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Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes - 10/09/2024 MINUTES PLANNING &ZONING COMMISSION October 9, 2024 PRESENT: David Cook *Chairman Jeremy Woodward •Vice-Chair Blake Haney •Member Michael Grassi •Member Noros Martin •Member Doug McCulloch •Member Matt Marrs •Member Brady Enlow *Alternate No.1 Alan Sizemore •Alternate No.2 Richard Milhollon •SAFB Liaison James McKechnie, Legal Department •City Staff Fabian Medellin, Planning Manager •City Staff Cedric Hu, Planning Technician •City Staff Karen Montgomery-Gagne-Principle Planner •City Staff Tyson Traw-Deputy Director Public Works •City Staff Pat Hoffman-Property Management •City Staff Rita Miller-Code Enforcement/Housing Administrator •City Staff Robin Marshall,Admin Assistant •City Staff ABSENT: Wayne Pharries •Member Steve Wood *Member Mark McBurnett •SAFB Liaison I. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chairman David Cook, at 2:00. II. PUBLIC COMMENTS Chairman Cook asked if there were any comments from the public for any items not on the agenda. No one from the public had any comments. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 460. Chairman Cook asked if any of the members of the Commission have a motion to approve the September 11, 2024 meeting minutes. Commissioner Matt Marrs made the motion, and Commissioner Noros Martin seconded the motion. The motion passed with a vote of 9-0 IV. CONSENT AGENDA Chairman Cook asked if there are any items on the consent agenda that needed to be moved down to the regular agenda. Mr. Fabian Medellin stated that there were no cases that needed to be moved to the regular agenda. Chairman Cook asked if there was a motion to approve the consent agenda. Mr. Marrs made a motion to approve and Commissioner Blake Haney seconded the motion. Chairman Cook asked if there was anyone from the public that wished to speak. No one came forward. Chairman Cook asked if there were any comments from anyone on the Commission, and no comments were made. Chairman Cook took the motion to vote, and the motion passed 9-0. mow V. Regular Agenda Chairman Gook stated that due to the nature of two of the cases (requests), specifically C24-13, will be moved and presented after case C24-24. Case C 24-13 7346 Northwest Freeway and 0 FM 369 (Property ID#114542 & #114543) MOVED TO BE HEARD AFTER CASE C24-24 1. Case C 24-23 509 Stesco Avenue & 500 Astin Avenue Consider taking action on a conditional use to allow for the development of a contractor's yard and warehouse in a Residential Mixed Use (RMU) zoning district. Owner: Mr. Miguel A. Muniz Location: 509 Stesco and 500 Astin Avenue Chairman Cook asked if there was a motion to approve the case. Commissioner Doug McCulloch made the motion and Matt Marrs seconded the motion. Chairman Cook asked staff to present the case. Mr. Cedric Hu presented the case. He stated that this conditional use request was in a RMU zoning district and presented pictures and location maps of the properties that are located in the East side of Wichita Falls, and is just Northeast of the MLK and East Scott Avenue intersection. Mr. Hu pointed out in Aerial views of the property the location of existing buildings on the properties and the vacant land as well. The property is surrounded by residential uses, Industrial uses and vacant land. Mr. Hu presented the client's site plan for the proposed contractor's yard showing that a fence will enclose the client's property with entrance gates along the street fronts of Stesco and Astin Ave. for access to the contractor's yard. The fencing will serve as screening to obscure the view of the contractor's yard from any adjacent land, as well as to protect the existing residential development. The development will be solely used by the property owner's business and no customers will be accessing the site. The property is located next to vacant land in a residential mixed use zoning district and other residences and mobile homes nearby. To the South is a Light Industrial Zoning District, which has various warehousing uses and freight uses as well along Petrolia Road. As part of the Conditional Use process, staff had notified 13 property owners within a 200-foot radius of the subject site. Staff did not receive any responses back from any of the notified property owners. Mr. Hu inform the Commission that staff does recommend the approval of the Conditional Use for the contractor's yard and warehouse at this address with the following conditions: 1) The property must have a fence or other approved screening, six foot minimum, installed and maintained to obscure the view of the outdoor storage from any adjacent land or right-a-way. The owner will need to provide an example of the fence or screen material. 2) Gates, which are used for access to the contractor's yard and outdoor storage yards, are not required to provide solid screen. The outdoor storage yard immediately behind, and perpendicular to the gate, to have a distance of at least 30 feet, must be kept clear of all storage materials. Those unscreened gates shall be no wider that 20 ft. 3) Areas around or under the outdoor storage buildings must be kept free and clear of accumulations of grass, weeds, brush or other uncultivated vegetation. 