Okay, we have a quorum, so we're gonna go ahead and call the afternoon session to order.

And I don't know.

Um, in an accordance with BTCA government code, chapter five five one point zero seven one, zero seven, two, and zero eight seven.

And it is eleven forty eight AM on November fourth.

Okay, well, good good afternoon, everybody.

We're gonna go ahead and call the afternoon session of the city council back to order.

We're gonna move on down to three point one.

John up.

Mayor, City Council, John Chapman, Long Range Planning Manager.

We have a very exciting presentation for y'all today about innovate Arlington.

Y'all heard from MIG earlier this year after our phase one concluded.

We're here to give an update on where we stand on phase two.

We're gonna go through a quick welcome and some project updates, as well as the vision elements, which y'all have uh in front of y'all that pamphlet about the five pillars, our place types, alternative growth scenarios discussion with y'all, and next steps.

So today with y'all is myself as well as Jay Rankins, principal in charge with uh the MIG group.

He's overseeing uh the entire consultant suite on Innovate Arlington.

We're currently about halfway uh this month actually marks one month into the innovative Arlington planning process.

We have about a year to go.

Uh these are the deliverables that the city staff, uh, internal stakeholders, as well as committee members and um MIG have been working on.

And then just to quickly recap on all the community engagement we've had uh back in phase one with our questionnaires, workshops, pop-ups, um, and some other uh online uh impressions that we've been making.

And then in phase two, certainly with the growing a better Arlington board game.

A total of eighty-one board games were played with over six hundred and sixty participants across thirty-five events.

These included uh being at Inclusion Coffee, community gaming sessions at the downtown library, the Progressive Women of Arlington group, uh hosting active at the Active Fifty Plus Senior Center, the Southeast Democrats, the Impact Group board game night, our North Central Historic Neighborhoods Association meeting, walkable Arlington, hosting a game day at the Bob Duncan Center.

We were also present at a geek game, uh board game conference here in Arlington.

Uh we hosted uh games at Neighborhood Leadership Network, a week hand meeting, all of the council districts.

Uh Arbor had a game night, Veridian had a game night, First United Methodist Church had a game night, Kappa at UTA had a game day, uh Triumph Worship Center, as well as Tarrant County Community College.

So we went wide and far in the city of Arlington, engaging as many community members as we could.

We had a ton of fun.

Uh so many people have lived here in Arlington and have so many great stories.

And they believe that uh Arlington is a great place to live as we all do in this room, and they're excited about the future.

So our comprehensive plan steering committee, as y'all know that is a 19 member steering committee appointed by y'all uh last September, I believe.

We've had seven meetings to date.

Our next meeting is this Thursday uh with MIG and a lot of the materials that you'll see here in this presentation.

So with that, I will hand it over to Jay Rankins, principal in charge with MIG.

Thank you, John.

Uh hello, Mayor and Council.

Yeah, we're at a really important step in the process.

So we're, I would say probably about the midway mark.

And importantly, we're kind of transitioning from kind of bigger picture vision ideas, which we are going to touch on the vision elements, but what I'm going to highlight are how those are beginning to be operationalized, how they're going to start to translate into recommendations that are actually going to help shape the city and how it grows and evolves and continues to be competitive moving forward, both for existing residents as well as new residents, employers, employees.

And then also we're beginning to move towards sort of form piece of this.

There's the gameplay, which we got a lot of input on, and I'll highlight a few pieces of that input as well, based on all the different activities that John highlighted.

But we're actually then beginning to look at uh beginning tomorrow evening and a little preview for you all right after the meeting.

Uh the um the boards with the alternative growth scenarios.

So beginning with the vision framework, uh what this is looking out is that over the next 20 years plus, uh, what is Arlington want to be?

And this was informed by a lot of stakeholder interviews, focus groups, uh community meetings, as well as conversations with you all and uh other community leaders.

And so the vision framework uh is important both in terms of its ability to articulate what Arlington wants to be as a community, uh, but it's also gonna be how we organize the plan for the most part.

And so we have vision elements, uh, which are those kind of five pieces, which I'll step through the five petals of that flower.

Uh we have goals associated with each of the vision elements.

Uh we have metrics, uh, so how are we?

And you are all articulated that actually in our first meeting that we ever had together was we want to make sure that this plan is action-oriented, that it ensures or that we ensure that there are specific metrics and targets so we know if we're actually progressing towards that uh envisioned future.

And then really specific recommendations.

So that's in projects, programs, initiatives across the board.

So the five different vision elements.

The first is vibrant and safe.

Uh so this is about having a great place for people to live, uh, that they're proud of, uh, that it's vibrant, uh, that we have these gathering places.

The goals you can see there on the right.

Uh we've uh shared this with you previously in a uh different iterations.

So we've incorporated some of that feedback from you all and from the steering committee.

Uh so I'll highlight actually one or two of the emerging recommendations for each.

Um, so we're soliciting more input here, we're just kind of digging in on the recommendations.

So this is just a kind of a teaser, uh, but beginning to think about what do we do with vacant land that is a at a premium, right?

There's not that much vacant land left.

So, how do we use that most effectively?

How are we thinking about our underutilized land and reinvigorating those areas?

How are we reinvesting to ensure that it's benefiting the community from a vibrancy standpoint, from a place making standpoint, but importantly from a financial standpoint too, so we can be sustainable and resilient moving forward.

Uh, also looking at helping neighborhoods uh improve in terms of we have a lot of aging infrastructure.

So, how do we leverage that investment that's gonna be made both on the public and private side to ensure that we're reinvesting in our neighborhoods?

If you think about a home, uh, and we've talked about this previously too, but kind of the life cycle of neighborhoods, life cycle of cities, just if we get really down to just the individual housing unit, a house, it's fantastic when it's first built.

It's new, uh, has all the latest you know, gadgets and gizmos.

And but over time, even if it's really, really well maintained, uh things become out of date.

Certain things have a certain life cycle and they need to be replaced.

Uh, the furnace can only last so long, even if you're tending to it year in and year out.

And so we need to think about how are we reinvesting, how do we breathe new life into different areas of the community uh while not you know wiping the slate clean in all cases.

Um, next exam, or next vision element, excuse me, is innovative and thriving.

Uh so here, Arlington is a world-class city serving as a leader in innovation with thriving residents and businesses that contribute to a prosperous local economy.

Again, I'll let you look at the goals either on screen or in your handouts.

Uh, but a couple example emerging recommendations really beginning to align higher education programs with the local job sectors.

Some of that's happening now, but we can do even more of that, particularly when we think about what kinds of jobs we want to have, what industries do we want to grow or add to the local economy over the next five, 10, 15 years.

Uh, simplify and make the development process transparent.

That's sort of an ongoing effort, but uh we can go even further, particularly when we think about technology, AI, those sorts of things, and then thinking about how do we provide affordable housing and different types of workforce housing across the community.

Uh, the third, connected and walkable.

We've heard a lot of this actually throughout conversations with the community.

I think I heard it from several of you as well in some of our previous conversations.

But the idea that we want to create more walkable places.

Absolutely.

And people are saying they want more of that and they want more of that closer to home.

We heard that in the vision conversations as well as in the game input as well.

So a couple of emerging recommendations, building more protected bike lanes, trails, pedestrian routes, so comfortable spaces, safe spaces.

So, yes, there may be sidewalks in certain places, but in certain instances, those are two feet wide, three feet wide.

They're right next to fast traffic going by.

So can we improve that in certain instances?

Thinking about uh continue to advance the conversation around transit and leveraging and being on the cutting edge like we have been in terms of transit delivery, encouraging higher density growth around major corridors.

So, where does that make the most sense to have more density where we need to reinvest because we have aging commercial properties, some vacancies, underutilized properties, all that can align.

