The waco city council on october 7th, 2025 to order at 3:. Waco city
council. Nice crowd in here today. Welcome to all the people gathered here, mayor jim holmes. I'm joined on the dais here today by our council members, isabel lozano, josh
boyd, darius ewing, george chase and mayor pro tem andrea fairfield, next to me, to my
immediate left, also joined on the adjacent dais by our senior city staff. We have deputy city
manager deidre emerson running the meeting today. Over here. We also have kristen hamilton,
our city attorney, and our city secretary, michelle hicks, a full house here today. This is
great. We're going to start the meeting today with a moment of silence. All right. First item
of business today is a recognition of work session speakers. Is there anyone present who'd like to speak on a work session? Agenda item. City secretary hicks, do we
have anybody signed up? No, mayor, we do not have any speakers. We have no speakers
this afternoon, so we will now recess the regular session and convene into work session with
a report from deputy city manager emerson. Good afternoon, mayor and council. You're right.
we have a full house here today. We've got some special guests in the audience with us. And so
I just want to take a minute to do an employee recognition. Since the last council meeting,
our parks and recreation team has ensured two great experiences for two great
projects in south waco. First, the official unveiling of the south waco mural, a vision of
the cesar chavez neighborhood association that celebrates texas hispanic heritage and
local contributions. And second, the groundbreaking for the alice martinez rodriguez park,
a $25 million investment into an all inclusive park. A legacy project honoring former council
member alice rodriguez and other hispanic leaders and their unwavering dedication to
the community. We look forward to seeing this project be completed in late 2026, and
then, for more than 30 years, the city of waco has observed national night out due to a
special presentation scheduled for this evening's business session, we will respectfully
ask mayor holmes to present the national night out proclamation during today's work session to
ensure that we properly recognize this important community event. So, mayor, if
we can get the national night out team, community team down and the issuance of detective
mcgruff, I will meet you down at the podium. Mayor and deputy city manager, is it okay if
those of us who grew up with mcgruff just in our hearts, could go down there as well?
absolutely. It's your time to shine. I appreciate you. You're the best. Thank you for your
service. We have we have a celebrity among us today right here. I really appreciate the
national night out is such a special night for the city of each of early october, where we
do this national night out day, and it's really a combination of neighborhood associations
and neighborhoods, which have been strengthened materially over the last 5 or 6 years with
harrison's with us today. Let's not here, but I'm so proud of the neighborhood associations
and the strength that we have throughout the city. I think there's 22 individual neighborhood associations that really activate neighborhood care and neighborhood progress.
and to have that matched with our public safety and our in our police department, we've
got the best police chief in the world with chief victorian and with in the best police
department in the world. And you know that. And I'm so proud to say this. We have the lowest
crime rate in over 30 years. So it's a it's a. Which which is really we can thank the
synergies the way I see the synergies of the neighborhood associations who are who care
about the neighborhoods and the police department, who care to listen to the neighborhoods and
and interact. Our relational policing is at an all time high. So I want to just add that in.
and in addition to having mcgruff here, who's been a childhood hero of mine. So I'm
glad you're here today. So with that, I'll read the proclamation. Hi, jim holmes, by virtue of the authority vested in me as mayor of the city of waco, texas, do hereby
proclaim october 7th, 2025, as national night out day in the city of waco. So let's hear it.
and I urge all citizens to join city council, city staff, and me, along with the waco police
department, in observing america's night out against crime. National night out is a nationwide campaign that promotes strong relationships between police and the
communities they serve. This initiative encourages neighbors to connect, to build trust, and
to work together to make our neighborhoods safer and more united. On this day, we
recognize the dedication of community members and neighborhood groups who partner with law enforcement to prevent crime and to build a sense of shared responsibility for
public safety, whether by hosting block parties, organizing local events, or
simply reaching out to connect with neighbors, residents are playing a vital role in shaping
safer, more vibrant communities. We invite everyone in waco and the surrounding areas to turn
on their porch lights, step outside, and join in this collective effort to strengthen
community bonds and stand together against crime. In testimony whereof, witness my
hand in the seal of the city of waco this seventh day of october, 2025, and is signed by
all the members of council. So thank you very much. All right. A few words, please. Yes, sure.
fantastic. Thank you, mayor and council, thank you to our city manager's office, city manager
ford and our city manager's team leadership team. Our team. And miss candace cruz who has
led this effort. We are visiting 25 neighborhoods on tonight. That's how many signed
up for us to come and visit. And we're excited about that. And we hope that, you know,
after council, you guys have an opportunity to go out to your neighborhoods, meet your
neighbors, and just continue this just wonderful tradition that we have of national night
out here in texas. So thank you. Thank you again for our proclamation. And we'll see you
guys tonight. All right. All right. Thank you. Mayor, before you go too far, do you mind
staying there just for a second, please? We have we noticed that we have our customer engagement
team in the audience with us. And so would you all stand. And so it is national customer
service week. And so there's a proclamation that you're scheduled to do at 6 p.m. But
since all the staff are here now, would you mind doing that with them now? Absolutely.
remain standing during my little this is going to be yeah, it's going to be long. This is
about customer service week. And our group right here is representing that. You know,
since I'm an old chief operating officer from a company, I love talking about
best in class service and which is what I tried to do in the private sector and what I want
to accomplish in public sector. And we've got such great staff here at the city that that
really embraces that goal. We've built a culture of high performance and customer first
mentality. We've been very intentional about that and we continue to improve with better
system, better processes, and just a focus on on customer being number one. So thanks to
staff and also thanks to waco residents, because this is always an interactive,
iterative process. As we as we become better and the customers, customers and residents help us
become better. So we're continually striving to be best in class. I appreciate the
commitment. So with that, you all want to come down here so I can present this to you, please.
this is great. Thanks. Appreciate you. Okay, I'm going to now read the proclamation. I,
jim holmes, by virtue of the authority vested in me as mayor of the city of waco, texas, do
hereby proclaim october 6th through 10th, 2025 as customer service week in the city of
waco. Thank you. Appreciate you. John. And I urge all citizens to join the city council, city
staff and me and recognize the hard work, dedication and achievements of our customer
service professionals. Let us all commit to promoting a culture of service, gratitude,
and respect not just this week, but every day of the year. Customer service stands as the
heartbeat of any organization fostering trust, nurturing lasting relationships, and
upholding the satisfaction and success of those served. The dedicated professionals who
work in customer service serve as the face and the voice of the city of waco, demonstrating
patience, empathy, problem solving skills, and a commitment to excellence. Each day, they play a vital role in shaping the customer experience, responding to concerns with
care, resolving challenges with diligence, and going above and beyond to deliver value and
support to our citizens. Customer service week is a nationally recognized event and
is celebrated annually during the first full week of october to honor the people who serve
and support customers with professionalism and pride. The theme of customer service week
2025 is service with heart, and it reminds us that exceptional service standards beyond
transactions and is about forging genuine connections, demonstrating care, and
fostering a sense of community. And that's in testimony whereof witness my hand and the seal of
the city of waco this seventh day of october, and signed by all the members of city council.
so congratulations. Thank you, thank you. Thank you. Here we go. Just in time. We're going
to have to move in. Move to the middle. Get the whole schmear. Thank you. All right.
appreciate it. Oh, well, it's an honor to be here. And we certainly appreciate the
support of our mayor and our council. Customer service, as the proclamation reads, is the
face of the city. Many people never deal with any other department than ours in the
city. So it's very important to us that we deliver that first in class service and that we
support our citizens in trying to problem solve any issues they have with the city. So
again, we appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, mayor, for making that special
accommodation. There are three informal reports today and staff is available. If there
are any questions. I had one question. Are we going to do these separately? Okay. The
informal reports I did have a question on. Let me find my notes. Mayor, do you mind if if
I make a note about our deputy city manager's first items? While you're looking for that
question, I just wanted to say thanks to the parks team and to city manager bradley ford and
to our assistant city managers and our staff for a wonderful unveiling of the mural at south
waco community center, which was a great event, joyous and long overdue in many ways, but
wonderfully delivered. So thanks to all for who made that happen. And also this last
saturday, I felt like alice martinez rodriguez parks groundbreaking was a similarly joyful affair. So thank you to staff. Thank you to this council for prioritizing it. I
think that was a major event in the life of our city, and looking forward to that park
being developed in the next 14 months. And I'm going to echo everything, josh said. Because
it was an the two events were amazing and just reflective of the community that we are and
the community that we will be, and elevating our all of the cultures that are, that are
significant in our community. I also wanted to mention on one of the other ir about the waco
tourism rebranding project. Many of you know, we just underwent an amazing rebranding
campaign for the city of waco itself. But as you know, we separated our our convention
center into a different management team, and we've become a destination marketing
organization. You'll hear dmo, that's what that is. We decided we needed to figure out what
that looked like and how to be reflective of who we who we are to our visitors. And when I
tell you, it is probably chinese arithmetic is on steroids, is easier than
bringing in 8 million ideas to what is is waco and what we sell waco as, because it's more
than one thing and we it cannot be drilled down into just one thing. That's waco. And so the
team went out and got some amazing consultants. We had a lot of ideas come through. We
threw all of them in the trash and started over again. Because if it's not right, it's not
right. And like we said, cast the net on the other side. And what we did was found a way to
represent our community. So it we're not talking about it here, but the information is in the
on the agenda to go through and look at our new brand. It it's I think it embodies our
community in a way that you can place it in any of the things that make waco, waco, and
you'll be like, yep, that's exactly right. So I want to commend our comms team,
certainly our our dmo team. Lisa blackman and her team, hannah, all of the the tourism
team for coming together to choose the consultants to to work through the processes and
to get it right. So thank you for that and congratulations on great work. Totally agree with
mayor pro tem barefield on the the branding for the the tourism group. Just some new
ideas that just seems like we're always coming up with good, new, better ideas. I love
it. Oh, the informal report I think I've, I already reached out to to staff on this one on
the the code international codes, where we have a recommendation for cooling
facilities capable of maintaining indoor room temperatures of at least 15 degrees cooler than the outside temperature or to 85 degrees, whichever is lower. And I think
we're going to adjust that. In theory, if the temperature was 70 degrees outside, you'd have
to have a capability of having 55 and progressively colder and colder house, which didn't
wasn't intuitive to me. So I think we're going to work to change that language. And paul
is nodding his head. Good. Yes. That's all I had on the informal. There are two public
hearings today in clint peters will cover those items later in the work session. The consent
agenda includes 31 resolutions. These resolutions are a reflection of the continued
commitment to ensure current and future projects and programs move forward. A few
quick highlights would be. Resolution g six provides a request to council to accept a
donation of technology, products and services for the steam center from cisco systems,
inc. Resolution g7 authorizes actions for the westlake village development that acm
paul kane and the developers team presented at the september 16th, 2025 work session,
including approval of a development agreement and consent for creation of a
municipal management district at the development. And then lastly, resolution g 11
authorizes the conveyance of city owned property and federal grant funds towards the completion of the mixed use development at the old former sanger school site. Under the
amended development agreement, infrastructure will be completed throughout 2026, and then we'll see the first phase of home start going up between november 2026 and november 2027,
galen price, director of housing and community development, will present on this item later in the work session. There are six ordinances on the agenda today
two first readings and four second readings. And if there are no questions that will
conclude my report, any questions or comments on the work session items today, I
just want to say that there's a wide variety of it's very exciting agenda. I encourage
everybody to to read the whatever thousand pages of information. But to me, it just
struck me that we're talking about economic development, where we have the meeting
tonight for downtown. We're talking about in h five or in got to get all these streets.
there's so much going on. We're talking about the steel 71 jobs and 117 million in new
investment, which is super exciting. We're talking about housing some some cool projects,
the westlake project, where we expand across the river with a bunch of housing. We're talking
about downtown housing on the renaissance singer heights project with 25 units there.
and we're talking about baylor area housing with the pud going in there on sixth and james.
just super exciting there. And then also, this is the time of year where we we fund and
demonstrate support for our business chambers. The african american chamber, cen-tex
hispanic and greater waco chamber. Appreciate all their work and partnerships there.
and then in addition to that, we have people are giving starting to give the city stuff,
which is a great trend. A&m is donating a wildfire fighting. I don't know if it's a wildfire
fighting vehicle. It's a wildfire fighting vehicle. One of those could be both, but
that's cool. It's like a $650,000 unit. We're excited to accept that. And also cisco
electrical is donating some very integral parts to our steam project. So this to me
this is one this is great agenda a lot of cool stuff happening in the city. So yeah,
if you have some bedtime reading time, open that baby up. It's got some cool stuff in it.
but thanks deidre, that's all I have. We will now go to the consent agenda, which include
resolutions g one through resolutions g 31. There are actually no affidavits of
substantial interest today, which is, I think maybe the first time in a in a long time.
but anyway, so we all get to vote on all 31 agenda items. So it includes resolutions g one
through g 31. And the next item on the agenda is work session items b5 through b8. Deputy
city manager emerson, will you please introduce the first work session? All right. So the
first work session we have is the discussion of alternative improvements for texas central
parkway. Charles lease, director of infrastructure services will present today. This presentation focuses on the rehabilitation of texas central parkway. Originally a
two lane county road built in phases before 1970 through the 1990s. Now a critical
industrial commercial corridor serving over 90 businesses in the city's texas central
business park. With increasing traffic and heavy traffic, traffic truck use. Beyond its
original design, the roadway is showing significant pavement distress. The proposed
improvements discussed today aim to enhance ride quality, reduce annual maintenance
demands and lower operational costs by potentially easing the strain on city resources.
charles. Good afternoon, mayor and council honored to be here today. I feel like we've we've
talked about streets for a few of these presentations, and those have been some marathon
sessions. And we've talked about everything from from funding to street design to how
we select streets for our program and how we rate streets. Today, we're going to try to do
a half marathon, and we will talk about texas central parkway. Plan to talk a little
bit about the history, how we got here, and perhaps a new strategy to get this street in
a better condition, some recent bid trends and what's going on in our industry, how we propose
to fund these improvements. And then talk a little bit about a schedule. Texas central parkway
is a critical piece of infrastructure for the city of waco. It was built in the 60s
and 70s. It was originally a county road, and now it serves one of our economic engines in
texas central park, 90 plus businesses, 14,000 plus jobs. This area expects infill in the
future and expects a vehicle load of around 14,000 vehicles each day by the year 2040. Just
to give you an idea on total square footage, I've got a number there about 12,000,000fts
of facility space. So lots of big business for waco, texas. In the past, the strategy for
replacement of texas central parkway was a concrete street adjusting lane size, adjusting
location of utilities. Quite an expensive endeavor. This is an important piece of our
infrastructure, and so concrete was recommended for several reasons. Number one, lower
maintenance supports additional traffic load and a longer useful life. However, lots of
challenges with this extensive roadway reconstruction. Around $67 million. It's a heavy lift,
especially with all the other things that are going on in waco, texas. This
reconstruction also causes some other things, and we'll get into those in just a minute.
