Hello Friends!
We have SO MUCH going on this week! If you like city meetings, this is the week for you! lol If not, it's still the week for you because EARLY VOTING begins Monday for the City Council, School Board and proposed Constitutional Amendments! I've spent quite a bit of time and created a separate blog post to share my views on city matters with everyone so folks know where I stand on issues and to get to know me better. You can find that post here: https://olsonfortexas.blogspot.com/2022/04/melissa-olsons-stance-on-city-matters.html
To hear from most (if not all) Council candidates, a forum has been created that the public is invited to attend in person and to view online Monday night at 7:00 PM in the Performing Arts Center at Coleman Junior High School. I will be there as well and look forward to seeing you! The YouTube link to the event is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWOQ5k4USLQ and the FB event link is: https://fb.me/e/1Q8ctBVcD
Once you've had a chance to decide who you would like to vote for, the Ellis County Elections department has all the information you need on when and where you can cast your vote! I'll provide several links here for your convenience.
- Ellis County Elections page for information on the upcoming election: http://www.co.ellis.tx.us/629/Upcoming-Elections
- Early Voting Locations, Dates & Times: http://www.co.ellis.tx.us/DocumentCenter/View/15825/EV-Locations-2022_May-7th?bidId=
- Election Day (May 7th from 7a-7p) Voting Locations: http://www.co.ellis.tx.us/DocumentCenter/View/15824/ED-Locations-2022_May-7th?bidId=
- Generic Sample Ballot with State of Texas Constitutional Amendment Propositions 1 & 2: http://www.co.ellis.tx.us/DocumentCenter/View/15848/220507_SampleBalGeneric_Ellis?bidId=
- Daily Early Voting Report (Available once early voting starts and updated at the end of each day after polls close. Allows you to see how many people are getting out to vote!) http://www.co.ellis.tx.us/DocumentCenter/View/15955/May-Joint-Election_EVDaily-Report?bidId=
I know a lot of folks have been eager for the newly-renovated dog park to be reopened and a Grand Opening date has been announced - May 7th! That's definitely going to be a busy day. I will have more information about that next week, but I just wanted to put it on your radar so you'd have advanced notice and could set time aside on your calendar.
As I mentioned earlier, we have a lot of meetings this week. It may not be so much about the quantity, but of the length and importance of these meetings. You can always refer back to the city's calendar to see if any new meetings have been added after this newsletter goes out as well. The link to the city's calendar is: https://www.waxahachie.com/calendar.php
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Monday, April 25, 2022 ** First Day of Early Voting **
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8:30 AM - 5 PM: City Council Retreat (Day 1)
Crape Myrtle Room, Waxahachie Civic Center
2000 Civic Center Lane
I will refer y'all to the above linked agenda for the complete list of expected department updates to be given. The only other item that has any sort of description is #2.
2 - Presentation and discussion from Finance Department regarding 5-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) and Bonds. I don't know what kind of bonds. In the past, the city has been issuing COs (Certificates of Obligation), which do NOT require voter approval, so one could reasonably assume that those in the discussion will be this type as well. I hope I'm wrong and that staff is presenting Council with a timeline of how we could implement GOs (General Obligation bonds which do require voter approval) and still keep projects in the CIP rolling along. Both kinds of bonds are backed by property taxes, so it seems only right that residents vote on these issues.
It is my understanding that this very important meeting will NOT be live-streamed by the city. This is an open meeting and residents are welcome to attend and even welcome to live-stream the meeting themselves. This is the case for any of our city meetings, should you wish to do this.
This first day of the retreat is scheduled to recess at 5:00 PM until Tuesday at 8:30 AM.
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7:00 PM - Waxahachie City Council Candidate Forum - Hosted by KBEC & The Ellis Talker
Performing Arts Center, Coleman Junior High School
1000 Highway 77 North
Waxahachie, TX 75165
The Facebook event says:
Get to know every Candidate running for office in Waxahachie!
You can listen to the Forum on AM 1390 or watch on the link provided to the Ellis Talker show page. You can also attend at the Waxahachie fine arts center.
You can listen to the Forum on AM 1390 or watch on the link provided to the Ellis Talker show page. You can also attend at the Waxahachie fine arts center.
To respond to the Facebook Event, please go to this link: https://fb.me/e/1Q8ctBVcD
To watch the program live on YouTube, please go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWOQ5k4USLQ
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Tuesday, April 26, 2022
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8:30 AM - City Council Retreat (Day 2)
Crape Myrtle Room, Waxahachie Civic Center
2000 Civic Center Lane
Agenda (same as one posted for Monday): https://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/document-uploads-001/uploads/video/agenda_file/167853/4-25-22_CC_Retreat_Agenda.pdf
This is a continuation of the annual Council Retreat that began on Monday, April 25th at 8:30 AM. This is a REALLY great meeting to attend if you are able to do so. I'm not aware of any plans for the city to live-stream this event, but once again, residents do have the right to live-stream public meetings, as long as there is no disruption/interference with the meeting. I currently do not have any more information on the retreat than I have provided.
The meeting should probably wrap up around noon, but could go all the way until 5 PM.
