Cedar Hill City Council notes - 4/14/09

by Steve Snyder of Cedar Hill TODAY

After extensive discussion, the Cedar Hill City Council approved the property plat for a new church April 14.

New Beginnings Community Church, which plans to build just south of Kingswood Drive on the southbound U.S. 67 service road, got the city's OK on its plat. Councilmembers discussed the location of the two proposed entrances to the site, one off Kingswood and the other off the service road, along with runoff issues from the amount of concrete that could eventually be poured there, before unanimously approving the plat.

Finally, the council approved a replat of the Meadows at High Pointe Addition, Phase IV, in its other development-related item.

In other action items, the council modified an economic development incentive grant with JC Penney. The corporation was given a $150,000 grant in January 2007 for its Cedar Hill distribution center, conditional in part on the number of jobs it would create at its Cedar Hill store. The agreement called for 50 new jobs; the store has added 18 beyond the number it originally had. The council approved a pro-rata adjustment based on the number of jobs actually created.

The council also approved applying for a federal Community Oriented Policing grant that will pay for two new police officers for three years. After that, the city will be responsible for their salaries.

In a pre-meeting briefing session, Police Chief Steve Rhodes and Director of Public Works Ruth Antebi-Guten talked about the city's traffic safety fund, which is financed by red-light camera violation fees.

Rhodes said the fund has about $156,000.

Antebi-Guten then explained how a seven-person funding safety handled requests to the city for projects, whether recommended by city staff or members of the public. By state law, funds from the account can be used only for traffic control or street improvements.