all right. Texas central parkway, divided in four segments. I believe it's
central park to imperial and segment one, that's circa 1994, paving and overlaid last in
2017 and currently in a fair condition. Just two lanes of traffic. Segment two we're
talking imperial to mars. It's also in a fair condition. 57 pci, two lanes constructed in
the 60s, last overlaid in 1995. Segment three is a poor condition segment and it moves
to four lanes. Lots of heavy traffic. We've got some rail section in there, and segment
four is a fair section of paving four lanes as well. Looks like was reconstructed in
86 and overlaid in 2005. Okay. So why why choose a preventative maintenance option
versus a complete reconstruction. It's got a couple categories here. Number one is cost. We're looking at about a 10 to $11 million project versus a 65 to $70
million project. Number two is just competing interests we've got. And I just listed a few of
them here a several competing projects. We got speegleville road, speegleville bridge, we
got downtown redevelopment and there are numerous other individual street segments that
the city is interested in replacing above and beyond our normal street program. The
preventative maintenance option will extend the existing lifespan of the street. If
you'll recall, in our previous discussions, we're really wanting to take those fair
streets and get the best bang for our buck and move those to a good condition.
reconstruction is great. It would reset the lifespan of this particular paving, but it's a significantly higher cost. The other things that we need to think about in terms of
these types of projects are traffic impacts, business impacts, a preventative maintenance program will have much less disruption to traffic flow for these businesses.
perfect example is our bagby project. When you reconstruct a street from scratch, you work
on utilities. It's extremely long, cumbersome, and impactful to all of those adjacent
homeowners, property owners, businesses. And then just timing, we talked a little bit
previously about getting these streets repaired and replaced and their appropriate time, and
we can take advantage of those cheaper options to get a good quality pavement. All right.
what what could we do with texas central parkway in terms of phasing this project. So we
would start with drainage repairs. Phase one. We've got a couple of creeks here. We've
got some antiquated drainage structures, some undersized drainage structures that need to be replaced. Phase two, we would do a little bit of railroad work, coordinate with
uprr, and then phase three could be either a segmented or a complete paving, including
some of the major intersections being done in concrete. Why would we do those in concrete?
simply because turning moments and chewing up the asphalt with heavier trucks and and traffic.
okay, phase one is about $1 million in drainage work. You see in these photos on the
right hand side here, corrugated metal pipe. It's it's rotten and needs to be
replaced. We would select materials of a that have better longevity, like a concrete rcp
pipe. We would have some easement acquisition costs, some design costs, engineering
and then obviously some construction costs. There are some opportunities to utilize
some of our drainage funds and some other funds that we're going to talk about in a moment.
phase two is railroad coordination. We would be working with the railroad to
ensure the transition between city of waco paving. And those rail beds are adequate and up
to standard. Right now. This is just a placeholder. We know there's going to be some
dollars associated with that communication and coordination with the rail. We're estimating
10,000, but that could go up based upon actual need at the time of design. All right. The
most expensive portion by segment is selecting a pavement either preservation
rehabilitation and partial replacement. So we do have an existing contract. When I moved
to public works in july of last year, we had tapped the brakes on this particular project
because of the changes and the potential for reorganization and some of the things that
were, you know, just just going on with all the projects being moved into my purview, I do
have some money available on that contract to pick this methodology up this concept and
move it forward. And then you see the costs of the individual segments there, 800,000 all the
way up to 4.9 million. All right. So here's just a summary of the different phases. All in
about $11 million concept cost drainage is a million. Railroad is probably between 10,000 and
$100,000 in the street rehabilitation. Preventive maintenance about $10 million.
all right. This is a slide that just kind of shows the difference between the two
methodologies. So segment one, the original concrete replacement $12 million
estimate. We're talking about just less than $1 million. Now this is keeping the two lane
asphalt type section instead of moving to a concrete additional lane section. We're not moving
utilities. We're just taking that. I believe it was a fair section and bringing it up to a
good condition. Segment $211 million original cost. We're looking at about $1 million now.
again, a preservation, taking that fair street and moving it to a good condition. Segment
three was the was the poor condition. It's got significantly more dollars
associated with it. But again, a fraction of the original consideration for complete
concrete replacement at $21 million plus or minus, we're looking at about a $3 million
charge. And then segment four, this is where we spend a little bit more money and get some of
that heavy traffic consideration taken care of at our intersections, and put some
concrete intersections to get more longevity in the intersection, and then, of
course, rehabilitate the rest of the paving with asphalt section. All right. Think back
to our last conversation. We had this fantastic graph. I think it was the mayor's
favorite. One of the mayor's favorites depends on whether if that's if it goes down this
good or bad. Okay. This is good. It's good. So I think I like it. Alright. So if you'll recall we
talked a little bit about what the trends are in our construction industry. And in
the june 19th through december 20th into december 21st, prices of asphalt, this happens to be
asphalt was fairly steady. You look at that. That average 12 month moving average line, the
orange line, there were some peaks, but generally it stayed about $80 or so, a ton. And
then of course we had covid and other local, national and international issues and prices
just took off exponentially. And in sometime in 2022, they started to level out an
increase linearly. And we still into december of 24, had extremely high prices. And
thankfully there has been some easing. And that easing has been recognized not only in
asphalt but in the labor market and other materials here within the city of waco. So we do see
some prices coming down. Okay. This is a lot. I'll presented this slide a little bit more to
it in one of our previous meetings, and we had talked about all the proposed projects.
this is been updated to show all of the executed projects. So first grouping their bid
prior to june 2025. Those are already construction started projects. And if you look there
in the engineer's estimate, we had about $11.3 million worth of estimates, and actual bids
came in at $8.9 million. So certainly seeing some potential for estimated savings there. In
june, we bid for projects for $15 million of an estimate came in just short of 12 million.
and you can see all the way down the list here on the right hand side, we had programed
about $45 million in costs. Bids received $34 million in actual cost. Now that's not the
end of the story. These are still estimates, right? These projects are just now we just
bid these projects in august and september. We're just getting rolling. We could have the potential for contingency that are needed or change orders that occur or other
instances where we will spend more than what was actually bid. However, there is some
potential for funding here that could be utilized for texas central parkway. Okay, more to
that story. Great slide. Charles. I just when I read it this weekend, I put refreshing
on there and circled it many times. I mean, seeing those costs come back down and that
other graph of the old you learned it the head and shoulders sort of that it's
just it's a correction that we're seeing that will allow us to do more with our dollars. So
it's good information and and yes, that 2222222.22 number is real. That is legitimate number.
it's what actually was bid. So I didn't fall asleep at the keyboard on that one. The other
one I know that that is high a priority is a bridge lighting. So we are working on the bridge
lighting. We did receive a bid and we'll be talking about that in a future date. We're
actually going to meet with that vendor here this week. So I know that's that's a big one.
all right. What's what's also nice is infrastructure services is working incredibly hard to
push more projects out by the end of the year. So we're talking about another $17
million in october, 34 million anticipated in november and another 4 million in december.
so there's some big ones in here. Downtown quiet zone. I know that one's been out there
for a while, and you're starting to see some of those 20, 25 streets. We talked about
some neighborhood streets, so you'll see street renal. Excuse me, rehabilitation, operational
street maintenance and pavement rehabilitation projects. Operational street maintenance.
remember, we divided concrete out from asphalt operations wherever we could get a better
price, where the concrete contractor doesn't have to work asphalt and vice versa. So when
you see operational street maintenance in a district that is concrete curb and gutter,
valley gutter, a little bit of ramp, concrete work, when you see pavement rehabilitation
projects in a district, you're looking at pavement only. You're looking at thin overlay
mixes. You're looking at mill and overlay. You're looking at some of those types of projects.
and when you see street rehabilitation, street rehabilitation projects, that's
those are the ones we really couldn't break up. So those have got a little bit of both
in there just because of timing and scheduling and, and how we push these projects out in
anticipation of trying to get good bids. There is a little bit of art and magic to to push
in some of these projects out and into december. We've got a few additional projects there.
and so we're looking to hopefully ride that downward trend with these estimates and
try to utilize the differential in what our original estimate was, what the bids come in at,
what we actually spend, and try to piece together a phased approach to texas central
parkway. And that looks a little bit like this. What are we getting for our monies?
we're going to do a rehabilitation for segments three and four and that aerial
and extend life by 8 to 10 years. Now we would look to maintain maintenance after that
and extend that further. We can't just stop. So you'd have to do your crack seals, your
your fog seals or whatever. We need to to continue to maintain that and extend that life. But
we would expect at least an 8 to 10 year on those rehabilitation, preservation at
least eight years. Plus. Again, you would also do maintenance beyond that. And that would be
the segment one and two. The cost today is about $11 million. The potential funding is again,
there are lots of asterisks there that you don't see that is contingent upon all of those
dollars that we are spending in the in the current projects that are out and the upcoming
projects that are going to come out. And then I would recommend that we immediately work some
of those funds and get started on. Design and prep for a phased approach in the in the
replacement of texas central parkway. And I put this schedule together to just kind of give you an idea of what that could look like, showing that we would get started on
that phase one with drainage improvements and working with the railroad, then moving to our street strategies, and then hopefully go out for actual street work. First part of 2027.
once all that design has come in and is finished. And also we'll have a much better idea
because a lot of our other projects that are currently in construction will be wrapped up
and will be financed out and know how much money is available. Oh, great. All right.
any comments or questions for charles? Yeah, I appreciate charles. The update on texas
central, because I do feel like it's a pretty vital road for the economic development
success that we've seen there in the industrial park and its surrounding environs. So
grateful for this approach. I know in the maybe best possible world, we would be laying that
concrete foundation, reconstructing the whole thing. But under these circumstances, I feel like the preventative maintenance approach is both a good practical update for this
road and definitely a cost efficient solution. So thank you for all the work you've
done, and thanks for the kind of the update on all the bids that are coming in, which I
think is helpful to us. So it's it's not no one. We're we're seeing some cost savings in some of our big project priorities as well. Thank you. Quick question. Can you remind
me on those railroad crossings, what are they responsible for and what is the city
responsible? We're responsible for the paving up to the railroad bed. So there are
sometimes, you know, their standards change every once in a while, and they require
certain transitions between the city's pavement and the rail bed. We had to deal with that
on university parks where the rail cross. And we'll have to do it for all of the downtown
quiet zone work. So I would anticipate in this zone similar type assessment and
construction is there. I mean, this question may just be for the ether. Is there a realistic
time zone in that downtown quiet zone yet? We're going to bid it in october, I mean, this
month in its entirety, in its entirety this month. Okay. So the, the the one thing that we
still have to coordinate with the railroad is who goes first, do we go together? That's still
in the works. Okay. So I would say. By the end of the year we're going to know a price and
probably have a decent schedule. Nice. And for the and I appreciate the the breakout of
the intentional district street work. I hope that in some way there's like a comms plan
around that so that we can do our due diligence in informing our neighbors and neighborhood
associations what is going to happen, as in in real time, but with prep time, so that, you
know, you can encourage people to get their minds right when they're the way they went home
all the time is no longer the way they can go home. So I'm excited about that stuff going
out. But if if the streets team can get with us or cso about how we can help you all message
this work, that would be cool. Absolutely. I just want to commend you for getting
creative on on getting this to a point where we can tackle it, you know, in the relatively
near future to get this really critical infrastructure for a lot of, you know, a lot of our
commercial tax base out there to be able to continue providing service. When I was
reading this in the agenda, specifically, you know, section three, had I never gotten
involved in, you know, civic face, you know, public facing work, I wouldn't know what pci
ratings meant. And seeing a 16.7 kind of right in the middle of of what really for
waco, you know, 59.7, 57.2 and 49.3 is kind of par for the course. Was really shocking.
and then seeing the the construction overlay dates on that going back, you know, 30 years, 30 plus years at this point. So just the fact that we're able to, you know, and we
talk about in these presentations, getting things from poor to good is always the most expensive endeavor that we undertake with streets. So seeing that that is still able
to happen, getting creative with how we're doing that and making sure that it stays a
part of this overall project, just kind of the general mindset that staff has taken
this year and going forward to, hey, if we can't knock out this whole thing in one fell swoop
with x amount of tens of millions of dollars, how do we eat this elephant? One bite at
a time. I'm really loving that mindset that we're taking to tackle these bigger problems and hopefully start applying that to smaller problems and taking smaller chunks out of
things that we see throughout the city. So thank you for that. Yeah. Great, charles, you're
always the problem solver here. And I like whenever I think of you I think charles is the
mikey of our in the old life cereal commercials. If you don't if you can't figure out
how to fix it, you go to mikey. You go to charles least. Because it seems like whenever
we have a problem that sort of complex or critical or really we want we know, we know we got
to go from 75 million to preferably 10 million. Nobody knows how to do it. You kind of
jumped in and figured out a way to at least get the initial, the initial look as a very
functional and showing the right direction for what we're trying to do out there on, on
texas central parkway, because that's the data you show is very compelling. 90 plus
businesses out there, 14,000 jobs. And it's not just graphic packaging and all these new
ones, but we have some old established businesses out there too, that need this road
to be functional so they can get to and from work. Very creative phase, you know,
focusing on intersections. I like the way you you're tackling this, so I'm supportive of it. One question I had real quick and going back to this, the one that we talked
about, we're we're seeing some a crown here and we're coming down. We're seeing that in
asphalt. Are we seeing other materials or is concrete having the same sort of trend. They're
not all the same percentage. But yes, all of them are trending down. And I'll tell
you a lot more in a couple of weeks when we bid bullhead. What that number really looks
like. Great. And mayor, for those watching at home, maybe under the age of 40, perhaps
city comms team could send out a link. Maybe a youtube video to mikey likes it. The life
cereal commercial. Just just so those references can be picked up by a broad cross section.
and another old reference from the 60s. Nobody, nobody knows about nobody know about it. But.
okay. Life, cereal life is very good. I was like, dairy doesn't know. Yeah. Dairy. Right.
darius has no idea what we're talking about. Sounds like a great guy. Yeah, he was he was.
he was a trailblazer, charles. Even better than mikey. All right. Any other questions on
this one? Thanks, charles. Great presentation. The next item, work session b six.
