each Podium has a countdown clock located to the speaker's right that will indicate how much time is remaining a bell will sound when you have 30 seconds left speakers registered on consent agenda items not pulled by a council member will be taken following the announcements of any items being pulled from the consent speakers registered on non-consent items other than public hearings and Zoning cases will be taken following Council announcements speakers will be given three minutes to speak on all items within those blocks that they registered to speak on before you begin your comments please state your name thank you good evening and welcome to your four city council meeting I'll call us to order tonight's invocation will be by Reverend Hazel Thomas the director of pastoral care at Texas Health Harris Methodist Fort Worth please rise for the invocation and remain standing for the pledges of Allegiance pray with me Creator God you have placed Us in this beautifully diverse and historic City of Fort Worth we are grateful for this opportunity to come together and voice concerns for this place we call home we enter This Moment seeking you and trusting that in your presence there is real peace o Giver of Life and breath we are grateful you always invite us to dwell with you we live because of you we hope because of you forgive us when we are too preoccupied to notice your presence in our lives when we walk through this world and fail to see The Wonder of You upholding us and all creation when we walk through the given valleys of life and fail to trust you that you are redeeming all things including us increase our faith to savor your presence open our eyes to your presence o god of love that we may lean on you guide the words and responses spoken this evening that all may be pleasing in your sight amen is justice for all pledge allegiance to the Texas one State under God one an indivisible and Jeanette before you continue I wanted to do this we usually at times will close a council meeting in honor of someone that may have passed in our community and tonight we're actually going to close the median honor of the lives lost in Allen Texas over the weekend we pray for their families their friends their loved ones our neighbors and the entire Allen Community during this heartbreaking time I just thought we would take a moment of silence before we continue this evening with this meeting and remember to be together and what life is really all about and just take a minute to realize the tragedy that happened over the past weekend thank you thanks Jeanette go ahead our first item in business will be special presentations with the first one being a presentation of certificates of recognition for the OD Wyatt High School boys basketball team and baseball team councilmember Nettles I think you're going to go down and honor These Fine Young gentlemen here I'm going to ask if the let's see who we have here first the baseball teams the baseball team here I was just a football team basketball and basketball okay why don't y'all come up both so I won't look crazy if you play a sport yeah come on around yeah yeah we want to recognize these uh young men for doing a phenomenal job here in Odie waden District 8 and so I want to read the certificate of recognition um for our basketball team first and so the certificate of recognition offers to council District Number Eight whereas the hard work dedication and sportsmanship talent and exceptional team chemistry the 2023 Oscar Dean ody Fort Worth ISD district state champ District Champion basketball team has enabled these students athletes to earn its six straight District City championships I think that's deserves a round of applause tonight whereas winning the 2023 Fort Worth ISD High School District Championship brought honor to Odie in the city of Fort Worth on local state and National levels and we're asked to head coach coach James and the entire coaching staff team members parents faculty and student body of OD white high school was excited in guiding this team through victory and unwaving support now therefore our councilman Chris Nell City of Fort Worth in the entire mayor and city council recognized and heartily congratulate ody for his sixth time defending District championship basketball team on its outstanding accomplishment and therefore I've witnessed um and have undersigned set my hand to cause the fix to the Great Seal of the city of Fort Worth this ninth day of May 2023 let's give these young men a round of applause foreign thank you guys for the support on behalf of uh already wide high school and the odui basketball program we thank you guys and we appreciate the opportunity to come up and be recognized thank you [Applause] so they're not just good in basketball they're also good in baseball is that the right one all right I mean I just come up and read I don't even know I'm just playing no so we want to congratulate the baseball team as well so typically a recognition we're asked the hard work dedication sportsmanship talent and exceptional team chemistry of 2023 oldie white high school baseball team has enabled these students athletes to bring Pride to their Community through prayer grit and determination and whereas stand out like Mr Lang Jr an exceptional Talent of ody baseball team brought honor to the city of Fort Worth on its local state and National levels here as coach Germany all right because Germany and the entire coaching staff team members and parents faculty students and body of Odie white high school guided through team Victory and unwavering support and their fixed the city of Fort Worth the mayor and Council fixed our hand to sign it on May 9 2023. let's give it up for this baseball team as well give an honor to God no but uh we would like to thank you for this great opportunity and uh Captain javorsky wants to say a couple words uh thank you for the city of Fort Worth for let us stop this opportunity and stuff like that and appreciate how great this team has become thank you [Applause] and I'm sure there are some parents that are here so if there's any parents of these students if you would stand and be recognized at this time thank you Mary Council for allowing us to recognize these gentlemen these are our future and our today leaders and so those that will if you would come down and take a picture with us around me there you go over here right here thank you foreign next will be a presentation of certificate of recognition for the why not love Ministry that's councilmember Nettles as well all right thank you mayor council for this opportunity again we want to recognize a great and wonderful Ministry that's doing work in the city of Fort Worth and so from the certificate of recognition Office of city council District Number Eight the king will rely truth truly I say to you whether you did it for the least of these brothers and sisters you did it for me Matthews 25 and 40. whereas why not love Ministry was birthed in January of 20 2020 during the cover year it was after many God moments outside of the Four Walls of the Church of building Pastor Walter and co-pastor Tiffany Freeman knew that the spreading of the Gospel in these streets and sitting at dinner tables was where God was leading them from family marriage youth the hurting and the homeless were in their heart whereas why not love family ministry is a nonprofit organization that focus on loving people back to life meaning purpose and mental health through advocating and efforts whereas pasting co-pastor and the entire why not family ministry embodies Christ for love for others and Witnesses therefore the city council mayor council fix our hands and cause this great seal the city of Fort Worth on this ninth day of May 2023 and I want to say a couple things in this chamber because I think mayor has said it a few weeks ago we have seen a lot of people come in this chamber that have taken a tax on the council on the city of Fort Worth and people like these pastors here loving people back to where they are is what we need in the city of Fort Worth love wins all love rules overall and so we want to thank you guys for loving our community and supporting our community [Applause] so I just want to say thank you for this opportunity I'm a born and raised in the DFW area at the age of 17 I started serving the homeless and I'm 42 years old and I'm still doing that to this day so part of the Presbyterian night shelter so I'm just grateful for why not love having this opportunity to come and be a part of something of this magnitude of course when we're serving it's not for moments like this but it feels good to know what we're doing is effective and purposeful so we greatly appreciate the opportunity for the recognition and just look forward to what else we can do for the city of Fort Worth thank you [Applause] thank you okay next will be a presentation of proclamation for the Fort Worth Marshals division 150th anniversary I'm going to come down the microphone but if I could have William and Marshall Swift whoever's coming down perfect you're coming back so I get the pleasure of reading a proclamation to recognize the city of Fort Worth Marshall division that has served the city of Fort Worth since 1873 in a variety of capacities in 2023 marks the 150th anniversary of the founding the fourth Marshal's office currently there are 45 Deputy Marshals forming one of the largest Marshal divisions in Texas and whereas Fort Worth Deputy Marshals apprehend fugitives execute criminal processes enforce the traffic code and protect the municipal Judiciary and staff Patrol Lake Worth and provide support to multiple City agencies and community outreach programs whereas four Deputy Marshals are tasked with providing security for city council the public safety building and the fourth Public Library Deputy Marshals screened over 375 000 persons annually using the latest security techniques and devices to maintain Safety and Security and whereas Fort Worth Marshals are committed to hiring and maintaining a diverse Workforce that is reflective of the communities that make up Fort Worth the Marshall division continues to find creative and Innovative methods to build long-lasting community relationships and Partnerships while providing a high level of customer service during encounters with the public and whereas Fort Worth will celebrate May 16th through the 20th 2023 at Marshall appreciation week in the city of Fort Worth employees and residents appreciate the Marshall division's work to execute their duties and professionalism every single day and now therefore the city of Fort Worth does hereby recognize and Proclaim May 9 2023 fourth Marshall division 150th anniversary I think all of us on Council and those that work in City staff all have a story of appreciation individual or Collective on how important this department is to the city of Fort Worth the men and women that serve the marshals division utmost professionalism and in a day and age when any Anything Can Happen how fortunate we are to have each of you willing to wear a uniform and serve the city of Fort Worth so Marshall Swift thank you for all the work you're doing in the Court division to Will William thank you very much for everyone and I just realized there are more of you behind me now that's excellent I'm going to turn it over whoever wants to speak if you're at Marshall yeah thank you mayor uh thank you Council I want to take the opportunity to bring your attention to the flyer That We snuck onto your desk and it has our schedule and they have some information about the uh Marshall's office here and there's also a schedule in there for uh next Tuesday when we'll be doing our celebration we'll be doing a award ceremony we'll be doing uh we'll be dedicating a memorial over there as well at the at the PSB so we'd love to see you all there we of course like we always do we'll have food trucks out there all week for everyone to come and enjoy so please come and take part of that that's been a great um thing that we've been able to do for the community is getting them involved and having different people come out here and and expose people to the many different tastes of Fort Worth shall we say so uh please take a second to look at that and we'd love to see you we've got a couple Awards we're giving away including two life-saving Awards so we'd love to have you all there from 11 30 to noon on Tuesday so with that I want to thank the mayor I want to thank Council and City manager's office for their continued support and what we do and you make it possible for us to do the job we do thank you very much thank you very much and mayor I believe next will be a special presentation in honor of council member Firestone okay Leonard welcome to your roast just kidding my so um it's with a little bit of sadness and also excitement for Leonard and his family councilmember Firestone has served district seven for the past two years and opted not to run free election and so tonight is actually his last four city council meeting and as his customary in this body we like to recognize those that have been willing to serve and I know Leonard to be a man of integrity and honesty I have so much enjoyed getting to know him and his family over the last two years the good news is he's not done serving the community many things that he's doing including being a member of the JPS board which is an incredibly important responsibility here across Tarrant County so we're going to give him a beautiful gift but I think it's very important that we give Leonard a moment on the floor tonight to talk about his service to the city of fourth past two years and just thank him for his service to this community we're greater because of families like the firestones with that Leonard I'll give the microphone to you yeah uh thank you mayor um I greatly appreciate that and thanks for this opportunity and I want to mention Carrie Moon back there who's honoring a tradition apparently I learned about the other day uh former council members coming back and uh enjoying other council members last meeting so thanks Carrie for for being here um you know it's it is hard to believe that two years has passed so quickly but but as I heard one politician say the days are long but the years are quick and I certainly uh have a great appreciation for that now but this is a nice opportunity to thank some people which I want to do so I I do appreciate it and I know time is important at Council so uh bear with me um but I first and foremost like to thank the citizens of District Seven for giving me the honor to represent them at Council and you know given that I had no political experience two years ago uh I'm grateful that the voters decided to take a risk on me uh for some I have no doubt there was reservations of a whiskey guy getting into politics uh for others I suspect that that made perfect sense really um so it has been a pleasure to get to know so many in the district and make so many new friends um it's just been wonderful and I've I've thoroughly enjoyed navigating the issues that we Face together I tried my best to balance the interests of our neighborhoods our developers and our businesses I hope I did it well and where possible I hope I helped improve upon the district and prepare it for the future um I do have to say a word about our mayor mayor having the opportunity to serve with you will be one of the things I remember most from this experience uh I'll remember it fondly because you are an extraordinary leader and what I admire most is not your ability to get elected to become a leader but it is your ability to inspire others as a natural leader that is a powerful and god-given gift and we're lucky to have you uh I've truly enjoyed working with you and thank you for giving me the opportunity to work on several important committees and help in areas of our Economic Development I really do appreciate it uh to my fellow council members uh it's been a pleasure to serve with each of you I've enjoyed getting to know all of you personally and professionally I have the greatest respect for each of you as public servants and passionate champions for your constituents our policy perspectives have not always aligned and we've had a few spirited debates that have left some bruises particularly That Time When Alan and I got into it and he told me and I'm going to quote get in my belly do you remember that out I I thought that was kind of aggressive but an interesting tactic an interesting tactic uh but uh big guy little guy joke so thank you Alan um so but that discourse is essential it's essential in what we we went through and what we do weekly and it comes with the territory and is what our constituents really hired us to do uh and I must say that I am so proud of what I'm what I'm so proud of is the in the vast majority of the time we agreed on what was best for the city over any self-interest I think that was one thing that is one thing that makes our city governance and our community unique we inherently want to do what's best for all and will tirelessly work to achieve that goal together we I think that's just an incredible thing so I walk away with an enormous learning I have an enlightened perspective on the vital role our city staff has in making our city work day in and day out um it's an enormous and underappreciated task it's often more complicated than it appears and I want to thank David Cook and our assistant city managers the department heads and all our staff members for their dedication to make this city the best in the country I have found you all to be patient public professionals and it has been a pleasure to work with you and thank you for uh your commitment to our city I also want to recognize Chief noakes who I see in the back and chief Davis I'm not sure if he's here but without the security and safety our police and fire departments provide we would simply not have a city to live in it has been an honor to get to know both of you and many folks in your departments and I can't express enough my admiration and respect for all all of you who live the life of service before self that is an incredible Credo I want to thank everyone that puts their life on the line and thank their families as well for their service to our community thank you chief as I've alluded to becoming a city councilman was unfamiliar territory for me it was a bit disorienting at the start to be sure and there was only one person that made it right and that was samirp who's over there Sammy Sammy is unequivocally the best of the best a district director for 25 years she has made every councilman she has worked with better she has made district 7 better and she has made our city better because of her commitment and compassion for every citizen I will take the Liberty Sammy to speak for all the councilmen you have worked with and express our gratitude for your help and your wisdom you serve different District district 7 with the unique ability to be a compassionate listener and an invaluable resource to all you are always available you're quick to get an answer and you pay attention to the details but most importantly you have everyone's respect thank you for all you do some of you may have heard that Sammy was going to retire at the end of my term but being true to form she has decided to stay on a few more months to help transition Macy who's sitting next to her into her new role I know I know Macy is thrilled to hear this news as is everyone else you work with because no one wants you to wants to see you go Sammy so thank you for doing that uh so to wrap up I want to recognize and thank my family uh Nicole and three of our children are here Lane and Harvey and Harper um watch check your posture there baby um although I've not been in public office long we have shared a memorable journey together from door knocking in neighborhoods to a constant changing schedule I understand this chapter of life's life caused Quite A disruption at home and I want to thank all of you for supporting me throughout this experience and masking your disappointment if I was not able to attend an event or be home for dinner rest assured you will find me in the carpool line soon enough although it probably won't take any of you long before you before you'll be asking what are you going to do next uh of course without Nicole none of this would be possible none of it would have worked from the faith leader she is to the Uber driver to the master Logistics organizer you carried the low the load with love and grace you are an amazing mom and wife thank you for your support your love and being the rock of our family thank you [Applause] [Applause] thank y'all next will be items with drawn from the consent there we go we have two items to withdraw from the consent agenda the first one is MNC 23-0360 the next one is MNC 23-0381 and that will be continued to June June 13th the city manager I don't believe there are any items being continued or withdrawn by staff correct there are none mayor the next will be the consent speakers and I believe we have one consent speaker perfect our speaker is Adrian Smith it's Mr Smith here what's that come on you go go ahead you got three minutes you're speaking on the item MNC 230383 a 14 item 16. page a to 14 86. I'm not at the podium I don't know why you started my time has started Adrian please go ahead and continue thank you I'll play the game Adrian Smith okay so item mmc23083 I stand not in total opposition because of the fact that it is set to um bring about change for the homeless of our community so I'm a big advocate of the homeless however Mr Crane you are a developer this particular property has contributed to the problems the plight the destruction the just anything that's considered bad of that particular community why not demolish the entire property and rebuild why are the homeless always getting or not just the homeless people who are considered the less the least of us in the society why are we always giving why are they always giving just the crumbs what do you know about this property nothing you don't know a thing about that property but I do I know what goes on in that area so I don't think you you get it I think it's just a Band-Aid just the same way the city has done with the property off of is that Magnolia or 8th Avenue or whatever or you all purchased from the uh Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary just a Band-Aid why not why not demolish that property and rebuild oh it's not it's not it's not considered important to you all but they knew City Hall that we have yet to move in that you all have spent Millions upon millions of dollars of taxpayer money on and now we're in litigation about it what well it's all good we played your game we're gonna continue to play your game I guess for the next two years but I want you all to be mindful of one thing we did just come out of an election but guess what the people still have the power and I represent the people and one thing that you all fail to no no I'm not going to say you failed but I want to put one thing on your mind the power recall so we do still have a power recall working on our side please put things back the way they were in this city hall chamber 25. here's Jeanette yes next will be approval of the consent agenda as amended move to approved got a motion in a second counselor any other discussion please vote motion carries next will be MNC 230360 and mayor we have three speakers thank you Jeanette our first speaker is Bob Willoughby followed by Amy Winn it's Bob here okay someone can check for Bob outside if they don't mind I thought Marshalls can you