Um, and then thinking about smart traffic systems, smart data, um and how do we use that to continue to improve the community?

Um, our fourth area is sustainable and healthy.

Arlington plans for future resiliency, invests in sustainable infrastructure, prioritize the community health and protects open spaces and the natural environment.

Again, just a teaser of some recommendations that will likely show up in the plan.

Uh developing neighborhood parks, uh, utilizing uh leftover spaces in creative ways to provide maybe park like amenities or recreation opportunities in places that might be park deficient, uh, implementing citywide health initiatives, uh, working with healthcare organizations, um, electrifying the fleet and thinking about air pollution and other environmental considerations.

And lastly, uh welcoming and community culture.

Uh so Arlington welcomes a multicultural community that contributes to a rich local culture represented through community involvement, events, arts, and entertainment.

I think you all know Arlington is one of the most diverse uh cities in Texas and in the country already today.

How do we continue to leverage that as the DFW region continues to grow?

How do we become that place where folks of all different walks of life, all different backgrounds wanna come and contribute to this really rich cultural fabric that we have?

And so supporting local uh diverse local arts, theater, and cultural events, uh, thinking about gathering spaces, how do we reflect culture in those gathering spaces versus having a one-size-fits-all kind of cookie cutter approach to different open spaces, parks, and plazas, um, and then highlighting different uh cultural, colonial entertainment offerings through our placemaking efforts.

So that is the vision element piece.

Um, next I'm gonna highlight uh place types, uh which we've uh sort of forecast before a little bit, uh, but we're gonna go a little deeper today.

Uh so a reminder on what place types are, and I won't uh belabor this, but uh in a traditional comprehensive plan, uh there's a future land use map.

The midland use map basically for each parcel or each area designates a color, that color corresponds to what land use is envisioned there by the community.

Uh, that is a precursor to and informs zoning, but it's different than zoning.

It's the policy that informs ideally the regulation, which is the zoning.

And so what place types does, or this idea of place types, it evolves that a bit.

And rather than just thinking about what use can go in a certain place, we start to think about not just the use, but the built form.

So, how dense is that place?

Uh, what are the setbacks like?

How are buildings relating to each other?

How are properties relating to each other really importantly?

How does that add up?

And what is the infrastructure that's necessary and the amenities that's necessary to support those places?

So it could be a small as a block or two.

It could be a neighborhood, it could be a district.

I'll highlight the ones that we've developed for use in your plan moving forward.

Uh, but those are really important components of place types, as you can see in the diagram here.

Uh, we've developed developed a palette of 12 place types or places.

I'm gonna just use that terminology really.

Uh so some of them are very residential in nature.

Um, not to say that it's exclusively residential, because a place, uh, we want to make sure that there's all different uh things there.

Uh, there's some mix of uses.

Uh so we range from estate, suburban neighborhood uh to our kind of mixed use areas being downtown, entertainment cultural destination, urban corridors, mixed-use centers.

We have our regional open space place type.

And then a several sort of what I characterize as more employment place types.

And so I won't go into each of these in great detail, but I'm going to take a little time with this first one just to sort of explain the work that we're doing that's informing the scenarios that's informing the growth, preferred growth scenario in the plan itself, as well as the guidance that we're providing that goes beyond again, just a color on a map, kind of land use designation.

So using the state suburban neighborhood as an example, we have a purpose statement.

So preserve and enhance existing traditional residential neighborhoods.

We know that this is a desirable housing type.

But it can come in all different scales, and I'll point that out in just a second.

For each, we have primary land uses and secondary land uses.

On the slide here, we're just showing primary land uses.

So it includes single family detached and cottage cluster homes.

We have a building form kind of component, shorthand here, one to three stories, driveways are pretty common.

Mobility, we talk about in more detail, but on the slide, it's simplified to slow speeds and traffic calming.

So more local streets.

Looking at typical housing densities, we're talking about two to six dwelling units per acre.

For each place type, we assign a job density.

So this one you'd expect to be pretty darn low.

So maybe there's a corner that has commercial or something like that.

And so maybe there's you know about less than one job per acre.

And then public spaces and amenities, uh, these would be primarily neighborhood focused facilities.

Uh for each place type, we then chose uh one area to highlight different components.

So this is using uh oblique aerial shot of a real place, and then uh highlighting key features.

So looking at those primary connections, those big yellow arrows, uh looking at pedestrian and bike connections, whether they're those dashed or dotted blue arrows, uh, the purple areas or magenta or building form and massing, highlighting different aspects in this particular case, highlighting schools and other neighborhood services, as well as uh building heights and larger setbacks.

Uh we have open spaces designated here.

Uh, and and again, just an example of how these different components come together in a place.

And then something that we did uniquely for Arlington that we haven't actually done in our previous previous efforts that have used places is looking at uh this transect.

So understanding that uh there are different places within the 99 square miles of of Arlington that have different, I would say appropriate densities, different appropriate forms, different appropriate road types.

And so we want to acknowledge those differences while not creating a place type palette that has to go well beyond that 12.

If we tried to capture all of these, uh it you know it could be upwards of 30 to 40, and the the map becomes illegible, it's really difficult to wrap your arms around.

You need a secret decoder ring to figure out what you know the community is envisioning in different places.

And so we developed these train or this transect, which has an edge transition zone, which would be sort of the um, I mean, you can kind of think about it towards the edge, but it doesn't always have to be at the edge of the community.

Um they would be kind of the lower density areas, uh maybe undeveloped even today.

Uh typical zone, which is what you see in most of Arlington, and then we do show a core zone, which would be you know, in or near the downtown, in or near the entertainment district, uh, would be examples of core zone.

Um so in the diagram you can see that for each of the elements of the transect, going from edge transition zone to typical zone to core zone from left to right, uh, we show different types of housing, uh different densities of housing.

So you have larger uh structures, larger lots, uh larger setbacks in that edge transition zone, the typical zone, you know, that they get a little smaller, but you end up having some uh maybe duplexes worked into that as well.

Um, and then you have uh more of a denser uh single family type of product uh in that core zone in this one example.

So again, I went through that one in a little more detail, but I'm gonna show you the rest.

Uh so our second uh place type is urban neighborhood.

Uh so this is more mixed density and a little more urban, walkable lifestyle.

Not to say you couldn't walk around in a state, uh suburban neighborhood, uh, but uh and you know, these would be a little more density, more things around, so you end up having uh opportunities for a little more commercial mixed in there too as a secondary land use.

Uh, one to five stories.

Uh we do have a little bit of job density here, eight to twelve jobs per acre.

And the big difference is that housing density, six to thirty dwelling units per acre.

So you can see in the example here, uh, you begin having larger structures, not individual homes, so a lot of multifamily, but there are some attached single family uh within this example as well.

Uh the road network is much more connected.

Uh, you end up having some of those secondary connections right within the neighborhood, um, as well as trying to integrate smaller green spaces versus one or two larger green spaces.

Uh the transect, uh, similarly, you can see uh much denser even in the edge zone, uh, but getting to an attached product in the typical zone and something that might feel you know, kind of smaller urban product in the core zone.

Um next is a neighborhood node.

Uh so these are small clusters of retail and service commercial uses.

So, as I mentioned, secondary uses uh include, you know, some commercial, some mixed use in a lot of the place types, but this would be specifically kind of a neighborhood cluster or neighborhood node uh of retail of commercial, mixed use to serve a little higher density uh residential development around it.

And so one to four stories, highly walkable and bikable, uh, but definitely places to park.

Uh typical housing density is 15 to 30 units per acre when it is present, and typical job density is 10 units per acre plus, or 10 employees per acre.

I'm sorry.

Um neighborhood nodes uh can come in a lot of different shapes and sizes.

I think I mentioned this the last time we talked to you all.

