O'Neil Ford, prominent Denton architect

This was supposed to be our first council meeting AFTER the election of this past weekend was over, but now that two of the three contested seats are headed for a run-off next month, I guess we are still in election season…

No doubt a time to catch a more lively city council meeting than normal. We will begin Tuesday’s meeting with a Work Session at 3pm in the Council Work Session Room at City Hall followed by a 6:30pm Regular Session in Council Chambers.  Click here to access the agenda online.

Here are items you might find interesting…

CONVENTION CENTER DISCUSSION
The city is in discussions with members of the O’Reilly family (yes, owners of the auto part store chain) and UNT about a potential partnership to build a city-owned convention center attached to a major hotel, all on UNT property where the old Radisson Hotel once stood.  A convention center has been the desire and goal of the city council, UNT and Chamber of Commerce for many years.  We will get a chance to hear a presentation from city staff and representatives from the O’Reilly Hospitality Group (the hotel development team) about the concept and direction of the project. While discussions have taken place, no action relating to this proposal has been taken by council.  Pay attention for more details on this project.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU HAD $283,676 TO SPEND FOR DENTON?
During last summer’s budget discussions, council was presented with a slight surplus of funds that had no specific designation.  Several council priorities had been identified, but it would be up to us to determine how (or even if) to spend this money.  Up to this point, no determination has been made.  We will be returning to this discussion at today’s meeting.  Some of the priorities we have already identified are as follows:

• Additional street maintenance funding
• Implementation of various elements of the bike plan
• Additional traffic signals
• DCTA downtown shuttle capital and operating costs
• Neighborhood improvement incentives

With a new round of budget talks about to commence, another option would be to roll this amount into initiatives for next year.  What are your thoughts about these or any other initiatives?  Let me know – kevin.roden@cityofdenton.com

ON STREETS and PUBLIC ART
As I’ve mentioned before, the city will be putting a $20 million bond program on the November 2012 ballot for citizens to decide whether to commit these funds to much needed repairs on our city’s streets.  We have not yet reached the goal of committing the necessary $10 million a year in order to maintain the current condition of our streets, so we are actively seeking more and creative options to increase street funding.  This bond program will help us to make a bit of headway into several street projects that have gone undone due to lack of funding.  What does any of this have to do with public art?

Back when the economy was sunnier and there was money to spend, the 2006 City Council passed a resolution that sought to take 2 to 4% of every future capital improvement program and direct it toward public art projects.  Though this bond program is specifically tailored to street projects, this resolution requires that we at least contend with its recommendation.  Council tasked the Citizen Bond Advisory Committee (a committee formed to help guide the city through the bond program) with providing a recommendation on whether or not to commit a portion of this bond program to public art funding.  The committee met last week and voted 11-8 to use some funding from this bond program for public art projects.  We now have to decide if we agree and, if so, how to place this on the ballot next November and, furthermore, how to decide what sort of art projects would be included.

I look forward to this discussion and have not made up my mind.  Let me preface some thoughts with this: our street situation is dire and getting worse every year.  It is quickly reaching a point of unsustainability.  The goal of us pursing a bond program was to tackle this.  The art issue was only thrown into the mix after the fact once the resolution was discovered by city staff.  It puts me and other council members in the awkward position of seemingly making a statement of our support, or lack thereof, of the value of art in our city in the midst of an issue that is very different in substance.

Let me make two important distinctions:

• one can support the arts, even the public funding of arts, and not support the use of funds from this bond program for such a purpose
• one can support the arts without supporting all instances of public art funding

However any of us come down on this issue, please realize that our direction does not, according to the distinctions above, indicate a lack of interest or support of the arts.  It is our duty as council members to make budget priorities and to do so in the best interest of the city as a whole.  I came to Denton to study jazz, I frequent art museums, I played in a local rock band, my 3 year old daughter listens to Tchaikovsky and goes to music class each Saturday, I host art shows and concerts at my house, I buy old houses and make my neighborhood look more beautiful, and I am convinced Denton will remain a cultural powerhouse with or without funding from this street bond program.