check for Bob will it be outside we'll go to Amy Winn oh here comes third what am I talking about oh oh Manny my friend okay oh yeah yeah yeah yeah okay let's get this up here right quick hey I thought they pulled this from the agenda but whether they did or not this police officer is also that was the president of the POA he's put a lot of our money into these candidates sitting right up here okay a lot of money in the candidates in our district five he mailed out thousands of liquids when I was running District Five with my name on there saying I was not recommended but Gina bibbons was okay but he didn't ask none of the candidates in District Five no interviews and I'll tell you what's wrong with our city we have got to get the POA to stop buying candidates if they take all that hundreds of thousand dollars they give the candidates and put it into voter education and get people to know who they're voting for and we get our right back to speak on this agenda again because it's been taken away by these people okay you don't have a right to speak three minutes anymore down here anyway I'm against him being on there but you'll see they'll pass it no matter what I've been down here for 10 years and I learned after about four years it's all a joke it is they do what they want to like they're redistratizing are the bonds I went to the early meetings each time around the Civic make a change no change it didn't matter when you caught them in a lie it didn't change anything it still just moved right at all so you learn how the system goes FW district5.com is my website you can see videos I back up what I say and I get emails from people or these people misled them and it's not true I'll tell you what at the end of the day we the people have the power but when only three percent of the whole city votes to put Maddie Parker in and only two percent of a hundred thousand people in District Five puts Junior vietnames in with two thousand votes ten years in office only gets 2 000 votes we're not getting notified that's the whole thing in a war they cut off your intermission these are bad police this is a bad police and I'll tell you why I have a bad report written by Me by police and I can't talk to them they won't return a call no one will talk to me D.A Internal Affairs are these people so I can't know about this report it has my name on there with lies on there I mean lies and no one will talk to you is that the city you want to live in anyway well I appreciate it I like the bit when I get a chance but I would not put him in but they will and you'll watch and see they will vote him in and he's a commissioner right now too that's his reward for all that money he gave these candidates POA fire Association Star Telegram if they would flip and help the people we could turn the city around with their power instead they're taking us down to a Thug Like city thank you our next speaker is Amy Nguyen followed by Manuel Mata Amy are you here no Manuel motto um my name is Manuel Mata I'm from Fort Worth Texas and I'm against this for two reasons one when I read it it said resigned now I have an issue with resign right because there is officer pritzer uh Aaron Dean John Romer Courtney Johnson AKA Corey Johnson we're all allowed to resign from the Fort Worth Police Department right now this is an issue I have with because if they're forced to resign right and there's two ways because he did something wrong and they give him the opportunity to resign before they get in trouble or indicted right or he had to resign to be gone Commissioner's Court so if anyone wants to clear that up for me so I could understand it and maybe people will understand why that's not an issue for any of y'all why this is even considered like that he has enough problems he has enough issues to deal with in Commissioner's Court why would the chief of police need them that's my question right and the other one is like they uh they already gave over 267 million to police officers this city 267 million and y'all stated that the crime went down 13 then 10 which one is it which one is it because from what I understand it's not even close to that you know so y'all can get up here and spit you know stuff that's not true you know because no one can tell y'all anything right but this has to be something that's not about y'all and those police officers because communities are up here telling y'all what's going on with certain officers in their community and it's being ignored because they're controlled by the POA and that's not cool man and all of y'all said that y'all took a oath for the people that y'all took those seats for the people not for yourselves and not for each other because there has to be a time when y'all go back to being human and have a heart because what we're dealing right now is robots and that's not even something that people should consider as okay from the city because we need litter leaders that are going to stop this that when people come up here and explain to y'all what they're going through with police officers in their area in their division that y'all don't look down look the other way because we come up here a lot of people don't want to because they're intimidated because they feel that nothing is being heard nothing is being done so like I said there has to be a time when all y'all get off of that stuff they're on and have a heart and be human thank you that's what we need that's what a lot of our speakers Council councilmember Bivens yes mayor could you have staff describe the role that is being considered notes if you don't mind coming down thank you I think it would be good for clarity Mary Council thank you so much for allowing me the opportunity to come up and speak about this so Reserve officers are officers who leave in good standing with the forward Police Department who decide although they may have resigned or retired as full-time officers with the Ford police department that they still want to serve it also includes members of the community who may not be able to commit to a full-time position and have other jobs but they want to be able to serve the community of Fort Worth and they do so by going through our Reserve Academy uh completing all the training and being certified as Reserve officers for the forward Police Department we have officers assigned to various roles such as Patrol intelligence department and training based on their prior skills and training that they had prior to either resigning or retiring we've had great success and really in a time when law enforcement agencies across the country are struggling to fill positions when we have good qualified people who want to serve and want to do the job for free quite frankly we take advantage of that opportunity I was going to ask you about pay there is no pay they're not compensated with any kind of pay they also don't uh crew any kind of benefits or retirement all that is taken care of before they separate from the city thank you yes ma'am any other questions for Chiefs and Oaks Council go ahead councilmember Nettles Adrian you can't speak for the audience thank you disability would give him the work off duty is that correct I'm sorry say that again with this ability give him the opportunity to work off duty not for money not for money thank you any other questions counsel councilman Williams thank you mayor and thank you chief for that explanation um the one question I may be for you or for legal but um I guess would this have any implications on the county side on any decisions that the Commissioner's Court would have to make on joint Public Safety initiatives would he have to recuse himself that's a very good question councilmember Williams actually have consulted with our city attorney's office about this very topic as far as any conflict of interest on the county side that would be up to their legal representatives to determine but I've been assured that there are no conflicts of interest for the city of Fort Worth um thank you for that and Leanne feel free to chime in I'm a bit unready to vote on this one only because we don't know the implications on the county side as to whether or not it would happen they would require them to recuse themselves and so I know the vote is here but I wish we would know that so that we can make an informed vote and I'll just affirm what Chief said that's correct there's no conflict on our side and and we're not sure of the conversations on the county side thank you any other questions from Council thank you Chief thank you you have more go ahead question one more question um you know I'm okay with us voting tonight um so you know if we proceed that's totally fine but um if we could continue I would like to know what I'm voting on to make sure that we're not putting you know a county commissioner or tying his hands from voting on important safety initiatives that we may collaborate on but um however this body decides you know I'll move forward thank you Jared any other questions or comments from Council if not it feels like the body is ready to vote on this item tonight um unless anybody wants to speak up and we can have a motion to continue vote first before we proceed on the item nope okay with that counseling that concludes the commentary on this item please vote I actually need a motion first that would help motion and a second in their discussion Council please vote motion passes the next item just to let everyone know MNC 230381 that is continued without objection to June 13 2023. all right the next item will be announcements um by Council of upcoming and recent event recognition of citizens and approval of ceremonial travel if needed perfect any Council presentations I didn't see a note in here so I don't I'm running blind a little bit no Carlos do you have a presentation no I wasn't joking sorry I really meant that sincerely okay very well um with that we'll just move to my ceremonial travel um I'm requesting ceremonial travel to attend the Qatar economic Forum powered by Bloomberg which is a delegation of U.S Mayors on May 23rd through 25th 2023 that all expenses are paid by Bloomberg and out of abundance of caution I thought it would be best to ask for ceremonial travel on this item and with that Council I'd like a motion in a second Motion in a second please vote go ahead yeah go ahead Leonard okay thank you vote thank you I'll let you know how 15 hours on a flight is each way over a four day period we'll see how I feel when I get back council member Firestone yes just uh one announcement um on Friday I was honored to assist and I don't know if do we have any slides at all okay okay uh I was honored to assist in welcoming the Fort Worth Nature Center and refuge into the old growth forest network uh Sarah adlu executive director of the old growth forest Network in Atlantic came to Fort Worth to recognize the Nature Center the nature Center's recognized Forest will be the first forest in Texas to be included in the network which celebrates the protection of old growth virgin forests in the country I'd like to call Rob denkas the Nature Center manager and Marty Leonard forward if you would uh Marty of course is a long time supporter of the nature center and just if you could explain the magnitude of this event we'd appreciate it thank you well thank you councilman um it's an honor to address the old growth forest Network and its importance to the Nature Center and into the community of Fort Worth and really this story started over 100 years ago when you're uh predecessors set aside land that became the Fort Worth nature center part of that land was a patch of Post Oak Woods that has gained National recognition through throughout the nation and its importance is because it shows exactly what Texas used to be and it also shows the foresight of your predecessors and really opened the door for our new open space policies and so we've been doing that for over 100 years in the city and we're finally getting recognition and ironically here in this Prairie town we have the first recognized old growth forest in the state of Texas thank you mayor and Council men and women uh both newly elected and re-elected and some of those are already gone almost Leonard not quite some others uh I just like to add just a little bit uh to the importance of the Nature Center I don't know how many people here have ever been to the Nature Center but if you haven't you should it's a special place and and it belongs to City of Fort Worth you all make it possible and we're most appreciative of all the people that have had a lot to do with it and this I don't want you to think when they call that old ghost Forest that has anything to do with me just by looking at me I'm not 100 yet that's for sure but we'll get there one of these days but anyway just a thanks to Dennis shingleton was very involved with on the council with us before and uh and the staff your staff has been wonderful I could name them all or Rob of course but others as well and so we are most appreciative of this award and we think it's really special it has a special meaning for us and I hope you get out to visit us thanks very much thank you both thank you Marty [Applause] we're back on Council presentations I got us out of order my apologies next we'll move to Dr Jared Williams and then to councilman Nettles and Beck sorry Jared go ahead no worries thank you um I saw the slide there it is um so last week we had the opportunity to share with the Anderson and Auburn family in uh dedicating both apartments and a street topper for Ben and Meg Auburn just want to thank Natalie Anderson Auburn family but also staff for helping to make this dedication ceremony possible it's been a Meg Arbor where pillars in our community and their lives are tragically taken due to reckless driving and so thank you all for what y'all did for the family it really meant a lot not only to the family but to the community and to me so thank y'all next slide and then lastly I would like to also thank all of our residents and a special thank you to Summer Creek Middle School students their student council joined us for our most recent litter day where we cleaned up the human Bend area so thank you to Code Compliance department and also all of the neighborhood volunteers and said Josh and davia thank you all for organizing the event as always that's all thank you thank you Dr Williams councilmember Nettles thank you uh this first slide shows that we was at Southeast Fort Worth Inc annual luncheon we was honored to hear from my mayor talk about economic development on the Southeast side Stacey Marshall's doing a phenomenal job there next slide had the opportunity to go to Carter uh CME Spring Festival uh clothes food a couple of mpos officers there and this beautiful young lady is the new pastor was installed a few months ago next slide had the opportunity to go to Christ Cathedral 40th Church anniversary and present a plaque to the bishop and his first lady as well as Donnie McClurkin National artist singer I had preached the service next slide Goodwill had a ribbon cutting in uh District eight was soon to be District 11 had opportunity to go and speak about the wonderful things that Goodwill is doing with education you uh programs as well as job programs so if you haven't if you need any help Goodwill does more than just uh clothing and second-hand items they actually have great programs for our community I believe the next slide is going to be the voyage in his business Assistance Center the unveiling it was a phenomenal um event was with the black chamber and Robert Stearns who helped put on this event to honor uh the late Devore Jennings and his hard work for the city of Fort Worth and the Black Chamber for many many years the next few slides are going to be announcements uh Mother's Day mammogram event is going to be Saturday May the 13th 23 from 9 to 3 the address is located there you can also contact the house for other information the next slide is going to be mental Wellness Community Expo and so it's from 11 to 1 on May the 13th as well and then the next slide is going to be I want forgiveness and Community continue to climb for re-entry job resource the next two slides and so please govern yourselves accordingly as the church announcement lady will say thank you council member back um so last weekend we had the grand opening of fire station skate park um over a thousand people showed up Richard Zavala did not cut the ribbon on a skateboard I'm sorry to um to report um but otherwise it was an amazing event and I would encourage all of you to take a drive down to Hemphill to to check out this really great amenity that the city has built and if you don't know how to skate and you're interested in skating mayor and you can sign up for lessons at fire station Community Center so um all of your children or people that are children at heart I'd encourage you to take advantage of that really unique opportunity as well next slide it is the 40th anniversary of the Fairmount tour of historic homes it's Mother's Day weekend I would encourage you to grab your mom grab brunch and then go tour some really fabulous restored Craftsman's homes in Fairmount next slide it is near South Side Centric this today Friday on the green is back and so I hope that you will all take some time to enjoy this beautiful weather and a couple cool bands and some local artists and food vendors next slide I want to make sure that everybody knows Saturday May 27th and we will be having the Fort Worth carry the load rally it will start at tcu's amen G Carter Stadium and participants will walk to the police and fire Memorial and we'll have some activities and fellowship opportunities when that is over so I would I'd like to invite everyone here and everyone listening to participate in what is a really worthwhile event and that is all I've got did I govern myself accordingly okay thank you thank you councilmember back that's lost to our Council presentations next will be speakers on the non-consent items and mayor I believe we have one Bob Willoughby is our speaker [Music] I don't know what Adam is this is what are we speaking out you're speaking on 230364 oh gee see since they changed this around well they don't match us up you don't know what you're talking about I mean this is another stupid thing I've never seen anything like what number was that I'm sorry MC what 230364 Bob 2364. hmm okay I'll get through here before three minutes anyway I'm trying to find out can you give me a little hint of what it's about there it doesn't say much longer I think you're against a community oriented policing Grant I just hadn't adding 11 more police officers is that one yes sir oh it's that one I had 11 more they're gonna add a little more sleep peaceful at night 11 more on the way God I feel good you know we're over a thousand police officers short you know that okay well and you know why that is that's because of us we let them do what they want and they're going to do it I met with Maddie I got a half hour meeting with her okay she round transparency couldn't record the meeting it's worthless you know but I offered uh you know well anyway we're gonna get off track I'm gonna get in trouble so they're still track okay um you know we used to have three minutes to talk we wanted I'm sorry I get off the right but anyway this is about the extra police officers okay here we go again we're adding a little more that will not replace half of the not even a fraction officers that need to be fired and removed from this this place right now chief police deal notes he runs I've got him on camera FW district5.com watch him run out of the building now when a police officer writes a bad report about you Bob can we stick to this items you have about the grant that we were receiving okay what are you doing with our money well do we have to get grants to hire police and only 11. you better get a bigger Grant than that okay I mean 11 is not a drop in a button here but nevertheless I guess one of the things I guess on the top of here is we should have enough funds maybe if you didn't spend five hundred thousand dollars to outside attorneys to keep a police officer given from coming back Chief Fitzgerald was fired for whistleblowing we're not going there this is the item at hand if we can just steep I can't tell these post office and why we got more so Lebanon you're getting a grant from it I want to know why do we have to get this grant why don't we have the money why why do we have 500 000 to pay outside large to keep a police officer from coming back if we didn't do that maybe we need that grant money huh okay so it all connects it does just relax it's okay but anyway appreciate it but anyway I want you to know until we get a real mayor and a city manager we have nothing we're just spitting in the wind and that's a God's truth go ahead Jeanette next will be item 230247 Borden uh commission appointments District eight councilmember Nettles yes uh thank you um okay those who have been to the city council meeting these are the things that happened every week and so thank you for being here and being in support of Leonard I'm sorry I've been talking a whole lot it's your last meeting but we're going to send you home well okay so before I get to my appointment I want to acknowledge uh Miss Wanda Collins if you will come to the podium I want to say a couple of words to you um [Applause] and I'll come down in just a second but I want to uh say it's on a dies uh Miss Wanda Connor has served this community so well with integrity and dignity and honor and so although we're appointing a new zoning commission we wanted to make sure I wanted to make sure that we showed you the love that you strongly uh deserved I remember on Sunday the very day after the election um I got a call and doing election season you answer unavailable calls number that you don't have saved because you just never know you can get a vote and I answered that phone I was sitting in my church office and this little sweet voice said hi council member elect this is Wanda conlon and and I was just a shocked and surprised and she said whatever you need me to do to help your transition I would do that if you want to fire me fire me but I still will help you and so um I decided to keep Miss Wanda comment on and it has been a phenomenal two years she has supported communities she has protected communities she has helped East Side East Lancaster helped bring Ruby Carey Library here and the list goes on and on so publicly I want to honor you and show you love and respect today so those that can we all know better than that [Laughter] I will read this plaque and then we're going to uh let Miss Wanda have a few words so certificate of recognition Office of city council District a the city of Fort Worth hereby recognize Wanda County for her 22 years of unwaving service to the city of Fort Worth Wanda Conley first started her loyal service to the city of Fort Worth in 1993 on the city plan zoning commission the city plan commission representing District 8 for nine years out of those nine years she took seven years of those and stepped into the chair of the City Planning Commission after being briefed Wanda also joined the zoning Commission in 20 2002 serving off and on until her retirement I don't really know if she's really retiring but we're going to say it today to her retirement of April 2023. over the course of Wanda's tenure she served Fort Worth for 22 years under five Mayors and four City Council Members one that's contributed to our city has been invaluable it has been wonderful and her work is dedication helped improve the quality both for District 8 and