It could be an intersection at its smallest scale, uh, with you know maybe the four corners contributing to this uh neighborhood node.

Um in the example here, we're showing about you know two and a half, three blocks worth uh of a kind of little main street, uh, which would be a good example of a neighborhood node as well.

Uh and then the transect here you can see again, it's really about scale.

It's pretty much all attached product, whether it's housing or commercial, um, and then going up through our core zone here.

Uh next is downtown, uh, where we're we are right now.

Uh so Arlington's historic center of commerce.

Uh we want it to be sort of a one of a kind.

Uh we have other mixed-use nodes, corridors, uh centers uh worked into the place type palette, but downtown is a special place, and we want it to be unique, have its own identity, uh building on its history and its the opportunity moving forward.

Uh one to six stories, but 12 stories, very much in the realm of possibility.

Um typical housing, 15 to 30 uh dwelling units per acre and 25 plus jobs per acre.

Uh you can see again more of a grid, you know, that exists already in downtown.

We're beginning to see a lot of the new development uh going to that five, six stories, uh if not a little bit more.

Um looking at structured parking in the downtown environment.

Um, one of the few places or place types where we would expect that, at least to under current market conditions moving forward.

Uh, many other places within Arlington probably could support structured parking.

Uh, and then thinking about those uh connections between uses and what you can achieve from an activation standpoint, uh, both in terms of sort of built-in with commercial and retail, dining and entertainment, as well as events and programs when you achieve a level of density that's envisioned for downtown.

Uh in the uh the zones here, we would not, again, because downtown is where it's where it is, and we want it to be a sort of a one-of-a-kind uh place.

Uh, it does not have an edge zone condition represented here.

So it's really the typical zone, which would be the edges of downtown and the core zone.

Uh next is entertainment cultural destination.

Uh so this would, you know, primarily be the entertainment district today.

Uh, but you'll see in some of the scenarios that I'll talk about in the last part of the presentation.

Uh, there are some scenarios that contemplate entertainment, cultural destination, other places.

Uh, this would be very, you know, currently sports uh oriented entertainment, recreation, uh shopping centers, as well as hospitality uh would be one of those primary uses that didn't quite fit on the slide there.

Um building form, you know, right now two to twelve stories, but could go up to 24 stories, even in certain locations strategically, and pretty high housing density and job density.

Uh here's you know a sliver of uh the entertainment district that's built out today, highlighting some of those key features, uh, looking at both vehicular connections, thinking about how are people moving around regardless of how they're getting around.

So uh walking as well, uh open spaces, different amenities, and a really interesting mix of uses in the entertainment and cultural uh destination.

Um I would say probably of any of the place types.

This has the greatest range of kind of built form and scale.

Uh so ranging from in our edge and transition zone, you know, one to two story all the way up to uh the core of the existing uh entertainment district with uh ATT Stadium.

Uh keep trucking along here.

Urban corridor uh is really thinking about how do we begin to re-envision, reimagine uh these uh vehicular corridors today that are mostly lined with kind of auto-oriented commercial that was developed in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

And we want to intensify those.

We want to see great investment that can then contribute to the public uh realm as well with a great mix of uses.

Uh, so they become walkable places in of themselves, um, as well as a kind of a front door for the community as you're moving along through the community, you're seeing kind of the best uh brightest and uh high-based level of activation along these corridors you can see in the up photo in the upper right.

Um along the major corridors here, uh call your attention to the one running from the lower right to the upper left.

Uh you can see you know, we're accommodating a lot of different modes of travel.

Uh, so it'd be transportation or vehicular, bike, pedestrian, uh, thinking about a variety of different uses along there as well as densities.

Uh, and then uh the transect again.

Uh next is mixed use center.

Uh so the mixed use center would be clustered commercial destinations and dense housing options that center around major intersections.

So, not quite your downtown scale, uh, but that you could have uh kind of a medium scale mixed use place, um, you know, hearkening to maybe a downtown and a smaller community.

Um, and so these could have different institutions, civic facilities, parks.

Um, it does.

I mentioned that park once strategy where you could maybe park your car and then walk around for an afternoon or a Saturday morning.

Uh so mixed use, commercial, retail, multifamily.

Uh, we're talking one to six stories, uh, 30 plus dwelling units per acre, and 20 plus jobs per acre.

Uh, here is uh highlighting those different components of a mixed use center.

I don't want to make sure we have time for some discussion, so I'm gonna just breeze through these.

And then the regional open space is just what it sounds like.

Uh, it's those larger regional open spaces, could be a trail corridor and linear, could be a big park.

Uh, but we do imagine that there are parks and actually, you know, are encouraging parks in all the different place types.

Um next is commerce hub.

Uh Commerce Hub would be commercial retail destinations that provide community access with a revitalized public realm.

Uh so you could kind of think about you know, some of our larger commercial centers today, shopping centers.

And what if you had a magic wand and could, you know, kind of reinvest in those while still using some of the major components?

Uh so that's what a lot of the newer developments doing when it comes to these commercial places, commercial developments.

They're creating kind of the park once uh strategy place in and of themselves.

Uh so internal walking networks, maybe tucking the parking behind, uh, really focusing a little bit more on the architectural experience, shade, because they want you not just to leave your car, go into one store, get in your car and go home, but walk around within that shopping area.

Uh campus.

Uh, you know, in interestingly, uh the civic campus for Arlington is right in downtown.

So uh while it we would consider a civic campus, a part of the campus piece.

We're talking about educational campuses, religious campuses, uh, other institutional places.

Uh, they're a little unique from their surroundings, typically integrate a lot of open space, as you can see in the picture here.

Um, and then again, uh you could have a very suburban campus all the way to in the core of pretty urban campus.

Uh employment districts, uh, so collection of work uses.

Um, and so these tend to be uh you know, larger corporate campuses, maybe a collection of uh of different companies, you know, in one location.

Uh, but it also covers our heavy industrial manufacturing warehousing as well.

So they tend to be one to three-story, pretty high vehicular volume, both in terms of employees coming and going as well as freight being accommodated in some of these places.

No housing and job density of 15 plus jobs per acre.

So you can see larger format floor plates, a little more spread out, parking and kind of circulation associated with each building within this place.

And then our transect diagram.

Well, we're seeing some new development that actually plays off of the innovation creative district piece, but in a lot of communities, it ends up being kind of when someone's reinvesting in an older industrial area.

So light industrial, live work, mixed use, commercial retail.

It's these places where people are beginning to make things, but it's not uh it doesn't have the same nuisance impacts as maybe a larger manufacturing plant would.

And so you can actually mix in some restaurants and some housing and different things within this innovation creative district place.

All right, so the last piece uh is the alternative growth scenarios.

Uh so in the gameplay, uh, we had created a bunch of framework cards, which are basically different policy directions about how Arlington could grow, and we tried to create a pretty big variety, and we categorize those in live, work, and play just to make it a little more digestible for folks and had people choose at least one, or I guess it was one in each of those categories, live, work, and play.

So what you're seeing here on the screen are uh the on the top row, those framework cards that were selected most often.

Uh second row, uh kind of the middle of the screen going left to right, are those that were commonly selected, but you know, a little kind of a step down, and then the least selected being at the bottom.

So highlighting those at the top, urban corridors and nodes was really thinking about how do we create mixed-use places, reinvest within our vehicular transportation corridors.

Suburban neighborhoods was about sort of preserving suburban neighborhoods, reinvesting to make sure that they have the amenities that they need.

Uh, neighborhood commercial hubs was this idea of creating more walkable places, maybe of even a smaller scale, uh, but commercial places, dining, restaurants, amenities, uh closer to home, uh, natural areas and passive recreation.

People wanted to ensure that with new development, uh, that we preserved uh existing parks and open space and look for opportunities to maybe even add to that.

