Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Dr.

Ignacio Nunez.

I serve as chair of the Planning and Zoning Commission.

Of the City of Arlington.

I hereby call this regularly noticed meeting of the City of Arlington's Planning and Zoning Commission regular session to order for September the third, 2025.

At this time, I'll ask our administrator to read the speaker guidelines and general decorum.

We ask that the citizens and other visitors in attendance assist in preserving the order and decorum of this meeting and to provide for attendance at and participation in the meeting without fear of intimidation, threats, or hostility.

Any person making personal, profane, hostile, slanderous or threatening remarks, who uses vulgar or obscene language, who engages in any other actions that disturb or are calculated to disturb the meeting, or who becomes disruptive while addressing the planning and zoning commissioners, or while attending the planning and zoning meeting may be removed from the council chambers.

All speakers may excuse me, all speakers shall address the commissioners and not the audience or city staff and shall not call out individually named members of city staff or the public.

For speakers tonight, when your name is called, please come to the microphone at the podium and state your name and city of residence for the record.

The applicant will be asked to speak first and will be given 10 minutes to make a presentation.

Speakers in support or opposition of the item will be given five minutes each to make their statements.

If there are many speakers for an item, each speaker will be given three minutes to make their statements.

The applicant will then be given five minutes for any rebuttal.

If multiple speakers plan to provide the same or similar comments, those speakers may, if they so should if they so desire, designate one or more individuals to provide public comment on behalf of the group.

A bell will signal the end of each speaker's time.

In consideration of other speakers, please conclude your comments promptly when you hear the bell.

We ask that you address your comments to the planning and zoning commissioners.

Thank you very much.

Ladies and gentlemen, tonight I'm going to ref uh reverse the order of the cases that are being discussed tonight.

Oh, I'm sorry, thank you.

But I want to give you that warning.

Um that we're going to reverse the order.

A copy of the minutes of August 20th, 2025 regular session meeting were sent to all the commissioners in advance.

Were there any changes or corrections needed to the minutes?

Do I have a motion to approve the minutes?

I have a motion to approve by Commissioner Winkles and a second by Commissioner Finlay.

Cast your vote.

Motion passes nine to nothing.

Now uh we have uh another motion to approve minutes.

This is the minutes of the July 16th, 2025 planning and zoning regular session meeting.

The corrected July the 16th, 2025 regular session agenda meeting minutes were sent to all the commissioners in advance.

Were there any changes or corrections needed to the minutes from July the 16th?

If there are none, we have a motion to approve by Commissioner Blake and a second by Commissioner Ware.

Cast your vote.

Motion passes nine to nothing.

So we're going to start off with um zoning case ZA 25-3, located at approximately 1225 California Lane.

This is an application for approval of a change in zoning from landmark preservation overlay plan development to light industrial with a reduction in the landmark preservation overlay.

At this time, I'll call on staff to present its report.

Good evening, commissioners.

For the record, Alex Van Amberg Planner, Planning and Development Services.

Tonight presenting uh 1225 California Lane, approximately 0.476 acres.

Uh current zoning is landmark preservation, uh planned development for light industrial uses.

The request is a straight zoning to light industrial and reducing the LPO area.

Site is located uh north of California Lane.

Surrounding area consists of multifamily to the south, um, light industrial uses to the east and to the north of the property, and the property to the west is zoned commercial.

However, there's a single family home and it is used for residential.

Here's an image of the front of the site.

A little history on the site.

Um, in 1996, an application was approved to change the zoning to a PD for light industrial uses.

Uh the landmark preservation overlay was also added at this time to the entire parcel.

Uh we have had a meeting with the landmark preservation committee on June 12th.

Uh they reviewed the request to remove the entire LPO from the site.

Um they voted to recommend keeping it.

Uh, this case was heard at a previous PNZ meeting, and they are now coming back with just a reduction in the LPO instead of a complete removal.

So the zoning request for light industrial uh essentially would remove the PD designation.

Uh the light industrial zoning use would fit with their uh site use of research and development and manufacturing of medical devices.

All feature development on the site would have to comply with UDC standards for the light industrial zoning district.

Uh, this would include uh screening and buffering for many residential uses, uh, landscape requirements, etc.

The request is to reduce the LPO to include only uh portion of the lot that contains the house.

Um the this would cause the historic home to be preserved, uh, but allow the rear portion of the lot to be developed without needing to go through approval and review by the landmark preservation committee.

Uh when working with the applicant, um staff has kind of come up with this overlay uh to recommend uh the boundary would extend from the rear of the house all the way to uh the front property line, and then from the west side of the house to the east property line.

This boundary ensures that the house is preserved and also the residential character of the front yard is preserved.

Uh the official meets and bounds of the modified overlay will be provided before the city council meeting.

Here's a list of itemized uses that are allowed in the light industrial zoning.

And coordination with other plans, um, the comprehensive plan does define this area as established residential.

Uh the light industrial designation does not align with the long-term land use goals.

However, uh long-range planning in evaluating comprehensive plan strategies, they do acknowledge the presence of the existing industrial uses surrounding this property.

The applicant and owner is Lai Ping Teng, and staff is available for any questions.

Thank you.

I'll open the public hearing.

Yeah, thank you.

This time I will open the public hearing and call the first speaker.

Well, when the first speaker comes up, please tell us your name.

The city that you live in, do not give your address as our rules have changed.

Sir.

Okay.

And your name and your city.

Yes, um, my name is Lipin Talon.

And uh City, Artington, Texas.

And good evening, uh commissioner, and nice to see you again.

And uh my family and I live in Ardington for the past 25 years.

And my daytime job is uh professor of the uh bioengineering at UTA.

And I'm also the co-owner of the Progenitech Inc.

And uh so this property we are going to talk about it is going to be the home of the Progenitech Inc.

So the company is a developed tool um developed the pattern technology uh to create a disposable and paper-based device for chronic wound diagnosis.

And the device only use AFDA approved and non-toxic ingredient that will be sold and use in the womb clinics and uh to provide quick wound diagnosis.

At this stage, we need a permanent home and capable of the supporting of the band's research development and student small scale production.

And two years ago, and we purchased the one to three five California lane.

It was zone for print development development and industry within the uh commercial dome.

We also know that this property also carry a Lemar preservation overlay, LPO.

Um the property has been uh abandoned for um many years prior to our purchase after spending over 100 in essential repair.

We would like to keep the historic property while transform the back side of the property into the medical device on the facility.

Follow the last uh commission meeting, and the commissioner and you guys suggest that we work with the city to limit the LPO to the historic structure.

And uh Alex mentioned about it, and this is uh the the the we work on come on this plan.

So the first thing I want to thank uh the city staff, Alex and Jacob, and for their assistance in creating the limit uh LPO plan, which include the front building and parking space and decorated well, and we generally agree that with the new plan and city proposed, and we work together on this with uh one small caveat.

And in front of this uh property, we have a deteriorating decorative well built in the 90s.

And during the last meeting, I remember that the commissioner suggested that we could exclude the well from the LPO zone, which will allow us to remove it without requiring LPC uh approval.

And so here's what we propose the uh uh the the further limited LPO zone is screwed in the decorating well, and uh so when the new building uh construct on the property in the future, and we will make sure that their appearance and in the back side of building is consistent with the historic front building.

