Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the planning and zoning commission meeting of May 19, 2025. My name is Cena Nead. I have the honor of chairing the planning and zoning and I'll welcome you again. uh please make sure that you uh turn off or silence your cell phones so it would not wake up the rest of us and also uh when you're speaking uh limit your uh your time to 3 minutes to be fair to the rest of the folks here. Uh with that said uh if you would please call the role. Chairman Nad here. Commissioner Batty present. Commissioner Jabar is absent. Commissioner Jabia here. Commissioner Javeed is absent. Commissioner Linton here. Commissioner Makin here. Commissioner Sineagar here. Alternate Commissioner Surell here. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Uh the members of the commission have been sent the minutes of the previous meeting uh for April 21st, 2025. Uh, I would take a motion to approve and or hear your comments. I move. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Any in opposition? The eyes have it. Thank you. Before we get started, I would like to sincerely welcome all the new uh city council people. Uh, thank you very much for volunteering and this is going to be a great job. you're going to have a lot of fun. And I also want to thank the ones before you that suffered with us through some some time here. So, uh, with that said, we're going to get started with PZ 2025117. Yes, sir. Good afternoon. In 2021, Scott Hollowman and the heirs of AJ Faculo

Estates requested that the city of Bulmont accept maintenance of the private drive and infrastructure located east of West Calder Road and north of Baker Road. The planning commission tabled this request a couple times to receive supporting data on December 17th, 2024. The city council request found the request to be in the best interest of the city and approved it with conditions that a plat be produced by a licensed surveyor and must be submitted to the planning office offices prior to final acceptance of the streets and infrastructure. Therefore, the city of Bowmont engaged Whitley infrastructure group to complete the required plat work. This plat does comply with all city standards and requirements and planning staff does re recommend approval of this request. Uh we sent out 19 property owner notices. Those who uh live along this um private drive uh and receive four in favor and zero in opposition. The area outlined in red on the screen is the area under review. And this is the plat. And we do have uh Mr. row with Whitley infrastructure present if you have any um questions but it does comply with all city standards. Thank you ma'am. Any question for Damian? Mr. Whitley. Oh Mr. Row I'm sorry Tom I didn't mean to insult you like that. Good afternoon to you. Tom Row with WY Infrastructure Group. Tom, not Mark. I'll tell you what, as long as you've been, you and I known each other, that was a terrible mistake. It's okay. I apologize. As Demi said, it's pretty cut and dry. This street has been private for years. The faculos, as they divided up the property, granted easements to all these homeowners, and this is trying to bring this in to a platted street ride of way to allow the city to proceed. And there's also a drainage easement along the easterly line. pretty

cut and dry. Good. Mr. Fusula is not here. He's not. Um, okay. However, we do have uh some representatives, but this is a city of Bulmont application at this point because of the plat requirement. Um, so the city of Bulmont is bringing this plat forward. Well, I was just going to congratulate him and tell him persistent pays off. So, uh, he's been here four or five times. Uh, no questions for, uh, Mr. Bro, you you you have cover culde-sacs. No, there's no culde-sacs in this uh plat. The street's there. We're just trying to get it in accordance and I haven't been in all the meetings and Demi can probably speak more to that. Um but it's just trying to get it in compliance. There's some Yes, sir. So, this road exists. It's just a private drive at this point, but it exists. So, what we're trying to do if they want us to take over uh maintenance and of the infrastructure and the street, we need to get that right away. Um so that we can uh actually go in and and maintain the roads and do it uh rehabilitation. Thank you, Tom. Yes, sir. Uh we heard from the applicant and also the staff and there are no conditions. Uh I would uh entertain a motion. Move for approval. Second. We have a motion to approve and a second. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Any in opposition? The eyes have it. Thank you. Uh the next one is PZ2025144. I am going to recuse myself from this and uh Linda is going to take care of that. Okay. Uh file PZ 20225-144. Can we have a staff report, please? Yes, ma'am. Nick Ferguson on behalf of ITEX Group is requesting a waiver to the sidewalk requirements for a new multif family development at 4390

West Cardinal Drive. In section 26.03.004, part three of the city's ordinances states that the planning and zoning commission may grant a waiver to the sidewalk requirement if the applicant can prove there is an engineering reason for not installing a sidewalk. The applicant's letter cites the following. Number one, Tex DOT does not permit sidewalks within their rideway, which restricts our ability to comply with the ordinance as originally intended. Number two, if the sidewalk were remove were moved behind the property line, it would end abruptly at the DD6 ditch on the west side of the property, rendering the sidewalk incomplete and impractical. The ditch presents a significant physical barrier, further complicating the sidewalk's implementation. And number three, on the east side of the property, there is a vacant lot with no connecting sidewalk and densely wooded. This further complicates the continuity of pedestrian access as it would require additional adjustments that are not feasible without creating unnecessary hardship. The city's traffic engineer reviewed the request and it does and does not support the waiver, noting that the reasons provided do not constitute valid engineering barriers to the sidewalk construction. As such, staff recommends denial of this request. Area outlined in red is the area under review. And the sidewalk waiver that they're requesting is along Cardinal Drive uh to the uh bottom of this rendering. I'll bring my mouse over so you can see this red line right here. That's the area that they're wanting to remove the the sidewalk. Okay. Any questions of staff? Okay. Okay. Is the applicant in the audience? Yes, sir. If you'll come forward and give us your name and address, please. Dick Ferguson at 1219 Florida Street.