Um, and then entertainment districts and urban plazas was a very commonly uh selected framework card, uh, which was looking at uh creating even more entertainment districts beyond the existing one that is uh exist today, obviously of a different scale, it's kind of reminder about that uh transect diagram.

It could come in a small package as well.

Um then we had the urban core and innovation districts was pretty popular, innovation zones and urban business centers, family-friendly and local recreation.

So aligning pretty well with that vision conversation that uh we talked to you about previously.

We looked at the results of the game in a lot, a lot of different ways.

Um here we're showing you know points on the map where we digitized all the results.

So where people put different game pieces, uh, we digitized that.

You can see obviously the cluster of downtown.

Interestingly, we got a couple downtown red dots, other places as an example.

Uh, but you can begin to see how people clustered.

We also looked at it through a housing and jobs lens.

So each game piece uh represented a certain number of jobs, a certain number of housing units.

Um the map on the left is showing where most housing was placed through all the different iterations of the game that were played.

Uh so you can see the concentration in downtown and the entertainment district, as well as along some of our major corridors.

Um something that jumped out to me was that the jobs density map mirrors the housing density map for the most part.

And so people are really thinking about mixed-use places, is what that tells me.

And so uh when we think about downtown, we think about the entertainment district, we think about some of our larger redevelopment areas, and we think about our corridors.

That's where people are wanting to see a mixture of housing and jobs.

So what we're rolling out this week, and you all are seeing it for the very first.

Well, you're the first people to see it, and you all are seeing it for the first time, uh, is these scenarios.

Uh, and so um in our scope of work, the approach uh to figuring out what is the preferred direction for the community is we developed three different scenarios.

The first being based on business as usual, as we called it.

Uh, so it's based on existing policy or regulation around future land use and development.

And so we translated future land use direction and previous plans, uh, zoning uh in certain cases, and other policy direction uh to the place types.

It wasn't a perfect, you know, one for one, uh so there was a little of a bit of interpretation there.

But what you're seeing on the right is a representation of uh the current policy direction for the community.

Uh if we didn't update the plan, if we didn't change zoning at all uh over the next 20 years, uh, what might it look like uh in translated uh as place types?

Uh so you can see you know, large concentrations of employment district uh on the east uh edge of Arlington.

Uh we have a couple large mixed use centers uh with the entertainment district, and then along the 20 corridor, uh you can see a lot of uh that sort of estate suburban neighborhood uh throughout with a little bit of uh urban neighborhood in East Arlington as well in southwest Arlington.

Um I won't point out each and everything here, but uh in essence what this is showing is that we come up just a little bit short in terms of the housing projections uh when we do business as usual.

So the previous direction that's been kind of developed over the last 20 years with you know minor updates, uh, we're coming up a little short in terms of accommodating the number of housing units uh that uh we are sort of planning for within this plan.

Uh so that means they're gonna go somewhere else in DFW region, most likely, or maybe even somewhere else beyond that.

Uh the other piece, or I guess just moving forward, sorry.

Um, our first alternative scenario, scenario two, uh is connected corridors.

So building on those framework uh preferences, so kind of policy preferences as well as where people were putting different game pieces.

Uh, we've developed this scenario called connected corridors.

So it organizes growth around a framework of north-south and east-west corridors that serve as the backbone of activity and movement.

Uh, really placing as much uh well, you can see the light kind of lavender uh color on here, so urban corridor.

Uh, there's a quite a bit of that on this map.

So it's re envisioning most of those larger arterials uh where we're you know doing most of our driving uh as mixed use corridors, so making them a little bit more walkable.

Not to say that people aren't gonna be driving there still, but the land use changes, the development changes along those, and with that come extra pedestrian amenities, uh placemaking amenities.

Um, and if you think about it, if you you know, using the pretty good grid that we have by urbanizing the the corridors or reinvesting in those corridors and making mixed-use places, you end up creating more places for people to walk to you know along those corridors and when they live in the neighborhoods nearby.

Our third scenario, uh second alternative scenario is urban core uh network.

So this scenario is built around a series of larger vibrant mixed-use urban corridors that are linked together by multimodal corridors.

So it uses a little bit more traditional approach along those arterial corridors.

It does not emit reimagine them uh to the same extent as sort of these mixed-use places.

Uh we would absolutely want them to be reinvested in still, uh, but it would tend to be sort of you'd have a pretty homogenous commercial section, pretty homogenous residential section along these different corridors.

Uh, and then really focusing more in those kind of purple uh mixed-use centers, so the darker purple.

So if I go back and forth, or you can flip back and forth in your packet, you can see while there were two big uh kind of mixed use centers in that uh second scenario.

We end up with I think there's seven or eight uh mixed use centers uh in the third scenario, meaning then there's fewer when we think about market demand, what we can support as with the population that's projected.

There's gonna be less uh commercial to spread around, and so you end up with less of that along the commercial corridors in essence.

Both of these alternative scenarios, scenarios two and three, uh actually far exceed the capacity uh that would be necessary uh to accommodate the projected growth.

But that's a good thing because uh it's not a perfect system.

Uh we have private property ownership, we can't expect everyone to reinvest in their property or to sell their property, and so there's a certain factor that you want to account for where people do want to invest, that they do want to make real estate transactions and reinvest.

And certain individuals, certain uh maybe places even, um, that's gonna be much more modest in terms of the change that we would see.

So it's a good thing to actually sort of overshoot a little bit on the capacity number.

Okay, I've I've talked quickly, I said a lot, um, covered three huge topics, um, but whatever remaining time we have and you can afford, uh, we would love to hear your questions, comments.

Um, but whatever remaining time we have and you can afford, uh, we would love to hear your questions, comments.

Uh please put your stamp on this.

Uh, we're gonna get uh community input over the next couple of days as well as student committee input, but we really value your all's input very much.

I guess you know, one of the things that happened in Arlington a long time ago is we designated a the I-20 corridor as a high technology corridor, and for years that's what the city wanted.

Well, that's not what the market wanted, right?

So it ended up not happening.

And and my question is, you know, I think it's important to have an idea about what you want, and especially when you want to guarantee quality, right?

And avoid, you know, a Houston situation where you have a lean to against a next to a multi-million dollar project, you know, it's it that's not what we want.

We want to have a plan.

But how does your project and analysis, because I participated in one of the games, and people want certain things, right?

Absolutely.

But a lot of times sometimes there's a disconnect between what people want and what the marketplace can support or what is realistically possible.

How does your method of analysis correct for those kind of disconnects and account for private market forces that may see a piece of property worth more as something else other than what in our ideal scenario we would want it to be?

I mean, because obviously you want to be within the realm of the possible.

You you can't, you know, you can't stop progress, but sometimes you can help shape it, right?

And I think we're humble enough to know that that we can't necessarily wave a wand and get whatever we want, but we can always play a role in shaping.

So, how do you account for perhaps unrealistic expectations by game players and address commercial market trends uh going forward?

You know, like one of the things we're starting to see is grocery stores aren't as big anymore, with exceptions of HEB, uh, because people are getting more groceries delivered, you know, that sort of thing.

How do y'all incorporate that into your analysis?

Yeah, great, great question.

Thank you.

Um, it's a multi-part answer.

Uh, first I'd say it goes back to the place type piece.

Um, and for a couple different reasons.

One, a traditional land use, future land use map would do there are mixed use designations typically, but for the most part, it's designating as particular land use on a particular parcel, uh, which to your point that assumes that you're getting it just right across the entire city, and that you are anticipating the market and have a magic ball and they're getting it just right.

And so place types provide flexibility even within even within the employment uh employment district, forgetting the name off the top of my head, sorry.

But even within our employment district place type, as well as a suburban estate uh residential place type, which are pretty homogenous, we're still uh we're building in some flexibility of some different uses within that, um, including you know, this recent state bills and all that sort of thing.

