Planning and Zoning Meeting - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the City of Farmers Branch Planning and Zoning Commission. The study session meeting is presently 6.30 p.m. Monday, June 22, 2026. I'd like to begin this evening, as always, by thanking the commissioners for their service. On our study session agenda, first, item A1, discuss regular agenda items, which takes us to item C1, consider approval of the May 11, 2026 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting minutes and take appropriate action. Commissioners, any typos, edits, updates, changes, issues? All right, seeing none, we'll move along to item C2. Consider the request for a detailed site plan approval for a multifamily residential development on an approximately five acre property addressed as 4707 Alpha Road and located within PD 107 Zoning District and take appropriate action. Thank you, Brian.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Commissioners. Brian Campbell, planner with the Planning Division. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to address those now where we can wait till the meeting It's gonna pretty much be the exact same presentation as last time just with that updated information on the multifamily unit count and the parking count Thank you for those updates Brian any questions for staff Go ahead Just just one I've indicated that there was going to be

on street parking on Welch, 10 spaces there, and I'm looking at Welch Road there. It's a really narrow road. Are they gonna do cutouts and take out those trees that are currently along the street there? How are they gonna get parking on Welch?

Yes, if you'll allow me just a second, I will pull up, actually it might be better if I pull up the aerial of the site, if you'll bear with me just a moment. Here we go. So on the parking spaces that are shown on the side plan will be adjacent to the fire lane on the eastern side of the property. But yes, in addition to that, they are proposing 10 additional spaces to run along Welch Road. They will be taking out a few of those existing trees and doing cutouts to put in those parking spaces.

Yeah, I saw that they were planning on removing some of the existing trees, so I just wanted, those are the trees that they're taking out as the ones right along the Welch Road, and that's where the cutout for the parking's going to be.

Yes, sir.

Okay, thank you. No problem.

Additional questions for staff?

Are we requiring that? No, it's not a requirement. The site is already over parked, but it was the applicant's preference that they be able to put in these parking spaces because when PD107 was originally created, that area was intended to be for parking. So.

Sure. Any further questions? All right. Thank you so much, Brian.

You're welcome.

All right. And that takes us to item D1, where we will conduct a public hearing and consider a request to amend PD18 to allow for multifamily and single-family dwelling units on approximately 6.1 acres located at 12150 Medical Parkway and take appropriate action. Thank you, Tara.

Good evening, Commissioners. This evening, we will be presenting having a public hearing for a property located at 121051 Medical Parkway. And basically, the purpose of this application is to remove the age-restricted requirement for the multifamily that exists right now on the site, where they're proposing to build a multifamily market rate straight rate for 301 units.

Mm-hmm.

Thank you for your patience on this. Yes. And just a reminder today is the June 22nd, not the 26th presentation. So just a reminder that that's there, but just to provide background, it's 6.1 acres. Um, right now the property is owned PD 18, which allows for a 200, well allows for up to 306 units for multi-family, but age restricted. Um, also within. That area, there are single-family homes that could be built to the back, about four single-family homes that are attached within the sub-district B and C. But tonight, it will be more emphasis on sub-district B that is requesting to have removed that age-restricted requirement. Here, you will see that the proposed development, as they provided on their site plan conceptual plan, which they will propose to build 301 units that have a mixture of studio, one and two bedrooms, and also have landscaping requirements and proposed parking for 469 parking spots, but that will be included in the parking garage that, as you may know, is existing today. And their building height that they're proposing is about 58 feet, well, round up to 59, whereas in the present PD, it's maximum of 70 feet. at this time right now. And it is located in the regional commercial area of our Farmers Branch Comprehensive Plan 2045, which happens to be inconsistent in that area, although this does align with the framework of the previous PD that was approved back in 2019. And then also, too, I will provide to you on the dais some information. We did receive letters earlier today, about five that are in opposition as well, that we'll share with you as well. I'm available for any questions you may have.

Thank you. Go ahead. So there's an existing parking garage there, correct? Could you just quickly describe the history of how that parking garage came to exist? Okay.

So within 2019, the parking, there was a PD approved for this model of the parking enclosed. From there, the zoning was approved. Then we moved forward to a site plan approval. And with that site plan approval, that's where engineering and public works and such take a look at the building as it proposed. And then they were able to obtain their building permits from that process. And let me go back one step. plotted, and then they obtained their building permit to build that garage. So that's where we are now. Fast forward to history now, my understanding, and I will allow the applicant to elaborate a little bit more on this, that there has been change of owners, and so then we're coming back to revisit this multifamily process, entitlement process.

And on the age restricted, what is the age that it's restricted to currently? What is the minimum age? So it's age restricted. I guess that means senior community.

Yeah, so usually, and I want to, because I don't know exactly the, because it could be 51 or 65, but I will be able to get back to you on that just to make sure that it's the right number.

Thank you. Additional questions for staff?

And you mentioned that there is the ability to build single-family houses along the north end of the property. Is that part of the requirement for that, what was approved?

Yeah, it's part of the existing PD to build that for homes and where this group that's moving forward with this request is also keeping that, not requesting to change that, but that one was not age-restricted. was to allow for a single family, not less than 6,000 square feet of housing or lot size.

Okay.

Additional? Uh-huh.

I just want to make sure I understand the scope of what is before the commission this evening. It's not specifically this 301 unit apartment, correct? Because that's a conceptual plan? It's a conceptual plan. Subject to change?

It could change, but this is basically the concept of if it was approved, if it's approved, this is what they will have is 301 units that they're proposing. And it will have that mixture of studios, one to two bedrooms, whereas the previous PD did not allow for that, and it was just for one and two bedrooms.

But the big basic is right now it would have to be a senior apartment.

Right now, yes, correct.

Which is a tenant-based restriction, not a construction-based restriction.

Not construction.

It could build this exact same unit under current code.

and it would be just age-restricted. It would not be conventional multifamily.

I could live there, but you couldn't, right? Okay. All right, thank you.

Are there any portions to the west side of the property on the hospital facility grounds that are considered private drive that the apartments would not have access to as far as in and out travel?

Right now, you said on the west side of the property? Right now, it would be, to my knowledge, public access that they would be using MIRA or the frontage. to use 16635 on the west side.

So are they, I guess, I mean, they will ultimately use it, but are they allowed to use Medical Parkway to exit?

To my understanding, they would be allowed to use it, but also, too, looking through our site plan process that we go, we go a little bit more into detail with looking at those aspects, just because right now we're looking at the land use to make sure that we allow for the entitlements for them to move forward to use that.

And then to the east side, they have access to that portion of Amsterdam and to the parking lot that connects to Morningstar. Is there a requirement from the fire department or somebody else that they have to have access to Amsterdam and Morningstar, or could this be sort of secluded from the existing neighborhood and property?

With that, so I wouldn't put it on the fire department, and I can't speak for them today because we're just looking at the land use entitlement, and I would have to defer it to the site plan development for them to really dive into it to see what access that there are, but it would also to be of the property owner adjacent to it as well with them coming to an agreement usually if they can use those access.

Okay. The letters of opposition, were those uploaded to the?

No, we just received them, so I have them printed out for you all to read if we take an intermission or a break.

Great. If somebody were to build an age-restricted development, how is that enforced by the city? How do you know who they sell the properties to and that they meet these requirements?

That's a good question. Probably they're renting out, too.

I'm just wondering if there's an enforcement mechanism.

That I would have to do a little bit more research. I would say it would be in good faith, but there could be a mechanism that I'm not aware of that I can take a minute to look through. Sure.

Thank you.

Do you know if we have any other age-restricted properties in Farmer's Branch?

I believe we have one on the west side. in Mercer Crossing.

Okay.

Additional questions for staff?

I was curious, right now, Eunice Street, which goes north, south, right along kind of the western edge, except for that long finger, dead ends just north of the site. Is there any plan for that to be opened up and go through? Is that going to continue to be a dead end, which would prevent apartment traffic from going through that neighborhood directly to their north?

On that one? So in that one, Right now at this time, not knowing, just for trying to move the land use entitlements forward, that was something, again, I would say we defer to the site plan to make sure that it allows for that access, if or not, because maybe there's enough capacity that would move it, be able to move it to the west since they are on 635I.

So basically it's an unknown?

It's an unknown at this time right now.

Okay.

