[0:07] Today's tuesday, april 23rd, 2024. We'll now call

[0:11] the city council special meeting to order at 5:15 pm

[0:17] item number two is roll call. We do have a quorum of council.

[0:22] item number three are public comments. Uh, city secretary, do we have any public comment requests?

[0:26] yes, sir. Mr. Mayor, we do. Okay. Dei a,

[0:34] dharma a

[0:41] and simon a,

[0:46] please state your name and, and address for the record and please adhere to the

[0:50] three minute time limit.

[0:55] hello, everybody. Um, I think, uh, good evening,

[0:59] I guess. Um, I, uh, sent you all a email today, and I just kind of wanted

[1:03] to follow up. Um, I know during our conversations, we've been

[1:08] chatting about this with various, uh, council members, I think since,

[1:12] uh, you know, this, uh, april timeframe. Uh, and many folks

[1:16] have said, uh, basically that some of the rezoning that will happen, um,

[1:21] in regards to the palace event center. Everything on night road

[1:25] will be fulfilling the needs and wants of our constituents. Um,

[1:29] I would like you to know we have found that to be untrue. In fact, we have started a

[1:33] petition and has been organically, rapidly gaining, uh, passion

[1:37] and spread amongst your condition constituents due to their passion against this project.

[1:41] we have currently reached 550 signatures in under a week.

[1:45] the community is clearly against this proposal, and if it was unclear before

[1:49] on whether or not this project would bring benefit or harm to missouri city residents,

[1:54] it should be clear now that this project goes against your constituents desires. And moreover,

[1:58] is outside of the scope of the comprehensive plan, which lists knight road as a

[2:02] minor arterio in our conversations with other

[2:06] missouri city residents. The below themes have came up in terms of wants and needs.

[2:11] and I, my question to you is something I think, uh, councilman sonya has posed

[2:15] in one of the last special meetings is how do we start working with developers to bring

[2:19] as high roi opportunities that actually address the needs of our constituents?

[2:24] some of the things I've heard in my conversations, uh, the facebook discussions

[2:28] and so on and so forth, is the need for better dining options and restaurants,

[2:33] the need to preserve green spaces and coexist with wildlife, the need for

[2:37] more entertainment options like the cinema mark, uh, and of course,

[2:41] the need to improve traffic con congestion. I think it's time the

[2:45] missouri city updates its comprehensive plans and forms a citizens committee

[2:49] to be involved in forming the plan, just like we did last time, the citizens

[2:54] of missouri city are seeking a forum to collaboratively build

[2:58] our vision for missouri city versus operating in silos, which ultimately leads

[3:02] to escalating situations that could have been ultimately avoided.

[3:06] um, I, again, uh, if y'all haven't checked your email yet, I would encourage you to check

[3:10] your email. We have put a lot of work into it. A lot of, uh, folks

[3:14] have, moms have, uh, spent a lot of times just chatting

[3:19] and working with, um, the other moms, really to spread this message because

[3:23] we care. And the reason that we are coming so strong, we're coming so united

[3:27] is because we care and we want to take a part in shaping missouri city. We love

[3:31] our city, and we want to, you know, open this forum and open this dialogue.

[3:35] so I really encourage you to please check your mail. Uh, read through some of the comments on

[3:40] that petition, you know, hear directly from your constituents. I know of you have done

[3:44] surveys, but this is, you know, fresh off the press exactly, uh, directly from

[3:48] the mouth, so the people, what they think. So thank you, uh, for your time. Thank

[3:52] you.

[4:00] good evening. Uh, good evening. Thank you for allowing me to speak. Uh,

[4:04] I'm dharma radner. My address is 4 4 2 7 pineland

[4:08] in drive, missouri city. And, uh, when I was here last

[4:13] time, I kind of told you about my background and, uh, here again,

[4:17] I'm here to voice my concerns regarding this, uh, rezoning

[4:21] and proposed development, uh, literally in my backyard. And,

[4:25] uh, this project will, uh, truly jeopardize our safety,

[4:29] security, privacy, and value of our homes. And

[4:33] I hope the city engineers have completed, uh, they have done the impact

[4:38] studies on environment, economy,

[4:42] traffic, congestion, and drainage. And if they have done

[4:46] the studies, please share with us because we have real concerns on that.

