Allen Neighbor: Nov. 13, 2024
Allen Voters Approve 2/3 Bond Proposals | How Did AISD Publicize Bond Information? | Council Regulates Recreational Equipment in City Through Streets | P&Z Commissioners Tweak Some ALDC Language
The Oct. 22 meeting of the Allen City Council got interesting because of the consent agenda, a rare occurrence as consent agendas items are usually non-controversial. Scroll down to read more than you ever thought you’d want to know about basketball goals on neighborhood streets.
Allen Voters Approve 2/3 Bond Proposals
Last week, Allen ISD voters said “yes” to more than $442 million in bond proposals in an election season where some neighboring communities voted overwhelmingly against school district bond packages.
Collin County Elections reported that 52,740 Allen ISD voters cast ballots in the AISD bond election. The largest of the three proposals, Allen ISD Proposition A, passed with 56.11 percent of votes, greenlighting the construction of a multi-purpose facility as well as significant updates to seven Allen ISD campuses. Technology, facility and safety updates across the district were included in this $419,062,253 package which comprises most of the projects the district asked voters to approve.
Voters also approved Proposition C with 53.36 percent voting in favor of $23,077,793 in funding for the district’s Empower 1:1 device program to fund devices for students and staff. State law requires computer devices to be presented to voters as separate bond propositions.
“I want to thank our community members for their overwhelming support for both Propositions A and C to benefit the students and staff of our school district,” Superintendent Robin Bullock said in an emailed statement. “This bond proposal was created by a dedicated group of community members serving on the Project Kids committee, and I am so grateful for their thoughtful approach in building a bond package that was enthusiastically supported by the voters.”
Voters answered “no” to $5,359,654 in funding for track surfaces at Lowery Freshman Center and Curtis Middle School. Proposition B failed with 51.78 percent of votes against. The stadium facilities at Curtis and Lowery each seat more than 1,000 spectators, so state law requires them to be presented to voters as separate proposals. Installation of a turf field and a new running track at Ford Middle School were included in Proposition A since the facility seats fewer than 1,000 people.
Chief Communications Officer David Hicks said Allen ISD Leadership and the Board of Trustees will determine the next steps for the tracks at Curtis and Lowery. Hicks said both facilities have pressing needs that need to be addressed, but a timeline has not yet been established.
Other school district bond initiatives in North Texas received mixed results from voters.
In Frisco, voters were asked to approve more than $1 billion in bond proposals across three propositions. Frisco ISD spans portions of both Collin and Denton Counties. All four propositions failed across the district. Additionally, a Frisco ISD VATRE (Voter Approved Tax Ratification Election) failed, with 56.95 percent of voters against.
Rockwall ISD voters voted against an $848 million bond package in that district, while Highland Park voters approved a $137.3 million bond package.
AISD Trustees Receive Bond Outreach Update
If your social media feed is anything like mine, you saw a lot of Allen ISD posts with information about what would be covered by the bond propositions. Not to mention a few mailers, campus signage and emails to AISD parents.
Chief Communications Officer David Hicks noted that district staff gave 46 presentations in 48 days to PTAs, community groups, staff members and faith-based organizations.
In a presentation about the district’s bond communications and outreach, Hicks said the district emphasized four key messages:
Community-driven plan
Focus on safe, modern facilities
Every campus would be impacted
All projects can be funded using the existing tax rate
Communications tactics included news releases, community presentations, bond renovation tours, social media posts, email outreach, direct mail, a bond website with a campus-by-campus breakdown of projects and campus signage at every school.
“As you’ll start to see, everything we’re that putting out here, from the school district perspective, it is all related specifically to the facts about this bond election,” Hicks said. “We are not encouraging voters to vote in any particular way. As a school district, our sole job is to make sure that everybody has the information available to them.”
Groups that voted to endorse the bond were the Allen ISD Council of PTAs, the Allen-Fairview Chamber of Commerce and the Allen Sports Association.
Hicks also noted that no taxpayer funds were used to produce the materials like the direct mail and campus signage.
Council Prohibits Recreational Equipment in City Through Streets
Council members started their Oct. 22 meeting with the usual pledge of allegiance and ceremonial duties. Then they jumped into the routine consent agenda. Councilmember Tommy Baril asked for an ordinance to be removed from consent and discussed separately, and this public safety themed meeting got a lot more interesting.
The ordinance Baril wanted removed from the consent agenda was the city’s parking ordinance. An update to the language would have prohibited recreational equipment – in this instance, basketball goals – from being in on any city street in Allen. Baril took issue with a few things.
First, Baril said that after a recent council workshop, he asked city staff for evidence that the presence of recreational equipment on streets adversely affects a significant portion of the community. The city doesn’t track complaints that are not violations of existing ordinances. However, Baril said data should have been collected to demonstrate the need for the ordinance if city staff wanted to apply a new regulation.
Baril said he asked for addresses that best highlighted the situation Council was asked to address. City staff provided three addresses. Baril visited those addresses and took pictures which he brought to the Council meeting. In each instance, the photo showed that the basketball goal had been moved out of the street.
“The homeowners were able to resolve their differences, whatever they may be, without a city ordinance,” Baril said. “Let me be clear. The three properties for which we had previously received phone calls and one could argue are reasons for this ordinance are actually in fact models of why the proposed city ordinance is not necessary.”
Finally, Baril said prohibiting sporting equipment would cause harm. In neighborhoods where there are no HOAs, the city would become the de facto property management company making unneccesary rules for residents who have chosen to buy or rent in neighborhoods without HOAs. He also pointed out that prohibiting recreational equipment such as basketball goals from streets, including cul-de-sacs, means that there’s one less place to play for kids.
