Council requests plan for possible police department

New Interim Town Manager Dan Savage received a warm welcome at his first Sunnyvale Town Council meeting Monday night.

Council members had their hands full as they approved the election ordinance, had a lengthy discussion on two pieces of property along highway 80 and discussed the possibility of forming a police department.

Election season kicks off soon as filing for the mayor position and two council seats ends at 5 p.m. on March 1. Ordinance 13-08 was approved Monday, which amended ordinance 13-06 which incorrectly said the election would not be held within 45 days of passage of that ordinance.

State election laws require municipalities to order their elections not less than 71 days prior to the election. Ordinance 13-06 met the 71-day requirement, but Sunnyvale town officials said they felt it was important to modify the days in the ordinance to match state election laws.

Of the four public hearings, the first two were of note as the council deliberated with the contractor and the public for more than an hour and half regarding two sites, which reside on property owned by R&M Motley LLC at 309 and 307 E. Highway 80.

The applicant applied to obtain a conditional use permit for an accessory building of more than 400 square feet in commercial zoning districts, as well as Chapter 27 - Non-Conforming Uses. Mayor Jim Phaup said the property falls in an area that is hard to define as it was developed early in Sunnyvale history, so not all of the town's codes apply as they do for the rest of the town structures.

As a requirement of the conditional use permit application, a site plan review was performed for the site. As part of that review, it was acknowledged that the site was in need of several items to start moving toward compliance with current codes and ordinances. These items were agreed to by the applicant and include providing the required parking, and installing landscaping and irrigation, to include a 6-foot landscaped berm along the back of the lot to establish screening from the adjacent residential property and a living screen placed in front of the berm.

Additionally, the applicant has agreed to remove three nonconforming structures. This application was presented to the Planning and Zoning Commission on Feb. 18 and received a recommendation for approval subject to completion of the items listed above and installation of required fire hydrants to meet the spacing requirement, and to allow up to 60 percent use of stucco in order to meet the 90-percent masonry requirement.

Thirty-one notices were sent, with four returned notices supporting the request and one opposing the request.

Paula Yates asked the applicant to get the berm and screen in as quickly as possible so as to screen it from the adjacent residential area. She said the residents have voiced many concerns about the property over the years; three of them came and spoke during the public hearing.

The council added to the request by stipulating that driving and parking be confined to improved service and the applicant would come back in three years to the council to make sure it meets codes and no problems remain.

For the property on 307 E. Highway 80, the applicant is requesting to expand a previously approved conditional use permit for an accessory building from 2,400 square feet to 4,800 square feet. This was in response to a series of robberies that have occurred on the site, and the current tenant wants to build a garage to store their equipment.

While the council did approve of the CUP, they also added that additional screening effort, which will include trees along the west part of the property and 25 feet to the north side of the extended building, must be put in place.

One of the final discussions to come out of the meeting was the presentation of a proposed study of future police services by Thomas Latham. Phaup said it was not a discussion of whether Sunnyvale needed a police department or on the level of service the Dallas Sheriff's Department supplies, but more a discussion on what would need to happen should the council establish a police department.

Latham said that it was a massive undertaking that would most likely take five years before a police department would be 100 percent operational. The town decided to go ahead and commission Latham to come up with a complete process of what it would take to create a police department and have that plan ready at the next council meeting at the end of March.

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