No. Okay. Um I mean, yeah, I mean, she spelled it out. That's uh the intended sidewalk was originally drawn on the the rightway for text dot. Um at this point we don't have anything in place or we attempted to install it called text dot out and there was uh you know of course conflict there. So um we pulled everything pulled the rebar out. We had forms and rebar in place at the point and then um you know that's that's where we stand at this point. I have a question and as she stated that you know that ditch is at the end of the property or our property line actually goes across the ditch but there wouldn't be any any crosswalk there moving forward. Um and I failed to mention there's a 15t easement uh at the south end or on the south side of the property for southwestern bell which we'd be pouring over the top of that on the front end of the property. Okay. Any questions of the applicant? Yes. Um try to get an understanding who text do not allow for you to to put this in. Correct. They made that provision I want to say a couple years ago now. So, it's the choice is they could possibly get a sidewalk waiver or a lot of developments wind up um putting the uh sidewalk onto private side instead of in the rideway where if you uh do a development within Bulmont along a rideway that we we own and not uh Tex dot, then we allow you to place that uh sidewalk within the rideway. Um but Texot does not allow for that. So his his options are to either receive a sidewalk waiver or um place that sidewalk onto private property on and the private property is who? Theirs? It's theirs. Yes. Okay. because uh

knowing that there's a lot of traffic on that street and you have an apartment complex and it doesn't seem feasible to have that because even though you have wooded acreage next to it eventually it seems that uh apartment complex has been coming up in all that wooded area. It's gonna have to adj for the safety of the uh pedestrians. Um is there any way that can be put in? Yes. I mean technically yes, but I mean on both sides of the property there are no existing sidewalks at this point. Even further down uh towards street and towards Fidette. Um I think on the very corner of of Four Street at those gas stations, there actually is a sidewalk, but that's the only property that has sidewalks at this time. Um, and you know, at this point, the the front end of our property is is wooded. We cleared out a little bit of it. We I mean, just to thin it out to for to to make it look better, but um you know, we'd have to clear a few trees and and I'm I'm not even sure about that 15t utility easement as well. I I hadn't talked to uh Southwestern Bale or AT&T about that. Um but I mean it would the first 15 foot of our property is that's that's where the easement starts. Okay. Inside of it. And I I guess my question is to Demi, um, with that, and I'm assuming that because it's new construction and and the audience you put out for sidewalks recently, it didn't exist to didn't apply to the other structures around it. Correct. Correct. Okay. Okay. Any other questions of the applicant? No. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Okay. Is there a motion or a discussion regarding this file? I make a motion approve.

Is there a second? To deny or Are you approving to deny or deny? Huh? Are you denying the request or approving the request? Or deny. Okay. So, you want to restate your motion? Okay. I make a motion to deny. Okay. Okay, we have a motion to deny to deny. Is there a second? I second that. Okay, we have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. Any opposed? Motion carries as a denial. Thank you. Thank you very much, ma'am. And uh this concludes our regular meeting and now we're going to uh join the honorable mayor and the rest of the city council for the joint public uh hearing in approximately 3 minutes. three minutes. You are correct. We all got in trouble last time. The mayor was late and she's she didn't like us starting 3 minutes early. So, we wait. you not I mean the the mayor she last time that was many many moons ago [Laughter] that's correct real quick for those uh just joining us um if you have any intention to speak on any of the cases please uh fill out a blue slip and if you could bring that up here um state to Miss Susan I Sorry. Yeah, Miss Susan, right? Put it on this

private All right. Good afternoon again. We're going to start planning commission and the city council and the honorable mayor West is going to get us started. Thank you, Mr. Chair. May we have Mayor West? Council member Krenshaw present. Council member Durio. Council member Hillyard present. Council member Sherwood present. Council member Turner is absent. Council member Williams. Thank you.

The planning Planning Commission will make for the public to speak. Thank you, sir. Uh, we're going to start with PZ205115, please. Good afternoon, uh, council and commission. Uh, real quick, I just wanted to make an announcement that the following items won't be heard today. That's case number PZ2025-126. That's the reasoning for Delaware at Dallin and PZ2025-135, the resoning and specific use permit for Northwest Parkway and Point Parkway. Uh these items are reset to June 16th. It also um starts or begins at 3:15. Um and a new round of property owner notices will be issued as required by state law. Brandy Tarver requests a specific use permit to open a retail beauty supply store to be located at 3825 West Lucas Drive, Sweet D. The general commercial multif family dwelling district 2 requires a specific use permit for all new proposed land uses. The store will sell a variety of hair and beauty products. This use is consistent with surrounding uses. As such, planning staff recommends approval of the request with the following conditions. Number one, plans must meet all requirements

with water utilities for any water and sanitary sewer improvements, including any requirements of the city's backflow pre-treatment and/or fog program. And number two, compliance with all applicable building and fire codes. Staff sent 17 property owner notices and received five in favor and zero in opposition. The area outlined in red is the area under review. This is the site plan. This is the subject property. Subject property in west. And so they'll just be in one of those suites within that um strip mall property to the north, to the south, and to the east. And I'm unsure if the uh applicant is present today. Good afternoon, ma'am. Okay. Uh would you would you be kind enough to uh come up and state your name and address and tell us what additional information you might have for your project? Address. Any address you like? Okay. My name is Brandy and the address is 3825 West Lucas D77706. Fantastic. Do you have any additional information that you'd like to give us? No, we'll just be selling hair extensions. It's not a hair salon, so we won't be doing hair there. And we'll be selling hair products. I'm also the owner of Next Door to J Baby Ice Cream, so we've been there 3 years. So, um, we're already in the building location. Oh, great. How's the ice cream going? Good. Fantastic. I was here 3 years ago. So, you would not be doing anything that has any kind of a chemical or any other smell stuff? No. For your neighbors. Okay. All right. Uh, any questions for the lady? None. Well, thank you very much. You've

been the easiest one so far. Thank you guys. Have a good day. And now we're going to open the floor for public comment. Is there anybody in the audience that would like to speak for or against this case? None is heard. So, we close the public hearing. We heard from the staff. We also heard from the uh the applicant. And I would entertain a motion. Motion to approve file PZ 20225-115 with the uh two conditions. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Any in opposition? The eyes have it. Congratulations, ma'am. Good luck. Okay, now we are getting on to PZ2025150. Uh, so the previous council wished to see an item to consider banning eight liners from the city. Therefore, this item is before you, which would be to amend the city's permitted use table within the zoning code to reflect the ban of gaming sites and gaming machines. I'd like to provide clarification regarding uh certain gaming machines commonly known as eight liners. Uh Texas law permits bonafide amusement machines to award non-cash prizes or merchandise valued at less than $5, which is known as the fuzzy animal exception. The caveat is that those machines shall not render cash, gift cards, gift certificates, or prizes valuing over $5. Regulations over amusement redemption machines do not include types of machines that award prizes directly, such as the claw, crane, or similar devices. Additionally, this includes machines that rely on users physical skill, such as throwing, rolling, flipping, tossing, or dropping a ball or object into a target area to receive a prize. These are typically designed for