deputy city manager emerson. Thank you, mayor jonathan cook. Ready, jonathan. Director of
parks and recreation will discuss the holiday event plans for city departments, along with other events throughout the city. This is an annual report that he provides us so
that we can get ready for the holidays. Thank you. Deputy city manager, emerson mayor and
council always seems a little bit early to come and talk about holiday day events, but
is it ever too early? So it might be 95 degrees outside. And so we're going to shift
some gears here from charles's presentation and talk about everything we've got going on
here in waco for the holidays. You know, as you know, holidays are a special time, brings the
community together, creates a spirit of community throughout our downtown and really throughout our city. And so we're excited to have several events and community efforts
that we've started over the past ten or so years that have really become traditions in our
community. And we're excited to continue those traditions to make sure that the holiday
cheer is spread throughout. So for today's presentation, we're going to do an overview of our
festival event, waco wonderland, which will be taking place at the 1st of december. And then
also look at our current plans for the downtown lighting display and also talk about the
cameron park zoo wildlife display that will be taking place again this year. And then we want to look at how different departments throughout the city are
spreading holiday cheer with different community events, and then also looking at just the
holidays around our community. For waco wonderland, this is our big festival created in
2013, that has really become a signature downtown festival for our city. It's a collaborative
effort to where our city of waco parks team, along with all of our other event personnel
from pd and traffic, come together and work with city center, waco and waco public
improvement district and really showcases the downtown area. We like to get people not only
from our community, but people traveling in to showcase what we have in downtown while
they're also enjoying a holiday market and festivities at the heritage square area. It is
funded through the public improvement district, but then also through local organizations and sponsorship with the city of waco providing personnel costs. Additional
revenue streams. There are ticket sales for the attractions such as the ferris
wheel or the ice snow tubing hill, and then we also collect fees from the vendors who
participate in our mistletoe market. I mentioned a lot of city parks do take place. Our
city departments come together to plan and manage this event. When you're averaging around
crowds throughout the weekend, 20 to 25,000 is a lot of people and a lot of planning and
efforts. And so I commend everyone for coming together each year and going above and
beyond to make sure that we have a safe event to kick off the holiday season. Now,
looking at 2024, want to look back at the year we had last year? Three day event friday,
saturday and sunday, and we'll start off with our total visits just over 12,000 attendees. So
if you're thinking and looking closely and say, well, hey, just on the last slide, you
talked about 20 to 25,000. Unfortunately, in 2024, we got hit with some weather. We were
able to have a very solid friday night with the tree lighting and fireworks. However,
cold front came in. It was raining on the morning of the parade. We had it, but it was
icicles hanging off of everyone and that misty, drizzly weather just continued, you know? But
we had some diehard people that still came out that first night. And looking at our different
placement data, we had over 8000 people for the tree lighting and fireworks. And
then over the next two days, about 2300 people each day came out. So that was a dip of
attendance. But we still had some solid revenue that came in from the ticket sales. On the
right you see a big red dot there, sort of in the middle. This is a heat map that shows
where people came from and wanted to show. We've continued to see an expansion of this
event, but it's a regional reach, obviously a core draw from waco, but we see a lot of
regional attendance, people coming down from the surrounding communities, and
then this also attracts our local community. We know that. So it's one of those sort of
hybrid events to where we're starting to see that tourism and economic impact of people wanting to come down and looking for something to do with a fireworks show and
additional shopping throughout the weekend. Now, specifically for this year, weekend of
holiday cheer is going to be december 5th through seventh. We're always on that first weekend, so we have a full month to celebrate the holidays here in downtown waco, but
we'll be starting off with our annual tree lighting ceremony. And then also our fireworks
show is going to be taking place on that night to kick off the holidays. We'll follow up
on saturday with the holiday parade, working with creative waco once again in different
organizations to help produce that parade, which travels down alston avenue. And we'll be
bringing back, I mentioned the mistletoe market, my favorite, all the local food trucks. I
try to visit each one, but that's always fun. We'll usually have about 15 or so out
there surrounding the square, so that's always good to see everyone come out and enjoy the
community entertainment stage. On friday, saturday and sunday we have a main stage area where
we have different organizations, dance groups, church choirs, you name it, just a variety of
community entertainment and that's on top of the attractions. The ferris wheel,
the snow tube. Hill's got two different slides for the youngsters and the ones a
little older like myself to go down. So we have a library, always looking to collaborate
and have different people out. I know the library comes out, pet circle comes out and then
santa will be making a special appearance all three days of the event. And we have a
santa's house where people can come and take free pictures with santa as well. Now from
waco wonderland. Obviously when we flip the switch and turn the tree lights on it. Also, we
start off with the season of lights throughout the city hall and heritage square area, also
at bridge street and at the convention center. So there is coordination between city city
center waco and our convention center that our parks and rec team works on the installation
of downtown light displays and holiday decor, and also different photograph
opportunities. Those selfie moments, lighting locations. We've got heritage square and
working with our trees and the pergolas there light up. Also, we lighting at bridge street
plaza looking at. We have a tree that's been in place there and lighting of the hedge areas
and looking at some expansion of some lightings for a little bit more wow factor, but it's a
really beautiful sight because with the white lights over there, it's a definitely a nice
spot. And then our city hall, the front trees on the entrance and a tree in front of the
fountain area. And then we also always place a big w in different lights around the
convention center as well. The lighting installation is done with the contract with city
center waco and the company out of houston. That company does come in with the installation,
removal and different decor. We've got that scheduled for mid-november, so the elves will
start to be scurrying around a little bit, and those lights will be up through january.
throughout the holiday season. You know, I mentioned traditions earlier and right on
waco, wonderland hill is another strong tradition that our cameron park zoo staff does
an amazing job with wildlife at the cameron park zoo. This has now been going on a fifth year.
it really showcases the zoo and cameron park, but just an incredible display to go at
night and to be able to walk around the inner loop to where you have more than 3 million
lights and 65 light displays and trees. It's really captivating and once again,
that we've seen families year in and year out. It becomes the thing to do. It is going to be
open. Wildlife will be open on select nights from november 29th, right after thanksgiving,
going all the way through the end of december. Last year, 15,000 people attended this, so
a good way of revenue stream that the cameron park zoo has in place to drive traffic to
the zoo. Even during the cold months. It includes the event also as visit with santa,
scheduled and different activities, food and beverage options. And they've done. Now
you're able to get a combo ticket as well to where you can get regular admission to the
zoo and then also get a wildlife submission. So some creative marketing and planning
going into this event, and we're always thankful they also host a city appreciation city
employee appreciation event to where city employees are welcome to bring their families
out, to go through wildlife at the zoo. And that's a great evening. Last year we had more
than 1200 employees and their families take part in that one. Another one that's really a
highlight and sort of everybody's favorite. A little department rivalry sort of
kicked off and everybody pushes a little further, and I'm always excited to see what's going to come out of our holiday cheer being spread around through city vehicles.
and it's funny because none of the directors really want, or the chiefs really want to let
on to what they're doing this year. They're all little secretive about it, but it's a
fun program. And for those that don't know, we have staff members that decorate fire
trucks, police vehicles, public works vehicles to where they travel around the neighborhoods
or schools, different events, the libraries, and they go to these different locations at
night and really bring the holiday spirit to the neighborhoods. And so I'm
working with our communications department. There's an interactive map now that shows the schedule of where the vehicles are, where they're going, and so you can plan out
and try not to miss when they drive by. But these vehicles, it's just a small thing that
makes a big impact. And kids and families love to see them. And so thankful for the city
staff. They also make an appearance at the other events and different attractions. So
this one's really become a great tradition of departments coming together to spread the
holiday spirit. Jonathan, I don't know if you may be at liberty to say or not, but can
you confirm or disconfirm the grinch mobile? I can not. Oh, I can not. I do not know. I'm not
going to throw that out there. But all I know we're decorating. Okay, but a little switch up.
okay, alright. I'll keep my eye out for the grinch though. Or something similar. Something.
something similar. All right, all right, see? All right. Department. Other other holiday
activities. We open our community centers up during the holidays as a place for kids to
come and enjoy different activities. And also at those community centers, we have community groups come in and do performances, and other city facilities do that as well.
public works always. Every year. Billy dehart, they put together some good programs and like
their annual bicycle drive, just employees doing a little bit extra to make sure that
everyone has a good holidays. Waco pd, our mobile welcome center, is going to be out this
year visiting the different events as well. I know they're getting ready to open their downtown location, and I know our mobile welcome center is going to be visiting all these
events. And as I mentioned, the library has programing our youth council with the holiday
toy collection. And then of course I name dropped them earlier. But if you're not
giving away a pet circle animal for the holidays, somebody's missing out. So a great present.
always a little holiday adoption. Nothing like hearing a little boxed up, whimpering
under the tree, you know what I mean? Just it's not me. A lot of traditional events. And
y'all, this is just a sample. One thing that we do is with our waco wonderland homepage
and social media efforts. We're the first weekend, but then we switch over and make sure to
try to promote different events throughout the city. And these are just some annual ones that
take place, like the h-e-b feast of sharing, baylor's annual christmas on fifth
street, the holiday farmers market taking place this year. So some great partnerships and
different events throughout the month, and we're squaring up for a good holiday season.
quick reminder our event support the festive season throughout the city, not just
in downtown, but we also have things at the zoo or community centers and different
facilities. We'll be starting the installation of the lights in november. Right after
thanksgiving, cameron park zoo will be opening up its wild lights, and then throughout the
month of december, decorated city vehicles will be traveling around town, and we'll be
kicking off with waco wonderland on december 5th through the sixth for the
annual tree lighting and fireworks show. And I believe we got a quick preview before
we wrap it up. So I appreciate it and we're looking forward to the holidays. Any questions?
I'm happy to answer them today. Any questions for jonathan? Thanks, jonathan I appreciate it. You know, it's it truly is the most wonderful time of the year and all the work that the
multiple departments do to to bring holiday cheer for our residents and our visitors is
amazing each year. And you all try to you all outdo yourselves annually. So I can't wait to
see what this year is. Even though y'all aren't coming off any secrets, I do want to know
are are we doing live reindeer this year? I do think we are trying to get that arranged. I
know they were there last year, so, you know, they're sort of hard to come by. Well, I mean a
little bit here's they're great for photos. Here's the problem. See, when y'all do these
amazing things we expect you to do them all the time. So a dozen reindeer, you know, I
mean, you know, work on phone santa and see if we can get some reindeer to come down.
right. And I also did want to highlight you mentioned the expansion of the lighting and
bridge street plaza and all the things I know, the holiday market that the farmers market
did last year was really, really cool and amazing. And with the additional lighting,
it just really made for a a wonderful event. And so I look forward to that as well as what
we have in heritage square and of course, all the things the I know each year my family enjoys
the the zoo lights tremendously and just y'all do an amazing job. And we I was at an event
at multi-purpose. I can't even remember what the event was. And it wasn't a city event. And
one of the trucks came by and everybody lost their minds. So it's great to see the impact
and joy that it brings to our, our neighborhoods and our communities. So thank all of
you for what you do in that part. Thank you. Appreciate it. Yeah. Thanks, jonathan. I think
all of us have great memories of downtown, you know, christmas events and that kind
of deal. And you're building memories here for for young and old. And it's just it's great.
and it continues to be as council. As mayor pro tem benefield said, it continues to get just bigger and better every year. So I appreciate your efforts in bringing all
this to life. It's it's it's a lot of fun. Thank you. Any other questions, guys? All
right. Thanks, jonathan. Next item is work session b seven. We're going to talk a little
bit about renaissance at sanger heights. Deputy city manager emerson. Yes. So galen price
director of housing and community development. And mike stone, executive director of grassroots, will provide an update on the pocket neighborhood project that has
been years in the making at the former sanger avenue elementary school that closed in 1974 and
in 2008 was subject to arsonists who set the vacant building on fire. This is
another collaborative project between the city, between city departments, as well as our
nonprofit groups. We are thankful to our federal partners as well as congressman
sessions for supporting this project. Galen. Thank you. Deputy city manager emerson.
good afternoon, mayor and council. As deputy city manager, emerson mentioned, this is a
project that's been years in the making. Today I'm joined by mike stone with grassroots, and
we'll be discussing the renaissance at sanger heights, which is a collaborative
private public partnership that will result in a pocket neighborhood consisting of 25
single family homes located in north waco on the old sanger elementary school site. In this
presentation, we'll be discussing a history of the project, giving a project
overview. The council request next steps along with a timeline of construction. So
this project began back in 2010 with the actual purchase of this, the property and the
demolition of the old brick school building. Three rfps have been issued in regards to
this project. Grassroots. Grassroots did respond to an initial one, but the response
was initially not accepted. Back in 2018. They were selected after the response
with the renaissance at sanger heights. Development. Subsequently, the city was
preparing to do some utility upgrades in these in the area around the site, and so the the
city bid the water and sewer improvements for the connections for the houses that
were front 17th and 18th street as part of the the work that we were doing. So not to have to
dig up the the street twice. As this work was being completed, additional funding became
available, including arpa dollars, which subsequently some of that was dedicated to
this project. In 2023, we also received a request to apply for community project funding at
the federal level from congressman pete sessions. In march of 2024, we received
notification of a grant award in the amount of $3 million, which is the catalyst of 14 of
the homes being made affordable within this project, the city completed their infrastructure
improvements as well as a pud being approved in 2024 as well. And with that, I'll turn it
over to mike so he can get into the overview of the project. Good afternoon, mayor and
council. It is a great day to come and talk to you about renaissance at sanger.
renaissance is a way to describe a rebirth or a revival. And that's what we're doing on
this site of this old school. So but I want to honor some of the hard work that's going
along. There has been a lot of city staff, city managers, city mayors, and I added them all up
this morning. There have been five different city managers, I'm sorry, five city mayors,
four city managers, four city attorneys, and five city council members that have been
a part of this project. So I want to thank every one of them, starting with larry growth. So
thank you all for making this because this is not an easy project to do. And we're not
there yet, but we're getting started. But at the very beginning of this, we started
with a vision casting, where we met with all the community members in and around there,
actually right across the street from the site. And we asked one of our great partners,
walker partners, to come and help us. And actually, jed walker came with us, his sketch
paper and sketched out different ideas on what what the community want. We went
through at least seven different plans on what we would do to get to the point
where we're at today. I also want to highlight rpdr is the one that's been able to help
take all these great ideas and then put them to light and bring color to them along the
way. So flip the slide. This is the renaissance at sanger heights. So it's a three acre
development unlike any that you've seen in waco. It's a very dense family, single
family pocket neighborhood. So you can see there's two large green spaces, one that runs
through the center of the property and one that is anchored on the side with a
historic tree. So the streets are 17th, 18th fort and singer. It's just a little bit off of
waco drive, and we have 25 single family homes, and these are homes for sale, and 14 of
those are going to be for affordable and 11 are going to be market rate. So our
community features that we have there, because of all the green space that we have, we will
have a homeowner association to take care of the common green area. We're going to have lots
of sidewalks, some that go through the middle of the property and then surrounded as well. And I always want to. Everybody ask me about the historic oak tree, and we're
not doing anything with the tree. We love our tree and we want to keep their excellent.