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5:30 PM - IFCIAC - Impact Fee Capital Improvements Advisory Committee Regular Meeting
Council Conference Room, City Hall
401 S. Rogers St.
Agenda Packet: https://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/document-uploads-001/uploads/video/agenda_file/168631/4-26-22_IFCIAC_Agenda_Packet.pdf
3 - Public Comments
4 - Approval of minutes of the regular IFCIAC meeting of November 9, 2021
5 - Hear and accept the April 2022 Mid-Year Impact Fee Report. (It probably should have been written on the agenda as: "Consider and Take action on the Mid-Year Impact Fee Report") In the agenda packet link above, you can review the details of the summaries of projects that have been funded or partially funded through the use of impact fees during the first half of FY 21-22 budget year.
The city's website states: Communities
use impact fees to help pay for the increased capacity needed to serve
new developments. These could be new roads, larger roads, or increasing
the size of both water and sewer lines. This limits the use of taxpayer
funds to provide all of the capacity needed to serve the developments.
Impact Fees are calculated based on the anticipated burden a development
will place upon the current infrastructure.
To review our impact fee policies in Waxahachie, the city's Planning Department has more information if you scroll down the following page: https://www.waxahachie.com/departments/planning_department/development_process.php
This is a public meeting and is open to residents, should you wish to attend. At this time, I am not aware of any plans for this meeting to be live-streamed by the city.
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6:15 PM - Planning & Zoning Commission Briefing Session
Council Conference Room, City Hall
401 S. Rogers St.
This briefing is being held to discuss items for the 7:00 PM regular P&Z meeting. Residents are welcome to attend. This briefing is not live-streamed by the city at this time.
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7:00 PM - Planning & Zoning Commission Regular Meeting
Council Chamber, City Hall
401 S. Rogers St.
Agenda Packet: https://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/document-uploads-001/uploads/video/agenda_file/168632/4-26-22_P_Z_Agenda_Packet_-_Scanned.pdf
All three cases this evening are pretty interesting, so I'll detail each one.
5 - Consider request by Josh & Amy Radar for a plat of 16.982 acres, located at 2832 FM 66 in the Extra Territorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) of the City of Waxahachie. The applicant is requesting to plat the subject property into 4 lots for single family residential use. The applicant is in compliance with the city's requirements for the most part except for the variance request. The applicant is seeking a variance from the Thoroughfare Plan to allow 0' of ROW dedication as opposed to 40'. The applicant's reasoning for requesting a Petition for Hardship Waiver hinges primarily on the location of existing structures on the subject property. A driveway and single family home are currently situated within 40' of the eastern property line. If the 40' ROW dedication is provided, any structures within said ROW dedication would need to be removed. Due to the City's Thoroughfare Plan reflecting the 80' ROW along the eastern property line of the subject property, staff believes that 40' of ROW should be dedicated from the eastern property line. Staff is recommending Disapproval of this case. It will be interesting to hear the details of this case once it is presented. Is the house in the ROW area an old, dilapidated place where nobody has lived in many years? Is it a home in which people currently reside? I'm sure there are many more questions about the details of this case too! Will have to see how it goes Tuesday night!
6 & 7 - Public Hearing on a request by Chad Adams for ZONING CHANGE from Future Development zoning district to a Planned Development Single Family - 1 zoning district located on the west side of Howard Rd. (FM 877) across from 3175 Howard Rd. This proposed residential development sits on approximately 150.6 acres. The subject property was annexed into the City and zoned FD (Future Development) on May 18, 1998; however, wastewater infrastructure is not within a reasonable distance to service the subject property. The applicant has proposed one-acre minimums for lots to have on site septic facilities. The proposed zoning request exceeds the city's minimum requirements and ensures a residential development of exceptional quality. The zoning request is in conformance with the land uses envisioned in the comprehensive plan and is compatible with the rural character of the surrounding area. As such, Staff recommends approval of the request, per comments. In reviewing the staff reports, it does look like a very nice, high quality development. In my opinion, the concept designs provided are really beautiful. * There has been one written letter of opposition due to an established apiary at the property line with 20 beehives. I'm not sure if there are laws prohibiting the forced relocation of apiaries or not, but definitely something to look into.
*** 8 & 9 *** - It's back! The case formerly known as ZDC-162-2021 and denied by both the P&Z Commission (on 12/28/21) and the City Council (on 1/3/22) is now back as case # ZDC-7-2022 and still named the Oaks at Twin Creeks. Public Hearing on a request by Chip Boyd, JHDMC, LLC., for a ZONING CHANGE from a Single Family 1 zoning district to a Planned Development Single Family 3 zoning district located at 823 Ovilla Rd. The applicant is requesting approval of a Planned Development to allow single family homes, townhomes and a park/open space on 153.7 acres. You can read all of the details of the case in the agenda packet, linked above. My take on this... he improved a little bit as far as the house styles are concerned but one BIG deal for me is him still wanting park fees waived. They say they will donate land to the city (which means WE have to pay for maintaining it and it's a big area) or if the city doesn't accept (which I strongly think we should NOT accept it), then he wants the fees waived. We are talking $183,200 in fees that Mr. Boyd wants waived. That's just one variance. That being said, staff is recommending approval per comments.
The P&Z meeting is open to the public to attend, but should you be unable to make it, the city will live-stream it at the following link: https://www.waxahachie.com/government/city_council/city_council_meeting_live_stream.php
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Thanks for hanging in there, y'all! So much going on! Please let me know if you have any questions and I'll get back with you as soon as possible. I hope you have a great weekend and a wonderful week ahead!
Your Friendly Councilmember,
Melissa Olson, CMO
Text/Call: 817-507-5162
molson@waxahachie.com - City business ONLY
olsonfortexas@gmail.com - Campaign correspondence here please
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