All right. I now open the regular city council meeting of the public city council for April 28, 2026. The city council will now recess into executive session in accordance with Texas government code 551.071 to consult with and seek the advice of the city's legal council and 551.072 072 to discuss the purchase, exchange or value of real property. The city council is recessing at 11:01 p.m. We will be back here at 2:00. >> All right, we will now reconvene in open session. And uh before we begin with our ceremonial items, just make sure everybody who might be watching or is here, this is your last day to early vote in our city elections. We encourage you to do that. Our polls are open till 900 p.m. tonight for that purpose. And then election day is May 2nd. We encourage all citizens to go out and vote uh in this election. As I always say, your city government is probably the level of government that affects your daily life more than any other. So please uh we encourage you to vote. Uh let's begin now. We will uh begin with our prayer. I'm going to call up Reverend Darlene Hopkins from Shepherd King Lutheran Church. She will lead us in our invocation and then our mayor pro Tim will lead us in our pledges. >> Let us pray. Sovereign God, we know you by many names. We worship you in many ways. And within this diversity, you are one. You sustain us and keep us. You have entrusted us with the care of creation, other human beings, and other creatures that you love and cherish. As these officials gather today to do the business of the city, guide their thoughts in their decisions. We thank you for this opportunity to serve the community and ask your presence with them today. Grant them wisdom and patience. Help them to listen with open hearts and to speak with kindness and respect. May their decisions reflect justice, compassion, and the well-being of all our residents. We lift up our leaders, our neighbors, and all those who call this city home. Guide us to work together for the common good and inspire us to be stewards of peace and justice. All of this we humbly ask in your holy and precious name. Amen. >> Amen. >> And now in following, let us do our pledge to our country and our state as one. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag. I aliance to the Texas. One state one and indivisible. >> All right. This is normally when we would have citizen comments. I know that we notice that we don't have any people coming forward for citizen comments today, but as always, I uh announce the fact that any citizen can appear before the council uh to speak on any uh item that is on our agenda for that day. They'll have three minutes to speak and we welcome their comments uh uh but you can always contact us also online, email, call our offices. Uh there are many ways in which you can contact uh your uh leaders, anyone on the city council or me as your mayor. Uh and we do invite you to take advantage of those opportunities. But your opportunity to come here and address us is uh something we always welcome and look forward to. Uh but there are none today. So we will move on with our uh meeting. Uh we'll take up agenda item 4.1. The minutes from our March 24th, 2026 regular city council meeting. Uh that mot uh those minutes were included in your uh packet. Is there a motion to approve item 4.1? >> Is there a second? Have a motion and a second. Any discussion or amendments or additions or changes to the minutes? I see none. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose say nay. I hear none. The motion to approve the minutes uh passes unanimously. We'll now take up item five, our consent agenda. There's not been a request to pull any agenda item today from the consent agenda. So, I will entertain a a motion to approve the consent agenda in its entirety. Is there such a motion? >> So, move. >> Is there a second? Have a motion and a second. Any discussion? I see none. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose say nay. I hear none. That a motion passes unanimously. All right. We'll move on to our regular agenda now. We will take up an ordinance on first reading amending chapter 36 of the code of ordinances by adding division 2 paving alleys by petition to article 36.08 which establishes a process for paving of unimproved alleys through a petition initiated assessment process. And I will call on Eric Rahino our assistant city manager uh to provide a briefing on this item. Mayor Council, good to be with you this afternoon. I'm going to take a little time and give you some background. Um, it's not uncommon for cities the size of love to have alley paving processes, formal processes or alley paving assessments. We've done a lot of research and we've really taken what we feel are the best pieces of those particular ordinances and have a recommendation for you. Um, we have a lot of dirt alleys in love, Texas obviously and from time to time we do get requests for if I want to pave my alley, how do I go about doing that? Uh, the process today there is a process to do it but it's very informal. uh if a group of citizens want to get together and you know basically put some funds together to do that they they can certainly do that but that basically puts the the burden on them to number one pay for it financially which we're not proposing to change that but it also puts the the burden on them to find a design firm design it to our specs you know do the construction piece of it that's something that we're obviously very familiar with but that's that's the process today and we haven't had very many take advantage of that today um what we're proposing is basically to streamline behind that process, continue to have that burden to pay beyond that particular, you know, uh, neighborhood, subdivision, whoever's requesting it, but have more of a process that, uh, basically a citizen can go through a petition process and through a majority of the adjacent land owners, property owners. They can petition the city to do that. They would still then pay that, but they would pay it through an assessment. it would then fall to city engineering to design it, bid it out, construct it, and that that would fall on us to do that with them paying the bill to do that. So, I'm going to kind of walk through a few of the high points of the ordinance. Um, first of all, let's talk about the petition. Uh, the petition itself, um, obviously, it's going to need to be approved or signed by twothirds of the abuing property owners as well as 51% of the adjacent uh of the linear footage of the adjacent property owners as well. to the 2/3 and the 51% with a $500 petition fee. So, it's going to have to be a majority of the property owners that want that because the assessment will fall on all property owners if approved. Following that, once we receive that petition, if it hits those thresholds, we will then looks like a there we go. Once we receive the petition, it hits all the threshold, the appropriate thresholds for the 51% and the two-thirds majority, our engineering department will then basically conduct a feasibility study and they're looking for things like the drainage, they're looking at utility investigation. Every alley is going to be different. Um, you know, some some alleys are going to be very crowded with utilities, some may be less so, but that's so every alley is going to