[4:51] and then, uh, basically reading your, uh, profiles.

[4:55] I, I find it, you want to work with residents. You want

[4:59] want to, we want the best for people. You want to listen to our,

[5:03] uh, concerns, maintain safety, and then,

[5:08] uh, make sure, uh, missouri city remains the best communities in the

[5:12] nation. So here, again, building a event

[5:16] center and a motel in my backyard, it doesn't

[5:20] seem to be in line with your commitment and, uh, you have

[5:24] power you can make or break us. And I think, you know, take

[5:29] your, you know, be very responsible and please take care of us.

[5:33] okay? Thank you. Thank you.

[5:41] uh, hi, my name is simon ner. Uh, I live in

[5:45] the state of ridge. Uh, my address is 4 4 2 7

[5:49] pineland in drive. I would like to present my objection

[5:53] to the proposed development next to our subdivision.

[5:58] we presented our ob objection at the planning and so zoning commission,

[6:04] they all agreed with us and overwhelming

[6:08] voted against it. I understand that you have

[6:12] legal right to go against their opinion, but, uh,

[6:16] but I don't think you have the moral right to go against your voters

[6:20] for supporting the development. In recent days,

[6:25] I attended several city council meetings. In every

[6:29] meeting there have been discussion non-new developments and approvals.

[6:35] I'm not against the development, but like anything else in life,

[6:40] everything that development

[6:44] have to be balanced and should be based on the public needs

[6:48] and the quality of businesses and not on the quantity.

[6:54] I have seen reasonable number of empty buildings

[6:58] in several places in the city. Uh, for

[7:02] example, there are several empty buildings behind the hampton mill.

[7:07] if the city continue to build at this rate, I'm

[7:11] unsure. After some point, the city is going to be saturated with lot

[7:15] of empty buildings, eventually public,

[7:19] and the city may not be able to afford to have so many empty

[7:23] buildings at the end. City economy

[7:28] even may collapse. Like what happened to the country in 2,008,000

[7:33] crisis. You all know what happened in 2008.

[7:38] lot of business went bankrupt. Lot of people have to abandon their

[7:43] homes because they couldn't afford it.

[7:47] the world largest bank like jp p morgan, goldman sachs, and many businesses

[7:53] have to be rescued by the federal government. All this happened because

[7:57] of the politician. Were not wise enough to see the pending danger.

[8:02] I'm not saying that any of any form of this crisis is going

[8:06] to happen to our city, but it kept can happen at some point due

[8:10] to our development. Remember, if similar

[8:14] situation occurred to city like ours, no one will be there to rescue us.

[8:20] probably we will end up suffering from it. Considering

[8:24] all this fact, I urge you not to destroy beautiful pieces of land,

[8:28] of full of trees, animals, many types of birds

[8:34] by building a motel and several other buildings.

[8:38] thank you. Opportunity to talk to you. Thank you. Lindsey

[8:42] wright, bob, david, . Cumberland.

[8:50] did you call someone before I did. Lindsey wright? Yes.

[9:00] hi, lindsey wright, 46 11 creek point lane. Thanks

[9:04] everyone for allowing me the opportunity to voice my concerns regarding the proposed rezoning changes

[9:08] at night road and watts plantation, as well as the other zoned properties around our neighborhood.

[9:13] previously, our neighborhood has plain and simply asked for transparency from the city. Unfortunately,

[9:18] we're in a position where that has not proven to be successful, only causing more frustration

[9:22] regarding the issue as residents and citizens who are currently impacted by the

[9:26] decision of your vote. I'm here to raise a few questions and bring, bring up a few points so you all can see

[9:30] the struggle we're dealing with us citizens. Previously, my husband submitted

[9:35] a freedom of information act request regarding the development of watts plantation and knight road,

[9:39] and any communication between the developers be joe matthew and syriac shandy and

[9:43] any city officials. It's disheartening that this re request was turned over to the

[9:47] attorney general by your legal team for reasons that are, in our opinion, a little ridiculous

[9:52] saying that the information of these records contain information such as social security numbers,

[9:56] school records, birth and death records, et cetera. On the foia a.gov

[10:01] website, it actually states that the basic function of a freedom of information act is to ensure

[10:05] informed, ensure informed citizens, which is vital to the functioning

[10:09] of a democratic society. As you may or may not know prior to submitting, we

[10:14] actually said that we did not care about any relevant personal information and that that be blocked

[10:18] out completely. My ask to you all is what, what is there to hide?