the City of Fort Worth so this certificate is presented to you Miss Wanda Connor Thank you for everything [Applause] I do just have to say one thing when I was first asked to serve that many years ago I didn't know that was how many years it was but I had a goal I would be in my place I would be on time I would be prepared and I would never embarrass my council person I think maybe I did that [Applause] absolutely those y'all know this is a beautiful husband a handsome husband all right thank you so much [Applause] forgot your flowers Wanda you have flowers from us you got flowers from the mayor's office so we want to present those to you Wanda Dawn we appreciate you [Applause] Council have a few lights up here there may be a few that also wanted to add anything councilman rebeck did you want to add anything no councilmember Williams nope councilmember Bevins go ahead please mayor for Tim absolutely I do Wanda and Don before you leave it is my effort to try to embarrass you for those of you who are Fort Worth Natives and you've been here since at least 1980 please show your hands let me tell you what used to happen districts 4 5 and 8 led by Kathleen Hicks at one point then Kelly now the Reverend District 4 led by Dennis Garth you know until and Kerry came here just for the photo op now he's gone and now Alan and councilman Frank Moss you know for me that was a there was a coalition of East Side leaders and you hear a lot about the East Lancaster Corridor now well that really started with what's called vei v-e-l Vision East Lancaster I'm dyslexic today and it was started because those three council districts got together on a regular basis and charted out plans for what they wanted the East Side to look like because if you know about the east side we have a complex we feel like everybody is against us and we don't care because we fight but the Envision East Lancaster is how things got started and they've evolved today but Wanda you will go down in history because those of us who have been around we know how this all started and so you are to be commended I remember the Middlebrook Shopper you know we had an East Side newspaper it really it was just for shopping tips but it evolved into news and it continues today online so what you've done for this city is phenomenal your service is phenomenal and what I will tell you is just because you are no longer in District eight doesn't mean you might not get a phone call because time Chris got elected we called you and said you got to keep one to come you you can't have anybody in zoning who knows nothing and so thank you for your service thank you for just being a friend and thank you for speaking at every District Five leadership meeting that we asked you to come thank you so very much God bless you thank you mayor so thank you mayor so with that I want to do my board appointment and it's um it's just ironic that uh Miss Wanda Conlin was redistrict out of District 8 into District 11 and this board appointment was redistricted out of District six into District eight and so we're just excited today and so uh to the Marion Council I request your consideration to appoint Miss Tita Leggett to the zoning commission for position eight effective May 9 2023 with the term expiring October 1st 2024 I respectfully the respectful applicant attached his resume is provided if you need it but that's my motion for today Motion in a second Council on a discussion please vote mayor can we clarify that also is the um airport zoning this is for zoning no yes okay yes please motion carries next mayor we've had a request by councilmember Blaylock to take up item to my page MNC 230347 next okay and it's my knowledge we don't have speakers correct correct great councilmember Blaylock thank you mayor so I'd like to briefly invite Joel mcelhaney of Parks and Recreation Department in the residence of Sunset Hills to the podium I believe they're here no okay well then I will uh I just want to so I just want to acknowledge and thank Sunset Hill Homeowners Association for the donation of playground equipment for the park and they're collaborative effort with our Park and Recreation Department and Joel for his leadership the Sunset Hills HOA donated approximately sixty thousand dollars to the city for this park great so with that I would like to motion to authorize the acceptance of that donation Motion in a second any other questions Council congratulations Alan please vote [Music] motion carries next item will be resolution 230287 thank you Motion in a second please vote motion carries next will be MNC 230354 which is a public hearing was a report by City staff Beth Knight good evening Mayors members of the council my name is Beth Knight senior planner with the development services department the item before you tonight is a request for a distance waiver for a future grocery store to sell alcohol they are slightly less than 200 feet away from a school where they are required to be 300 feet the site is on a lot that is irregularly shaped and the shape of the lot is triggering the requirement um we have received a letter from the Eagle Mountain Saginaw ISD that is in general support of the Sprouts grocery store but their letter does not specifically say whether they are in support or opposition of the alcohol distance flavor I am here if you have any other questions thank you any questions for Beth mayor we have one speaker I'm sorry I believe you it's Tim Mondello is Tim here apologies Tim good evening mayor and Council my name is Tim Mondello I'm representing gbt Realty who's proposing to bring a Sprouts Farmers Market to 4525 West Bailey Boswell Road which is the vacant rear lot of the retail Corners Edition property I'm here tonight asking for an appeal to the 300 foot property line to property line setback requirement for an alcohol permit the Eastern property line of this lot a butts old Decatur Road and it's approximately 180 feet from the Western property line of the Wayside Middle School which falls under the 300 foot setback requirement for issuance of an alcohol permit I have obtained a letter of no opposition from the Eagle Mountain Saginaw Independent School District as well as a letter from the Northwest Alliance homeowners association fully supporting Sprouts Farmers Market to be built on this site the proposed sale of beer and wine in Sprouts is consistent with the pattern of the adjacent uses in this area who all sell beer and wine for off-premises consumption which include Kroger 7-Eleven and Walmart the sales area for beer and wine in Sprouts encompasses only 600 square feet and just 2.5 percent of the Growth Store square footage on average the sale of beer and wine is less than five percent of sales of Sprout's total sales volume making the sale of bigger and wine is small but critical percentage of total sales the proposed Sprouts Farmers Market for this site increases the utility of the land provides residents in organic and natural food grocery option and adds appropriately to the mix of uses in the immediate vicinity this location is admirably suited for a Sprouts Farmers Market and both sprouts and gbt Realty could not be more excited to bring one here thank you for your consideration thank you Tim uh move to close the public hearing and and approve MNC 230354 please vote election carries next item is zc-22-156 and councilmember crane we have one speaker Preston Pittman um actually I don't think they're here mayor I'm going to move to uh continue this the June 13th council meeting okay an emotion motion and a second Council please vote motion carries next item is zc-23-018 councilman Rebecca we have two speakers our first is Michael Howell followed by Daniel Leach good evening thank you can y'all hear me yes sir okay great um thank you for your appointments to the zoning Commission they're very informative they do great work please renew their appointments whenever you get a chance my opposition is uh out of state investor who has a daughter going to TCU wants to put up a double story triple story two-sided duplex on a single family lot our neighborhood has pushed hard for the safety of everybody that goes to TCU Paschal Lilly B and McLean we pride ourselves on keeping a balanced well-balanced between business single family and duplexes we're being overrun by developers who are offering two three hundred thousand dollars more than what a single family can afford I'm going on year 30 in the neighborhood I enjoy the neighborhood and I want to keep the single family inventory in the city of Fort Worth so families can move in like my family did and have the opportunity to have a great education a safe neighborhood well balanced with all different kinds of people I welcome the gentleman from Tennessee and his daughter I do not oppose that the house has been that's on the lot now has been remodeled much better than my 1946 I'm still with the floor furnace and the windows from 1946. so I think that three years at TCU in a remodeled home will fit his daughter and her friends fine so I will ask for I believe it's called opposition with prejudice against any further discussion I'll turn it over to sue thank you Mr Howell our next speaker is Daniel Leach hi my name is Susan Stevenson and I'm a Treasurer with Paschal neighborhood association so I'm going to represent instead of uh Mr leech that's fine thank you um I also I live on 2637 Forest Park Boulevard so I see um what we're talking about is a stealth dorm if any of you understand what that is and if you've been down Forest Park between Pascal high school and Park Hill you've seen um what's kind of happened and so I I live in a 1950 home that my grandparents built and a little over a thousand square feet and um you know it's it our neighborhood is just getting um picked apart here and there so I know the zoning uh commission decided to vote against the uh stealth dorm and I'm hoping you decide to also vote how the zoning Commission voted thank you thank you councilman Rebecca that's the last of our speakers moved to deny with prejudice motion on a second in their discussion Council please vote motion carries next item is zc-23-026 no speakers on this item council member Flores slash Firestone because for Flores go ahead move to approve please vote motion carries next item is zc-23-027 council member Beck we have two speakers first is Kade Lovelace followed by John Belknap mayor members of the city council my name is Kate Lovelace I'm here representing Ryan Place Improvement Association we oppose this zoning request and we ask that you confirmed the denial that the zoning commission entered um this is a zoning request moving from A5 to e and uh it's essentially a Wing Stop they're asking to build on a residential lot or two three residential lots um it's gonna be placed squarely in a five section zoning and it's going to affect the neighbors to our South and to our East to the east of the location uh the Wingstop location will be open till 7 PM every night seven days a week and we haven't gotten any concessions from them on those dates or times and it will bother our neighbors to send quite a bit um further Wingstop representation Representatives have told us that 90 of their businesses carry out so that's going to bring a lot of congestion to the streets and it's a neighborhood street so for those reasons Ryan Place opposes the zoning changes and ask that you confirm is any conditions findings thank you thank you Kate our next speaker is John Belknap thank you good evening mayor and Council my name is John belnamp and I live at 2944 James Avenue it's uh if I go out the back of my garage or out of my garage driveway I'm about 60 feet away from their proposed development um the neighborhood does not want in any any way a change that would allow a fast food restaurant right in our essentially our backyard our side yard period the applicant's representative was told that very clearly 24 months ago before before they came their first time around to apply this same thing was made clear to the owner of the restaurant more recently than that before he applied this time around I've submitted a petition with 28 names on it that I gathered within the last three days I spent less than an hour or right out an hour Gathering names of residents and owners of the properties within 600 feet of of the proposed development um on on the streets of 8th James and Stanley Avenues um they signed in opposition for obvious reasons people don't want to live next to a fast food restaurant they don't want their quality of life you know deteriorated they don't want to feel all the negative impacts that such a uh allowed business would bring there would be an increase in traffic there's already a high volume of cut through traffic on 8th James and Stanley and on West Bowie Street heading into the neighborhood and cutting through as a shortcut from West Berry Street onto Cleburne road towards 8th Avenue 8th Avenue last we had a traffic calming survey done 20 years ago in the neighborhood and at that time it seems like there were 20 some thousand Vehicles a day going up and down Cleburne Road that's an intersection where where six different directions of travel on Bowie Stanley and Cleburne Road in both directions all come together so there's a total of uh umpteen lanes and with a railroad track alongside running parallel to boot there are accidents there on a regular basis I brought a photo of one that was taken as I snapped it as I was as I was driving home just Friday before last and which a car just was lowered down off of two wheels anyway um there's nothing to prevent if they if they get their change there's nothing prevent them from running their operation 24 hours a day there are plenty of other locations available that are more suitable um there's actually a lot directly across Stanley Avenue that would have less negative impact on on the neighborhood and we ask you to deny to follow in line with the zoning Commission thank you thank you John councilmember back that's the last of our speakers um I'm going to move to deny with prejudice this particular motion but since I have Mr belnap in the room I want to correct a record because there were some pretty nasty things said about you during the zoning hearing for this particular case um and Mr belnap has always been a reliable source in the neighborhood for zoning changes and I appreciate the way that you watch and make sure that you hold people accountable and ensure that both developers and Builders follow the rules so that doesn't make you a bully that makes you a good citizen so thank you for doing what you do for Ryan place in the city of Fort Worth motion on a second Council any other discussion please vote motion carries next item is zc-23-035 councilmember Williams we have two speakers on this item one I know that's only if there's opposition our first speaker is Maxwell Fisher and to my knowledge we do not have opposition just letting Avis know that Max thank you Dr Williams um Avis if you don't mind just give us a quick rundown of the project I think this might be the first time that we've been on public record with it and it's an exciting project so just describe it in your neighborhood Outreach and then we'll move forward we've just missed hearing from you Avis that's all you can't go a meeting without you that too thank you good evening mayor Parker members of the Fort Worth City Council it's always my pleasure to be here and congratulations to you all um so Ava shashan I'm the executive director of real estate development with played in USA so this is an exciting development in Council District Six it would be our fifth deal in Fort Worth but it's actually uh independent senior living deal and we're planning to do something very different the site was previously zoned for e-neighborhood commercial but we are asking for a PD to change some of the zoning to allow for our independent senior living development and keeping some of the commercial along Kingswood Drive with that we are requesting a few variances to make the development work but we have talked to The Candle Ridge Estates HOA we spoke to the Hulen Street church and we've done some other Outreach and we have gotten support letters and those should have been included in your packet as well awesome thank you and it's my understanding that the neighborhoods and the stakeholders had input on this design is that correct that is correct awesome thank you so much for that also on the record want to thank representative Ramon Romero's office for their support at the state legislature of this project so oh absolutely thank you for that indeed thank you and with that I moved to approve thank you Motion in a second please vote motion carries next item is zc-23-037 councilmember Firestone council member crane our first speaker is Laura Tucker followed by Dorothy Dubose thank you good evening my name is Laura Tucker I'm the owner of 5404 Wellesley Avenue I'd like to start off by telling you all a little bit about myself I'm 21 years old um I grew up a couple hours West of here in Eastland Texas um and I came to Fort Worth originally to attend school at TCU and the pre-law program um while I was at TCU in March of 2022 I purchased my home in the neighborhood of Como um and in October of last year of 2022 I received a job opportunity in Frisco um for months I attempted traveling back and forth when I realized that the commute just wasn't feasible um and that's when I sat down and I had to make the most economically Sound Decision for myself um and that's when I decided that I was going to move to Frisco and obtain an apartment there um so that's when I was you know I was going to figure out what I was going to do with my home um and I found that Fort Worth had come out with their application for the short-term rentals which is why I'm here today um last month at these um hearing before the zoning commission I went to the commission and I explained to them that I was attempting to utilize my home to help further gentrify the community um and I was letting know let known at the hearing that my use of the term gentrification was offensive um and when you look in the Webster dictionary the term gentrification it has nothing more to do with other anything other than Urban Development and the economic wealth of communities which I'm attempting to bring to Como as it's been in a progressive state for years now and it's only getting better um so that that is why I'm here today I am here to to use my property to do so because without my property being utilized as a short-term rental you know there's less people visiting the city of Fort Worth there's lots of people going to your restaurants visiting your coffee shops eating at your restaurants or getting gas at your gas stations and whatnot so I'm not a corporation I am a real human just like everybody else here um and I'm just trying to make the most economically feasible decision um for myself but also for the community because it it would also benefit not only the neighborhood of Como but the city of Fort Worth and everybody involved so that is why I'm here today is to ask for the approval of my zoning change so that this this can happen thank you Laura our next speaker is Dorothy Dubose good evening mayor and a councilman all of the council members I'm Dorothy Dubose and I live at 5713 Humbert house I live in coma I want to thank you for allowing me to speak Como has worked hard to revitalize our neighborhood it has been a long struggle I want to thank our my past uh councilman crane who worked so diligent with us to develop a strategic plan for our community that we have that is incorporated into the city plan and I thank my new oncoming councilman through for being here to support us in this endeavors we have gone and asked three previous city councilman to work with us to change the zoning in coma we started out with several different zonings so we have gone through the petitions and finally we have the zoning that we are have asked for and was approved as we have worked over the years we have been trying to revitalize our community and we have been successful we used to have a lot of vacant Lots we do not have vacant Lots we have new homes and the majority of those new homes already occupied we have always been a community that know our neighbors that has been one of our strengths we have had our neighborhood advisory Council that meets the first Thursday of every month for over 30 years we include ask folks to come if you want to do something in our community come and talk to us share what you would like to do in this incident in this situation we have worked hard to get our community to be cohesive we are no longer in our black community we now are diverse and we have included them but our overall goal is still to know your neighbors I do not believe that having folks coming in on the weekend and leaving is a benefit for my community we are striving and continuously working to make sure that everybody in our community is involved and they know what's going on so they can help us keep our communities safe and continue to grow and be beautiful so I ask you tonight to deny this request and go along with the zoning board okay thank you thank you Dorothy that's the last first Speaker which councilmember crane yeah thanks mayor um uh Miss Tucker uh thanks for being here I appreciate what you've done in in the house that you purchased and and what you wanted to do and as we spoke on the phone about this case um I I told you from from that time that I would uphold the denial about the zoning commission um as Mr Bose pointed out there's been a lot of work going on in Como and I see some combo folks Sanders back there see some other folks Adrian's over there that lives in Como too thanks for y'all being here tonight um unfortunately the way we did and we worked really hard this council did on the short-term rental ordinance um we worked and ultimately what we came to the conclusion was to protect neighborhoods and from what I know the work that they do there and the and and I'm still your council member for another for another week sorry Jared but I'm still for another week um but I appreciate all the stuff and the work that we've had over the years making sure that we continue to build that neighborhood up and it be the best that it can be and so I think tonight's vote is is is reaffirming that that this Council too believes that Como is a great neighborhood will continue to be a great neighborhood and believe in Lake Como and all the things happening there and so with that I moved to uphold the zoning commission denial of this case a motion in a second please vote motion carries next item is zc-23-038 our first speaker on this item councilmember Bivens is Dan Hayes followed by Devin Rhodes he's only yep that's fine Devin Rhodes I guess he logged in before me uh so Devin Rhodes Wheatland Investments we're at affordable housing development company we are a family-owned company we have properties in Kansas Oklahoma and Texas uh I'm joined by my father here today um you know one of the questions that was asked during the zoning commission was why did we select this site uh we selected the site because we feel that it has the best use uh for the site uh it's currently zoned single family we're requesting a zoning change to multi-family C medium density and we feel that this fits not only the Strategic goals and comprehensive plan of the city of Fort Worth but also aligns with the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs goals as well it continues to be very very highly ranked within tdhca's requirements and and so that's why we're