FAIRHAVEN REZONING
The Old Fairhaven Senior Living Facility, a reputed O’Neil Ford structure, has been purchased by a group who desires to rezone the property.  We listened to this application in a public hearing on May 1.  The neighborhood is concerned what may come of the property if it is rezoned, both because of how a change in use may affect the surrounding neighborhoods and whether or not it will encourage the developers to tear down the historic and culturally-meaningful structure.  After the planning office and Historic Landmark Commission investigated the historical value of the building (which has only been brought into question by the applicant – it has never been questioned in the past), we are now ready to discuss this issue once more.

To get more background on this, check out this DentonRC article written after our last meeting and this one written after the Landmark Commission meeting on the subject.

THE PEDESTRIAN/BIKE BRIDGE OVER LOOP 288 IS COMING (and will even have a name!)
We will have the chance to approve a contract to construct this long awaited connector over Loop 288 to complete the rail trail that runs parallel to the DCTA A-Train line.  We will also have the opportunity to vote on a proposal from former council member Charlye Heggins to name the bridge after Martin Luther King, Jr.

As always, if you have thoughts or questions, please contact me at kevin.roden@unt.edu or 940-206-5239.  You can also follow me on twitter or facebook.

As I stated in my preview write-up, this meeting was a 2nd Tuesday Session and, as such, there were no action (i.e. “voting”) items on the agenda.  It is a chance for the council to be briefed on various issues and to provide feedback and direction to the city staff.  We discussed four issues…

DCTA UPDATE FROM PRESIDENT JIM CLINE
The highlight for me of Cline’s presentation had nothing to do with its content, but with its method of “delivery.”  Prior to the meeting, Cline tweeted this: “Catching the 3:05 NB to Denton to make a City Council Presentation. Should be on 5:03 or 5:29 SB 4 Rtn. Say hello if u see me.“  In other words, the DCTA President is leading by example and taking the train himself when he can.  If you are on Twitter, you might follow him.

If you have yet to hear the DCTA staff recommendations to the Board, please take some time to check that out here.  It looks like we will be seeing train service expanding to midday by August, among other tweaks to the schedule.  At issue is the fate of Friday night service.  The DCTA staff is recommending that such service continue with changes to the schedule – pushing the times back to accommodate later train times (and thus allowing the possibility of trips, for instance, to the American Airlines Center for sporting events).  This is a good move.

While Friday night service has been underperforming compared to its weekday commuter counterpart, it is important to point out that Saturday service is seemingly consistently outperforming weekday commuter trips.  A DCTA analysis of train ridership between the months of October and March (accounting for 26 weeks) shows that Saturday passengers per trip was beyond 100% of the weekday passengers per trip for 14 weeks during that period (in 7 cases beyond 150%).  This means that there is significant interest in non-commuter service or discretionary service – people who are riding the train for something other than work purposes.  That should tell us that there is a distinct market for Friday night service, if only the times can be adjusted to match the interested riders’ needs.  I will be providing more of my own analysis soon…

For now, please let DCTA know what you think about whether to keep (with modifications) or do away with Friday night service – contact them at info@dcta.net.

NAMING THE 288 RAIL TRAIL BRIDGE
It took very little time for the council to agree to move forward with the naming of the soon-to-be-constructed after Martin Luther King, Jr.  Former council women Charyle Heggins, the initiator of this idea during her time in office, was present to hear the discussion.  This will come before us for a vote soon.

GAS ORDINANCE AND GAS WELL INSPECTION UPDATE
Now that the city’s task force has completed its series of meetings, the council was officially briefed on the results of the task force recommendations and a staff-suggested timeline of how the ordinance will progress from here.  It was a lively, and I think healthy discussion centered mostly on the process of the ordinance writing.