children's entertainment such as like Chuck-E-Cheese, main event, arcade venues such as that. So, the city of Bowmont's current uh gaming ordinance establishes comprehensive operational zoning and licensing regulations for gaming establishments. These businesses are authorized to operate only between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 10 p.m. Monday through Sunday. To ensure public safety and emergency response readiness, gaming establishments must display visible signage for first responders and all doors must remain unlocked during operational hours. A functional security camera system is required at all times and background checks are mandatory for all owners and operators of the game room. Owners and operators must also wear identification badges at all time while on premises. Zoning restrictions further regulate the location of the gaming establishments. Game rooms are permitted by right only in the heavy industrial zoning district. Conditional approval through issuance of specific use permits is required for locations within the general commercial light industrial planned unit development and commercial manufacturing zoning districts. Additionally, gaming establishments must not be located within 600 feet of any school, child care facility, church, hospital, or residential zoning district, and must maintain a minimum distance of 1,000 ft away from any existing game room. Under the ordinance, a game room is defined as a location containing six or more gaming machines, whereas accessory gaming refers to establishments with five or fewer machines. Game rooms and gaming sites that were legally established before September 26, 2023 are considered grandfathered at their existing location and may continue operations under their existing permits. However, if a permit is revoked, suspended, or allowed to lapse, the grandfather's status is forfeited and the location is treated as a new gaming site subject to the current zoning, distancing, and permitting requirements. Permits for gaming establishments must be renewed annually and require proof of

valid machine decals which are issued by the state comproller. As of now, the city of Bulmont has 66 permitted gaming sites operating a total of 453 gaming machines and that's for the city city entirely, not just game rooms, not just accessory, that's collective um the legally permitted ones. Um these regulations are intended to ensure public safety and land use compatibility. So on this slide, I'll let um Shereé kind of talk about the zoning case that occurred with uh gaming machines. So the city of Fort Worth um essentially wanted to have a more restrictive um permitting process for their game rooms. uh the owner operators in their area essentially filed a lawsuit to prevent the ordinance uh from going forth. Uh after several appeals, what came down or what the issue really came down to is whether or not the city had the ability to offer more restrictive uses uh for this type of business. And the answer was yes. So the the court said that this was not a fuzzy fuzzy animal exception. Um the court also characterized them as unconstitutional. Uh the lawsuit which is which was not intended to be a lawsuit to ban a liners um it does allow for cities to ban them from their cities but that was not the mandate by the state. Uh the comproller is still issuing decals for uh game rooms and gaming machines. Uh but this this case does allow uh for more restrictive uh regulations of game rooms in outright vans. So to give a little bit of um history, the city council first adopted the gaming ordinance in 2014 to regulate gaming operations for public safety. In

2018 I'm sorry, in 2014 they regulated gaming operations for public safety. In 2018, council adopted a zoning text amendment to regulate site location due to crime stats associated with game room locations. In 2023, an amendment to the article 6 was passed to strengthen enforcement measures um for gaming gaming locations. Um so considering the outcomes of uh Fort Worth v Riley uh case, the commission and council have a couple routes that they can take as it relates to gaming sites. Um so first option could be to ban eight liners um from the city limits. Second option would be to revisit the permitted use table within the city's zoning code to only allow gaming machines and gaming sites within industrial zoning districts which would more closely align with our established regulations of a sexually oriented business. Um, basically restricting gaming establishments um to those districts would serve to protect the character and quality of residential neighborhoods by distancing them from homes, schools, churches, other sensitive areas. And it also could uh potentially mitigate uh negative secondary effects such as crime, traffic, noise while ensuring compatibility with surrounding land uses. Um the zoning approach could prevent overconentration of gaming in commercial corridors by preserving a balanced mix of businesses and maintain the overall economic and social vitality of the areas. Uh third option would be no change uh to the operations and we continue with the current ordinances in place. Um so again what's before you today is that within chapter 28 of the city's zoning code uh the permitted use table identifies that these zoning districts where gaming machines are allowed. So the planning commission and city council if they wish to ban the gaming sites and gaming machines from operating within city limits then the permitted use table must be amended to reflect that decision. So that's the

that's what's before you now. Um all game room owners have been notified of the item by regular mail. Um, and that was those were the addresses that were used uh that were on the gaming permit um the current gaming permits that we have on file. Um, and this is a city of Bulmont uh um application. So, um, whichever if you guys have any questions for me or if you I know that there's probably some that are here to speak on the item. So, I've got a question. There are four pages of uh game room owners. All four pages actively have game room facilities right now. Yes, ma'am. Is that correct? Yes, ma'am. We have 66 gaming sites and then uh 453 gaming machines. Okay. Thank you. question for you is that uh the 66 permits that exist what you're looking at is they will exist but going forward if you're going to change it there would be no more added is what you're saying that's incorrect. So if you went with option one which was to ban them then those game rooms would no longer be allowed to exist within the city. So all so all of those uh owners and operators would have to cease operations within the city. If you went with option two, which was to amend the permitted use table to only allow them in industrial zoning districts, all of the existing uh permitted game rooms that are existing outside of that industrial zoning district will be grandfathered in, similar to what we did uh before. Um they will be grandfathered in until such time as they allow their permit to either lapse or be revoked. And so they would not um have any impact to their business operations until such time as that their permit either lapsed or

revoked. Any new applications that came before would either need to be within that industrial zoning district or they would need to apply for a specific use permit. So So if you went with option two, it would only impact new or potentially new applicants. Where is there a map of the uh industrial uh areas we're talking about? I don't have one, but I could pull up the uh zoning map or online zoning map if you'd like. Um but I don't have a map on the slides right now because I'm understanding is that if this to happen going forward, they will only be able to exist in this particular district. Correct. Or zoning uh industrial area new ones. So any of the game the existing gaming sites that I had talked about the 66 sites uh 453 games depending if they're a game room or the accessory gaming they're as long as their permit stays in good status then they're considered grandfathered at that location. Um if that let's say that their permit lapsed or um crime associated with gambling happened there, then that permit would no longer be valid or it would be revoked and then that gaming site would uh fall under the new the new rules of the last amendment that occurred in 2023, which just it uh sets more distancing requirements. So, the ones before 2023, you had to be um 300 ft away from a school, hospital, or church. This amendment um took into consideration uh children, so we added uh childc care facilities. It also took into consideration residential zoning districts, so we added that. Um so, it's a little bit more um it's more distancing requirements than uh prior. Okay. So any so any permit if if the if there was a change to the existing permitted table for a more restricted use, anyone who applied for a new permit