Um importantly, the we didn't launch the game on in the first month of the project.

We had done a lot of research already.

And so the framework cards, the numbers behind the game, the number of game pieces available of different types, um, actually were informed by market research that we had already done.

Um, and so that was another major component.

So we wanted to it did it's not perfect, but we wanted to at least diminish the um that instance that you're talking about where you know people envision something and it's just totally infeasible.

So we tried to put some parameters around that.

And then I guess the the last piece I'd say around that is moving forward, we are gonna be doing a market analysis and a fiscal analysis of the preferred scenario.

So as we could get input on these scenarios, uh, we will be doing a fiscal analysis uh to look at what is the projected cost to serve uh you know, that built-out city as well as the revenue associated with that to make sure that's right side up.

Um, but I think the a key piece of this is articulating the vision, like it's layers.

There's a vision elements, there's goals, there's the policies, and there's a map that goes with that.

Any one of those could be you know, tweaked, and particularly the map as you get more and more detailed, as long as it's in line with the vision elements, as long as it's in line with what the community is articulated in terms of their goals.

And so no plan we've ever created is perfect on day one.

Uh it requires amendments, it requires massaging or requires massaging.

And the last thing I'll say is you know, you're gonna want to update the plan, and hopefully it's minor updates, but to reflect certain things that are unanticipated.

I think in the very first meeting I had with you all, we talked about like Uber and Lyft and TNCs.

Uh there was work done that that I was involved in in Denver before that even became a thing, and then you know, five years later, is like, oh what what were we even thinking about?

So there's gonna be technology changes, there's gonna be consumer preference changes.

Uh so we want to make those we're providing direction, but building in flexibility.

Yeah, and I I think one of the things I see alignment between what we want or where the market is going among people who play the game, is multi-use.

You know, it seems like that's commercial market wants that, and that's what our people want.

Would you agree?

Yeah, absolutely.

Now, on the flip side of that, what's the biggest disconnect between what Arlington people participated want and what reality is?

I mean, one of the ones is that some people are, you know, always tell me, well, we shouldn't allow any houses in Arlington to be built less that they aren't worth less than a million dollars.

You know, that's unrealistic, right?

And I don't think that's what people would would say, but is there an example of where there was a disconnect?

Because maybe that reflects a messaging issue on our end, you know.

I think the most I wouldn't say it's not doable, but I think the most challenging piece, honestly, and part that we're gonna really have to kind of be thoughtful about and build out through the policy work and that fiscal piece that I was talking about is the addition of amenities to places that people don't want to change.

So existing neighborhoods, for instance, or even existing commercial areas, but existing neighborhoods is probably the best example.

They don't want that area to change in terms of price points, in terms of the houses themselves.

Um, but they want new parks, they want sidewalks, they want investment.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, we we see we got a lot of pushback at one point.

One of when we had a discussion about missing middle housing, it was very clear that single family neighborhoods don't want any of that.

Yeah, however, you know, the financial um heft that it takes to build the amenities you're talking about sometimes requires higher value development at a greater density level.

Is that kind of what you're talking about?

Yep, exactly.

Okay.

And then uh John was just reminding me that we did hear a lot of support both in the visioning phase, but also through gameplay around mass transit specifically.

Um so um, like people thinking about trains and um I don't know, but more traditional uh mass transit.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Any other Rebecca?

Thank you.

Um thank you for this.

This is very comprehensive.

There's a lot to lot to digest here.

Um just just briefly, when I looked through your um your place types, the urban neighborhood didn't seem to be as fleshed out as I hoped it would be, especially the aerial view that you're showing here.

Uh and the and the place that you're citing, which is Watermill Drive and South Lake.

I think there are better examples, and I'd like you to maybe look at that.

One of them here in Arlington is called Graham Square, which is a semi-um urban neighborhood that could be replicated quite easily elsewhere in Arlington.

Um, the other thing on your um on your um typical housings, um, did you consider um courtyard blocks and point access blocks and chains related to that, or even in terms of the gram square that I mentioned, even though that's pretty low density, um that would be courtyard blocks in a chain.

Yeah, um, is that a housing type that we looked at, or is that anything that we yeah, so the um I think it might just be a different terminology, uh cottage clusters is what we're doing.

Well, cottage clusters are more freestanding, I think.

Uh at least the way we oh I see, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

We could we can make sure that that's incorporated.

Uh it's envisioned in my vision, it is incorporated, so I think we just need to articulate it.

Right.

So cottage clusters could be part of that if it were a little higher density, but the way we have envisioned it in our ordinance, it isn't.

So um, yeah, and then oh, let's see.

My other note.

Um, and your urban corridor, uh, again, I think maybe some of your examples in Plano are not really what I had hoped to envision for urban corridors at least, and a better example would be like Rosedale Avenue in Fort Worth or then what's emerging along Rosedale in terms of urban corridors, in my view, but just take a look at that and take and see what you think, especially for corridors like Cooper Division, Collins, yeah, a little bit more urbane with the with a boulevard and uh mixed uses along both sides.

Um maybe that's a better example.

Okay.

So just great.

I'll definitely take a look.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Uh, but overall, yeah, I'm really really pleased.

This is great.

Great work.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Dr.

Odom Winesley.

Yes, I would also add my appreciation for all of this information and the in-depth study that you're doing.

Are you able to identify the uh sources of your input and compare uh, for example, generational differences?

Do we know what the millennials want as compared to the baby boomers in that participated in in the process?

Can you identify that kind of information?

I'm gonna ask John phone a friend, yeah.

Thanks.

So back in phase one, we had an online survey where we did ask uh participants to provide uh optional uh demographic data, and what we saw um is is and Jay can certainly correct me if I'm wrong, is that cross-generationally walkability, that mixed use life cycle or uh lifestyle was what everyone wanted.

Uh we also saw that at different places in Arlington where we did in-person uh workshops, Benton, uh the active opening uh ceremony when we were there, as well as here at UTA, very similar responses across uh all of the vision boards that we had in front of those groups.

I think I'd like to see some of that information as we go forward.

So make sure that we're responding to the generations of the future and um and not the uh uh I guess resistance to change that you might see among the baby boomers like me.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

Mr.

Gonzalez.

Um I appreciate the hard work on this, and I agree with this, Odin Wesley, because that's a future.

That's we want those young people to stay here and raise their families.

Yeah, all of us are already here, so we know it, but I I think it's essential.

You know, why do they leave Arlington?

And I think their input is is more critical than anything else.

So anything we can do to get more, get in that, but I I I like Ms.

Barbara Odin Wesley's comment on that, so it's important.

Yeah.

Interestingly, there's a uh keeping people in Arlington component and young people in particular.

Um there's also attracting people, right?

Like as the region grows.

That's true.

Um where are they deciding to locate, whether it's starting a business or where they're gonna live.

And so yeah, I I totally agree with you.

Go ahead, John.

Um, on that note, I've been speaking with Dr.

Roop Mana at the UTA at UTA, um, and we're trying to figure out a way to actually survey UTA students, maybe a part of graduation, uh, as they've really thought about where they're going to understand why did you choose that destination if it's not Arlington or why did you choose to stay here?

Because we certainly don't want to, you know, change what is already a strength uh necessarily.

So uh we'll continue to work, you know, on with UTA on trying to figure out how we can survey graduates and understanding that exactly.

Yeah, that would be an insightful for sure.

I mean, that says a lot right there.

That'd be cool to do every year, actually.

Okay.

Well, John and Jay, thank you both.

Thank you so much.

We really appreciate it.

We'll move on down the three-point two council priority grow our economy.

We have Mr.

Weeder and Mr.

Garcia.

Thank you, Mayor and Council Marty Weeder.

