Welcome everyone to the March 5th 2026 meeting of the downtown design review board.

Public hearing.

May we please have the statement of open meeting, please.

Thank you.

Welcome to the March 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.

Commissioner Milliken, Commissioner Dunn, Commissioner Blake, Commissioner Burns, and Commissioner Dabney.

Staff present today are Laura Young, Brandon Uderback, Francis Delvega, 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.

The opposition 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 keeping, I will uh like to state that Commissioner Retman just joined us as well.

Thank you so much.

Laura, thank you very much.

Do we have any announcements?

Um, we don't have any announcements, just a quick update.

Uh we're still working in the uh all and gas building.

Uh they have been review revising some of their drawings, and we continue working with them and transportation development, so it says hopefully we have a final uh set of plans soon, and I would like to provide a nominated once that happens.

Francisco, thank you for that update.

I do have an announcement.

Uh the on April the 9th is the 44th annual downtown Fort Worth Inc.

annual meeting.

So hopefully several of us will be in attendance for that meeting.

Very important.

And we thank downtown Fort Worth Inc.

for everything they have done for downtown.

Any other announcements?

Yes.

A couple of questions.

Seems like my memory serves me that we typically have a summer month where we don't have a meeting.

Looking at this calendar, it looks like we have a meeting every month this summer.

Accurate.

Yes, that's that's correct.

We will have a meeting in every month.

Okay.

Uh that was just something we when we were looking at how uh our rules of procedure.

We don't have really any month to you know have a vacation time or anything like that.

So we decided to in the new calendar to actually schedule the meeting for each of the mons.

Okay.

And my second question is on our iPad or whatever this these are called on the tablet.

It has the agenda for February the 5th.

That it does have the appropriate um staff report and documents for 740 Samuels.

So I just wanted to point that out if people get confused.

The agenda that you passed out is March 5th, but the agenda in our on our tablet is for February, or that's the way I'm saying it.

Anyway, just want to point that out, but we do have the right information on the pad for 740 Samuels.

Yes, ma'am.

I would like to, I'm sorry.

I'd like to address that.

Um, leadership requires our docket to include last month's minutes as well as our staff reports for this month, and then this month agenda is a separate upload.

And then this month agenda is a separate upload.

Thank you.

Thank you, Laura.

Thank you for the question, Flea.

Next is the approval of the February 5th meeting minutes.

Hopefully, we've all had an opportunity to review those.

We have a motion for approval.

I move.

Thank you, Paul.

Do I have a second?

Andrew.

Andrew, second.

Okay, perfect.

Mr.

Ridama, how they vote?

Uh in favor.

Mr.

Milliken, how they vote?

In favor.

Ms.

Dunn, have they vote?

In favor.

Mr.

Blake, have they vote?

Mr.

Burns, have the vote?

In favor.

Mr.

Downey, have the vote?

In favor.

Motion passes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our new case for the day is DG 2026-006 006 at 740 Samuels Avenue.

Yes.

The applicant requested certificate of appropriateness for the construction of a new new duplex uh building.

And we don't have any waivers.

And I will uh walk you through the context and what happened with this project.

So how we ended up having a project with no waivers.

This is the location of this property is on this uh is facing Samuels Avenue, which is a very important RT for the city.

And we have uh special regulations for projects that are facing Samuels and other streets, but one of those is Samuels Avenue.

Um this is the lot in question.

Um you can see the neighbors are two single-family homes.

This property has been platted like this since the 1920s.

So it's not a property that it was like uh reminded from a subplot or or division or anything.

This is the original property that we saw in the plat.

And all the other homes were the same case.

Um so uh the property is zone D, uh which allows duplexes and also multi-family with higher density density.

But the applicant decided to go with duplex because of the nature of the properties very narrow and and small for a you know for a multifamily uh project.

This is uh another views of the neighbor structures.

Um just for context, what we have around is uh other projects like this one and 637 Samuels Avenue.

The apartments also at 7, 69 Samuels Avenue.