so our design is one and two story houses from 1200 to 2100ft■!s. It's going to be a
mixture of sizes, and you won't be able to tell the difference between a market rate house and
affordable house from the street, and also tying our old with the new is. We were able
to save 500 bricks from the old school, and we're going to reuse those as the first step
to every one of the houses. That's cool. The funding is, as galen was talking about, is is
layered. So the biggest chunk that we have is the community project funding grant. And we
are very honored to be selected by that at $3 million, is the biggest grant grassroots has
ever seen. So this is allowing us to be able to make more homes affordable. Originally,
our plan called for six affordable homes and now we're able to do 14. And then also
the arpa funds allows us to also use some of those funds for the infrastructure. Maybe
we'll get those will those arpa funds. And I may have missed this when I was out, but will
those arpa funds be committed and dispersed in time. Yes. Okay. Yes, they will be part of
the phase one infrastructure, which will be completed at the latest of november of 26. But
those will actually be the first funds used as part of the the infrastructure. Perfect.
thank you. Good question. We are going to be doing a lot of outreach and marketing to the
community, especially sanger heights and brook oaks. So those are the neighborhood associations all around the area. We'll be collaborating with all of our local
affordable housing providers, all the folks that work with low income families here in
town, trying to help more people become homeowners in waco. Our next step in the
whole project after today would be getting the infrastructure contract awarded so we can
start moving dirt and making it look more like the pictures that you see today. And we
anticipate we'll have a groundbreaking in january, and you'll see lots of tv on social
media and and print to let people know what is going on at sanger and, and how they can be
a part of it. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to galen to finish up our presentation.
so mayor and council, tonight on your agenda, you have an item that is requesting
approval of an agreement between the city and grassroots for the cpf project funding in
the amount of $3 million, as well as an item requesting an amendment and restatement of an
existing development agreement that uses the arpa dollars. This will align the
requirements and timeline of the arpa agreement along with the cpf agreement. In addition,
there is a request for the conveyance of the property for grassroots to be able to do the
project development at this site. If council approves these items, the next steps would be
the execution of these agreements as well as the commencement of project
marketing as and the commencement of the phase one, which is the infrastructure
development for this project. The on site infrastructure. Okay. This slide here shows a
timeline of the project, which the phase one infrastructure would begin in february of 2026.
and as part of that, the arpa dollars would be used first in the commencement of that phase
one infrastructure and then subsequent cpf funding would be used for the remaining part of
the infrastructure, as well as the construction of the homes, which the infrastructure is
scheduled to last approximately nine months. With the phase two, which is the construction of
the homes beginning in november of 2026. Now, each subsequent phase with construction of the
homes will include the construction of affordable and market rate units in each of
the phases. And with that, I will answer any questions that you may have. Any questions for
mike and galen? Yes. Thank you guys. The $6.2 million of private investment. Tell me
about that. How does that work? Most of that will be construction loans. So we're
going to have to go and get for building houses. It's not actual true investment. It's
it's loans. Loans. That's great. I you know there are I say this I feel like almost every time
we talk about this project, but there are very few projects that have been on the docket
since I got on council in 2020. This has been on the docket since before then. I feel like,
you know, we get kind of updates every so once in a while. And this is the most
substantive to date with with hard timelines put in place. You know, it's amazing that
we've been able to increase that affordable number up to 14 units. This is going to be
transformational for north waco. My the first house I ever lived in in north waco was on 22nd
and morrow about nine years ago. So I drove by the old sanger school lot, still had the
archway in place every day on the way to and from work, and always thought that, you know,
that's a cool lot. That's really central to a lot of things, and I hope something
great happens with it. And this is certainly something great that's happening with it. So I
could not be more pleased to be at this point. You know, I'll full transparency, everyone
watching and listening to the crowd. I was texting with mike about this project recently and I said, you know, the biggest thing I want from you for the rest of the way is to get with
me. On how we as a city can get out of your way to get it done. I just want to make sure that
that this is done well and on time. And, you know, as we are working with our community
partners that are helping folks attain homeownership, one question I did have for you is,
are you guys spinning up programs, you know, currently to start working with people
even now to get them in the pipeline, to be able to purchase one of the homes at
the time of completion, or will it be a go to market and work with community organizations
that are working with low income folks? At that point, we're already ramping up as we
speak. We hired another housing counselor in our office who's actually spanish speaking. So
we were able to reach both markets that way. Awesome. Ramping up. That's great. And I
can say just to add to that, we have reviewed a couple of applications for down payment
assistance who are targeting the development at at the renaissance at sanger. So that
process has started. Yeah, I mean, the one benefit to this taking as long as it has and as
long as it will until it's complete, is that we, you know, we have enough time to engage
someone who maybe is starting at square zero in the home buying journey and get them to
a point where they're able to, you know, bring a substantial amount to the table to purchase
the home. So that is fantastic. I love the the mixed income aspect of it. I love the
renderings. You know, if in 2027, if we're if we're kicking the tires looking to move, it's
certainly on the list. We love that part of town. It's got a special, special place in our
hearts. And obviously it's right in the middle of d4. So really, really proud of the
work that's been done on this. I know that every step of the way it's been, you know, hey,
can we get x amount of dollars from this and some money from here and there? So to be able
to have it all come in place and from the time the projects, you know, initiation to now, we
saw the we saw the chart of asphalt earlier. Right. So these these costs are not fixed
from, from when you go into this and make the initial budget. So I know it's not been
easy to keep things at a rate where they can be affordable. So I'm glad we've been able to
come alongside these different entities to provide the funding to make that a reality. So thank you for your work on this. Any, any way we can help in getting this across the finish
line. Once it starts, let us know and looking forward to turning some dirt in january. I
go to church in the nearby area and I've been driving by the site for those 15 years. I
remember the first time reading about it in 2010. I was just a brand new lawyer with a full
head of hair, so I'm looking forward to this thing seeing completion in the next year or
two. So god bless. Appreciate y'all. Great. It's yeah, the the renderings are beautiful.
urban housing very important for us. It's a great location. Nice design, nice price points
and some green space in there too. So I think everybody's a fan of what we're doing here.
urban area housing is so important because the good parts of it, you already have
infrastructure there. You already have the roads, you already have the water, you already have utilities, and everything's in place. So it's not quite as expensive as going
into the burbs. But the tough part is for a builder, it's hard to build one lot at a time
because a lot of times the lots are all over the place. So this is kind of the best of both
worlds, where we have 25 units in one place and we're able to develop some economies of scale
for the for the builders. So this is very exciting and I appreciate your energy. And,
mike, I appreciate your persistence and perseverance in helping the city. And galen,
appreciate both of you guys work on this project. Looking forward to it. Thank you. Now,
deputy city manager emerson, what are we going to do the work session b8 or are we ready
to. Is there one more thing left? Yeah, we we have time for clint peters. Okay. It's not
often that he gets to go at this time. So clint. Yay. Thank you mayor city council. We just
have two public hearings tonight. So this should be pretty quick. We have one
easement abandoned abandonment and then a continuation of a zoning change from our last
meeting. The first one is an easement abandoned abandonment at 2500 mary avenue. This is
the new live oak classical school sports facility. That's been developing over the last
couple of years. There's a there's a ten foot electrical line easement there that
they're requesting to abandon. They the city staff and applicant has been working with
encore. So the plan is to abandon this easement. And then there is the need for encore to
obtain a smaller easement. So that will happen in between the first reading and second
reading as a separate instrument. There's no other need, public need for the
easement. So we feel like it's a good idea to abandon it. Planning commission did
recommend approval of the request. And then our second public hearing is the
continuance of a rezoning request at 2424 16 robinson drive. This is about 1.7 acres
right at the corner of robinson drive and primrose drive, across from the stripes gas
station. There's there's two commercial buildings on the site and then two small homes
on the site as well. It does have currently it does have mixed zoning. So c3 there for
the front two thirds of the property is c3 zoning, which is our general commercial. And
then you see a strip of r1 single family, which is about 100ft wide on the back of the
property. The back third of the property. If you remember, at our last public hearing, the
homeowner on this property at that's r2 zoned came and had concerns about commercial
zoning being up against his property. So the case was continued to let us work with
the applicant and the the neighbor to see if we could come up with a compromise on on
the request. So what what we did come up with the applicant has revised their request to
scale back the commercial zoning and leave a 75 foot buffer of residential single
family zoning on the property between the adjacent home and where the commercial zoning is.
so the c3 zoning would go away, so it would be a down zoning for that two thirds of the
property from c3 to c2. And then you'd have 25ft of the 100 foot r1 be requested to to
change that c2, and then you'd have a 75 foot buffer of residential zoning that could
not be developed for commercial uses between the adjacent property was that negotiated
with the parties, or is that just something that's coming out fresh or so this this was a
revised submittal from the applicant after discussion with both city staff and the
neighbor. Okay. I will say it's my understanding the neighbor is still going to oppose it,
just doesn't want any more encroachment of commercial zoning towards his property,
which is understandable. But staff does feel that it is a good compromise that it gets
rid of a heavier commercial zoning down to c2, and then also provides a little bit more
of developable area for commercial development there in a very commercial corridor,
while providing, you know, still a 75 foot buffer between the the the neighbors property.
here's a picture of the the commercial zone property that's already that's already zoned
commercial. This is the c3 portion where you have the two commercial buildings. And then if you look, this is the edge of the commercial zoning where this fence is. And then this is
the 100ft of residential zoning currently. And then about if, if the revised application is
approved, then 25ft of this would be zoned commercial and you'd still have a 75ft buffer
of residential zoning. It is the intent of the applicant to demo these homes. So this would
just be a green space buffer between that would remain r1 be between the the commercial
zoning and the r-2 zoning adjacent to it. I will say we can't condition the rezoning.
so it can't you know it. We can't say that it's condition that it has to stay green space,
but it would only be allowed to be developed for uses that would be permitted in r1, b,
which are residential uses, and then some and some low intensity noncommercial uses.
and clint, just a just a quick question on those two structures that are to be
demoed under the plan or under the the intention, are those currently vacant, boarded up.
they are currently vacant. And there's actually these these two houses actually went to the
our building standards commission board last month. And there's actually a
demolition order on those. So either way these houses would be demoed. They're going to
okay. But they've they've kind of blighted property. They're. Well that sorry will, will the
demolition order if not acted on soon enough in in any way impede them from being able to
move forward with any other part of the project as the landowner? No, no it wouldn't.
yeah. And they're they're. The reason why they're holding off on the demo right now is if, if
the rezoning gets approved, they would demo all the buildings at once because the
commercial buildings would come down to if if they don't get the zoning, then they'll just
demo the two homes separately. And then this is just looking at the at the corner of that
intersection. You can see looking down robinson drive back towards the circle, that
it is a commercial corridor. Planning commission did recommend approval of the whole
request. And and and staff does support the revised request with the smaller. Request down
to the just the 25ft of the r1 b. So did the compromise go back to plan? Did you say it
does not require it? So there's because it's a smaller request, it doesn't require it to go
back okay. So so so your options tonight would be to obviously you could deny the
request and it would just stay c3 zoning in r1, b 100 foot width. You could approve the
the original request which would be c2 for the whole property. Or you could approve
the revised request, which would be the smaller c2 for just the 25ft of the r1 b
zoning. Any other questions for director peters? All right. Thanks, clint. Sure glad we
worked you in for the first time in a long time. There was only two, so I guess we had
time. Any requests for future agenda items, council members? Any future agenda items are
needed to cover? All right, we'll now recess the work session. Reconvene the regular session for executive session as read into the record by the city secretary at 4:27 p.m.
notice is hereby given that the city council will go into executive session according to
the following provisions. Number one attorney briefing texas open meetings act,
section 551 .071 nuisance abatement regarding criminal activity and building code standards under texas civil practice and remedies code, chapter 125 and texas local
government code, chapter 54 and the housing finance act, texas local government code, chapter
394, number two attorney briefing, texas open meetings act, section 551 .071. O'neill,
perez versus city of waco. Cause number 2020 3-2636. Dash four 170 70th judicial district.
number three attorney briefing, texas open meetings act, section 551 .071 and personnel,
texas open meetings act, section 551.074. Discussion of city manager appointment
process number four real property texas open meetings act, section 551.072. Number
five economic development texas open meetings act. Section 551.087 and number six
personnel texas open meetings act, sectiondoctor? Are you rea. Ready. We'll now call the
business session of october 7th, 2025 to order at 6:02 p.m. And all waco city council members
are present. And I will now turn it over to our wisd board president, jose vedanya to call
its meeting. A special meeting of the of the waco isd school board district is hereby call
to order. All items which may be discussed or voted upon this evening have been posted as
required by state law. Great. With that, we will move to our first item. Please join us all
for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america
and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. Great, great man. So great to have everybody here tonight. This is a full
house, a full dais of of folks here. We'll introduce everybody here in a second. The next item
on the agenda is individual item e, one individual consideration jointly with the
waco independent school district board of trustees. And I'm going to turn it over to
deputy city manager deidra emerson. Good evening mayor and council and isd school board
members. Tonight we have the opportunity to talk about one yet one more project that has
started with a long line of folks. Right? So some are sitting on the on the dais
today. Some are sitting on this side of the dais today. But there are folks that have
participated in this process that are not sitting on this dais. And so first, I'd like to
recognize those individuals, specifically the prior superintendent, doctor
kincannon, and the work in that council and the board members that have served in that
process to get help, get us to this point. Next, I want to make sure that I recognize the
teams who have worked hard currently and to bring this project forward. First, our
city manager, bradley ford. Tom bock, and I'm so excited to know that his family gets to
see him in this element today. And so tom bock, the director of strategic initiatives, our
city attorney crystal kristen hamilton karam, deputy city attorney kathy purdon, and
business support manager tressa gamblin for waco isd superintendent doctor tiffany
spicer, deputy superintendent doctor melissa king knowles, chief of staff elizabeth cox
and attorney pete russick of sheehy, lovelace and mayfield. Thank you all for the dedicated
hours and collaboration on this project. Tonight's joint item advances a shared city isd
effort authorizing the city's purchase of the former indian spring middle school campus and
the nearby track fields, paired with the lease back and an interlocal agreement focused on
education and community use, honoring the site's history while positioning it for waco's
future. This action is a cornerstone move within the downtown redevelopment plan,
especially the barnes branch district, reconnecting central public spaces, supportive civic
and cultural life, and encouraging economic growth. What's before you approval to
purchase approximately 22.8 acres at 500 north university parks and the 324 jefferson
north fourth street track area for $32.2 million, plus associated closing costs up to
$100,000, and the budget alignments necessary to fund this transaction. Companion
agreements will keep operations smooth during the transition and deepen the city isd
partnership at least through march 31st, 2026, and an interlocal providing discounted
access to downtown venues, including foster pavilion, for up to two graduation events per
year through 2037, and the waco convention center for up to five annual events, plus
structured student learning experiences and a minimum of ten annual internships or
externships across city departments. At this time, waco isd superintendent doctor
spicer and city of waco director of strategic initiatives tom bock will
provide a brief overview of the transaction. Thank you. Deputy city manager deidre emerson,
really appreciate that introduction. Thank you. Mayor, council president and board.