And uh so the limited LPO by excluding the decorated well could allow the architect and to better integrate the front historic building with the rest of the new structure, creating the best possible presentation of the old and the yellow and the new within the commercial dome.

However, either of these two plan allow us to develop a property of our use as mentioned earlier.

So basically, this is a uh modification of proposal city.

We work together for that.

Either one is fine, but we prefer this because allow us to um for the future development to make it uh co more cohesive.

Otherwise, it will be new building, an old building in the back, and so it so it's hard to integrate so that's what I have.

Your third.

Um, would you share with us that interesting piece of information about where these wells used to be able to be bought?

I think he's just trying to embarrass me.

Um we we are familiar with the well, personally, our family is because my husband purchased one probably about 15 to 20 years ago from like tractor supply, home depot, and had it put in.

Actually, he helped our neighbor put it in their yard, and when they moved, he bought it from them and rolled it into ours.

I do not know why.

But he actually makes it work.

Has a water fountain and everything.

So the reason I asked Commissioner Winkles to share that information with you, because we had this discussion upstairs.

Um that you uh uh weren't able to hear.

We would like the LPO to be all the way up to the front line of the property in order to be absolutely certain that the character of that front yard, other than the parking space that's there already, maintained that residential look.

Yes.

You uh will I don't think you're gonna have any problem removing a store-bought well from the front of your property.

Okay.

Uh so uh the plan that you're showing on the screen today is not the screen, it's not the plan we're gonna approve.

We're gonna approve the plan that was given to us, uh I believe by staff.

So are there any other questions for of the applicant today?

Saying none, sir.

Thank you very much for coming back.

Is there anyone here that would like to speak uh on this project in favor or against saying none?

I'll entertain a motion.

I have a motion to approve by Commissioner Winkles and a second by Commissioner Blake.

Commissioner Winkles, would you please state your motion?

Yes, I would like to make a motion that we approve the zoning case ZA25-3 1225 California line from a landmark preservation overlay plan development to a light industrial with a reduction in the landmark preservation overlay to only include from the rear of the house to the front of the property line.

Thank you.

And Commissioner Blake, is that your second?

It is cast remote.

Motion passes, sir.

Nine to nothing.

Congratulations.

And welcome.

We're gonna love your business.

I'm in the I'm retired from health care.

I read your uh I wasn't here for your first meeting, but I read your report.

Very nice product and a very important one for for infection control in the hospital.

So thank you, sir.

I really appreciate that.

We're gonna move on, and our next uh topic.

Our next item on our agenda.

Let me get back to this page.

Zoning case, PD 25-12, Balfour Loss.

This is an application for approval of a change in zoning from downtown neighborhood overlay, residential medium density, uh RM12, downtown neighborhood overlay, residential multifamily RMF 22, and a planned development, residential uh residential multifamily to a planned development PD for downtown neighborhood overlay residential multifamily uh 22 with a development plan on approximately 1.605 acres.

At this time, I'll call on staff to present its report on the zoning case PD 25-12.

Good evening, Commissioners Audience, Lisa Siberia Development Planning Manager.

Tonight we're looking at Balfour Locks, PD 25-12.

Uh we did see this project about a year ago in May of 2024 that you voted to approve uh a version of this project and council approved it in June of 24.

It's come back before you in a different configuration.

It now takes in all of the block between South and Dugan and Spruance and Weeks.

You also heard this on August the 6th at your planning and zoning commission meeting, and it was continued to today's date.

The changes that we've seen with the project since your August 6th meeting, they've increased the minimum square footage for the efficiency and increased the minimum square footage for the one bedroom units.

They provided a shared ride and delivery parking location space near the leasing office.

They've updated the parking counts to meet the 142 required spaces while counting for uh 75 street parking spaces.

They've provided a security plan and wrought iron fencing along Duban Street.

They relocated the dumpster to one of the Tuck under garage spaces with a garage door, and they provided a rendering for the dog park and proposed carports.

This is the history of the site.

It began to develop in the 40s.

Uh more development in 70s, and today's current uh 2025 view of the property.

There is the uh Balfour commercial property at the northwest corner.

There are uh several residential units as well on the property.

This is the Balfour Commercial Building at the northwest corner.

This is the view looking south across Dugan.

The view east across Spruance, and the subject side in the southeast corner where I believe there are rental properties currently existing.

This is the development plan.

They propose 99 units in a three-story building with the one point of access off of Dugan to the south and pedestrian access from South Street and Wheatz Avenue.

This is the building design that our architect that their architect discussed at our last meeting that hasn't changed.

A rendering of the building looking from the at the northeast corner where the commercial building exists today.

The landscape plan where they're providing trees along the street and internal to the project.

Their open space plan.

Drainage, the site is located in the Johnson Creek drainage basin.

There is no portion of the site within the FEMA floodplain.

The traffic they do there is a proposed increase in the average daily trips from 206 with an addition of 17 trips during the AM peak hour and 18 trips during the PM peak hour.

The building length exceeds the 180 feet required by the ordinance.

The maximum density is capped at 40 units per acre in the downtown neighborhood district.

They're proposing 62 units per acre.

The unit sizes, as I mentioned before, they have increased them, but they still don't meet the ordinance requirements.

The efficiency is 25 square feet smaller than what the ordinance would require with some permitted minimums that are allowed in the DNO.

Sorry.

Off-street parking standards, they're required 142 parking spaces.

They are meeting the 142 with 35 parking spaces within tuck under spaces and 32 spaces under a carport and 75 on street.

The applicant proposes parallel parking along South and head in parking along Spruance, Dugan and Weeks Avenue.

There's variable width sidewalk and landscape setbacks with trees planted along South Street and Spruance.

Off-street parking, the applicant is counting 75 on-street parking spaces toward the required number of parking spaces.

The off-street parking location.

The carport, they provided some renderings of the carport with the dog park, and they still are not meeting the masonry columns because they uh don't feel that they have enough room in the dog park or the dog run to provide the masonry columns, and the columns are not visible from the street.

The off-street parking location, uh half the number of parking spaces are required to be in a structure enclosed garage or carport, and at least 20% shall be in an enclosed garage.

They're not proposing enclosed garages.

Uh tree points, 10% savings of trees.

The streetscape in the DB and DNO, a minimum 18-foot streetscape from the back of curb is required.

The applicant is providing variable with streetscapes.

Requirements specific to DB and DNO.

The parking lots and DB and DO should be screened from on-site buildings from the view of public streets by three-foot-high masonry fence.

Coordination with other plans, the comprehensive plan.

The proposed development is a multi-story residential complex with a density of near 62 dwelling units per acre.

The comprehensive plan defines this area of the city as the downtown university neighborhood future development area, the area appropriate for the highest density in the city, allowing for up to 100 units per acre.

To maximize this area's potential amix of residential uses and mixed use buildings is encouraged.

The proposed development site is located north of the boundary of the HANA plan, and it's south of the boundary of the North Central Historic Neighborhoods Action Plan.

The downtown master plan from 2018.

It establishes the framework and specific goals for the development of downtown Arlington.

Two specific goals that address the site are to attract more people downtown to live, work, socialize, and recreate, and to foster a diversity of housing types at a range of price points.

The proposed development site is also targeted as an opportunity site.

These are underutilized sites.

These underutilized sites are the highest priority for infield development and redevelopment.