requesting and respectfully asking for you to approve this zoning change just a couple of quick points uh we we do have a resolution of support from the city of Fort Worth we received back in December there was another nine percent application within the low-income housing tax credit project process that withdrew their application because they did not receive a resolution of support there's existing Apartments to the north there's actually existing zc zoning to the West uh and as well to the South um we did confirm there were some questions at the zoning commission about traffic we did confirm that there will be a traffic signal um within uh the corner of Brentwood stair and Cook's Lane through a Federal grant uh within I believe 2024. we were asked that the zoning commission what percentage of residents at this development would be students zero full-time students would be living at this residential development as it is an affordable housing development no full-time students would be able to live to live there and then lastly this would provide approximately 391 thousand dollars to the city of Fort Worth through impact fees um and and I guess I'll just leave it at that thank you thank you Mr Rhodes our next speaker is Dan Hayes followed by Wayne burgdoff good evening my name is Dan Hayes and I live in central Meadowbrook I wanted to provide some general information about apartment development in East Fort Worth which tells an interesting story I recently spent a couple of hours identifying the apartment complexes in this area of East Fort Worth and when they were built I identified 82 complexes built over the last 60 years what I found is very worrisome 88 percent of all apartment complexes in that 40 or 50 square mile area or at least 32 years old we've only seen 10 apartment complexes built since 1990. here's that same information as a line graph meanwhile this is what's happened to Fort Worth's population Flatline Department growth soaring population 42 percent of Fort Worth residents rent because they want they have to or they want to not everyone wants a house with a mortgage maintenance and upkeep and taxes and insurance East Fort Worth leads the city in saying no to apartment development more than half of all apartment zoning cases since 2017 have been withdrawn or denied just 43 percent were approved as Mr Rhodes mentioned this is a got a resolution of support and in that resolution it clearly states that a zoning change would be necessary one last note you're likely to see this map in a few minutes in three other instances this year this map has been used to influence a vote against zoning changes in the area depicted twice I've pointed out to its author that it has significant errors so if tonight you see it and it still looks the same you'll know that it's not accurate thank you thank you Dan our next speaker is Wayne burgdoff followed by Andrea Taylor good evening mayor and Council my name is Wayne Bergdorf 3000 Race Street uh Fort Worth 7611 is my office uh I am a real estate broker I specialized in land and I was the site selection broker that found this site for the applicant I wanted to address the site selection process briefly so you'd understand how this site percolated to the top uh this is a nine percent tax credit program and there's two hurdles that a site must clear to be able to get approved for this one hurdle is at the state level you heard about tdhca that's a very competitive scoring basis based on all the sites that were submitted and then secondly of course is the City Zoning entitlement process both hurdles must be met for a site to cross the finish line so they're they're both very important uh let me elaborate on on the first step on this the scoring at the state level uh certain census tracts uh score much better than other census tracts for these developments for the scoring due to other developments that are there uh proximity to jobs and some other variables a consultant ID which census tracks in Fort Worth had the highest chance of getting a scoring and so it was wise to look only in those census tracts so there were actually seven census tracts in the city of Fort Worth two in Southwest Fort Worth which is the Palladium project was is where it lit and then five here in East Fort Worth uh of course I reached out in all seven census tracts looking for sites of the five census tracts in East Fort Worth I found only two Parcels that had any potential for being rezoned that were for sale and this site was won the other we were talking to them but the owner pulled it off the market to develop it for an alternative use we were optimistic about this site to get zoned because of the C multi-family zoning in place on three sides as it sits now as Mr Rhodes mentioned and of course our optimism grew when the staff recommendation was was for approval for the record there are I did find three other sites in East Fort Worth in these census tracts already Zone multi-family but they were not available for sale and the ownership ownership could not be contacted so therefore there were effectively no Zone sites available and uh this is why this one percolated at the top and we contracted it for this development thank you thank you our next speaker is Andrea Taylor followed by Zach Boatwright good evening my name is excuse me Andrea Taylor with MMA I'm the civil engineer for the project and so I just wanted to mention a couple of things the person and I'm not sure if Devin had mentioned this a lot of times when we hear multi-family we think oh my gosh the traffic that it's going to create right and so I think it's important to note that this is not a 3 400 unit multi-family development this is a small scale 88 units um and so I wanted to put that into perspective I think there's another the zoning map can you flip to that um to put that into prescript into perspective using the Institute of Transportation of engineering 11th Edition manual for 88 units that's 400 daily trips and that might seem like a lot but for comparison what is highlighted and well it looks kind of red next to it that's Crooked Lane from uh Brentwood stair down to Morrison with 33 duplexes and 13 single-family homes that is about 598 daily trips using the same traffic manual so to kind of put the traffic into perspective against kind of the adjacent single family additionally one thing that that we did here at zoning was the concern for the trees which is valid and very important and we know what the current zoning that The Chew ordinance allows for a 25 canopy requirement whereas the multi-family requires 50 so by virtue we will be required to preserve more trees in the current zoning and I'm here for additional questions should any arise related to engineering thank you Andrea our next speaker is Zach Boatwright followed by Bob Willoughby mayor council good evening um my name is Zach Bill Wright and I'm the listing agent for this property and I'm I'm here on behalf of the seller and we're voicing our support of course for the zoning chains of this development the overarching factor is to support this project is it will improve the area and provide housing I said we're um we like how this developer has positioned um the design and it will clean up this corner it'll also keep people from passing through this property some additional factors for this development are it's a hard corner and this site is good use for multi-family it's a difficult use for single family residential this project boasts some good buffers if you look at his site plan there they've done a good job on positioning it and it will clean up that corner again lastly is density we need more density in this area I said Malta family will provide this so that other restaurant retail developers will come the restaurant void needs to be filled in this area and um yeah and so I appreciate your time and I strongly um hope you consider supporting the Zone exchange thank you thank you Zach our next speaker is Bob Willoughby followed by James Hook well I'll tell you one thing about this case is that we're not going to talk I don't talk to them it doesn't matter I want y'all to hear out there what's going on okay notice that all the people that spoke on this down here they don't live here they don't live in that area only one Dan and I don't exactly agree with everything Dan says but anyway uh how many people did they bring down neighbors to support this case and you'll notice they'll talk about money that's all they would talk about too when they're doing development here how much money the city gets not the quality of life we have you know the you know I don't think we need a residential zoning board either I don't think we need that but I will agree with the board on this one but we really don't need one because in the day the people's supposed to make the decision and Zoning Board really they only use it sometimes when they want to pass something through that we don't want they can use it then that's all it's really there for um but nevertheless like I said all these people came down and spoke money that's it they don't care about quality a lot we have rowing blackouts in the city and people have died from that actually died you would think these people these people are plastic okay they don't feel it because it doesn't happen them it has to happen them when something happens to Maddie she gets up mad and walks out though she does the same thing to us and we can't do anything about it okay it's not right now they said that the Zone board denied I'd like for us tonight and I'd like to do one thing all those dilapidated partners he was talking about that are run down I'd like to see for every two developing Department that comes down then we put one new one up we have too many apartments people never own an apartment they're not they're not affordable living that's not living that's living in a cubicle box just like in a prison kids can't grow and these kind of things we do need a certain amount of Apartments they do have their need but this is all about money it's not about the quality of life of the people in Fort Worth it's just not about that anymore it's about money and um you know anyway we'll see how they do because it doesn't matter that's why I don't talk to them it doesn't matter what you say at the end of the day no matter what case it is because I've seen large groups come down here and they still go against them so they know what they're going to do before they get in here before this thing's done they're done decided okay in the early pre-council you barely sell them change their mind okay so and they'll let you do some things that they don't mind and that's not a city that's not a city council and they're not serving us that's a disgrace is what it is but we'll see how they both watch and see if all these uh developers come down here and change their mind because of the money and the Departments we don't need no more Apartments not at all if they see anything it needs two old apartments to come down for everyone new when it comes up and these people come down here and speak for this it's so good so great why don't they have five or ten of the neighbors down here supporting them when you bring five or ten that live in that neighborhood put up the apartments you've got my blessings I don't like them but I'll agree to that but you got to get me some people that live in that neighborhood in that area degree and they can't do that because if I knew about they won't they won't agree thank you James Hook followed by Beth Henderson hello mayor council not every day I get to agree with Bob will be on something but here's the day laughs my name is James Hook and I'm the president of the John T white neighborhood association just north of the proposed site I'm speaking on my behalf today against this rezoning of the property uh the affected neighborhood myself feel the property is zoned correctly as is I hope you had a chance to see the zoning hearing last month and here are the neighbor in here where the neighbors had to say many of the residents did not understand this process of first having a zoning hearing and then having a council hearing so uh you know many thought the strong denial from the zoning commission was the final decision did not remobilize and return today unfortunately I believe you may have received some letters in opposition even though only a few of the property owners that lived within 30 or 300 feet were notified but they did mobilize on their own without a neighborhood association it was very interesting the expectation of the Neighbors at the time they purchased this property was that when this property is eventually built built out they would have more single-family homes as neighbors and not a three-story apartment complex to look up to in their backyard there is other land in the area uh despite what you've heard that's appropriately zoned and available to build on without having to rezone as a realtor it baffles me why developers insist on buying land before verifying that the zoning fits their project there are other multi-family projects already underway in the area that have correct zoning so we have nothing to say about that these will add an additional 1000 plus multi-family units to the area next couple years 400 units on 8101 Ederville Road are underway that was zoned mu or mu1 I thought that was multi-use or mixed-use development somehow or another it's all apartments um at one at there'd be 154 units at Williams and Randall Mill that's part of the um well it's part of the larger development with houses and what have you a bunch of A5 but uh there will there will be 154 units there another 40 units are being proposed to John T white I'm sorry not proposed they're actually being built it's part of a larger development as well with a75 houses plus plus 40 uh 40 town homes um there'll be 70 possibly at 1110 Cooks Lane I've seen plans for that and then another 700 possible down the road at 7124 Anderson Boulevard I've seen plans for that not sure if that's on hold or not for now but anyway I ask you to dial the zoning request and give a newly awakened neighborhoods in that area on the South Side about 30 an opportunity to work with Council and staff to reform their neighborhood association then went dormant several years ago and developed a council initiated zoning plan of their own like John T white neighborhood association did and obviously John T white is very happy to work with this new neighborhood association to help him develop a plan and uh something we can stick to thank you thank you James our next speaker is Beth Henderson is Beth here she's Miss Henderson I'm sorry thank you on the phone Miss Henderson you want to meet me um you have three minutes to speak if you'd like yes [Music] go ahead please oh Miss Henderson would you like to speak thank you I don't think that's working Jeanette sorry councilman rivens is the last of our speakers this evening thank you mayor and I want to say thank you for all of you who showed up tonight even those who just walked in with the signs that I couldn't see very clearly let me tell you something about District Five and zoning my district is the only District that has undergone training endorsed by Urban Land Institute and so in District Five we had a leadership training when was that James maybe before covet I think three years ago we rezoned 670 properties that's a big undertaking but only three Property Owners requested to be excluded and so with that we were able to carve out spaces for multi-family and that's paying off we're seeing multi-family come to District Five right now just last month we approved a new apartment complex to come to the Moser Valley area near Viridian James Hook who is president of John T white although speaking as an individual tonight has heard from the neighboring deactivated neighborhood association this case has spurred them into action they want to get reactivated again and while I appreciate the data that Dan Hayes shared tonight Dan lives in District district 8 and I am never confused about who I was elected to represent and we are moving forward with multi-family but in this case I would tell you the zoning commission got it right and it's a word to all of the developers who want to bring projects to any part of the city know your zoning before you bring the case and we urge them all to make sure you do your due diligence but in this case I'm going to uphold the recommendation from the zoning commission who voted to deny and that is my motion second please vote Michael's not here you can hit that foreign whatever this verdict is can you make sure the collar knows what the outcome is she's still online she just okay chose not to speak we'll correct the motion maker in the minutes so the motion was by councilmember Bevins motions and I passes next item is zc-23-040 one speaker on the Sodom councilmember Williams Ryan Kim but only if there's opposition to my knowledge there is none but awesome thank you um I moved to approve and maybe councilmember Nettles and I can go there for brunch it's an awesome brunch restaurant coming to I-35 Corridor so it'll be in future District 8 but I'm happy to approve this second Motion in a second any discussion please vote motion carries next item is zc-23-041 our speaker is Adam neolette followed by Stephen Gonzalez good evening mayor council city manager City staff I'm going to keep mine brief um I'm a Navy veteran I've got some veteran and friends of mine here that I went to TCU with um in all the talks for or against the project I am for the project I always go back to a quote my grandfather instilled in me as a young boy that's from Teddy Roosevelt that said character in the long run is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of Nations alike and these men and women that are coming out of service cycling back here to Fort Worth here to Tarrant County they are men and women of character uh men and women of Valor like this young man sitting over here in uniform so I just think we should do what we can to do what's right by them when they come home thank you thank you Adam our next speaker is Stephen Gonzalez followed by Paul Bernal good evening mayor council thank you for your time um I represent the national veteran outreach program and I'm in support of this project um I will let the CEO speak about the scope of the project but I want to talk about kind of the those who are opposing this and common questions that we received when we were at the HOA meetings at the hempo corridor meeting at and at our open house so one question is uh the high density why well we want an opportunity to grow in the area we feel that we would do such a good job in taking care of these veterans that will need to create more space and there is ample space there in order for us to grow another one is they have a fear of us selling to a develop a developer well the organization has been around for 50 years and in those 50 years they have rarely sold off one of the properties in their portfolio so I think that uh is is and and we want to have our footprint here in Fort Worth so this allows us the opportunity they don't want gentrification well this is simple who doesn't want to improve their neighborhoods and we want to create uh and and bring much needed improvements to the community and take care of our veterans in the process a lot we heard a few times uh you know a common term that we've all heard and that's not in not in my backyard and um well I ask well uh why and where do we belong and they say near the VA near the hospitals Etc well I hope my neighborhood doesn't see me that way as a veteran um we want them to uh thrive in an area with all the resources whether that's the Walmart down the street the grocery store or a gas station and be close in vicinity I mean they're across the street from a park we didn't they say that we didn't communicate to their liking as soon as the seller allowed us to purchase this or accepted our bid we quickly hit the ground running and and trying to get the community informed leadership informed the HOA president informed and to Garner their support ultimately I hope that and respectfully request that uh we we would earn your support in favor of this project and um that's all I have thank you thank you Stephen our next speaker is Paul Bernal followed by Melody Dottie Munoz good evening mayor City Council my name is Paul Bernal the Chief Operating Officer of the American GI Forum National veterans outreach program I come with my doctor uh come with a doctorate degree in organization leadership from the University of the Incarnate Word I come to you with some facts and some data coming to you with information that's happening already just in 2022 we had 74 veterans in Tarrant County in Fort Worth was put into permanent housing 478 of those were put into the ssvf program and Rapid rehousing the ssvf has support services for veterans and their family it's happening now so as we talk about facts and data this is what's happening now if you've seen other individuals talk about how the increase of individuals coming here to Fort Worth that's 552 veterans and their families being supported you'll hear from our CEO what we do it's important to say why are we here you'll hear from the community later tonight saying that would not communicate with them that we didn't go to the oh we didn't have an open house which we did and we had literature in English and Spanish we were not allowed to speak just like the city of Fort Worth employees weren't allowed to speak at one of the meetings because their fear of their propaganda whether or not they understood Spanish I speak four languages have no problem communicating with anyone I could speak Spanish my last name is Bernal um you have certain individuals here that during these election process use that opportunity for these meetings for City officials vote for me and using fear to certain individuals I spoke to some members of the community and they Point Blank I said that's not what they told me that's not what that's not what you're doing I said no that's not that's that's not what we're doing we're here to help veterans and apparently they still have the mentality of the Vietnam and apparently there's a Vietnam veteran here also where if you recall when Vietnam veterans were coming back when the nvop was created they were called baby killers rapists and it's just unacceptable so we have certain individuals in the community using this for their own personal gain I highly suggest that they look at the bylaws and some of this stuff when you have to see meetings you'll see that they they try to vote out the president that aren't even members of the committee thank you for your time thank you Paul our next speaker is Melody followed by Fernando Peralta I hope it's okay I brought a plus one um I want to share with the council that I'm for this proposal but I'm exclusively for veterans we say we support our troops and while we Revere them in words how what do we do to match their commitment with our actions this project is a responsive approach to our veterans our Texans our Fort Worth neighbors who need access to immediate support no longer as a community can we rely on the VA alone to serve this community as the wife of a marine veteran and the relative to many others I've had a glimpse of the challenges that our veterans face Community for my husband has existed in VA waiting rooms and on Reddit boards complaining about the denials for disability lag and certification for education and a society that relax that lacks any resemblance of a unified and uniform structure my grandmother