February 25, 2019 Newsletter

Resolutions of Support Issued for 5 More Low-income Apartment Complexes

 

At Tuesday's City Council meeting five resolutions of support were issued. These resolutions are for low-income apartments, so the applicants can score more points on their applications for tax credit housing. Three of the complexes are for so-called “workforce” housing while the other two are for senior citizens.

 

 

Arlington City Council Update

 

Candidate Filings (Ballot Order):

 

Mayor

Ashton Stauffer

Chris Dobson

Ruby Faye Woolridge

Jeff Williams

 

District 3

Roxanne Thalman

Marvin Sutton

 

District 4

Andrew Piel

Cindi Golden

Teresa Rushing

 

District 5

Andy Prior

Kennedy Jones

Celia Morgan

Ignacio Nunez

 

District 8

Don Warner

Barbara Odom-Wesley

Joshua Taylor

Robert Harris

 

Election Day is Saturday, May 4. Ballot order was determined by a drawing on Monday, February 25.

 

The city council met this past Tuesday, February 19. The next city council meeting scheduled after that is Tuesday, March 19.

 

Committee Meetings

The first committee discussed hotel design standards, which includes hotel types located within what areas of the city, based on size and amenities. Another change to the proposed ordinance modifications was a desire to be notified if a hotel loses its “franchise” sponsor.

 

The second committee discussed the PY2019 Action Plan for HUD. The third committee discussed the design manual and fee charges for small cell towers. The final committee meeting was in executive session.

 

 

Afternoon Session

The afternoon session began in executive session. The mayor did NOT appear to be there at the beginning of the session.

 

The open portion of the afternoon session began with the mayor and all the council members present.

 

The first work session item dealt with the 2019 Capital Budget. The most major changer was being able to accomplish more in water financing. Chief Financial Officer, Mike Finley is great at what he does. One item of improvement was to procure Texas Department of Water Board bonds--for about a third of the cost of city-issued bonds.

 

The second work session item was a one-page comprehensive plan update. There were seven areas of the comprehensive plan discussed.

 

Informal staff reports include: 2018 Annual Racial Profiling Report [https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/309042/19.02.19_Racial_Profiling_Report.pdf], special event parking ordinance update [https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/301069/19.02.19_ISR-Special_Event_Parking_Ordinance_Enforcement_Update.pdf], and other subjects of even lesser interest.

 

During the short-term rental (STR) discussion, the council directed staff to abide by option 2B which will restrict STRs to an area bounded by Lamar Boulevard on the north, Highway 360 on the east, Abram Street to the south, and Center Street to the west.

 

Evening Meeting

The agenda for the 6:30pm evening meeting contained three executive session agenda items, four sets of minutes, 21 consent agenda items, and one public hearing. All council members were present.

 

The applicants were on hand to answer questions about the five low-income apartment tax credit projects on the consent agenda:

• 3104 W. Division Street

• 4600 Matlock Road

• 6011 New York Avenue

• northeast corner of New York Avenue and Green Oaks Boulevard (senior apartments)

• 1121 W. Harris Road (senior apartments)

 

The council pulled [from the consent agenda] for separate consideration the second reading on the zoning case for the banquet hall in the 400 block of E. Main Street.

 

The rest of the consent agenda passed, 9-0. Ms. Capehart added four more restrictions of certain types of businesses on the banquet hall second reading. That passed, 8-1, with Shepard opposed.

 

The only public hearing was for the modifications to the gas drilling ordinance. There were five speakers opposed, four anti-drilling citizens and one oil and gas representative. The four citizens really want an ordinance with a lot more teeth. The first reading of the ordinance passed, 9-0.

 

There were 18 speakers during citizen participation. 16 spoke on short-term rentals (STR), 15 appeared to be opposed, while one was in favor of option 2B. The two other speakers spoke on the inability to enforce the

 

 

current zoning laws and regarding the privet growing in the Randol Mill Park's Natural Area.

 

Despite the opposition, the council gave no indication that they might change the 2B option to which they gave the “go ahead” instructions at the afternoon meeting.

 

One other comment by one of the speakers was about the old Ditto Golf Course, now with the new Texas Rangers name, with $0 naming rights received, as having fees that render it far too expensive for most people to play golf there.

 

AISD Update

The next scheduled AISD Board meeting is scheduled for Monday, March 4. It is considered a work session and may not allow citizen input.

 

Press Box

VIA by the Numbers

On December 11, the VIA pilot program began its second year. The City Council approved the second year of the pilot program [for $2.1 million] on December 4.

[http://arlspectator.mysite.com/rich_text_22.html].

 

When the pilot started, the staff report stated it expected to reach I-20 within four to six months of the pilot’s initiation. That did not happen until September 20, more than nine months after the pilot began. The project has been a disaster and a major waste of taxpayers' dollars.

 

Even with its newly expanded area, it only covers about 25% of the city, meaning the majority of the taxpayers have to pay for VIA, but receive no benefit from it. All of those taxpayers are paying for something that competes against the private sector Lyft and Uber services.