As you can see, the minute uh the height is you know bigger than other projects that we have reviewed around this area is because uh facing Samuels Avenue, the minimum high requirement is three stories.

Um and then we have our projects that uh, for example, this one on 811 Samuels Avenue was just approved in twenty uh I think twenty twenty four by the DDRB.

930 Samuels Avenue, it's coming to uh for review and approval from the DDRB in the following months.

And also we have this project at 730 Samuels Avenue.

It's very close to this property that we are reviewing today, so I wanted to uh share this also this building because you see they also have three stories and they have eight units, and uh it was approved in uh I believe 2023 when we reviewed this, it was in September.

Um the reason why I'm showing all these projects to give you context and all that is because when we were working with the applicant for the past month, we were discussing the the weight of sidewalks, uh the need for the installation of the street trees and pedestrian lines and all that, and and when when staff went there to decide and take all those pictures, we noticed that all this projects incorporate those those improvements.

They have seven feet wide sidewalks, they have uh, as you can see here, the pedestrian lights, they have areas where they're gonna install street trees, for example.

This project is in the indoor construction is 811 Samuels.

So uh when we discussed this with the applicant, we told them that it was gonna be better to continue.

Uh, for example, what we have here uh this project in 730 Samuels.

They're also gonna provide all these elements.

So um they are not asking waivers because they are building seven feet wide sidewalks and they are installing this uh pedestrian light that is required and the street tree.

Now you see in this image to the right, these two arrows show uh to the to the right, the site that is under construction and to the left the property that is under discussion, they're very close.

So the location of the pedestrian lights and the street trees, it was uh determined by measuring from the other property.

We start to measure the the appropriate distance.

So whenever somebody wants to do uh redevelop the other properties in between, the lights are gonna follow the same rhythm and the proper spacing for lights and street trees.

So um it's not the the location they are proposing for the street trees and pedestrian lines is not random.

Um it actually follows the pattern that is required by the standards, and they will follow the same uh width of the sidewalks.

Um that said, this is the project they are proposing.

Um three-story duplex.

Um we evaluated different alternatives, but they really have a very compact property, so they don't really cannot feed a denser uh building.

So they decide to go with the duplex.

They have an intention with that duplex, and the applicant will explain to you.

Uh but um it meets all the standards.

That's something to clarify.

They meet the parking requirements, the density, it's what we require for this type of development, and they have the uh uh the necessary uh maneuvering space and the uh parking area.

They are also providing canopy coverage.

They were they were required to provide at least a thousand square feet, I believe, of canopy coverage, and they are doubling that.

It's just one tree, but at least they are providing some uh trees on the back in the parking area.

That's something that we have been evaluating based on the feedback from the board.

We noticed that in one of the pages, it's actually required to provide 40% of uh canopy coverage.

So moving forward, this is a standard that we're gonna be requiring for all uh parking uh uh areas and new construction.

And um the reason why we're presenting this project to the board today is because it's new construction that is required by the uh downtown stars and guidelines.

But in general, the project meets the standards.

Um the reason for the three stories again is because it's required by the standards.

The setback that they have is a maximum of 10 feet.

They are seven feet, so they are within that setback that is required for this type of development.

And they meet everything else.

About uh, you can see here they're proposing the pedestrian line, the street tree.

The driveway is 10 10 feet wide as required uh for this area.

Um they meet the density as well.

And um there's just an RV of the proposal.

They are proposing these materials, and we are supportive of the project.

Uh we are recommending approval, but we also encourage the applicant to do things, and encouraging is different to subject to the condition too.

We are just wanting to improve what we already have, which is some of the one of the principles of the downtown starters and guidelines.

Uh, meaning that we are not conditioning the approval to make all these modifications, it's just that we would like to see something more.

And what is that?

Is these two points resting the material palette to simplify overly complex combinations and to break up large and flat wall surfaces to provide greater depth and visual interest, and and B adjust the ground floor to better engage pedestrians and activate the street, incorporating architectural elements such as awnings, rediff refined plane changes, or other features that create rhythm, human scale proportion, and sense of uh approachability.