provided Supportive Housing to Veterans out of her home and did so till the day she passed away it was a really beautiful thing I won't pretend to know all of the details or intricacies that go into a zoning project and communities like this but I implore you to consider when a group who wants to lean into our veteran population and answer the call to serve shouldn't we respond with partnership strategic Solutions and Pathways to success I can only imagine what a facility like this would have been and done for my husband and countless others this will allow our veterans to live within our our city within our community and not sequestered away to institutions while having all the access to the services they need this is an opportunity for our city our Fort Worth to say and More Than Just Words how we support our brave and our bold thank you I yield my time our next speaker is Fernando Peralta followed by James Peterson good evening Council mayor obviously Fernando Peralta here I come before you right just you know against my wife's Wills why because last Thursday community members from the South Side uh showed up to our neighbor association meeting and decided to take over forcefully take over our meeting that I was leading as the neighborhood association president in my time working since 2019 with our neighborhood I have fought to not care so much about how tall my neighbor's grass was but how the information is getting to them in English and in Spanish we fought to get 3.1 million dollars a name for improvement money on the east side of Rosemont we worked with our councilwoman at the time to get free Wi-Fi for our neighborhood what we do in our neighborhood association is bring information what this group has done and the individuals that are directly related to the previous neighborhood association president who made it a thing to take money from developers our community and also bring neighbors here unknowing to support us before so law enforcement could ask what the immigration status is and our neighbors didn't even know what they were doing the same thing is happening now the relatives of that past neighborhood association and members of a group that has no business spreading misinformation and lies is doing this to create chaos and confusion and fear and this is what's going on right now this program is a responsible approach to supporting men and women from my unit that that had a send-off here at Dickies Arena this is what we do we're here to support veterans we're here to educate our community not create confusion and fear that's what we're not about that's what fourth is not about so I implore you to please please approve the zoning support our veterans support our communities support our neighborhoods because this is not okay forceful takeovers of a neighborhood is not okay and this uniform has taught me that I will never back down and I will keep fighting for Rosemont and our neighborhoods on the south side and that's all I got our next speaker is James Peterson [Applause] good evening mayor council don't know how I'm going to follow that up but uh I'm the site selection broker for this non-profit project but more than that I am a disabled combat vet serve my country in the Marine Corps multiple tours and I'm also the president of cats on Warriors we are a local Fort worth-based non-profit every single penny we raise go sell veterans the biggest challenge we have is sourcing help for homeless veterans because a lot of these people don't have the correct documentation a lot of people need guidance on the resources that they need to access an approach um in 2013 I found myself a homeless vet struggling with PTSD public programs along with non-profits similar to the National veterans outreach program were able to help me they forced me to get my undergrad from University of North Texas and as a result I got my life together gained great employment got my MBA from TCU and now I'm in a position to contribute back to this great City that I love so much I'll just point out that I live less than four minutes away from the site I drive by there several times a week and I'm proud to be a member of that community so to speak and I would say that if those organizations that helped me would have been handicapped in the not in my backyard uh rhetoric that we've been seeing in this uh this whole situation or the stigma that has been repeatedly thrown out about the people that have served our nation who knows where I would be and that's all thank you thank you James our next speaker is Tara Maldonado Wilson by phone Miss Wilson yes I'm here can you hear me yes go ahead please okay yes hi my name is Sarah Maldonado Wilson I am calling in tonight to offer my support for this project um when I first heard about it I was so excited my background in working in the ER in acute crisis management um and immediately made my ears perk up because um from my from my perspective on this side of medical we know how hard it is for veterans to access care through the VA system other bureaucracy all the red tape all the long waiting for simple simple services such as medications uh ongoing maintenance care and then even even further than that any type of surgical or even unfortunate Behavioral Health uh benefits is hard for them to get to so when I when I spoke with Mr Gonzalez about this project I was in full support you know we have uh you know we do not have many veteran programs in Fort Worth and I think that supporting this um is a no-brainer the fact that they also uh you know Target and and seek out Hispanic veterans um who you know have also other special circumstances that would that could create barriers for them I think makes this project amazing um we have to we have to create opportunities and programs that are going to catch individuals that are in our neighborhoods and in our city and in this County before they go down the path that is really hard to navigate when they're transitioning out of service Um this can be a very critical juncture in their life and this is a very a very delicate point to where they can convert off course and really go down the road where um you know they may you know end up uh on the street or without support and that's something that I think all of us are tired of seeing if any opportunity we have to get to to reach out and catch uh individuals is one that we should be readily openly and willing to seek and create to give them unfortunately there are people that use this project to advance their own negative agendas I mean it really created a lot of disjointment blatantly false claims and divisiveness of south side so I hope that um councilwoman back that you please say yes to this project tonight and really give us an opportunity to create a program in Fort Worth that I've seen two years will be very proud of thank you our next speaker is Calvin weza good evening my name is Calvin Wessel and I am the newly elected president of Allah Rosemont neighborhood association I'm here today to represent Las familias the Rosemont Association here are a few concerns brought to me by the members of our community lack of communication for not an American gr form have not been communicating with the people of Los familias Fernando called a meeting on April 27 2023 at the hempo corridor which is not a neighborhood meeting and notice when out the day before the meeting to a select few people at 11 11 pm that did not give us enough time to notify the community at the same time a presentation was given by the city of Fort Worth at Alex Contreras Elementary in regards to the homeless housing homework cart this split the community into at the hippo Corridor the American gr Forum announced that they will be holding an open house following the following day at 4 pm one day notice and at a time that everyone will be at work the meeting exploded with outrage and a few members there forced the open house to be pushed back a week I received the flyer and notice of the open house on April 30th and we did our best to get the word out four days before the open house on May 3rd American GI Forum and the had an open house in which they conducted as an open house with no presentation on May 4th La Familia Rosemont held a meeting in which they wanted to split the meeting again and the presentation sorry on May 4th La Familia Rosemont held a meeting in which they wanted to split the meeting again and have the presentation the presentation present presenters present at the same time on two ends of the Pavilion at the meeting we requested that the president postponed the American GI presentation and send a letter of non-support with with the overwhelming signatures against the American GI Forum we felt that we had enough support to make that motion lack of transparency since the start looking into the American gr Forum we have not been able to do much research because their website is down when Mr uh with Mr Bernard addresses his zoning commission commissioner Willie Rankin asked I believe some of your marketing for your organization has stated a prerequisite for homeless veterans I don't blame the neighborhood for assuming that this facility will be used for veteran homeless housing I don't know anything about this program and how they are going to help veterans on behalf of Las Vegas and I the president requests you deny the zoning case zc23-041 our next speaker is Loretta juezo followed by Ricardo Avidia Loretta I believe you have a group of speakers is that correct okay if you're here as part of the group representative representation can you just stand for a minute thank you one two three four that's plenty thank you very much Adele good evening Madam mayor and council members and fellow Fort Worth citizens thank you for the opportunity to speak in front of you regarding zc 23041 my name is Loretta snoke Wessel and I live at 3821 willing Avenue today I'm representing myself my family and almost 550 neighbors who signed this petition in opposition of the zoning request change the zoning request sign in front of the building was first noticed on the evening April 6. neighbors sent concerns questions clarification requests and asking the neighborhood association stance via email and social media messages to Las familiasa Rosemont and former president Fernando Peralta none were ever responded to Friday April 7th defend Hemphill was asked for their help to publish information regarding the zoning change and requests for last time Rosemont and Fernando Peralta to respond to concerned neighbors that same weekend a petition began circulating with only the information we had which was from the group notice explaining the zoning change was to high density which would allow 60 plus units and that it was for veteran housing no informational meeting by the veterans group or the neighborhood association was held prior to the zoning commission hearing on April 12th Fernando Peralta stated in the Star-Telegram article published yesterday that he notified the Executive Board of La Familia Rosemont and active members one week prior to the zoning request hearing the only two positions filled on the executive board at the time was the president and the treasurer so if a discussion was had it was only between those two it's false that he notified active members a week before the zoning commission meeting because several of us active members did not receive any zoning commission meeting information any type of communication or notification from Fernando or Las Vegas Rosemont in regards to the zoning case on April 12 during the zoning hearing the developer stated that they met with the city leadership in Fernando several times and offered to do an open house or to present at a neighborhood meeting but we're told nope we got it the developers told us to our face that they met with Fernando at least twice with one of their board members saying he was being in constant text communication with Fernando in regards to the zoning case Fernando told me to my face that the developers only met him once as you can see these types of contradictions began to breed mistrust in both Fernando and the Developers zoning commissioner Kimberly Miller voiced concerns over opening the door for whatever would come as a transitional project after the veterans group is done she also stated this site location is not connected to commercial opportunities the site seems to be problematic with the surrounding area and surrounding services that the developers picked the site that is in the middle of a neighborhood but it is it is a difficult site for what they are trying to do the zoning commission voted to recommend denial of the zoning change on April 27th the Hemphill quarter to collaborative called a meeting with the GI Forum presenting this project and this notice was only sent out to a handful of people the night before at 11 11 pm no one in the last familias the Rosemont boundaries was informed about this meeting active or not no one received any type of community communication from the former president or Las Vegas Rosemont the developers then held an informal open house at the site on May 3rd with only 30 minutes notice sent out from the neighborhood association via reminder their turnout was underwhelming with only about six community members and all were opposed on May 4th the former president of Las Vegas attempted to control a regular meeting by stating that the GI Forum and the McCart homeless housing would be presenting and we were not allowed to ask questions openly in front of anyone else and it had to wait until after the adjournment of the meeting at this point it was motion seconded and voted on to postpone indefinitely the GI forms presentation based on the 300 plus signatures obtained at the time in opposition I hope this sheds some light on the frustration the community has felt by being stonewalled and kept in the dark by the former president of our neighborhood association and by the complacency of the developers we have done more Outreach countless hours of walking and door knocking to notify the neighborhood of the zoning request change more so than the veterans group and we only had two bits of information high density Zoning for 60 plus units and for veteran housing nowhere prior to May 4th does the association of the GI form disclose that they are requesting the zoning change this proposed development is unattainable for all Rosemont residents with zero benefit or services to the community surrounding it any veteran specifically transitioning back to Rosemont is coming to this community to be with family I would like to say as a veteran spouse and Veteran daughter I know firsthand the delicate inaccessible care that our veterans need this development needs to be much closer to the VA hospitals than Medical District and on a main street with direct access to public transportation this developers Clause is noble and a worthy cause that we can support but not in our neighborhood and not to the detriment of our working class community if the developer's true intention is to help veterans then they will choose a more suitable site with suitable resources where they are welcomed by the community at this time I would like to ask everyone in opposition of the zoning request change to please stand the consensus of the neighborhood is this we do not want any multi-family zoning in our neighborhood not low medium or high density regardless of the program that is behind it adding and Zoning density can lead to a neighborhood being torn down one house at a time encourages investors and speculators and absentee owners that can increase crime and congestion density zoning in a single-family residential neighborhood decreases personal interaction and neighborhood involvement allowing zoning density to enter our neighborhood regardless of the program however Noble it may be will be the end of our beloved Rosemont charity starts at home and our community cannot pour from an empty cup once our neighborhood is thriving into the middle class and Beyond then the only then can we possibly entertain the idea and bring in an outside group of individuals to help we implore you today to deny the zoning request change thank you Loretta our next speaker is very much our next speaker is Ricardo Avidia [Applause] our next speaker is Ricardo ovidia followed by Stephen choco good afternoon everybody my name is Ricardo DaVita and I'm a lifelong member of jmso neighborhood I'd like to state that the wear of uniform the wear of military uniforms including physical fitness and JROTC uniforms when off U.S or host nation installations is prohibited forcefully is a word that was used under the dictionary it says here using considerable physical strength or violence this was not used at the meeting that Mr Paratha was speaking about here we go again this case has nothing to do with the organization and everything with zoning type as our local legislators you are responsible for and responsive to the citizens who elected you it is your responsibility to find out what our needs are and bring us development which fulfills our needs our needs we need Capital Improvement projects so that hempill doesn't flood when it rains we need a capital Implement projects to install sidewalks and wheelchair ramps so that our elders can enjoy a better quality life we need long-term growth and renewal planning where the whole Community is involved why because development is about blending with the existing however this project will not blend with our community primarily because the current zoning now already fulfills the current and future land use maps for one two the zoning commission has also recommended denial of this project and it has and was called problematic quote unquote three the urban planning case studies theorized that rapid growth leads to uncontrolled urbanization which then leads to overcrowding distribution crime and political turmoil four traffic patterns and congestion Hemphill Street is not set up for higher density but here it comes with departments and Townhomes at oov and our current transportation system is also not set up to or is now also not up to par to sustain the current and future influx in population we need to confront our realities and acknowledge we and acknowledge there will also be a spillover from this project property values will be affected there will be an increase in noise traffic and pedestrian congestion this diet needs to understand the three p's of development in 21st century America involves public Pub excuse me people public and private Partnerships however as it relates to zc23041 people were left out and this is the reason why we stand here today in solidarity with one and another to challenge and oppose this zoning request change I encourage and challenge you to do the right by our community and vote no to this zoning request change and put people before profits as it is meant to be please recall as Property Owners we have property rights and we will defend ours to the fullest extent of the law thank you all for your time and attention thank you our next speaker is Stephen choco followed by Christina snoke thank you city council first I want to say wow what an amazing amazing uh room full of citizens of their Community concerned about a project I am I'm impressed I love this I love that the community comes out in the support of standing together with their community that is an amazing accomplishment in Fort Worth and I think that you've had a lot of speakers come here say all these negative things about Fort Worth this is a beautiful thing I think there's a lot of positivity here to see this is not about veterans it's nothing to do about veterans right now I can prove I have Scottish Inn across from the VA Clinic I have them on a wholesale I can give you the the plan so we can buy that property and go three times or four times in many veterans across from the VA clinic in Fort Worth we can put it in there it's that's that could be done tomorrow it's not about that it's about what it is about is the zoning around this property and I wanted to look at your zoning each of you received the zoning pamphlet The PDF North A5 one family residential single family East A5 one family residential single family South A5 one family residential Rosemont Park West A51 family residential single family thank you thank do we really did they really want a multi-family family we're proud of a community that comes together that knows about what the issues are they're standing together to make sure their Community is it's given as a generational wealth especially for minorities their homes are the only generational wealth to pass on this is an amazing group coming together with families kids signs and I think it's a beautiful thing to see the biggest distrust in this room was a former president that is what's going on this is about the neighborhood community neighborhood associations being mismanaged and not accountable when back Elizabeth back in Fernando meet with their staff underground without transparency there's a lot of things there we can talk about but I think what you see there about that negative you should see out here is a beautiful thing about La Familia Rosemont Community coming together I'm very proud of our community I'm proud of Fort Worth and I'm proud of you as staff thank you so much [Applause] our next speaker is Christina snope followed by Scott Smith hello my name is Christina Placencia snoke and I'm a resident of the Rosemont Community I stand before you today to pose this result oppose this rezoning and give you a little bit of history of the proposed property in question I was a member of the original Church of Christ which existed as a church for more than 50 years as a Living member of this church I would like to speak for all of my elderly congregation that is no longer here to speak for themselves as a little girl Mr and Mrs McCauley the elderly couple in Rosemont and my neighbors took the time every Sunday to pick up me and my sister and take us to church at the church of Christ it was here that we partook in the very large youth group that existed there we had many friends and enjoyed Sunday school overnight lock-ins and youth retreats the elderly congregation cared very much for their youth and they taught me what community was I spent time in these people's homes and out in the community as a child as many of them were also very active in the neighborhood association the elderly congregation looked to the youth as the future of their community and I stand here today as the future they envisioned for their community as the years went on they struggled to find a youth pastor for the increasingly Spanish-speaking Community their congregation dwindled to just a few elderly members they knew that their church as it was would not continue but they wanted the legacy of their Church to continue so they gave their Church in good faith to a non-profit that would go on to support a Spanish-speaking Church of Christ up until now this church was in the hands of this Spanish-speaking Church of Christ I can say in complete confidence that when the original Church of Christ envisioned the legacy of their church it was not high density housing they envisioned something that would contribute to the existing community and the youth that they had worked so hard to instill their values in so now standing here today just as they looked at me and the rest of their youth as the future I'm looking to the Youth of my community as the future I would like to continue in the legacy of my church and put in establishment in this place that will enrich the Youth of our community we believe that should