Board of Adjustment Appeal Hearing on Downtown Design Review Board Decision – March 11, 2026
Board of Adjustment Appeal Hearing on Downtown Design Review Board Decision – March 11, 2026
The Fort Worth Board of Adjustment met on March 11, 2026, to hear an appeal of a Downtown Design Review Board (DDRB) decision regarding a proposed crown building sign at 1612 Summit Avenue. The appeal was filed by Frank Sellers, tenant of the building, seeking to replace an existing non-conforming sign with a new sign for his law firm. The Board received training on the appeal standard of review, heard presentations from the appellant and city staff, deliberated, and voted.
Training on Appeal Procedures
- Deputy City Attorney Melinda Ramos explained that this appeal is based on the record from the DDRB, not a de novo hearing.
- The Board must determine if the DDRB's decision was reasonably supported by substantial evidence.
- No new evidence can be considered unless it was not available at the time of the DDRB hearing.
- Possible motions after the initial determination: affirm, reverse, or remand.
Appellant Presentation
- Frank Sellers (tenant) and Nick Martin (building owner) presented.
- They argued that the existing DNM Leasing sign is a ghost sign (tenant vacated in 2017) and that replacing it would reduce visual clutter, aligning with city goals.
- They worked with staff to modify the design, reducing the number of waivers from four to two: permission for two different messages on different facades, and more than one line of text/logo.
- They stated they were not present at the September 4, 2025 DDRB meeting because the meeting format changed from virtual to in-person and they did not receive adequate notice.
City Staff Response
- Francisco Vega, senior planner for the downtown urban design district, summarized the case history.
- The DDRB first heard the case on April 3, 2025, and continued it. On August 7, 2025, a motion to approve the waivers failed 3–2 (four votes required for approval).
- On September 4, 2025, the applicant was absent. A motion to deny passed 3–2 with a simple majority.
- Staff argued that the proposed sign would add commercial messaging to the skyline, contrary to the design standards that aim to avoid visual clutter.
Board Deliberation
- The Board discussed whether substantial evidence supported the DDRB's denial.
- Some members noted clear violations of the design standards (two different messages, multiple lines).
- Others highlighted procedural fairness issues, including insufficient notice of the in-person requirement and the applicant's absence.
- A motion "that there was substantial evidence to support the DDRB's decision" resulted in a 5–5 tie (Board members Johnston, Riley, King, Wolman, Freed voted yes; Hook, Powell, Duffy, Costa, Ortega voted no). Because the motion failed, the Board found that the decision was not reasonably supported by substantial evidence.
Key Outcomes
- The Board then voted on a motion to remand the case back to the DDRB with stipulations: the DDRB staff must provide written notice to the applicant at least 14 business days before the hearing and a phone call 72 hours before the hearing.
- The motion passed 7–3 (Riley, Hook, Powell, Duffy, Costa, Freed, Ortega in favor; Johnston, King, Wolman opposed).
- The case will return to the DDRB for further consideration with the applicant present and proper notice.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning, everyone. Thank you so much for your patience this morning. Notice of this meeting has been posted online for at least 72 hours. Staff present today are Melinda Ramos, Trey Qualls, Brendan Utterbeck, Francisco Vega, Karen Moreno, Stacey Jones, and Anisha London. Chair, will you please call this meeting to order? Yes, thank you. This is Witt Walman, and this meeting of the Board of Adjustment will now come to order. It is the 11th day of March 2026, and I welcome everyone to the Board of Adjustment. This board is a citizen board appointed by the city council. By state law, a minimum of nine members or alternate members must be present to provide a quorum in order to conduct business. Today we have a quorum with 10. Today's meeting agenda can be found online at www.fortworthtexas.gov. Speaker registration forms for cases on today's agenda should have been turned in prior to the start of this session. Today's public hearing is being documented by cable television and video conference recording, which will be available on the city's website. To facilitate an orderly meeting, I'm asking everyone in the council chamber to turn off their audible alarms on your electronic devices at this time, so we will not be distracted during our meeting. Each case will be called in the sequence listed on the agenda unless otherwise directed by me, the chair, which we just have won. The Board of Adjustment requests the following rules of procedure be respected. Each case will be introduced by the City of Fort Worth Development Services Department or City Staff. After presenting the facts of the case, the Board of Adjustment members will have the opportunity to question city staff about the case and any applicable laws or regulations that might apply. This portion of the discussion is exclusively between city staff and the board members. As the case is being called, we ask that you move to the front row of the chambers. You will have seven minutes to present the facts of your case and why you believe your application meets the criteria for approval. If more than one person is presenting the case, it is necessary to divide the total seven minutes among all parties so you do not exceed the allotted time. After the applicant has presented their case, I will call for any opposition to come forward. This is their opportunity to express why they believe the variants are special exception. In this case, should not be approved. The opposition is also allotted a total of seven minutes of time to be shared among all speakers. If opposition is presented to the variants or special exception, the applicant will have an additional three minutes of rebuttal time. The chair may allow a few more seconds in each presentation to ensure a speaker's final point can be made. After the parties have presented their positions, the board members will then have the opportunity to ask questions of the applicant and any opposition. During this time, all speakers must remember that all dialogue be directed to the board of adjustment only. There is no time limit during this period. After the board members have received answers to their questions, I will close the public portion of the hearing. Board members can discuss the case amongst themselves and city staff to determine whether or not an application meets or does not meet the criteria for approval. After this discussion, I will ask for a motion to approve, deny, or continue the case. City staff will call for a voice vote from each member. If an application is denied, an applicant will have 10 days in which to appeal to a court of appropriate jurisdiction for more information on this and additional information on any case on today's agenda. You may contact the Board of Adjustment at 817 392 8026 after this meeting. If necessary, a closed executive session may be held with respect to the posted agenda items to enable the Board of Adjustment to receive advice from legal staff. Our first order of business today is to listen from the deputy city attorney, Melinda Ramos. Thank you very much. Good morning, board members. As uh the chair said, my name is Melinda Ramos. I'm a deputy city attorney here with the city of Fort Worth, and I'm going to be sitting with you today for this appeal. So this appeal is unlike your regular cases that you hear related to special exceptions or variances, in that this is appeal is coming in up from one of our design review boards for the specific instance from our downtown design review board. So I'm going to provide you some training and some background on that. Uh, just by a little way of more background for myself, so you all know for up until um 2022 when I have my current position. I sat with the land use boards, but uh particularly the board of adjustment, probably for about 17 years. So uh hopefully I'll be able to provide some helpful information to you all as we go through this training. So just for a little background on the downtown design review board, uh they are appointed by the city council.
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