Transformative catalytic projects on these sites will activate key location enhanced downtown's overall economic health and social vibrancy.

This is within the farm based code area that's being studied right now, and the goals have been established, and the planning on track to be adopted, hopefully, the first part of 2026.

The elements of the PED that are in alignment with the farm-based code goals.

The building length shall cover a minimum of 80% along South Street.

The ground floor units with frontage along primary street shall have an entrance facing the street.

Shall contain windows, and building mass and articulation should relate to the human scale appropriate to create a pedestrian-friendly urban experience as shown on the approved building elevations.

Staff has the following considerations for the commission to prohibit STRs as was previously approved.

Provide enclosed tuck under garages as was previously approved.

EFIS should only be used for cornices, trims, and eaves or architectural features.

While robust on south and spruance is streetscape elements are lacking on Duggan and Weeks.

Car porch shall have a masonry support column.

More amenities should be provided.

Site visibility may be an issue for the surrounding drives and intersections, and additional parking stalls may be eliminated when we review the project for at the plating stage.

Valet pickup from the units by property management will be placed in four-yard trash dumpsters in the trash room in the southeast corner of the project, and also have one four-yard recycled dumpster.

Republic has told the applicant that they will do pickup four times weekly.

Staff still has concerns about move in and move out, large capacity dumpster that typically apartments in downtown area utilize.

They have not provided this size dumpster and don't have this space for it.

And it's not planned within their programming.

This just to let you know why we have concerns about trash, is because student housing, this is what we see at move in and move out times twice a year.

This was advertised on next door.

And the applicant is MMA Inc.

represented by Nikki Moore.

The owners are Skywalker Holdings, Robin and Joe Lyle, Kirby Smith in Los Rocus Ranch, LLC in Arlington Urban Managed Street.

If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them.

Thanks, Lisa.

So I didn't get the chance to ask this work session, but you mentioned a security plan that they provided.

Is that part of the official PD submittal and is a security plan enforceable when it goes to building permit?

Do you guys review where they put security cameras and make sure it's in compliance with the not typically we do not they have provided a plan and we it is part of their PD packet?

So I think we would look at it in this case.

Okay.

Thanks.

I'll come get it.

Okay, good evening.

So we really just appreciate the opportunity.

Yes.

Number one, let me turn on my mic from name and city, please.

Of course, Nikki Moore, Arlington, Texas.

And good evening.

We um we just appreciate the opportunity.

We've taken a lot of your consideration into consideration, a lot of your suggestions into consideration, and I think we have found some thoughtful solutions to some of the concerns that were brought up.

Clicking.

Okay.

Um, so one of the main changes I think really drove the conversation was the dumpster relocation from the center parking area over to an internal garage storage system.

And we'll have a little bit more of another slide further on in the um, but we work directly with Republic Services and the city staff liaison to to find an appropriate solution.

We also have programmed um some donation storage.

So I know some of the concerns was during those move out times that happened twice a year that there might be some larger uh items that uh students prep you know possibly could leave behind, and so we've a coordinated a storage area for those items until they could be uh donated to Mission Arlington, and so that's part of our our solution.

Um, but I will get to more of that later.

Um, but moving that dumpster location also opened up the site plan for more parking, so we are now able to meet the RMF 22 uh parking requirements of 142 spaces, and that does include the on-street and the off-street parking available.

Uh, I think it's important to know that even in the previous planned development, the off-street uh or the on-street parking spaces were counted toward the required parking overall.

In this area, there are only four spaces in front of urban ministries that actually have parking spaces in this area.

So while the development is producing the need for parking, we are generating and creating all of that parking to come with our development as well.

Um I think also too, and then lastly, um, we were asked to to provide additional security measures, uh, a gate the site.

Um, so we have done that.

There are several places where we've added pedestrian entrances into the site along each street.

Um, additional security measures have been added in the staircases and whatnot.

Uh, the developers would prefer to have a vehicular gate right here at the throat of that entrance.

Um, and talking with engineering staff and public works, our gate design was not supported because it did not meet the um design criteria manual.

There is a process of requesting a variance during the plating phase, and so we are uh prepared to do that as well through through that phase.

Okay.

So this was also, we were also asked last meeting to provide a perspective of that covered parking and dog park in the middle in the middle.

So as you can see here, this is kind of where the trash room is located.

You also have the dog park here and the cantilevered carports that are coming out from in that dog run.

Also, too, you can notice that we have the fence along Duken Street as part of that security measure.

And there are going to be tall grasses, Texas native plants that survive and things like that along there to enhance that that streetscape.

This dog park is a 35 by 35 area, which is about 1200 square feet.

That's not including the part that is the dog run.

And so that's a pretty pretty significant dog park for this size development.

The developers have done a more dense project with less dog park, but really it's just a space to help contain dog litter and to provide that area for residents and their pets before they go on and take their dog on a walk through downtown.

They can relieve themselves and move on.

So enough about that topic.

We also wanted to provide you some tuck under garage examples.

So hopefully, this will kind of give you an idea of how it is more of it's tucked under the building, but they're not individual three-sided spaces without doors.

They're more open.

There's a lot of visibility.

If we were to do garages, we would lose seven to eight spaces just to walls and things of that nature.

And so this really helps us maximize parking internal to our site the best way possible while providing still that car coverage from hail and wind and whatnot.

So this slide demonstrates the areas with secured access and where cameras would be programmed for additional security.

The sliding gate would be remote accessed.

So all of the parking space is internal to this development, would be assigned to a specific residence.

There is a lot of really great new technology out there of license plate readers, apps on your phone, even you know, clickers and whatnot that immediately open that gate.

And so no one else, even other residents who don't have a reserve spot would not be able to access through here.

So we kind of feel like that eliminates that need for the traditional call box, uh turnaround space because specific residents would know only to park in this area.

So as of right now, because we did not reach a agreement or a design criteria with staff at this time.

We have removed the gated entry, but we just wanted to show you that we had an idea to program it that was functional for this type of development and for the residents who live here.

Um, just as going back to that concept floor plan and then amenity locations was one of the concerns.

We just want to kind of show you where the amenities were going to be located.

This is also a really important topic because the current multifamily code only requires us to have two amenities.

We are providing six.

Um, and with that, so there is a specific um in the RF code under 5.5.4.c.3 site amenities.

When you have more than two site amenities in the RMF 22 and you're in the downtown neighborhood overlay, you qualify for a 10% reduction in your minimum unit sizes.

Um, and so we with that 10% reduction, we are able to meet the unit size requirements.

Here's also a list of those site amenities and some demonstrated pictures.

So that I know that was one of the staff recommendations, so this demonstrates that we have been able to meet that.

Here's an additional dog park and run concepts.

Um, here's an example of what the dog run would look like in one of their other projects, pet washing stations, etc.

Uh, we are exceeding the 10% open space requirement with 12%, and these are just a refresher of the elevations and public art that is programmed throughout.

This site really has taken a lot of consideration to its historical uses and brought that into the design of the buildings.

Here's the pedestrian pathways, private patios.

I know I'm running out of time, so I'm speeding through here, more of the common open spaces for residents.

I threw these elevations in here in my presentation because I think these do a better job because they're two-dimensional of really outlining all of the different vertical and horizontal articulations.

So you're not getting just a flat building as you're walking down the street.