4) Outdoor storage must be on an improved surface, and gravel can be considered for the outdoor storage for the contractor's yard. 5) Any site improvements must be subject to a site plan review. Chairman Cook asked if the applicant was in the audience, and if they wanted to make a presentation. The applicant was not present. Chairman Cook asked if there were any questions from the Commission. It was noted, by Commissioner Doug McCulloch, that this case is in conjunction with a platting request, and asked if the platting approval was a stipulation to the approval vow of the conditional use permit. Mr. Hu stated,yes,the property must be platted in order to develop the contractor's yard/warehouse. Chairman Cook asked if there were any more comments or questions, which there were none. Chairman Cook took the motion to vote. The motion passed 9-0 2. Case C 24-24 223 Loch Lomond Drive Consider taking action on a conditional use to allow for the development of a duplex in a Single Family-2 Residential (SF-2)zoning district. Owner: Chris Schweiger(CJ's Fencing Inc.) Location: 223 Loch Lomond Drive Chairman Cook asked if there was a motion to approve the case. Commissioner Matt Marrs made the motion and Commissioner Michael Grassi seconded the motion. Mr. Cedric Hu presented the case stating that the applicant is requesting to allow for a duplex at 223 Loch Lomond Drive,and the city ordinance requires that a Conditional Use Permit needs to be approved in order to place a duplex in a Single Family 2 zoning district. Mr. Hu presented aerial views of the property and pointed out that it is a residential neighborhood with other residences nearby, as well as a park to the North. He also presented the client's site plan for the proposed project showing each unit will be approximately 1,143 square feet with two driveways that will be constructed for parking purposes. Mr. Hu stated that the development will meet all setback requirements with at least 25 feet for the front setback, 5 feet for the side interior setbacks and will be exceeding the rear setback toward the alley, with a setback of at least 29 feet. Pictures of a structure on the property were shown, and the Commission was informed that the structure had been damaged by fire and there are plans for it to be demolished and the duplex will be put in its place. Mr. Hu showed that the property is fully within a Single Family 2 zoning district in a residential neighborhood. As part of the Conditional Use process, staff had notified the 23 properties within the 200-foot radius of the subject's property. As of this date, we have received one response that was in favor of the project and three responses that were opposed to the duplex. Staff does recommend approval of this Conditional Use for a duplex in the SF2 zoning district, with the conditions that a total of four parking stalls will be provided. Meaning that design standards of section 6200, off street parking regulations and the duplex, will comply with all building code regulations, permitting, and inspections. Now Chairman Cook asked if the applicant is in the audience, if they would like to make a statement. He stated he did not wish to make a presentation. Chairman Cook asked if anyone else in the audience would like to speak. Mr. Hugh Cash stepped up to the podium and stated that he lives directly behind 223 Loch Lomond. He stated that his concern that was if this would be right by the city and right for the surrounding homeowners, concerning the property value in the area. He said his property value will drop if the duplex is allowed to be built in this community. He also voiced a concern regarding parking, and he is afraid they will at some point try to put parking from the access from the alleyway. Stating that the alleyway is very narrow. The alley is used for utility and emergency vehicles, and there are also gas meters up and down the alleyway. If the owners did try to modify and create access through the back, Mr. Cash said he was concerned that they could run into his gas meter or hit some other gas meters along the line. Mr. Cash stated that there is also a problem with the volume of trash, and his concern is adding two units there will only increase an already existing problem. He pointed out that this is an entire community of all single-family homes, so to put this one duplex in the middle of that community doesn't make sense, and again, it will change the property values. He wishes the Commission will not approve the Conditional Use for this duplex. Next, Mrs. JJ Schwiger, part owner of CJ's Fencing, came to the podium and said they own multiple single-family homes in town and they definitely have no desire to hurt anyone's home value. The are 3-2 units so they can bring in full families for each side, and she stated that they have done a lot of homework in preparation for this project. There was a fire in the original structure, and Mrs./Mr. Schwiger felt it would be a better way to increase the values in the area. The city and the tenants would be required to bring in more trash receptacles. She stated that they are not trying to hurt anyone, and that they are just trying to improve the property. Chairman Cook asked if anyone else from the audience would like to speak, which no one came forward. Then he asked the Commission if anyone had anything to ask or comment about. Mr. Medellin clarified for parking that in our ordinances, duplexes fall within the same line as single-family development regulations. The planned parking for these duplexes, since there are only two driveways, would be considered double parking. They would park