May 20, 2019 Newsletter

River Legacy Flooding

There appears to be some controversy regarding the flooding. The Arlington Voice story: [https://arlingtonvoice.com/arlington/politics/2019/05/13/draining-arlingtons-swamp-river-legacy-floods-developer-profits].

Arlington City Council Update

Runoff Election Set for Saturday, June 8

The runoff election for District 5 was set for June 8. Early voting will begin on Tuesday, May 28 and end on Tuesday, June 4.

District 5 is a single member district often considered to be the downtown and east Arlington area.

The runoff will be between Ignacio Nunez and Andy Prior. ANDY PRIOR is easily the better choice.

[http://arlspectator.mysite.com/rich_text_38.html].

Arlington City Council Update

The Arlington City Council very briefly met this past Tuesday, May 14 to canvas the election results. Robert Shepard and Roxanne Thalman were absent.

They will meet again this Tuesday, May 21. There is one committee meeting at 11:00am. The afternoon session begins in executive session at 1:30pm. The open portion of the afternoon session will start no sooner than 3:00pm. The evening meeting is at 6:30pm.

Committee Meetings

There is only one committee meeting. They will meet at 11:00am for less than 15 minutes to discuss an Oncor transmission area update.

Afternoon Session

The afternoon session begins in executive session at 1:30pm. The agenda has four items.

One item addresses the purchase, lease, and sale of land for a future fire station.

Another item is regarding the sale of real property at 498 Debbie Lane.

The open portion of the afternoon session will start no sooner than 3:00pm. The agenda has two work session items and two informal staff reports.

The first work session item is a gas well presentation of TCEQ and Texas Railroad Commission. No presentation is available.

The second work session item is a school zone update. [Presentation: https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/363498/School_Zones_Presentation_May_21_2019__002_.pdf].

The two informal staff reports are: (1) 6-month forecast of anticipated bids and 2^nd quarter formal bid awards, and (2)Great Neighborhood Newsletter [https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/354774/Champion_Great_Neighborhoods_Newsletter_FY2019Q3.pdf]

Evening Meeting

The agenda for the 6:30pm evening meeting contains one executive session item, four sets of minutes, 27 consent agenda items, two public hearings, and the naming of a mayor pro-tem and deputy mayor pro-tem.

Items 8.13 and 8.14 are the second readings (no speakers allowed because of closed public hearing) of the TIRZ#5 extension and revised financial plan.

Item 8.15 is the second reading (no speakers allowed because of closed public hearing) of zoning for southeast corner of Pioneer Parkway and Green Oaks Boulevard.

Item 8.24 is $202,841 for each of two years (2019 and 2020) of cooperation agreement for the TRE (Trinity Railway Express). We have been paying for public transportation for almost two decades, but we are told that we somehow don't have public transportation, and city officials believe it.

[The TRE staff report: https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/358955/SR_2019-2020_TRE_Interlocal_Agreement_for_052119_CC_FINAL.pdf].

The first public hearing is a rezoning case of the northeast corner of Kelley Elliott Road and Green Oaks Boulevard. Last November (six months ago) the council approved rezoning from RE (residential estate) to RS7.2 (residential 7200 sq ft lots—average size single family). Now, the developer wants to push the button further and is requesting RM-12 (residential medium density)

[The zoning case staff report: https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/363207/CC1_PD19-13_The_Preserve_on_Kelly_Elliott_Staff_Report__1_.pdf].

The second public hearing is for 1860 W. Division Street and will be continued until the next meeting on June 11.

P&Z Commission

The P&Z Commission met last Wednesday, May 15. They continued consideration of the major case in front of them, a PD for 331 apartments in southeast Arlington at Debbie Lane at Highway 360. It is currently zoned commercial. There were two speakers opposed.

The next scheduled P&Z meeting is Wednesday, June 5.

AISD Update

Kecia Mays was named the board's president. The next scheduled AISD Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 4. The school district is heading into its budget approval process.

Press Box

Abram Street

Abram Street in front of City Hall is expected to be closed May 1 – June 30.

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 most of the taxpayers have to pay for VIA, but receive no benefit from it. All those taxpayers are paying for something that competes against the private sector Lyft and Uber services.

Any citizen with an IQ or an opinion, please note the sign.

Corrections

Last week we did not have a correct spelling of the new proposed name for the new recreation center in southeast Arlington. The committee chose the “Mosaic”.

In 2008, there were certificates of obligation issued on behalf of TIRZ#5. They were backed by TIRZ revenue and city taxes. This information was obtained via an open records request.