“In an era where parents are doing everything they can to get their kids to spend time away from electronic screens and go outside, the inclusion of recreational equipment in this ordinance unnecessarily creates one more hurdle for parents,” he said.
Lee Battle, the city’s Director of Community Enhancement, and Steve Dye, chief of police, said that ordinances are helpful so that city staff has a tool for enforcement if there’s a complaint from a resident, especially a repeat complaint.
“Our streets are designed and constructed to accommodate cars and vehicles, parking and driving of vehicles,” Battle said. “Anything that sits in the street permanently that’s not a vehicle has the potential to interfere with traffic, with parking and potentially to be a safety issue.”
“One suggestion may be just to limit [the ordinance] to prohibiting on the through streets; that may work for safety and the problematic areas,” Dye added.
Council members spent several minutes discussing possible adjustments, including an on-the-fly proposal to prohibit recreational equipment on through-streets but exempting cul-de-sacs from the ordinance.
Baril said he wanted to give city staff guidance to bring back a cleaner ordinance. Then Councilmember Ben Trahan motioned for the city to adjust the ordinance to state that recreational equipment is prohibited on any streets except a cul-de-sac. Councilmember Michael Schaeffer asked if he could make another motion, but Mayor Baine Brooks said they had to vote on the motion before them first. That motion passed 5-2, with Schaeffer and Baril voting against.
Moving on to the regular agenda, council members approved spending $2,262,615 for a next phase of design development and construction documents, bringing to $6,163,615 the total design cost for the proposed Allen Police Department headquarters. Funding is provided by the GO Bond approved by Allen voters earlier this year.
The estimated construction cost for the new headquarters is $83 million, so the design fee is 7.43 percent. Customary fees for such a project are between 7 and 10 percent, according to Chris Flanagan, Director of Engineering for the city.
Groundbreaking on the new headquarters is planned for next year. The construction timeline is not final yet, but city staff hope it will be completed within18 to 24 months.
Council members also approved the terms of the city’s Meet and Confer with Allen Police Association and Allen Firefighters Association, IAFF Local 3453. Those terms are as follows.
AFA Meet and Confer Results:
Pay is market plus 2.5 percent for the next two years. The pay scale increases to market rate plus 3 percent for the following two years.
Ambulance assignment pay is now $2 per hour. This is a new paid amount.
Education pay has been increased to market rate.
Training pay for field training added.
Four-year instead of three-year agreement.
APA Meet and Confer Results:
Pay is market plus 2.5 percent for the next two years followed by market plus 3 percent for the following two years.
Instructor pay was increased to 5 percent during teaching times.
Increased education pay increased to market rate.
Clothing allowance increased from $100 to $200 per month for non-uniformed officers.
Both items passed.
P&Z Commissioners Clarify ALDC Language
At its Oct. 15 meeting, the Allen Planning and Zoning Commission approved four changes to the Allen Land Development Code. Among the changes: adding language to clarify requirements for revoking business’ certificates of occupancy; amending required details for site development plans; amending parking lot island dimensions; and further defining accessory structures on residential lots.
The state only allows for cities to regulate things that are specifically codified in the city’s Land Development Plan, so these changes can be more interesting than they seem on the surface. Here are the ALDC changes commissioners approved based on staff recommendations.
Commissioners approved adding a sentence to the ALDC Section 1.08.10 specifically stating that a certificate of occupancy may be revoked if the business within the building is not operating in accordance with state law.
When I heard this item, I wondered if the nine vape shops that were raided by Allen police this summer would fall into this territory. I emailed Chelsey Aprill to ask thinking this is an example of how what seem like boring adjustments to city ordinances may have more consequential results than the casual observer might realize.
Aprill said the changes, which will be considered by City Council members on Nov. 12, add “additional language that regulates the business itself, as opposed to only the structure where the business is located. To date, no certificates of occupancy have been revoked for the shops you referenced.”
Next, commissioners approved adding language requiring developers to provide some additional details to photometric site plans for new developments.
Commissioners also approved amending the surface parking lot island dimensions to include a requirement that all peripheral parking rows can’t contain more than 10 continuous parking spaces without a landscape island but now allowing for the landscape island to be detached from the peripheral parking infrastructure itself. The change allows for more efficient drainage within the surface parking lot. Here’s what that would look like, with the highlighted portion showing a gap between the perimeter parking infrastructure and the landscape island.
The final update to the ALDC defined the distance of an accessory structure on a residential lot. Accessory structures are now defined as detached if located a minimum of one foot from the primary structure on the residential lot.
Commissioners then approved a change to the zoning of the property on the northeast corner of Stacy Road and Ridgeview Drive. The property owner, Cottonwood Creek Church, requested the city rezone the 20.288-acre tract of land from PD-72 to PD-40, the same zone as the church itself. Additionally, Cottonwood Creek Church requested that off-premise monument signs be allowed as part of future development.
Nosy Neighbor Briefs
History teacher Amy Gumpf named a 2024 Yale Educator Recognition Award Winner. She was nominated by former Allen High School Student Blake Maulsby who graduated in 2024 and is currently a freshman at Yale. Gumpf was one of 320 nominees and one of 75 teachers selected to receive the award.
The website Niche.com recently rated Allen ISD the sixth best district in Texas and the best district in Collin County for students. The district was named the best place to teach in Collin County and the 12th best place to teach statewide.