or anyone with an existing permit that allowed it to lapse or be revoked will be applying under a more restrictive zoning requirement. Um Okay. Well, I was kind of interested in uh the the areas that will be approved, the industrial part. Yeah. compared to everywhere else. Trying to get that information and also is there uh anyone that can speak on the statistics of the crime that's involved with these uh sites? We're going to get into that in a minute. Okay. And I've got a question just to clarify, out of the 66, how many are currently in the industrial zone? All of them? No. So there are some that were grandfathered in prior to 2014 that are located in um more residential or general commercial uh general commercial type areas. Um post 2023 post to the amendment most of them are located in more industrial uh type areas. So there out of the 66 I'd have to ask um planning but I believe that it's it's not as many um I believe more so of the applications came post the 2020 2014. Um so do we know how many are currently not in the industrial zone? I don't have that breakout. Um, however, I I do want to I do want to make it known that like let's say that you guys were to go with policy option two, which is to maybe amend the z the permitted use table to only industrial zoning districts. All of the existing permits that are valid. So that's 66 gaming sites, 453 gaming machines. So far, they're their their license is uh valid and so they would be grandfathered at those those locations. So, they wouldn't go away um unless their permit were to be revoked down the line. Um however, any new applications that we

receive can only um Oh, nice. Cool. Uh chief uh has a map. Great. So, 78% of the uh game rooms are located in the GCMD zoning district. So, GCMD is general commercial. Um so, just to pass that around. Thank you, Chief Demi. Do you know how many of these are the minor ones with five or less and how many of them are eight? I can get that to you. One moment. My I have my permitting uh manager here. She can look at that. Good. Thank you, Demi. How did we get here? What was the impetus for the amendment? So, there's a couple cities that have um banned eight liners. Uh I believe it was White Oak um and two others. And I think Orange is they have not banned them yet, but they're consider they're in the process of considering it. Um they haven't heard their second public hearing yet. Um so in light of Orange, I believe that the uh previous council um was interested in it and so during that time this was being prepared and so now it's before you guys for consideration. Have another question. I'm I'm assuming we have a crowded house here and and and I'm assuming a lot of these are the owners. Did the neighbors to these uh facilities get notices? So, it they wouldn't have gotten notices on this one. Um it affects game room owners. So, um, we sent, I believe it was like 200 letters or so, um, to the game room owners and operators, but no, the it it was publicized, which is required by state law in, um, the news the newspaper, um, and it was also posted on city hall and, um, also on the city's website, uh, 72 well well before 72

hours prior to this meeting. So there are only two cities in Texas that require the ban. So have the ban? Fort Worth, Orange, White Oak, and I believe there's at least three other there's a pro maybe five. And I think that that's a generous amount that are either in the process of banning or have considered a ban. And that's me being very generous with that number. Okay, any other questions? Uh, real quick, there was five game rooms that have more than six uh gaming machines within city limits. So, majority is accessory gaming, which is five or less. But whatever we decide is not going to change the Well, what's before you guys is um the the item. Well, it depends on what you decide. Demiy's trying to be politically correct. It it depends on what you decide. If you decide to go with option A, which is the ban, it would affect the 66 that are currently permitted. If you decide to go with option two, which is to amend the um permitted use table, you would only impact future uh operators. And if you went with three, obviously it would not impact anybody. Since you've been so generous with information uh and this is a city initiated item, can we start with the comments from the city or do we just need to go? So if you still have questions for staff, you can definitely um go and I believe one of the commissioners did have a question as to uh crime associated with the properties. So the police chief and represent what is what is in order. So, uh, would the chief be kind enough to, uh, come up? Please introduce yourself and address and, uh, you have 3 minutes, but if you need more time, let me know and I'll be happy to grant it. Tim Archek, chief of

police, 255 College Reserve. Good to see you, sir. Uh, any opinion from from the city or from the police department? As far as information, I think we've been asked about uh, crime. What we did is we pulled evidence that was from the locations. And what you might see is um a whole range from like no events, no no crime reported to uh one site had a little over 1,200 calls. The problem is in trying to connect a Nexus from the gaming machines or the accessories to the uh crime and that's not something that we can really do. We can say that um like the locations that only have games, there's like one or no crimes reported at, but we have some like the corner of Calder and MLK as an example where there's over 1,200 cases. It's a super busy location on a m you know, two major thorough affairs. So trying to connect the nexus to the gaming's situation is not something that that I'm able to do. U there is rumored, you know, amounts and some previous experience that would say that not all crime is reported at that location. There's, you know, sometimes there's crimes that happen offsite, but the ability to tie a specific crime that happened off-site or onsite to whether it had to do with gaming is not something that we've been able to do. Chief, are is drinking allowed in these

places? Do they have license for drinking? I would have to check on that. Um, there's a couple people that could probably answer that question. There might be a few. Unless it's a grandfathered location, then it it's it's okay where it's at. New ones, uh, no, there's no you can't um you can't have any uh drinking associated there, any kind of licensing for on premise consumption. And uh, Chief, you said there's a location which you have over 1,200 cases. Uh, how is that place still operating? Is it and I know you can't differentiate between what caused the crime. Was it misbehaving or the the bedding or gaming and all that good stuff? Uh why is that place still operating? Well, what types of crimes? I didn't pull all 1,200 crimes, so I can't tell you what all they are, but you know, we have some like the police headquarters has a ton of calls that happen. If you look statistically, a lot of people come to the police station to make reports. That doesn't mean they all happen there. It doesn't mean that maybe the people at that location did a whole bunch of stuff, but a bunch of stuff's happened in that location or they've reported at that location. So, um you know, anytime you have a busy location, the chances are higher that you're going to have some types of calls. Um, you know, some neighborhoods have a lot of calls and it's because of barking dogs and it's not something that might concern you on the face of it. And I did not pull all 1,200 calls for that location. Do you have any information if in reality money's being exchanged or gifts more than $5 been given out? Well, we have run operations in the past and have had to shut down sites for not following the the ordinances. There's a