All right, thank you. additional questions yep I have a question for the applicant that's if we can do that now or should we wait till I think we'll defer that until we're actually in the public hearing so we'll stick to just our study session any other questions for study session All right. Seeing none, we will move back to item A2 to discuss agenda items for future planning and zoning commission consideration. Commissioners, any items for that discussion? All right. Well, seeing none, we will conclude our study session meeting at 646, and we'll pick back up with our regular meeting at 7 p.m. Thank you all. Good evening and welcome to the City of Farmers Branch Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. It is presently 7 p.m. Monday, June 22nd, 2026. I'd like to begin this evening by thanking the commissioners for their service. And then we'll proceed to citizen comments. This agenda item provides an opportunity for citizens to address the planning and zoning commission on any matter that is not posted on the agenda. Anyone wishing to address the commission should complete a citizen's comments registration form and submit it to the chair prior to the start of the meeting. There is a three-minute time limit for each citizen to speak with a reasonable limitation on speakers on any one topic or item with a maximum of 15 total minutes on the same topic item. Anyone missing to speak shall be courteous and cordial. The Planning and Zoning Commission is not permitted to take action on any subject raised by a speaker during citizen comments. When called, please approach the podium and state your name and address prior to beginning. And I believe I have a number of forms here, but none of them appear to be for citizen comments as they all have an item on the agenda. Just confirming, okay. We'll then proceed to our regular agenda items. Item C1, consider approval of the May 11th, 2026 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting minutes and take appropriate action. Commissioners?

I move we approve the minutes as presented.

Thank you.

I'll second.

Seconded. Any further discussion on the item? All right. Then we will move to a vote. All those in favor? Approving the minutes. And any abstentions? Thank you kindly. Next up, item C2, consider request for a detailed site plan approval for a multifamily residential development on approximately five acre property addressed as 4707 Alpha Road and located within PD 107 zoning district and take appropriate action. Thank you, Brian.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Commissioners. Okay, I guess I am up first. All right, well, thank you again. It's always a privilege and a pleasure to be presenting before you. I'm Brian Campbell, planner with the Planning Division, here to present you tonight on the detailed site plan for 4707 Alpha Road. So this is the subject property. It is zoned Plan Development District Number 107. This is a detailed site plan request for multifamily development. I did bring this case before you at the May 11th meeting. However, as you saw, the applicant had different multifamily unit count and parking space count information that was different from what I had presented. So just for transparency before we move this along to City Council, we're bringing this back to you with that updated information. So again, the applicant inspires engineering and surveying. They are proposing a 391-unit multifamily residential development, which will be split between 261 bedroom units and 131 two-bedroom units. Amenities will include a pool with a courtyard area for each of those buildings, a club and amenity space, an outdoor seating area with an art installation, and a dog park. And regarding parking, the residential buildings will be wrapped around a seven-story parking garage, which will feature 646 spaces, with an additional 10 on-street spaces for a grand total of 656. Now regarding landscaping, as you can see, the property will feature enhanced landscaping throughout. Of the 36 existing trees, 24 of those will be kept. And then I just wanted to point out a couple of other minor modifications that were done to the plans versus last time. And so the six foot wide trail that will run along here along Welch Road, now you can see it'll run the gamut of Welch Road all the way up to that northern property line. It was a little bit cut off before. And then for the other 10 foot wide trail that will run along Alpha Road, now aligns with that existing ADA ramp that we have here at the southwest corner. And I'll just quickly point out again the locations of the amenities. So we have the outdoor plaza area here at the southwest corner, our two pool and courtyard areas here, and the dog park up here in the northeast corner. Some turning to building design and articulation. All the facades will feature a variety of materials. Each facade will feature a variety of those materials in order to enhance architectural aesthetics. The buildings will be pulled up to the street along both Welch and Alpha Road to encourage walkability. At this time, the applicant is not proposing any signage. Any signage that is proposed will have to meet the requirements of PD 107 and receive approval of any proper permitting. So now turning to the discussion of the multifamily development policy, which I'll just quickly summarize. And so this policy was approved via Ordinance Number 3715 back in November of 2021 in order to put forth guidelines to help ensure quality multifamily development. within the city. So with this detailed site plan, we wanted to evaluate the final iteration of this package against the policy. And so out of the 15 criteria that were evaluated, we had one instance in which policy was being exceeded, nine in which the policy was being met, four in which the policy was partially being met, and then one in which the policy was not being met. So as you can see, with the majority of these criteria, the policy was being met at some level, which is exactly what we want to see. So now turning to the recommendations of the Farmers Branch 2045 plan. So the plan designates the subject property and the surrounding area as mixed use. With this land use designation, the plan does recommend a series of cohesive districts, with these districts featuring a healthy mix of the recommended land use types, which do include medium to high density residential, office, commercial, light industrial, small manufacturing, civic parks, and open space. And so given that the applicant is proposing a high density residential development, it is in line with the plan. And as I pointed out in my staff report, although we don't have any other existing multifamily developments in the area at the present, we do have several properties within the vicinity that are entitled for this use. So in addition to this development, we can have several other multifamily developments come online in this area in the future. And also, there is a lack of those compatible retail and commercial uses that potential future tenants might be expecting. However, with the potential density that we could get from these future multifamily developments, there is the potential also for those retail and commercial uses to locate here as well, thus creating that cohesive district that the plan recommends. And so as I said last time, I say all that to say that even with our day-to-day development cases, while we planners evaluate how our proposed development will affect what's on the ground in the present. We also do the same in the future, and that's where our Farmers Branch 2045 plan really comes in handy. And with that, that does conclude my presentation. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to take those. And we do have the applicant here with us as well, should you have any questions for them. Otherwise, as always, I thank you for your time. Thank you.

Thank you, Brian. Commissioners, questions for staff, firstly. Yeah, go ahead, Pat.

On your list where you showed the breakdown of the policies that were met, not met, can you tell us which policy was not met?

Yes, I can. If you'll bear with me just a moment, I do have a copy of my staff report. It was the one regarding mixed use because this isn't a mixed use development.

Thank you. Further questions for staff?

Yeah, just on that one. So there was in the past sort of a desire for mixed use, but hasn't it sort of been a trend lately where there's a lot less of that happening? Trying to support businesses on the first floor, it seems like that has not been coming forward very much lately, and the whole mixed use is less prevalent. Would you say that that is accurate?

Yes, I would say in my estimation it's dictated by the market.

and that there's just a less tendency for that to be shown viable. I mean, we've had some that just didn't work out, and so it may be not meeting policy, but it still might make sense.

Absolutely.

Thank you. Sure.

Any further questions? All right, do we have any questions for the applicant? Do we need to speak to the applicant again?

I mean, I just remember from last time that it seemed like it was an upscale development, had some very good amenities, had some public spaces, dog park. I mean, it just seemed like it was being almost overbuilt. Not overbuilt, but it was a very strong and upscale. And I see the applicant behind you. So maybe if you could just summarize again the character of this development, it would be great.

Thank you. And just state your name, address for the record.

Glad to do that. David Bond with Spires Engineering, 501 George Bush Highway in Richardson, 75080. Yeah, I mean, it's a class A market rate product. Speaking to the retail, that was something we worked with staff on and made an effort to give some retail appearance and activate the hard corner there with our amenity center, the open park region, activating the streetscapes and things like that. But it doesn't have an actual retail component there. It's bringing a lot of density to the area, and we're excited about the project. So I'm happy to have something that looks so unique and that we'll be proud of. Our client only builds Type A and Class A developments, and so that's what we're excited to bring to Farmer's Branch here. And thank you guys for hearing us a second time through. Apologies on my end on getting the data correct, but came back through and had that in there properly for you all. So thank you.

Thank you, and I appreciate the trail connections as well. Anything further for the applicant?

I have a quick question. Is it usual to have the parking garage extend two stories above where the housing ends?

It is. That happens fairly often where it doesn't exactly equate one plate of cars per plate of units. And so that's kind of what's happened here. I think the initial effort, we had a four-story building some years ago and come back with the density. That was four with a five-level garage. We're also competing with an environmental element here where we're not able to go down like you'd see in a lot of levels. So we don't have the ability to go subsurface in this location, and we're coming up with that where you might see a floor, floor and a half or two below grade in other locations. Thank you.

Thanks.

All right. Anything else further for our applicant, for staff? All right. With that, I will entertain a motion.

This is a public hearing, correct?

This one is not. This is not. Detailed site plan. Okay.

I'll make a motion to recommend approval as presented.

Thank you. I'll second. Thank you. Any further discussion on the item? Seeing none, we'll move to a vote. All those in favor to recommend approval as presented? All right. And with that, it goes to City Council.

Yes, this will go to City Council on July 21st.