I'm executive director of the Arlington Economic Development Corporation.

Gus Garcia is with me, and I would uh point to his team and my team working very closely together and what we're gonna present to you today.

It's uh it's time to come back as we do from time to time and give you a quarterly update on your priority, which in this case in particular is invest in our economy.

And so we'll take you through a few slides and certainly be here to address any questions.

And I may do like Jay and phone a friend if I need to, as you have questions.

The the big thing I would stress as we jump into this whole thought of growing our economy is what what I would circle here when you watch other communities in North Texas and the things they're doing is that a big part of our work is gonna continue to be redevelopment.

And consistent with what you heard here in the presentation uh prior to this, you know, that's that's uh that's a little different animal.

I think the the good thing uh that you also know as you hear from us every meeting, we stay in constant contact uh with and communication with brokers and developers and others to make sure we're listening to the market and trying to to uh assist them as they're coming forward.

When you when you think about our business plan, uh the one thing I would I would point to related to all that is that we're trying to respond not only, as I mentioned to the brokers and developers, we've created a new program called uh the uh Arlington Development Network or DevNet, just pushed out this past week.

Uh Arlington Development News, Dev News, uh an e uh newsletter that Teresa Burnett and her team did.

Uh but we've also seen the work that has been done on communication receive awards.

You may know that uh that the uh three CMA called out, as did the state, our new website, the Theresa Burnett and the communications team work together, and we've since gotten another award from the International Economic Development Council.

You know, communications happening, the meetings with the development community is happening.

You've been at the groundbreaking, and and as council member Peel mentioned, the realm of the possible to think that uh, yes, we don't maybe we didn't realize exactly what the Arlington High Technology Development Council envisioned decades ago for I-20, but now some of that is happening at the Arlington Municipal Airport with eSpace and that groundbreaking.

And then we're also kind of pushing things, and I might I might mention as it relates to the previous discussion in the market.

The one thing we do have that's of benefit, of course, is having the economic development corporation having that quarter cent, and to where we can indirectly or directly begin to maybe steer projects by having those revenues.

One area where we've done that, uh, and uh where I think you're gonna realize some big benefit is this whole uh restoration of the Japan Texas economic summit.

I had the privilege of attending uh with one of our board members, their big annual meeting here a few weeks ago, and I have to tell you, they fell over themselves thanking Arlington, applauding, and I said I would carry the message back to our council, and I can't wait to tell my board of directors too, of how pleased they are that uh you guys had the policy leadership and wisdom to step out and say, yes, let's partner with Steve Sakanashi and a beam on uh bringing this back.

It'll happen in May on the 11th through the 13th, and then again we'll come back in 2027 and in 2028.

The first version will be uh at Live by Lowe's.

After that, it'll be uh, of course, at the Lowe's Arlington Hotel and Convention Center.

So we're we're taking that business plan and trying to push the edges a little bit, and in particular uh play off the strategic plan that the city has too for economic development purposes.

There's that word transformational redevelopment coming up again.

Uh and the things there's other things as as you can imagine, we're teaming with other departments.

That that item about infrastructure upgrades and key uh commercial areas is what positions us to be able to do more of that redevelopment.

The uh the global connection, the foreign direct investment.

We've made presentations to you, and I've I've kind of stressed to the team, the the crawl walk run aspect.

There's all kinds of people that are coming to us asking about Arlington from a foreign side.

Uh, in addition to that Japan Texas economic summit, we've got uh uh somebody that was uh that's gonna be here these days right now, this BSR Korea.

There's a UK Texas tour that's coming up at this moment.

We had uh a group known as Q Branch and their company Japanese company cohort here last Tuesday that we hosted that they were driving through the city and work at UTA in some presentations and thinking about where they might could locate.

For that matter, we had a another delegation from Aichi.

You'll recall we had the that prefecture's governor come through and tour ATT.

Well, he sent back a whole delegation, and they went through there and met with us last Friday.

Uh we've had this Danish uh alliance through the European chamber asking, we've we've got a lot of interest.

I think we've got to continue to hone that and make sure we bring you the most tailored for our businesses.

We can't be uh all things to all people, so we want to make sure and tailor that to the types of businesses that are in our strategic plan.

So glad to see that happening.

Uh glad to see uh the focus on business retention and expansion and to uh to play off of the strategic solutions funds restoration with TMAC, Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center, uh, to now create these business innovation and research development matching funds programs as the federal government kind of rests theirs.

We're gonna we already recommend it, and y'all approve that for the economic development corporation to provide some of that so that hopefully as that gets restored, we're in a better position to uh continue that Lyft Fund program, which has been successful, and we'll be presenting more to you on that.

Several people have come forward and take advantage of that.

We keep doing industry specific small business training, just did one on communication on construction industry that you're gonna be hearing more about.

We'll have a proclamation coming forward to recognize some of our partners in that in the coming weeks.

Uh and then that marketing that I made mention to you about.

Let's talk about the business plan, just so you can see that.

We're thrilled that most everything is on track.

We will tell you that with Mosey, we're having to work with them on compliance.

We'll be coming back and talking with you some more on them.

I think the big thing for them is they're focusing so entirely on growing their business and getting exposure.

They were just recently featured in DCEO magazine.

They listed that they're in Arlington.

They're kind of working that plan, and we're having to say, hey, let's let's make sure we cross over T's and dot our I's on what you need to do here first.

And then uh when it comes to the scorecard, we're pleased that most all of this is in green, but I do want to make reference to what you see there on leads to prospects, prospects to approved projects, and approved project to executed agreement.

One of the things we've seen in this year is that uh the year started off with a lot of caution on the part of the different prospects we've communicated with uh because of the unknown associated with tariffs.

And so most all of them kind of tapped the brakes, if not hit the brakes, and said they wanted to wait and see what would happen there.

And I think the the best news we could share is that that's perhaps not impacted them as negatively as they feared.

And so some of these are starting to shake loose.

I'll tell you about a few here in just a minute that we like.

Uh and then for that matter, interest rates.

And now with the Federal Reserve having reduced rates again here just a few weeks ago.

Uh we think we think there's a real opportunity for some of these projects that have been slow to come forward to maybe pick back up and get established.

What I'd point you to is our communications with the brokers and the folks with Pro Lodges.

Uh a couple of tenants we were working with, uh, in particular, you know, about Cummings Electrical and their integrated manufacturing facility that came in, some others that work with them, they themselves and a few others are talking about leases, and we anticipate that center being conceivably could be full in the coming months.

And jobs they're estimating to us of 150 to 180 in addition that'll put them closer to the target that you guys ask for in helping Pro Lodges build that uh I-20 park that they put in place.

You know, that that's good news that we see some people willing to come and invest.

And and in all those, they're not really asking us for incentives, they're recognizing you've already incentivized that.

So that's good news.

Let me uh before we close out, tell you a little bit about some upcoming projects and initiatives.

So you see four areas in particular where Gus and his team and my economic development corporation staff are paying a good deal of attention to.

Uh Christy Goodman Duke has been uh teaming with Jay's team and and his shop in talking about and and for that matter with the uh Arlington Convention and Visitors Bureau with uh Brent Derod, because Brent worked with film uh at before he came to Arlington when he was in Arizona.

That we we can see some opportunity for us to kind of team and work together and and take advantage of some of the things uh that are happening with film.

There was a shoot that just took place at uh Global Field the other day with with ESPN.

We think there can be more of that, and we want to foster that.

So you can see that's an area we're gonna continue to pay some attention to.

Uh the the downtown to uh to leverage TURS number one and uh and be a part of some of the things uh to to continue to see that activity there.