team that comes together when it comes to u enforcement uh involving codes and the fire department, police department, and u I know that some of those people are here, but there are times when that rule has been violated. And what happens to that business after that? Do they come back and reopen? Their permit is revoked. Um there I don't have it off the top of my head. Um but I think that if it's a conviction um that owner cannot reopen uh for 10 years, I want to say uh but it's within the ordinances. But there is uh especially with this last um amendment in 2023, there is uh stricter enforcement measures um regarding revocation of permits and how long and I I want to say that that site um then obviously that's a that's a a permit status change from uh good to bad, right? So that site anyone that's coming in has to uh reapply as a new game room or gaming site. Um and with that they may fall under the uh stricter provisions for uh distancing requirements which may kick them may not make it a valid location anymore. So um really the the enforcement measures um affect the grandfather status most. Um but that that's essentially it. Um there are there are enforcement measures at this point. Uh whereas beforehand it was um a little more laxed uh from a permitting standpoint. I did bring assistant chief Punkett with me and all the operations and detective divisions under him and he might have some additional uh items I didn't want to speak. Thank you, Chief. We'd love to hear from him. Good afternoon, sir. Good afternoon. Uh Jason Plunkin, assistant chief at the police department. Fantastic. you have

any additional information that you'd like to give us? I think the chief covered most of it. Um, as far as the question like with the with the location that we had that had so many calls, they have to understand that's uh that as most of the locations for the um the the places with few machines five and under, you know, you're talking about places like gas stations, things like that. So, you know, you have a lot of calls for trespassing, you know, gas theft, things like that. So, all of those calls are included in that. Um, as to your question about the payouts, um, you know, we've done operations before, uh, I think just on a common sense level, you know, when you have people who are spending a lot of money, they're not doing it to win less than $5 fuzzy animals. We have found that in the past, you know, some places are in compliance, some not so much. Um, but it is very difficult as the chief said when you're talking about this volume of calls to go through and because you're not talking about just the location, right? You need to do an area search, pull all of the calls and then really you're talking about going through thousands of calls individually per location to see if you can relate it to specifically back to the the the gaming that's allowed on site. So, I think the chief did a good job of trying to explain that. Thank you. I'm going to stop and let some other folks asking question, but it's just uh I can't imagine uh whole bunch of grown people get into these places, spend a lot of money just to get a plastic butterfly or a candle. It just doesn't seem right. So, there's something else going on that just not not publicized, I guess. Any other questions for the folks? I guess uh let me ask uh let me let him go first and then I'll come to you. Give me a

clarification. 66 permits, 460 some odd games. And the 66 permits is 66 sites. Yes, sir. Because you said you sent I'm looking at more than 66 names on the list. We sent to owners and operators. Owners and operators. Okay. And I think you I think you'll answer it quick. I think the same thing about the $5 gift. Who's fighting over $5 gifts? Elena uh planner one. She also uh identified that, you know, some game rooms have more than one game room owner. It could be multiple. So that would add to that that list. You sir, go ahead. How many? Oh, excuse me. Like why is there a concentration of games? I'm I'm unsure. Um, you know, maybe those games existed I don't have the stats in front of me, but maybe those games existed uh prior to 2014 or right after 2014 where the distancing requirements were a little less strict uh in the 2023 amendment. Um, you know, you have the 600 feet from schools, churches, hospitals, daycarees, residential zoning districts, and also if you're a game room, um, you have to be 1,000 ft away from an existing game room. that wasn't in place uh prior to 2023. So, that could uh that could add to some of the um concentrations of it. Um but that that's that's me um thinking through it. I don't have those stats in front of me. Yeah. Any other questions? Yes, I I have another question. uh of those 66 sites, how do you um how do you

basically enforce the the um the strict enforcement? How do you go about doing that? I'm going to ask uh Lindseay Gilbreth, our uh gaming game room administrator, and also uh chief uh wheat um to come up and discuss the enforcement. And another question I have, what about the uh the 66 sites? Are they required to have security topnotch security? Yes, sir. They're supposed they're required to have a security camera system. But not a security person. No, sir. It's a security camera system. camera is the and um in the ordinance that how it was written um any uh staff can or any like chief we can go in there and um ask to look at the gaming um video uh if there's anything that pertains to his um enforcement or anything like that and they would have to provide that on site but of course I'll let them them speak on it since they're the ones that are out in the field doing this. All right. Before that, let me thank Chief of Police and the Assistant Chief. Thank you very much. If you please introduce yourself and give us your address, Lindseay Gilbert, 801 Main Street. Chief Scott, Mobile Fire Department. Fantastic. Which one are you going to go first? Depends on the question. You. Okay. Uh what what calls do you get? Normally these places the initial process is once they apply for their permit and it's get it's all approved. We start our initial inspections. Uhhuh. Uh we're not only checking for fire codes, but we're very strict enforcement on means of egress, whether or not they've removed signs so we can see through the windows if their security system is available, if we have loginins, if the staff have login, if they have badges issued and each person

is wearing them upon arrival, and then once we get through all of the steps of the inspections, we send our approval in on City Works for Lindsay to move forward with the approval. So you basically take care of the the uh operation of of the uh of the business as far as the fire and the per building permit type. Yes. So we're the on-site stuff. Okay. All right. And Lindsay, what do you guys do? We do all the permitting and make the tags and I go through background checks and actually meet with each one of the owners and operators. But you don't get calls. Only the police gets calls on on negative behaviors or or No, that No, that's not true. I get calls a lot of times because my name's out there as the gaming lady. So, everybody calls me to ask questions. All right. So, what have you what what type of comments do you get? I've gotten anything to where I've put a $20 bill in here and they won't give me my money. I've gotten a they won't let me in the store, the door is locked. I mean, we've there's hundreds of different reasons why people call to either complain or just ask if it's legal for them to do this. But they don't tell you if they put five on $100, right? No. Okay. So, are you all properly staffed? Do you have enough staff to handle those 66 sites? Yes, sir. Yes, I mean, it's me, Chief Wheat, and Inspector Abberrombie that go out on normally on Thursdays. So, gaming, everybody can come in on Wednesday and meet with me and we do their dip badges and their permits and their tags. And then on Thursdays, I'm escorted out to each one of the sites and I put their tags up. I go over the ordinance with them, hang their permits and stuff with them. So, I've I've been to each site.