21st. Thank you so much.

Thank you all, Commissioners. Thank you.

All right. Up next, we'll have our public hearing. Item D1, conduct a public hearing and consider a request to amend Plan Development District 18 to allow for multifamily and single-family dwelling units on approximately 6.1 acres located at 12150 Medical Parkway and take appropriate action. Thank you, Tara.

Okay, good evening, Commissioners. I will be presenting this evening case 267A-05, which is located at 12150 Medical Parkway. And just to begin, the property is approximately 6.11 acres, 6.1 acres, and is currently zoned PD, which allows for multifamily units, but only when they serve as an independent senior living, age restricted at 55. The request before you is an amendment to PD 18 that would permit general multifamily dwellings in sub-district B. Just to provide a little background on what the applicant is proposing, they are proposing a residential community consisting of 301 units, including a mix of studio, one bedrooms, two bedrooms, and the building would reach a maximum height of 58 feet. and it incorporates over 35,000 square feet of landscaping. And also parking will be increased to 469 parking spaces, but will also include the existing garage that is on site as today. With that, we evaluated this project against the Farmers Branch 2045 Comprehensive Plan, which it does designate this area as regional commercial. and which recommends large footprint commercial development and such. However, this proposal is not consistent with the designation, but it does meet the framework of the PD that exists today, just with increase of units, but removing that age-restricted requirement Staff sent notices to the site around 200 feet, 300 feet as well, too, which was 94 notices that were mailed out. A sign was posted on the site, and today, via email, we have received five responses in opposition of this project, which you do have on your dais that we provided to you. This concludes staff's presentation. If you have any questions for us, we are available to answer the questions. The applicant is also here to present this item as well too, so they're available.

Great, thank you. Firstly, any items for staff? No, I think we'd like to hear from the applicant if possible. And if you wouldn't mind, just state your name and address. for the record.

Hashim Damlaj, I'm from Houston, 5538 Navarro Street.

Thank you. Hello, Eli Haj, 4907 Pearland.

Thank you. And we'd love, it looks like you have a presentation, so we'd love to hear that if you don't mind, and then I believe we may have some questions for you.

Sure. Good evening, Chairman and Commission. I'm Elie Hajj representing the applicant from MUSE at Medical Parkway 12150 Parkway North and PD18 Subdistrict B. Our request tonight is a single amendment to the Subdistrict B permitted use to allow multifamily dwelling without an age restriction. As a quick roadmap, we'll begin with an overview of who we are, the project vision, the zoning amendment request, its alignment with the comprehensive plan 2045 for the City of Farms branch. Finally, we'll present the building design, highlighting the floor plans, exterior materials, and finishes. We're CIVE, AEC firm. We will be providing the architecture, engineering, and MEP for this project. Our objective for this is to align with the city's vision, 2045 plan, by creating a vibrant, diverse, and sustainable development that enhances the community and supports long-term growth. MUSE is a Class A development designed to be calm, curated, and connected. The architecture wraps the existing parking structure with residential units and amenities. The building is designed to fit within the corridor context with a contemporary architecture expression, pedestrian-friendly connections, and strong integration with the surrounding neighborhood. The site is very well connected with direct frontage on the LBJ Freeway, service road, and established corridor for multifamily. Surrounding context support, residential use, temple, trail park, and creek ridge park for open space. This is a very well-served infill site within the reach of jobs and schools and parks. This is like a zoning summary comparison between what's permitted by right and what we are asking the commission today. So currently PD 18 allows multifamily residential development only when it's restricted to independent senior living. for age 55 and older. The only request today before the commission today is to remove that age restriction. No other changes are being requested to the development standard. Density limits and bark regulation are still as is. We're providing approximately 35,000 square feet of landscape area, which exceeds the city requirements for landscape, which equal to 20%, exceeding required the 15 minimum percent requirement. Under the PD18, the maximum unit cap is 306. We are under the cap, 301 units. In terms of density, the projects contain 49 units. The project is controlled under the PD18, not under the multifamily density. The building height is five storey approximately, 60 feet, which is still under the 70 feet bulk requirement in the PD18. The project is within all required setback standard, providing 30 feet along LBJ freeway and 10 feet along medical... Medical Parkway North. Parking requirements are fully met with 469 parking spaces provided compared to the 450 spaces required by the city. This is the comparison table, the multifamily development policy, ordinance 3715. Our design also aligns with the city multifamily development policy across major categories on site and context, the building front, the building street, parking is structured, and the density and forms suit the corridor. On parking and ground, the existing garage is wrapped by residential units and amenities. The project provides 469 spaces against 450 required with only 34 surface parking stalls. Sidewalk connected to the building amenities, parking to the public right of way and trash services area are enclosed as per the multifamily development policy. On building design, the project meets the policy on material modulation. Windows entrances and lighting. We are providing multiple exterior cladding like masonry as a major cladding because this is a Class A building. Modulation at all four elevations with coordinated color and material changes. And a repeating distinctive window pattern that complements the modulation. Ground level entrances defined by recessed entries and canopies. And we're gonna provide a photometric study during permitting. Here we prepared how our project permitted use is aligned with the comprehensive plan 2045. On page 29, vision statement, in 20 years Farmers Branch will be a welcoming, diverse, and evolving city that has everything our resident needs. On page 30, housing options for all. Housing options for all, including those who work here, want to age here, and want their children to be able to stay here. Page 33 of the comprehensive plan, influence on housing diversity. The city will pursue preservation and production of housing that meet the needs of people of different ages, economic means, and household types. Also, the city sees that the multifamily projects increase the tax base. On page 41, the influx of multifamily apartment projects are an indicator of city economic strength and are beneficial for a tax base perspective in that they increase the tax base with largely making use of the city existing infrastructure. Under the comprehensive plan future land use strategy, so the strategy is to integrate workforce housing by promoting and support the integration of workforce housing and integral components of neighborhood and mixed use district. Increase wider range of housing type. Increase allowable residential densities to support a wider range of housing type where feasible in residential district. Also, incorporate missing middle housing multifamily areas of the community with medium to high density housing. The comprehensive plan concludes with what residents ask for and what they need for their city. Multifamily quality, multifamilies, condos, townhomes is moderately priced and affordable for people like teachers, firefighters, and other city workers, which align with the age we're asking for. This is, in general, our building summary. We're providing around 59 studios, one bedroom 187, and two bedrooms 301. The new construction is about 64,000 footprint, trapping the existing 26,000 square feet garage. The site plan retains the dock park and open space, preserve the future single family lots along Mira Lane to the north, and keeps all vehicular access of the LJ frontage. The renders show how the building reads from the street, a brick masonry base, varied roof lines and recessed balconies. This is the level one, active ground. Plan organizes units around the central amenity courtyard and pool. This is like a typical floor plan, level two, continues around the two courtyard, drawing natural light and cross ventilation. The primary facade material is textured brick with fiber cement panels in beige and gray and stucco. All four elevations are modulated according to the multifamily policy with stepped planes and coordinated material changes and the windows carry a consistent rhythm across each facade. Next, on the west elevation, to align with the multifamily policy, we created an articulated entrance with a recessed entry and canopy. The amenity floor sits at the ground floor, organized around the central courtyard for seamless arrival and resident experience, including a social hub, a conference room, a VIP room, acoustically controlled silent workpots, a fitness center, and grab-and-go. This is the main entrance of the building. It includes 1,200 square feet entrance hall with attended reception, open light filled space combining reception lounge and waiting area. This is the clubhouse opening into the pool. Also, we have a VIP lounge to retain professional residents. The dedicated workforce the city plans seeks to bring to Farmers Branch. The unit types range from efficient, one studio, two bedroom, plus 10 layout, finished with luxury vinyl flooring, quartz countertop, and patent cabinetry. A consistent rate, the quality level throughout. So to summarize, the projects complies with every items in the PD18. The only amendment we're asking for is the rezoning for the permitted use. And we request that the commission recommend approval. Thank you.

Thank you for your presentation. Commissioners, questions for our applicant? Go ahead.

Yeah, I mean, the crux of this issue is the age restriction. So I guess in your words, or I don't know if it's a market pressure or whatever it may be, what necessitates us lifting the 55 plus age restriction for this project?

If I may answer this, this is an existing project that was permitted already by the city for a 250 unit apartment complex for seniors and up. But the economical situation that we have right now, it makes this project not feasible. I mean, we are part of a lot of people who suffered during that project. We were the original general contractor on this project, and then we know what happened. The previous owner filed for bankruptcy. We went through hardship, and then we managed to at the end to raise capital and buy this project so we can continue and then recoup our money and then remove this eyesore from the city. But for this to make sense, age restriction has to be lifted so we can be for open market.