Um so I'm gonna go back to show you the renderings.

This one.

So essentially what we are saying is that uh probably this area here should be for study, like they could incorporate all other materials.

And also in the ground floor, they could, for example, uh add some um columns here, increase probably the depth of this um the balcony, and try to you know create that sort of you know um drain that attention to those entrances.

Again, uh it's it's just something we think that cool work based on and what would the standards mention.

Uh but this design is it was something that the applicant just uh came up with based on all the discussions and all that.

So again, we we recommend approval and we just encourage the applicant to continue receiving these two elements, the the the ground floor and the use of the materials.

The board has any questions for staff.

Questions of staff.

Thank you.

Is the applicant here to speak?

Yes.

Is that forward?

You're more than welcome.

We don't buy it.

Thank you.

Uh yeah, my name is Beatrice Orderica, and I reside here in uh Can you speak up a little more?

Yes.

My name is Beatrice Orderica, and I reside here in Fort Worth, Texas.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Um so again, this is uh 740 uh Samuels Avenue.

Uh uh proposed a three-story multifamily residential uh duplex.

It's uh designed to accommodate larger families or renters in the area.

Um each unit will include about three bedrooms with the balconies, two full baths, some powder, uh two powder rooms or half baths, a laundry kitchen, and two living spaces with an additional rooftop private terrace, um, and some private parking uh per unit in the back with a shared green space to relax in the back.

Um this uh proposed duplex is um I would like to be living on one side with my husband and my son and be running out the other side.

Um the green space is important because my son is four and he likes to play outside.

Um so I we really enjoy being outside.

So I try to design spaces where um he's able to play outside or even in the rooftop terrace.

Um like uh Francisco mentioned earlier where the project location is, it's along Samuels Avenue.

Um just a little background of why we chose this area.

Um we like the downtown feel area.

Uh again, it also revolves around my son.

He plays hockey in Northwitchen Hills.

Um he plays baseball in Burleson.

Uh he does soccer north of Fort Worth.

So we're like, we have to stay in downtown Fort Worth because that's the middle.

We can't move anywhere else.

If not, he's gonna have to quit one of those um uh sports, and he will probably cry about that.

So we're like, we have to pick somewhere in downtown Fort Worth.

Um here's just some neighboring homes.

Uh we did like that there was a park nearby, uh restaurants nearby, and other apartment composite complexes nearby.

Um this is just a rendering again of the front and the back.

Um we are still working with uh uh DFW uh Fort Worth Inc.

Um with the uh materials and then just kind of like what the look feels like.

So we are um working with them and with Francisco as well.

Um here it just shows again the site plan.

Um we would plan a tree in the back and in the front.

Uh we did want to add some pavers to have um some sort of uh entrance, uh make it more walkable to the parking space in the back.

Since we only have space for the driveway, we wouldn't really want to be dry uh walking up to the driveway.

Um so we did um try to design some pavers up on the left side.

Um and then just some trees here that we thought might look nice in the area and that do still um are native to Texas.

Um here's just some uh elevations of the uh building.

Um it just kind of shows uh little bit of the materials on there, and then that it's uh the correct height, up to 35 feet.

And here's a side uh elevation.

We did try to align up the windows to uh make them proportion and make them line up.

Here's the other side that looks just the same.

Um and then here's just uh first level, second level, and then up in the fourth floor has the rooftop terrace.

And that's about it.

Thank you.

Any questions?

Thank you very much.

Questions of the applicant.

I've got a quick question.

Um there's certainly precedent in the area for a development like this, but I'm curious on the number of windows, natural light into the building.

Those are relatively small floor plates.

So I'm curious about the placement of the windows, the size of the windows, and that sort of thing, why I didn't consider windows and other sides.

I noticed the kitchens in the back, and you're probably pressed for wall space and cabinets and that sort of thing, but you got stairs back there.

There are opportunities, but is there a reason why it was designed that way?

Um I think it's more the space.