what a special occasion this is. And thank you all for the vision and leadership that
brought us here tonight. It's my distinct pleasure to be presenting a recap of why we're
taking this step together. And with that, a brief overview here is this milestone in
partnership between the city and school district represents an alignment between our
respective strategic plans. We have just a brief overview of our goals the project vision
together, what this transaction framework looks like, and then the next steps ahead of us. So
with that, I will turn it over for some discussion about the strategic plan priorities. And
there's a button on the microphone. Yes, sir. Thank you, mr. Ball. Thank you, mr.
president. Thank you, mr. Mayor. Thank you trustees. Thank you. City council members. As you may or may not know, waco isd has adopted a strategic plan with four priorities. And
they're very, hopefully simple but very clear. Our students, they're always first.
everything we do is at the forefront of our students, their needs academically, emotionally, socially, behaviorally. All the things we do are about our students. And
then secondly, staff. We cannot serve our students without the proper staff. And with that,
that means how we hire, how we recruit, how we retain, and how we develop those people who a dy
basis. But we also know we cannot do this work without you, and that's our community. It
takes everybody inside the schools, but outside the schools and also within our
community. And so we know that we have to come together. Remember the adage, it takes a
village, right? We believe in that wholeheartedly. So we cannot do this work without
each of you that are in this space. And then lastly, we have to be good stewards of our
finances and our operational efficiencies. And with that, that's not only our money and
our finances. Thank you, miss davis, but it's also our operations with transportation,
food service, all the things that kind of go behind the scenes that make school happen.
and so with that, today, as we move on to our strategic planning priorities, this
speaks to specifically number three. And number four, this opportunity has been an
opportunity for waco isd to not only the vision of our district, but also the vision of our city.
and with that, we have the opportunity to, I'll say, put forth efforts and finances into
our our economic, I'll say balance, if you will, our fund balance. But also, as you know,
there's just a lot of uncertainty in education. And so this is a great prime
opportunity for our district to make a smart move investment, to make sure that we're putting
money back into that balance, but also taking care of our facilities as we go forward.
and so we are excited about the opportunity to meet the needs of our students, our staff, our
district and also our community. So thank you for the opportunity to partner with you
and be a part of this tremendous and exciting opportunity that will leave a
legacy for generations to come. Thank you, doctor spicer. The partnership opportunity here,
the alignment between our strategic goals became very clear and started to take
visible form as we entered into this discussion about the future of downtown, with some
very clear goals that go beyond a typical economic development project. And so what that
distilled down to for us early 2024 and collaboratively through the engagement of a
development partner and hunt development group, working with a team of consultants, working
with leadership from both of these organizations, the project mission aligned between
behind these three elements. Creating density downtown, a gravitational center that is
very much rooted in celebrating our stories as a community. The entire community making
downtown for everyone, and then thinking beyond just the transactional nature of a one
time economic development push, but prepare an abundant future for generations with 100 year
goal. That's reflected in the strategic roadmap that came out of that process. So adopted in
late june of 2024 is a very detailed process for how we can step into transforming the
downtown of our community. But the image on the right there is helpful in illustrating where
these overlaps occur. We have 100 acres that we've been talking about for over a year.
the yellow highlights are all the all the properties that come into this partnership from
waco isd. So this is significant. We're working together to transform the the
face of our community, the shape of our future and the prosperity of both of our
organizations and the missions that we serve. So the project vision, specifically, you've
you've seen many of these presentations many times, but what it boils down to is within
100 acres, we've got five distinct defining character districts. The heart and soul
of that is really reflected in what we refer to as barons branch, the barons branch
district. On that previous slide, where the red outline was. The vast majority of this
is on property that currently is the former track property. A portion of it is also on the
school site. But this is such a culturally rich fabric of our community with stories that
have been undertold and lost for more than a generation, but not forgotten. And so it's
really a privilege to be able to talk about going beyond a vision for what that future
could be like, to create concrete plans for taking steps forward in that direction. The
action today will put us on that path, and some imagery that, again, has been in
preparation over the past year, working with hunt development group and nationally renowned
consulting partners. But it is a park district that creates that fabric and the setting for
these stories to be highlighted that draws in a closeness of investment, development, but
also life. Blood for our downtown makes people from waco, whether they live downtown or
not, want to come downtown to celebrate this, the cal dose neighborhood is is largely the
area that we're talking about, a former neighborhood that was impacted, wiped out by urban
renewal. The the central spine of that community was organized around second street. Here we
have an animation of what the future of that corridor can be. It's a pedestrian only
environment on this particular corridor. It's anchored with visual breadcrumbs to draw
visitors and locals alike through, to explore a park environment, shops, restaurants,
dining with retail and and I'm sorry with office and residential above but populated
with a character that is very much like cameron park playing on that long history of waco,
drawing that into our downtown, creating opportunities for performance or small scale
activities, and then really throwing a lot of effort into nodding to our past and our
history, but without recreating an artificial past. We're trying to. I'm not sure how I
did that, but we're trying to cultivate an authentic representation of the heritage
that we can celebrate together. And so this brings us into one of the showpieces of this
entire district is la plaza, creating a plaza that has not existed, but by anchoring it
with an element that very much speaks to the historic public life of the neighborhood around
la pila fountain. And then looking back at this alignment. That has always been an
opportunity here but has never been fully realized. So an alignment to borrow that
beautiful facade, that architectural facade of saint francis catholic church, that's
one of the key highlights of the park center district. But also, you know, there there are
many features that families can get really excited about. So a play fountain that, again,
speaks that language of cameron park and the fountains and springs throughout our
community. They can again be the organizing elements of recreation and and civic life.
and those features don't have to be isolated splash pads. They will, in fact, trickle
throughout the majority of this park district, cascading down the topography that's created
and opened up as we resurrect the barons branch creek that also flowed through this area.
that creek element is really important. It is currently in tunnels under the ground and
has been forgotten to a large extent, but it's very important to unlocking this area. So we
are increasing the storm carrying capacity of that tunnel system so that the
feature on top of the ground that resurrects the creek can be manageable, calm and
welcoming environment in any condition. So even in a 500 year flood event, this area
will channel those waters strategically to avoid impact to neighboring real estate and
that creek. It does not at all look like a flood control device whatsoever. This is a
very lush, naturalistic environment with beautiful cascades interwoven among
limestone and performance areas. And la la la la fountain within the la la plaza. This is one of
the defining callbacks that is too precious to ignore. And so one of the key things to note
here is that the existing fountain it in its original location, will remain and be
uncovered in a way that respects its authentic history, but it'll also be recreated in
a way that we can make functioning and bring that water back further up onto the
plaza. So our our heart and soul is in this project, and we hope that it resonates with the
community. The feedback we've gotten so far indicates we're on the right track, but we've
done we've come a long way to put this project on track, for. We're in the permitting process
now, so this is navigating right along on schedule. And and again, everything about
this is touching on that gravitational center that's authentic and tailored for waco,
steeped in the story of this place and embracing the spirit that successful communities
know is that downtown, you've got to you've got to serve the locals first. And smart,
innovative collaboration is what this partnership is all about. So the transaction
transaction framework is maybe the primary function that we're here to talk about tonight.
it's representing the sale and purchase of two tracts of land. The first contains the school,
indian springs school, there in the background from waco drive over to jefferson along the
river, and then from jefferson towards washington is the former track property. And so
these two properties together are over 22 acres. And at 22.8 acres and approximately at that
intersection of jefferson university parks. And just to again touch on what overlaps
within that barons branch district, the image on the left helps show that very clearly that the vast majority of the tract property and a good portion of the school property
are both part of barons branch and essential to its success. The transaction framework is a
series of agreements that are tied together. So the most traditional side of this is the
purchase and sale agreement. And again, that's the $32.2 million that the city is paying
at closing. It's broken into two releases from escrow. The first is at closing the $28.48
million, and then the second payment will be made. The $3.72 million will be made on march
31st. At the end of the leaseback period. The other side of the agreement is really
reflected in the interlocal side of it. The interlocal agreement touches on a lot of
what we've discussed as partnership extras. These are really where we show how we can
work together strategically for the long term that this is a partnership, not a transaction.
so certainly the short term leaseback is one element of that. It goes beyond just the
short term though. So there's there's opportunities for the school district to salvage
equipment that still has life. There's certainly a side by side approach to the outreach
that has to happen as we go through the same engagement process that brought many of
these storytelling threads to our attention. For the barons branch district and the history
of the neighborhood, there's that same energy and focus that will go into uncovering the
threads and stories for this campus and this property and its history and what it's meant
to our community. It will continue to be reflected. There's ways that's going to spill into the into the barons branch district, and there's certainly a lot of information
or a lot of ways that it will inform the ballpark district as well that will overlay this
area. Internships, externships, excursions. These are things that our organizations have
aligned on in years past, and this helps cement a path forward for us to continue
doing that successfully over the next ten years. So that's very exciting, leveraging all
the great things that, you know, the great opportunities that a city and doing its business as
a city can afford to the young minds and young students, but also leveraging this project
and leveraging the construction aspect of that and replicating the success that waco isd has
enjoyed so well with making opportunities as waco high school was under construction.
those are those are really great ideas that we're going to pull into the city's project as
well. So those were great discussions and great opportunities were brought to the table that way. Similarly, as we're focused on downtown and what brings the life to our
downtown, thinking about our, our venues. And so this building, the convention center,
is one great venue downtown, but also the foster pavilion, that's another one that the
city has had a hand in bringing to fruition and has some rights on the table to to bring into
this partnership. So we're excited to have defined how those things can work together for the betterment of our community and visually showcasing how our school
district is an important, crucial part of the success of this community. And then for
the longer term, there are elements of the strategic roadmap that we didn't we
didn't get to everything yet we haven't gotten to everything yet. And we want to preserve
that conversation for a later date. To say that if the stars align on a joint municipal
campus and administrative campus, those are things that we can still return to in the
future. So those remain in the strategic roadmap. We're open to that as opportunities
present themselves for our organizations. But in the background, as the success of
this first phase takes hold as a success of downtown and the downtown redevelopment project
take hold. There's a there's a bottom line that is very important to both of our
organizations and that our bond capacity, our ability to do good things, grow wisely and
invest in our facilities. That capacity will be growing all the while in the background. So
it's it's very exciting to be able to bring a deal like this for your discussion and
consideration tonight. And again, just distilling that down to the basics. What's in
front of you today for consideration is a set of three agreements the purchase and
sale agreement. The lease agreement is a part of that. And then the interlocal
agreement. All three of those together are in front of you for consideration at a future
council meeting through the spring of of this coming year, we'll be bringing you strategic
roadmap updates for adoption. There will be a focused effort on updating that document to
reflect everything we've learned in the past year, updating that document to
reflect the impact and importance of this transaction. So we want to keep it valid and
current and useful to us. So we will do the work in the background to support that
update and bring it to your attention for consideration, all the while advancing some of
the other tools for the success of development. So form based code is going to be coming to
you in early 2026. The financial process of funding bears branch construction,
construction. Those will be conversations in the spring of this coming year. And then
ultimately, we'll be requesting or recommending an agreement amendment with hunt development
group for the bears branch construction. We're on track for all of those things. We're
in the permitting phase right now. We believe we'll be shovel ready by the middle of 2026, so
that's pretty exciting. This is a amazing watershed moment. I'm having to pinch myself up here,
but it's been a lot of work and a lot of hands to bring an amazing an amazing partnership
forward for you. So with that deputy city manager, I'll turn it back to you. All right.
thank you, tom, and thank you for your leadership in this project. It's been it's meant a
lot to to us within the city organization. Thank you. Thank you. So, mayor, based on tom's
presentation, the presentation by doctor spicer, the requested actions tonight are one. Adopt
budget amendments. Two approve the purchase and sale agreement. Approve the lease back. Approve
the interlocal for education and community partnerships, and authorize the city manager to
execute related documents. Intended outcomes are clear. Preserve the legacy of indian
spring. Expand community and educational use of downtown and accelerate the brand's barons
branch. First phase with a strong city isd partnership with that mayor. I'll turn it
back to you. Yeah, what we'll do right now, there's going to be a series of two approval
cycles here. The first of all, the city council will will make a motion on this, and then we
will I will turn it over to mr. Bardana for to to get the discussion from the school. So
at this point I'll entertain a motion on this. We'll, we'll discuss it after we hear the
motion. Mayor, as the proud parent of two children in waco isd, it would be my distinct
pleasure to move to approve the said motion here today. We have a motion for approval. Do I
hear a second? Second have a motion and second. Is there any discussion? Mayor, I just want
to say I'm grateful for the work that our city staff has done. I know deidra bradley,
tom, the whole cmo team on this, grateful for doctor spicer. I'm grateful for her predecessor,
grateful for this wonderful board, the school board and this council for all their work
to get us to this point. I think it's it's been a it's been a great journey of
partnership. And I think this is a an incredible opportunity. And I'm just glad that the
mayor allowed me to hold the briefcase with the money in it, which was kind of a thrill for
me first. So you still have it? I still got it. Yeah, it's in my truck. Where are you parked?
just. I'll. I'll continue that by saying. Well, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. Thank you to
all the parties involved. This is. This was no small feat to get accomplished. And it took
everybody in both organizations to get it done. And it's so much more. We earlier in our
work session, we spoke about untold stories, how we got the opportunity to celebrate the
mural at the southwest community center and to break the ground on alice rodriguez
martinez, martinez, rodriguez park. And and those are some of our untold stories in history.
