Denton staff outline major updates to city design criteria manual, seek public comment

City of Denton engineering staff on Wednesday described a package of technical updates to the city’s Design Criteria Manual that would change standards for stormwater, drainage, pipes and other public‑infrastructure elements and create a new chapter on environmentally sensitive areas.

The presentation, given at a Planning & Zoning Commission work session by Brett Bush, the city engineer, said staff will post the draft document for public comment Friday and plans a sequence of briefings and hearings through November and December with formal adoption now targeted for a Jan. 1 effective date.

The draft covers multiple manuals used by the city for design and construction, Bush said. “These are very technical documents that are used to design all the different infrastructure for the city,” he told the commission, and staff intends broad outreach to the development community and professional organizations before final action.

Staff highlighted several substantive changes. The stormwater chapter would separate flood‑control (detention) requirements from water‑quality…