in tandem. He stated that we do allow double parking for residential uses, so this would also be allowed for the new place as well. Mr. McCulloch questioned why this is not considered spot zoning, because all of the residences surrounding this property are single family homes. Attorney James McKechnie answered that it is not spot zoning because we are not changing the zoning. It is allowed in Single Family 2 as a conditional use. Chairman Cook asked if there was any additional discussion by the commission, and there were no more questions or comments. Chairman Cook took the motion to vote. The motion passed 9-0. Chairman Cook stated that the next two cases will be presented, public comment will be provided and discussion among the Commissioners will take place. Then the vote will be preserved for following executive session. Staff, the EDC, the applicants and the Commission will adjourn into executive session and then return to vote. 3. Case C 24-13 7346 Northwest Freeway and 0 FM 369 (Property ID#114542 &#114543) Consider taking action on a conditional use at 7346 Northwest Freeway (+- 72.67 acres out of John Thomas Survey, Abstract 283)and 0 FM 369 (+- 138.66 acres out of Tract 9, John Thomas Survey, Abstract 283; Property ID: 114542)to allow for the use of light manufacturing for the development of a green energy ammonia production facility powered by a solar array system. Owner/Applicant: Greg Siemer(Shomax Energy US Inc.) Location: 0 North FM 369 (Property ID#114542/114543) Mr. Fabian Medellin presented the case and stated that about a year ago, staff met with Mr. Tom Bowker of Shomax Energy and the property owner to discuss this proposal in a Pre-Development Meeting. Mr. Medellin said the property is located at the Northeast intersection of FM 369 and Highway US 287 (or Northwest Freeway.), Aiow and the property is 200+ acres. At the meeting, the clients discussed the proposal for the green ammonia production facility that would be powered and supported by a solar array. The property is zoned General Commercial, but light manufacturing is conditionally allowed in the GC zoning district, and early on in our discussion with the applicants, we addressed potential impacts with Sheppard Air Force Base. Mr. Bowker did some engineering, some site planning and some preparation, and in May presented us with a site plan and the layout so they could go ahead with the Conditional Use Permit Application. Mr. Medellin stated that it was at this time that we went to Sheppard Air Force Base to get their approval of the proposal. Sheppard asked that the applicant go through the Department of Defense to clear the way after looking at all aspects of the proposed development. Their concern was not the reflection off of the solar array, but they had a concern that the proposed site would create a habitat for migratory birds which would have an impact on flight operations to the base. Shomax has worked directly with Sheppard, and have come up with a bird mitigation action plan, which would allow Sheppard direct access to the site, and allowing potential mitigation efforts to be installed as part of the ongoing development of the property. Mr. Medellin explained that the land is currently used agriculturally as range land and to grow crops, and the land immediately around it is undeveloped. He stated that there is a race track and drag strip to the North of the site, and farther North of the race track is Allred Correctional facility. Mr. Medellin pointed out that the property is just on the fringe of City limits. Showing an aerial view of the site, he said that the fringe of City limits,where it is secluded, historically is where the city would like to see industrial and manufacturing uses. He then asked Mr. Bowker to come introduce the project and to speak of the operations. Mr. Bowker stated that they are going to build a green ammonia plant. It's ammonia, but instead of splitting natural gas and putting harmful carbon dioxide into the air, we are going to split water and release oxygen into the air. We need the hydrogen to make our ammonia, then take that ammonia and we dilute it immediately to aqua ammonia.What is essentially a 10 zero-zero product as opposed to anhydrous,which will immediately evaporate into the air. It is an 82 zero-zero product. He stated that they have an additive that they make down in Houston that they are going to add to it, which is a green product, that they put into that and it turns it into a green urea that can be sold to farmers at a fixed cost. It is the same price today, as it is tomorrow, and 10 years, because they don't have to rely on natural gas prices to be able to go up and down. He stated that they just make it out of water, so the farmer benefits from this. With the additive in there, another benefit to the farmers is that the way it works is it actually pulls nitrous oxide gases out of the air and delivers that to the plant through the skin of the plant. That creates a carbon credit,so not only are we cleaning nitrous oxide from the air by using the product, but we also give the farmer an additional revenue stream to help monetize their property. We are building this plant using products from China. The ammonia plant itself comes from a company there that has a track record of installing these globally. They would help us install it, and then we would take over the operations. He stated that they are currently building a similar facility in