Celina's City Council will discuss Tuesday whether a zoning request that its Planning & Zoning Commission recommends denying should need more than a simple majority to win approval.
Mayor Tubbs asked for the discussion, according to a memo from Development Services Director Dusty McAfee in the packet for the Nov. 10 meeting. It is a work session item, so no vote is scheduled; staff say revised ordinances would come back later depending on the council's direction.
How it works now
Today every zoning, planned development and special use permit case goes to the council after P&Z acts, and the council can overturn a denial recommendation with a simple majority. That has been the rule since 2019.
From 2006 to 2018, the memo says, Celina used a "hard stop": a case P&Z recommended denying went no further unless the applicant appealed within 10 days, and the council then needed a supermajority to approve it. Under Texas law, that supermajority is a three-fourths vote, or six of seven members.
The options
Staff present three choices:
- Keep the current policy. The memo says McKinney and Prosper also work this way. Staff list stronger council control and a lighter staff workload as pluses, and less weight for P&Z and the public comments made there as minuses.
- Restore a hard stop. Denied cases reach the council only on appeal, and the council could require either a three-fourths vote or a simple majority to overrule planners. Staff say Plano, Frisco, Richardson, Allen and Princeton use the appeal-and-supermajority version, and that most peer cities surveyed do. The tradeoffs listed are more weight for P&Z hearings and fewer council agenda items, but more work for staff tracking appeal deadlines and a harder path to approval for projects.
- Send every case to the council but require a three-fourths vote to overturn a denial recommendation. Staff cite Little Elm as an example.
Also on the agenda
The council will also hear a staff proposal to split utility billing into two cycles divided at Preston Road as the city's customer count passed 20,681. Customers east of Preston would see their meter read date move gradually from the 18th to the 28th of the month starting with bills mailed in December, while accounts west of Preston stay on the current schedule.
The regular meeting starts at 4:30 p.m. at the council chambers, 112 N. Colorado St.
Sources
celinatx.api.civicclerk.com
celinatx.api.civicclerk.com