Based on what I saw in the staff report we received prior to the meeting on the subject, I was concerned about two things. First, I was concerned that the ordinance was set to be written simply on the basis of the majority view of the official city task force. I had paid close attention to their deliberations, even attending several of their meetings and catching the others on Denton TV.  It became increasingly clear to me that some on the task force, especially those who represented the industry perspective and lacked Denton residency, were voting down ideas and suggestions that seemed clearly in the interest of the Denton citizens.  I am not comfortable with simply moving forward with the majority recommendations and, after considerable discussion with the full council, it seems many of them shared this concern.  We would like to make sure that we are capturing all of the ideas that came about, including those presented by two of the task force members in the now infamous “minority report.”

Second, I was concerned that most of the work on the new ordinance would be done PRIOR to the council having substantial discussions on its direction.  An ordinance of this magnitude will take considerable work – it is important that the council has a chance to direct this train before it heads in a direction not of our choosing.  Again, this sentiment was also shared by many others on the council and it appears we have a better path forward that will include significant public input and council direction. Please stay tuned: your continued input will be valuable and necessary as we seek to make a better ordinance that protects the health and safety of our citizens and city.

But perhaps one of the main reasons for discussing this issue at this point centers on the upcoming end of our drilling moratorium.  You might recall that council passed a 120 moratorium on all drilling activities in order to give us time to rewrite the ordinance.  That is set to expire on June 6.  Because it is clear that this process will take a few more months, council gave clear direction that it is time to extend the moratorium to allow us to complete the process.  We will be voting on that at our June 5 meeting.

PROPOSED CONVENTION CENTER
We met in closed session on this topic – an open discussion is slated for May 15.  Those interested in this should stay tuned for that.

SENDING OUR YOUTH TO JAIL
Following our meeting, I ran over to the Denton Police Department for this school year’s final meeting of the Youth Advisory Council I started last Fall.  We had the chance to hear from two of our finest officers about the police profession, take a tour of the jail facilities, learn about finger printing, check out the action in the 911 call room, and much more.

Questions or comments? Let me know – kevin.roden@cityofdenton.com or 940.206.5239

Speaking of voting, if you haven’t voted yet, you should – go here for all the details of when and where.  Tuesday is the last time to early vote (easily done between 7am and 7pm at the Carroll County Building at the corner of Hickory and Carroll – or, for my younger friends, that big ugly government building just across the street from Midway Mart).  After that you have to wait until Saturday to vote at a specific location in your district.

Tuesday’s meeting is a “2nd Tuesday Session,” meaning that we use it for various work session discussions and there are not action items (items that are voted upon).  We get started at 4pm in the Council Work Session Room at City Hall.  Go here for a full agenda and back-up material.

Four things will be discussed at the meeting:

DCTA UPDATE
The DCTA Board is planning a vote at their May 24 meeting on a variety of issues that will impact levels of service beginning in August.  Sales tax in all of the three member cities of DCTA (Denton, Highland Village, and Lewisville) has been strong as of late, giving DCTA a bit of wiggle room to consider changes and slight augmentations to service.  At the same time, DCTA is burdened with paying millions of dollars for a federally mandated Positive Train Control system in the next couple of years.

After conducting a community survey and a series of public meetings, the DCTA staff has developed a series of recommendations of changes for their Board.  These include adding midday A-Train service for the A-Train, adjusting the Friday night train schedule so as to accommodate later trips, and considering starting Saturday service a bit earlier (among others).  But while these are the staff recommendations, it seems clear that the DCTA Board is not unified on how to proceed, particularly with Friday night service.

To see the DCTA’s recent presentation, including recommendations to the board, click here.

Yes, once again, Friday night service is on the chopping block.  They have a chance to make it better and make it work for travelers in both directions.  If you haven’t yet lent your voice, please take a minute and send your thoughts to info@dcta.net.

NAME THE RAIL TRAIL PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE!
If you haven’t heard, the rail train bridge crossing Loop 288 alongside the A-Train tracks is finally scheduled to begin construction in late June.  This is great news for our community.  My esteemed predecessor, Ms. Charlye Heggins, had pushed to have this soon-to-be-built bridge named in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  I think this is a great idea.

GAS WELL TASK FORCE AND INSPECTIONS UPDATE
Local conspiracy theorists no doubt will be busy logging onto the anonymous comment section of the Denton Record-Chronicle over the next few days to provide insightful analysis of our decision to broach this topic just days before the election.  I wish them well in their politically courageous endeavors.