this zoning not pass we can find the right organization to take the place of this church whether it be another church Community Arts and Cultural Center or some other type of resource to our existing community I would also like to say that the veterans organization applying for this rezoning has completely lost the faith and trust of the community there was no attempt to offer an informational presentation until after they lost the zoning at the zoning commission they went forward with the approval of potentially only two familias the Rosemont executive board members after they lost at rezoning they offered an informational meaning to the Hemphill Corridor with no invite or mention to the Rosemont community and the people that would most be affected by this they then had an open house that invites were only sent out to the community 30 minutes prior resulting in a low turnout of five to six people of the immediate community it was we the community that spoke to over 500 people who all opposed the zoning case I find this lack of transparency to being overall sorry to cut you off thank you Christina our next speaker is Scott Smith [Applause] our next speaker is Scott Smith followed by David Martinez hi I'm Scott Smith I'm a 32-year resident of the Rosemont community and I want to take a different spin on this and introduce you to our neighborhood first so you can understand where we live and then some of the fears that our residents have which is why we're all here today we endure unlicensed and uninsured ATVs without off-road permits racing through our neighborhood streets and city park that pose a danger to traffic pedestrians and residents even though it's reported the police don't respond we endure the never-ending sound of boomboxes that violate Fort Worth noise ordinance 23-8 though reported the police don't respond we endure street racing that poses a danger to the residents and their children who simply want to enjoy the park though reported the police don't respond we endure the homeless camping in the alleys behind our houses littering the park leaving shopping carts in our streets and driveways and depositing piles of trash outside our homes when Code Compliance makes their rounds we the residents are cited for the piles of trash the homeless create though reported the police don't respond we endure drug users and pushers who who Park in the dark areas of our streets at nights I personally had a confrontation with one outside my house called 9-1-1 reported a vehicle make model license and yet they still park in the same spot and use drugs though reported that police don't respond my wife was nearly a victim of fugitive at large who rushed into our garage as she opened the door to leave fortunately the police were looking for him and just happened to drive by as my wife held him at gunpoint in the street my wife did the police's job for them we have 38 registered sex offenders within mile Rosemont Park Rosemont has been Mis represented until last week by the recent recent ousting the president of the Rosemont neighborhood association who has not who is not even a resident of the neighborhood he was using the association for his own political agenda not for the benefit of the res of the residence of the Rosemont Community now a developer wants to plan a halfway house for veterans next to an elementary school middle school and public park where our families and children play and introduce even more potential problems to our neighborhood these are not the best of our veterans these are veterans who may be mentally unstable and may suffer with PTSD who may not have jobs in our struggling with life the closest veteran service is five miles away which is hardly convenient if the goal is to put them close to the care they need if improving the lives of in an environment of positive reinforcement is the vision house them in Ridge the country club or Mira Vista or Monarch Hills or Tango wood it's a logical conclusion that those upstanding communities are in a better position to provide them with a supportive and positive Community Network far more than Rosemont is able to when more issues arise from the injection of Veteran halfway house residents the administrators who thrust this unrequested and unwanted situation upon us will be living in their comfortable safe home far away from our neighborhood our neighborhood needs time to work through the current locations our next speaker is vlado [Applause] our next speaker is David Martinez followed by Gladys guervera sorry I got out of order Gladys you're up I apologize then Joseph Manning is next all right well please please my first time speaking in front of the council so fine and um my name is Gladys Guevara and I grew up in Rosemont and a lot of my family and friends are still in the community I understand change is bound to happen but I believe the community has a voice to affect those changes how it affects their changes their their lives every day I believe that we have the ability to positively in fact impact such changes I'm concerned for the proposed development for numerous reasons listed by the other opposing speakers the lack of communication from the project is beyond belief I am speaking on behalf of numerous numerous community members especially the 4 000 Block of 8th Avenue my family and friends are at a disadvantage due to their language and socioeconomic barriers and now developers are coming into our neighborhood who have shown zero Community interest and involvement and I am clear I'm I am in clear opposition to this zoning change the developers do not care for our well-being in the community and one last thing muchas gracias located [Applause] our next speaker is David Martinez followed by Joseph Manning I had a speech prepared uh give me a second um okay um something was brought up about misinformation being given out to the public also something else was brought up about that we were misleading people things like that well one of the things we had a problem is that I started hearing the same rhetoric from city council big and uh Peralta being said and I was like well maybe they talk to each other I don't know because we don't get that information but Beck and I had a conversation if she wants to give up that information that we had uh under the Freedom of Information Act I welcome that okay now let me start what I was going to say okay this morning I drove around uh the south side and observed the uh business and their customers and I drove around East on Seminary to Mansfield Highway in the flea market and saw hundreds if not thousands of Hispanic Native American business owners and customers they pay taxes La Grande Plaza had a Park parking lot filled with business owners customers and taxpayers do you remember when MLK Jr and Malcolm X said they talked about black people opening their own businesses hiring their own people buying from each other keeping the dollars in the community opening up schools to teach their children their Heritage well I'm here to tell you that the Hispanic Native American Community has done just that and Elizabeth Beck seems to destroy that now I asked y'all oh nobody here nobody here that's with us is against veterans our families are the ones the Hispanic people in Vietnam and every war and Native Americans have gone and fought for this country so none of us are against them okay so that's not the issue the issue is that there's development being made and it's derogatory to the people that live here and that's what we're trying to get across everybody this is not we don't hate veterans we got my whole family Marines five generations so that of listen if you want to go the emotional side then you want that we have plenty of emotions too so but like we have numbers also that back it up we've already had the zoning commission already say no uh we've been misled you've heard all the people come here say the same thing we're not Liars we're just good people that work hard and we want what y'all want what y'all have in west side vote thank you God bless you speaker is Joseph Manning howdy I've also never done this before so forgive me welcome um I I just wanted to paint a picture maybe to help you guys understand what it's like what's being placed is it right here where the park where we play soccer that I've gone to every day since I was 14 um where the mayor is is where the uh veteran housing would be um and so it would be that far away and so I went to the their website um just because I was a little curious as to what was being offered and who would actually be living there was it just veterans right after they came back from war who were doing really great um and one of the things I saw on the website was that they'd be they'd be offering for veterans who have chemical dependencies and uh as a new father that's something I don't really want right across from the park where I grew up every day it's not something I want where our kids walk home from because if right there where the mayor is where the housing is right here's the part right at that wall is where our Middle School is where kids walk home to every single day and uh so something I brought um so forgive me I'm I uh I put provide some sources in some websites um one of the things I noted was that um that address right there as I looked up is where the other address that they have one in San Antonio one of the same housing places in San Antonio uh yeah the 519 North Medina Street and I looked up you know what's the crime rate there um and I did this on being a I have sources provide at the bottom of the page and it says you will be likely to one in 20 people are a victim to a crime in that neighborhood oh well that pretty high you know and so I continued to look and I said well what's that compared to the rest of San Antonio well Russ and San Antonio is one in 140. and again those sources are provided there I looked this up on on being this afternoon and then on the next page I looked up what's crime rate in our neighborhood like and uh and so according to best places the crime rate and I also have the sources there um the crime rate near the address where it's being proposed and it says there's a 60.1 property for Crime these are based on a scale 1 to 100 crime and uh the crime rate in Fort Worth is 32 per 1000 residents and so that means chance of becoming a victim of either a violent property crime here is one in 31 and the crime rate in Fort Worth is lower than the national average which is 1 in 37. well on the last page you'll see that currently in our neighborhood um at the very bottom of the page it says likelihood to be victim of a crime one in 3571. and uh if the neighborhood that they're proposing to bring and install in our neighborhood is going to be anything like what the other property they have I don't think we really want it thank you [Applause] councilor Beck that's the last of our speakers this evening I think it's really important that we learn a little bit about the organization that is applying for this zoning change the American GI Forum is the largest Hispanic veterans organization in the nation and operating in 40 different states it's also the oldest it's also chartered by the United States Congress for the work that they do I want to read to you their history from their website that I'm reading off right now today in this chamber and it's a g i f t x dot com if anyone's interested um what is particularly informative in this particular history is that it was established by a World War II veteran who came home from war and experienced discrimination because of his ethnicity and so in response to that he founded the American GI Forum and since their time they have done more than just operate to help veterans but they have sought to eliminate the Discrimination that Hispanic veterans often receive either in-service or when they come home so this isn't just any veterans organization this is a veterans organization that is that is focused on helping the Hispanic Community one of their Partnerships is with lulac and what is particularly interesting and I learned when I was um I'm known about the GI Forum for a while but in preparation for this case I did a little more digging and it's a specific interest to those here in Texas because the GI Forum along with lulac were the plaintiffs of the Hernandez V Texas case in 1954 which was a landmark civil rights case here um in Texas that eventually went up to the Supreme Court this is the type of work that the American GI Forum does they don't just help veterans they help their Community um specifically the Hispanic Community around them um I think that being placed in a Hispanic Community is um is particularly meaningful for this project because it's not just about the veterans but it's about lifting up the community around it I do I would like to ask one of the representatives from the GI Forum to come up because I have a couple questions that I'd like to to get on the record from y'all a point of order well it's Mr Mr Media just thank you very much appreciate you go ahead thank you so much um for joining us today can you tell me how many of these um particular types of facilities the GI Forum operates today we have several um we have in every major city in Texas we are not outside of Texas yet our parent company is the American GI Forum they created us they were 1946 uh World War II we came afterwards in 1972 but we carry on many of their same uh Mission sets that's why we picked this particular Community because we are Hispanics born and raised in Panama in a town smaller than that community that they're in uh Paul Bernal you know born in in San Antonio uh father came directly from Mexico so we are all a family of Hispanics and minorities if you look at my group back here it's a collective an Eclectic mix of minority police minority leaders minority community members that live here in Fort Worth we are not big developers we're not here to make money in fact we are non-profit organization all the money that we create goes right back into the community goes back into the programs it's for veterans we are here just for the interest of serving veterans and so can you expand a little on um on how this housing operates and and who will live there the the different segments of veterans that um have the availability to utilize those services so there was something that was brought up about the community that we have in San Antonio we do have a a homeless facility there in San Antonio we do to provide housing for veterans that are homeless we do have a mental health facilities there that's not what we're doing here what we're doing here is a transitional housing for veterans that are transitioning from the service and I had a presentation here to talk about but I'll just tell you that you know actually I don't mind it going through the presentation that would be very helpful to me can I do that let me start uh first of all thank you very much for having me here I'm the CEO of the American GI Forum I'm Serge Dickerson um I am a veteran I spent the better part of 30 years in the Army multiple combat tours I am I do have PTSD I am 100 disabled and again I I commensurate with with this community because I come from a community like this our purpose um for the church location is to establish a transitioning housing for veterans that are transitioning why is that important to all of you well it's because a second Adrian do you have something to say otherwise you can leave the chamber or you can sit down and give him the respect that we give you every single Tuesday no you may sit just don't intimidate a speaker thank you you can sit or you can leave excuse us sorry no problem uh as you may know fort Fort Worth lies in a Crossroads of several large military installations uh last year 17 of those that transition out of the military transition to Texas that's 10 400 veterans Fort Worth less than 150 miles from here is the largest military installation in the world and it transitions more veterans than all the other installations put together so they're coming to Fort Worth that's why for the first time Fort Worth has the distinction of having more veterans than Dallas they're coming here one way or the other the question here is how are they coming here are they coming here with their you know their benefits are they coming here with the medical they need the housing that they need the employment opportunities that they need because when they leave the service they are literally homeless they have no place to live they have no job and they come to your communities looking for that and they're ill prepared for that in many cases okay there's a real opportunity here for us to set the conditions for success to get them employment get them housed for a brief period of time that housing May last you know six to a year six months to a year and then we move them to permanent housing we have a similar facility in San Antonio okay it does more than what we're going to planning to do here but it's been visited by President Obama the HUD secretary Ben Carson's been down there and just recently we had secretary Walsh at our facility and has stated that our facility is a national standard for the United States for veteran treatment I like to emphasize that we are not opening a shelter I've heard that several times that's incorrect okay what we're opening here is a transition Center for veterans a place where they can be so when they come into Fort Worth they come in the right way with their medical with a place to live and with the job so that they can be providers to their families and so they could be responsible members of the community not be on the unemployment line not be in shelters not be a burden of the community but to be a positive influence and you've seen many of the veterans here that have become positive influences because they've been helped they've received that help so I ask that you support our effort again we're not here for the money I retired from the Army many years ago I'm here to help veterans they're here to help veterans and I think the community's here to help veterans I think everybody said that so let's help them you know what we're hearing all the time is not in my backyard yeah well maybe they need to live in the near the VA Hospital how many 24 year olds do you know that want to live next to the VA hospital I don't and I'm almost 60. okay they want to live normal lives in normal communities they don't want to live next to a hospital they're not all sick they're not all on drugs they don't all have PTSD and they're not all dangerous and I can tell you that in our facility in San Antonio where we do have homeless veterans there's never been an incident I'm going to knock on wood okay so that crime rate you're talking about it's not with our facility okay and you can research that you can call the uh the police department down there and you can ask them thank you Elizabeth go ahead please thank you thank you everybody asked the question I'm the chair of the meeting thank you very much Mr snow go ahead Elizabeth Please Mr snoke no I'm no one can speak for the audience no one can speak from the audience I will shut the meeting down no one may speak from the audience Elizabeth Beck you're on the floor thank you thank you thank you for your time and thank you is that what you really want I want Ricardo out he's out Elizabeth Beck you have the floor thank you out manual you're out too I can't conduct a meeting like this I am your mayor I am chairing a meeting I want you to leave the chamber you need to leave the chamber leave the chamber Unity spoke manual please leave thank you for leaving Elizabeth you have the floor thank you mayor I appreciate that um I also want to speak to thank you for giving us a little more context on how the um the housing will operate and I apologize for the disruption in the chamber Fort Worth is home to some 42 000 veterans I happen to be one of those I happen to be one of those that transitioned off of out of serve out of the service and looked for a place Sir Mr snow goodbye um let me just say this for just a second because there are children in the audience that I'm so proud of for being here tonight I see a beautiful young woman on the front row I am trying to listen to a case I don't know much about and so the residents that are here I can hear your frustration and your voices and I'm trying to learn as your mayor that is my job so when I chair a meeting and I ask a gentleman who knows the most about this project to speak for more than three minutes as your mayor that is my prerogative we cannot conduct City Council meetings when they get out of hand I apologize when I have to raise my voice but that is my job in this chamber there are so many of you sitting here today I've never had the pleasure of listening to and meeting I am trying to listen through this meeting so if you can just offer me a certain level of patience as councilman rebecc navigates this situation I will have additional questions this case has not been voted yet I'm very sorry that Mr Avidia had to leave but candidly his Outburst is not helping the situation at all so I'm going to leave it there and turn it back to council member Beck this is how we have to conduct the work of city hall tonight we're going to be here till probably 11 or midnight at this point with these other zoning cases okay so thank you for your patience now I'm going to turn back to councilman we're back and we're going to continue to deliberate on this meeting please shut that door he can leave he's not helping councilmember back thank you so as I was saying Fort Worth is home to about 42 000 veterans and we learned um this evening about those transitioning off of military service transitioning out of military service doesn't mean that you did something wrong or that there's something wrong with you and let me be very clear to all the veterans in this room tonight to those that will listen to this recording at some later date there is nothing wrong with you if you suffer from PTSD and so you have heard that rhetoric here in this chamber tonight and I want you to know that um because you struggle does not make you wrong it makes you proud and strong to be in this community thank you appreciate you it's rare that I don't know where to begin on something and I I don't know where to begin on this particular situation because what you saw in this chamber tonight the outbursts by Mr Avidia are indicative of the way that him and his group operate within the community I have personally experienced it Fernando Peralta has personally experienced it and just to be clear my office is on the third floor and I have never met anyone underground we have watched I have watched I have personally tried to be the conduit for information on zoning changes in and around the Hemphill Corridor and typically when a situation like this arises I would continue the case and I would say let's give the opportunity to have a little more dialogue about this particular project I don't think that that will be particularly helpful here because what I heard tonight was that 300 signatures were signed before you even heard a presentation and so how can you have an informed decision about a project if you haven't had the opportunity to learn about that particular project now as to notice and who was told when and what I can tell you that I met with members of the GI Forum very early on they engaged with the neighborhood I I was made aware of the um the open house last Friday I don't remember how far in advance but it was not a day or two it was known it is the tactic of the former Rosemont