California near Edwards Air Force Base,that has been approved and is about to go into construction with the same equipment. He continued, explaining that"the solar field is a 43-megawatt field that will be off grid, and they have a very large battery bank that will be there as well. It is not lithium batter banks though, it's a thermal battery bank which is a key part of how we do this. This is a proprietary battery that we use that allows us to be able to install this at a reasonable price with absolutely no harmful effects—like lithium flow batteries which are carcinogenic. This is a very safe battery using very safe material." Then, there's construction. During construction we are going to have probably about a thousand jobs that will be created for the construction, with about 25 permanent jobs there afterwards. It will be a 24/7 operation. He stated that they will be making ammonia all year round, with a night shift and security. He added that there will be fencing, or a privacy screen, all the way around the ammonia plant and battery plant itself. Mr. Bowker also stated that because they are off grid, they are able to move on to construction very quickly. Also noting that the reason that a lot of these other plants don't start construction quickly is because they have to wait a lengthy time for it to get an interconnection, and then once they get that, they still have to wait on the IRS for clarification on the green tax credit. When they need to get electricity from the grid to power their ammonia plant, and if they buy their power from a wind farm that's down the road a little bit and if the wind is not blowing, that's technically not considered green from the IRS rules. That is stopping a lot of projects right now. He stated that for their facility, they know every single kilowatt hour that comes out of their plant is made by the solar energy. They don't use any other source, so they know it's green. So, that means that construction can begin immediately. The next item is health and safety, which he informed the Commission that they have a very large insurance policy, with that comes a lot of technical parameters that come with it. They are using Marsh and Alliant right now, and they drive a lot of the standards. They have built ammonia plants all over in the states and in Europe, and they drive the safety standards,which we are exceeding. Everything they have come at us with a question,we have been able to go above. We are governed by OSHA,the National Building Code as well as any other ammonia handling products. From there the ammonia goes out on ammonia regulated trucks,which have to have permits in place for us to be able to use them, and then it's off to the customer. Mr. Bowker then gave a description of the site. He said they will have different blocks of solar panels. Each array will attach to an inverter and a small transformer. He then showed pictures to be able to see all of the different blocks. He stated that they will have a 50-foot setback around the entire property, that is a standard for them so they won't interfere with any utility lines that are going through there. Each of those blocks will then attach to a medium voltage loop. It's about 34 kV (kilovolt) that will travel underground, then will go into the substation. Then it comes down to a lower voltage, which will be 480 volts DC, and that is what the batteries will use and the ammonia plant will use. Trucks will come in off of 369 through a secured fence. Then they will load up with the product and then take it off and ship it to where it needs to go. We will use six to seven trucks per day going in and out of the facility. The ammonia plant itself is a low load, which is only about 5-6 megawatts. So, 43 megawatts of solar will get stored in 35 megawatts worth of batteries. It's 18-hour duration that we can store in there, so that's what allows us to do this 24/7. This will be the largest off grid facility in the world. The current one is 10 megawatts, which is the current largest off-grid facility. This facility will be four times as large as that, so it will be a big thing for the city of Wichita Falls. Fabian Medellin came to the podium and showed a few views of the subject property, and reiterated that it's hundreds of undeveloped land on the fringe of the city limits. He pointed out that a part of the analysis of looking at the site, staff wanted to look at safety concerns and the location of other existing structures and residences. The nearest residence is just to the West on Rogers Road about 2000 thousand feet, and to the East are a few residences along Huntington being about 4000 feet away from the production area.We started to look at federal and state regulations when it comes to requirements,they look at emissions to determine how far the plant should be from other structures. What Tom and Shomax are bringing essentially is limited to minimal distance requirements as required by OSHA,which we did include some of that.Also, staff looked at EPA regulations. Staff did notify property owners that were within the 200-foot radius of the subject site. Thirteen in all, and we received two responses. On in favor and one opposed. Staff does recommend the conditional use permit for the light manufacturing at the proposed site to allow for a green production facility of anhydrous ammonia using the solar array. We did have a couple of conditions, that being that the company shall comply