It has been a while since we were officially briefed as a council on the process of the ordinance rewrite – in fact, since the end of January.  We will get an official presentation on the task force discussions/votes and an estimated timeline on the ordinance rewrite.  It is important to note that the 120 day moratorium that the council passed unanimously is set to expire in early June.  That means that the council must now decide, based on the timeline we are about to hear from the staff, whether or not to place an extension of the moratorium on the agenda for a council vote in time to keep it from lapsing.  I have strong intelligence indicating that we will see a moratorium extension on the Consent Agenda at the June 5 meeting.  I also have a pretty confident reading that there is considerable support for such an extension among the current city council.

The update we will receive outlines the process from here on out. You will be happy to hear that there will be significant public input throughout the rest of the process – several chances for you to share your thoughts, concerns, and ideas.

Click here to see the staff information sheet and powerpoint presentation that has been and will be provided to council during Tuesday’s meeting – tons of good information for you to digest.

CONVENTION CENTER DISCUSSION IN CLOSED SESSION
Finally, we are scheduled to have a closed session on a proposed Convention Center – a possible partnership between a private developer, the city, and UNT.  At the council’s urging, however, we will be having an open discussion on this issue during the May 15 council meeting.  Stay tuned for more on that…

As many of you already know, Ed Ireland, Executive Director of the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council, an industry funded pro-drilling apologetics organization, has been the most controversial member of the city’s official drilling task force – controversial both because of his connection to the drilling industry and because of his non-Denton citizen status.  I have taken much criticism for his presence on this task force and have even defended having industry representatives at the table, arguing that a rigorous debate on such matters is healthy in a democracy when such matters are debated openly and publicly.  This is why I have insisted on the open and public nature of the drilling task force meetings.  Open and public dialogue allows everyone to see the arguments, observe the positions, and see the people from whom they come.  It also allows you to identify complete BS when you see it.

During one of the deliberations on air quality, a recommendation was made to require drilling operations to utilize “green completion” technology in order to capture otherwise vented or flared natural gas upon completion of the drilling process.  Ed Ireland voted against this recommendation.  Fair enough – he was quite clear about his stance of rejecting most regulations on gas drilling activities.

I can appreciate consistency, even if I disagree with it.  But in the aftermath of the recent EPA announcement that the agency would start requiring such technology in 2015, Mr. Ireland is quoted taking a very different perspective on the issue in this little story in the Dallas Business Journal…

“Officials in the industry say the new requirements already are standard practice in the Barnett Shale of North Texas… Producers in the Barnett Shale routinely use “green completions” to capture the gas, said Ed Ireland, director of the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council. Green completions involve using extra equipment to capture the gas and feed it into the pipeline system.”

A critic of this technology one day, a champion of it the next! How do we account for this obvious inconsistency?

The pro-drilling apologists have a difficult job nowadays.  The slow creep of natural gas drilling into urban and residential areas has resulted in widespread concern over this industry’s impact on the environment and public health.  To combat this concern, the industry has invested millions of dollars in TV, web, radio, and print advertising attempting to convince us that natural gas drilling is actually really good for the earth and our health.  Check out this video as an example.  At the same time, because profit is their ultimate interest, the industry is also intent on fighting reasonable regulations meant to protect the health and safety of the citizens living on top of these shale formations.  They are in the awkward situation of trying to promote their environmental initiatives on the national stage while simultaneously actively fighting against them in local governments around the country.  Thus the inconsistencies – the ol’ Texas two-step.

The industry and the people like Ed Ireland who work for it hope that you aren’t quick enough to catch on to their inconsistencies.  Unfortunately for them, they’re pretty bad dancers.

The proposed ordinance can be found on the city website here.

THESE ARE MY COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS RELATING TO THIS ORDINANCE. – click link to left to read.

The city staff will now be tweaking the proposed ordinance to get it closer in line with the direction they received from the council during Tuesday’s discussion.  No time has been set as to when this will come back to council – hopefully sooner than later.