neighborhood president who was escorted out of this meeting tonight and it is a continued tactic that we have seen by Mr Avidia and his group of supporters to come to meetings to shout over the presenters to disrupt to dismay and to provide disinformation to the community and so what I would say to the members here tonight that are concerned about this project I think we all hear you on this dice I can tell you as one of those veterans that came that came out of the service and and needed some place to stay I was fortunate that I had a family support system that could provide that for me but not everybody is so fortunate and I will tell you today if I were to transition out of the service both of my parents are gone I would probably need some sort of assistance and so we want to make sure that we are being a compassionate and caring Community I don't think that postponing this particular case will be fruitful I think we will see more of what we saw this evening I think that the community will be disrupted and that information required information will not be disseminated in a way that is productive and so with that I move to approve enthusiastically this particular project and thank you for bringing it to Fort Worth thank you for being thoughtful about the community around it and where it would be best suited and I can I look forward to working with you as you build this we are a military Community here in Fort Worth and we do strive to put our money where our mouth is and walk that walk and so you have my commitment to walk that walk with you thank you got a motion and a second um before we vote I just want to say this there was a lot of very clear concern from our neighbors in Rosemont about particular crime code violations a lack of response from the city engagement transparency and that to me is outside of the consideration of this project and your city needs to be better and I I promise you I'm gonna dig in to understand how I can both assist Council rebecc and whoever is the future council member for District 11 immediately because you have a beautiful neighborhood full of amazing families that deserves our attention it's the reason why the neighborhood Improvement initiative mattered for Rosemont but our work is absolutely not done yet and I'll put myself in your shoes I've lived just like that before and it's not acceptable the city of Fort Worth hasn't done our part and you have my promise as your mayor we will be better moving forward and all you have is my words right now and next will just have to be action you'll have to be patient with us as we transition and these council member districts but I know there's immense interest both on behalf of councilman rebeck in the future council member for district 11. thank you so much for coming this evening and expressing your concerns about this case I unfortunately think there has been so much misinformation that is incorrect about what we're going to achieve with veteran housing in the city of Fort Worth and I can just go on the record I live in Ridgely North and I would welcome you to come to Ridgely North into my neighborhood and live near my family because when I look at this petition and I see words like not safe for kids those are not the veterans that I know in this community and with that please vote Council I know that the vote is taken but I just and I should have said this when I spoke and I want to make sure that we put that on the record what you saw tonight was democracy in action those of you that have your signs that you have made that you have come down to petition on behalf of your neighborhood either for or against this project was democracy in action you would not be afforded that ability but for those veterans that will live in that particular facility and so while it might be painful for you today know that the folks that are going to live there are the people who fought and put their lives on the line so that you could come into this chamber today and be part of this government motion carries next item is zc-23-043 we have one speaker on this item Chris and it's Amanda Schult Schulte I apologize Amanda if I've butchered your last name hi good evening I'm Amanda Schulte I'm with Bennett Bennett Partners um we're the architect for this project for Center for transforming lives um I don't really have a lot to say just wanted to be here if you have any questions but I wanted to say that we are really excited about this project and really excited about the transformation of the existing building it's a really cool old building and the transforming of the transformation that we know will happen with all the participants in the center for transforming lives programs so any questions councilmember Nettles no I don't have any questions thank you for being here and staying throughout the night for this and I'm not going to speak alone I just like to say when I first got elected this was one of the first votes that I take took for this problem this uh property uh it was going to be a storage a used storage and we voted no to deny and I'm grateful that we did because Transformer lives have bought it and gone to transform that whole quarter so I'm so grateful so motion to approve thank you so much yes second we got a motion in a second Council Amanda thank you for being here this evening it's been fun to watch this project come to fruition decided to vote on it this evening please vote Council motion carries thanks for saving Carol next item is zc-23-045 councilmember Bivins we have a few speakers on this item our first speaker is Barry Hudson I have a presentation uh for the record uh mayor and members as a council I'm Barry Hudson senior player with Dunaway Associates here representing the applicant uh just to acknowledge we have several speakers that are in opposition but I'm the only speaker in favor of this project because basically we're presenting the planning and economic development reasons for this project and some of the misinformation that has gone out partially similar to the previous case Sun Valley Industrial District is almost fully built out but there are a few infill lights left actually just 10 vacant Lots the the lots that we're rezoning tonight are requesting resulting are be residential and they are entered to the to the overall development the outlined area is the Sun Valley Industrial District which is also known as public improvement district 15 PID 15 and the echo Heights neighborhood association is Erie and blue that is shown you can see by the stars on the map where the infill lots are and the closest residential homes in Echo in Echo Hills is over three quarters of a mile away uh this is part of the here are the lots that are currently asking to be rezoned they are vacant Lots they're still Zone B residential but they're entered to the overall industrial district so they're nice and clean there's not the appropriate place for residential the city staff agreed with it you know this land use is compatible it's consistent with land use plan staff recommended approval the zoning commission recommended approval as well overwhelmingly I want to point out that this is I light industrial and the applicant is restricting uses a hundred other uses that are allowed to I like industrial but they're restricting it on these Lots so this is a much much aligned uh comprehensive plan uh this is actually the 19 uh the 2022 comprehensive plan for this uh for the southeast sector Sun Valley is this area zooming in it is the Sun Valley Industrial growth Center this is not a part of the growth this is an interior development these are infill lots small scale light industrial uses with deed restrictions on it there are buffers three quarters of a mile there's a park flip plane here a lot of Economic Development reasons uh job creation increase property value but quality development within there a lot of support from the neighborhood and again this is a quality development and asking for your approval tonight I'd be answering questions if you have any or whenever appropriate thank you Barry our next speaker is Leticia Wellborn okay followed by Evelyn Mayo Evelyn had to leave okay no worries perfect Evelyn will be by phone just as a note hi good evening um letita Wilburn I am opposed to this rezoning first off I want to ask how does this promote public health safety and Welfare is required by the Texas local government code and the City of Fort Worth's comprehensive plan it does nothing I'm showing you a map a graph and this graph was taken by air monitor that was placed in a backyard this community as you all have seen the crafts before is highly polluted one of the most polluted in the United States the consequences of this is real now if this is in one yard imagine all the other 700 and something yards that this is in the city council has promised this community that it will bring no more industry but that continues to happen Time After Time according to or an article published April 27 2023 Fort Worth ranked 18th in the nation for ozone pollution according to the American Lung Association state of the air most of these people affected by this are people of color now Brandon Bennett in the Fort Worth report article last Wednesday stated that the issues stem from zoning residential homes near industrial businesses that's incorrect the truth is that industrial businesses are being zoned near residential neighborhoods and the schools the homes and schools were their first these companies are not good neighbors they are heavy polluters and I am just totally appalled that can I go to the next picture please okay that is me There's real consequences to the pollution in this area I was sick ahead of rare event that I should not have had it cost me a lot in medical money expenses the next photo please that is my son's dog that is one of two of our dogs the dog had something outside every time the dog would go outside this would happen and I know you've seen these pictures before but this particular dog had to put down and it was not our only pet that became ill from going outside you all keep putting industrial stuff y'all not considering the death y'all not considering the counselors y'all are not considering the miscarriages y'all are not considering children this is close to WM green which is one of nine schools in black and brown communities that are Zone industrial only in our communities and I am calling for an investigative report to see how and why this stuff continues to happen in Echo Heights and in black and brown communities and I will push to get an investigative to report from day one to see what happened that is my goal and I'm going to do that your next speaker is Evelyn Mayo by phone followed by John McFarland also by phone yes can you hear me yes go ahead please thank you great thank you for working with me to be on the phone my name is Evelyn Mayo 1808 South good Latimer Expressway Dallas Texas co-chair of the board of Downwinders at risk and clean air and environmental justice non-profit based here in DFW our director Jim schoenbeck spoke at the March 21st Council session in opposition to a version of the city's comprehensive plan that accelerated industrial encroachment in the Echo Heights neighborhood last time I was here I spoke in support of the same neighborhood in the denial of a large Warehouse being cited across the street from the elementary school in the community this zoning request is simply a backdoor way to get done what the council has rejected the last two times we've been here before it undermines the stated goals of the neighborhood and your own decisions regarding the suspension of continued industrial Zone in this community allowing for the continued encroachment of industrial land uses in residential areas especially those that are already burdened by Solutions is the textbook definition of environmental Injustice the city's new comprehensive plan must be drafted with a filter for environmental justice issues it's never faced before in the meantime it would be counterproductive and disingenuous to allow Patchwork industrial zoning that destroys home values we're encouraged that the city of Fort Worth has expressed a desire to include environmental justice issues raised by Echo Heights in its Fuller review of the comprehensive plan allowing zoning cases like this one which flips the residential to Industrial demonstrates bad faith and deepens the health and Equity Gap in Fort Worth we urge you to deny the zoning request and support the residents in aligning the future land use map and planning efforts to prevent industrial encroachments and Echo Heights and other neighborhoods burdened by environmental justice issues I'm also a certified planner and I don't believe that planning this way is planning for the future for Public Health thank you Miss Mayo John McFarland by phone mayor he dropped off and we haven't been able to reconnect with him okay um Lori stelius it's also by phone is that correct yes okay is okay I'm sorry can you hear me now you ready for me yes my apologies go ahead no problem my name is Lori stelgis and I am a resident of Fort Worth I'm speaking out as an individual all four of the Lots identified in VC 23-045 are very near the echo Heights area and in particular within one mile or less than a two minute drive of the WM Green Elementary School pollution does not stay combined confined within a border and this will add to the environmental burden's Echo height residents already faced due to Industrial use in their area slowly converting land from residential lots to Industrial use is how whole sections of the city become industrial land use only and the citizens become displaced and pushed out of their neighborhoods I ask you to deny this rezoning request and I also ask that you assign a moratorium on all future rezoning requests in the Echo Heights area including requests that are within a two mile radius of the WM Enviro elementary school until after the vote on the comprehensive plan this August well I was glad that the council opted to delay the vote on the comprehensive plan in March the question why City staff has moved the date twice without notifying the echo height neighborhood they have the most to lose and have been asking for a chance to provide their input it is imperative that you honor their request thank you thank you our next speaker is Mary Goodman followed by Adrian Smith good evening good evening mayor Parker and the city council my name is Mary Goodman my address is 7912 Rockdale Road Fort Worth 76134 I have appeared before you a few times before on behalf of echo Heights community and I will continue until a modicum of environmental justice for this Community is reached on March 24th we achieved a pause in the master plan concerning more industrialization in this community and yet before you is zc23045 a proposal to rezone four industrial Parcels of land from family residential to light Industrial the rezoning quest is unusual in that a typical typical request is for a single parcel of land not for individuals then I learned this afternoon that these four Parcels are in an industrial park like Lori said about a mile from the elementary school green why are family residential Parcels embedded in an industrial park with mobile homes nearby my guess is the residential zones were whittled away parcel by parcel it's a one-way Street in this area from family residential to Industry industry it's never the other way around mayor Parker you have stated communication is very important to you and you encourage it among council members and City staff however since March 24th there has been really no big efforts on the city staff to meet with the echo Heights Coalition they and I were under the understanding that the city would meet with the Coalition and hear their ideas were what their ideas were in fact the city did not inform the Coalition about this rezoning request the citizens do not trust that they will be treated equitably and at this point who would blame them the final thing I'd like to do is I implore you to drive with from two w m Green Elementary note the small amount of open space trees grass that have been saved by the school but keep driving around this community is choked with over 180 Trucking and shipping firms garbage collection and warehouses check it out put your just drive around it is overwhelming how much industrializations there so I say thank you Mary Miranda thank you Adrian Smith followed by Tina James yeah to the echo Heights and stop six environmental Coalition although I'm not a resident of your community know that I stand with you because I am truly one with the people and I need to put that on record for one of our council members who stated that who feel like a person uh shouldn't be speaking on someone else's situations if they're not from the community but hey I'm one with the community so no more sickness no more death no more miscarriages as you all have heard please respect us respect our children and give them an opportunity to grow and Thrive and be all that they can be as adults bad zoning policies or just modern day redlining bad zoning policies or just modern day redlining bad zoning policies or just modern day redlining also there should not be a vote on this the council member who's to represent this district is not seated yet there will be a runoff so you all need to get that personal consideration to decide on what they want to do but the community is always already already spoken but I don't know you know the zoning commission denies it or they approve it but the community trucks the zoning commission I say you know the community the one who allows you to be where you are so to the communities again of echo Heights and stop seeks environmental Coalition know that I stand with you I stand with you I'm truly one with the people and before I take my seat for those who are at home watching or listening know that I am Adrian Smith the one that was just called out and I do not yield my time the one that was who was called out because he stood in his chamber and I was called out to be made to be as if I was intimidating someone that is not my character I don't think the mayor did her uh homework on who I am mayor I guess you forgot that I am a veteran so why would I be against veterans I am a veteran mayor I am a veteran I am a veteran what I stood up against was the fact that you all had the time to attend those meetings and be present at those meetings and not use this space as a meaning to do what it is you do same thing with Miss Beck he had an opportunity the meetings were held outside of these Chambers the community spoke so man I don't what you did to me you know that was that was out of order he said I stood as to intimidate somebody but you know I guess you didn't get enough from the last situation When You Got Served cease and desist regarding Miss Peyton Jackson thank you is Tina James followed by marticia James good afternoon I am the vice president for the echo Heights top six environmental coalition so I just want to tell you that there are four addresses in our in the one zoning application Z C 23-445 which is very unusual typically a zoning application or for properties or sometimes for multiple adjacent properties who are all four lots are completely separate there is no site plan proposed used for these sites typically rezoning applications are submitted when the an owner or the user of the property has a specific plan in mind for the property and that plan is based for the zoning change here the staff report does not list any plan for the property So the plan used for the property is unknown the staff reported the application use in 2022 the comprehensive plan is based for the zoning change since all four sites are within the industrial growth Center future land use and designation specifically the staff reported the application site 4 and the appendix C of 2022 plan as primary justification for approval however on March 21st 2023 the city council voted specifically to delay the adoption of chapter 4 and appendix C within the 2023 plan the city concerning concerns over Industrial in the in the area and lack of community engagement then on April 25th the city council decided without a public hearing to delay their vote on 2023 comprehensive plan to August 8 2023 thus the primary justification for the zoning change is based on Industrial land and use plans that the city council has called into question now as the staff report shows Echo height stops six environmental Coalition was not notified for the zoning application Echo height stops its environmental Coalition has been registered as a neighborhood organization and included on the City Fort Worth neighborhood database since March the 16th 2023 according to the staff report Southeast Inc was a notified Trinity Habitat for Humanity the Fort Worth ISD all these organizations were notified however the echo height stop six Coalition was yet not notified so just want to bring this to your attention mayor Parker that at August the 2nd 2022 city council hearing on zoning zc22 Dash 65 mayor Park are you coming in acquiring high priority Open Spaces areas in the Echo Heights neighborhoods stating that if the city says it says it need then we need to put our money where our mouth is there's a couple other things immediately begin cleaning up the preservation efforts at the Paradox Park as well as establishing a system of land extractions of which prior obtaining City approval to develop land industrial developments and the echo height stop six area must enter into an agreement to give back to the community also pledge to implement measures to Aid Echo height stop six Community Center and recovering from the advice health issues living problems and Industrial growth area thank you our next speaker is martisha James followed by Lucretia Powell [Music] good evening the issue that we have in Echo High substance Coalition wasn't have not been probably notified about changing changes coming about and we have been saying this since 2021. to have our addresses all included in to have the four addresses all included into one application is on the application and not one adjacent property Rings an alarm as if there is a hidden agenda so um no plan for this site listed or used either with um Council voting in March to delay the adoption of chapter four appendix 6c with the 2023 plan raises a lot of concern we are not for this we are against it then to receive no notification and I have public hearings about the delay voting for the 2023 comprehensive plan to August 8th so it is about to be industrial Zone industrial zone is light or heavy and we all know that sometimes with things being zoned there are um changes that does take place so again we do not want this in our area and we ask you that you do not approve thank you thank you Miss James our last speaker is Lucretia Powell good evening mayor council and Council the echo Heights neighborhood association Article 4 article 4 bylaw States established trust and transparency amongst the community members Outreach and social engagement advocacy establish communication link with the city council city manager Office code enforcement neighborhood police officers and other City Department on April the 19th 2023 I was made aware of zc 23045 For the First Time by Miss Dukes the president of echo hikes neighborhood association association Mr Bowie Holland stated at the zoning case in which I was finally able to see for the first time today uh in all due respect Miss Bivins that you introduced him to her but however remember August the 19th for the first time was our I was made