We it'll continue to be a focus for us on the international corridor and with TURS number seven to support the sister cities program to uh to foster that continued development of Benton Plaza and uh and look into other some other new bill projects and certainly to position ourselves to capitalize on what happens with FIFA and and that Japan Texas summit that will lead into FIFA, kind of squeezed in uh with the Grand Prix of Arlington.

And then on innovation, and and I'd already referenced the SBIR SDTR programs, uh Hayden Blackburn of of my team and and uh with Kay Brown Patrick working very closely and trying to not only push that but work in tandem with uh TMAC, the Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center, and uh to continue to to see how we can do some matching grant programs to uh foster more of that as we can in the in the months to come.

I realize y'all y'all may have questions, and we'd be glad.

Gus and I both and our teams that are here would be glad to respond to anything you've got related to what I've shared.

Anything from council, Mr.

Gonzalez?

I don't have any questions, but I I just want to thank you all.

I mean, uh what a difference it has been with the new teams coming in.

It's exciting to be part of this.

So I just want to thank you all for working so hard and doing what uh what's best for the city and uh does not go unnoticed.

So thank you.

Thank you.

That means the world.

Mr.

Galante.

Thank you, Marty, and your team.

Uh teams of superstars, thank you so much for everything.

Um question here on on leads to prospects.

We we kind of uh if you go back there, good numbers on it.

Yes.

We on track to uh uh to reach the target for 2025, and then uh trail a little behind on prospects to approve projects.

Right.

So what what in your opinion, what happens from uh from leads to prospects uh for those prompts to get approved?

What is the the missing part over there that you think that on our end we can change and get more uh uh approved projects from prospects?

A couple of things.

Uh and I appreciate your question.

I think what I addressed earlier about the impact of tariffs and the impact too of interest rates, um, with with others seeing that the tariffs are perhaps not haven't been, they've been renegotiated, they haven't quite, at least on building materials, uh I think it somewhat created a fear of the unknown, uh, which any time there's uncertainty, businesses go time out.

No, thank you.

I think that will help.

Uh we stay in constant contact with the prospects to approve projects, would tell you that uh, you know, that the one thing I do like is the the fact that we've seen, even in spite of having fewer projects perhaps than we thought we'd realize, we still exceeded the capital investment fund pretty substantially, and then saw the the FTE jobs increase.

So we still got the benefit, even though there's fewer projects.

I will tell you, and this is something Gus and I discussed related to this, and if you want to log in, Gus, feel free.

But we've also tried to make sure, and the EDC board has really pushed this.

We've had some others that have come in with jobs that aren't necessarily of the type perhaps you would want to see of the of the uh the salaries and the the capital investment, the capex.

Um and so we've we've in certain cases kind of uh maybe not pursued them as hard simply because it's not going to create new wealth of the type that the strategic plan you adopted called out.

Does that make sense that you know we we want to be selective?

The EDC board has even uh been very targeted in a couple of discussions and said, is this really the type of employment we want to see when somebody brings forward?

We bring forward anybody who makes application and asks for discussion and consideration.

Uh we just want to make sure we're realizing the types of employees and the job uh the salaries, the benefits that we think y'all would want to see.

Gus, is that is that not on track with what we're yeah, I agree.

I just uh I'll just reiterate what Marty said.

We've we have visited with multiple site selectors um to talk a little bit about this phenomenon that we're seeing.

And uh Marty was spot on that we get a lot of companies we speak to that would consider it to be a lead, but because of the financial situation, the uncertainty in the market, the tariffs, the financial markets, the capital markets, things like that.

They're really not ready to make that jump and go forward, right?

Uh so we see it.

Uh site selectors are seeing it.

There's other talks about the HB1 visa uh discussion about fees for that.

So there's just a lot of you know ebbs and turmoil right now, what's happening with that, and of course the financial markets.

I think that this council has seen a lot of that in some of the projects we see, they're seeing it as well.

So, you know, it doesn't mean we're not gonna stop pushing and stop talking to these leads as they come along.

It just shows that we're pushing and pursuing them, but that they might not necessarily be ready to jump, right?

We're hoping that with lower interest rates, like Marty mentioned, and some certainty and stability in the market that that will change.

Uh but it doesn't stop us from continuing to pursue them.

So I think we see a that's a big part of it, just the uncertainty in the market.

All right, thank you.

Let me follow up real quick.

Please.

Do you see uh for those projects that you consider uh completed?

Uh do you see, do you follow up with those companies and uh if they are expanding uh the education uh offerings that we have in the city, you know, uh professional education, not only UTA, but uh uh technicals.

Uh are they attending the city is attending the needs of those companies after they uh uh after they finish the headquarters here, they installed the co the corporate here.

Are they are they doing need for more education?

And what are you guys doing to connect the education uh um uh uh system to the to the industry?

I can I can give one illustration real quick if you want, Gus, and that that was in particular uh when when we had Greg Weiler here and had the groundbreaking for for eSpace.

Uh they actually had we had just the week before gotten uh the dean of engineering and Gwen Sisto from eSpace together.

Gwyn went to a job fair that the engineering department had, ended up hiring six interns and two other employees.

So they you know they've seen a direct benefit.

We were trying to get them together.

It's kind of a thing where I think uh it wasn't until the project got under construction that maybe things seemed a little more real in that way.

I do know uh Cummings integrated manufacturing.

We we made them aware uh that you know, not only are you in close proximity to UTA, but a lot of the employees they hire are more like electric uh electrician apprentices and that maybe they could tie into the Dan Dypert career in technology high school being in such close proximity.

Uh we are having a follow-up meeting with uh Andy Baume here in the next few weeks with his staff and continue to talk with them about how we can integrate them in.

Uh the Terrant County College Southeast Campus doesn't directly have as many things that related to manufacturing, but they do on business services.

So we see where we might can integrate them in on some of those types of of businesses that continue to grow too.

Uh I I think they're meeting the needs of the the the workforce, and that's one of the strongest things we have seen in this market, particularly of where we're located.

Uh the people that continue to talk to us about wanting to take a look at possibly coming here, like the fact that not only do we have an equated workforce, but there's people in close proximity.

If it's not met directly in Arlington, there's there's others nearby who can get here.

Yep.

So it is on your playbook to do that interface between uh the the workforce in in the the companies that are coming to Arlington, right?

No question.

And I would tell you today, it you know, I don't know if you're aware, but uh workforce solutions of Terrant County are out at Globe Life Field right now, have been out there all day long doing a uh a job fair.

So that it's it's nice to have you know there's there's some added benefits to having these major stadiums in your city because others recognize why don't I come and take it part of that?

And that's that's part of what workforce solutions has taken advantage of on a regular basis.

Thank you.

And I think it benefits us too.

Yeah, I might one of the things related to all this, just as a side note, and the mayor and I were talking about this.

There's somebody we're gonna be it's been talking, somebody's been talking to him and me of late that's kind of like Greg Weiler playing a longer game and looking at how they can set up shop, perhaps, want to be here in Arlington.

I think there's others.

It doesn't move maybe quite to the speed.

You've seen how long that one's taken to come into fruition.

Some of these top level, higher level of advanced technology or deep tech type businesses aren't aren't happening quite as quickly, but I can guarantee you they're still showing interest.

Um other questions, Mr.

Gonzalez.

I I like the way you tied into the innovative uh innovate Arlington when we said, hey, we need to survey the students.

I mean, seeing the jobs that we're bringing in for these students to stay here, I think that's critical.

I mean, like you said, we're being picky on what who's coming in.

It's important.

In fact, when I go talk to students all the time at UTA, I said, we don't want to bring the Amazons, we don't bring that.

We need jobs that you can stay here and raise your family.

So I I think I like hearing what you're doing and what they're doing if we work together.

I mean, it's just it just makes I mean, Marty, I mean, I'm one of those guys, I stayed here, you know.

I know that's from El Paso, and that's what I want.

