Joint City Council and Denton ISD Meeting Summary – April 7, 2026
Joint City Council and Denton ISD Meeting – April 7, 2026
The City of Denton and the Denton ISD Board of Trustees met jointly on Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at 12:04 p.m. in the City of Denton Development Services Business, 401 North Elm Street, Denton, Texas. The meeting included updates on construction projects at Borman Elementary School, various capital projects impacting ISD campuses, and a discussion on property tax exemptions and multifamily affordable housing. The meeting adjourned at 1:07 p.m.
Consent Calendar
- The consent agenda was adopted unanimously; no items were removed or discussed separately.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public spoke.
Discussion Items
- Borman Elementary School Construction Update – Brandon Boiter, Executive Director of Construction, presented an update on the new Borman Elementary School. The building is nearing completion, with walls up, windows installed, and interior finishes underway. The old building will be demolished after abatement, and the site will be turned over to the city for a soccer field, expected by first quarter 2027, ahead of the August 2028 agreement deadline. The new school will have capacity for about 900 students (pre-K through 5th) and includes four pre-K classrooms, a storm shelter in the gymnasium, and ICF (insulated concrete form) walls throughout for storm resistance. Parking has been doubled, and a new road (Bratwell Road) and entrance ramp have been added. Council members asked about historic artifacts, capacity, storm shelter capacity, and parking.
- Construction Projects Impacting Denton ISD Campuses – Alison Wing, Interim Director of Parks and Recreation, and Seth Garcia, Director of Capital Projects, provided updates on several projects: (1) DNA Park renovation largely complete, with new soccer fields to follow after Borman demolition; (2) Natatorium renovation completed March 23, including new roof, pump room, pool deck, and ADA upgrades; (3) Bonnie Bray Phase 6 – underground work nearly complete, concrete paving expected late April/early May; (4) Rhiny Road East – construction underway, trails at North Lakes Park connecting to Reeves Elementary; (5) Westgate Road connector substantially complete, all lanes open by end of April; (6) Neighborhood 2 and 6 street reconstruction – on track for completion by Q4 2026; (7) Safe Routes to Schools – all four sites complete; (8) New $4.6 million safe routes grant awarded for Calhoun Middle School/Newton Razor area. Council members raised safety concerns about temporary crossings, street lighting, bike/pedestrian accommodations, and communication with parents. Staff noted that a 10-foot trail will be on the west side of Bonnie Bray, and street lighting will be installed along the full corridor. There was also discussion about cut-through traffic on Westgate, plans for streetlights on Bronco Way, and community engagement for the old Calhoun tennis courts.
- Property Tax Exemptions and Multifamily Affordable Housing – Jessica, Director of Community Services, presented data showing that one in three renting households in Denton is severely cost-burdened (paying >50% of income on rent). Denton's median income is $80,900, but affordability standards are based on the Dallas-Fair Market Region ($110,000 for 2024). 48% of Denton households are considered low income. The presentation explained that 80% AMI (area median income) units often do not result in rent reductions in Denton because market rates fall below that threshold. There are 22 properties with tax exemptions in Denton, with six more in development. The city estimates it foregoes about $15 million annually in revenue for these exemptions, but only about $1.2 million in rental reductions result. City Council previously directed staff to change policies to focus on 30% and 50% AMI units. Councilman Jester raised concerns about indefinite tax exemptions for properties that may not provide affordable housing, and asked if there is a mechanism to revisit those agreements. Councilman Bay asked about monitoring and enforcement; staff explained that oversight varies by the agency granting the exemption, and that rental caps do not always result in lower rents.
Key Outcomes
- New Borman Elementary School construction is on schedule for opening in August 2026. The city will receive a soccer field on the site after demolition.
- Safe Routes to Schools grant ($4.6 million) awarded for the Calhoun Middle School/Newton Razor area; design and planning will begin in the coming year.
- Old Calhoun tennis courts will be redeveloped following community input, with potential uses including basketball or pickleball.
- City Council directed staff to prioritize 30% and 50% AMI units in future affordable housing tax exemption policies, and to reduce emphasis on 60% and 80% AMI units.
- Council members expressed interest in exploring legislative or local mechanisms to review indefinite tax exemptions for properties that do not provide genuine rent reductions.
- Next meeting will feature the Ryan State Champs (softball) being recognized at City Hall.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, we'll get uh get started. Thank you, everyone. Um today's presenter. Um so today is Tuesday, April 7th, 2026. It is 1204. I hope everyone had a great Easter holiday. And with that, uh I will call the City of Denton side of uh the meeting order. And then we're reporting noted, we have a four of them. So let's go ahead. Um the Board of Trustees of Denton ISD will be go April 7, 2026, beginning at 12 p.m. in the City of Dent Development Services Business. 401 North Own Street in Texas, 76201. The subjects discussed, the subject's to be discussed are considered or upon which any formal action may be taken. R is listed below. Items do not have to be taken in order, Sean on the meeting notice, unless removed from the consent agenda items identified with the consent agenda will be acted on at one time. And so we'll do a call to order, and we do have a form. Great. Okay, and then so the first item on the work session agenda is 3A ID 260209 receivable porthole discussion regarding Denton ISD construction at Borman Elementary School. Thank you, Mayor. Brandon Boiter, um, our executive director of construction is kind of update on uh Borman and how ready it's going to be come August, right? Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm sure everybody knows where it's at. Everybody drives by pretty often. Um is coming along. I would say uh I I think we're within two weeks of the uh appropriate date uh on the schedule. We go through it a little bit here. Um I don't know that you really care about all these. We are talking about bourman, but um we listed all the projects that we currently have in our queue. If it says in progress, obviously the project is in progress. If it says permitting, we're either going through permitting with the city right now or we are um going through final drawings, but we're in the permitting phase that all of those projects have been bid out, taken to the board uh for approval. Uh but we are that's kind of how we list them in the progress or in the permitting. Um so you can see there's quite a few projects there on our queue uh for 26, 27, 28. Um bourman. Little picture here of um November of 2025. The top picture you can kind of see where that is. It's an ICF construction project. The walls are up, and uh in November we really didn't have a roof on most of the um facility. You can see on the bottom photo there, um we are um in the drywall the windows are in, the roofs on, cap sheets not on, but the but the roof is in the dry. The only portion of the building that is left open is right there in the middle, and that really is just so that we can get to the courtyard since this building does have a courtyard. We do have to get heavy equipment in and out of that courtyard. So that's kind of why you see the courtyard there or that front of the building that is still open. All the work going on, I won't bore you with all that. Um you can find all of this stuff on our website. Um but really what that says is there's a lot of people on this job every day working to get it to completion. As well as the courtyard, the bottom folder, there is the courtyard with some heavy equipment in there. So interior, you can see finishes are already going up in certain areas. Certain areas I would say are more in the dry than others because of that center section being left open, but we do have temporary walls in there so that we can work on those areas. Photo of the courtyard from second floor. Um the bottom photo there is the gymnasium or um that's what we want to call it, uh recreational area, and that is the spot that we do have an office there for the city.
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