[10:22] this is our neighborhood. This is our largest investments where we raise our families.

[10:26] why can't you share these information in these records with us? Do we not have a

[10:30] right to know what's being said about our own neighborhood? Transparency remains

[10:34] elusive and it actually erodes our trust in you all as our elected officials, and

[10:39] it exasperates frustration among the rest of our residents. In the same breath.

[10:43] in a previous meeting on april 8th, there was much talk about referencing the 2017

[10:47] comprehensive plan as the true north for development with minor adjustments that needed

[10:51] to be made. Since you all put so many efforts in clarifying that this is a guide for

[10:55] future development of our city, I can guarantee you that our neighbors have probably spent

[11:00] more hours in this plan than many city officials and staff members themselves. How

[11:04] do we know this? Because we submitted another foia request in which no records

[11:08] were found along the lines of training and comprehensive plan within the city. On page

[11:12] 144 of the plan, it clearly states that city officials and elected leaders

[11:16] must do a five step, five step comprehensive plan training. Mr. Emery.

[11:21] last, uh, in the april 15th meeting, you actually said that you and most of the people

[11:25] have probably read the plan, but as a neighborhood, we have dedicated considerable time

[11:29] to understand the plan and we are requesting that all city staff and elected officials undergo

[11:34] thorough comprehensive plan training to better understand the objectives and ensure responsible

[11:38] development. I'm confident that after your team does this development should not even be

[11:43] allowed per several goals mentioned in goal two and 5.1, which I will

[11:47] not go into now. This now begs the question, how can we as citizens trust

[11:51] our city council to make these decisions if they haven't had the proper training to understand what

[11:55] we should and shouldn't do with future development? Lastly, I would like to address

[11:59] you council member emery, on your 2024 reelection camp. Ma'am, that is time.

[12:03] okay, thank you.

[12:11] thank you guys again. Uh, my name is bob david, as you may remember, , uh,

[12:15] 45 11 creek point. Um, appreciate

[12:20] you guys, uh, allowing us to speak. I know this is, uh, taking up some time, but,

[12:24] uh, this is our passion, obviously, right? Um, we are asking, obviously

[12:28] for you guys to vote no on may 6th towards this plan development. That's to be

[12:32] on knight road. Um, and moreover, obviously we want a

[12:36] green space there, if at all possible. Um, which is already,

[12:40] uh, designated as a wetlands. Um, I'm

[12:44] really here to ask for concession on the approved watts plantation

[12:49] road. So watts plantation road is soon to be developed according to what

[12:53] you guys have said, and I'm asking for some concession for our community.

[12:57] we are gonna be directly affected by the changes that's gonna happen there.

[13:02] and with the construction that's already started on the corner of, uh, the

[13:06] highway six and uh, knight road, I believe that the traffic is

[13:10] gonna be excessive. Um, I was speaking briefly with uh, e joyce yesterday

[13:15] and she doesn't believe that the traffic is gonna be so great there

[13:20] for us on watts plantation because of the construction that's happening there on uh,

[13:24] on, on, on six and night. But I beg

[13:28] to differ. I believe it's gonna be excessive. Uh, with the road expansion. Of course, everybody's

[13:32] got from sienna's gonna wanna go into that route. Everyone from that

[13:36] new development is gonna want to use watts plantation. So what I'm asking for is

[13:42] in your construction, I'm asking that the city will

[13:46] construct a, a wall for us, um, a proper

[13:50] wall. Right now it's a wood fence from the hoa or whatever, but we are asking for

[13:54] a proper wall to secure us there. And a fence,

[13:58] uh, a gate. A gate. Now I know that you guys have, um,

[14:03] stipulations about the road and the lights when there's a gate, which

[14:07] makes it private, but for this scenario, I would ask

[14:11] that you guys would consider granting us that concession and still

[14:15] taking care of our roadways and lights. Um, comprehensive plan.

