CITY COUNCIL WORK Powlett SESSION MINUTES T E X A Our Vision: A well-planned lakeside community of quality nelghborhoods, distinctive amenities, diverse employment, and cultural charm. Rowlett: THE place to live, work and play. Monday, March 17, 2025 6:00 P.M. Municipal Building - 4000 Main Present: Mayor Pro Tem Winget, Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Shinder, Councilmember Bowers, Councilmember Britton and Councimember Schupp Absent: Councilmember Reaves (excused) 1. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Pro Tem Winget called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. 2. EXECUTIVE SESSION 2A. The City Council shall convene into Executive Session pursuant to the Texas Government Code, $551.071 (Consultation with Attorney) to receive legal advice from the City Attorney regarding the Sapphire Bay Development. (moved to the end of the meeting) Mayor Pro Tem Winget convened the meeting into executive session at 8:44 pm. RECONVENE INTO OPEN SESSION AND TAKE ANY NECESSARY OR APPROPRIATE ACTION ON CLOSEDIEXECUTIVE SESSION MATTERS Mayor Pro Tem Winget reconvened the meeting at 9:06 pm. No action taken. 3. CITIZENS INPUT One Online Input Form was received. 1. Robert Stockard, Rowiett - Spoke regarding the hockey rink. Has been a resident of over 40 years and is a founder of the Rowlett Hockey League. On March 11th, the City of Anna listened to a presentation from the Dallas Stars regarding their proposal to build a multi-sport complex in their city. This aligns with their strategic plan. He asked if Rowlett has a strategic plan. There are five hockey rinks in McKinney and Allen and with a soon to be added multi-sport complex in Anna. He asked to not be excluded from the planning on the new roller hockey rink and implementation. The hockey board members and parents know what is needed regarding a new rink. It should be placed north and south to eliminate sunrise and sunset affecting the goalies. The current rink is configured east and west. The rink needs to have a slope SO that it allows for drainage. Need to know when the current rink will be moved SO that they can get all their equipment out of storage and rent storage until a new rink is built. Would like to have City of Rowlett 10785 regular hockey rink boards and the chain-link to be replaced by plexiglass. If cost is not feasible maybe the league can help fund this item. Rowlett Hockey has been a good steward of the rink that the City has provided. 2. Richard White, Rowlett = Spoke regarding the Community Grants. Concerned that council will limit this to Rowlett 501(c)(3)s. There are organizations outside of Rowlett that add to Rowlett as far as the beautification and services. Should allow park grants, like friends of the park, etc. How are we accounting for accountability. The boards should be the reporting authority. Spoke about volunteer hours and how to get grants based on volunteer hours. 3. Jeff Burkhalter, Josephine - Spoke regarding the hockey rink. Been playing at the hockey rink for about 20 years. He has a construction company. Let us get involved with the designs and builds. He has concrete companies, electricians, loads of dirt, whatever is needed for this project. He has compaction and injection people as well. Here to help. 4. Mark Taschet, Rowlett - Spoke regarding Short Term rentals. Read some updates that staff is looking at, and it doesn't go far enough. If people want to rent their facility, that's fine. Rent it for a minimum of 30 days. No one wants to have a drunk fest next to their house. Those are the ones you want to deter. He stressed a minimum of 30 days to rent. 5. Steve Horowitz, Rowlett - Spoke regarding Short Term rentals. Complained about the website. Need to design to show agenda, minutes, and packets together on the website. Feels that the 200 feet notification is too small, should be larger. Make is 500 feet or 1,000 feet. We have had issues on the lakefront with these homes. Wants something specific about the take area. Stay off his dock. Likes the violation policy. Has issues with the trash cans being left out. Let's make is safe for everyone. 6. Kenneth Jones, Rowlett - Spoke regarding Short Term rentals. His neighbors have been before City Council before. Air BnB do not belong in the neighborhoods. He would like to make it as difficult as possible. It is distressing coming home to police everywhere and a dead body in the pool next door. He would love for short term rentals to go. 7. Val Jones, Rowlett Spoke regarding Short Term rentals. They shouldn't be in the neighborhood. She is a certified foster parent and can not have the kids in her home right now because it is not safe. She is asking to keep the noise down, park where your car in the right place, and keep the trash picked up. The owners do not care about the fines, they don't live there. 