with all federal, state and local regulations that pertain to the site plan review process leading to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy. Any proposed new uses, that are not ancillary uses—so the storage yards or any kind of ancillary use to the production, or the arrays — completely independent uses would require a new conditional use permit. And any storage areas shall comply with our environmental outdoor storage ordinances with regards to screening. Chairman Cook asked if anyone from the public would like to comment or ask questions. Teresa Villareal went to the podium and asked if the facility would have sewer and water, stating that most in the neighborhood do not have access to city sewer and water. Mr. Medellin explained that this site would have access to a city water but they do not have access to sewer. Due to the nature of the site and the relatively low occupancy, a septic system would be allowed in this case for their on-site staff. Having no additional comments or questions from the public, Chairman Cook asked if anyone from the Commission had any questions. Commissioner Noros Martin asked if the facility would use a lot of water. Mr. Bowker answered that the facility does not use much water, and gave a comparison to the local hospital stating that this facility would use about a seventh of what the hospital uses. He stated they were looking at using 60-100 gallons per minute. Commissioner Doug McCulloch asked if the green carbon credit could be explained. Mr. Baker explained that when their product is applied to a crop it has a surfactant in it which makes it stick to the leaves of the plant. When the sunlight hits it, it will break down or it will chemically react with nitrous oxide gas in the air(N2O). It will turn that N20 into N2 and 02, nitrogen gas and oxygen gas. Both of those are then absorbed by the plant, and then the plant turns it into chlorophyll and proteins. N2O is considered green house gasses, just as Co2 and Methane are. N2o is 296 times more deadly to the environment than carbon is. When you take a ton of that out of the air, then multiply that by 296 in order to get its equivalent amount of carbon that you've taken out of the air. He stated that they then certify that with an independent third party, and that can be a farmer or it could be someone else depending on who used it. They then take that to the certifying body who then look at the measurements, how it was applied, and how they measured everything. There is a certain methodology for that, and they will certify that as a carbon credit which can be sold. Mr. Bowker stated," in the market today there has been about $8 billion spent this year alone on carbon credits, which mostly the tech companies that can buy them, like Microsoft and Amazon, because they can afford them right now." He explained that it is very similar to the big vacuum cleaner type projects that are currently going on (in South Texas) where they are effectively pulling air into their system. They extract the carbon dioxide using a chemical process, and then they inject it under the earth. Mr. McCulloch asked if this is a credit Shomax will be using, or will a farmer be using it. Mr. Bowker stated that the farmer would use it if they are buying our fertilizer, and Shomax is looking at some forestry applications where they could sell that and monetize directly. Mr. McCulloch asked if Shomax will be using the credits,and Mr. Bowker replied yes, that they will monetize their own and offset themselves to be green and net neutral. Mr. McCulloch asked about the solar panel megawatts and what Shomax will do with the excess, if it gets sold back into the system. Mr. Bowker said the solar panels will be 43 megawatts, and they will only need 5 megawatts all day long. The excess is stored in batteries, so when the sun goes down it starts to pull off of the batteries instead of the solar panels, which aren't producing. Mr. McCulloch asked safety precautions in regards to the prison/prisoners nearby if anything happened there. Mr. Bowker informed the Commission that even though the prison is a good distance away,the plant will have failsafe shutdown mechanisms that shut down in milliseconds if it detects anything. (Which is a building code requirement and a requirement of insurance.) Safety is taken very seriously, being that it's ammonia. It will have both automatic shut down and there will be trained staff on location to be able to shut things down and recognize what those procedures are. It was asked if there are any records on performance and any accidents of the Chinese company and their ammonia plants. Mr. Bowker said he can provide a recent document that the company provided to him,and no accidents to report. What the company has designed is a modular system where everything goes into containers. The containers are plumbed together, and everything is internal. Showmax uses engineers in the US that makes sure everything meets code, and checks after it has been shipped and landed that it still meets those requirements, including every fitting, every valve, and every sensor. There are no accidents that he is aware of. Commissioner Martin asked, "post construction, which I understand is the Chinese firm,what is the ownership constituted of the LLC?" It was explained by Mr. Bowker that it is a C Corp.and they are privately owned. (They will see if they go public later.) Right now, it is held by a set of shareholders that will monetize accordingly. The Chinese company doesn't own anything. Showmax gets the title of it as soon as it leaves their facility. Fencing was also asked about, and the Commission was informed that they will have 10-12 foot fencing around the ammonia plant with razor wire, or three strand barb wire, around the top. Shomax will work with the city and will install whatever kind of fencing will be required. Chairman Cook stated that the Commission is going to reserve the right to vote following the executive session. 