Fort Worth Downtown Design Review Board Public Hearing - February 5, 2026
Fort Worth Downtown Design Review Board Public Hearing - February 5, 2026
The Downtown Design Review Board (DDRB) held a public hearing on Thursday, February 5, 2026, at 3:30 PM. The meeting included two certificate of appropriateness cases: a streetscape waiver for a hotel renovation at 309 West 7th Street and a single-family container home at 1305 Waterman Street. The board also heard an announcement about the JA Inspired Career Expo and approved the minutes from the January 9, 2026 meeting.
Consent Calendar
- January 9, 2026 Meeting Minutes approved unanimously.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Case DG 2026-002 (309 West 7th Street):
- Melissa Konore, representing Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. (DFWI) Design Review Committee, expressed strong support for the project, noting the building has been vacant and underutilized for a long time. She emphasized that DFWI staff works thoroughly with applicants on tree and infrastructure feasibility before cases reach the board.
- Case DG 2026-003 (1305 Waterman Street):
- Melissa Konore again expressed DFWI's continued support for the container home project.
Discussion Items
- Case DG 2026-002 - 309 West 7th Street:
- The applicant, Samantha Garbarino (Bennett Partners, architect), presented plans to renovate the historic Oil and Gas Building into a boutique hotel. The project includes a valet lane on West 7th Street (utilizing an existing drop-off zone) and a drop-off zone on Taylor Street (for hotel service and event space entrance). Because the building's basement extends nearly to the curb on Taylor Street and there is extensive underground infrastructure (Encore electrical vault, water lines, data cables) on both sides, the applicant requested waivers from the street tree and sidewalk width standards. In lieu of street trees, they proposed planters with vertical landscaping. Staff recommended approval subject to coordinating with staff and DFWI on streetscape improvements.
- Board members discussed the feasibility of street trees and the possibility of requiring planters as a condition. Commissioner Burns suggested tethering the waiver approval to the installation of landscape enhancements such as planters, a view supported by Chairperson Redima. The design team expressed willingness to explore landscape solutions.
- Case DG 2026-003 - 1305 Waterman Street:
- Applicant Michael Stearns (Truly Yours Property Group) presented the second iteration of the container home project. The project had been approved by the DDRB in January 2026 for a different lot, but that property was sold the same day as the hearing. The applicant then acquired the adjacent lot at 1305 Waterman Street and returned with the same design, incorporating board feedback: extending the porch to align with a window, adjusting railing attachments, adding a more prominent front door, and planning enhanced landscaping. No public opposition was heard.
Key Outcomes
- Case DG 2026-002 (309 West 7th Street): Approved (6–0) with conditions:
- Certificate of appropriateness granted for the valet lane on West 7th Street and drop-off zone on Taylor Street.
- Waiver from the sidewalk standards (minimum 10 feet) approved to allow a width of 9.24 feet (or later adjusted to approximately 7.5 feet as required by Transportation Development Services).
- Waiver from the street tree standards approved, with the condition that the applicant install substantial landscape enhancements (such as planters) acceptable to staff. Staff will continue to work with the applicant to finalize the streetscape design and will report back to the board if an agreement cannot be reached.
- Case DG 2026-003 (1305 Waterman Street): Approved unanimously for the certificate of appropriateness and all three requested waivers (roof pitch, container home materials, and five-foot sidewalk). The approval is subject to final coordination with staff on landscape elements. The next DDRB meeting is scheduled for March 5, 2026.
Meeting Transcript
Afternoon, everyone. This is the Thursday, February the 5th, 2026 Downtown Design Review Board Public Hearing. May we please have the read uh call to order and the open meetings act. Thank you. Welcome to the February 5th, 2026 Downtown Design Review Board Public Hearing. Specific rules and procedures of these hearings are found in the downtown urban design standards and guidelines, DDRB rules of procedure, and related provisions of Texas state law. The Downtown Design Review Board requires a quorum of five members to be present and four available for voting. The following board members are present today. And Mark Dabney. Staff present today are myself Laura Young, Brandon Uderbach, Francisco Vega, and Trey Qualls. Copies of today's meeting agenda and speaker registration forms are provided at the desk near the conference room entrance. Today's public hearing is being documented by video conference recording, which will be available on the city's website. To achieve a timely and orderly meeting, the board requests that the following rules of procedure be respected. Please turn off all cell phones. Each case will be called in the sequence listed on the agenda, unless otherwise directed by the chair. All ensuing dialogue shall be directed to the board only. After the staff presentation, the applicant and other proponents will be asked to speak, and the opposition may then speak. A completed registration form must be turned in before addressing the board to ensure that your appearance and presentation are officially recorded. Please state your name and the city in which you reside before addressing the board. Following the official close of each case hearing, the board will remain in open session to discuss and vote on the item in question. During this time, no further public testimony or commentary will be allowed unless directed by the chair. A closed executive session may be held with respect to the posted agenda items to enable the board to receive advice from legal staff. For additional information on any case on today's agenda, you may contact the Development Services Department by calling 817-392-8000. And for record, I wanted to mention Commissioner Andrew Blake also just joined our commission. Thank you. And thank you for your attention. Laura, thank you very much. We appreciate that. Do we have any announcements this afternoon? Yes, we have one announcement. Um by uh let me show you. Yeah, and uh I do, and I uh am just as excited as last month when I made the announcement to the board. Uh and I'd like to introduce you to you, the board to uh Cindy Haynes. I'm sorry, uh president of uh junior achievement of the Chisholm Trail. And she'll be uh sharing to you all more about JA Inspired Career Expo. Thank you, Tony. Hi, so yes, like Tony said, I'm Cindy Hames, uh president of junior achievement of the Chisholm Trail. We're a nonprofit right here in Fort Worth, and we teach kids how to be um successful in their future. And if you think back to um how you became to do the work that you're doing, whether you're city planning or whether you're an architect, bill design, whatever role you have, uh even in the public sector, um, our children and our youth need uh inspiration to know what they might want to do as a future career. And so one of the many things we do at JA is this will be our third annual JA Inspired Career Expo. We're hosting it on March 4th up at TTI. They are graciously giving us uh about half of a warehouse, so we have a blank slate to work with. Um, thanks to the BEC group. We're designing it uh beautifully. We won't just have row after row after row, uh, but we have over 1,300 high school students from this area already registered to come to this career expo on March 4th at TTI. And we have over 50 local companies and higher education institutions already coming. We actually got um Formula One coming as of today. Thank you, UTA. Um, so we're gonna have all sorts of exciting things for the kids to uh expose them and engage them to what some future careers are. Um, Autobond will have luxury cars there.
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