THE NATURE, USES (and abuses) OF REGULATIONS
I would like to take this opportunity to comment on the nature of regulations.  One of the overriding themes of the council discussion on this issue was that this proposed ordinance is too regulatory to meet the policy goals we are hoping to achieve by creating a culture conducive to the ever-changing food-scape in Denton.  Some have even commented on the clear “anti-regulatory stance” I seemed to take during this discussion.  After all, haven’t I been a strong advocate for stronger and greater regulations in other areas of city ordinances, such as the issues surrounding natural gas drilling?  Am I being inconsistent?  Do I lack a coherent political philosophy?

All great questions.  Yet these questions are perhaps the result of our being reared to think about politics solely from the vantage point of a national landscape.  From that point of view, blind allegiance to seemingly consistent positions is rewarded over thoroughly thought-through, coherent political philosophies.  On a national stage, the question is simply: Are you FOR government regulations or AGAINST government regulations?  If you are a conservative, you are supposed to be against regulations at every turn in order to promote a free market economic system.  If you are a liberal, you are taught to be for a robust governmental regulations in order to protect the American people.  National politics is predictably superficial in such things – distinctions aren’t made, nuances aren’t explored, and simply, sound-byte-style party-line statements are the name of the game.  As a result, we tend to take this unhealthy political baggage with us as we approach local levels government.

The truth is, both the liberal and conservative positions on regulation are right – in their proper context. We do need to allow our economy to flourish without the often-times stifling effects of government regulations and bureaucratic obstacles.  We also do need to make sure that the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of our citizens is vigorously protected by the powerful hand of government.  As such, it is up to the wise politician not to be simple-mindedly FOR or AGAINST regulations as a matter of principle, but rather to understand when to properly apply regulations and when to fittingly remove them for the purpose of achieving the common good.

You have a right to know how your council member thinks through such issues.  I apply a simple matrix as a way to BEGIN my thinking about the application of regulations to various issues, industries, or processes in town.  Regulations become useful if they serve one or both of the following goals:

1. Protecting the health, safety, well-being, and possibility for happiness of the citizens.
2. Responding to an overwhelming desire on the part of the citizenry.

It is much easier to state these guiding principles than to apply them to various situations.  After all, most suggested regulations will typically claim to fit into one of these two categories.  The policy-maker must determine whether such claims are justified.  It is the nature of bureaucracy to want to justify itself through its own expansion and is typically too focused on concerns of its own efficiency to meet larger policy goals.  Policy-makers must always be cognizant of this tendency and work to ensure that policy aims are served by governmental rules and regulations and not determined by them (which is far too often the case in modern government).

In the case of mobile food trucks, for instance, I am confident that certain current regulations satisfy the requirements of #1.  Many proposals of the suggested ordinance go further than this and offer at times arbitrary and onerous rules that will only have the effect, not of protecting the health and safety of the citizens, but of making it hard to operate a business.  That is a bad use of regulations.  Combine that with the fact that my analysis of the citizenry suggests to me that the desire referred to in #2 is decidedly in favor of opening the city’s doors to a more robust food truck culture – this makes me want to direct regulations (or remove them as the case may be) toward an “open for business” result on this issue.

These very same principles allow me to be encouraging of very strong ordinances as is relates to an issue such as natural gas drilling in Denton.  I have good scientific reasons to worry that the health, safety, and well-being of our citizens is negatively affected by the presence of such an industry in close proximity to where humans live, work, breathe, drink, and eat.  Hence, #1 inclines me to seek out every available, reasonable regulation to mitigate such concerns.  Additionally, my read of the citizens’ desires described in #2 is this: no one wants a city filled with natural gas rigs, wells, storage tanks, pipe lines, etc.  And this desire can (and should) be warrant for governmental action even if the requirements of #1 are not met – this is important to understand.  If I thought there was overwhelming resistance to food trucks in Denton, I would be inclined to regulate them away regardless of whether there exists any real health or safety issue associated with them.  The people, in this case, don’t want them – and in many cases and many issues, this can be enough justification for a city to regulate toward that end.