And then I know this is not a detailed site plan, but is there a necessity for this for access to this building to be connected to Morningstar and to Amsterdam on the east side of the property?

Amsterdam is an abandoned street. Under ordinance 1408. And then we have our, if you go to the main site plan, the main entrance is near LBJ. So this is the main entrance to the site. And then we have our shared access through Medical Parkway North to the west side of the property on Chapel, what is it called?

Webb Chapel.

Yeah, Webb Chapel. Webb Chapel. And then yes, we are connected to also Myra Park, Myra Lane on this side of the property, on the east side.

Go ahead. I think that's key. Myra Lane is in the residential neighborhood just north of there and reading some of the comments, some residents are concerned about traffic going through that neighborhood from the apartment So right now, it appears that Myra goes parallel east-west to this project, and Eunice north-south dead ends just 50 feet from the project. So are you saying Eunice will be cut through and connect Medical Parkway to Myra, or how will this connect to Myra?

First of all, I would like to state that we're not changing any of the access that the original site had before and what was permitted to build. So all the accesses are still the same, and I believe we have to go back to the city reviewers and fire marshal, and probably that was a requirement for fire truck access. But the main access for residents, it makes more sense for people to access through LBJ. All the other accesses, actually, all accesses to the site remain the same. We did not change those. Now, to Eunice, I don't know how that... I mean, we're far from Eunice. We're not connecting to it. Right, Ali? Yeah.

But you said you would connect to Myra.

Myra. Yeah, there's one connection to Myra right there.

Sorry, can you... Where exactly?

I think it's here. It's not built yet.

Yeah. Ah, okay. So that driveway on the east side is going to go east of that open space and connect to Myra? Is that what you're saying?

I'm saying on the northeast corner of the property, there is access to Myra there. that connects Myra Lane to .

And there is a recorded easement on this area.

And that was on the original permit set of the planes. But we were building that, but maybe it's not existing because it was not built. We didn't get that far.

OK, thank you. Further questions? I've got a question. I want to tag along with what he just was talking about. I'm very familiar with that area. And one of the things that popped out immediately was the ingress and egress getting not only just getting out of the property, but you have... the intersection at Webb Chapel and the LBJ service road. And anybody going north, like for example, going up to Janie Stark Elementary or anywhere else in Farmer's Branch, going north through there, there's going to be a jam up at the LBJ Webb Chapel lights. And then with kids going to school, with people on their usual way of getting up there, Now there's going to be a huge additional number of vehicles and people going to and from your facility. And that's going to be a lot of people. There's going to be a lot of jammed up traffic, for one thing. But there's no way to ameliorate any of that, getting from LBJ past Myra and into Farmer's Branch. It seems like you've just kind of got a code that traffic is going to have a hard time getting into twice a day. And do you have any way of either getting good egress or up Web Chapel so that people can get to and from places. And the other issue that I saw is that as tall as the building is, the light going from there over past Miro where the residents are going to be seeing some ambient light now. And it's not going to be just completely dark on the other side. I live on the east side, on the part of Farmer's Branch off of Varsh, and we see everything from Vitruvian. And everybody who's back or front of their houses face Vitruvian, they have a light show every night. So that boils down to quality of life.

Okay, so the way I see this, it basically adds a buffer between the residential dwellings on the north side and the freeway, so it's kind of like a buffer for noise, pollution, and then also... The building height that is allowed in the current zoning right now is 70 feet, right? And then we are at 58 feet. So we are below what is allowed. Regarding the light, I cannot speak to that.

We can provide a photometric study and make sure it doesn't exceed the one foot candles around the property line.

Further questions?

I understand you got kind of left with it from the existing owner. Does your company currently, own or operate any multi-family or senior living centers, or do you just build and sell to another?

We have partners, and our partners, they also develop, operate, and I mean, we're new to this. We're general contractors. We're an ADC company, Architectural Engineering Construction. We got into this because we were the original builder on this project.

And so you've built both single or senior living and traditional. Yeah, we've been in business for 23 years. We built so many multifamily, student housing, senior livings. When you originally were designing the use for the senior living, was a traffic study done for this? We were not the original designer on this project. We were just a general contractor. Okay. Does staff know if a traffic study was done for this development?

I'm doing my review on this one because of the adjacency to 635.

I did not see one that was attached to this document, but that could be on my own doing, finding that document. But at this time, we're moving forward for the site plan. If it comes about that the applicant needs to provide that, that would be requested.

Where I'm going with this, we're changing the potential occupancy from a senior living to traditional multifamily that is open. I'm just curious if there would be a traffic study difference in the use of the streets from a traditional multifamily to a senior living facility.

Yes. What I would have to do, because I would have to defer to our traffic engineer, which just talking generally, there was not a traffic study needed at this time, but to move forward to the site plan where there's more details to be provided, then it can be investigated fully.

So in order to get that, we would have to make a decision? You would have to make a recommendation on the entitlements this evening.

Further questions? Yeah. So just a general concern from citizens on Myra Lane, and I know you referred to the fact that there's already something on the books, but I don't think that really matters so much. So if you could just step back from it and address their concerns. Why wouldn't this cause extra traffic and issues, especially on Myra Lane? Not on the 635 side, I don't think anybody's really concerned about that, but maybe just talk us through why shouldn't that be a concern?

Absolutely. First of all, the entrance and exit of the garage is on the medical parkway north on the east side of the property. So it's far from that minor lane. And then the access, what makes sense access and egress of this property is through the medical parkway north, whether going to Webb Chapel or going to the I-35. the entrance from Myra Lane, that is for fire lane access. So we could have a gate there. with a Knox box just for the firefighters for access. That's an easy solution.

And we're providing a public open space as well. This will be dedicated for the public, so for easy access and the connectivity as per the policy for the multifamily, it has to be connected with the environment and has to be integrated with the city. So these are the major reasons.

I mean, I think that's important information. I didn't really understand that MIRA could be a restricted access. And you're saying, again, you said the parking garage will be on the medical city side. Yes. Medical parkway side.

And it's connected to the minor arterial, and from minor arterial connects to the major arterial, which is the highway. And it makes more sense to be able to accommodate this type of traffic.

Right. Okay, thank you.

All right. Thank you. Further questions?

This is not so much a question as maybe just a suggestion. The gated access to MIRA seems like a very good idea and, if possible, could be considered for the Morningstar portion as well because I think that's where you're going to hear the most. concern about traffic. There's three roads that run parallel to MIRA, including two signalized intersections as far as exits from this facility. So I think the redundancy there, you're not going to see as much traffic on MIRA as you may suspect. But if people have to go east leaving this facility, they basically have Morning Star or Ridge Oak, unless they're getting on Valley View, and then they're on Templeton. So Those are slightly smaller streets. You know, there's restrictions in traffic flow with the school. So I think that would alleviate a lot of people's concerns. Thank you.

Additional questions for our applicant?

So could that be a stipulation? What would that stipulation be in the approval?

I would defer to counsel, but I think that probably comes up in the detailed site plan, correct? Not the zoning amendment? Yeah, that's correct.

Additional questions for our applicant?

Well, thank you, gentlemen, for your time.

All right. And a reminder that this is a public hearing. We do have a number of folks scheduled to speak. I'm just going to call these out in the order received. So and I will do my best with everyone's names, please. A modicum of grace. So first up, Mr. David Koch. And just a reminder for everyone, as stated before, it'll be three minutes.

