the area which would require the three-fourths vote . CITY ATTORNEY KENNETH WALL: Yes , our planner and the engineer for the landowners met this morning to re- concile the computations of the area included within the protest and the ordi- nance . . . there is sufficient protest to invoke the rule of three-fourths of the Council must approve the ordinance for it to be enacted . UNIDENTIFIED FROM AUDIENCE : . . . . . . couldn ' t hear you . CITY ATTORNEY: I 'm sorry . I stated there are sufficient protests to invoke the rule that three-quarters of the Council members must vote in favor of the ordinance for it to be enacted . UNIDENTIFIED FROM AUDIENCE : I thought it was four-fifths? CITY ATTORNEY : Well , it is three-fourths but it would take four out of five votes . MAYOR MAURICE MEYERS : On Item 2 , would you speak to the ordinance and the footage we are speaking of now so that all of Council could be clear on that point - the setback? CITY ATTORNEY : Well , the ordinance that ' s before you now changes the zoning only for that portion along Chamberlin Drive . There is a 140-foot setback as proposed in the amended application made by the landowners and that is still sufficient to invoke the three-fourths rule . ' MAYOR MEYERS : Very good. This is Item 2 . Is there a motion to approve this ordinance changing the zoning from R-3 to I-2 and C-1 to I-2? EXCERPT FROM REGULAR CITY COUNCIL SESSION HELD AUGUST 5 , 1980 Page 2 COUNCILMAN TOM COMBS , JR. : So move . MAYOR MEYERS : Do we have a second? COUNCILMAN WAYNE TURNER : Second . MAYOR MEYERS : We have a motion and a second. I would open it up for discussion or any questions or any comments that anyone on Council would care to make . COUNCILMAN COMBS : Yes , I ' d like to say something. The easiest thing to do whenever you 've got a group of neighbors that is very much opposed to something that is going on in the neighborhood - the easiest temptation many times is to give in to the pressure , so to speak, and everyone in the neighborhood I believe has just reason for being upset with the operations of Southern Iron and Metal over there . I know that in the short time I ' ve been on the Council , I ' ve been upset . But when you have an ordinance that you can vote on , it gives you an opportunity to either improve a situation or leave the situation as it is . It ' s an opportunity you hate to pass up . One thing I ' d like to say is that , if the ordinance is voted down today , then Southern Iron and Metal will be no better . You will still have the problems with explosions ; you will still have the problems with truck traffic and many of the other things that have caused you to be as upset as you are and you ' ve got every right to . And , if the ordinance is passed today , there is a stipulation that has been added in there that will outlaw them ever adding an additional shredder to the site . This is something that a subsequent Council comes back later on and approve q a zone change, that they can approve a zone change over there without any agreements from them. And, so , there is always the potential of something worse happening but under the ordinance that is proposed today , it has a clause in there that would prohibit any additional shredder being added and that seemed to be one of the primary concerns . It also prohibits truck traffic down Chamberlin Drive and to leave the situation as it is would be awfully short-sighted and would also leave a lot more vunerable to expansion later on and I understand your opposition to it but , you know, doing the easy way out isn ' t always the best way . So , I am going to have to support the ordinance . COUNCILMAN CALVIN WILLIAMS : I think that I would agree up to a point with Councilman Combs ' comments ex- cept that it seemed to me that the other side of the coin is that what you do sometimes is reward people for what has been wrong in the past . The history of Southern Iron would suggest that they should not be rewarded as such and I have nothing at all against Southern Iron and businesses in general . I think there is a need for Southern Iron to expand but then , when you consider to expand at the expense of whom , it becomes a very profound question . And , you mention the shredder . There is some doubt in my mind as to whether this was not an intense use and perhaps even in violation of the grandfather clause and nonconforming use as I understand it . And , if so , this question needs to be addressed in and of itself , but I think that the basic thing is that do you reward someone whose history has not been as it should have been . There could have been perhaps a good neighborly attitude on the part of Southern Iron with respect to the neighbors who are here out of protest and you are probably right . They are not going to fade away . You are still going to have the same situation existing out there . There is some doubt in my mind based on the history of Southern Iron up to this point as to whether in fact they will be any better neighbors as a result of what we are granting and there is some doubt even on that point as to whether we will be actually be granting . We EXCERPT FROM REGULAR CITY COUNCIL SESSION HELD AUGUST 5 , 1980 Page 3 COUNCILMAN WILLIAMS continued : are simply passing it on to the Appeal Board as to whether in fact this thing will actually be a condition on which they will be able to operate and so even that is some doubt . But , then , too , the basic question and underlying fault in my mind is will it be any better - period - even with the conditions that are being imposed on them. And , for that reason , I just cannot bring myself to support it and then , of course , the situation that occurred there very recently suggests to me that maybe this thing will get even worse than better , even though the conditions have been imposed on them. I just cannot , in good conscience , vote for it . COUNCILMAN EVELYN M. LORD : I ' d like to say something , too , because I feel that even if we do have it . . . by the way , I just saw, for the first time , this letter that we have from Southern Metal and, of course, the addition of the shredder as one of the things that will not be allowed