Um there's not a lot of space uh to be able to fit the parking in the back and kind of have to keep uh let me go back to it.

Um having to keep uh let's see.

Uh having to keep enough space to be able to put the tree in the back and the four parking spaces.

Um I mean, once you entered, you kind of you know don't want to enter through the kitchen.

So we did put the kitchen towards the back and the great room or the living room in the front, just kind of when someone walks in and uh you know wouldn't really want to walk into the kitchen.

Uh but it's mainly the space, it's uh very narrow.

Um so that's what we try to work with.

Um that's the only thing I have for that.

Thank you.

They wanted wall space to be able to hang artwork.

Thank you.

Kind of one follow-up question.

Have has this been reviewed by the uh the city building codes, et cetera, fire codes?

No, not yet.

Just curious.

Okay.

It's not being reviewed officially because they are not on the permitting uh phase of this, but we always consult uh the plants examiners.

We have a plants examiner working for preservation and design.

We make sure that they meet, for example, parking requirements, high requirements and all that, because we try to detect any other potential waivers for code.

So they are uh if they are needed, we present them to you so they have your recommendation.

There were some instances, for example, on the high, the maximum height also for the uh residential sawney was I think I believe 35 feet, and they were proposing 38 initially.

So they reduced the high, so they they didn't need the waiver.

Also with parking, and we did kind of the same.

So officially they have not been review, but but we have been in coordination with them.

Grab thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Do we have anyone who would like to speak in support of this application, Melissa?

Hi, Melissa Connor.

She's got a busy history with sports coming up with the four-year-old playing that many already.

I'm like, oh my God.

Uh Melissa Kunor representing the D FWI design review committee.

Thank you to the applicant and Francisco.

We've we had a meeting last week, just last week, and so the applicant, what you see today reflects some of the changes that um were reflected and uh in our comments uh with respect to the relationship to the ground floor, the upper floors being busy and the questioning of maybe materials and simplification to ensure that the ground floor and the pedestrian realm is strengthened and the building um does not appear to be overly designed and um maybe have too many features.

So we talked about windows and fenestration patterns and alignment, which they've made some changes and tweaks to.

We also discussed um quite at length the um access to the parking in the back, and the parking at one point was broken up and now it's consolidated and they are able to achieve a little bit more green space, which I think is um something that as Francisco alluded to, we've been hearing from all of you, which I think is a better project for us all in the city.

So um the committee is very supportive of the project and the concept and knows what's happening here.

I think they would agree with the staff recommendation to continue just working on some of those design elements to address some of the heaviness and um the material to ensure maybe a a more um quality design and help elevate that design pattern and strengthen the ground floor.

There was a comment that the ground floor door just felt kind of like a side door, not a front door to a to a building and two duplexes, and maybe there's a way to continue to celebrate that connection to the public street.

I didn't read anything that I said.

I hope that made sense.

Is that you all have questions for me?

Questions of Melissa?

This is really fine-grained, but uh the vertical stripe in the middle of the front elevation.

Was that one of the things you guys?

Yeah, there was a concern that that read very heavy and that it I think hardy plank was potentially the material that they were gonna use, and there was a question about is that the right material?

Is it gonna last longer than five years?

Like um, you know, we don't comment on color, but um we see a lot of a lot of product looking very similar or throughout the city happening, and you know, we have an opportunity as a design department to potentially comment and help uh tighten that up a little bit, I guess is what I would say.

But yes, that felt and read very heavy that that feature any other questions for me.

Other questions of Melissa Thank you.

Thank you, Melissa.

Do we have anyone else who would like to speak in support of this project?

No.

Do we have anyone who would like to speak in opposition to this project?

Then the public hearing is closed.

Discussion by the board, please.

I'd like to jump in.

Um again, I think overall uh it's a good project for that location.

There's precedent for this.

Uh and in relation to being appropriate to the neighborhood, it would seem like a more horizontal feature versus a vertical would be better than that vertical.

I'm not sure we can really officially enforce the design of the facade, but that's my thought on the FWI's comments and how to simplify the design a little bit.