and this is a huge opportunity to continue those efforts. It's not like we can put back the
buildings that urban renewal removed, but we can do is bring back the community that was
lost in that process. And I think the opportunity to showcase and highlight our
natural resources that we have and create an opportunity to make spaces of fellowship. You
know, we've we've been all over the country looking at at various parks and things and
the way brooklyn park is set up. And I was like, oh, this is going to be so much better in
downtown waco because just the topography or, you know, even in greenville last week, it's
like, okay, so yeah, this is cool. However, the falls are one thing, but it's a whole
river that's running through it, and we have an opportunity to get all of this done in a way
that will be beneficial for generations to come. So that's the impact of this this
opportunity that we have. That's that's the beauty of this long standing partnership
that we've had with waco isd to just continue to grow in waco for wacoans, for first wacoans
first, then for everyone else who gets to experience the city. So it is it is my privilege and
pleasure to have sat through this process and been a part of it. I'll just add that, you
know, to mayor pro tem point, this has not been an easy process. And when we as a city
kind of put the cart before the horse and make this big plan with land we don't own yet,
there's a lot of trust in the relationships that we have with the wonderful board up here.
and, and, and in that process, there's transitions. We we have a new mayor in place since,
since this started, which has a new superintendent, a new board members, we have new council
members. So the relationship maintaining its strength throughout that time was really
crucial to getting to this point. So I'm very appreciative of the efforts across the board,
pun intended. And I will say that caught that one. And I will say that waco is is is
stronger when wisd is stronger. There are aspects of this agreement outside of just the
financial aspect on its face, which, you know, we benefit by unlocking a key piece of this,
end as well as hopefully with the tax base that we're all betting on, will be there on the back end. But you know, when I think about the sort of ancillary
benefits of this agreement with the foster pavilion use and the convention center use, I think
of exposures and internships and externships. I think of exposing students to the place
that they call home in a way that maybe they haven't seen it before. There are, you know,
hundreds if not thousands of kids in wisd that are never going to go to foster pavilion outside of going to a graduation. Same thing with coming down to the convention
center, and same thing with interacting with city staff and an internship and externship, and whether that entices them to stay here and keep their talent and their skills here,
we're going to be better for it. Or if we send them off and they're proud sons and
daughters of the city of waco, both city of waco and wisd stand to benefit tremendously from this. So I'm thrilled. Obviously, the the development itself is going to be great.
I've got a I've got a two year old daughter. That's kind of what makes me keep this in
perspective. That I can be happy for something happening in 15 years is that, you know,
she'll be able to enjoy it all. But this is something that is transformational for our city
and for our for our school district here. And I'm looking forward to continued success and partnership down the line. All right. I'll just cap that with saying that the city of
waco will have such a great relationship that's so important in a growing city
like waco. And I want to thank doctor spicer. I'm going to go right down the line here to
board president jose vidana and the entire board. Jeremy davis, jim patton, angelo ochoa, keith
guillory, taylor bledsoe, and you guys have been great to work with. As we figured this
out. As council member ewing stated, we've been working on this for a while, and kind of
the dream has been sort of out there, and we have to get the nuts and bolts of this thing
out of the way first. But I think this is a great transaction that will benefit
both the city and the school. Tom bock I could watch that that video time. I just you
could just have it on a real repeat for 24 hours. I just love looking at what that's
going to look like, walking around in that park and imagining our residents of waco.
that's going to be a community park. That's going to be for the residents of waco to enjoy
and be proud of. So this transaction really helps us move forward with a visionary
downtown redevelopment plan that will be transformative. I'm just convinced this will be
it's going to give us a charge here downtown and have people from around the world that come
to waco. They're going to they're going to want to come back when this thing is all
built out. It's great riverfront site. The entire riverfront is very connected to
what the city already has. So we'll be creating new public spaces, and it's going to allow
us a little bit of flexibility for for downtown development. This is going to be a source of
pride for all of us for generations to come. This way. This will identify what waco is.
and as we go into this, I know you're seeing all these pictures of what we're doing,
but as we get into the details and the planning community, input is going to be super
important as we as tommy bork is in, city manager ford have kind of shown what our concepts
are. We want to shape those as we go. So we we know that we want to celebrate our past and
make it important for the future, too. Just it's it's it's a wonderful plan. So we're
depending on on community feedback on this. What we're seeing is we let kind of people
peek in. What we're doing is a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of support, and just a lot of
looking forward to how soon can we get all this done. I will tell you that when this is done,
we will make the san antonio san antonio riverwalk look like a dirty canal. You know, this
is going to be super. This is going to be great stuff. Well landscaped. And we got
elevation there. And anybody that's been by behrens branch where we where we're looking at this. It's basically in the floodplain right now. And it's not going to be anything until
we can kind of make it happen. So together with wisd, we're super happy that we can take
first steps in this, in this process. So any further discussion with that? I think
that's all the discussion. So city secretary hicks, will you please pull the council ordered.
yes. Fairfield. Yes. Ewing. Yes. Chase. Yes. Holmes I that motion passes and at this time
I will. I'll also point out that council member lozano had a a affidavit of substantial
interest, since she works for wisd. So she did not vote on that. None of the 30 some
million is going to go to you, right, isabel? Anyway, at this point, I'm going to turn it
over to board president jose vidana for wisd action. Thank you. Is there a motion I move
to approve the purchase and sale, lease and interlocal agreements with the city of
waco as presented, and authorize the superintendent to execute all necessary documents.
I second, thank you, mr. Bledsoe. Is there any discussion? Just wanted to say,
man, what an exciting time to be away. Cohen. Want to thank the council, the school
district, everybody. Tom bork, bradley ford, doctor spicer, pete rusick elizabeth cox,
everybody up from the school district in the city who really did all the work to make this
happen. I'm thankful just to come in on the back end and and get to be a part of this cool
ceremony, because this is what makes waco such a special place. We've had transitions at the
school district level, the city level, the council level, the school, the school board level.
and for a deal of this magnitude and scope to still be able to go through, I think speaks to what makes our community so special. So thankful to get to be a part of
it. Mister, is there any discussion? No. Just want to thank again. I feel like
councilman ewing kind of set it all up. I mean, the perfect job of explaining all the benefits
we are receiving, our students, the future, very, very blessed and happy about being a part of
this, this whole process with all of you. And just like hillary and kind of joined at
the end, tail end of it. But I feel very lucky and fortunate to be a part of it. Thank you
for that. Appreciate it. Mr. Davis, is there any discussion fortunate to be around throughout the process? Definitely excited and happy about all the work that
everyone's done. Definitely proud of the benefits that our students will get throughout
this process immediately and throughout the phases of the project for future wacoans to
come. So I'm just happy to be a part of this process. Mr. Patton, is there any discussion?
sure. I think that indian springs has always been a very important part of waco isd
history, and I feel that this is an opportunity to continue the impact that this school had
in, in a new and unique way. And with the the transaction, this will also help waco isd
financially from a security aspect and will allow us to focus these resources on
helping our students both today and tomorrow. And I appreciate how. Collaborative mayor your
team has been with the school board. And it's been a very transparent process that I've
learned a lot from, and I appreciate that opportunity to be a part of it. Mr. Cho, is
there any discussion? Yeah, just a few comments. So 100, 105 years ago, my grandfather
purchased one of the first houses on second street down there and helped his family and
lots of other families help build saint francis church. My great my grandfather ended up
teaching at jefferson. More years later, isabel and I ended up teaching when it was aj
moore. So it's a very special part of waco for our family. But I do want to say a big
thank you to the city of waco, not just for recognizing the history of that area, but also
honoring those communities that were displaced. I'm sure there's going to be plenty of
time for more thank yous down the road, but I know how hard our team worked, and I I'm sure
it was equally as much on y'all's end. It's just a very exciting time to see what's
coming. I've been telling my kids, as we drive around that area, that it's not going to
look the same in ten years, and that's that's a very exciting for us. All in favor, please
say hi. I, I, mr. President, please note my abstention from voting on this item, sir. Let
the minutes reflect that the motion passed unanimously, with mr. Guillory abstaining. Now,
this special called school board meeting is now adjourned at 639. And accordingly, the
city council will recess at our business session at 640. And what do you have for. We will
now reconvene the business session meeting at 651. The next item on the business
session is to consider a couple of proclamations, and we will talk about fire prevention week.
and we have a couple of law school issues here. So I'm going to meet. We'll meet down
at the podium I will meet with the fire prevention. Is that chief bergerson. There you are.
alright. Great. I had my bag for today. Chief. Great, great. This is an honor for me to have
to stand here with these public safety officers. People who are protecting us as we as we go
through life here in waco. I appreciate you guys being here tonight to celebrate fire
prevention week. You know, public safety is number one. And everybody knows that I have
the necessary and the and the the necessary things that need to be the possible and the
impossible necessary as public safety. We got to have public safety every, every day of the week, every minute of the day. And you guys come through with that, I appreciate it. The waco
fire department is to me the best in the country. We have an iso one rating, which is the
highest rating you can get. Our response times are fantastic. We're well equipped to new fire
stations that we have in waco, and one on richey road, one coming in on lasalle. Just a
great, great fire department. I'm so super proud of you. So as we celebrate the fire
prevention week, I will be reading this present or this proclamation. I, jim holmes, by
virtue of the authority vested in me as mayor of the city of waco, texas, do hereby proclaim
october 5th through 11th, 2025 as fire prevention week in the city of waco. So to. And I urge
all citizens to join the city council, city staff and me, along with waco fire department
and observing fire prevention week. Fire remains a serious safety concern and lithium
batteries and household devices pose added fire risks. Common household electronics are
powered by lithium ion batteries, which, if misused, damaged or improperly charged,
can overheat, start a fire, or explode. The national fire protection association reports
an increase in battery related fires, highlighting the need for public awareness and safety
education. The 2025 fire prevention week theme charge into fire safety lithium ion
batteries in your home emphasizes safe battery use through proper charging and
responsible recycling. The city of waco and the waco fire department are dedicated to
protecting the safety and well-being of residents and visitors alike, and are committed to reducing fire risks through prevention efforts. Public safety,
education and community outreach, and this proclamation is in testimony whereof witness
my hand in the seal of the city of waco, the seventh day of october, signed by all the city
council members, and I will present it to you now. Thank you, chief. Thank you. I'd like
to say a few words, chief, real quickly. Thank you, mayor, mayor and council, thank you
for proclaiming this year's fire prevention week. While this week brings special attention, every day must be fire prevention day in our homes, schools, and workplaces,
I want to recognize the dedication of our firefighters and especially the members of
our fire marshal's office, whom I've asked to join me this evening. They work tirelessly
behind the scenes, often going unnoticed to keep our community safe through education,
inspections and prevention efforts. Because of these combined efforts and the
vigilance of our citizens, it is now been 962 days since waco has experienced a fire death.
that's not by chance. That's a community achievement. For a city of our size over two and a
half years. Quite honestly, it's almost unheard of. Your support empowers our
firefighters and our fire marshals to do more than just respond. We prevent. So thank
you for your support in helping us keep waco a safe place. Thanks it. If we could have tom
and beth if you'd come up. The mayor has allowed me to present this proclamation to two of my
former professors, current colleagues and good friends, beth miller and tom featherston.
I, jim holmes, by virtue of the authority vested in me as mayor of the city of waco, texas, do
hereby proclaim october 7th, 2025, as elizabeth miller and tom featherston day in the city
of waco. We urge all citizens to join the city council, city staff, and me in honoring the
outstanding contributions of professors elizabeth miller and thomas m featherston, jr to baylor university, the legal profession, the city of waco, and the state of texas.
professor miller is the m, stephen and alice, a beard chair in business and
transactional law at baylor law school. She received her bachelor's degree from baylor university and her law degree from baylor law school. She is widely recognized as one of the
nation's foremost legal experts on business organizations, particularly in the areas of texas, business entities, and llcs. Her work has influenced both both the academic study
and the practice of business law across the united states. Her influential work in texas
business law includes coauthoring comprehensive three volume treatise on business organizations. At baylor law school, she developed the business law boot camp and the
national transaction law competition the closer, and she assisted in the development and
management of the entrepreneurship clinic, which served small business owners, small business owners here in central texas. Professor miller has been recognized repeatedly
for excellence in teaching, scholarship, and service. She is a life fellow of both the
american bar foundation and the texas bar foundation, and as a member of the american law
institute. She was named outstanding professor by baylor university in 2006, and received multiple awards from the american bar association for her dedication to advancing
business law and mentoring future generation of lawyers. Professor featherston received
his bachelor's degree from baylor university and law degree from baylor law school. He joined the baylor law faculty in 1982. I think I was about three years old at the
time. After his time in private practice, and quickly established himself as a
leading scholar. He currently holds the mills cox chair of law. Throughout his
distinguished career, professor featherston has been recognized as one of texas's foremost experts in estate planning, trust, and marital property. His contributions to texas law
include chairing the state bar committee that revised the state's guardianship statutes in the 1980s, and later leading the committee in the 1990s that overhauled the claims
procedures in the texas probate code. He has authored numerous articles presented at hundreds
of continuing legal education programs, and served as a mentor to generations of baylor
lawyers. He has received awards from the texas state bar of texas and the texas bar
foundation for his dedication to legal education, the profession, and our community.
in addition to his scholarship, professor featherston has been a tireless servant to our community. He has been the driving force behind the baylor law school estate planning
clinic, supervising law students in the drafting of nearly 600 wills for veterans and first responders in central texas. Through their commitment to scholarship, devotion to
students, and leadership in the profession and in our community. Professors, professors
featherston and miller have enhanced baylor law school's reputation for excellence and contributed significantly to strengthening our community. In testimony whereof, witness my
hand in the seal of the city of the city of waco, the seventh day of october. Year of our
lord 2025. Thank you so much. Thank. You. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks a lot. Thanks. So. Okay.
all right. Here we go. We're back. We're back up here. The next item on the agenda tonight
is the consent agenda. Consent agenda includes resolutions g one through g 31. Is there a
motion on the consent agenda? Mayor, I'll move for approval on the consent agenda. Second,
I hear a motion and a second. Any discussion on the consent agenda? Please pull the council.
lozano. Yes. Yes. Yes. Ewing. Yes. Chase. Yes. Holmes I that motion passes. The next item is
public hearing. H one director clint peters. Honorable mayor. Members of the council. This is
a public hearing to consider an ordinance abandoning a ten foot wide electric line easement on
property located between south 23rd street and south 25th street and known as 2500 mary
avenue, by a vote of eight zero. Planning commission recommended approval. The abandonment
request, based on the following findings and conditions. The findings are as as recommended
to be modified. The abandonment of the electric utility easement will not negatively
impact utility access for surrounding properties, and there will be no adverse impact
to surrounding street systems or other found easements. We do have two updated conditions
prior to city council final action of the easement abandonment. Provide a copy of
the recorded easement and right of way between waco warriors sports foundation and encore
electric delivery company, llc and easement shall be retained and recorded for any utilities
discovered during development of the abandonment area, or the utilities may be relocated at
the developer's expense as coordinated by the appropriate utility provider. Thank you.
clint, is there any questions for staff or director peters there being no questions from
council, I will now open up public hearing for comments. Is anyone present you'd like to
speak regarding this item? Seeing no one, we will close the public hearing and I'll
entertain a motion. I motion to approve. Second, we have a motion and a second. Any
discussion? No discussion. So, city secretary hicks, will you please pull the council? Lozano.
yes. Board of rude. Yes. Fairfield. Yes. Ewing. Yes. Chase. Yes. Holmes. I that
motion passes. The next item is public hearing. H two. Director peters. Honorable mayor.
members of the council. This is a continuance of a public hearing to consider an ordinance changing the land use designation from medium density residential office, flex to
office industrial flex, and to rezone from r1, b and c3 to c2 on property known as 2424 16
robinson drive. The applicant has submitted a revised request and those are at your place.
and if we click it one more, it's up on the screen to the revised request does reduce the
amount of the change on the r1 b portion to just 25ft of that 100ft of r1. B zoning staff
does recommend approval of the revised request, based on the findings from planning
commission on the original request. Is that the entire presentation? We talked a
little bit about it at the work session this afternoon. Are there any questions for staff?