You're getting a lot of movement, a lot of roof pitch changes and things of that.

This is going to be really interesting to that public realm.

In addition, I want to go back here.

So want to focus more on the floor plans.

Okay.

So for studios, the UDC requires 600 square feet.

The 10% reduction reduces that to 540.

We're providing 550.

The previous PD that was already approved last year was at 543.

So I think we've met the efficiency requirements there.

And the one bedrooms, as you can see, there's three different one-bedroom.

Oh, sorry, not that one.

Uh a couple of different one-bedroom floor plans.

And the UDC requires 750 square feet.

A 10% reduction would be 675.

Our smallest one is 650 to 700 square feet.

So there's a bit of 25 square foot variance in terms of that, but we feel like we could um we could work with that and probably bring that up to the 650, which would be the would be the 10% reduction for having the additional amenities.

And then the two bedrooms, of course, we are meeting that.

So I hopefully this kind of gives you a better idea of the different kind of floor plans and and what is offered here in this development.

I want to go to go back to the um the trash.

So this is kind of what we have.

So what we program to work with Republic Services right now is that we're gonna provide four different dumpsters uh and recycling.

Those would be serviced four times a week.

They'd be pulled out of the trash thing and immediately put back in after being serviced, so they're not in the way of the roadway or exposed outside.

And then the room is large enough to accommodate additional dumpsters at certain times of the year, plus more recycling, and we can adjust those pickup times as well.

So we have been on several calls and worked with staff and everything to kind of accommodate that.

So hopefully that resolves a lot of the potential issues that we were concerned about, and we've given the development a lot of flexibility in the design to accommodate that.

And I think I'm out of time, but I can keep going.

How much more have you got?

Well, I just think it's really important to kind of go back to that downtown, you know, the vision for downtown.

I even remember sitting into the downtown um luncheon last week or last year, and they were trying to connect.

How do we connect downtown to our entertainment district?

Um, and this is one of those great sites that is really it's an opportunity site, nonetheless, but then also it's more on that western corridor as you're going toward the entertainment district.

And so this is kind of why we think you know, we want to have the STRs as they're allowed by the UDC.

Uh, we want to connect these spaces.

We want to we want to activate this area over here.

This part of downtown is a um right now the homes are boarded up.

Urban ministries does attract a lot of the more transient population, and so putting a new development in this area would be really, really helpful in terms of activating this side of downtown.

Also, too, some of the goals that are in the downtown overlay is to attract more people to live, right?

More people to do the restaurants, um, to offices and business, um, foster a diversity of housing.

Our the project absolutely reaches some of these goals and also attracting a critical mass to activate the space.

And some of the key strategies that were outlined in that was you know, mitigate barriers.

Um, I think that what we have coming in the form-based code as staff put up there.

This project meets the intent of the forthcoming form-based code in terms of some of the deviations that you see from the UDC are accomplished in the form-based code.

The form-based code does not focus on density caps and things of that nature, but more of how the building orients to the public.

Um, supporting a wide range of housing.

Okay.

Uh, and partner with local developers to once again go and grab whole entire blocks and redevelop those sites.

Um, this was picked up as a focus area.

You know, they heard you loud and clear about going and capturing the whole entire block and creating a really, really um vibrant and catalytic project that will uh ignite this side of downtown.

And with that, I can answer any questions.

Very good.

Thank you for your presentation.

Thank you.

At this time, uh, are there any questions uh of the commissioners?

I'm sorry, sir.

Uh, right now I I've asked the commissioner specifically if they have any questions of the applicant.

I've got a question, but I guess it's more for staff just based on the the explanation about the unit sizing and the 10% reduction.

Would that potentially clear that deviation?

If my understanding that the right way that they get that 10% reduction, and then if they can change those few units to add that 25 square feet that potentially eliminate that.

I will look into that.

I believe that's noted in uh deviation number three, and we thought they were still off by 25 percent.

I mean by 25.

I think that is right, but I I heard that they could potentially maybe find that 25 feet in the we're so close that with that.

I feel like we're able to fit into that that unit size box.

Okay.

Are there any other questions at this time?

I have one more question for you.

At this time, do you do you have any idea what percentage of uh EFIS you're gonna be using on the project?

So it's one of our preferred materials as outlined, um, but we are absolutely willing to limit it to the eaves and sofits and things like that as it's designed in the UDC.

We're meniable to that.

What are the benefits of EFIS compared to some of the other materials that can be used?

So EFIS is one of the benefits is designed to look like stucco.

So to the to the normal person in terms of it's a comparable building material to stucco.

The City of Arlington defines stucco as um set up with three different layers where EFIS is a different, but it's stronger than doing the three different layers.

So it's a deviation from how City of Arlington defines stucco, but you will see EFIS used as a stucco material in other types of building projects.

And so it's considered to be more um of a better building material than traditional stucco, but it is a deviation for the city of Arlington.

Okay, thank you.

Commissioner Ware in the uh in the original uh approved version of this.

Uh we had asked for uh five-inch caliber caliper trees to be placed along the streetscapes, and that had been agreed to.

Uh I see this as coming back with the oaks that are proposed to be at three inches.

Uh, could we uh please go back to the five-inch caliper oaks?

So I spoke with our landscape architect about that.

So three-inch caliber when they're planted have a better chance of survival.

And so that was the reason why we were using those to be three inches because we want to give those the best chance of survival in those areas as they're getting um their root systems involved.

And so there's not a lot of what I was told from our landscape architects, I'm not a landscape architect, is that there is more benefit of they grow faster when you plant them as three caliber inches than going ahead and planting them as four or five.

You don't really get that extended benefit.

Um, but there's a ton of added cost to that.

And so um that was the explanation giving is that that's a traditional thing is to do three inches because they have the best chance of survival.

Okay, well, it's still like four inches then.

So that's just my you may actually hear that on the uh whenever we make a motion, and that may be part of it.

Okay.

Um if there are no other questions, I'm gonna ask if there's any other speakers that are for this.

So I'm just gonna run down these cards.

Peter Jacobson did you uh speak?

You're you're a non-speaker and you're in support.

I have another non-speaker, uh Mr.

Joanne Hermes or Hemies.

You're also a non-speaker in support.

Edward Edward Manuel.

Uh your potential speaker.

Did you in support?

Did you want to say anything at this time?

Okay.

Reed Buchler or Sir, thank you.

Your name and city, please.

Reed Buchler, Dallas, Texas.

Thank you.

Um, first of all, I want to thank all of y'all for your time uh for having us back uh for this project.

We are extremely excited about this project and what we think it can do for this area of downtown Arlington.

Um we have taken a lot of consideration into your suggestions, and I think we've made a lot of changes that we feel like are gonna make this project a lot better, um, and hopefully answer you know a lot of your questions.

We're in agreement.

One of the things that we do think as a transformative project in this area, the street interaction of all of those ground floor units and the number of people that will be basically coming and going from those units on a regular basis helps to create a more walkable environment.

The more people that you have on the street, the less riffraff you have cannot only.

They're going to basically be the eyes and ears in this area.

Whereas currently you're you have a bunch of abandoned buildings that homeless people are continuing to break into there's not enough eyes on the street over there candidate to monitor it.

So we feel like the addition of these 99 units is going to be uh extremely helpful.