be different. The cost will be different associated with each alley. And as part of that, our engineering team will also go ahead and perform a 30% design of the project. and that'll give you a good idea of what your probable cost is going to be. Following that, we then provide that back to the property owners. We provide the assessment related to that and that includes the estimated project cost. Um, you know, obviously we'll talk about the payment options here in a little bit. And then one thing that we we've discussed internally and what we're recommending is that you not proceed on assuming the property owners are good with the the the opinion of probable costs that they receive. We're not recommending that we proceed with the improvements until we've collected at least 30% of those funds. Understanding we we're supposed to be made whole in that process, but that will at least give us comfort level the comfort level that we can proceed on with the full design as well as bidding the project and and getting it out there. And this is something we would design inhouse with our in-house engineers, but we would plan to to bid out for construction. If we get to a point where these are very common, it may be that we have a just a kind of a single disciplinary contract just for this purpose. But uh we'll kind of know more once we once we get into it if you decide you want to move forward with it. As far as payment options, obviously first option will be that they pay it all at one time. And I'll give you kind of an idea here in a little bit of what we think some of the neighborhoods might cost. Give you a range. And again, every alley will be different. But so lump sum payment uh upfront paid within 30 days once the assessment's established. Um similar to what we do with the sewer lateral ordinance and those situations we are proposing to offer a 12-month payment plan. U so no interest would be charged unless they're late or if they pass that 12 months following that 12-month period if they haven't paid then they would be assessed the appropriate late charges and and finance charges. Um, one thing I I'll note, an ordinance is designed to make the city whole on our costs. And since we're supposed to get reimbured 100% on that, by the time the project's all said and done and the assessments are paid, u, we will need, however, a budget amendment if you decide to move forward with it to bear that upfront capital cost and then get reimbursed on the back end. There will be offsetting revenue to that new capital project. But we will need a capital project for that. So that would be something that would follow if you decide to move forward. In the event that the cost come in either more than 5% or higher than the OPCC or 5% lower then we would do a updated assessment to either credit or charge an additional assessment to to make the city whole on that. So that that would become at the end of the project once we paid the contractor we've had all of the cost and the project's been completed and accepted. So, what if neighborhood petitions they hit the thresholds at the 51% and the 2/3 and they get the cost and it's maybe higher than they want that than they expected or maybe it's no longer something they want to do. There is a process to withdraw that petition and basically it's going to this will be triggered for lower thresholds. It'll be one-third of the abuing property owners or uh 50% of the of the uh total linear footage property owners. So it can be they can opt out of it if they if it's something that after they get the cost um it's not something they want to do anymore. And we ran a few numbers just to give you an idea and I was I was very curious myself um kind of for and again it's going to range on the alley uh depending on the complexity of the drainage the utilities but one of our higher density alleys that we looked at roughly you're looking at about $71,000. If that was to be split evenly it'd be roughly $3,700 a lot. Now, the cost allocation will vary depending on the linear footage. So, if I have more linear footage, I'll have I'll bear a higher cost to that. Uh, one of our lower density neighborhoods we looked at that was about 12 lots, a little over 100,8,400 a lot. That kind of gives you an idea of what the assessment is and what we're looking at for for paving an alley. Um, it does not, this ordinance does not eliminate the first process we talked about. If there's a HOA or just simply a group of citizens that want to continue on the path and they don't want to go through this process, they want to handle it. So long as it meets our engineering specs and our subdivision regulations, they can still do that. So in essence, we're adding an option for someone to be able to pave an alley if they choose to do that. And this was actually triggered by some there's a particular neighborhood that was wanting to do this and they're like, gosh, we want to do it, but you know that there's a lot to it when you think about the overseeing the design of it. You got the utilities overseeing the construction. That's just not something the average person does and we we do that. We we do deal deal with that all the time. So, uh with that, uh be happy to open it up to questions, comments, feedback. >> Mr. Harris, >> question. Does um all of the new neighborhoods come with paved alleys? >> So, the UDC changed it to where if you're going to have an alley, all the new subdivisions are required, developers required to pay the alley. That's correct. And what we're seeing since that change, we're also seeing a lot of no alley subdivisions. That's becoming more and more common now. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Mr. Gene. >> Thank you. I think this is probably one of the most frequent requests that I have from constituents is everybody on my block wants to pave our alley. How do we do it? So, I think this is a great um change. There's going to be demand for this. I also like the way that we found the balance to have most of the costs carried by the people who are going to benefit from the project and but I do think in the end it's going to help the city to have good quality consistent alleyways and make things like you know our trash pickup easier for example. Sure. And that's a good point councilman. It will reduce over time. I mean the we won't have to go regrade the alley or maintain the alley necessarily as much. So it over time we think it will save maintenance costs as well. So it's a good thing. It's a win-win. And our alleys are rough on our trash pickup trucks, too. >> Yes, sir. >> A lot of maintenance because of our alleys. So, that's great. Yeah. Mayor Pro Tim. >> The other question that I have is how would you collect the payment? Do does this come out of their utilities? Is there a separate payment process? How how does that work? It >> it'd be a separate payment. It' be a sign and separate from utilities very similar to the sewer lateral. We would basically do an assessment, bill them, and if they didn't pay, then that's where and I missed said it was on my slide and I missed it. You know, they would be assessed a lean if they did not pay it. >> You know, often I hear folks that complain and they'll say, "Well, how come that neighborhood got it and we didn't?" But it goes back to when it was developed and then of course the modifications