Well, fantastic. Thank you. Any other questions for the folks? Thank you very much. Now, we're going to open the uh session to public comments. Uh is there anybody that would like to speak for or against this case? The gentleman in the front, if you'd be kind enough to limit your your talk to three minutes and uh we get started. That's good. Thank you, sir. And if you please. Thank you. My name is Scott Renick. I'm an attorney here in Bumont. My firm is located at 1420 Wellington Circle here in Bowmont. I'm here on behalf of the business owners who are legally, responsibly operating with five or fewer of the accessory gaming ordinances. I spoke at city council during their recent meeting. I'm not going to sit here and talk to all of you about legally what I think some of the issues with changing the ordinance may or not be. What I really want to talk to you about today are the numerous businesses that I represent. These are corner stores. These are family businesses. These are mom and pop shops. These are not game rooms. These are not casinos. These are businesses that not simply have comp complied with this ordinance, but they've invested in this city and in that ordinance. And what I mean by that is is when there's some discussion about what these folks had to go through, it's not simply paying an annual application that's thousands of dollars. Having to pay fees to maintain the games for the city, which also can equate to thousands of dollars to install security systems for these games is required for thousands of dollars. And but more than that with the visibility option that required this ordinance that means these stores are having to modify their structures in order to comply with this

ordinance. So what does that mean? My clients average cost to modify their stores is between 20 to $40,000. So this is not something where they're simply going into this going, I'm just going to throw some gaming machines in here and not worry about it. They're taking all the necessary steps to comply. The the other thing is it's already been reinforced by some of the uh officers and public servants have talked about this. There is no evidence. I've researched on my own. I'm a former prosecutor. I've researched this. I've contact this. There is no evidence to show there's any disruption of what these gaming uh these gaming accessory gamings does. There's no proof of an incident of additional crime. There's no proof of this creating some level of truency because we know children cannot operate these games. But what I want to say is in the limited time that I have is these stores are not these are not the backbone of these stores. These are things that are helping minority businesses supplement their income in these very strange economic times and often underserved areas. And what this does do is provide a means for these stores to maintain employees, maintain staying open. And they are complying, but not simply are they complying, they're investing in the city. They have taken their own money and spent tens of thousands dollars of to comply with this. So again, I'm not here to talk to you about whether I think this is legally possible or not possible, but we are completely against any change to the ordinance. We are here to discuss that. I'm welcome to meet with anyone to discuss this, but these are business owners who want to continue to invest in our city and provide this revenue to the city. Thank you for your time. Thank you. If you would hold on a second, any questions for the gentlemen? It's not like these businesses aren't making a profit though either. I can't speak to each That's a good question. I can't speak to each one of those, but I do know that, as I mentioned, some of these

are underserved areas. And I do know from speaking with all of my clients that simply having these gaming machines is another stream of revenue because what we don't want to do in these times, they don't they don't want to diminish staff or things of that nature. And this simply does provide funds to keep jobs in those stores. So if we were to ban this then would that cause a hardship on these businesses potentially and again sir and it's a very logical question I can't speak to each one but the answer is to some of them it would now whether that mean whether or not that means that those stores would wind up closing because of loss of revenue I don't know that but I know that it would create some hardship because the fact is is that for my clients to spend this much money to comply with the ordinance means that it is a means means by which they can provide revenue into their stores to offset those costs and continue to make money for those stores. I have a question for you because you said um it's mainly in the underserved area. What do you what do you mean by that? All of my clients uh are minorities and primarily their stores are uh in different parts of the city. Some of them are locations that maybe would not be uh enough of an economic uh flourishing to where the store if potentially it had to close that it might be reopened. I just know that from speaking to my clients and I can provide more information next week if necessary sir but it's one of those things to where with the downturn in the economy and that increased sales of course disposable income for people that those games do provide a stream of revenue additional for the stores to maintain uh just the level of being open and with their employees and I I wish that and I know this is not the place for that at the time that you said that the people who are affected by this would have a

chance to speak at at the same time you're saying they're making money at it because I'm assuming they invested that much money because there's a lot of money coming back. I mean it's like I guess Vegas don't don't operate if they're not making money. Well, and that's and that's very logical. But the the thing is is that my clients are generally these aren't like the majority of them these are not 25 year old men. These are older gentlemen that are very savvy business owners. And the fact is simply they're not going to invest that much money into their stores if they did not think it would be something to recoup their cost. But on top of that, they wouldn't do all those steps to comply with the ordinance that was set out with the security cameras with the right to be inspected anytime they're open. Having to change, you know, the visibility is a big thing with this ordinance because with the visibility, what it means is a lot of my clients had to literally change their stores to comply with the ordinance. And like I said, that is often tens of thousands of dollars for them to do that. Okay. Mr. Brick, uh you said something about underserved communities and neighborhoods. How are these machines and these businesses contribute to the neighborhood? What have they done for those neighborhoods? Well, I think with those neighborhoods, and that's a fair question, but I think the point is is with the machines, I don't see, and again, these are not game rooms. Uh I think with those what we're seeing is when you say contribute to the neighborhoods, what it is doing is it is simply creating a business that is staying open and creating a stream of revenue to provide jobs. I mean the fact of the matter is is there are Bowmont has a lot of unskilled laborers and there are people that are able to get these jobs that maybe don't have a specific technical skill that are working at these stores. We want to keep these stores open and some of them more profitable than others. and these gaming machines do create a stream of revenue to help ensure

that you have to forgive me for this, but I I don't understand your your your reasoning here because if if these are in a service station or if it's there on a corner store, they do not have a specific employee that manages four or five machines. Oh, no, they do not. So, so they're not contributing to to the jobs whether those machines are there or not. They still have two people working in the store and these become an instrument of taking money from the neighborhood, putting them in the machine. Well, that's basically all it is. This is a stream of revenue to keep those businesses open. But the other thing is is that individuals who enter those stores for whatever purpose, whether I'm buying a soda, I'm getting gas, uh that is their right to choose whether or not they want to take the time to play those games. But in your previous statement, you said that you don't think that these are going to be detrimental to that business. No, what I said is this is not the backbone of those businesses, but this is part of their revenue stream. It is part of the way that they made a determination to spend that money to comply with the ordinance. No, it's not. And when I said it's not the backbone, they didn't open these businesses with the idea that I'm going to have a gas station so I could have five or fewer games in there. They open these businesses and realize with this ordinance, this is a way to supplement the the gross revenues that are coming into each of those stores. And again, as I keep reiterating with this, these are not game rooms. And a lot of these businesses are familyun. A lot of these are uh corner stores and things of that nature. And the the issue with me is almost like as a lawyer sometimes you go into court and you say I'm you have to make an equitable argument. Something just simply isn't fair. It may not be something where the law says this or that, but it's just