David Koch, 3243 Brundcrest Drive. I am about 325 feet from this property. My simple ask is going to be to deny this request or, at the very least, slow this process way down. What I heard tonight is vastly different than what we heard when PD 18 was finally put together and approved. And that was a long process where the neighbors The entire neighborhood got involved in the process and worked with PNZ and the city to make sure that all our issues were resolved. The biggest one I heard tonight so far is the access to Myra and Morning Star. That was a massive issue for us back then. And I'll tell you, there is no access, never has been any access to MIRA from this property. There is no access, never has been any access to Morning Star. If you go to Morning Star, you've got to go through the church property and the German school property. There is no road that comes here. MIRA is not accessible. What was discussed before and what was agreed upon was emergency access only to MIRA. There was no access on Eunice. That ends at the culvert. But there was zero access into the neighborhood for many good reasons, not the least of which is you've already got a neighborhood that's busy. You've got streets that are small. Myra is a small street with a lot of cars on it. You've got the school that creates its own problems. You've got actually two schools and a church. So there was no access. And that was worked out with the neighbors. And it took a long process. And I'd like to make sure that you say no, or you make sure that we get involved and we get to make sure that our interests are protected. Because I'm hoping that's what you guys are looking at, is to protect the neighbors. Because we have the vested interest there. I've been here 65 years. I was born and raised in Farmer's Branch, grew up on the same street I'm on now. And so I have a very vested interest. keep in mind these guys have been in this project a long time they bought this property willingly full knowledge of the restrictions they haven't given us a good reason for it why they went ahead and spent the money with this restriction. I doubt seriously you would drop millions of dollars on property if you think you can't make it work without going and getting some kind of concession. So I don't think that's a legitimate excuse. I think they knew what the restrictions were. They knew that they could make it work, but they'd like to come back. I would like to say that Farmers Branch does indeed need senior living. We are short on senior living. We have a single senior center in the whole city. So we need it. And this was what the citizens agreed on. It was a long process. And there was a lot of give and take. And one of the things was that the age restriction wasn't a perfect thing because it also helped slow down the amount of traffic because seniors just don't get out as much. So my request is you say no. But if you do, at least let it go forward. Slow the process down. Go back and look at the prior plan and look at the history, because there is a whole lot of information out there that would be very helpful, very educational. And unfortunately, staff didn't have it tonight. Y'all need to have that. So please, slow it down. Get that information.

Thank you.

Thanks.

All right. Next up. Thank you. Next up, Robert Burke, I believe. Forgive me on the handwriting as well, y'all.

It's not that great.

Robert Burke, 1225 Brisbane Avenue. I think Mr. Koch said everything as well as we could. I would like to, instead of making a statement, point out a question. We've talked a lot about Myra. We've talked a lot about Morningstar. Could we... Is the Amsterdam road entry point, is that also under consideration for that to be capped under emergency use only? Because that Amsterdam road entry point right next to the community garden that everybody takes part in has another road that goes straight into it that connects into Myra. Myra, Eunice's, as everyone has stated, capped, blocked off. I would just like to know what the proposal is in relation to Amsterdam Road, and then also the need for us to even have the road on the side there connected to Amsterdam. That would be my question for y'all, thank you.

Thank you. Up next, William Glancy.

Okay, I'm Bill Glancy. I live at 3808 Wooded Creek Drive in Farmer's Branch. Board members, I was a mayor here back in 2011-12, whenever it was, and again another short time. And the biggest thing I kept hearing people pound on me about was build senior housing for our seniors and farmers branch. And I kept hitting that and I finally really went out and we came up with a really nice project here for this property that was a progressive senior center and input from all the people around that lived around it and all that to develop a center that these people could move to. The second thing we were trying to do was try to help our hospital because it was gonna be there. There's a story or two in the hospital, it's not even used. It was gonna be a nursing care facility there because it was a whole part of a plan of our people being able to vacate their homes and stay here in the city. You know, they kept beating on me, and I said, well, this place, well, it's not in Farmer's Branch, and I want to stay here in this city. And so we came up with a plan, which actually was included a lot more than this. We were going to take the garden, we were going to move the garden on top of the gas line. There's a 50-foot gas line there. Atmos was going to let us move it over there, utilize that property, and it was going to be a progressive center. And I kept getting hammered about it. Even when I went back in and filled in, I got hammered again. And I got calls today to me to get down here and fight this issue to preserve a place for our seniors to have residence in the city. And I think we need to follow that. And I'll be glad to work with these guys. We had great plans. It was really a lot nicer project than this is. And it was much more amenable to the neighborhood. in working out the whole program. And I think we really need to step back on this and taking any age restriction off of it is just strictly out of the question. I don't think the people are gonna want that. You know, I live in Wooded Creek. I go out the door every day and I see Vitruvian in my face. Now that's Addison and I can't do much about that. But these residents don't want to have that kind of a thing fastened there. You start there, what happens to the school property if it vacates, another apartment complex, and I don't think that's what our citizens are wanting in this city. And I've been around a long time, guys, and I kind of know what they're doing. A couple years ago, they came talking to us about a card room. I told them at the time, I said, you're going to have a better chance getting a card room on the plaza at the Vatican than you are in Farmer's Branch. I know how these people think here, and I think we need to step back and look at this thing and try to do it as a senior. Thank you.

Thank you. Jessica Knowles.

I'm Jessica Knowles. I live at 12322 Amsterdam Road, so at the very corner where I can look down and see the monstrosity that's there. I would like to see something done. I would like to see something done that would be beneficial to the elementaries because I have a two-year-old. And last year I felt safe at 3 a.m. to put my child in a stroller and walk around in our neighborhood. With apartments being moved in that are not age-restricted, I feel like crime is going to move in. because I know a lot of Parker students who are over at the Luna areas. And unfortunately, they're having to move out because people are being shot. There are cars being left on jacks with their wheels being stolen. And then this is going to be connected to Myra, which is just down the street from my two-year-old child. I'm sorry, I just cannot accept that. We have two elementaries, plenty of children. It would be great to have a senior center so that the children can go sing and practice and bring joy to these seniors. It would be great to have a place where seniors and children can work together to have some joy. I would be fine with that. I just can't see people moving in and out, in and out, in and out, not knowing who they are when all of us have gotten to know each other as neighbors. We have our October sit and enjoy each other night out, the national night out, and we know each other. We know each other's children. We don't want to see a bunch of people that may or may not have families. These are really beautiful pictures, and teachers and firefighters sound great, but we can't guarantee that's who's coming into these apartments. That's all I have. Thank you for your time. Have a great day.

Thank you. Up next, we'll hear Claire Connolly.

I'm Claire Connolly, I live at 3612 Courtdale in Farmers Branch. I'm very familiar with the area. I went to Chapel Hill 55 years. I know the area well. I want to thank the men for this project. I'm impressed. The project that we see is wonderful, but I think it's not wonderful for what we need. And I hope that you will take that into consideration. I feel for all the young families, I understand, and there are lots of the streets These gentlemen don't know what talking about these narrow streets is all about. We know. So many of our residential streets are too narrow. Even if there's a fire truck, no cars can go by. So there are a lot of things to think about. I would love to see something for seniors, but on a much smarter scale. I think this is grand, but perhaps too grand for what we need. Thank you.

Thank you. Up next, David Rogers.

Thank you. My name is David Rogers. I'm at 12239 Brisbane Avenue for 24 years. Yeah, to echo the woman who just spoke, these are pretty pictures. I'm an architect actually, so I'm impressed. This is a nice presentation. We can see that some thought has been put into this, but I've also visited the CIEVE website and I encourage you all to do the same. I think the website kind of overstates the multifamily experience that they have and really no experience developing or building Class A projects. So that's a concern I have. It's easy to draw things that look beautiful, but I'm not sure the execution is going to be there. I will also echo what Mr. Koch said about how this property was developed initially. And, of course, now we're being told that it's not feasible to do a senior living center. Well, can that be demonstrated? I don't know if P&Z has... has a mechanism to ask for that but you know that they're basing their change of use on on economics that are important to their company. Well, how can that be demonstrated is my question. You know, if there was going to be an access to Myra, I would very much be in favor of making that controlled access, limited access gate. I love the sound of the Knox box, you know, access only. You know, this Amsterdam road is being labeled here. It's I don't even know if that exists in terms of a right-of-way. I suppose it does, maybe. I would love to see an exhibit that shows the way it's currently zoned and the way it's currently surveyed to be that right-of-way. Also with Morningstar, is there a right-of-way that's that's actually dedicated there. Don't even know. It'd be good to see a little bit more background. So I would echo Mr. Koch's request to slow the process down so that more study can be presented or available to the neighbors, of which I am one. So thank you for your time.

Thank you. Up next, Price Trazen.