that we've done to the UDC, which actually is a benefit, but even new neighborhoods don't all have paved um alleys if they have an alley like you said. So, I just want to make sure to point that out because sometimes there's always a comparison for Thank you, >> Mr. Collins. >> Thank you. Hit the wrong button. Only been doing this for two years, so you can bear with me a bit. So to Mayor Pro Tim's point in the question about that and I I think I can say with most certainty that very few alleys have been paid by the city. Private developers have done it. >> That is correct that the city does not pave alleys. >> Okay. So anyone that has a paved alley moved into a home that had a paved alley um or in this instance if we're electing to pave an alley we're electing to pay for the alley uh as a group of neighbors to allow that to happen. So, um, couple of questions from there. Is there a provision to opt out? Because it looks to me like from this 51% of your neighbors can actually in force you to participate in this financially whether you have a rear entry garage or desire to have a paved alley or not. >> So, the provision is it's either an all all or none. uh there is a provision on the petition uh to basically remove or withdraw the petition and that's the uh 1/3 and 50% versus a 2/3 and 51%. So, but there's not if majority of the neighborhood approves and there's not a 1/3 or 50% threshold to basically remove the or revoke the petition then everybody would be assessed. >> Okay. Something to consider. Uh the second item that I have about this and and this happens to be my neighborhood, the alley behind my home today, uh we went about a process similar to this some 25 years ago and paved our alley. Our alleyway is now particularly behind my house is in very bad condition. We've had uh utility contractors come in and cut the paving, cut my paving and and not replace it adequately. Um, I think we need to look at this and and possibly um consider some provision that would allow us to enforce a proper repair to that uh to that cut. Um they're not done in my case, they're not done in expansion joints. They're not expanded around. They weren't compacted. They're collapsing now. And and again, this really this paving is essentially private property. I've paid for it. Uh yet someone else was able to damage it. And so I think that um I think we need to consider um how we might uh be able to enforce uh the proper repairs. It's going to have to be cut. I understand the the likelihood that someone may have to come and cut, but I think we need to, you know, have in place something that says you replace expansion joints to expansion joint and side to side and full if you cut into it. Uh to to help prevent, you know, some of the things that I live with today. It's a very valid concern. We we deal with it frequently, it seems like, from time to time. Um, so a contractor, if they're going to work in the alleyway, they're required to get a rideway permit, and they're supposed to put it in better condition, at least similar or better condition when they put it back as to what it was in. So, we that's something we we've really Mr. Turpin and engineering, they've done, I think, a great job of upping the standards and keeping a closer eye on that. But, that is something that's on our radar because it has been an issue. Um, that's something that we would have to prioritize in this process where you've got a new value that goes in, utility cut has to occur because maybe maybe they're putting, you know, another utility in, whatever it may be. Um, but that's also something we want to take into account during the design process. We want to make sure we we're not having to cut back into not saying we won't we want to minimize that. So, that'll be taken into consideration in the design as well. And then just like any alley once it's just like any paved alley once it's paid for by the developer in this case the residents um the city would then take you know it would be ours to maintain from that point forward. I do want to want to stress that. >> Oh yeah. >> Well I might be call you next week. >> I I feel like this is you know a permit process or something might be you know appropriate to also consider. Um maybe not today, but a process by which if you're going to come and cut up an alley, you you have to have had a permit and it has to be reinspected before you pour it back. >> Y >> so that's in place today. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Mayor Mayor Pro. >> One more question. When was the last time that we actually facilitated something like this? Do you recall? Has it been in the last year? a long time before that. >> We get inquiries often and Mr. Ratcliff can correct me if I'm wrong. We haven't done in the done one in the last four years that I've been here. >> Gets requested often, but a lot of times it's part of the reason for the proposal too is it can be intimidating and gosh, I've got to design it, meet city specs, oversee a construction contract. That that's that's part of the I think that's part of the barrier to for people doing it. Well, the other thing is, you know, since they're having the alley dug up, could these folks, because I know I've also had some inquiries about going having their lines, you know, we have them aerial and be dug. I've had some property owners request that at that same time. Could that also happen for them? I know they have to pay for that as well, but would that also be a possibility for some households? >> We'd have to work with the individual utilities. I mean there's a lot you've got fiber up there, you got different that it's not something we thought about in this process. >> Um it'll be up to the individual utilities to >> Oh, that coordinate with them. >> Right. Okay. Thank you, >> Mr. Harris. >> Yes. I know you were sitting there saying only they'd have to get a petition for 51% of their neighbors to uh get it uh paved. Does the cost also go to the other 49%. Yes sir. >> Without their choice. I mean once it's approved then it'll be they'll be build for their portioning of it. >> Every property owner benefiting would be assessed. Now one thing I'll point you to councilman is if you look at the petition the petition withdrawal if I'm saying that maybe that one/3 that doesn't want to do it then the petition withdrawal it it is it's triggered with less with the less of a threshold. That's how we put that in there that way. But in order you would have to get one-third of your neighbors of the abuing property owners or 50% of the total linear footage. It's a lesser threshold to remove it. So if you did have maybe not a majority but a significant amount of the neighborhood, there's a way for them to withdraw that petition to get permission or to approve the petition. It's a twothirds of the abuing property owners and the total linear footage versus on the on the petition withdrawal. you just hit either you hit one or the two thresholds. So, it's a lesser lesser standard per se, but you may still have the one or two or three that don't want to do it. And they would be yes, they they would be they would have that assessment because they would benefit from it. And one thing I'll point out, it it has to be a whole alley if we're going to do it, a whole block for for it to work. Otherwise, we can't just do a portion of an alley. Um, so that's part of the reason it's structured that way. But >> Okay. Thank you. So, I mean, if I understand correctly, it's like a super majority to approve it and a super minority that can uh kill the project basically if the cost comes in higher than they want. >> It's a good way to put it there. >> Okay. All right. >> All right. Anybody clear on that? >> Any other questions? All right. Thank you, Eric. Appreciate it. >> All right. Uh, I'll now entertain a motion to approve item 6.1. I have a motion. Do I have a second? >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> I see none. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose say nay. I hear none. That passes unanimously. All right, we'll take up our final item 6.2. A resolution authorizing the city council's approval of a conceptual design as presented by Thompson Ventullet Stainback and Associates Incorporated doing business as TVs for further development of the future expansion and renovation of the Love Memorial Convention Center. And I will call on Mr. Atkinson uh who will provide a briefing. And I believe we also have some uh folks here, Paul from uh uh Brook also to provide some information on this project as we get into it. But Mr. City Manager, >> thank you, Mayor, City Council. Um if you would allow me to kind of set the stage for the action that is requested today. Um certainly we want to get to Mr. McKver because he's got all the great pictures, but let me just get started. Um this really is not the final answer. This is your next step as we work on the convention center development project. You will recall late last fall um the council and actually the county partnered together and hired convention sports and leisure CSL to do a needs assessment of what you currently have today. Um, that project pretty clearly took what was asked for in the market, what was asked for by our local users, compared that to the facilities we have, and said, "This is the direction that you should look at going." The next step in that process is the process that'll get you to here in just a moment, where we hired TVS, the short version of all the names that the mayor just read off. TVS was selected through a competitive process to come back in to take that CSL study as the base to take community input. Um that's been done in me many different ways and to develop concepts so alternatives. There were two public meetings that were conducted where those were presented. What you have today is a request to select one of those concepts to say this is what we are going to continue the process of developing to get us to where this project can ultimately be decided yes or no. So following today the work that you will see I'm presume we end up with the one selected concept that will be refined the phasing that would be necessary to do this and of course a concept level budget. We're not going to have that today. We need to get this marker put in the ground to finish that development council. We estimate that's four to six weeks out from today. So one of the answers everybody wants to know at the front what's it going to cost? I think we will have that estimated number in four to six weeks. That allows this body to continue your discussion, your evaluation to work on the financing plan heading towards a couple of things. One, state legislature last year granted public authority for what is called a project finance zone. That is a financing tool that actually uses state incremental revenues, not city, state revenues specifically for a project like this council. You would possibly also look at a venue election that would add to that. That is not a property tax election. It's hot tax is what you would see with that. I say those possibilities because if ultimately there is a venue election called and it was to be in November, it doesn't have to be, but if it was, council would have to make the call for the election first meeting in August. So action today to kind of put the pin on it and say here it is four to six weeks to really tighten everything up to get to those budgets and in the summer for you to work on this. Um, do want to give thanks uh to Brook Witcher, Lisa Thomasson, Neil Ray. They're somewhere up here in the front row. I can't see them. They have helped shepherd that project. And today we have Paul McKver. Paul is with TVS. I want you to know that he got to Dallas and his planes were all cancelled, so he drove overnight to get here. We apologize you didn't get the presentation earlier. It was locked up with him trying to get to Leuk. But Paul, thanks for being here. And again, council, after Paul is done, questions you may have of him, of the staff, myself, we'll come back uh and ask your consideration of the resolution. So, Paul, take us away. >> Thank you very much, Mr. Atkinson, and thank you, Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tim, council members, my I'm Paul McKvers. I'm an architect with TVS. And um this has been a really really kind of a sprint of a 10-week process that has led to what you'll see. These are kind of hot off the presses imagery that we're going to show today. Um this is an image of the new kind of proposed south entrance to the facility facing 9inth Street. And from an architectural standpoint, we really like to think of these images really merely as sketches. You know, there's a lot of development yet to happen here. Uh but conceptually and architecturally, we're we're really trying to tie a campus together which has the convention center, Buddy Holly Hall, the the library, and then future development that'll happen around it. So, uh, having an architecture that's harmonious, uh, with those other structures became important to us here. Um, as was mentioned, we did hold two public engagement meetings. That was actually the the second of them was two weeks ago today in which we showed a multitude of schemes and we showed how we had narrowed those schemes down to really two. This 8.1 and 8.2 2 scheme, which is 8.2 is what we're going to really focus on here today. And then we asked for the public input and we got some really good feedback in that meeting. And uh some of that you will see here carried through to the designs that were or the refined design that we're showing today, including the the preferred scheme from the public, which was the the A.2 scheme. One of the overarching goals here is to really create a robust convention campus. And so we we just like to to have as an aspirational goal similar to what we had seen in Nashville uh where over the course of 10 years we designed and saw the convention center built along with all of this economic development and new hotels and residences and retail sprouting up around the venue. So we are really trying to create a cohesive campus that can allow this type of development to to come forth. But this building it it's still it has a civic duty to do right. So so we have to be able to host community events still and um at the same time that that we're hosting conventions. So you you'll see how the organization of the plan and the phasing of the plan can allow for for this to happen and to continue that that mission as well as hosting conventions. Uh as was mentioned, this is based on a CSL needs assessment that was done last fall. And so we we we really want this to be the last kind of study that has