I'll now open a public hearing for comments. And I have two cards. The first card is the
applicant. So you'll come first mary villarreal. Please state your name and address. For the
record, you have three minutes. Mary villarreal with the enfield group at 401 study with
street, houston, texas, 77 007. Good evening mayor and members of city council. My name is
mentioned as mary villarreal with the enfield group on behalf of robinson waco investments llc. We would like to thank staff for their continued efforts on this
request. We'd also like to thank the neighbor, mr. Daniel. I hope I don't tear up his name,
I believe, for taking the time to meet with us as well as all of you, for your kind
consideration of the rezoning application before you. Today, we acknowledge that there was a
need to go beyond the usual improvements to make this project an asset to the
community and address the concern of our neighbor. As mentioned, we met with mr.
pancholi and staff to determine what more could be done to ease our neighbors concerns. The
following site revisions have been made. Only 25ft of the east 100ft, measured from the
property line, will be included in the c-2, and the 75ft closest to the east property
line to our neighbor will remain residential to prevent any future commercial
structures being built closer to the neighboring property. To the east, we're the developer
will install a six foot metal fence will be installed along the east property line to
protect the neighbor and tract. The detention facility will be enclosed with a chainlink fence
to prevent anyone from going back in the rear, and it will be area will be well lit. We,
the developer, will also make sure to put up no loitering signs. So we posted the
property. We hope these constructive actions will ease our neighbors concerns and meet
with your approval to promote this application to the second reading. Thank you so much.
thank you. Thank you, miss villareal. Any questions for miss villarreal? Thank you. We
have another card here, mr. Daniel pantaleo. As you approach the podium, please
state your name and address for the record and you'll have three minutes to address. Council. It's daniel. My address is 2708 primrose drive, waco, texas, 76706. And I don't
know if I'm allowed to I made like, copies of like, a little presentation for y'all. I don't
know if I'm allowed to give y'all that or not. And then real quick, just. Okay. One
second, one second, one second. So. It's like two separate other forms. So the first form
you'll be receiving is just something just I kind of typed up just kind of old school like
like like I learned from high school. Basically. I'll go over there. I guess, once you
receive those forms. Just go ahead of. All right. Okay. So there's three parts to it. Yeah.
yes yes yes, sir. So first one is just just just kind of like what I'll be going over with
you. My concerns of for that property. The second is so yesterday I went over to some
of my neighbors. I know you guys sent out a bunch of letters two months ago in reference to who would oppose this. And you guys got just just me, of course. And I went
out and got seven signatures in an hour in my neighborhood yesterday, just knocking door
to door about. Basically, those are signatures and their addresses of just citizens that
are concerned about that, that basically that me being a gas station, they, they, they don't
believe that it just needs to stay, that they don't need to encroach any further into our,
in our neighborhood. And they're concerned. They're, they've, they've, they've voiced their concerns with me about just, just problems that they're having. So start with
like there's traffic concerns at the intersections. Robinson drive experiences heavy traffic, heavy traffic, in addition to commercial addition of a commercial convenience store,
would greatly increase congestion. Delivery trucks and customers vehicles and late
night traffic would create safety hazards for drivers, pedestrians and children in that neighborhood. Like over the years, I've seen like multiple accidents at
intersection. Being a gas station, I don't I don't think it's going to help it at at all.
basically impact on my property value. Personally, I think what I've looked online, it's going
to decrease my property value about 10 to 20%, with that gas station being closest to me,
with the residents behind me, I couldn't find an exact number, but it's going to definitely
decrease their property value. It's not it's not. Nothing benefits. Having a gas station
just right by your neighborhood. Like the next thing is my neighborhood safety concerns.
being in law enforcement. I've I've I know it sounds crazy, but I normally watch watch gas
stations. There's so much drug activity soliciting homeless people and drug usage, alcohol,
alcohol use usage. And that just brings it that much closer. I mean, I see this stuff that
happens at the melody ranch and then the stripes across the street and just being another
gas station built across that intersection, it's just not going to do us any good or
whatever. It's just going to bring it that much closer to the neighborhood. And we have a lot of kids that ride like, I know y'all got. Y'all did a great job building a bike lane
there. We have a lot of people that ride their bikes, children that walk back to school,
whatever. There's a apartment complex about a mile down the road. So that's just just wouldn't be any good. And as far as, yeah, the safety concerns, there's a lot of
concerns. And I went over I know like we brought up the calls for service. And I think
clint told me we had a discussion over the phone and he brought it up. He told me
some numbers, but I actually have a friend through dispatch. And like over the last, the
stripes over the last starting 2022, had 123 calls for service for hundred and one, 22, 23, 83.
I've seen a decrease in 2024, 60 and in 2025, 63 so far. But we're going into the basically
the prime disturbance is for 911 going into the holiday season. And then at melody
ranch, separate calls for service in 2022 with 70, 20, 23, 39, 20, 2449 and 20 2537 so far
this year. And that's just in that area. So just there's a lot and I haven't she actually
added a lot of like traffic stops that cops make and fire ems for that area. And that
adds about probably additionally probably about another hundred calls or so. So there's just a lot of criminal activity in that area and just having another gas station. I
know I can't tell them what they can build there, but I want to make it difficult.
right. And so I think they should stay exactly what it is. And, and they should just work
with what they have. And that way they don't encroach on my property, which directly
affects me and my neighbor. And that second, the third letter is from my neighbor. He's like, right, right next to me. And he, his, his son and his family wrote that letter to me. So
like, there's there's concern for this. I'm sorry. I guess I'm going over my time. But basically, I appreciate you a little extra time because I think we spent like five
minutes. Yeah. So anyways, that's those are my concerns. I appreciate you guys hearing me
out and everything. And like I said, I just hope I just hope that I don't want them to
encroach. Just I want them to work with what they have already, if that's possible. Are you the neighbor that lives directly behind? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And there's the way that
works. If that's so I'm trying. I'm not I'm not like when I'm looking at these plans or
whatever, I'm like literally on the side there's like two neighbors right next to his property. And and so like that fence line is going to it's going to affect us. And so like,
I know what happens at these gas station at night, there's people doing drugs behind them
and stuff and like that. Just I just had a daughter. So like I'm super concerned or whatever.
and I've heard stories from yesterday speaking with when I was getting those signatures
about two years ago, the stripes got robbed, the bad guys ran over across the street
and like, went through my I guess they I'm pretty sure they went through my back yard
because they said they got managed to make it into her backyard. They wouldn't.
there's no way they would have made it into her backyard without going through mine. And so she was like worried about it. And so it's just like, yeah, it's just those those are
problems. And then there's like, there's a gas station right across the street already. And so like I said, I don't think like I said, I think they just should just do what they, what
they have. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you miss penalties. Now I will call back up for rebuttal. If you would like. Miss villarreal. Thank you mayor, I just I did want to
mention a little bit more about the traffic on the robinson side. They are adding and
getting there. Having approved through txdot deceleration lane. Hopefully that will help a
little bit on that side. I just wanted to reiterate that the the back area of the store is
going to be fenced. It will be well lit, there will be no loitering signs. The developer,
when we met with the neighbor, you know, he did mention and told them that they would be
proactive in, you know, keeping an eye on on the property to make sure that there wasn't
anyone in the area that you know, was just, you know, could cause harm. So thank you so
much for your consideration. Thank you. Miss. Any questions for miss? Go ahead. The
entrance points are where there's one on the robinson drive side and then there's one
on the primary side. The one on the robinson side is the one that's going to have the
deceleration lane. That's right. And melody ranch is here to stay right there. It's on the
side that. Side of. May or no. Okay. Thank you. Miss. Any other any other questions or
comments I will entertain. Oh see first of all let me ask is there anyone else who'd like to
speak on this item? We have one more speaker here. We've got two couple. I've got a couple
more speakers. As you approach the podium, please state your name and address. For the
record, you'll have three minutes to address council. Good afternoon. Council and
mayor. My name is kaylee alexander. I am the secretary for the alta vista neighborhood
association, which is the area in which this parcel is located. Up until last night, myself as
a resident and the alta vista neighborhood association board were not informed of the
rezoning of this parcel. Historically, the neighborhood association receives
correspondence from the city of waco regarding the rezoning of a parcel, and for whatever
reason, I contacted board members last night and nobody has received any correspondence
regarding this. And historically, in my experience with being active in the board,
typically developers come to the board members and present their plans for rezoning any
building. And as the board, we can conduct our own analysis and what would benefit our
community and the residents that reside within our community. We have not had the
opportunity to engage with the developers or the investment group regarding this parcel,
which is an extreme concern to all of the board members. I am here representing both myself
as a resident. I am at 2431 south 27th street, which is right around the corner from
this parcel. And as a resident, I was not informed until my neighbor came knocking on my
door last night. I thought he was a solicitor. Turns out he's actually doing something great
for the neighborhood, which I appreciate. So as a board member with alta vista, we
request more time and we request more communication in collaboration with the city of
waco and the developer who is planning to develop this property. Thank you, thank you.
we have any other speakers? We have one more. It looks like as you approach the podium, please
state your name and address for the record and you will have three minutes to address
council. My name is celia sanchez and I have a property at 2425 south 27th. I just
wanted to let you all know that I also was not informed and did not know about any of this
until last night, when he came door to door, not soliciting. So we were we we as a whole
neighborhood have have had no knowledge of this going on the rezoning, so we didn't have a
chance to protest it. I don't know what's going on as far as mailing or if it's a problem
with the postal service or the city that that that happened. Maybe there needs to be signing
of maybe signatures of, you know, showing that we've received the letters going
forward. But my my concern is also with having that backing up to my property and my just
the safety issues with the homeless and the kind of traffic that that brings. Like
daniel mentioned, we did have a an issue a couple of years ago where a the stripes was robbed
and the perpetrator ended up in our backyard going through our backyards. And it's just a big
safety concern. I don't think the chain link fence is going to be good enough, as far as
I'm concerned, to make us feel safe and to make me feel like my children are going to be
safe. You know, with that backing up to our our backyards. So I guess that's all I wanted
to say. Thank you. Miss, miss. Miss sanchez, any questions of miss sanchez? Clint, I'm going
to ask you, everybody. This was everybody was notified and in accordance, give us our
procedure for that again, just so sure. So we follow state law on notification. We send out
notices to property owners within 200ft of the request so that that dotted line on the
map is our is what we noticed it. And then we also send out notices to any. The state law
requires us to send it to the property owners. We also if they're if their lease tenants
we send it to the actual physical addresses too. So we mailed out to 22 notices on
this one. And then also we work with our neighborhood engagement department to get
the notices out to the neighborhood associations. I believe they send those out via
email, but we'll definitely follow up with with them and alta vista to make sure that
they're they're getting those notices along those lines. Can I just ask? I know the first
speaker, the neighbor presented to us at least a list of names of neighbors in opposition. I
assume that that wasn't filed with the city or wouldn't necessarily hadn't met the
deadline for a petition along those lines, is that did you look at that, or did you see
that? We have not seen it yet. It definitely is something that can be submitted for
consideration at the public hearing, because that could if 20% of the surrounding owners
opposed. In a petition that was filed with the city, then that could bind the vote of the
council needing a supermajority in this case, is that correct? That's correct. Yes. Council
member. Council member, if I may, that would be within the notification distance. And it
doesn't appear that these are in that notification circle. Okay. These are all neighbors
within 200ft. Yes, sir. That circle okay. And then I guess the the. The conditions that we
worked out were originally were wanting to go see to the entire deal that the condition worked
out was make the back 25 foot far one be. Yeah. So that's our recommendation that the that
the zoning change would just be for 25ft of the r1b area, which would leave a 75 foot buffer
between the adjacent property. Okay. Any other go ahead. Sorry, clint. And this may be a
question for miss villareal being as she mentioned it, you said txdot was you were working
with txdot about a deceleration lane at the on robinson drive. Yes, ma'am. Or the at. I'm
trying to imagine where and and where are you in that process because I mean, it's not like.
text that moves quickly. She says behind her hands. We're still we're currently in the
permitting phase for that. And so drawings have to be submitted to txdot. And so
that's they're still in review of that. Is there one on the other side of the street? I
don't think not to my knowledge, probably not. And I go that way every day because that's where
I come back from university. So yeah, it'll be on the robinson side just south of the of the
southwest corner there it'll be it'll be about 75ft. Yes, ma'am. Any other questions for
director peters or mr. Okay. At this point, I will entertain a motion. No seeing. No speakers
will close the public hearing. Almost forgot. Close that public hearing and I will entertain a motion. Mayor, for clarification, are we motioning to approve the continuance? Is
that what's on the table here? You can move however you want. The spirit. Sorry. Mayor, I
move to. Oppose the recommendation I. Second, we have a motion and a second to
to vote no on the on the on this. On this. Yeah. The land use designation and the rezone.