Hello, Price Chosen, 2711 Mount View. I live just up the street a little bit, just north of Farmer's Branch Lane off Tom Field. I ride my bike around this area all the time. This is an area that is Very pleasant for bike rides. And I really understand the concerns of the neighbors about the streets. These streets are not made for a lot of traffic. I am a huge proponent of density. I think Farmers Branch could really use more density. That's why when I saw the project for Alpha Road, I thought that's fantastic. That's a nice wide road. has a lot of areas, different large streets to go in. After listening to the neighbors' concerns, I initially was thinking, well, let's take a look at this and see what they're proposing and everything, because again, You know, we need more people in Farmer's Branch to look to keep our tax rate good without raising everybody's taxes. However, listening to the neighbors, I do know that the one big issue is light pollution. Light pollution is something that I didn't see addressed in the presentation. It's something where the neighbors will be inundated with lighting coming in. There was no... Myra's side light amelioration presented. There's no parking lot. I did see the parking lots, the lights are facing downward to prevent some light pollution, but angle-wise, we need to make sure that light pollution is understood and that the residents' needs are met there. I do think that Something should go there, something dense, possibly not so high, something, maybe some smaller units. Again, age 55 and up is fine. I would qualify for that now. So, you know, it's something that I could take advantage of maybe someday. But you want to... The more... Once again, density, you want people to be able to move somewhere and increase housing for people in the city just to give us some tax relief and to have more choices for people. The more housing you have, the more stabilized your housing prices are. This one, I've changed my mind a little bit on this one because I thought, wow, 300 units, that's really great. It's blocking the highway, there's some noise amelioration, but with the plan that I'm seeing there, It's just way too much. MIRA is no way can handle that. I'm on my bike on MIRA all the time. There's no way that MIRA can handle that traffic if it's not emergency vehicle only and like the general lady said previously, there's no, it's really tough even for a fire truck to get through. But I do encourage more dense housing, more on alpha perhaps, but I don't know if this is the right project for here. Thank you.

Thank you. Up next, Yadira Serda? Apologies if I didn't get that right.

Yadira Serda, 3205 Damascus Way. So I grew up in Farmer's Branch. I used to walk home from school. I settled down here with my kids. My husband's also here with me. I am literally probably about 301 feet from this plan that they have. Did not receive any notice. It's literally in my backyard. I do not feel like it is the best way to go about this. I agree with all the other remarks that have been said. 55 plus is probably the best way to go. It is a really large unit, 300 units. How do they plan to move people in here? At some point, are they even considering Section 8 housing? Is that something that has anybody brought up? It is a really big unit. I have two small children that we walk that area pretty regularly. I feel safe. I don't think this is the way to go. I was very upset that I did not get a notice, especially being on Damascus Way. Myra, I don't think would be able to handle the traffic. It would go back to Damascus, which we probably cannot handle the traffic either. And yeah, I'm just totally opposed to it. I think the 55 year age restriction is probably the best way to go. My parents still live in Farmer's Branch, which is the reason why I moved back. I have other family here too. And it's not something that I would feel my having my kids around, I don't think it would be safe. Also for the school, like if it's 300 units, how is that gonna impact the school system? Are they gonna be able to accept all those kids, let's say half of them? Things that we have to consider. I feel like I'm forgetting something. I know most of the residents that live on Myra in Damascus and the surrounding areas probably are Spanish speaking. And they're probably not being representative today because they probably don't even know this is going on. Just like I didn't know until I just casually happened to read up on it. And I think that doesn't sit well with me because they are gonna be the ones really impacted. I went through the documents that were available before the meeting and I was looking to see my name or my address listed as a notice that was sent out and it wasn't. It was only about 96 people, I think, give or take. I think as one of my fellow residents talked, I urge you to oppose this or to hold off on it until most of the neighborhood is aware that this is gonna happen. Because if this was being built on your backyard and you had a five foot story apartment building overlooking where your children play, you probably would be opposed to it too. And that's all. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Fernando Gonzalez.

Good evening. My name is Fernando Gonzalez, 3205 Damascus Way. I'm against this. I did not grow up here. I just got to Farmer's Branch this year. I grew up in Oak Cliff, my first home surrounded by apartments. Every day, every day there was an event. Shooting, break-in, violent crime. I moved here because last year, My wife and I were playing outside with my kids and somebody was trying to break into my neighbor's yard. If you've never had to pull your gun out to defend your home or your neighbor's home, it is a horrifying experience. I don't want that for Farmers Branch. Something my wife didn't say is that she spent an hour today in the heat going house to house, knocking on doors to see who knew about this. Nobody knows who reads that mail. We usually throw it out. I am a firefighter. I know the firefighters here. Fire trucks already have trouble getting through Myra, getting through Damascus. I'm a firefighter, and I can afford to live here. I can say that. I looked up on Neighborhoodscout.com. It's a legitimate real estate mapping system, mapping website. It shows that the crime in Farmers Branch is highest to the west, where we have a high concentration of apartments, and to the north, against Carrollton, where we have a high concentration of apartments. I appreciate that they are trying to get this project together, but I know what Houston is. I think most of us know what Houston is. A quick search will tell you that for the last 10 years, Houston has been rated top 50 for violent crimes. Also, Houston is known for trying to condense the population into apartments for the benefit of profit or lower taxes, whatever. I knew coming into Farmers Branch I was going to pay taxes. I don't mind paying the taxes. I want my kids to be safe. I want to know who my neighbors are, and I want to know that the police are not going to be overwhelmed. I am against this project. Thank you.

Thank you. Carolyn Boulay.

Hi, Carolyn Boulay, 3040 Abbey Lane. My house backs up to the light at Myra and Webb Chapel. I won't bother repeating everything everybody says. I agree with them. I think they should be senior living. We should not change the age restriction. Thank you.

Thank you. Carolyn Bunger.

Hi there, I'm Caroline Binger and I live at 3283 Brincrest Drive. Thank you for letting us speak today. I too was not sent a letter. I think we're, I don't know, I know we're .4 miles away because I looked it up before I came. And it's maybe 20 houses. I walk to the garden just about every day, sometimes twice a day, the garden that's right next to the proposed site. And I have a dog and my husband and I walk and we feel safe. And, you know, of course we're tired of looking at the parking garage and we, I personally would love to see improvement and enhancement to the city and to that specific area. So I'm not opposed to necessarily the senior housing part. So I want to go on record and just say I'm opposed to removing the age restriction. And then like everyone else said, just kind of looking at the traffic and making sure that we're not overloading Myra and Bryn Crest and Brisbane and all the streets surrounding the proposed site. But really, that's the main thing. Just thank you for considering our comments, and good luck to you all. Tough decisions here. Thank you.

Thank you. And Daniel Binger.

Hello.

My name is Daniel Binger. I'm at 3283 Bryncrest. So as you look down Bryncrest or Brisbane, which we're on a cul-de-sac, if the trees weren't there, we could see this eyesore, or we can see the eyesore, which is currently the parking garage. Agreed. We definitely want to do something with this lot. Unfortunately, we've got a massive structure there that's halfway complete. And we're not happy about it. You know, Farmers Branch prides itself being a city in the park. We're, this is not that. This is just a brick building that looks like the hospital. I'm sorry, but, you know, that's, to me, that's what I see. Increased traffic, more noise. It might cut down on the noise that we're getting from the expressway, but it's gonna increase traffic. We walk, we have kids. I mean, the roads are loaded with everyday people trying to enjoy the outdoors. I know people need housing, but this is obviously, we're over-pressuring these apartments. We've got them all on the west side. We've got Vitruvian. We're not Addison. We're not Dallas. So, you know, 2022, the number one issue for murder and robberies for apartments. So I definitely think we need to scale this back and keep the age restriction on it. So I am opposed to the way it currently stands. More than half the city's crime rate is due to apartments.

Thank you. Ashley Valater.

Good evening, everyone. I'm Ashley Valadez. I live over on 3250 Myra. So I think I'm one of the few with only Myra resident here speaking here. I live, this project is in my backyard, essentially. So I asked the council to take serious consideration of my request and my family's request as my mom is also one of my neighbors, and I spoke to two other neighbors, all of us who are strongly opposed, and I'm gonna give y'all a quick, in a nutshell as to why we're strongly opposed to this project. So my question to the council is, genuinely, if whether or not, and you know, to marinate on it, to kind of take into consideration, internalize it, you know, do we care as the council about the needs of the residents and the city, or do we care about the profits from the business that will be coming in for an apartment complex? So I counted at least 11 to 13 people before me that spoke this evening that were opposed to this project, and it sounded like they were also very strongly opposed. For me, for my personal story, I lived, we moved here to Farmer's Branch in 2006, and saved about seven to eight years of active duty Marine Corps service. So we were one of the, you know, One of the many families that have been living in Farmer's Branch for multiple generations, just like the people that you heard speak this evening. When my family first moved into the city at Myra, we were actually one of the youngest families. The majority of the folks on Myra and in the surrounding neighboring areas were all elderly folks that were already retired. And although they were kind of cautious of us moving in, they were very friendly, very welcoming. They taught us we were, you know, immigrant family. They taught us the Texan way of life, the Texan culture. And, you know, we're very grateful to them for that, for passing that on to us. When I came back from a military service, I bought a house off of one of the neighbors on Myra. And she had lived there for about 40 to 50 years. And the reason she was selling the home was because she was moving into a retirement facility, a senior living facility. So when I finally moved into the home, I was very, very shocked to see that the population of the neighborhood had flipped. So it went from being majority seniors living there to majority young families such as myself. you know, 20s, 30s, 40s, multiple children, they're constantly walking up and down, all the way up until 10, 11, 12 o'clock at night, three in the morning, they feel safe in our neighborhood. And so, that's all I got. I'm strongly very opposed to this project and I hope to take it into consideration. Thank you.