to be done before the the project happens. And um we we really think that you've got a solid foundation here with the program that was set forth by by CSL and then refined with meetings with with stakeholders which includes a 60,000t flex hall arena space retractable seating converting the existing exhibit hall to a 40,000t ballroom. Adding additional subdivisions to the existing banquet hall which would get provide more meeting space. really creating a cohesive convention campus that can allow for a new headquarters hotel to be built on one of the adjacent parcels. So, out of our initial stakeholder workshops, which were basically three days at the start of the project, there were three primary um themes that kind of came came forth out of that which we took as additional program elements to be considered. The one of those is to be able to combine the 40,000 square foot ballroom with the 60,000 square foot flex hall such that you could have a 100,000 square ft of contiguous exhibit space. That kind of unlocks the potential to have meetings that you would not that that may otherwise overlook the the venue due to its size. To be able to say we have a 100,000 square foot contiguous kind of put you in a different uh market there. Then also being able to host two to three simultaneous events and those have to be able to have dedicated entries. So that's something that's going to allow you to have these civic events at the same time as the conventions and not have to worry too much about the um the the different groups having to cross paths so many times, right, to get to where their event space is. And the last one here was an initial concept that we brought up in the stakeholder meetings, which was to enclose the existing plaza to be able to host events in that space. That was very wellreceived and so we've been carrying that forward. from an urban response standpoint. We looked at the downtown love master plan and there there were we really wanted to make strong connections back to the arts district and back to downtown and and help to to connect what's done on this site um through to Buddy Holly Hall. So, so you can see we've got two kind of primary axes that we've developed. And one is a Ninth Street pedestrian axis that would connect back up to the arts district. And the second would be taking Avenue M connecting all the way down to downtown to Broadway Street to the new downtown park and marketplace and then carrying Avenue M all the way up through the site um and all the way up to to the doorsteps of Buddy Holly Hall. And so here's the master plan. And the initial thing that you can see here is the additional 60,000 square ft flex hall is located here to the north. And you can start to see this this kind of green ribbon that wraps the site here. Uh this is really helping us carry this this prominade this new avenue M extension through the site. And then here's that that secondary access on Ninth Street where we're looking to pedestrianize this road and connect back up to the Arch District. So these kind of become the primary pedestrian axis for the project. Although there are multitude of pedestrianoriented spaces around the entire site. Now for visitors arriving by vehicle, there are a number of parking lots around the site and each parking lot would have entrances very near to them. And so for events, you'd be able to host or to to tell your your different events uh attendees to go to say parking lot A, which is associated with entrance A. And it can help with wayfinding to have these different entrances associated near to these parking areas. So, we've been working with a landscape architect and and urban planner as well, Lionheart based in Austin to help us really develop the character and the spaces of the these outdoor environments. And you kind of see that in this this aerial view here of the site. So from the southeast kind of hovering over the library here, you can see this is the the the vision for 9inth Street, which is to to have this pedestrian corridor which could really be closed to traffic um so that you can host outdoor festivals. You know, we're depicting here, you know, pylons with banners and stringy lights and you could just you could imagine this could be really a wonderful space both both day and night. So in doing that we we needed to think really closely about the arrival by vehicles if we were to close the street. So M Avenue would continue through that would stay open to vehicular access and we would be locating the entrance on the south the vehicular arrival right here in this kind of node where where the green bar turns the corner. So you could actually get out of your car undercover and go go right into the entry at the corner. Um, something that this actually came out of the one of the public meetings was the library has a dedicated parking lot here currently. And so and also an entry to the south or drop off zone to the south. So, we're proposing to relocate that to the right side of the library, which would combine the drop off zone and the the parking lot such that the drop off zone you could get out undercover and go right into the main entry of the library. This allows you to close down the street completely for pedestrians and maintain good access to the library. Okay, so we're going to look at a couple more of the the entries here. Um, you know, we talked about this one here in the corner and the main the new front door facing Ninth Street which showed in the beginning here and then moving to the north side of the site. This would be standing right in front of Buddy Holly Hall and then looking across to the expanded uh flex hall. And so you can see that the flex hole has the potential to to open up with a large kind of hanger door so that you could host indoor and outdoor events that spill out onto this what's listed as a parking lot but would be fitted out to be used also for outdoor exhibits. So it kind of has a combined use for parking and outdoor exhibit space. Then you have two entries here at the north with a generous drop off zone off of McDavis. Okay, diving into the plans here. Um, you can see hopefully everybody can follow my my cursor here. So, that the 60,000t flex halls located to the north of of the existing exhibit hall that could be subdivided into three. And you can see where where we have a mix of retractable seating and portable seating. uh which could be used to host we we can have figured 4,000 seats as retractables and portables with an additional 2,000 seats on the flat floor. So you could host up to 6,000 people for for a concert, for instance. The uh pre-unction is on two sides, so you could easily subdivide the space and host simultaneous events within that one flex hall. And so here's kind of an image of what that may look like. And so this is up from kind of the mezzanine level. Uh typically we we have a uh uh want to have a show manager's office, but we've actually put four hospitality suites up on the mezzanine level, which could be used along with events depending on the event. It could be a sporting event or it could be an exhibit uh like this showing a uh an agricultural convention of sorts. One other thing that that this big door on the uh at the end of the hall allows you to do is to bring oversized exhibits into the space and to also have indoor and outdoor exhibits happening. Uh