Thoughts?  Let me know – kevin.roden@cityofdenton.com

FOOD ORDINANCE AMENDMENTS
We will be getting our first look at a new ordinance amending the current food ordinance.  Three issues are of particular importance to me…

First, Food Trucks – I’ve been advocating the need for these in Denton for some time and it appears this unique culture is just around the corner.  But it’s not enough just to have an ordinance, we need a good one.  The food truck scene has exploded in the metroplex over the last year thanks, in part, to good ordinances in Dallas and Fort Worth.  There’s no reason Denton can’t do it as good or better as they are.  Expect plenty of questions from me regarding this issue.

Second, the Community Market – if you haven’t discovered this local gem, make sure you make your way to the county’s historical park on the corner of Sycamore and Carroll for the Denton Community Market season opener on May 5.  Changes in state law will allow food vendors to operate for up to a year under a special Farmer’s Market vendor permit.  We are working with market organizers to make sure we can encourage a thriving market for the 2012 season.

Third, outdoor food vendors – we need to find a way to allow permanent permitted food establishments to bring their food and cooking outdoors.  The recent emergence of weekend night taco stands along McKinney street serves as a good example of how this can radically change a street for the better.  Check out my recent post on East McKinney Street right here.

FREE SCHOOL LUNCHES THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER
Did you know the city of Denton partnered with the Denton ISD and the Texas Dept of Agriculture and Special Nutrition Programs to organize a Summer Food Service Program?  I didn’t.  Last year, the program served 39,190 lunches at 18 locations throughout the city in order to serve low-income children who grow to depend on such programs during the normal school year.  This is remarkable and makes me proud to live in a city that concerns itself with its underprivileged youth.  We will be approving the contracts for another summer of this.

CITIZEN ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR STREET BOND ELECTION
As you may know, we are anticipating going to the voters in November 2012 to seek approval of a $20 million bond program aimed at much-needed street repairs throughout the city.  Prior to doing so, we are appointing a citizen committee charged with helping identify the needs and prioritization of the funds for the life of the bond program.  Each council member was asked to appoint three citizens to this committee.  I choose three individuals from District 1: Mike Thomas, Joe Gregory, and Gerard Hudspeth.

I hope to see some of you there on Tuesday.  If you have any thoughts or questions, please contact me at kevin.roden@cityofdenton.com or 940-206-5239.

East McKinney Street between Bell and Woodrow is not the most obvious place to imagine a new local hotspot.  It lacks walkable or bikable connectivity, there are no examples of significant architecture, and a hodge-podge of zoning has made for a most unappealing streetscape.  Set in between two historically minority neighborhoods to the North and South, the city jail to the West, and the county jail and juvenile detention facility to the East, McKinney street has tended to develop accordingly: check cashing stations, fast food, bail bonds, lawyers, and convenience stores with cheap beer.

For those who have been paying attention over the last couple of years, this area has also become one of the best places to find authentic Mexican cuisine in the entire city.  Over a year ago, I made the case that the area’s taquerias and the emerging weekend evening outside taco stands connected to them could be seen as anchors of a new cultural district.  People, families, even young children were beginning to wander out late into the evening to enjoy the community and sense of place created by these establishments.  Yet a recent crackdown by city food inspectors has all but done away with that spark of life.  As it turns out, the city code has no provision for regular outdoor cooking by commercial establishments.  The life sparked on this dreary street by these small businesses was quickly extinguished by local government regulations.

But that hasn’t stopped Gricelda Samano, owner of La Estrella (the bright yellow mini market just on the other side of the tracks on the corner of McKinney and Railroad) from continuing her fight to bring a sense of pride into this part of town for the sake of the surrounding neighborhoods and the Hispanic community at large.  I drove past her place on Saturday night around 10pm – this is the gem I came across…

The Superestrellas just happened to be performing a live outdoor concert that night – a band of youngsters (that kid owning the timbale is a mere seven years old).  This place, previously a hangout for the chronically homeless, drug dealers and seekers prior to Gricelda’s time, is now attracting families late into the night.  She is creating a sense of place on an otherwise blighted street, encouraging a vision for reinvestment, and creating a place for community in walking distance from neighborhoods.  She is doing what the city should be doing.