has happened just this morning , so we haven ' t had a lot of time to think about it . But , I have worked long and hard , as has each member of Council , trying to resolve where we are and I feel very strongly that if you zone something heavy industrial that you can not expect . . . they then become a legal usage and you cannot expect to prohibit the kind of usage that goes along with heavy industrial and even if we were success- ful in having the Board of Adjustment do this and prohibit successfully an additional shredder , I don ' t see how we can reach out far enough to prohibit every kind of heavy industrial use . And , I intend , because of this , to vote no on this . MAYOR MEYERS : Are there any more comments from Council? COUNCILMAN TURNER: I ' d like to comment as to the alternatives of the situation that we are faced with . I think it ' s sad when you don ' t have a good alternative . Quite honestly , in trying to determine the best solution to this problem, I don ' t ' like either of our choices . I especially don 't like the situation of Southern Iron remaining as it is right now. I think that; the property owners out there deserve better from their neighbors , though they are industrial - industries can be good neighbors, too . The choice of allowing Southern Iron to continue status quo is not going to resolve the residents' problems out there . There is nothing that we as your City Council can do to enforce any of the stipu- lations that are now a part of this zoning request that perhaps we could use and will use to make them a better neighbor for you . The neighborhood has voiced much opposition and we hear the opposition. I , for one , hope you under- stand why I am going to vote for the zone change and that ' s because right now I cannot do anything . I can make no promise to you as to how City Council is going to make sure that they are going to remain good neighbors for you . I think that what the Company has stated here is that they do in fact want to make sure that they are going to come around and become good neighbors and without some type of a hammer over their heads , I couldn ' t honestly tell you this afternoon that we as your Council. could respond in any way . MAYOR MEYERS : Are there any other comments from Council? Any other questions or discussion or anything else that Council would care to direct to the Manager or to the Attorney? EXCERPT FROM REGULAR CITY COUNCIL SESSION HELD AUGUST 5 , 1980 Page 4 COUNCILMAN WILLIAMS : Well , I think , Mayor , that it is incumbent upon Council and staff that how many of these type situations and, I am sure that it won ' t be to this magni- tude , but I ' ve said over and over again that in a City that if you have if you have Zoning . . . Planning and Zoning , that it means exactly that . I don ' t think you can have just zoning without planning and I think it ' s incum- bent upon the City, City Council and its staff , to review these type situa- tions and to make sure, as best we can , that we are not faced with a similar type situation in the future. I think that if this is a trend and that ' s another thing that disturbs me here is that are we not setting a precedent - and we ' ve already discussed whether or not precedents are good or bad. I think in this instance here it could be bad because if we have other noncon- forming uses in the City such as this and then all that the Company has to do and might even have expanded to the degree that Southern Iron or the in- tent might be even more than what it was originally - that all they have to do is come in with a list of conditions and say these things we will agree to do if you allow us then to expand and often times at the expense of the neighbors again . I think this is something that we need to be on guard against as long as we say that the City of Beaumont has a zoning ordinance and I think this is something that , if nothing else is learned , this is a lesson that ought to be learned here and I would suggest very strongly .that we take a look at it through staff for other instances such as we might ex- perience . MAYOR MEYERS : Are there any other comments? If not , I would offer just my own personal expression which I have stated and stated to those I spoke with and I think without question we have a clear cut example of industry serving as a poor neighbor . I think that opportunities since 1950 have been clearly evident for this company to come forward of its own initiative and try to do some- thing to , if nothing else , look better . I am distressed with the fact that when you deal with the future you have to deal with the past and so today I am thinking about what we can do to make it better in the future and I think we have an opportunity to - one , after recognizing , again , my opinion , we have had a bad neighbor . I have never heard anyone speak kindly of that facility from the standpoint of its appearance and how it is looked upon in , the community . But , I think it is in the best interests of the community and in the best interests of the people there , unless Council were to con- sider some other action and that only other action would be taking no action today and asking this company to put up first and be willing to show us what they ' ll do before they will receive consideration for the zoning request . Since this consideration doesn ' t appear to be there , my support in favor of the zoning change would be because I feel it ' s in the best interest of the community recognizing that it ' s a situation that shouldn ' t have existed but has and to leave it alone would not make it any better . Are there any other comments that anyone would care to add? If not , we will call for the vote . This is item 2 . It is the ordinance that would change zoning from R-3 to I-2 and C-1 to I-2 at 5250 College Street . The four-fifths rule is in ef- fect . Those in favor of the motion that would change the zoning , signify by saying aye . AYES : Mayor Meyers , Councilman Combs , and Councilman Turner MAYOR MEYERS : ' Opposed? NAYES : Councilman Lord and Councilman Williams . MAYOR MEYERS : The motion does not carry and the zoning change is denied . END OF EXCERPT .