[14:20] I would like to be a part of that. Um, the committee, I think that was mentioned.

[14:24] if you guys are gonna formulate that, I would love to be a part of that. As a matter of fact,

[14:28] I've put in my, uh, resume and application for the p and

[14:32] z committee. I would love to serve, uh, on the p and z committee.

[14:36] I'm a realtor, I'm a businessman, I'm a property manager.

[14:41] um, and we are vested in missouri city and I want to

[14:45] see the betterment of our city and I would love to be on that,

[14:49] uh, one of those teams. Okay. Um, floyd

[14:54] emery, I know you're over that district, so if you would push bob

[14:58] david through for your p and z committee, that'll be awesome. And

[15:02] who knows, maybe one day when you decide to move on from council, bob david can

[15:07] represent your seat. Thank you guys so much.

[15:11] thank you.

[15:17] , cumberland, 45, 11 creek point lane. Uh, mayor, council

[15:21] members, miss lawyer and staff

[15:25] city team members I'll call it. Um, I have couple things.

[15:30] I hate reading stuff. I would like to have the eye contact, but I wanted to

[15:34] make sure I'm giving you the right information that we research

[15:38] that. Um, I believe a april, april eight

[15:42] mayor mentioned that this is not a decision, motional decision. This

[15:47] is the facts. And since then we've been really diligently working and finding

[15:51] the facts and the right numbers to clarify everybody. So

[15:55] nobody have a question. Marks, I've been sending some emails. Thank

[15:59] you very much for responding. Several of you guys responded to me right away. Mayor,

[16:04] you are respond. Time is amazing. Thank you for that.

[16:08] uh, and it's gonna continue because we have so many facts to bring it to your attention.

[16:12] and that's point, like you said, it's not emotional decision.

[16:16] uh, I wanna, I wanna actually highlight one of the main arguments,

[16:21] which is the economic impact, right? About this project on

[16:25] the nitro. And, um, that's actually been presented to

[16:29] you guys in saying that, uh, tax base substantially 35%

[16:34] increase in sales tax and 70% increase in hotel occupancy

[16:38] tax according to city's current financial, 35%

[16:44] increase would mean $5 million. And I believe my fellow

[16:48] neighbor, uh, tommy brought it up to you a couple weeks ago and I wanna dive

[16:53] into more. So he kind of give you a example about it, and I'm gonna follow up

[16:57] with the email so you can see all the stuff that we pulled for you.

[17:01] uh, a great number, if this is a true five a million dollar

[17:08] and um, for the comp comprehensive plan for development

[17:12] district with shopping and retail options for the entire city, this is great number. If it's

[17:16] true, this city project is 2017

[17:20] one, those areas were completely built out altogether. They could

[17:24] have two, they could have sales tax impact

[17:28] 1.5 million to 1.9 million with the economic impact

[17:33] of $168 million

[17:37] to two hundred and seventy eight two, two hundred and seventy $3 million

[17:42] annually. If that was the truth, the, the city economy

[17:46] development director mr. Rodriguez, is supplying numbers to get

[17:50] this approved and saying this one development will be nearly four times,

[17:55] again, four times the rest of the city's development

[17:59] corridors combine to put into perspective

[18:04] and more hit 5 million sales revenue. The city will need to see

[18:08] 500 million in dining and retail sales from this revenue.

[18:13] that is quite an economic impact as a business, a quarter million

[18:17] dollar business leader. I wanna tell you guys,

[18:21] this is not a realistic number. You guys have to look into it. Thank you very much. Yeah.

[18:26] lisa cake, lil cake, palm cake.

[18:38] please state your name and address for the record. Absolutely. My name is lisa kaju.