is there any further discussion? I think it just having the neighborhood association be a
part of it, I think would be a big help in future instances coming forward. As a developer,
engaging with them. If you're doing a zoning change, I think goes a long way, especially if
they're coming forward to council, make a formal recommendation one way or the
other. And for clarification, there is a process about reapplication with a no vote,
is there not? I think, one year a year. Yes, ma'am. There's a so for a denial, a similar
request would have to wait one year to reapply. A different request could come back before
that. But if they're requesting commercial zoning that would that would require a year
period before they could. When you say a different request, what would that a different
zoning district. Yeah. Which is possible. Yeah okay. Any further discussion? I mean for
me on these, you know, that is kind of a commercial area. But I do think we build in public
comment to these requests for a reason. And I think if the neighbors feel that this is
inappropriate at this time, then I feel comfortable going with the motion. It feels like
we didn't follow protocol. And and I think neighborhood association was reached out to
and we had a we had a staff make recommendations. But that said let's take it to a vote.
city secretary hicks, will you please pull the council? Lozano. Yes. Border road. Yes.
fairfield. Yes. Ewing. Yes. Chase. Yes. Holmes. Yes. That motion to deny the zoning and
land use designation passes the next item on the agenda is in section one individual
consideration. And the first item to consider is ordinance I. One city attorney, hamilton
karam, will you please introduce the first ordinance? Yes, sir. An ordinance amending
sections 13, four, three through 13, dash 405 and 13 dash 418 of division two, open
air vending of article nine prohibited activities and indoor and outdoor vending of
chapter 13 licenses, permits and business regulations of the code of the city. Code to
specify additional prohibitions and providing for a penalty. This ordinance comes to council
on a first reading. I'll entertain a motion on this ordinance. Move approval.
second, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? City secretary hicks, will you
please pull the council? Lozano. Yes. Yes. Fairfield. Yes. Yes. Chase. Yes. Holmes. That motion
passes. The next item to consider. Ordinance. I two city attorney hamilton karam. An
ordinance amending sections 1347, 1369 72 through 1378, 1391, 1392, 1395 and 13 dash
119, and the title of division three of article two amusements of chapter 13 licenses, permits
and business regulations of the city code to prohibit amusement redemption machines and change
licensing requirements for nightclubs and indoor amusement facilities, and providing for a
penalty. This ordinance comes to council on first reading. I'll entertain a motion on
first reading. I'll move for approval. Second motion. We have a second. Any discussion?
I just want to say that I'm happy to be getting in line with the the larger,
overarching law on these matters for the state and also just acknowledging that, you
know, these things colloquially referred to as eight liners, are a net negative for the
communities that you find them in. And so I'm glad to be making it harder to operate
things that are actively making our constituents lives more difficult. As the district. As
the council member for district three, I realize my district has been at the epicenter of
some of this, but I agree and concur with my colleague from district four. That yeah, this
does this go into effect on jan one or jan one is when the. Yes, sir. Yes, mayor. Okay. That was
right. Any other discussion? City secretary hicks, will you please pull the council? Lozano.
yes. Border? Yes. Fairfield. Yes. Ewing. Yes. Chase. Yes. Holmes. That motion passes. The
next item to consider is ordinance I. Three city attorney hamilton, an ordinance
amending section 1876 a of the city of waco. City code of ordinances to increase the
number of fire lieutenant positions. Grade four from 47 to 48. Decrease the number of
fire equipment. Engineer positions. Grade two from 58 to 57 and increase the number of
firefighters. Grade one from 90 to 93. This ordinance was approved by a60 council vote on
first reading on september 16th, 2025. Do I hear a motion on second reading move for
approval on second reading? Second motion in a second. Any discussion? City secretary
hicks, will you please pull the council? Lozano. Yes. Water? Yes. Fairfield. Yes. Ewing. Yes.
chase. Yes. Holmes. That motion passes. The next item is ordinance I for city attorney,
hamilton county ordinance revising section 26, dash two, 31 and 20 622 39. Division six
reporting requirements of article six sanitary sewer and use regulations of chapter 26
utilities of the waco city code to clarify language related to the submission of required
reports for permitted industrial wastewater users and providing a savings clause and
providing for penalties. This ordinance was approved by six zero council vote on first
reading. Is there a motion on second reading for approval on second reading second, I hear a
motion and a second. Any further discussion? City secretary hicks, will you
please pull the council? Lozano. Yes. Fairfield. Yes. Ewing. Yes. Chase. Yes. Holmes. I the next
item that motion does pass. The next item to consider is ordinance I five city attorney
hamilton karen. An ordinance of the city of waco, texas, creating a planned unit
development, changing the zoning classification from o two and c three to a pud on
certain property containing approximately 2.14 acres of land situated in the thomas j.
chambers survey, city of waco, mclennan county, texas. According to the plat recorded
in instrument number (200) 902-9433 of the official records of mclennan county,
texas, known as 602 james avenue property id 353 77, approving the concept plan for
the pud and providing for penalties. This ordinance was approved by six zero council
vote on first reading on september 16th, 2025. I'll entertain a motion on this
second reading. Move. Approval, mayor, second motion and second. Any discussion. There being no
discussion, I'll close that. And city secretary hicks, would you please pull the council?
lozano. Yes. Border. Yes. Fairfield. Yes. Ewing. Yes. Chase. Yes. Holmes I that
motion passes. The next item we consider is ordinance I six city attorney. Hamilton. Karen.
an ordinance of the city of waco, texas, providing that the code of ordinances be amended
by revising section 20 8-2 47 in chapter 28 zoning of the code, providing that the zoning
map shall be changed so that certain property containing approximately 0.364 acres,
known as 1229 daughtry avenue, property ids 162187162114. Portion of 162113 shall be
changed from r-2 district classification become and be designated to r three. C
district classification and providing for penalties. This ordinance was approved by a six
year old council vote on first reading on september 16th, 2025. Do I hear a motion on the
second reading move? Approval on second reading. Second motion in a second. Any
discussion? There being no discussion, I will ask city secretary hicks to please pull
the council. Lozano. Yes. Yes. Fairfield. Ewing. Yes. Chase. Yes. Holmes I that motion
passes. The next item to consider is the hearing of visitors. We have a couple cards here tonight during the hearing of visitor section of the agenda. We provide an
opportunity for the public to present concerns or address issues that are not matters for consideration listed on the agenda. The council is unable to conduct a discussion, but
we'll listen. You know, we'll ask staff to look into concerns. We'll provide follow up. Please
provide registration information so that staff can contact you if necessary. If you have handouts, please let us know at the beginning of your presentation and staff
will distribute those to the council. If you're unable to approach the podium due to physical limitations, a microphone is available to be brought to you. When called to
the podium, please state your name and address. For the record, each speaker must limit
comments to three minutes. If you're speaking on behalf of a group of ten or more individuals present, please have those persons stand at the beginning of your comments and
you will be given ten minutes to address the council. Please note that if you stand in support of a person getting ten minutes to speak, you are forfeiting your right to speak
on that item. For any person addressing the council through the use of a translator, the speaking time will be doubled to accommodate the translation services. While public
discourse is very important to the council, we have to maintain order in the meeting
so that all persons may be heard and city business may be conducted. So directed by me,
the sergeant at arms shall remove from the council any person who, while addressing the city council or while attending the city council meeting, makes impertinent or
personal or slanderous remarks, becomes boisterous, or makes unauthorized remarks. When the
audience claps your hands, stomps, feet, whistles, yells, or makes similar demonstrations.
so with that, we'll call on a couple cards. Here we have joe phipps jr and joe phipps,
senior. I see joe junior. He wants to go first. Senior. We'll let we'll let senior go
first. Experience. Mr. Phipps, as you get to the podium, please state your name and
address for the record and we'll give you three minutes to address council. I'm joe phipps,
senior. I got a junior in the wings. He said for me to go first so he can clean it up.
after I finish. I own university rentals. I own quite a bit of property at baylor
university, own property from seventh street on bagby, eighth street, spade avenue, ninth
street, 10th street, 11th street and 12th street. And so I have quite a bit of land at
baylor. Probably the largest single property owner. We have experienced on the project.
that was on 11th, 10th in speight, a parking issue where that they did not provide
enough parking for visitors, or when they brought goods in the postman and picking up
different things, and they end up parking in my parking lot, which we have major issues with.
they then built the project over where the building is. They built it right on the
property line. You have four corners that you're going to get killed trying to move
around because you can't see they end up didn't provide enough parking. They end up
parking. Over in my tree house apartments, which is right across the street. And so we
wanted what we're after is to get sufficient parking allowed in the project. That's on james
street, fifth and james. And your concern is. When you provide your sufficient parking,
then you have to take into consideration that there could be more than one person living
in the apartment, which normally means more than one car. You're going to normally
find out that whenever baylor has parents day homecoming and the different events that come
to to baylor, then these people, you'll have girls there that will have dates coming to pick
them up. You'll have these people and they will not be able to get into the parking
garage because there's no parking place. They end up having to park somewhere on the
street. Bagby will be allocated with no parking on the street. Right now, fifth street is
allocated with no parking on the street. Right now, james street is a total mess. When
baylor's putting some something on it over at waco hall or whatever. You can't get up and
down james street. And basically the only parking on the street happens to be on my
side on seventh street, and the side that's over by the church. There's no parking. And so this
is going to there's no place for these people. The overflow to occur unless they park in my
parking place, my my place. And this is one of the things that we are objecting to. Thank you,
mr. Phipps. The second thing is their entrance. I'm afraid your time is up. You're cutting into
your son's time here. Pardon me? You're cutting into your son's time. You had three minutes and
we've gone about four, so we've got to wrap it up. Second thing is that basically it shows that
their entrance to the parking garage is going to probably be on bagby. And if you drive up
and down bagby anywhere between 8:00 and 10:00, you're taking your life in your own hands.
got it? Thank you, mr. Phipps, I appreciate it. And so this is our. We're not really objecting
to the project. It's just the parking issue. Yeah. Can staff follow up with the phipps? Yeah.
joe. Joe. I mean, mr. Phipps. Junior, please, as you approach the podium, state your name and
address. For the record, you'll have three minutes to address council. Joe phipps, junior. I
live 13 castle bluff court, waco, texas. I, I live probably for 30 plus years on the corner
of seventh and bagby. So I have a little experience on traffic in the area. It's we have
concerns. We have I do property management for university rentals. We basically have dealt with the parking issues at the view and the point, which are our apartment
complexes. They at least have parking on the sides of the street. This place won't. Fifth
street has no parking. I don't see how you can have barely any parking in front of a james.
because you have waco hall. You're going to have a church there. And what my father
didn't bring up, you have like a fedex, uber, all these people coming in, people coming in to
pay rent. So you have to reserve the other places. Didn't really even think about
that. They just maximized parking on that. And then you get to seventh street and you
only have one side of parking. I was kind of surprised, shocked that they're going to
let the parking garage go out on bagby, because bagby, if you've ever been to baylor,
it's kind of like the I-35. They said they did a traffic thing for fourth, fifth and
stuff. In my experience on bagby, everybody coming from waco always takes 18th street
and goes down bagby and shoots down that way and stuff. And so I was going, I don't know if
they can, but you said, boy, it would be a lot easier for traffic things if, if, if the
parking garage would empty on fifth street, where at least there's not that big
thoroughfare because it's basically one lane going each way with a turn lane, and then
you're saying 600? Or how many cars are in that garage, you know, coming out when classes
are coming, you know, and baylor students, you know, people say, oh, it's close to class. It's it's, you know, close to their classes and all that. Everybody I know went to
baylor. If it's raining that day, they're going to try to drive right next to their
building, and their dad will pay for the parking ticket later on, you know, as far as that goes. And so it's it's that's wonderful. But that's a reality I live in. And so we're
just worried about in previous big ones, they did, you know, it seemed like they didn't
think that stuff out. And I'm saying, hey, at this project there's I'm looking at like
almost three sides of it. You can't park next to the complex where all those others they can
and stuff. And then you look at visitors. I always have, like the manager and stuff. They
always parked in my parking lot, the ups, they always parked in my parking lot, or they would
just park in the middle of the street, and then there'd be a car accident and the poor
students would be saying, well, wasn't my fault. And then you see the driver drive off in the
the ups car who caused the accident. And, you know, he's not worried about it because,
you know, they couldn't see around him and stuff. So that's really my concern on that. And
then and then you throw in the fact on the parking is that everybody in this room, at some
point or other during baylor time has parked in that parking lot. And so then that added
parking that goes in that general area and stuff, because they're going to have to find
an alternative parking spot place. But anyway, that's it. That's those are my concerns.
perfect. Thank you, mr. Phipps. And thank you, mr. Phipps. And we'll have staff look into that.
and that's the parking issues related to that. Are there any other any other speakers
tonight who'd like to speak during hearing and visitors? Anybody here? I see no hands
being raised. Seeing none. We will close the hearing of visitors and we will go
directly to council. Comments on items of community interest, any announcements council would
like to make or comments or anything in general. Okay, I'll just really quickly say that
myself. Councilwoman lozano, mayor pro tem barefield and yourself made a trip to
greenville, south carolina last week for an intercity visit and wanted to extend a quick thank
you to their city management and their mayor for welcoming us so warmly. It's a great city.
they do a lot of things well. I'm hoping to replicate some of it here and learn from the
mistakes they've made along the way and try to avoid those. So had a great time in greenville,
learned a lot and again thanks to their city management and their mayor. Yeah, great
meetings and end to the greater waco chamber for putting the trip together. Very well
organized, very interesting. Mayor, I had something prepared that I that was pretty poignant,
but I decided I'm just going to cede my time to the honorable council member from district
five, t, george chase. George. George, you got nothing. Alright, I will, I will say
before I call on george the. And I think mayor pro tem mentioned it during a slow part
of the meeting this afternoon. Great, great festivities saturday at the ellis martinez
rodriguez park. That was so much fun. And I don't think jonathan is still here, but
great job of getting that organized. That was just the the work we're doing in our
parks and rec. And the expansion there is just truly amazing and fun. Council member
lozano and I were at the hispanic leadership network meeting last night, which is also great here during hispanic leadership month, and we have another one tomorrow or
thursday. Thursday night, the the chamber. So a lot of things going on here in waco, a lot, a
lot of fun. George. You sure? Nothing. I saw her, he was going with that and I. Yeah.
all right. Okay. Thanks, george. Alright, now we have the last. The last item is scheduling a
future agenda items. Any future agenda items? No. There being no further business. The