Um the trash we know was a extremely uh big situation last time.

Uh we feel like we've addressed that head on.

Um thing that I did want to uh note is we are not uh specifically targeting students for this project.

Um we are intending for this to be a market rate project, um, and we're gonna do that by uh limiting the number of leases that expire in any one month.

You know, students basically want to have you know rent them on a school year basis.

We don't want that because then you empty out your building every year and you got to go and release it back up.

Uh this is intended to be a traditional multifamily project where you know we will limit uh look to limit basically any month to have no more than 10% expirations, which means that then you're only having 10% of the units to basically release each month.

Um with regard to the leaving of couches and other things, um, you know, that candidly that's something that we've never had an issue with in traditional multifamily.

Maybe that's something that's more related to uh a student housing.

Um and one of the big ways that we limit that is if you're leaving stuff in your apartment, you're not getting your deposit back.

And people want their deposits back, which you know are typically a month's worth of rent.

Um it's a significant amount of money.

And uh if for some reason things are left behind, as we noted, uh we have a spot uh that we have dedicated on the site where we can store some things until we can get to um uh you know one of the local ministries to come and pick it up and use it for people in need.

Um so we're hopeful that that will uh that will work.

Um we think that this project will help basically uh provide housing for more uh professional type jobs, which is uh I know a target for uh the commission and uh uh all of Arlington is a downtown.

So uh with the somewhat lack of uh conventional multifamily in downtown today, uh we think that this is gonna be a uh an additional driver that can hopefully basically bring more white-collar jobs to the area because they will have uh a suitable housing in the area.

Um I think those are my uh my biggest pieces that we have.

Um happy to answer any additional questions that that y'all have for us.

Are there any questions of the commissioners right now?

I have one.

Consider that if the ordinance that gets placed before city council is encourages you to have a gate.

And then you get to the design standards uh during the planning phase.

And during that design, that plat phase, uh it it's determined that you might lose uh a parking space or two, or again, and also during the planning phase.

What if for some reason uh the design that you have for the trash receptacles is inadequate and the city demands something else, would you be willing to lose an apartment or two in order to achieve this project?

If it comes down to that, we'll have to consider that at this at the time.

Yes.

Um, you know, I I think the biggest concern is with the gate design that the uh that engineering currently has, it would probably require us to lose seven on-site spaces uh because of needing a turnaround and other things, um, which we all know basically how parking is a premium on this project.

Um it was it was a premium on the last iteration of it as well.

Um and one thing that I don't know what uh was fully uh brought up to you know to everybody's attention was there was a five-foot right-of-way uh uh dedication which was required along South Street, which required us to push the entire building south.

Well, on the other plan, the last plan there were 16 uh uh spaces that were shown as on-site spaces that would now be off site uh off-street or sorry, on street spaces, uh, because they would be five to seven feet into the right-of-way up at that point.

So you know we acknowledge the basic parking is a premium.

You know, we hope that basically staff will uh work with us on it.

Um, you know, as you've seen from our site plan, there's parking all along uh Dugan as well.

So if a car happened to pull up to the gate and need to back out, it's one additional car that's backing out, which would be the same as all those parking spaces around there.

So thank you.

Any other questions?

I'm gonna read these additional cards.

Thank you.

Uh I have in uh non-speaker uh in support, Ryan Rutker.

And also another non-speaker uh in support, Dylan Leonudakis.

I apologize to everyone if I'm butchering anybody's names.

And also in support.

Uh Nikki, that's you.

I'm sorry.

Um Tim L.

It says here does it say whether you're in support or opposition?

I'm neither supporting nor opposing on clerical.

Uh let me come to you uh last.

Um I have Walter, also a speaker.

Also it says you in support or in opposition.

I'm just trying to get some information out there.

Okay, so here's what we're gonna do.

Are there any other speakers in support?

Okay.

Have you filled out a card, sir?

No.

But are you going to speak uh in opposition or in support?

I'm a non-speaker.

You're a non-speaker.

Support.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you.

All right.

Therefore, I'm going to uh the last p uh person in support, I believe, is Maggie Campbell.

Uh well, does it say support or oppose?

Maggie, would you like to come forward?

Maggie, your name and your uh city, and then what she do for a living.

Sure.

Maggie Campbell, I'm here speaking tonight on behalf of excuse me, the downtown Arlington Management Corporation.

We so Arlington, Texas.

We are the nonprofit that manages the downtown and the business improvement district services for downtown.

I have heard from a couple of the commissioners and from the developer and a couple of members of the public about some of the debate and the some of the issues with this project.

And I thought perhaps I could come and just speak as a subject matter expert about how we're seeing some things happen downtown, some how some of these residential properties operate, some of what we've learned the last couple of years about trash and what we're experiencing right now around homeless impacts, um, because this development, when it is built, will be a part of that urban neighborhood, and we'll potentially have a lot of those same issues.

So some of what I want to share is observations and comment, and you can take what you want and leave the rest.

Um, just in terms of observation, this quadrant of downtown, particularly along South Street.

Uh we have identified it for the last several years as capital priority because it has very inadequate lighting at the pedestrian level, very inadequate sidewalks approaching from all directions.

So we were pretty outdated in this area of downtown in terms of accessibility, access, lighting.

So put that into the mix when we think talk about security and and how comfortable this is to live and to come and go from.

Really want to applaud the city and the developers for working on the trash issues and concerns.

I understand exactly where those are coming from because we have been living it for the last couple years.

In our role, managing the public portion of the 101 Center Garage, and as both the advocate and in the contract with the city to try to mitigate and manage the impact in the public space on litter and trash.

So bringing Mission Arlington in, that's great.

We got them involved with the 101 center and park place.

I think there's a real distinction here in that the 101 center and park place are both designed to rent by the bed.

Their bedrooms all have their own bathrooms.

And these units, so when I look at the designs, they don't offer that.

So they're not gonna offer the cheap housing that the freshman students are particularly interested in.

So I just can't imagine from a competitive standpoint that this is really gonna be that attractive to students, but I still applaud you for the trash impacts.

We have been doing homeless outreach with a trained social worker.

It was something we heard from our property owners during our business renewal campaign this year.

Our property owners wanted to see us spend some of our bid dollars, their assessment dollars, to get in this space and try to move the dial and make a difference.

So we have a trained social worker that works 32 hours a week through our contract with block by block, our clean and safe ambassadors.

We have 66 open case files.

A lot of those are centered along Abrams Street, Main Street, adjacent to the railroad quarter, down along and around this neighborhood area where we have abandoned buildings and services.

So this is not a problem that's going to go away.

And I hear that there's a debate about whether there would be a gate or not because of potential traffic backing up at surge times.

I didn't fully understand why there wouldn't be a gate.

Because that is exactly what will happen at this property.

And I would be concerned, concerned long term about its rentability if you didn't provide that kind of security.

Also in downtown, we and I have one minute.

Also in downtown, we don't really see the surge effect of everybody getting off work at five o'clock and backing up traffic.

We don't see that at our big multifamily properties.

Because in this kind of a mixed use environment, people work at home, they walk to the university, they work nearby, or they come and go at different hours because we're not all doing that nine to five shift anymore.

So I hope you'll take some of those comments into consideration.

And we would love to explore on the parking issue.

We'd actually love to explore how the city could enter into parking agreements with private owners to help meet our parking needs.