4. Case R 24-06 Property ID #124584, #469495, #123371 Public hearing to consider the rezone of+/-227.25 acres of land located at Property ID#124584,#469495,&#123371 (227.25 Acres out of G.W. Scott Survey,Abst. 254) from Single Family-1 (SF-1)to Light Industrial (LI)zoning district; and amend the Land Use Plan from Low Density Residential to Light Industrial to allow for a data center warehouse and battery storage units. The Applicant: Wichita One, LLC (Mark Calvano) Address: Property ID #124584, #469495, & #123371 Chairman Cook declares the public hearing at 2:46pm, and stated that no action will be taken at this time. Mr. Fabian Medellin presented the case and stated this will be a joint presentation with the applicant/owner, Mark Calvano. Mr. Calvano and the other proposed developer of the site met with staff in regards to the 200 acres at the Northwest corner of City View Drive and US 287. Mr. Medellin pointed out that the property is 200 acres but is bisected by a swath of land that is owned by Oncor, that leads to a substation that is located on the East side of City View Drive. (Mr. Medellin presented slides showing the parcels which he was discussing.) While listening to Mr. Calvano's proposal, staff felt that, even though public utilities have special privileges, including the Encor property in this rezoning application would be more appealing to the long-term views of the zoning designation of that area. Mr. Medellin explained that Mr. Calvano is proposing to use the 200 acres for a potential site for a data center, as well as an ancillary battery storage for excess energy. Showing pictures of the proposed site, Mr. Medellin showed that the site is completely undeveloped, and has been solely used for growing crops. Some of the adjacent uses are a manufactured home park on City View Drive, and some industrial uses within Industrial Zoning along US 287 which include Bruckner's heavy equipment sales and service, as well as the Harley Davidson Center. Pictures of the subject site, and properties to the North of the site, were then shown and it was stated that those parcels all fall in the Single Family 1 zoning district. Mr. Medellin explained that the uses to the West of the proposed site include a possible Green Energy Ammonia production facility, the drag strip and Allred prison and gave an expansive view of the surrounding areas of the site. Mr. Medellin also stated that there are a number of rural residential tracts in the area that have, on average, over an acre of land for each home. Most of this area does not have direct access to public sewer, which has hampered the development of the North West side of Wichita Falls. Mr. Calvano has chosen this site because it does have direct access to city water, and it has the potential to have city sewer extended because of a city line along US 287.The biggest attractor to the site is because of the Oncor substation and the transmission lines. Mr. Medellin described to the Commission that a data center is basically a storage center for digital data, the digital footprint, that is created from cell phones, emails, social media and other electronic sources, and is stored through use of servers. And will provide storage in the digital age as Al expands. Mr. Medellin showed what the data center could look like, stating it would be a large warehouse, and explaining that there would be limited parking for staff as these machines run on their own. Technicians would be utilized to perform updates or regular maintenance on the equipment itself, but this is not the typical industrial use operation that is seen in most industrial zoned districts. Since the data center is land expansive, it falls into the industrial category. He stated that it takes a lot of land for one of these facilities. Pictures of the inside of a data center plant was provided which showed rows and rows of servers, to give the panel an understanding of what a data center internally looks like. Mr. Medellin then explains that the other proposed use of energy storage would be modified containers that will house internal components that will store grid energy that is then resold into the grid during heavy draw times on the grid. A zoning map of the area was then presented, and it was pointed out that the proposed site abuts a light industrial zoning district to the south along US 287, which is why the applicant can request the rezone to light industrial, and why it would not be considered spot zoning. Mr. Medellin introduced Mr. Calvano and asked if he would like to add his presentation at this time. Mr. Calvano explained that it is basically an industrial building that could become a data center, that is predicated on power. He continued saying that data centers use a lot of power, and knowing that Oncor's grid is quite stressed with distributing power right now, he states that is could be a long time before the entire parcels are