Thank you all for your public comments. That concludes those who have signed up to speak. I read every name that I have, so I apologize. Let me double check just in case it got shuffled in, so I apologize. Yes, Lucy Gore, apologies. Thank you. Sorry about that.

Thank you. No problem. Lucy Gore, 12254 Brisbane Avenue. Thank you for letting us speak tonight. And as you might guess, I'm opposed to changing the age restriction in this project. I would love for you to do more homework if you haven't already. I know that this has been in the works for years. Years. Not months. I mean... I've lived in Farmer's Ranch for 10 years, and I think I've seen, well, I don't see that ugly crane anymore, but I've seen that parking lot for a long time. So years ago, residents said the city reached a compromise supporting a senior living facility for the site, and there was a reason for that. I still believe that this is the best use of this property. From personal experience, because I work with a lot of seniors in the city, in Farmers Ranch, I know this is something that our city truly needs. Many long-time residents, as you've heard from some today, 40, 50, 60 years of living here, they would like to downsize, but they don't want to move anywhere else but our beautiful city. They don't have options, so this will be a great option for them to look at. a senior living facility will better serve those residents that I think you want to serve and honor their wishes. And I also would like to ask a question. I don't know, I know that this is not to answer questions, but I'm very curious on why this notices only went to residents 300 feet away from this facility. That seems a little fishy to me, and as we all know, we want transparency and we want to know what's going on. Believe me, we will find out, but I do have that question. Why was the letter only sent to residents 300 feet away from this property? Like Caroline, she's my neighbor, I'm .3 miles away from this property. Right now, parking lot. So thank you so much. Thank you for your time. And I hope you consider not removing the restriction, the age restriction. Thank you.

All right. So again, apologies. Now we've heard from all of the folks who've signed up to speak. So I did want to remind our commissioners that this is a public hearing. We're still in the open public hearing. If there's any further discussion that needs to be had or I will hear a motion on closing the public hearing. Generally, they're before the meeting starts.

I understood.

Thank you. Carlo, chair?

Shekri, yeah. Shekri. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Carlo Shekri, 3405 Rock Martin Drive. I'm a general contractor. I am building a couple different projects here in the City of Farmers Branch, so I'm all for... building and you know, great project, looks beautiful, good job for the AEC team, but I do oppose it. I feel like there are some concerns with the quality of people that could be moving in. Additionally, with large complexes like this, after time goes on, there could be a situation of attrition where people, maybe you start having some vacancies, you start lowering rent, starts possibly bringing in lower, possibly people of lower income that may not necessarily have the best interest of the city and thus feeding into violence. And then some additional issues. My daughter goes to the GISD, the German International School of Dallas. And we heard of news, which was, kind of hard to actually get to us because it seemed like that stayed a little bit under the rug for some reason. I'm sure some folks know about it, but there was a crime that took place right at the footsteps of that. And that is like no more than probably 400 feet away from that line right there. All I'm saying is that could potentially lead to additional violence in that area and crime. We don't want the police to be overburdened by additional crime. Further, there are some potential issues with potential flooding because of how they're going to control the water flow in the area. So that could kind of cause some concern as well for the residents in the area. But anyway, I do oppose this. I think it should be considered for the sake of elderly folks, people over the age of 55. I feel like it's more fitting for the city so that people are a little bit more in tune and for the best interest. And since we have an aging population, the folks that are living in the area, they don't have to leave the city. They can end up staying here. They can move over. they can still enjoy the benefits and the beauty of Farmer's Branch, just move over maybe a few streets over into that new possible older folks center. And then give way for newer, younger folks to buy out their houses. Thank you very much.

Thank you. All right. Again, commissioners, I think now hopefully we've heard from everyone. Appreciate everyone's comments.

So I know we're allowed to ask staff to clarify policy, right? So we've had a couple of questions about notification in the area. So could staff again talk about who was notified and why were they notified and what are the policies that you follow?

There's a requirement in the state law that we notice within 200 feet of the area. And then recently city council approved to extend that boundary to 300 feet of noticing. So that's how that list is created. So state allows... The minimum that you have to do or the max is 200 feet. And then the city has taken on another policy to say 300 feet is we can expand out to 300 feet of noticing. And what other notifications happened besides that? So for planning and zoning, the notification is a letter sent to those individuals within the 200 and 300 foot. buffer area, and then a sign is posted on the site, and this is 10 days prior to the meeting, a day before, and the meeting date is not included in that date. So 10 days prior is a notice mailed, sign posted on the site, and then for City Council, there is 15 days prior to that City Council meeting, there is a notice placed in the newspaper, in the legal portion for this hearing.

Thank you for that clarification. Any other discussions for our public hearing?

I guess this question is for staff as well. What designates an independent senior living facility?

In this instance, it's age restrict the age, or it's like assisted living as well, too. So that's kind of the determining factors that was defined in the previous PD, that it being age defined of...

So there is some assisted living?

Or, I mean, you can have both or... Okay.

Thanks again. I'm so sorry, but you already had your three minutes. I need to maintain my...

I believe if we'll just clarify, the signs are posted at the site of the zoning change. So... Thank you. Um...

Any other comments, questions for staff or discussions?

So just to clarify on the procedure, before and after we close the public hearings, what kind of discussion should we have before and then after? What happens? What's the difference when we close the public hearing?

Yeah, my understanding is that as the commission, and we can we can clarify, but that we will, we can still discuss them ourselves, but that would close any public comment at that juncture.

That's correct. Yeah, ma'am, I certainly do have, go ahead.

Go ahead. I'll make a motion to close the public hearing.

Thank you.

Second.

Seconded. Any further discussion on that item? OK, with that, we'll have a vote to close the public hearing. All those in favor. All right. So with that, our public hearing is closed. And yes, we can still discuss amongst ourselves.

So I just guess I want to say that I think the applicant did a good job of promoting why they want to do this. What they didn't do was really talk about why they couldn't do the senior living. I mean, that's kind of the question. I think there's a history behind this that there was a lot of intention, a lot of thought put into why there's a compromise and why the age restriction was put in place. So I don't think what we have before us yet is anything that says it can't still be done. You know, like, is it? I guess I need to understand, I mean, I guess it's possible that it's just kind of hinted that it's not economically viable. But I mean, I guess I didn't really see a strong case that would prove that. And so I guess given the history behind this, I would certainly want to have more, something in front of me that said that it really can't happen. And the only thing we can do to get rid of that garage is to build non-age-restricted And so I guess I'm just looking either from the applicant or from somewhere, a stronger reason that we should change the limit.

And did you want to pose that to the applicant directly? They can still respond.

I mean, I think at this point it would just be, you know, it certainly could if you'd like to talk about that, sure.

One of the reasons that this project failed in the beginning with the previous developers, they were not able to secure financing because of this project being with a senior living restriction. because of demand, and then there is no banks on the market out there willing to fund a project like this with a restriction on the age. Right now you have, if we can do an unrestricted, you can have, because this is not assisted living age restriction, with age restriction, so you can have 55 and up, we can have 20, and then what we're trying to do is class A apartment is not, going to have people who can cause harm. I have kids also. He's newly married, building a family. I have three kids, two daughters and a son. And we're not coming here to be enemies with anybody. We're trying to finish a project that started many, many years ago. Just confirmed with him, he's the architectural designer on the project. We don't have no access to Morningside and no access to Amsterdam. The only thing right here, right now on the plans that shows is an access to Myra Lane, which we are not opposing to have a gate there and limit access to emergency vehicles only. But going back to your question, strictly there is no financial institutions willing to fund a project that is age-restricted. And then none of the studies show that there isn't enough demand.