Oh, and I walked away with three carne asada tacos and three tacos al pastor…

Denton is a step closer to opening up her doors to the mobile food truck culture.  Council is set to hear a draft of a new food ordinance on April 3 designed to update our rules on food trucks, community markets, temporary vendor permits, and other food-related issues.

Before then, there will be a public meeting on TUESDAY, MARCH 20 at 3:00pm in the Council Chambers of City Hall at 215 E McKinney Street.  Anyone interested in making sure Denton does this right should show up to this meeting.  The city needs your feedback and I want to hear your thoughts prior to giving guidance at our council meeting.

Go here to see a draft of the new ordinance.  Look it over and come with your questions, comments, concerns, and suggestions.  You can also send me your thoughts.

Today’s meeting begins with a Work Session at 4pm, followed by the Regular Session at 6:30pm at City Hall on McKinney Street.  Click here to access the agenda from the city website.  Here are some items that might interest you…

35 DENTON SEEKS APPROVAL
Two items on tonight’s Consent Agenda involve special requests or variances relating to the upcoming 35 Denton music festival.  This event, happening on March 8-11, takes place right in the heart of downtown Denton and requires the blocking of certain streets, special permission for alcohol sales and consumption, and an increase in the noise ordinance for the outdoor shows.  For several reasons, this event is vital for Denton’s culture, sense of place, and economy.  Take a listen to my recent podcast with 35 Denton talking about why it is good for our town.

SOCCER FIELDS AND ROOM FOR BIRDS
We will be listening to a plan that requires the purchasing of a tract of land North of Northlakes Park in order to make room for a new adult soccer complex.  The current park has ample room to develop this complex, but it would come at the expense of an important wildlife habitat just North of the northern lake.  With the help of Tree Mitigation Funds, we just might find a way to conserve this area while expanding the facilities at the park.

NAMING POLICY GUIDELINES ONCE MORE
We will be hearing another update to the draft policy that will be used as a guide when requests come in for naming city parks, facilities, land, or buildings after individuals, groups, or businesses.  Council recommended several changes to the policy which have been included in this latest draft.

CREATION OF A CHP DISTRICT
Council will vote on the creation of a Combined Heat and Power Economic Development District near the airport, where several industrial corporations already reside.  You may have seen recent criticism in our local paper of the way the council moved this issue forward – see, for instance, this story from Feb 4 and the follow-up editorial the next day.  Those whose only knowledge of this project came about from this recent coverage (and the obvious insinuation made by the accusatory headline) would have cause for concern.

But the project and the council’s intent on pursuing it are nothing new.  That same paper covered the story over a year ago, including its environmental benefits as touted by the EPA.  That same paper then followed up that article with a glowing recommendation of this project on the next day’s editorial page, even going so far as to say: “This is a positive step by the city and by Denton Municipal Electric.  We’re glad to see them take it, and we hope it is just the first of many steps toward the utility’s becoming a self-sustaining producer of cheap, clean electrical power. We wish them well in the endeavor.“

That same paper covered the story, yet again, just before the new year after the council discussed the project in an open session at our December 13 meeting.  Nothing new, nothing hidden – so why the recent controversy?

At issue is a City Charter provision that requires the city to put to the voters a city-wide vote on the creation of a new city-based utility.  The council, prior to my election, opted to pursue another route of approval for this project: the passing of a STATE law allowing it – and because it is a state law, it can preempt any local ordinance or charter provision, thus no longer requiring the city-wide vote as required in the City Charter.  On the surface, as the local paper pointed out, it seems that the city council decided to “sidestep the voters” and ignore the City Charter – easy political fodder for critics of the city.  But although this process was decided before my time on council, I am in support of the way this has been handled.  If we consider the intent of the Charter’s framers, we can imagine their concern with a city-owned utility revolved around the fact that it would be a utility provided for at least a large portion of the citizens of Denton (with enormous costs and risks associated with it).  This “utility,” on the other hand, is designed to provide a specific sort of infrastructure needed by a specific type of manufacturing-based company.  Its scope, therefore, is quite restricted.  The public need to consider this in a demonstration of direct democracy is, as result, questionable – again, the intent of the Charter for this provision is important to consider.  The city chose, rather, to pursue another LEGAL course through the state legislature.