built out. Maybe up to ten years, and that it could be five years, or so, before the first couple buildings are put up. He stated that both data centers and industrial have very little traffic impacts, and they don't create much noise (being almost quieter than a residential neighborhood). He did explain that they use HVAC units that do create a humming noise that can be mitigated, but overall, it is a project that if the data center portion is built out it will create a high tax revenue for the city. He reiterated that the center would be a very quiet, stand alone, low activity, with few employees, but there would be some hired for maintenance, HVAC contractors and painting contractors. So, this will create some employment for local citizens throughout the life of the data center. Mr. Medellin continued with his presentation and stated that with the City's general development process, within city limits, land use is typically one of the first things that has to be addressed and in line before a site plan can be approved. Mr. Calvano is here today asking that we allow for that proposed use to be submitted and reviewed. During the site plan review process, we look at the specific details of the proposal and whether it is first phase or the overall project. During the review, we looked at those significant impacts and how they can be mitigated. Whether that is City View Drive or the actual traffic 4400, congestion on City view Drive, if there is any. We also look at the condition of the road or the draws on that infrastructure. Mr. Medellin explained that our general citywide zoning came along in 1985, and at that time there was just under 6,000 acres of industrial land. In 1985, the town was already built and developed. Since then, there have been around 28 different annexations, with over an additional 13,000 acres that were added to the city limits. With that, only approximately 1,000 acres were added to zoned industrial land within the city limits. When staff is making our considerations of the proposed site, we looked at existing uses. There is already an existing light industrial district right next to the property. We looked at his proposed use, the level of potential impacts that we anticipate as far as traffic and actual use goes. The concern for that would really be for Oncor. The proposed site is a large parcel in Wichita Falls that was zoned Single Family, so those 28 annexations over the last 40 years have large portions of them remain in the default - Single Family 1 zoning designation. There are a few areas along 287 that were designated as light industrial or as general commercial, but the majority was left untouched. By ordinance, it has to go to that default zoning. Mr. Medellin showed additional slides of the surrounding area of the site, showing that there is a lot of undeveloped land there. Though there are some residential areas, they are large individual lots about 1 to 1 '/z acres. In part of our request process, we reached out to Oncor, and they requested to be included in the rezone petition, for their portion of land, to be changed to light industrial as well. The second component is the amendment to the land use plan. Essentially changing that from low density residential to light commercial to mirror the request and existing conditions of those tracks just to the Southeast of it. Part of our process for rezoning is to reach out to those neighboring properties. So, in all, 29 notices were sent out. We did receive eight in opposition, and one in favor. We also reached out to the manufactured RV park. Though our ordinances dictate we send the notice to the property owner, though since there are over 100 pad sites, we reached out to the management of the park and provided some information with a request from us to post it in their Facebook group for the residents. We also offered to give a presentation or just meet with the residents to answer any questions or concerns. With that, we received one response from a resident of the park. A majority of the concerns for the project was the condition of City View Road, and the potential noise. Staff does recommend the approval of the proposed rezoning of the subject sites from Single Family 1 to Light Industrial, as well as that the land use plan be updated from low density residential to Light Industrial. Chairman Cook asked for clarification for the immediate and short-term impact to property owners and everyone around this location, within the next five years, if this request is approved. Mr. Medellin said it depends on the pace of the project's development. The immediate negative impact will come during construction. There is not a lot of day-to-day traffic, very minor. Construction wise, that will be the most impact, but there is no timetable on when that will happen. Chairman Cook clarified that the Commission is just setting the table to allow the [development proposal] discussion to continue. And Mr. Medellin agreed. Chairman Cook opened the discussion to the audience and asked if anyone would like to speak on the matter. Mr. Robert Anderson came up as stated that he is a retired engineer, with a lot of experience with this kind of industrial development. His concern is the eight contiguous acres right across the proposed site that are single family. Those single family lots are right across the likely entrance to the facility. They are already suffering from light pollution from the wrecking yard