[18:42] I live at 47 10 creek point lane. I also would love to make eye contact,

[18:46] but I get three minutes. So good evening again, mayor and council members,

[18:51] several of you have been kind enough to respond to my emails my

[18:55] neighbors and I have sent out. While we appreciate this, we see many of you

[18:59] referencing your due diligence on this issue. Does that due diligence

[19:03] look like deciding among yourselves and developers what looks most lucrative

[19:07] behind closed doors? Or does it fall under the definition of due diligence

[19:12] in regard to your constituents? Those of us who live next door to you, who voted

[19:16] for you, and in some cases fundraised for you, three minutes is not enough

[19:20] time to tackle any issue with the thoughtfulness that it requires. So unless you

[19:25] initiate the necessary conversations that must be had between yourselves in

[19:29] the states of silver ridge, how will email responses saying you are taking things

[19:33] into consideration actually happen? It must be said that we are

[19:37] not against you in any way when it comes to the well thought out design potential that

[19:41] sna has a great fort bend town center, can absolutely be

[19:45] a jewel to sienna, but done poorly. This will not be a crowning achievement

[19:50] guys. It will be the public works that drove out all the people that created

[19:54] this community. So I must ask you, are you protecting us?

[19:59] are you considering the correct transitional zoning for this type of

[20:03] project? Commercial zoning that borders 75% of

[20:07] a residential neighborhood says you're not new homeowners moving into

[20:11] a newly built home would be in a better position to make the decision if they want to buy

[20:16] a home with a hotel or motel looking into their yards. Our homes with

[20:20] 20 plus years of investment in them, we didn't choose that. Are you

[20:24] considering the load these new homes in 2000 apartment units we'll have on our schools?

[20:28] I'm not against new homes, apartments or development, but I am against the degradation

[20:32] of schools that we moved here for to send our daughter to. What's the plan for the schools?

[20:37] where are the new ones going? How will the handle, how will you handle the school student

[20:41] influx? So we moved here after flooding on the west side of houston. We moved here

[20:45] because we are not houston. We moved here because the development and zoning

[20:49] we looked into prior to purchasing looked pretty conservative and we liked that.

[20:53] how does one invest a boatload of money into their home and neighborhood if they can't count on

[20:58] the local zoning laws to protect these investments? I have so little

[21:02] time I have you telling me that this decision is upcoming.

[21:07] so can you hear my concern? 'cause I do not want to live somewhere where I have

[21:11] to worry about some creepy weirdo looking at my little daughter while she's swimming in my pool

[21:15] in the backyard. Okay. I cannot, um, deal with the idea

[21:19] that I would have to worry about somebody canvassing my every move coming and going from my

[21:23] home. I cannot put a baby to bed when there is an amphitheater blaring music not

[21:27] for their nap time and not for seven 30 bedtime. The city progress hinges

[21:31] on our ability to collaborate, prioritize, and implement solutions that benefit all

[21:35] residents. I trust you'll make the right decision for all of us. Please. Thank you. Thank

[21:39] you.

[21:45] will that mess it up? Please don't. What's your name? My name's lily.

[21:50] please don't cut. Not please do not cut down

[21:54] our trees. The trees are home to many

[21:58] creatures and it's,

[22:03] and they're important to the animals. Thank you. Aw,

[22:08] thank you.

[22:12] hi, my name's tom gio. I live at 47 10 creek point lane. That's my daughter,

[22:16] that's my wife. Uh, I'm here obviously to oppose

[22:20] the rezoning on knight road. You know, I chose missouri

[22:24] city, uh, because it wasn't like where we came

[22:28] from. So we lived on the west side of houston. Uh, you know, we chose it

[22:32] because there's trees in the backyard, not a brick wall. Uh, we chose

[22:36] it because the only sound to hear is the, the birds, the bees,

[22:40] and the ice cream truck. Um, you know, we chose it, uh,

[22:45] because I thought it was a sound place to make an investment as well. You

[22:49] know, we have put a lot of money into not only our home, but

[22:54] into our schools above and beyond the taxes that we pay.

[22:58] um, and, you know, it, it was, I thought it was a sound choice.