And also, I'd like to add, when we went through the comprehensive plan, all the studies was done according to we want all our kids to stay in farmer's branch. If you can go back, of course, you worked on the comprehensive plan. All the people, the residents, they are talking, our kids, they are leaving Farmers Branch. We want our kids to stay and live. We want our kids to age in Farmers Branch. If you're not allowing these kinds of projects, so you're now like, the vision you're envisioning for the city is in a different direction currently. So that's why we saw the financial part. We read the comprehensive plan of the city. and we work out to have this project, a nice project for professional people, for workers, they work in the city, so that's the products we hand out.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Commissioners, any further discussion, questions, comments? The commissioners have already heard me say this, but I will just say that I was a renter in Farmer's Ranch for many, many years before I bought a home here. So I just would like to say not to underestimate the contributions of the renters in our community, because for the majority of the time I've served on this commission, I was a renter. So just being thoughtful about the considerations about how we talk about large groups of folks. Thank you for that. Any other thoughts, considerations? Who would like to hear a motion?

I would like to make a motion. Before we make the motion, I was wondering if we could just summarize some of the thoughts we had about how the project would be benefited from you know, recommendations that we discussed to avoid traffic going into the neighborhood. I think we talked about providing a knock box into Myra Lane. The Morning Star Road, it appears to me, and maybe staff or the applicant can provide some light on that, that that was owned by the German school. So is that even possible? Is that access even potential that it would go over the Morning Star Road? And then I think those are the main two roads that we've discussed.

And I think I heard you clarify this, but just one more time.

Yeah, yeah. So under ordinance 1405, the city Morningstar Road and Amsterdam is abandoned. Currently, we're using Morningstar Road as a hammerhead for our fire lane. But there is no access connection through the Morningstar Road or Amsterdam.

And there's no plan to have future access?

No. Currently, we have a recorded easement in the Morningstar Road for fire lane hammerhead. That's it.

Thank you. I think that's where a lot of this confusion comes from is because this portion of Amsterdam is how you get to Myra. So when you say you have Myra access, it means going through this Amsterdam right-of-way.

So Amsterdam currently under the ordinance stops here. There is this abandoned recorded ordinance from here, end shape. Currently the ordinance shows this portion is abandoned.

So technically once this, if we put a gate right here, we don't have no access to the neighborhood. All access to the neighborhood will be blocked. The only access to this building will be through Medical Parkway, which is either from the freeway, 635, or from WebChapel.

I would just point out that we can't see where you're pointing the pointer. It doesn't show up on our screens, and we can't see that.

But you do have a mouse, so you can mouse over it as well. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. So the only access is right here. We don't have access to Morning Star, neither to Amsterdam. So if we block this with the gate and the Knox box, we don't have no access to the neighborhood. Everything is blocked. The only access is through medical pathway.

Thank you.

This is an existing road. This is not. This is a private road. This is a private road. This is not.

It's a driveway. It's a private driveway.

To the church. Whatever. It's not a road.

It's a driveway. Yeah, a driveway. Just clarification on what the intention is. And.

I'm so sorry, but I have to ask that you not ask questions from them. But this will even, regardless of our recommendation today, this would likely see city council. So just be aware. Thank you. Thank you.

I think it's just good for us to know what the potential recommendations could be for city council to act upon if they reach the conclusion that it's something that should go forward.

I appreciate that. Yeah, I appreciate that. Any other discussion amongst the commission?

Yes. If we move to approve it with amendments, could one of the amendments be for a citizen group to be included with making the site plans?

Not that I'm aware of under our powers. And remember, we're just a recommending body, right? And any of those types of amendments usually would occur at the detailed site plan stage. Which we're not yet at because this is really about just I mean we saw some you know images of the site plan which makes it a little confusing but this is really just about changing the zoning of the plan development. But I appreciate the question. Any other thoughts, comments, questions?

No, I don't have to say it, but it's kind of a catch-22 because there's a big parking garage already built. If this were a green site, it would be a different story, but it's like if we listen to the applicant, this is what they're saying that they can build here with the kind of implication that if they can't build this, I don't know. I mean, what happens to this garage? If the age-restricted is, in fact, not viable and you can't get lending, how long do we want to live with a parking garage just sitting there? So it's like it's not a green site, right? So it's like potentially to not approve this says we want to just have a garage for some extended period of time. Is that a good option? So I'm having trouble coming up with a really perfect answer here to this one.

Yeah, appreciate it.

Any other comments, discussion, thoughts?

I mean, there are a lot of people that have come tonight, which, I mean, come every time. You should always be involved in local government. But yeah, this is my neighborhood. I live here, I live across the street from Templeton. I think this is an unusual request. Generally, apartments are not as integrated into an existing neighborhood as we see here. But I think the majority of the issues that come up are not specific to an unrestricted apartment. And they are not problems that cannot be solved by other means. I mean, the traffic issue, it's independence in your living. People are still going to have cars. And that we can solve the traffic problem on my road by limiting access. As far as the schools are concerned, I mean, schools are closing, so I don't really buy the argument that this is going to crowd the school. I think this does a lot to amenitize the corner of Webb Chapel and 635 in the future. I think this helps with nurses who may be working at the medical center. My wife has worked there. I want people to understand that this is personal to me. I take this very seriously, but I think that this is a good proposal. So yeah, I will make a recommendation to approve this as presented.

So a motion to recommend approval. Anyone wish to second? I will second. And... with any further discussion on the item before hearing a vote?

Yeah, just again, so process. Let's say if this didn't get approved, this request, can it come back again? If you could go back to the table and maybe... do a little bit more independent research about whether a 55-plus, if a 55-plus is not viable for this, and it doesn't matter how much we say we want it, it's not going to go there, right? That's the reality. Again, I go back to, for me, I just don't know that answer yet. So if we didn't approve it today, can it come back? sometime relatively soon if we can do a little bit more research on that and get some independent verification that that kind of development is not viable.

It's my understanding one of the options we have is to table if we are indeed requesting specific additional information that would help us make our decision, then that is a viable and reasonable proposal put forward. So we can consider the motion that's already been made and then just know that that is potentially an option that is available to us. but we do have to vote because we've, unless there's further discussion. I always like to maintain if there's further discussion on the item, which we heard.

I mean, I think for the discussion point, I don't know that there's any additional information that could be brought to help us come to a conclusion that city council can make a good decision on. Like even if we did the traffic study, we've talked about ways that we can mitigate that exposure to the neighborhood. The lighting thing, there are ways that city council could get to a point where they could dampen the lighting exposure to the neighborhood. So I think if we make a decision today, we should make a decision that sends it at least to city council.

Yeah, and again, we are a recommending body, so regardless of what recommendation we apply, it does go to City Council, so that would meet that. I think all the things that you mentioned would come up again during that detailed site plan. which would also come before us, before city council. So really the issue that is on the table now that we are recommending approval of is just the removal of the age restriction in this planned development zoning requirement. So, you know, So in terms of that, that would be where the additional information would be needed, would be something that would help us understand, as you said, the need to remove the age restriction, because that's really the item before us. Any other thoughts, discussion on the item? All right, are we willing, are we ready for a vote on the item? So the proposal put forth was a recommendation for approval. All those in favor? All those opposed? All right, so it looks like we need a different proposal.

Yeah, I guess I would put a motion to table it and request, give the applicant the opportunity to prove their case. To prove, just some, to give us, if we could get to the point where we really knew whether this was a viable, the 55 plus is viable. If it's not viable, then we have to come back again. So I propose that we table the...

Okay, so a recommendation to table Okay.

I'll second that.

A seconding. All right. Any further discussion on the item? Okay. So with that, we'll move to a vote. All those in favor to recommend tabling? Okay. That's five. So that does... I believe meet our quorum. I can still ask opposed or abstain. Would you, anyone opposed to tabling? Okay, so that, we've addressed that. And abstentions? So, okay, so that then leads us to recommending, well, we're gonna double check with council and staff, recommending tabling because we feel the additional information we need to make an informed decision on this is the viability of a 55 plus age restriction in order to consider removing that aspect of the zoning for this plan development.

The viability of the motion that we're making for the viability of the 55 plus residency.

Yes, yes. And with that tabling, do we know the date that we would bring that back or?

The next P&Z meeting would be July 13th and then July 27th are the two meetings available. Okay.

How much time does the applicant need to be responsive to this request?

If you want to come up, yeah, that'll make it easier for everyone to hear you. So because we're tabling it, it will be tabled either until the July 13th or the July 27th meeting. And I think the question is, would you be prepared to bring information to help us make this decision?

I would say July 27th just to be on the safe side.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. So thank you all. With that, that does end our last item on the agenda. So we will adjourn at 8.43 p.m. Thank you all.