that is adjacent to them that is using very high bay lights. It is difficult to see as they leave their houses because the lights are so bright. He is concerned that this new facility will create more of this light pollution and be more of a disturbance to the residents. His other concern is with emergency response protocol and the costs that he feels will be put onto the residents for equipment and specialty trucks that would be used in the case of an ammonia leak. Mr. Anderson was thankful to the information given about the concern for additional noise, and that his worry for that has been adequately addressed. Staff informed Mr. Anderson that they will look into the light problem that the residents are currently dealing with out there, stating that there could be possible code violations that they will address. Chairman Cook asked if there were any more questions or comments from the public, and there were no additional comments/questions made. Chairman Cook closed the case for public discussion and now open for discussion by the commission. He asked if any of the Commission had any questions. Commissioner Doug McCulloch asked why there would be a need for 227 acres, since it has been stated that there would be very little parking. Mr. Calvano responded that it is an industrial buildout. Over time it could be built out on the entire 220 acres, plus the battery storage could take the whole property. Mr. Ron Kitchens from the Chamber of Commerce came to the podium and informed the panel that the Chamber was responsible for attracting this opportunity. He stated that this is a hyper scale data center,which are typically a million square feet, and a typical campus for a hyper scale data center is about 3 million square feet. For every million square feet it is a five-billion- dollar investment. Globally, in the next three years, there will be about a thousand data centers sited. Four hundred and fifty of them have already been sited. Wichita Falls has a great opportunity to site one or two of these, but they will build out as the customer—the Googles of the world, the big guys, the guys we've never heard of- the military, a large user — they will decide which ones they are going to use. And it is based on power. This site was specifically selected because of its location to the grid, and because Oncor has said they can, at some point, provide the levels of power it needs. Mr. Kitchens continued stating that last week there was testimony before the Senate, and Chairman of ERCOT stated the same thing and designated our sites as being able to do that. So,we are bringing this developer who will then, if approved, be able to go out and site customers based on the demands of the industry, and our ability and friendliness of a community to serve them. Attorney James McKechnie addressed the chairman and said that's a good segue to go ahead and retire back into executive session, because the board probably has a lot more questions that can be answered back there. Chairman Cook agreed with Atty. McKechnie and stated that the public hearing is now closed at 3:09pm. A member of the audience, Mrs. Villareal, asked if she could ask a question. Since the Public Hearing had already officially been closed, Atty. McKechnie informed the Commission that they could allow her to approach if the Committee wishes to do so. Chairman Cook reopened the public comments for Mrs. Villareal to speak. Mrs. Villareal stated concerns for the new housing development on the north side of the proposed project, and their right to speak against having this plant built by their homes. Chairman Cook informed her that they had an opportunity to respond to the notice that the city staff sent out to them. Mrs. Villareal then spoke about the lack of city water and sewer in that area, and felt it was appalling that the proposed data center would have city water and sewer, when the residents don't have water and sewer. Chairman Cook asked if he was not mistaken, the data center, if built, would be tying into existing lines that are adjacent to the property in question? Mr. Medellin answered that they would be tying into existing water lines, and they would actually be required to extend the sewer line to serve the data center property. Chairman Cook said that the city is not providing additional services within this parcel of land. He also stated that Mrs. Villareal should speak with her counselor in regards to the fact that they have not received access to water and sewer when the residents were promised that when the area was annexed. Chairman Cook asked if there was any other public discussion. No one else had any questions or comments. Chairman Cook closed the public hearing at 3:15pm. Then he adjourned the meeting to go into Executive Session under Texas Government Code, Section 551. 087.hearing at 2:22 pm and asked for a motion to open the item for discussion. Mr. Woodward made the motion with Mr. Matt Marrs seconding. With no further The Commission returned from Executive Session, and Chairman Cook closed the Executive Session at 3:44pm and stated that regular session will now continue. Chairman Cook asked if there was a motion for case R24-06. Commissioner Matt Marrs made the motion to vote, and Commissioner Alan Sizemore (Alternate) seconded the motion. The motion passed 9-0 5. ADJOURNMENT Chairman Cook adjourned the meeting at 3:47pm David ook, hairman Date r /L.3/02-41 Y Terry Floyd, rector o evelopm Date