Tonight's liveblog brought to you by a mad dash after scarfing down day old pizza.  Workshop starts at 6:30pm.

Here we go! All our councilmen are here tonight and we're moving through the agenda.

Items 1-3 no comment.  Item 4 has been pulled by Gorena and he mentions that every Sunday he calls for warrants to help the judge.  He states that over 1/2 the people he talks with are just 'down on their luck' and to stop them from registering is going to create a domino effect on their lives.  With the poor economy this could be a huge thing for people.  Durham asks if this counts on the payment plans that the judge creates to pay outstanding fees.  If people are on the payment plan it will hold up their registration.  This will be part of a mandatory program that we will have to implement when Lewisville crosses 100,000 residents.  Gorena mentions how expensive things are getting (amazing how raising fees and penalties creates a burden on the average citizen).   This penalty would only apply to moving violations.  Tierney asks if they're 'making an effort' would the court show leniency, the judge says yes but their registration would be cleared and they could then go back to being in arrears on their outstanding traffic fees.  Gorena thinks it's a bad law and will vote against it.  They're going to drive regardless.  Tierney asks if it's ok that they don't fulfill their responsibilities.  Gorena states it's not fair to those down on their luck.  Chief Kerbow is for the new program.

Mayor Ueckert says you can't discriminate on how or why a person is down on their luck. The judge can discriminate on the payment.  Gorena states that they have to pay their bills.  He asks what triggers.  The process begins when there's a warrant.   The mayor is asking why do people have a warrant.  Typically they get a warrant because they fail to pay or not show up at court when getting a ticket.  If they've shown up and done what's required then this new law doesn't apply to them according to the judge.

Item 5-7 no comment.   Item 8- Watts asks about teen court TV and asks the judge if it's going to impact the teen court, the judge says no.

Item 9-13 no comment.  Item 14 Gorena asks where Sycamore park is and wants to know why it didn't get an upgrade- King explains the census track and that the improvement didn't qualify with the Federal income standard.

Item 15 Gorena mentions a couple months ago that he brought Parker House to the table to get agreement with the neighbors and the business.  Gorena states that Parker house profits go to a bunch of non profits and that's the reason Gorena liked it.  He wants to know if there are any code violations.  Staff states that by using it as storage is a violation of the current code.  The agreement was to dismantle the haunted house after the season.  Gorena was contacted after the ordinance and codes were violated and asked to help out the Parker House.  King mentions that there are several violations.   If the council lets him continue it will mean they'll run the event through December.

Item 16 Gorena asks if the glass repair is done out of his truck.  Gorena states that this competes with the brick and mortar and he has a problem with it.  King mentions that the city has never done a year long permit like this.

Item 17 no comment.  Item 18- Gorena asks about the original limit of 2 years.  King responds that the 2 years was because there wasn't any development planned and that was what was requested.  Ueckert states that there was an understanding that if development were to come (as it is now) the city would ask to pave the lot.  King mentions that we've required others to do this.

Item 19- Gorena asks if we're replacing all the school signs.  King states that it would be 118 signs replaced at $3,000 total for the changed school times.

Item 20-  Boards and commissions.  Everyone is being reappointed.  Angela Garcia(sp) will fill the vacant spot on Parks, Jennine Golden(sp) will fill Library, P&Z everyone reappointed.  Zoning Board Debbie Engladu(sp) will move up.  CDBG Barbara Carey- but Gorena prefers someone else while he doesn't dislike Ms. Carey he just felt another applicant would be better.  Gorena is happy with whatever since they're all very good.  That's all the boards updated.

And we'll break for the meeting.  

Here we go-  No public comment.  Consent agenda item 4 is pulled.  Moved, Seconded, Approved Unanimously (MSAU).

Item 4-  Contract for collection of outstanding fines.  This keeps people from re-registering their cars if the owner has failed to appear in court of pay a fine.  In order to remove the registry block the individual must pay up.  Similar programs have been successful in collecting past due fines.  The Judge is now explaining the program as he did in workshop.  The Mayor points out that people don't get in trouble with this program if they attend their court date and pay their fines.  A warrant must be issued before registration gets blocked.  Durham states that it would be cheaper to pay cash than go to jail.  Gorena asks the Judge- can people pay their fines when paying for license.  The judge says no, they have to pay their fine, then they can get registered.  Gorena states that he thinks its a bad law and talks about his warrant calls and that a lot of people simply forgot and over 1/2 those folks don't need another domino to fall on them.  