8. Brad Gross, Rowlett = Spoke regarding Short Term rentals. It looks like the city is trying to ban Short Term Rentals. The City of Dallas has tried and they are having issues. The City of Arlington has been successful. He appreciates council allowing citizens to come and speak. These are businesses, they do not belong in single family residents. They need to be deemed commercial. 9. John Parigi, Rowlett - Spoke regarding Short Term rentals. Asked what criminal pays attention to laws. How can you enforce the laws. The people in these rentals could be child pedophiles, serial rapists, and worse. You can't regulate the rentals. Restrict it to where they can't have Short Term rentals. 10. Ben Grizzle, Rowlett Spoke regarding the hockey rink. He is 13 years old and has been playing in the hockey league for four years. He has many great memories that he will cherish for the rest of his life. There is nothing else like it. The people and community are always a pleasure to be around. He has been taught to skate, shoot, pass, stop, and other cool tricks and necessities for hockey. Please build a new hockey rink, before you destroy the old one, and allow him to make more memories. 11. Nick Grizzle, Rowlett - Spoke regarding hockey rink. He has been in Rowlett for about 10 years. His son fell in love with hockey. The league accepts all kids regardless of experience or skill. It City of Rowlett 10786 builds self-esteem and self-confidence. The league stands on community services. This league has the manpower and ability to help build and maintain a new rink. 12. Jonathan Blakely, Rowlett = Spoke regarding the hockey rink. Rowlett resident of 20+ years. Since 2018, the league has been promised a new hockey rink before the old one is torn down. The City used the hockey league to pass the Herfurth Park Bond. Along with the rest of the City, they found out information through Facebook and social media. Sapphire Bay, Kids Kingdom, and Wet Zone are all projects that the City has been involved in with delays or overbudget. This is a rush job to build another rink. The league doesn't even trust the City to make repairs to the rink. Now the City wants to build a rink with a deadline. Wait until the new rink has been built before tearing down the old rink. Players will go north to play and never come back. Do not bulldoze the current rink until a sufficient rink is built. He will never vote for a current member of council and probably never vote for another bond if this happens. 13. Gavin Blakely, Rowlett - Spoke regarding the hockey rink. Hs been playing hocky fori four years. He is asking to not tear down the hockey rink, until the new one is built. They use the hockey rink in the summer to keep up their skills. 14. Julie Blakely, Rowlett - Spoke regarding the hockey rink. Been a Rowlett resident for over 12 years. She is asking to not tear down the hockey rink until there is a new rink, The rink is used year-round. They use the rink afterschool, on breaks, and on weekends. She has been in project management for over a decade. Projects take longer and cost more. The Community Park location is not a viable option if there has not been a soil test yet. You cannot get through all that needs to be done in the 166 days until the next season begins. The only answer is to keep this rink in use until you have designed and built the new rink. City government and city officials work for the citizens. The city officials can not afford another failed project in this city. 4. WORK SESSION 4A. Presentation of options for the relocation of the Roller Hockey Rink to be displaced by the Municipal Complex project. Deputy City Manager, Kristoff Bauer, presented this item. The Roller Hockey Rink is in Herfurth Park. The Municipal Complex is scheduled to break ground on April 25th. The City needs to relocate the rink before the Fall season. Originally, the rink would be relocated to Katy Park as part of the GO 2018 Bond approved by the voters. $500,000 was allocated for that project. The soil and other conditions drove estimated cost above available resources. There is $442,000 remaining in the Fund. Staff is proposing to move the rink to Community Park. He reviewed the Thoroughfare Plan of Princeton to Rainey Road. This will give two entrances to Community Park. The estimate to replace the Roller Hockey Rink is $163,000 to $200,000 and will take 45 days to complete. The estimate for the Rainey Road extension is $200,000 and will take 60 days to complete. Staff will need to survey the extension of Rainey Road, complete design specifications, and then start the project, if approved. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Shinder asked about the soil testing. David Hall, City Manager, stated before we can do soil testing, staff needed to make sure that city council was ok with the location. Soil testing takes about two weeks. Councilmember Britton asked if Community Park was the best viable location. It is for parking and lighting. Can build the rink without extending the access road on Rainey Road. Councimember Bowers asked if there is enough parking. The soccer fields are used quite extensively. The plan is to provide more parking. Councilmember Britton wants to ensure that the hockey league is included in the discussions of the new rink. Staff confirmed that the league City of Rowlett 10787 will be included. Staff is very cognizant of the schedule. Councilmember Britton stated he is in favor of this, if, there is clear communication with the hockey league. Robert Stockard will be the point of contact for the hockey league. There is a consensus that Community Park will be the location of the new hockey rink. Mayor Pro Tem Winget asked if there will be a time that they are without a rink. David Hall responded no, potentially trying to be at the end of the season and before the beginning of the next season. Need to do soil testing, will take a couple of weeks. If the soil test comes back bad, staff has looked at other parks. Councimember Bowers asked if the league could practice on the hockey rink in Rockwall. No, because that rink is 1/3 of the size of the current rink. Councilmember Schupp stated he has nothing further to add. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Shinder agreed with Councilmember Britton and want to ensure that the hockey league is involved. Julie Blakely was asked to speak. If Community Park comes back with bad soil, the league will not survive losing one season. Do we really have to tear down the rink prior to the new one being built. You have all the infrastructure to worry about, along with the soil testing. Staff will have the soil tested and if not good, will bring back with alternatives. 4B. Discuss proposed revisions to the regulation of Short-Term Rental use within the City. This item was moved after 4D. Mayor Pro Tem Winget adjourned the meeting into Executive Session at 7:56 pm. Mayor Pro Tem Winget reconvened the meeting at 8:22 pm. Mayor Pro Tem Winget stated as many of you know the City of Rowlett has been considering enacting rules that would limit the location of short-term rental to certain districts within the city limits. We were made aware tonight of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decision, which appears to weaken out ability to enforce any such ordinance. The ordinance included in tonight's packet does provide additional restrictions and controls against short-term rentals. It does not include any district restrictions that might limit geographic location. At this time, we are awaiting the outcome and other pending itigation that will help guide our decision-making beyond the controls that we are considering. Deputy City Manager, Kristoff Bauer, presented this item. There are 78 Short-Term Rentals (STR) in the city. In the last two years, 37% had a complaint, 46% had a citation, 68% had a violation, and 46% had a police response. The top offenders were presented. The proposed STR Ordinance consolidates STR regulations in one section of the Code. It will require proof of insurance, limit physical conversion of premises, require a minimum stay of 24 hours. Revocation of permit if more than two citations are issued for any violation. It will also revamp the appeal process for permit denial or revocation. It will restrict STR "Use" to specific areas, away from single family neighborhoods. It would be confined to Entertainment and Commercial areas. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Shinder asked if the revocation was after two citations or on the third citation. It was confirmed that it is on the second conviction of the citation. Mayor Pro Tem Winget confirmed that it doesn't have to be the same type of violation. Councilmember Britton wants more than the minimum of 200 ft. notice. He would like to see it expand to 500 ft minimum notice. There was a consensus to expand the notice requirement to 500 ft. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Shinder asked ift the address of the short-term rental could be published. Yes, it can. Counciimember Britton asked City of Rowlett 10788 how many permits have been revoked. Two have been revoked. On behalf of City Council, Mayor Pro Tem Winget thanked everyone for showing up and speaking on this item. 4C. Discuss updating the policies governing the Community Services Grant Program for non-profit organizations. Assistant City Manager, ReNissa Wade, presented this item. Gave background on the program. Reviewed criteria for the applications. There will be an online application. This will be opened to all 501(c)(3) nonprofits that are located or have a principal office in Rowlett. Applications will open March 5 and close April 1, with award notifications by October 1 and fund use by September 30 of the following year. Mayor Pro Tem Winget asked about duplication of community programs, which was stated in the presentation. He confirmed that the city council will see all applications. Councilmember Bowers asked when the annual reporting will be due. They will be due the following October or November. Mayor Pro Tem Winget asked for clarity in section 4.3 of the funding agreement, it says January, but shouldn't it be October? That will be corrected. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Shinder is concerned that if an application was submitted incomplete, it would not be presented to city council. The idea is to have the deadline prior to the submission to city council SO that staff can work with the applicant to submit the missing documents. City council will review all applications, complete or incomplete. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Shinder wants to revisit the requirement that the organization must be headquartered in the City of Rowlett. There are some organizations that do wonderful work but are not headquartered in the City of Rowlett. Councilmember Britton doesn't know that it is critical to him, as long as the funds are being spent in Rowlett. Councimember Bowers agrees that the organization shouid not be neadquartered in the City of Rowiett, but the funds are to be spent in Rowlett. Councimember Schupp stated that there needs to be a limitation on the geographical location of the organization. Mayor Pro Tem Winget suggested using the Lake Ray Hubbard area language. That requirement of the organization must be headquartered in the City of Rowlett will be struck. Mayor Pro Tem Winget appreciates staff's work on this item. 4D. Discuss potential fee waivers, reduced fees and/or participation in programs to provide senior citizens with financial savings regarding city services and amenities. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Shinder presented this item. There are approximately 9,000 to 12,000 senior population over 55 years of age. 11.6% is over the age of 65. Rowlett became a member of AARP Network of age-friendly communities in 2020. Rowlett established an Age-Friendly 5-year action plan as couple of years ago but haven't heard much about it. Need to find out where we are in the implantation. Councilmember Britton stated we just started year 4 of the plan and is a staff driven initiative. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Shinder reviewed Rowlett's senior amenities. Councimember Britton stated the Senior Advisory Board decided to start the Rowlett Centenarian Club, which recognizes citizens that have reached 100 years of age. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Shinder would like to reduce the cost of $10 to $5 for use of the Rowlett Community Centre or even waive the fee. There are a lot of senior programs there and would like to see more and at more locations. She would like to see more handicap parking at the Community Centre, We need to have a more easily navigated online resources. She also wants to consider a tax exemption increase in the FY 2026 Budget. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Shinder wants to have senior center and suggested a sub-committee to work with the Senior Advisory Board. City of Rowlett 10789 Councilmember Schupp asked if there was a way to incorporate Medicare funded projects/Denefits. Would like staff to look into it. Councilmember Bowers added that per the ordinance, the Parks & Recreation are required to be 70% self-funded and that only 30% of funding can come from the general fund. She confirmed with Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Shinder that she would be willing to adjust that percentage. As a senior, she would not be willing to reduce any of the school age programming to offset senior decreases andlor costs. Doesn't feel that there is a need for a separate senior center. At the Community Centre, from 7 am to 2 pm, there are only senior citizens. Others don't usually come to the Centre until after 2 pm. She supports the tax freeze for seniors, but must remember that the senior tax freeze, in 2023, was over $2 million to the general fund. We must also remember our young families. Mayor Pro Tem Winget would like to know what the other cities are doing. He would like to refer this to the Parks & Recreation Board and the Senior Advisory Board to review. Councilmember Bowers stated that the free lunches that are delivered to seniors are from Meals on Wheels. Councilmember Schupp stated 55 seems to be on the young side of considering them seniors. We need to establish the minimum age and what proportion of the population we are talking about. Councilmember Bowers would be fine to move the age for the Senior Advisory Board to 55. However, she feels the age to be a senior should be a minimum of 62. Councilmember Britton would like to see what we can do fort the seniors. Mayor Pro Tem Winget would rather appoint the Parks Advisory Board and Senior Advisory Board to research this item, and the council liaisons work with the board. Councimember Schupp feels that there needs to be a defined mission for each of the boards. 5. DISCUSS CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS FOR MARCH 18, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING. No items were removed from the Consent Agenda. 6. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Pro Tem Winget adjourned the meeting at 9:07 pm. Borense Jeff Winget, Mayor Pro Tém Debbie Sorensen, City Secretary Approved on: April 1, 2025 City of Rowlett 10790