Seems a little bit out of place and out of scale.

I feel a little bit differently.

I like the verticality of it with the horizontal of the balconies on either side.

I don't think we need anything more to support the balconies.

Yeah, I agree with that.

No columns.

I saw that earlier.

I don't I don't think that'd be good for the style.

I can tell from this, but I thought the idea of the soffits underneath the balcony, if they were the same, and I'm gonna use color or wood, etc.

That that might also help tie the verticality and the horizontal together.

Yeah, my the doors I like in my neighborhood.

There are several mid-century modern houses with those types of doors with glass in there.

I wish that the window next to the door was larger.

Yeah, agreed.

More open UN, etc.

And do a little more to address the street.

Yeah.

I agree with those comments.

Yeah.

So it the rendering may rip you guys who are architects can probably hopefully answer this question.

But I can't know if the rendering is somehow like misrepresenting the size of the door.

The door actually looks smaller than a three by seven door, at least compared to the other sliders up above it look larger.

So I didn't know if if it's misleading or what, but um perhaps that was maybe the spirit of the comment what I couldn't tell the had to do that it draws the eye to it, it looks like a main entrant or uh at the risk of complicating this.

Uh you hear people talk a lot about stoops, and candidly, I'm not sure I I fully understand what the threshold is for that.

Does it mean uh simply a street level or sidewalk level entry from or does it mean that there needs to be some other uh structure there that kind of I could live with it, but I also think it could be better.

Um I I get nervous about the use of some of the the stucco and the cantilevering features um how well they age.

Um, and also uh again this is kind of a friendly thought rather than uh anything that we can influence, but black is uh very unforgiving as a color.

Uh one bird decides to sit up there for the day, and that black is uh doesn't look very good anymore.

It's so just a thought is like I find that black shows its age within a matter of weeks.

Um I think I mean it seems like it meets all the design guidelines that we're looking for, and then to the point I think a little bit another round of refinement is probably appropriate for it.

But you know, we're we're here to approve a certificate of appropriateness.

I think it meets all the guidelines, meets its appropriate.

You have three or four architects trying to design a building, I've got to help you.

I mean, just I mean it's it'll be a while then.

But uh yeah, that's my thoughts.

I think we're good to go.

I can make a motion further discussion.

What would the board like to do?

I'll make a motion to approve the certificate of approval appropriateness uh and follow the the recommendations of D FWI to keep uh keep working on the design refinement.

I'll second we have a motion, we have a second further discussion by the board.

If none, Francisco, perfect.

Please Mr.

Redima, how they vote.

In favor.

Mr.

Milliken, have they a vote?

In favor.

Mr.

Blake of the U vote in favor.

Mr.

Dun Ms.

Dunn, how do they vote?

In favor.

Mr.

Burns, how do you vote?

In favor.

Mr.

Dodney, have the vote in favor.

Motion to approve passes 60.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And thank you for moving you and your family downtown.

We appreciate that very much.

Hope that you all enjoy it.

Good luck to your various athletic seasons.

Oh, exactly.

That's it.

So uh nothing else for today.

Melissa, you missed the announcement of the uh upcoming downtown Fort Worth Inc.

vote in favor mr dodney have the vote in favor motion to approve passes six zero thank you thank you very much and thank you for moving you and your family downtown we appreciate that very much hope that you all enjoy it good luck in your various athletic seasons oh exactly that's it so uh nothing else for that Melissa you missed the announcement of the uh upcoming downtown Fort Worth Inc board meeting annual meeting april 9th I just show up at the omnibus to show up but we would welcome you all there um bobby idea is gonna speak about education which is a really important topic in downtown and how we build off of that um from an economic development standpoint and please please join us we'd love to see you thank you very much thank you with that i'm adjourning the march 5th board meeting the next board meeting will be on thursday april the second a week before the downtown Fort Worth inks annual meeting so we'll have the same announcement next week next month so with that we're closed thank you very much adjourned thank you thank you