[23:02] to be honest though, it doesn't seem like it's a good investment opportunity.

[23:06] um, it seems like, you know, probably should leave before things

[23:11] get worse. If this is the, if this is the tract for missouri city,

[23:16] I, I'm not sure I'm on board. You know, I have to say I'm

[23:20] the fact that we're here talking about putting a hotel

[23:24] a hundred feet in an outdoor planning or outdoor party center,

[23:29] a hundred feet from people's back door. Does anyone know how far a hundred feet is?

[23:33] we're talking six car lengths. Could you imagine if that was looking

[23:37] into your pool? If you had to listen to that at the, up to the cutoff

[23:42] time at 10:00 pm every night? I mean, come on. This is absurd.

[23:46] what are we talking about here?

[23:59] you know, honestly it is emotional for me because I do

[24:03] have that little one there, you know, which is why we chose to move out here.

[24:08] we believe in the schools, we believe in the community, and this is, uh,

[24:12] frankly not what we're gonna call home. So appreciate.

[24:17] thank you. Thank you mr. Mayor. That conclude the public. Alright,

[24:22] thank you. We're going on to, uh, item number four, discussion

[24:26] and possible action four a. This item is

[24:30] an ordinance that will be taken uh, at a special meeting. Therefore, a motion

[24:34] is required to take up both item four a and four b at

[24:38] a special meeting. So

[24:43] I see a motion by council member riley, seconded by

[24:47] council member brown marshall. There are no, no one else in the queue. Let's go

[24:51] ahead and vote.

[24:55] motion carries unanimously. Okay. Item four b. Okay. Four

[24:59] a is an ordinance of the city of missouri city adopting a new pay

[25:04] plan for full-time. Non-exempt personnel and exempt personnel excluding

[25:08] civil service personnel and police personnel and appointed

[25:12] employees providing an effective date, providing for repeal and providing for

[25:16] severability. Alright, thank you. Um, uh,

[25:20] presentation by atlanta porters assistant city manager.

[25:25] good evening mayor and city council. I do not have a formal presentation.

[25:29] this is the second reading. Um, I will provide a summary for this item. This

[25:34] is the pay plan for non-civil service employees. The overall

[25:38] change in the pay plan is 2.7 to 2.8%. Uh,

[25:42] the estimated annual cost is $792,947

[25:47] with a prorated cost for fiscal year 2024 of approximately $335,000.

[25:52] okay, thank you. Um, there's been a motion by council member

[25:56] bony, seconded by mayor proam klauser, seeing noman else on the queue. Let's go ahead

[26:01] and vote.

[26:07] oh, member, you have the presentation on there. The motion carries unanimously. Uh,

[26:11] thank you. Item four b, an ordinance of the city of missouri city, texas

[26:15] amending the civil service implement implementation ordinance of the city of

[26:19] missouri city, providing certain amendments related to base pay and seniority

[26:23] pay, providing for repeal, providing for severability, providing an effective

[26:28] date, and containing other provisions related there too.

[26:33] okay, thank you. Okay, and if you don't mind, I'll just provide a summary again

[26:37] for, uh, this item. This is for civil service police and fire. The overall

[26:41] change in the pay plan for police officers is 4.4%.

[26:45] the overall change in the pay plan for fire is 2.4%. The

[26:49] average pay increase for police officers is 5.5% with the average

[26:54] pay increase for fire at 4.57%. The estimated

[26:58] annual cost is approximately $996,000 with

[27:02] a prorated cost for fiscal year 2024 of $421,000.

[27:06] alright, thank you. We have a motion by council member bony, seconded

[27:11] by council member marles. Seeing no one else on the queue. Let's

[27:15] go ahead and vote. The,

[27:19] the motion carries unanimously. Thank you. All right, thank you. Uh, item number five, our

[27:23] closed executive session. Uh, we don't have any closed executive sessions

[27:27] at the moment. Um, and with no further business

[27:31] and hearing no objections, this meeting is adjourned at 5:42 pm

[27:36] thank you all.

Apr 23, 2024 Special City Council

Agenda

Transcript