I want people to raise their families here.

So it'll be great.

That's kind of the driving energy on all this, and I loved what you heard Jay and John mentioned previous, because yes, not only do we survey, maybe we start asking those students while they're here when they're coming in as freshmen, not just when they're leaving, what do you want to see when you get out?

How can we be what you want?

And and I think the jobs are a big part of that.

Mr.

Pham.

Well, um I first want to say uh um uh Mr.

Gus Garcia.

And uh I know that uh he have two jobs.

He's uh directed the EDO and also co-compliant and Cindy Tech over co-compliant, he's done a great job.

And he staff do a one foot job.

I used the uh the ass auditing app quite a bit, and they always come true for me.

So uh I want to thank you, uh Gus and your your staff and and your co-compliant officer, and please go telling them that uh we all appreciate all the hard work and uh and the dedication to make sure you owe me those names and make sure I get that okay.

So uh we're gonna do something for them.

And I I do appreciate uh all you do for the uh resident and uh decision of Arlington.

Thank you, sir.

Anybody else?

Okay, thanks, guys.

Let's move on down the 4.1 to discuss committee meetings.

Uh I think we only had one today, Ms.

Boxel.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I reported out a community and neighborhood development committee meeting in uh it was in an executive session.

Thank you, ma'am.

Uh appointments to boards and commissions, Mr.

Buskin.

Anything this evening?

No, sir.

No appointments this evening.

Okay.

Uh Mr.

Hogg isn't able to be here today to talk about his uh North Tent North Central Texas Council of Governments executive board evening agenda items.

Anyone have anything for this evening?

Yes, Dr.

Odom Wesley.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh I've got a couple.

I've got uh seven one seven point one nine marked seven nineteen, that's the downtown Arlington farmers market.

Uh just wanted to hear additional explanation about the expansion.

It sounds like we're going year-round, and we're also going to expand the footprint so that it's larger, and we're gonna go from seven to four on Saturdays now.

Is that is that right?

Anyone here from the farmers market?

Um I think we'll need to get someone from planning here if it was Gin C or Jonathan.

Um we'll we'll find them and uh get you a follow-up here in just a second.

Okay, let me go on to 7.2, and that's the FIFA World Cup, the event permit.

So I don't know.

Do we have somebody here to answer the question?

Okay.

So is is this saying that during the World Cup, and I guess that's I don't know, 10 days?

I don't know how long this is.

A month, um we're out of order now.

Farmers market.

Oh, farmers market.

Sorry about that.

Okay, um just wanted to make sure I was clear on what what we're doing in 7.19.

Yes, this is the uh middle license agreement with the four seasons group that administers the downtown farmers market.

This would amend the license agreement to allow them to operate year-round as well as to um uh provide administrative abilities for us to review an expanded footprint uh on a permit basis uh so that they can continue to grow uh based on their the market demand.

And then we also expand the hours seven to four, is that right?

Currently, seven to four is what they is the um the time that they have available to be to have access to the space.

Generally, the market will continue to operate from 9 a.m.

to 2 p.m.

with uh some changes depending on uh summer hours and the heat and so the numbers that we've seen support this kind of growth, yes, uh as well as the community input that um the downtown Arlington Management Corporation surveyed uh at one of the farmers markets.

Sounds great.

We're excited.

Thank you.

Okay, and I was asking about the World Cup comments.

You can handle uh the World Cup item there, 7.20.

So it sounds like during the time of the World Cup, no other events are allowed in this in this area with the streets that's identified as let's see, Lamar Center Division and Bar Park Way.

Um that time period includes the Fourth of July parade.

I guess that was my question mark.

Are we gonna be able to have the Fourth of July parade?

And what uh what else are we preempting?

So the Fourth of July parade is not within the boundaries that that are specified, and this is the area that's close to the stadium, and it's so the day before and the day of the matches.

This is be done to ensure that we don't have um our public safety uh resources really stretched beyond their capacity.

The World Cup is gonna have such a large uh need um to um you know to to cover the public safety needs that are there, and then also the rest of the city.

So just by taking out the temporary and the special events within that space on those particular days, we're going to to um to limit that and hopefully you know allow our public safety resources to cover it adequately.

But the fourth of July parade is downtown that's not in the area, and it's also not um, I don't believe it's on one of the days that's of concern, but there's there's no concern with the parade happening.

Okay.

Do we have other traditional events that routinely occur occur, occur during that time frame in that in that area that would be impacted?

Um not in that area that I am aware of that would be impacted.

But we'll we'll certainly work with all those folks who are you know have the concerns, we'll explain it to them, but but we don't uh we're just this is to in order to preserve the public safety capacity to cover the World Cup and the rest of the city.

Uh, we're just this is to in order to preserve the public safety capacity to cover the World Cup and the rest of the city.

And I'm sure we have a communication plan to let our residents know.

Yes, ma'am.

We have a lot of okay.

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That's all I have, Mayor.

Thank you.

Anyone else on the evening agenda items?

Issues related to city or tech stop projects.

Future agenda items.

I know right where your mind's going, Mr.

Fam.

That's why we're gonna move on.

All right, with that, uh, the afternoon session is adjourned.

We'll see everybody downstairs at 6 30, the condado and hospitals.

And Arlington trabajes for aliviar to carga fiscal.

Ofrecemos las generas permitidas for el Estado, includo un congelamento de impuestos for adultos mayores, lo que ha ahorrado millions de dollars tourns mayores cada año.

Esa es una pieza significativa de alivio financiero para quienes ayudaron a construir nuestra city.

But a veces el rompecabezas is complicated.

Examinando minuciosamente cada servicio, program and gasto para encontrar solutions.

In algunos casos, las tarifas aumentan ligeramente para cobrar gastos, como un aumento in el precio del servicio Arlington on Demand.

Estamos uniendo las piezas contigo y para ti.

Hello, folks, Mayor Jim Ross here, and welcome to another exciting episode of Explore Arlington.

I'm out here at the Parks Mall, and if you can't tell, I'm next to the ice rink.

With me today is a friend of mine, Chuck Buke, the general manager of the ice rink.

Chuck, come on in here.

How are you doing today?

Good, how are you, Mayor?

I'm doing good.

I'm a little bit worried now.

Although I grew up in Detroit, I ice skated as a young kid.

It's been well over 40 years, and I don't know if my big bird legs can keep my body up on this stuff.

Tell me what's going on out here at this ice rink.

Right now we have public skating.

So anybody that wants to come skate can come in and skate.

We usually do that during the day and then into the evenings we have youth hockey, adult hockey, we have learn to skate classes.

We have a whole gambit of stuff that we do.

If it's good on ice, we're probably doing it.

All right, well, let's get over here, get some skates on.

Let's see what we can do.

Folks, pray for me, would you please?

We'll see you in just a second.

All right, we're gonna get you out of here and see what you've got.

We're gonna go from there just for safety tips again for since it's been a while.

Hand on the rail, hand on the rail, step a little bit wide, come out, and then bring this hand out.

Just coming out slowly.

You feel that?

This ice is slippier than I remember.

Oh, this coast club engine.

Okay.

It has been a long time.

That's okay.

That's okay.

Caroline, thank you so much for all your effort in teaching this old dog some long learned tricks.

Obviously, it's not like riding a bike.

I can't just get back out here and do this.

I need a lot more practice and you need a lot more time to train somebody like me.

You were great.

I didn't fall.

You didn't fall.

But I didn't get away from the wall either.

You did better than most.

Thank you so much.

What I'm gonna do now is I'm gonna see if Chuck can find something a little bit more suited for my lack of athletic ability.

Okay.

Chuck, what do you got for me, bro?

Mayor, we got something that you can do over here where you just have to sit down.

Oh, that's my sport right there.

Just like the office.

That's my sport.