We are not able to meet our parking needs.

We have created this great place that's now a destination, and besides the impacts of homelessness, parking is the thing that our property owners and businesses want to talk the most about or lack thereof.

So if we could figure out how we have these vacant parcels, you can wind up or developments coming forward, and they can bring some sort of parking inventory to the to the solution.

I'd love to figure out what that looks like because right now we don't have a mechanism to allow parking as a use or to allow developers to bring public parking unless it's part of their development agreement.

So happy to answer any questions.

Commissioner Blank.

How do you compare the parking that they provoke propose safety-wise to the other apartments downtown?

Um, from what I know, the major large multifamily properties, and and I use multifamily as that term is somewhat loosely defined in terms of percentage of square footage.

Their commercial space is a is a fraction of their residential square footage.

So, but it is a mixed-use project.

Um I think that um I think that the residential areas are nested.

Uh they are behind a gate on the upper floors.

But we also see that just be out of behavior.

A lot of those residents are abusing the free parking on the street.

Uh they they pull into a space on the street and leave their car there all day.

Um, we also have residential guests that were required to park in the public portion of the garage.

I understand now that they now allow guest access.

Um, do you think that the enclosed part of that parking makes it less safe?

Is kind of where I was going with.

I think having secure parking for residential is almost an expectation from a competitive standpoint.

I mean, I think about it if you or you had a daughter that was gonna rent a space, wouldn't you rather if if all things are equal, as she have some sort of secure space to park her car and go into her unit, as opposed to being in a in a public parking area that may or may not have someone behind a nearby bush?

And I'm I'm not just I'm not limiting that to homeless.

I'm saying we live in a dense urban environment, and and as you bring more people, you bring more activity, um it crime comes.

So we we are very focused on it staying clean and safe, and I just it's it's a point to consider how that might make it safer for the residents who live there.

Any other questions?

Commissioner Winkles.

Ms.

Campbell, thank you for coming and sharing your opinions.

And so your opinions do matter.

If you were going to just looking at the project as it sits today, would you be happy with that in your downtown network?

I believe that it does meet the goals of the downtown master plan.

Um it has been identified as an opportunity site, as staff has reiterated.

It is bringing us density.

I think where we have seen um impacts that weren't expected.

The student housing business model that a couple of our big properties operate.

They might have come in and said we're building market rate housing, but they designed it for their business model, which is renting by the bed.

So I think that as long as that has been addressed from a design standpoint, um, then you don't have some of the same problems.

Correct.

Thank you.

Okay.

Any other questions?

Commissioner Carter.

Again, I I think your opinion and advice on this is you're probably the most in-touch person for downtown.

So what I what I did take out of what you said is that the safety is paramount.

It's got to be a safe environment for the parking, and that's what I've been coming from all along is the gate.

So I I think somehow we have got to get, as you know, we've had trouble across the street with uh the garage that your D AMC manages, and we've, you know, it's it's got issues over there.

And so I've I think the we need to uh curtail that it at our next project, which is this one.

I think everything's great about the project.

I I even like the smaller size of the apartments, but the but we've just got to make it a safe environment with the gate, figure out the gate.

And I do believe this is a different kind of project.

This is a hundred percent residential, right?

So it doesn't have the mixed-use component, it doesn't have a public garage, it doesn't have that complexity.

Um so it is it is a little bit different animal.

Um, but I do think the city has learned a lot from these couple big multifamilies that have been built.

And I do think that there's general agreement and understanding that some of the problems that we're seeing during the dreaded summer turn, that's what we all call it inside, the summer turn when the dumpsters show up and everything has to, you know, be shifted because all their leases expire.

Um I just don't think that we're we will allow the design um shortcomings around the trash, the trash chute.

Um and I I really want to say hats off to the developer uh valet trash service.

Love it.

Music to my ears.

I wish more of our apartments would do that.

Any other questions?

Ms.

Campbell.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And thank you for all you do for downtown Arlington.

Uh Walter.

Yes.

Would you uh you may come forward?

You're uh please state your full name and the city that you name Walter.

I leave it at that for security groups.

No, sir.

Uh you need to tell us what your name is and the city that you live in.

I live in Arlington.

I'll let you know.

And your name, sir, Walter.

Please sit down.

Next speaker, Tim L.

Walter, you're welcome to speak, but we need your last name for the record.

And I need your last name too.

My last name is Tim.

I'm Tim Lighten, and I left it off the sheets so you didn't have to mangle it, but we ended up mangling it anyway.

So L A I T I N E N, I live two minutes south of here in Arlington and behind the goat house.

I am a uh member of the board of the heart of Arlington Neighborhood Association.

And I wrote our letter of support for this project last year after its first iteration was presented to us.

Um I'm not here today to endorse or oppose the project.

I just want to clarify.

Um, because I'm speaking mostly as a private citizen since our board has not had the opportunity to officially preview the proposed changes you are considering this evening.

It has been brought to our attention that these changes amount to some significant deviation from the plans we saw in the winter of 2024.

And I've heard that several of those changes will likely be significant issues with some of our board members, particularly the street parking, uh, their tree plan, um, the introduction of short-term rentals.

Um streetscape design that looks less elegant than originally proposed.

We can't shake the notion that they're trying to appeal to student housing, and um, as has already been addressed, we have significant issues with that already.

Uh, if they want to keep at market rate towards luxury, that's what we were told at the beginning, and that's how we think housing in downtown can be diversified instead of providing more of what doesn't work.

Um, so uh because we have not been invited to another meeting to preview these changes, uh, we would uh respectfully request that our original letter of endorsement not convey to these new plans, at least not yet.

Uh I'm not saying that we oppose them.

Uh it could be that if our board is presented with these changes and invited to engage in dialogue over them, we might go ahead and endorse this new version.

But neither of those have happened.

So I see the city keeps including our letter on here, so please just ignore it.

Other than that, if you have any other I know Derek's our president, he's sitting over here with a frown on his face, but thank you for sharing that information with us.

Do Commissioner have any questions?

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

With that Nikki, uh I'll give you one last opportunity to make any closing remarks.

Please keep it short.

Yes, of course, sir.

Yes, thank you.

Um I think just once again, I think we uh we do appreciate the opportunity.

I think we hopefully you have seen through this presentation we took a lot of your considerations um and concerns and applied them and made some some good changes, um, especially in some hot topic areas like trash and things of those natures.

Um also too, you know, in terms of kind of combating the student housing image.

Um we're 92% of this project is one bedrooms, and so you really are kind of catering to that singular um individual, not kind of more of a roommate or shared situation.

Um, but ultimately we want to bring this project to downtown.

We want to revive revitalize this area.

It's really, really close to my office.

This would be some place that if I did not have four young children that I would want to to be close to my work and to be a part of, and so um just you know, please, you know, we ask that you approve us and to make a recommendation to council um for this project.

We believe it'll bring some great vibrancy to this area of downtown and helped connect um the different areas of Arlington.

So we just appreciate y'all.

Thank you.

Any questions?

Commissioner Finley.

Uh Ms.

Moore, is there a reason why you didn't go back to Hannah and speak with them regarding the changes that you made from the first version they saw?

Sure.

So and maybe this might be a little slight miscommunication.