simply not fair. And the fact of the matter is is that I have all of these small business owners that live here, want to live here, are investing in the city, and have spent tens of thousands of dollars to comply with this ordinance. And then out of the blue for when there's no evidence that there's an increase in crime, there's no evidence that there's a disruption. It's it just seems kind of arbitrary that all of a sudden it turns into well we're sorry you spent all this money to comply we're going to repeal the ordinance without any basis to do so. And again, I understand the concerns. You have an extremely competent city attorney and she has spoken eloquently at the city council mean other things describing what is going on legally with these in other cities, but the basis is still Bowmont, Texas, and how did this affect Bumont, Texas? And the fact is is that I have searched on my own. You know, as I often say as a lawyer, I'm not going to go into court and lie for anybody. I'm going to tell the truth. And the truth is there's not a basis to repeal this ordinance. There is no evidence to show how these stores with five or less gaming machines, there's no increase of crime. There's no disruption. These businesses would have spent tens of thousands of dollars to repeal this ordinance is simply arbitrary because there's no evidence to show how it's a detriment other than providing a lot of revenue in taxes to the city. Okay. Uh one one more questions for me. Uh what is the payback on these machines? Do you know? I don't know of all the research. I know it varies, but I don't know that. And again, throw me a number. Is when you say payback, do you mean how much revenue? If if five people go in there and put $5 each, that's 25. How much the stores making? I do not know that. I would have to have I'd have to have one of my clients. Thank you. Go ahead. Have you seen this map? I have not. I have. Take a look at this. Yes. I'll have to get somebody to bring it to me sadly.

Scott, before you look, of your clients, are all of your clients that own these local Bowmont people or how many do you have that are from Houston or other times? Because we've had people come in from other cities that have asked to do this. Could be an exception. And I can't speak because it's several businesses, but the vast majority of them are local. Okay? Um, I cannot tell you if two or three are Houston or not, but I what I can tell you is the vast majority of my clients are from the Bowman area. Obviously, I'm only dealing with a handful of them because I wouldn't have time to deal with Okay, thank you. 30. Okay, that's what I was going to ask. Uh, how many of these businesses do you represent or are you allowed to say? Oh, I could tell you, but I can't tell you the exact number, but it's several. And it's I could have my clients, several of them are here today. Yes. Uh I mean they could stand you know there's there's a group of large group of gentlemen. We were there were about 20 of us present at the city council. Would you ask them to stand? Sure. Let's see. Mr. Sultan, are you here? Question. Let's see. All right. Good. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Uh Mr. Brandy, thank you. Do you have any question? Yeah. I want to go back to the map that I gave. Okay. And and what I'm looking at, those are the 66 permits for the locations. Yes, sir. And I was trying to understand when you were saying that it was a benefit to the community and not not necessar to to the owners, but look like 70% of those locations are east of I 10 and primarily in the south end and the north end. why they don't exist in the other side if they that look at that. I couldn't speak to you, sir. I don't know. I don't know if it's a a cost issue or zoning. I don't know that. I would have to get that information

from my clients, but I just don't know why there the stores aren't in different places. Did you get a chance to look at how they located? I I saw the map. They just handed it to me, but I I would have to get that information from my clients. I don't know the answer to that. Okay. Well, sir, thank you very much. Thank you for the time. Absolutely. Uh, is there anybody else that would like for or against this case? Why don't you raise your hand a little bit higher so I can see it right there. Go ahead. You might want to lower this again. How you doing, sir? Your name 1635 Weston Court. You might want to stand up. And uh thank you. Um, and I want to say that um, I'm speaking about it because for 25 years now, the Examiner newspaper has covered these eight liners. I think one of the first covers uh, that we did going back 25 years ago was about gaming, about the gambling and so on. And what spurred the investigation initially was an African-American pastor from the north side came to visit me and he was very distraught because so many of his clients were coming in. They couldn't pay their light bill or they didn't have groceries. They didn't have anything to carry them to the end of the month and the church was having to help these people. They were they were great people. They were they weren't

criminals. You're not going to find them in the statistics of uh uh police calls to these locations. They were going in because they couldn't afford to go to Delta Downs or Leber or whatever was open at that time. And I think like buying a lottery ticket, which is legal, they were going in and spending five bucks or 10 bucks or 20 bucks or whatever the case may be, hoping to win more. That's why everyone gamles, right? I've been to the casinos. I play blackjack. I always hope that I win. Most of the time I don't. Why do I keep going back? Because there's always the chance. I think that the that Bumont should not have game rooms. I don't think they should have eight liner games in any gas station anywhere in the city of Bowmont. If you want to take a look at somewhere like Rose City right now, which my wife's aunt was the mayor of for several years, they allow $400 gaming machine licenses in the city of Gro Rose City. Wow. They charge $1,000 per license per machine. That's $400,000 in revenue for the city of Rose City. That's significant amount of money. But drive by there, come back. We We came back off vacation. I was driving at 2:30 in the morning and one of the game rooms on the left side of the road just before you hit the bridge, there were 20 or 30 cars there at 2:30 in the morning during the week. They're casinos. The convenience stores know their casinos. They pay them. I've been in line with my ball cap after leaving Home Depot and seen clerks pay out cash money to winners. They know they do this. We know they do this and for the city to allow it to continue, they're being complicit in c criminal behavior

themselves for taxes or for so if you're going to do that then let's tax everything. Let's tax the drug dealers. Let's try tax the prostitutes. Let's let's tax crime. Um and one of the gentlemen here, I'm sorry I can't read your name. I'll just say it's no coincidence they're mostly in the north and the south end. Uh your time's over, but I would make a motion to give you a couple of more minutes. I I really that's I just believe that for us to I told my wife's aunt this. I said allowing this allowing 400 machines is no different than allowing 40. You know what's going on there. You're complicit in criminal behavior by allowing them to happen. And that's what I think the city of Bulmont's going to do if they continue to let this happen. And the game rooms that are grandfa this grandfathered in. There's one on Fourth Street, the owner's been busted. I think the DA, exa here, Cory Krenshaw, new city council member is the one that that busted them. They were able because the location has spe special use permit, a new owner, which I think is an LLC. I don't believe you actually. Now, they may have changed that in 2023. I'm not going to say for sure, but I think a lot of these owners on these applications are LLC's. They're not even individual owners. So, I don't know how you track those, but I know that that game room was closed and within days it was open again with a different owner out of Richmond. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Is there anybody else that would like to speak for or against this case in the back? Thank you. Good afternoon to you. if you'd be kind enough to state your name and address for the record and we'd love to hear from you. My name is Francis Graham and I live at 1761 Reena