which we know I think there are currently some events that utilize the parking lot for oversized equipment. And so this is just kind of one use scenario but there's you know it's a flex hall so it has to be very flexible. There's a number of different uses that you could think about. So, you could host you could host a concert. You could host sports tournaments. Uh you could host a rodeo, potentially even monster trucks. And by having a mix of retractable and portable seating, that gives you even more flexibility for for how you arrange that for the different types of events. Okay. So, so that was the flex hall space. Now moving to the ballroom space is 40,000 square ft and so this would be converting the existing exhibit hall into the ballroom and you can see that there's it could be subdivided into five different smaller rooms. You have pre-unction on three sides here which again allows you to host multiple events using these different spaces and each of those events could have their dedicated pre-unction space. This little connector piece is kind of key to being able to sell the building as 100,000 square foot of contiguous space. Um, so so this could flex uh back and forth from being either pre-unction or from from being a a connector so that so that you really feel like you could you could have exhibits that spill from the flex hall into the ballroom. Um, so the ballroom space itself could look something like this. And this is just an initial concept for a banquet setting where uh the upper level which currently has seating in the exhibit hall that would be filled in with meeting rooms. And um then of course the the the finishes would be elevated with uh you know Axpinster carpet and a nice kind of ceiling treatment and wall treatments, acoustical treatments. We'd really like to be able to open the ballroom up to the outdoors with um to to be able to bring in some of that light and connect it to the to the pre-unction spaces. That's something that we've been seeing across the the industry and and ballrooms that we've done recently. Okay. So, so here's a section through that space. So, so the ballroom on the right here and this is the space we're going to go to next here, the the solarium. This is actually the currently it's a an outdoor plaza space. So, we're proposing to enclose that with a a glass kind of a crystal skylight piece and um then to also have additional meeting space that would be down on that lower level which is currently predominantly outdoors. So, so here's a view of of what that could look like. Um, you know, we're we're standing at the top of the monumental stairs above the uh knight of the Yano Esticado statue. And you can see these meeting rooms down here at the lower level. And and this is this is showing like a uh a lunchon type of event. So, by by capping off the space with a skylight, taking out the the curtain wall that wraps the perimeter, you're really unlocking 13,000 square ft of space on the floor here that you can lease for different types of events and functions, could be banquetss, it could be concerts. It's all sorts of things that could happen here on on the floor. And this space is also helping to connect the rest of the building just visually um which will aid in wayfinding for for guests. And so there there are these a lower level and an upper level. You know we focused mostly on that main level. And so the lower level which currently has parking and is mostly outdoors. We would be infilling um that space to capture more meeting space. Here you get about 14,500 square feet of meeting rooms on the lower level, an additional 7,500 square feet on the upper level above the ballroom. And so so doing that actually allows us to open up the main lobby and we would be um relocating the current meeting rooms which are on the south side and you end up with a net gain of of meeting space here. All right. So this is a view kind of stepping back away looking from from the northwest towards the site and you can see the expanded footprint here and you can see the potential for you know we're just showing kind of potential new development that could happen over the years. You know any one of these could be your new uh 200 to 300 key headquarter hotel. And so looking from a phasing standpoint initially, you know, you want to be able to keep the building u open and operational, right? So so a phase one approach would be to build out your multi-purpose hall along with its service and support spaces. And then once you're done building that portion, then you can open that and you can go back into the existing building and complete the renovation. So this is kind of a phase one look from the top down. And then phase two, we would imagine this would be broken up into kind of multiple subphases, right? Like you you'd want to keep your existing ballroom open while you're fitting out your new ballroom. And then once you finish that, you go back in and you fit out your old ballroom. So you're able to to still maintain your your calendar. And same same thing goes for the meeting spaces. Um so this would all be kind of phase two would be coordinated in subphases, but that whole time you would have this flex hall open, which is kind of unlocking these new types of events that you can host here. Um, so really that's uh kind of a summary of of where we're at here with the concepts and I would very much like to open it up for for questions, comments. >> All right. Thank you, Paul. Uh, Mr. Harris, >> how long does it how long is this project going to take? What is the completion time on it? So the the phase one if it were to start design in earnest in January one of next year then phase one would be open in kind of mid 2029 and then you would have phase two would would follow after that. >> Well >> probably I would say >> the entire thing that you're showing us when it would could it be completed? Um, so it would it would likely be uh 2030 >> 2030. Okay. >> Now, if it was all done in a single phase that you could you could get it all done by 2029, but by by phasing it um which I think is a smart thing to do to phase it. It would be that kind of late 2030 >> to get the full phase 2 build up. Yeah. >> Thank you. And the purpose of the phasing is just so we can keep an operational facility all the time. >> That That's right. So that you can continue to host the events that have already booked. Um you know, most of the time we we help the our clients do that. But there there have been I can think of one occasion in in Memphis where they actually closed the building down for the duration um and then and then reopened you know two years later after they were complete and they just didn't have a convention center for that period of time. >> Mr. Rose, um can you just go over like the size of the flex hall for the public on kind of how we arrived there? what you know what's comparatively to other um to other towns you know how how big 4,000 seats is in 60,000 square ft. >> Okay. So, so the the 60,000 square foot flex hall, that space requirement came out of the CSL needs assessment. >> And so they they looked at kind of a cross-section of of of the markets and looked at at comparable cities and what they had and what um they felt this venue would need to of compete in their in that same kind of market. and that's how they arrive at the 60,000 