So um, Commissioner Carter, uh, you do fill both roles, and so when we we reach out to you in this, we we hope that you would help facilitate um meeting with the HANA.

We also did look at their previous letter of recommendation, and we felt like we still um were hitting all of those points that they were concerned about that they outlined in their letter that those were still have had been addressed in terms of drainage and things like that, keeping the character of the existing neighborhood and things like that.

So we felt like we were hitting all of those.

Um, and then we have since then I think reached out to uh Commissioner Carter and also sat down with him and hoping that he would facilitate that.

So um maybe it was just a miscommunication of not clearly saying, hey, will you please set us up a meeting?

Um we just thought that would be more naturally facilitated, but we can definitely be more clear on that.

It was not intended to exclude them.

Any other questions, Commissioner Carter?

Yeah, uh thank you.

Right now I'm up here uh in the capacity of highest and best use of the land.

Yes.

And with a few design changes that I've been vocal on.

But yeah, there was uh there was some definite uh under the Hannah hat, there was definitely some uh things that we were told in the beginning that were not that I mean that we loved, and then as the project changed and changed, I knew that the board and I endorse everything Tim Laken and has said tonight, uh, but it there was definitely some changes that that the board did not agree with.

But under my under the hat of being a commissioner in this capacity right now, the view of it was a little bit different.

So I've uh hashed some of those out.

Uh I still am very emphatic on the security of the place.

We do not want another uh 101 center or another security issue that you know that in that discourages people from uh renewing their lease.

And so I uh that's that's the difference.

So uh, but yeah, heart of Arlington.

Uh I would I would uh endorse what Tim says, and if he uh I think he speaks for what the board other board members uh say, they wouldn't back him up on what he read tonight or spoke about tonight.

So but yeah, I I was looking at it tonight and uh been thinking about it a lot on in my spare time about what I really want to see there as a commissioner.

So thank you.

Any other questions?

Commissioner Winkles.

So it's really hard to find a balance to meet all of the needs and yet still provide a quality project that's profitable for everyone and affordable because we we don't want to price ourselves out of a market base that's here.

But one of the things that I've enjoyed about, and I I compliment you on this is that you took to a point all of the things that we said, and you went back and quickly pulled together a better plan, the best use plan that you can come up with, and yet we still have a few deviations.

Um I don't foresee that being a problem, but I first want to thank you because you're keeping the structure and the historical part from the Balfour establishment that was there for so many years, and remember as kids going into bringing it to the current, which I still think is very is very much something that we want to see, and we're seeing that in our entertainment district right now.

So I think that I just really wanted to commend you on that, and thank you for taking the time to listen to every concern that we had and try to address every one of them.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any questions?

We're not through yet, but are there any commissioner Carter?

Before we make a motion, uh I really would like to hear from Miss Sudbury on a little bit of clarification on we talked at the afternoon session about the gate and what uh public works is that the public works might say about it after we've approved it.

Um we've compared it to Maine Sevens Gate, that theirs is uh possibly uh it noncompliant, but it to me the project if we're locking up uh the the pedestrian part of it on the north side, uh but yet the the the driveway is open, that's might as well keep all of it open.

So we need to figure out if how this gate could work and if it if we approve it tonight with uh with with the with a auto gate and a pedestrian gate, uh how does can it get knocked out later by what public work says?

I'm gonna try and answer that question for you.

After everything we heard in the work session about design standards and everything else, where the rubber meets the road with this project, if we approve it tonight, is it city council?

If city council looks at this project, and many of them will review this type and will listen to Maggie Campbell's comments.

I think that the motion tonight needs to include a gate that is acceptable to both the developer and follows our city guidelines for design standards to as as closely as I can.

However, they can request variance.

And I think that understanding that that is an administrative process.

What needs to happen is city council when they pass this ordinance really needs to look to Trey, the boss of everyone, and say, Trey, make it work.

We want it to have a gate.

Find a way to do it.

And that's what happens at the city council level.

We tell council tells staff, make it work.

We do that all the time.

Tonight we can't say where we're gonna put the gate, but I do think that it the motion will have that aspect in it that a security gate is really really needed in this area.

Uh does that help answer your question?

It does, thank you.

Okay.

Lisa, did you want to say anything else?

No, sir.

Okay.

Um any other questions.

We're still gonna have a lot of time for comment after I close the public session, but is there are there any questions right now?

Is there anyone here in opposition?

Seeing none at this time, I'm going to close a public session.

Let's see how long that lasts.

But I think it's important.

A lot of the comments that were made upstairs uh might need to be repeated for the public record down here.

Uh we don't have to, but I want to give everybody an opportunity.

I think this is a very important project.

So does anybody want to say anything?

Commissioner Blake, start with you.

Uh first of all, I would like to thank the applicants.

That I think is a great product project for downtown.

Um I also appreciate all the changes that were made.

I I really like the open concept parking because I think that lightens things up to where there's no hiding spaces and doesn't make storage areas out of your parking.

So we're going to continue to keep that parking.

And without the residential and without various varied types of residential, it will not support our restaurants and the other things that we need for the entertainment district to have people come to downtown Arlington instead of going to downtown Dallas or downtown Fort Worth.

So you have my support.

But just wanted to, yeah, kudos to the development team and the design team.

And uh just excited to see this one move forward.

But do do also stress the importance of that gate, and uh don't really see how it would be very difficult to get that variance for that gate on the street, just the way that that streets designed and all the head in parking.

So I'm confident that it'll it'll move forward, but just my thoughts.

Commissioner Weir.

Um just to get it on the record.

Uh I I have a real hard time uh scraping that whole block clean, and I brought that up.

I I don't know if we want more, we want more development downtown.

I I know that uh the trees are a problem.

I know all that.

But we we had a whole new tree ordinance that says 10 percent need to be there, and it's not negotiable for mitigation.

And uh here we are, and the rest of the people that start coming down there that won't develop.

If I vote for this, what do I tell them?

Uh yeah, go ahead.

We obviously don't care about our tree preservation.

I can't personally, I can't do that.

Um the gate uh is a problem too.

I think we need the security there, and I can't vote for maybe that's gonna be there, but maybe not.

Uh the we we need that the the security.

Um we need more we need more density downtown.

That's already been brought up too.

Three stories.

I think we can do better than three stories there, and uh get more density to support the uh the restaurants, the businesses downtown.

I feel I feel that uh we that downtown is one place we can do the high rest high-rise apartments.

I'd love to see wait you well, you talked about diversity in housing down there.

There's apartments all over down there.

This isn't bringing any more diversity.

Condos might do that.

To m to move to.

So uh yeah, there's there's just there's too much.

There's too much wrong in my mind right now to do this.

I'd love to have this project if it was taller and better.

I just think it can be a better project.

Uh then uh is being offered right now.

Um Carter, thank you.

I I uh uh I I like the the location for this.

I like the um the I think there is a need for it in downtown for apartments, and I think in a lot of places in Arlington we don't have a need for it, but I think this is this is an exception for the because of the location.

I don't like the design of it.

Um I think the first design was was uh much better.

It almost had a monumental look to it on the corner.

Um, but that's that's that's I'm past that now.

Uh my main thing is the safety.

So um Dr.

Nenez, it's up to you.

Can we ask Mr.

Reed to come back, open back up and come and talk about the gate and the safety and see what he can uh give us a uh a commitment on or what they're go further into their thoughts of what they can do at the gate, security gate?