Editor's note: This is really interesting from a councilman who constantly states that we must uphold and enforce all the laws.

King mentions that as long as someone has agreed to pay they won't get this penalty, this includes payment plans to the court.  They only get hit if there's a warrant.  Watts mentions that it doesn't make sense to delay a program we're going to have to do when we crack 100,000.  Watts mentions that everyone has a hard luck story once they get a warrant.  Thornhill makes a motion to approve.  Tierney is in favor, you break the law you pay the consequences.  4-1 Gorena against.  Passes. 

Item 15-  Parker House Variance.  What this boils down to is that Parker House has failed to clean up according to their agreed variance from last year.  They would like to extend the variance and allow the event to go on at the end of September and then remove the haunted house material in December. Since there was no long term storage variance and zoning violations and the original agreement stated that the Parker House would remove the materials by April 14th.  This is two fold.  The special event window is asked to be extended beyond the 20 day Special Events Permit to a full month.  The neighbors are upset about the noise but many neighbors are not put out by the event.  The Parker House has also asked if they can build a fence.  Making this haunted house a year round event would require landscaping, bricking the facility, and other rules to match our General Development Ordinance.

We have several folks here to speak in support of the Parker House.  Ms Janell Nailing(sp) wants to let council know how much her kids love to work at the haunted house and that it's good for them and their grades.  Mr Ken Jones is in support and mentions how greatly the kids support the event and it brings a lot of people into Lewisville.  Mr Preston East (owner of the event) has brought some surveys he did with the neighbors (he distributed something similar last time he spoke with the Council) to show who he's spoken with.  There is now a video and they're showing where an 8ft tall by 60ft long fence will go.  The Parker House is also reducing and removing exterior music.  The extended permit is because the permits have changed a bit.  They used to do two permits.  Now Mr East speaks about the High School involvement as well as their support of non profits.  He's now discussing how storage is done with the truck trailers.  Mr East asks for this to go for just one more year because so much of this past year's event was rained out (16 of 19 days received rain).  Mr. East thinks if they're told to move it will be devastating since they don't have many volunteers now.  

Mayor Ueckert states that everything will have to be removed by December 1 if the variance is approved. Mr East states that he's clear.  Ms Sonya Fletcher(sp) speaks that she barely heard any noise in her neighborhood and that this is a wonderful thing. Ms Jill Salas (sp) is totally in favor of the Parker House. Ms Christy Dunstill(sp) mentions her son's involvement and how Parker House has helped fund ROTC trips. There are also cards in support from 10 other residents.

Gorena mentions that he thought this was a good thing and the promise of December 1 removal works for him.  Gorena states that he's seeing a lot of effort.  Watts asks about policies and procedures at Parker House to prevent illicit activity.  East mentions that they have 5-8 parents present at all times during the construction phase.  During the season about 35 volunteers are adults, the remainder are kids.  The event also has police officers who enforce a zero alcohol policy and a security staff of 12.  There are also folks in the parking lot as well as 36 infrared cameras in the house to keep things safe.  They also run volunteers against the sex offenders registry. Watts doesn't see much point in making them move now.  He mentions that this isn't intended to make this a permanent, year round event.  If this doesn't happen by December 1 he mentions that there will be repercussions.  Thornhill mentions that the reason we have the new ordinances on special events because of events in the past.  For the Council to approve the current ordinance and then circumvent it he feels is not a good precedent.  Tierney moves to approve.  4-1 Thornhill dissents.

Item 16-  365 day permit for Texas Chips and Cracks.  Watts understands that we've never granted a variance of this type for this long.  He asks what the Mall stated when they called to support this business. The current permit is 120 days on, 120 days off, etc... the request is to fill in the 120 days off.  There is a small tent and the windshield repair happens within a 6 parking spot space.  Watts asks if there are other properties that would allow similar visibility for his 120 days off.  Staff state that they can easily move locations in the city and that there are many businesses that do the same.  Watts would hope that if this is so successful the owner would find a permanent location and he's right now not inclined to support the variance.  Ueckert asks about the temporary car wash that operated the same way in the parking lot.  Staff confirms that there are other businesses that operate within the current ordinances.  Tierney wants to see a permanent business.  Durham is mixed.  If the mall is in support he feels he will support.  Gorena agrees with Watts and mentions that there are other crack and chip businesses who pay taxes.  Watts clarifies that this isn't a deal about buildings with crack repair versus the temporary location.  He brought it up because he wants to keep the ordinance.  3-2 Tierney and Gorena voted no. 