square ft. Um, now we're really looking to make it as as flexible as possible. And so the the retractable seats um you know if you really kind of compare it to the current exhibit space like which has both fixed seats and retractable seats you can think of it as being you know about a third larger than that space if that kind of gives >> a sense for for kind of the scale. >> Sure. >> Does that answer your question? >> Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. >> And I believe uh the CSL was intending to capture about 85% of the mark available market. Not 100% but 85%. So we weren't building to the maximum uh trying to achieve a good level of of uh accommodation for 85% of the people who might want to come here. >> That's right. But what's what's great is that when you think about our strategy which allows you to >> connect the two. >> Yes. That gets you up to that 100,000 when you're able to host at least exhibits and 100,000 square foot using the flex hall and the ballroom together. Yeah. >> Yeah. The flexible uses is a real advantage of this design. Uh Mayor Pro Tim, >> thank you for this. It's it's beautiful and you know the vision sometimes people don't have it, but you got to show them something concrete. So that makes all the difference. What I really like is how you took into consideration how, you know, you created an opportunity even for our library, which you know how important that is to me and it has its own interest. I know we talked a little bit about doing some facade and and just kind of bringing it so that we're getting not only the public that we love serving, but also possibly some of the visitors to also use it. So, I love the parking for that. I know there was some concern about parking and it seems like you really addressed it and I know you didn't talk about it, but the kitchen I think is something really important that a lot of times if you've had an event there, you know how significant the catering is. Will you talk a little bit about that? >> Yes. So, right. So, particularly for large ballroom uh banquetss, it's important to have an appropriately sized banquet kitchen immediately adjacent to the ballroom uh which is what we have here in this uh where it says K here. So, that would be your new banquet kitchen. And um the the banquet kitchen would would allow you to um to to prep your meals and plate your meals and bring them directly into the ballroom space. Um, but it could also be used to prep for food concessions in the in the flex hall space and in other areas of the building. Uh, we we also didn't really talk about this this food and beverage outlet that we're showing in the lobby here. That was something that was included in the the CSL needs assessment and it is really a um something that we're seeing in the marketplace for for convention centers a lot is to have these food outlets within the concourse. And so we we think that's a really good opportunity there. And you could imagine convention goers uh picking up their lunch and going out to eat kind of out in this landscaped area. Um so yes, so again that the kitchen is is oh so important and um you know right now we're showing it's about a third of the size of the ballroom. And so, you know, that that may change over time as the the plans develop here, but it's important to to make sure that we have an appropriate sized kitchen for the ballroom. Yep. >> One other thing that you didn't mention, but on Avenue O, you know, our main entrance, the one that leads to um what is it called, Mark, that as you're exiting to >> esplanade or whatever. >> Okay. The esplanade. But yeah, here >> um I like the way that you added the lighting and that right there. >> Right here we it was I think we encouraged to really utilize that also because it was a another spot in itself that isn't underutilized now. >> Yes. And so, yeah, I would have to kind of zoom. Well, you can kind of see it here, but but we were looking at um expanding the the width of the explanad there and and being able to to use that for outdoor events on on the east side of the the building. Yep. >> Very nice. Thank you. >> I had a question. what would be the uh net gain in available meeting room space from this design? >> Right. So, so I if if you you would want to factor in that the junior ballroom is uh able to be further subdivided and count those as additional meeting space in addition to the meeting rooms at the lower level and the upper level. Uh if you factor in the junior ballroom, you're you're looking at about um about 22,000 square ft of of additional meeting space. What's our current meeting space availability? Is it >> let's say it's 12,000 12,000. >> So about 10,000 square feet more available meeting space. Is that right? Ah, that's right. Yeah. >> Yeah. So, you've got about 14,500 on the lower level and 7,000 on the upper level. And then factoring in the junior ballroom is, you know, 14,000, but you have to subtract away the 12,000 that we're taking away out of the project yet. Okay. Mr. Collins. >> Thank you, Mayor Paul. I think this is a is is great work. Um really excited about some of the things that have we brought to the table to talk about the ability with this plan to possibly expand if if need be in the future and and not being blocked um by by ourselves, which which occurs often times. on on slide 28 um you showed the flex hall and the areas that would need to be built or what what we're looking at as phase one approximately how many square feet is is that of of built area for for phase one? >> Yes, sir. >> So what what we're showing here is a little bit more than what we think is necessary for phase one. Um so we were looking at about 120 to 123,000 square ft um for for the phase 1 buildout which includes the 60,000 square foot of net space plus the public circulation spaces and your service and support spaces that go along with that flex hall. >> So So we're thinking about 120,000 ft. um the the area to the west of the new flex hall. Um you know, and I think I know what you're showing there is a is a decked parking >> uh over over the existing lowered bowl that we have for parking today. is is does this phase one accommodate require that or are we going to be able to accommodate um postponing that parking as you know phase 1 A or 1B or whatever because that's going to be I think that's going to be an expensive undertaking. it it is an expense and again we we have uh been uh we're really we haven't finalized any numbers yet with with our cost consultant but that's one of the areas we've been looking at is potentially uh building out just the portion that's needed for for that entry into the into the flex hall in that level and deferring the elevated parking until until a future phase. Um but it's important to note that we have you know we're going to be displacing parking with this new building. So um there is going to be some pressure on on parking in general. >> Well I think my sense has always been that if we have parking problems we have good problems. So we we can deal with good problems if we if we park >> and we have discussed using some of the the parcels on adjacent lots as overflow parking for those uh larger events where you need that. >> Well again thank you. I think this is very good work. >> Thank you. >> Yeah and maybe some people missed it in the presentation. the