In recent days, some self-proclaimed defenders of the Charter, including one frequently failing council candidate whose residency status has been in violation of that same Charter, simply seized on a negative headline and are using it to further their cause of increasing paranoia and skepticism within the citizenry.  They stay up late at night and, with great courage and political virtue,  anonymously pontificate in the online comment section of our local paper.

This is a manufactured controversy.  Could the city have better communicated to the citizens the reason for this path toward approval so as to head-off this controversy and invite more trust in the process? Absolutely – there are lessons to be learned.  But as that paper pointed out, this CHP project is a good one for Denton.  This project is lauded as healthier for the environment than other power options (even recommended by the EPA) and it has the potential to bring serious jobs to Denton.

BIKE PLAN, BIKE PLAN, BIKE PLAN!!!
After decades of talking about it, after months of working on it, the Bike Plan is finally being put to a vote.  I am in full support of doing more to make this town more livable – and that includes making Denton a healthier, safer city by creating safe avenues for our cycling and pedestrian citizens.  It helps to create a more healthy population, a safe place for alternative transportation, and it makes this town a more attractive place to live and work.  To learn more about the plan, go here.  See what Bike Denton says about the importance of showing up to the meeting to show your support of this plan.  And check out local activist cycling mama, Amber Briggle, on last night’s TV newscast talking about the meaning of this plan for Denton.

As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or feedback, feel free to contact me at kevin.roden@cityofdenton.com or 940.206.5239.

Today’s city council meeting begins with a Work Session at 3pm, by a Regular Session at 6:30pm in City Council Chambers.  Click here for the agenda of today’s meeting.  Here are some things that might interest you:

GAS DRILLING MORATORIUM
Perhaps the most anticipated item on tonight’s agenda will be a proposed 120 day moratorium on new gas drilling and production permits.  The goal is to give the Gas Well Task Force, city staff, and City Council the time to adequately re-work the current ordinance.  Embarking on a new ordinance presupposes the realization for the need for new regulations in order to protect the health and safety of our citizens.  Permits that have already been submitted will be allowed to continue.  Submitted permits, however, that require Special Use Permits will be put on hold by this moratorium.  The reason for this is that SUPs allow the council to add conditions that could be informed by requirements in the new ordinance.  This moratorium is a good move and I will be supporting it.

HAVE YOU SEEN THE SUSTAINABILITY PLAN?
We will be hearing a final update on the Sustainability Plan during our Work Session.  This is a great document with a lot of vision for the future of Denton.  You can find out more information here or find the latest draft of the plan in the back-up materials to this week’s council agenda.

TWU NEIGHBORHOOD RESOLUTION
TWU has continued its pursuit of acquiring properties in the surrounding historic neighborhoods despite widespread neighborhood concern.  As a result, and in line with their charge as a commission, the Historic Landmark Commission has drafted a resolution aimed at arguing for the preservation of this important neighborhood.  The council has been asked to weigh in on the policy implications of this resolution.  I’ve been clear on my position on this issue.  For more background, check out this report I provided to the City Council this past summer.

QUAKERTOWN PARK SIDEWALKS AND TRAILS
I’ve long maintained that the amenities present in the general vicinity of Quakertown Town are among the best in town, and certainly the most friendly to families.  Within walking distance, families can go to a great park, a city pool, a city library, city hall, the civic center, and the historic square.  Despite all this, this area is rather inaccessible for pedestrians (especially pedestrians with strollers and tricycles).  All this is about to change… One important item on the consent agenda is requesting an approval of a bid to put in sidewalks and walking paths in the park.  Check out a concept drawing of the park trails here. This is great news for District 1.

As always, if you thoughts on any of this or other questions, feel free to contact me at kevin.roden@cityofdenton.com or 940-206-5239.