Item 17-  Variance for a temporary leasing office at The Evergreen development on 455 Highland Dr.  MSAU.

Item 18-   Porter Tire variance for gravel parking lot.  Mr Bill Ratinger(sp) is here to speak in support as the owner.  He is happy to allow the city to continue using this as overflow parking and since there is no development around the facility he'd like to postpone paving the lot depending on surrounding development.  MSAU.

Item 19-  Changing school zone signs for new ISD times. Adding a couple new school zones.  MSAU.

Item 20-  Appointments, confirmed the workshop discussion.  MSAU.

Reports:  Lake is still in good shape.  Thank you for reading, we're done tonight. 

Points of Interest for Monday's meeting: 

Approval of a contract with TxDoT that allows the county tax assessor to deny the renewal of vehicle registrations if the owner has failed to appear in court or pay a traffic law fine.  Dallas started this a couple of years ago and it generated not inconsiderable revenues for them.  While I doubt it will raise a ton of money for Lewisville, it will create another means to ensure people pay their tickets.

Approval of an economic development grant for Huffines Plaza.  This project provides for facade renovations, new signage, pavement and landscaping.  It is to be completed by September and is valued at $850,000 in improvements by the owner.  The proposed agreement provides a grant capped at $200,000 and payable up to a ten year period to the property owner.  When improvements are completed the grant will be paid annually in an amount equal to the real property improvement portion of ad valorem taxes paid to the city.  Basically we'd be giving them that part of their taxes back.  The plaza is 48 years old and could use redevelopment.  I'd be curious what the current ad valorem taxes are and what they will be after the improvements.  It is also interesting that the renovations have already begun without council approval of this grant.  Someone is pretty assured this will pass.

Approval of a cooperation agreement and intent memo to participate in a teen court documentary series being pitched by TVPUG to the television networks.  Several courts are being approached.  Collin County and Longview are onboard, Odessa, Midland and Arlington are considering.  The city would receive location fees, reimbursement of expenses, contributions to the Teen Court Scholarship fund and 10% of net profits if the show is picked up.  My personal knee jerk is, no way I would want my kids potentially involved with a 'Judge Judy' type show.

Approval of a resolution to participate in a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO) initiative.  This voluntary program allows the city to submit a comprehensive plan for sanitary sewer repairs and upgrades over an identified timeframe that will reduce the number of SSOs.  This also exempts the city from TCEQ enforcement on overflows between now and completion of the comprehensive plan.  This has been approved by TCEQ through 2013.

Approval of a resolution to work with other Texas New Mexico Power cities to hire attorneys and consultants to evaluate a proposed 158M dollar upgrade to the TNMP metering system that has been proposed for 2011-2015.  Looks like we'll be getting smart meters in the not too distant future.

Approval of the proposed $939,849 CDBG budget for FY 2010-2011.  More info can be found here.  

There is a consideration of a new Variance for DFW Fright Nights for Sept. 24 through Oct 31 with a removal of event materials by December 1.  The DFW Fright Nights group would also add an 8ft tall, 60ft long wooden fence to screen the event from the adjacent neighborhood.  DFW Fright Nights failed to remove the event materials this past year and the neighbors are justifiably upset that this has caused an eyesore.  The haunted house is located at 2301 N. Stemmons if you want to take a peek.

Texas Chips and Cracks is asking for an extension of their three month temporary permit to one year for their successful windshield repair facility in the parking lot of Vista Ridge Mall. The mall is supporting this extension.

Porter Tire at 325 N. Mill St. is asking for a waiver of a $350 variance filing fee, and for a variance on their existing crushed concrete parking lot for 3 years.  In exchange Porter Tire has offered the lot for temporary events parking to the city.  The Old Town Zoning requires a paved lot.

Appointments to CDBG board,  Library board, Park board, and Zoning Board of Adjustment are also being addressed.