aware of that case exactly um August the 22nd uh we had a echo Heights neighborhood association meeting I know this information firsthand within that meeting Mr Bowie and it's a presentation for a copy of that presentation he said he would do so he would give it I followed up with an email I have yet to receive that uh documentation of that presentation he presented not only that uh within that meeting Mr Bowie Holland and another uh Association member Echo Heights Association member Jay talked about the reason why they did not support zc22065 uh zoning case who was looking for light Industrial however with that Mr Bowie one of the properties that he's seeking for a light industrial is three to five minute walk to and from uh WM Green Elementary school with all respect Miss uh Bivins will you as you stated on August the 8th 2022 you will not see you will not see me approve anything that adds more harm to the pain we already feel in that area I embrace the open space concept you stated just know if you come to me with anything I'm going to be on your side my question is simply is this as I take my seat Will zc 23 times expired Lucretia thank you very much now I would councilmember Bivens that's the conclusion of our speaker's I'll turn to you thank you I think you'll hear my response and what I'm going to be sharing and just for the record we shared the contact information for every officer to Mr Holland that included you and I think two others uh what I promised this community was we would delay this for a vote when we got the new council member in place I had no idea we would end up with a runoff but I have to keep my word there have been some communication snafu's with us along the way uh City staff put together a listening session that listening session was intended for Echo Heights residents I found about it probably a couple of days before it was scheduled so Communications has been a problem what was very disappointing is that in that meeting we had four residents as I recall and nobody from staff is here who was there but there was one Echo Heights person who lived there that was Miss T there was another property owner even though Miss James doesn't live in Echo Heights she was there as part of the environmental Association and so I was very disappointed with staff to have a meeting for people who live in a working class community at one o'clock in the afternoon on a weekday and another session was supposed to have been scheduled well staff didn't get to schedule another but another individual scheduled a meeting at the Eugene McRae Rec Center we didn't schedule that but that got canceled but the city still was blamed for the miscommunication there I am one of the most highly visible critics of our community engagement process with notification we need to do a lot better than that I believe that the plan that the owner of Empire Holdings is one that will be compatible with this neighborhood but everybody needs to get the same information at the same time in a very fair fair way of getting it distributed before everybody leaves here tonight Renee please raise your hand you all need to make sure that man has your contact information your affiliation so that whenever any kind of meeting is held you will be notified I do know that you guys are in the database I don't know why you didn't get Communications about any kind of meetings and no I'm not taking anything from the floor Tina and so with that holding to my word I'm going to move that we continue this case until we get a new person on this Council and we shall continue this until June 27th and by that time that runoff will be over you'll have a council member who hopefully you trust more than you trust me I think the redistricting was very effective there has always been a natural affinity for this community to cater to District 8. okay and so with that that's my motion I have a second got a motion and a second either discussion Council um I will just say and encourage those that are still here I understand fully the fears here um and Echo Heights but they are unfounded for this particular project this is the right thing to do I cannot think of a better partner and developer than Empire I really wholeheartedly mean that so I'm encouraging you to take a second look at this particular project to learn more and be excited at that June meeting alongside your new council person because this is the type of light industrial beautiful development that you want to help turn things around and you need commercial development in that area that speaks to the neighborhood I promise you you do and this is the type of company you want in that area it is it is the right thing to do so I'm just asking you to look closely at this nothing's getting vote on tonight we're going to continue it to June 27th but there's much of misinformation here and and I do think that this is the right thing to do in this area with that we can vote here I will add one thing that happened just recently when you talk about clean green companies I was on site two weeks ago they welcomed a new company that builds street lights but they're solar not even any copper so that people can steal the copper the plans that I know are coming for that company are clean and green I know you want to see a site plan but I encourage you all to make sure you're on the list and I can promise you Renee will do everything he can to make sure the meetings at the city schedules proper notifications are given out I do know that the NAACP is pulling back from the association and that makes it a cleaner path for you guys to get what it is you need but Communications is going to be the best thing in the world but you do need to have the same information at the same time under new leadership and that will be whoever wins this runoff motion to continue passes next item is zc-23-047 councilmember Beck we have our first speaker is Stephen Halliday followed by Dina Ashton mayor council staff thanks for your time I know it's been a long one I also have Christine panigopolis from Habitat for Humanity we're here excited to talk about phase two of Trinity habitat Allen Village this is a be simple single family for sale infield development in Fort Worth it's just it's a unicorn project we're super excited to to be a part of the project so I'll let Christine sort of talk about that Christine panigopolis with Trinity habitat um thank you for having us and we look forward to a partnership we're all about home ownership and we feel like this location close to the hospital district will be critical for those folks who are essential workers who want to live and work close to home our Target group that we can approve family of three under sixty four thousand dollars we'll qualify for a program when we think this is an ideal location to put a new product in town homes that we've we've designed just for this location and it should be a great project we look forward to your support thank you Dina Ashton will be by phone Miss Ashton the mayor and the councilman this was an ERA That was supposed to be the three seven instead of four seven so I had to stay on to make sure that this vote does not count for anything because it was an error okay okay thank you Miss Ashton councilmember back that's the conclusion of our speakers Motion in a second please vote oh sorry go ahead there Jared came in perfect motion carries next item is zc-23-050 councilmember Bivins our first speaker is Brad longberger followed by Bob Willoughby Mr lomberger yeah please go ahead thank you uh we I appreciate the time mayor and Council uh we have uh issued some text amendments for the cross-section of our Main Street to align with the new roundabout uh that is being built in the beautiful Trinity Boulevard uh the city has been working on uh very well we wanted to make sure that the roadway was accurate as we moved towards development of the street system moving to the new train station I'm also here for any questions if you have any thank you Brad any questions councilmember bibbons if I've got them on the phone no okay our next speaker is Bob Willoughby I don't know much about Trinity lakes here I do know one thing this city needs campaign contribution limits million dollars to put Maddie Parker in the first time she runs that's crazy for a job 29 000 a year campaign contribution limits we wouldn't have to worry about a lot of this stuff that we had to go look at and I've got a question about this one that Gina bibbons gets to decide on if you see the contribution she got 13 219 dollars from 21x uh Trinity legs okay so that's my supper of 20 likes okay so I think there's kind of a contribution I'm not sure a conflict here to me a little bit that you know you're getting money from Developers that you decide on what to do to me it looks like a plain payoff and that's what it is really they're just publicly payoffs these candidates up here and the lines you know God's listening to y'all you really believe that or not I never heard so many lies in all my life tonight especially from you you're not a military person you wouldn't take the right to speak if you did that that's an American a military person not what you did anyway a sustained point of order is that a first warning yep just first no actually we're done thank you very much that was just too far for me thank you the first warning this time I used to give you a warning now you get that I got killed just immediately no you're done today thank you councilmember Bivins thank you I'd like your billboard too Bob and I want to see your campaign Finance Report with transparency I can't wait to see it let me tell y'all this we if you build a street and you have a roundabout you have to have some Street classifications we're getting a roundabout on Trinity Boulevard but more importantly we're getting a train we're getting an East Side stop for Tex rail so I want to make sure the street that goes in and the roundabout is properly categorized and with that I proudly move for approval because I'm glad to see this project continuing to move on down the road motion a second please vote motion carries next item is zc-23-052 council member Nettles we have three speakers but only there's opposition to my knowledge there isn't okay move for approval Motion in a second in your discussion please vote motion carries next item is zc-23-068 we have a few speak we have a few speakers on this item is um the first one is Emil Bragdon followed by Tino DeFranco DeFranco I'm sorry that you can sit or you can stand I'm just going to have um Leanne Guzman or Melinda whoever just to describe what this item is if you don't mind for just a minute Melinda's up Melinda Ramos Deputy City attorney so what this amendment does is it amends the mu2 zoning District use table to say that bars or taverns that are up to 2 000 square feet are allowed by right in the district and a bar larger than 2 000 square feet may only be allowed by a conditional use permit which would come to the city the zoning commission and the city council to vote on how is that how would that affect Melinda current bars that are zoned that are over that 2 000 square feet so existing bars that are over 2 000 square feet can operate indefinitely if they cease to operate for a period of two years then um they would lose their non-conforming status and would have to get a cup if another owner wanted to open a bar thank you any other questions from Melinda Council if not go ahead okay go ahead don't please Elizabeth and so does this particular zoning being illegal non-conforming use would that have any impact on potential licensing from TABC applications they would be able to renew their their license I believe they have to renew annually so it shouldn't have any impact on their ability to renew their license right because zoning isn't factored into that particular um analysis correct there there is an aspect of getting a permit where they do check your zoning but the city would sign off as to as to any non-conforming status okay thank you thank you Melinda a male excuse me about that thank you good evening um I'm Emil Bragdon um I own five businesses in the cultural District I also own uh four commercial real estate at 1100 votes um 2805 Bledsoe 2811 Bledsoe and 2929 Morton um you got to bear with me I wasn't my day started off kind of funny today I woke up and uh I started moving I'm moving from North Fort Worth to West Fort Worth I have a growing family I got a new new child on the way so I've been really busy today at about 3 40 p.m I was notified by a colleague that this was on the agenda this has not been communicated to any stakeholders I own multiple real estate I'm a local Fort Worth person I've been here for over a decade in the cultural District I haven't heard one peep I also represent the West Seventh Restaurant and Bar Association not one peep has been said to any of us nobody is aware of what's going on the cutoff time was four o'clock and I called Jeanette and I call I called her and I said hey can you get us on the agenda you probably had a couple other people call after four but they couldn't get on um nobody nobody knows what's going on and when I first purchased these properties I have an intent for Development I've been in the restaurant bar business since I was 15 years old 47 now this is all I do for a living when I brought these uh properties I knew what the zoning was as councilwoman Bivins said no you're zoning before you acquire a property I know my zoning I'm asking for everyone to protect protect my right when I bought that property we spent my family Millions on those Pro on that property and to change the zoning is not right and uh Melinda Ashley where are you at um nice to finally meet you um obviously I've been I've been in the district for over a decade um I just partnered up with Co Wetzel he's a Texas country artist we opened a new venue out there in almost a decade I've never received a citation from the city I've never received a citation from TABC I operate all my businesses very well Melinda was one of the signees on my uh protest for my mixed beverage permit why there was no there was no probable cause and I feel like we're constantly being attacked we are not being told anything and again I'm only here I I mean I wrote my family's move today to be here like I left I left them by themselves after this I have to go move back to my house in West Fort Worth because nobody communicated anything all I'm asking is some proper communication and protect our zoning no one on Council would like their home rezoned without their permission and put a Wendy's next to right next to it that's not right so please take that into consideration please deny it it is not right thank you very much thank you Mr Bragdon our next speaker is Tino DeFranco good evening uh thank you for the opportunity to speak um I'm partners with Emil Bragdon in several of the businesses I actually live about two blocks away from the area in question I've lived there for four years and again hearing everything that happened with the you know the Rosemont group and everybody else everybody seems to be aware what's going on and I apologize because I'm a little ignorant on it but we're not aware of any of this none of none of it has been communicated to us and the reason it's a problem is like Emil said we found out about 3 30 3 45 that this was up for a vote to change our lives like you are going to affect our lives I mean I have a seven-year-old you guys have children so you understand it um all I'm asking is in my opinion there needs to be a continuation because there's a lot of people that emailed us going have you heard that this is going down and you know Miss Beck has been to our I'm I'm one of the members of the restaurant bar and retail association Miss Beck is there every every month when we have a uh or a representative is there every month why wasn't it brought up I mean you're there you're sitting in front of all of us where all the business owners were the ones in question were the ones being affected by it so I guess in summation I just think there needs to be like a 90-day continuation because I think there's a lot more people a lot more stakeholders that'd be interested to know this is going on and they don't know so thank you thank you um that's lots of our speakers Council um Melinda just for my own understanding I know that we are talking about West Seventh that was the speakers today but this is affecting the entire city correct all mu2 zoning okay thank you um councilmember back your lights on go ahead so I want to reiterate and I understand your concern that it might cause upheaval in your business but I want to reiterate what Melinda communicated there is no change in your operation today tomorrow or next year you could close your bar for 23 months and 29 days and you would not be and open it up on that that last day there would be no change in zoning no application required there's not going to be any operational difference to what you're doing today um after this particular zoning change is made there was stakeholder engagement with those that um that deal with the mixed use ordinance I'm sorry with the zoning change those folks in the community that have guided that particular code in what it looks like with experts the reason we came up with that 2 000 square foot rule wasn't because we just picked a number on the on the board it was because we talked to um talk to developers we talked to members of Staff as far as code and development services to really make sure that we were picking something that wasn't just arbitrary but that we could tie back to and so this isn't about getting rid of any of the bars that any of you currently operate today this is about making sure and I know Emil because you email me pretty regularly about the issues on West 7th we do have it is oftentimes chaotic down there and unsafe when you get crowds of drunken folks you all deal with it we deal with it here on Council RPD has poured enormous amount of resources despite you know your opinion on that they work really hard to keep that area as safe as possible and it's a very difficult position because you want them to police enough to keep you safe but if they over police then people stop coming because it's not then the reputation becomes don't go to West Seventh you get arrested and so what we're trying to do here is provide a solution that helps us manage what has become untenable in that particular area it's not to drive out any current bars it's to to slow the proliferation of bars in that particular area so that we as a community can better serve the folks that are there now the president or the your it is late and I can't words are hard your customers that are coming to frequent your your establishments we want to make that entire neighbor neighborhood better and it's also about preventing future situations in other parts around a city that have this mu2 zoning so that the city can better guide development and keep our residents safe and keep our businesses thriving and so I understand that you have concerns because it is the property that you own but this isn't about driving you out and as long as you operate you'll be there um indefinitely if you want to you can sell that and it will still be able to operate as a bar it's not going to impact that particular aspect of your business and so I'm very comfortable moving forward with this particular text change I think it's one of the many steps that the city is taking to try to improve that particular area of the city and then prevent um future issues in in other parts of the city so with that I moved to approve um before you can go and second anybody can or I'm just going to talk um so I want to compliment Elizabeth here this is this is not an easy thing she inherited on Council and and and actually thanks the business owners for investing in Fort Worth and creating an Entertainment District that was desperately needed in this city because the reality is if you don't have a fun place to hang out you will not have young professionals and we've always joked about everybody goes to Dallas after they graduate college or move here and it's a significant problem um and councilmember Beck has worked really hard in the last two years to dig in and has numerous meetings probably more than any other place in your District um I think in if if it would be amenable to this Council I would like to continue this Elizabeth so that I dig in and help you a little bit and I'll personally meet with some of these bar owners to understand I do I do think that that what this created here and the advice from staff is the right direction let me go on the record here I think there's nothing here that's going to prevent a bar um from continuing to be successful it does give council members in each district and me as mayor additional oversight to come forward and go through with the cup process but knowing that there's concern from you as as business owners and probably in other areas in the city and because this is a city-wide I'm inclined to support a continuance on this item maybe to next month in in June and work after maybe but we only have to wait on the runoff let's just go ahead and find a meeting in June when is the next zoning night on Council Jeanette 13th 13th but again I want to be clear this is not a slight to the work that councilman Rebecca is doing she's doing the right thing here she's trying to work alongside law enforcement and our bar owners and she probably needs a little more cover from my office in particular and and from me and some of these other members on diet so we're not the only I'm not the only one she's not the only one that have entertainment districts in the area I'm sure Carlos Flores also probably has some thoughts but all the success that's happening in the Stockyards as well so that's my I guess a counter motion I should say on the floor if anybody would entertain that we probably need to vote on it first motion to continue is that correctly and all right she doesn't have a second so if somebody wants to I can offer the motion and then someone can second a continuance to the June meeting Motion in a second either discussion Council okay please vote motion carries next item is MNC 230364 foreign sorry I think we have a speaker but I can't find it oh I spoke you're right he already spoke okay motion a second please vote oh well you you wanted to vote you wanted okay go ahead Elizabeth floor it was addressed earlier and it's been a long night but um this isn't adding new positions this is how this is supplementing our budget so that we can take those dollars and allocate them someplace else go ahead David this grant isn't there you go so we can't use this grant to supplement any existing resources this grant is out there and why we apply for it if we were to add new officers then we are going to use the grant to help pay for those but we cannot use the grant to supplement any existing resources it's a three-year Grant though correct yeah and we get it every three years correct we'll get it in the future for three years on a declining scale which is possible to replace it with local money okay Motion in a second please vote motion carries mayor that concludes all of the items it was already said earlier but tonight we're going to close the meeting in honor of the lives lost in Allen Texas over the weekend at the mass at the mall mass shooting um it just feels empty but yeah prayers and thoughts and a lot more that needs to be done in this state to prevent that tragedy from ever happening again and with that being adjourned past minutes from last session a second