large green area to the north of the library now is going to become parking and that somewhat offsets the parking we lose with the 60,000 square foot. >> It every every bit helps. Yes. >> Okay. Mayor Pro Tim, >> just one more thing and I apologize, but it's it's exciting to see something happening in downtown. So, um, you mentioned when you were talking because I don't think if you didn't go to a meeting or you haven't been a part of this, you talked about the lower level and and the upper level phase. What phase would that be in for the meeting rooms? Would that be in phase two or would that come in phase one? >> Yes. So, the lower level and the upper level meeting rooms would be Well, okay. So, so you would build out just this portion of meeting rooms that's associated with the flex hall in phase one. >> Uh, but the rest of the meeting rooms would be part of the phase 2 buildout. And even those would be phased because you would want to build out these lower level meeting rooms and these upper level meeting rooms before you take away the the current 12,000 square foot of meeting space that you've got. >> So, it's there's kind of like a 2A and a 2B that would happen there. And can you go to the salarium photo? >> Yes. >> So explain to anybody that's watching where the when this phase comes in where those meeting rooms would be and where it currently is or what it currently is. >> Okay. So, um, you know, on the slide before when we were talking about the food, uh, outlets. >> Mhm. >> So, that's the current meeting rooms are actually sitting right here where I'm kind of highlighting with the cursor. And that's where this this new food and beverage outlet would be, which kind of opens out onto the front that new Ninth Street Plaza. And the meeting spaces would be located down at this lower level. So, it's at the floor of the the solarium space here. So you can see these are meeting rooms here and we're we're showing them as having uh skyfold type doors. So you could potentially open those meeting rooms up out onto the that event space floor or pre-unction floor. And then the other meeting rooms, the upper level meeting rooms would be on this upper level here. Um so the perimeter of the ballroom is right kind of behind there. Those would be infilling where there's currently seating for the exhibit hall. That that would now be meeting space. Yep. >> And the parking garage that we currently have at the lower level, this would incorporate some of that into the new meeting rooms. >> That's right. So, um, in addition to these meeting rooms you see here, the 4K and the 2 and 1 halfK here that you see in that view that we were just on of the solarium, you would have additional 8,000 ft of meeting space that would also open up out onto the salarium. >> And that would be infilling that current uh underground parking area. and that there is still some investigation that we have to do on the on the grades there um that we were looking at on our last visit, but um it's definitely possible. But something to note is that these meeting rooms may have lower height ceilings than some of the other meeting rooms. Any further questions for uh Mr. McKver? All right. See, thank you very much. Okay. Thank you. Um, Mr. City Manager, you want to wrap us up here? I think just I think for the public who's sitting here watching it, this is kind of the end of a a little bit more than a year and a half, two-year project we've been working forward towards in stages. First of all, getting a needs assessment, then getting working with our legislature to get the uh vehicle through the public finance zone that we would need to help us finance this, then to moving forward with uh off of our needs assessment to a conceptual design, which is where we are today. And then the next stage will once we approve, if we approve the conceptual design today, the budget will come back to us in a month to a month and a half based on the conceptual design. And then we would be uh say in August be preparing to put this issue before the voters for the additional 2% hot tax that we would I want the voters we would need the voters's approval for to collect from our hotel stays and then if all goes uh appropriately along those lines we could begin the engineering work and architectural work uh at the first of next year. Is that >> correct? Very very well said, Mayor. a good summary um might help. I'll direct everyone's attention to the actual resolution that's associated with this item and just kind of read out a couple of the the deals in section two after reviewing input from citizens, stakeholders, and staff. Design concept A2 is approved for the limited purpose of furthering future discussion and exploration of the potential development, expansion, and renovation of the Love Memorial Civic Center. Section three, approval of design concept A2 is not a commitment of funds, nor is it a binding commitment. It is the next step. So if council would consider and ideally pass this today the report that you mentioned that will have that concept level cost in it four to six weeks we start working on the finance side of that internally you work on it as a council through June July and early August and then everything else you said is right on the calendar. All right. And I I think the other thing that's important to note to the public that might be paying attention to this, all this is being done uh and financed through uh financing mechanisms that do not involve u a tax imposed on our property tax uh of our current homeowners and businesses here in LV. will all come from and I think you said it through an incremental um sales tax that normally would go to the state that we are allowed to keep here in Luk to help fund this project. So money we would send off to Austin uh we get to keep here. That's the PFZ part of it. The public finance zone part of it that helps us finance it with uh money from visitors who come here to love stay here visit this u uh event center center or the venue and spend their money here and stay in our hotels. We collect some of that money uh or the state actually collects the money and then reimbures it to us instead of leaving it there in Austin. the other half of it, the 2% or the other part of it, the 2% that uh would come from the uh extra 2% hotel tax the citizens would vote on again is on hotel stays here in Lev. Um, and so again, that is not uh doesn't require any sort of attack uh or burden on homeowners uh taxpayers here in Lok unless you got to stay in one of our hotels uh overnight, which is, you know, not very common. Uh and then of course there will be private development money as well that will go into this. So, uh, in no way are we, uh, uh, predicating this project at all on the taxpayers bearing the burden of this, the love taxpayers bearing the burden of that. It's very important to let people know that. All right. Wrap up. >> Good, good summary. I take any questions you may have. >> All right. Any further questions? All right. I'll entertain a motion to approve item 6.2. two move. >> I have a motion to have a second. >> Have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? I see none. All in favor say I. >> I. Any oppose say nay. I hear none. That passes unanimously. All right. We've exhausted all items on our agenda. So this meeting is adjourned. That's pretty fun.