Street that's in the Pear Orchard uh south end of town. And I'm speaking against these game rooms whether they're in a store, whether they're just a purity game room, I'm against it. It brings crime. It's um bringing our economy down. It's bringing the look of our neighborhoods down. And so um I'm asking I'm asking, hey, vote against it. We we need them out of our neighborhoods. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Anybody else that would like to speak? Good afternoon, ma'am. How are you doing today? I'm great. How are you? Very well. If you'd be kind enough to state your name and address for the record. My name is Wilma Adelo and I live at 2015 uh No, I live at 20 5275. I just moved 5275 Meadow View Road. All right. Okay. I am against and what I would like to say is that gaming machines and convenience stores disproportionately target workingclass areas creating an environment that often lead to increased crime, gambling, addiction, and economic decline. Studies and reports from other cities show that the expansion of these machines correlates with the rise in illegal activity and predatory practices against vulnerable individuals. By loosening restrictions, we are eroding neighborhood safety, compromising public trust, and prioritizing short-term financial gain over long-term community stability. We must look at the presidents where cities have upheld stricter regulations, keeping crime rates lower, and ensuring convenience stores remain safe spaces for families,

workers, and residents. I hope that you will consider not loosening the regulations that already exist uh to increase more of these uh machines in convenience stores. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Is there anybody else that would like to speak for or against this case? We're going to close the public here. I I'll tell you what, uh, which one of you guys in the audience are the owners, the the real owner of the store? You, sir, up there, would you be willing to make a couple of statements? I'd like to hear from you. You with the glasses, right? Would you state your name and address for the record, please? Yes, sir. A farad uh 7215 Braz. Fantastic. And do you own a store with the machine gaming machine in it? Yes. And how many machines are they in there? Uh five. Five machines. How much do you make off of these machines in a day? Not in a day. Basically, you can say maybe it'll pay off employee. That's it. In a month it'll pay off employee wage. That's about it to be honest with you. So you're not losing anything if these machines aren't there? For me, I have it depends on your store to be honest with you. Like for example, four street uh Savas and all those small stores. Small stores, they don't have revenue to be honest with you. Big stores have like you know the sales are there. They're okay with it. But anything small stores the some of the owners I'm pretty sure nobody wants to but some of the owners are working

themselves because they are barely making taxes have gone up you know last couple years I'll give my example my store $45,000 $50,000 taxes are going up and population is not increasing in Bulmont that is the if it's Houston population go up four or five million you know if some store open stores are opening there's no restriction on it uh I'll give you example maybe in two years in Bulma home on 15 stores have opened next to others. At the end of the day, the cake is same. We are just cutting more pies out of it. All right. Thank you. You Thank you, sir. Okay. I ask one more time. Anybody else that wants to speak for or against this case? None is heard. So, we close the public hearing. We heard from the staff. We heard from the chief of police, the assistant chief of police, the gaming lady, and the fire chief. So with that, uh, I would entertain a motion. We have two choices. Three. Three. Okay. Number one is to, uh, abolish having game rooms in city of Bulmont. Any new ones? The existing ones going to remain? No. No. The the existing ones going to go. Option one would be to remove game rooms from the permitted use table, which would also uh remove them from the city in its entirety. Option two would be to amend the permitted use table to only allow game rooms in industrial zoning districts would only have an impact on new applicants. And then option three would be to do nothing. All right. the uh I asked the gentleman question uh what kind of economical impact they have to to the community. There is nothing to be proven. Uh they don't apparently make any money off of these. So we're not going to hurt a whole bunch of people

losing their livelihood. And uh we how do we do the the options? Do we go down by one by one or just pick one and both? So, someone makes a motion for either option. Okay. So, real quick, I do want to uh add this was advertised as a request to amend section 28.03.023E of the city's code of ordinances to ban gaming sites and gaming machines in order to comply with the Texas Constitution. So, I want we would have to you would have to make a motion on that. If you wanted uh policy option one um or if you wanted two or three, then um you would make the motion to deny this and then I would come back with uh a okay what an item advertised properly to um your request. So, again, I'll just repeat myself. There's uh there's no evidence that we're going to hurt anybody in this room by by uh getting rid of the gaming rooms so they don't make money off of them from what they say. And uh there's neighborhood opposition that they add to the crime and uh all sorts of other stuff. And we all know that this is not putting a whole bunch of money in there just so you get $5 worth of toys. Uh, with that, I would entertain the motion. Motion to deny uh file PZ 20225-150 with policy option one, ban gaming sites and gaming machines within the city limits of Bowmont. Is there a second? I need a clarification which what that was. Oh, hold on. Uh, that's one at a time. Sorry. Go ahead. I need a clarification on uh when you're saying that because were you saying that where it says the history part we have to accept that first before we can go to

one. If you wished to ban the gaming sites you would um you would approve the uh amendment to section uh 28 so on of the city's codes to ban the gaming sites. You would want to approve if you wanted to ban. If you did not want to ban then you would want to deny. Okay. So I need to change my motion to what you wanted approve file PZ 20225-150 ban gaming sites and gaming machines within the city limits of Bmont. Second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor raise your hand. Any in opposition? The AAS have it. Thank you very much. Thank you for putting up with us folks. I know this is kind of complicated, but uh I really appreciate everybody that suffered through it with us. Uh Mr. Mayor, thank you very much for allowing us to be with you, and we look forward to you to send us home. Thank you.