So let me uh let me try and answer that.

Um what I heard tonight from Miss Nikki Moore during her presentation was there were two pictures that we saw.

One where she said, yes, we're going to put a gate in, and the other one that said this is the picture if we didn't put a gate in in that green area.

And I heard the words come out of her mouth that said, we will try to get a gate in if we can get a gate in.

That's what I heard.

Now for that, I'm gonna open up the public session for an answer to that statement.

Mickey, you need to come to the podium and answer this question, please.

Is that correct?

Is it your intent to do everything that you can to get a gate?

That is correct.

All right.

Then that's that's does that answer your question?

But it's a PD, so it's a it is the the PD is it gonna be listed as a PD with a gate.

Well, when the motion is made tonight, we the motion will include that we highly recommend that uh a security entrance gate be put there.

Okay.

That's the best we can do.

But as you heard upstairs, it's the design guidelines.

Let's say the design guidelines tell us that they can't do it, then they have to request a variance to those design guidelines.

And then that then that has to be but that's done administratively.

That's why I think it's important that's uh that it is in the ordinance because then council will have that message from us.

And it's council that's gonna make this decision.

Are they gonna look to Trey Yelverton and say make it happen?

Or is City Council not going to do that?

Okay.

That's up to City Council to decide.

It's a design I'm on the yeah, we think it's right, but we can't force it.

We can't guarantee it.

Okay, that's the best we can do.

The developers want to gate it as well.

It is a priority.

Okay.

So I did understand that, but it it but I'm hearing some flexibility on where it, you know, where it could open it up to being optional.

And it's only optional because staff has not approved our design for our gate because it does not meet their structured design criteria that is meant for more garden-style suburban multifamily, not necessarily an urban design type of multifamily.

That's just not addressed in the design criteria manual.

So we will have to seek a variance to those design standards.

Okay.

And that's why Maggie Campbell's comments were important tonight.

They were very important.

Okay.

Yeah.

I appreciate Maggie being here.

All right.

Thank you very much, Nikki.

The public session is again closed.

I knew I was going to have to do that.

I just didn't know it.

Um additional comments.

I think everyone's viewpoint is important.

City Council hear it.

Ms.

Finley.

And Commissioner Maddox?

Your comments are important.

I I would I really absolutely that uh more density is needed downtown Arlington.

I agree that this area of downtown Arlington needs to be invigorated.

So from that standpoint, uh I'm happy to see a project like this come along.

However, in the back of my mind, I'm looking at a project that starts with a blank slate.

You basically are starting from ground zero.

And when you come to this body and say, I need 13 variances to the rules that we already know exist, it sends up a red flag for me.

I'm gonna be honest with you, it does.

My question will be, well, why can't you make the rules work?

I've not heard a lot of anything that's gonna make me understand why these rules can't work.

So I I have a lot of consternation.

I'm gonna be honest with you.

Commissioner Finley.

Thank you.

I do want to say I love this project.

I do, and I so appreciate all the work that you've put in to pushing through our concerns, our um the things that we ask you to do, I really do appreciate that.

I really do appreciate that.

On the other hand, I've got some real concerns.

One is the parking situation.

Um that is just it if we have buildings that put in that we put in down there, and we have no place for people to park.

What does that do?

I mean, we end up with people that don't want to come here because they can't park anywhere.

So I'm not really sure how that helps us out with wanting more people to come to downtown.

Um a place I'm from, uh, their downtown is so overloaded that they put meters in, and then they only had so much time they could sit there and park, and then people were getting tickets, and it just became horrible.

So I'm hoping I keep my fingers crossed that that never happens here.

But if we continue this way, I'm afraid it will have to happen because we just don't have the amount of area that's necessary for parking.

The tree situation is another concern of mine.

Um I'm with Commissioner Ware on that.

I I find it very difficult to just buy into scraping that whole lot.

Um when you guys first came and presented we wanted you to buy up the rest of the block, and I was so happy when you came back and you want and you have that.

Um but now we're no better off than we were in the beginning.

Uh you bought the act, you've got the extra land, but we still are short.

I mean, you still have your buildings are too long.

Uh you don't have enough room in in the apartments, you're short on that.

Um, you know, there's not enough parking, blah, blah, blah.

So it's just really disappointing for me that you took the advice, went out and got the land, but now you're still at a deficit on lots of things.

And and so that's real disappointing to me.

And I do agree with um Commissioner Ware, you know, maybe build up.

You know, um, I don't know, but you're still gonna have parking issues even if you do that.

And I do know that there was a gentleman here when we continued this case that was very concerned.

I think he has the uh office, what is it?

It's a medical office building.

It's uh oh, is it okay?

He was really concerned uh when I spoke with him after we continued it, that you know what was gonna happen with his parking.

So I mean, there's just lots of things that I'm concerned about, and I I truly wish I could support this tonight, but I can't.

And um I I'm just gonna have to vote against your project tonight.

Any last comments before I make mine.

I wanted everyone to speak because I think it's important to hear every particular viewpoint, and council needed to hear the viewpoint.

A lot of what you just heard now is uh what we talked about upstairs.

This is a uh a balancing act for all the commissioners in my opinion, because as you've heard, we all love the project.

We think it's an important catalyst for downtown.

It'll bring more people, it keeps continues that long process that we started 30 something or 40 something years ago to transform downtown Arlington to a destination.

And as you heard tonight, it is a destination.

And yes, it has its problems, and yes, it may not have enough parking.

And yes, of all the people in the world, I love trees.

I love post oaks, I love pecans, and I hate that we're taking down the trees, but I'm willing to make a variance for this specific site.

Doesn't mean I'm gonna make a variance for all the others going coming down the road because I think there will be more coming down the road.

I support this project.

But I think it's important to hear what Commissioner Maddox had to say.

Well, Commissioner Finley, what all the commissioners had to say, because you're gonna hear the same thing as City Council.

And City Council may or may not pass this, but I think tonight the reason I think we ought to pass it is let's let City Council decide what the right thing to do here.

I think security is on is in all of our minds.

I really want this thing to have a gate.

I think you can work out a way.

With that, there is a motion on the floor made by Commissioner Blake.

And there is a second by Commissioner Winkles.

Commissioner Blake, would you please state your motion?

I would like to make the motion to approve zoning case PD 25-12, Val 4 lots, as presented by the applicant with the addition of seeking approval and or variants of adding a gate.

Any everybody open okay?

Commissioner Winkles, is that your motion?

Yes.

Okay, very good.

Oh, excuse me.

One thing that we before you vote.

The applicant's asking for short-term rentals.

Okay, so is that part of your motion that you're going to uh uh we're going to approve 15 percent uh short-term rentals?

My intent was to allow it.

Okay, very good.

And Commissioner Winkles, is that your second?

Correct.

Very good.

Now cast your vote.

Motion passes five to three.

Congratulations.

Good luck at City Council.

And uh I think we're done.

Uh with that, are there any announcements uh from staff?

No, sir.

And are there any other uh reports from boards or commissions?

No, sir.

Finally, I want to remind everyone that the next regular session meeting of the planning and zoning commission is Wednesday, September the 24th, 2025 at 5.30 p.m.

And I will announce that my softball team starts playing again a week from Friday.

With that, we are adjourned.