City Council - Regular Meeting

Bye. Thank you. 🎵 🎵 Bye. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Can I ask our fellow city council to join us? Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the regular meeting of Irving City Council on June 25, 2026. It is a pleasure to have each one of you with us. At this time, organizational service announcement. Shanae, do we have anyone?

No, sir. And if we could have everybody be seated, that'd be great. Everyone, everyone, hello. Can we have you seated? We're starting the meeting. Thank you. Okay.

Okay. At this time, I'd like to ask our Iman Saeed Purcell of the Islamic Center of Irving for our invocation. Please stand, and the invocation for this evening will be given. Thank you.

There we go. Thank you very much. You who have believed, Be persistently standing firm in justice, witnesses for God, even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives. Whether one is rich or poor, God is more worthy of both. So follow not personal inclination, lest you not be just." The Quran, chapter 4, 135. Almighty God, Lord of all humanity, we gather today in service to a city we love. Irving is a beautiful mosaic celebrated far and wide for the countless backgrounds, faiths, and walks of life that call it home. We thank you for this richness and we ask for your guidance over everyone in this chamber entrusted with the heavy burden of leadership. We pray for the collective wisdom to honor the entirety of our community. Grant this council the clarity to see beyond what is merely politically expedient and the courage to serve everyone equitably, not just the powerful, the privileged, or the few, but every neighbor who contributes to the lifeblood of this city. Guide our leaders to move beyond the comfort of celebratory words, translating the promise of our diversity into deeds of lasting and meaningful value. Remind us all that true civic harmony is not about any one group seeking to control or dominate the table. but about ensuring the table is broad enough and the chairs accessible enough for all to share in the stewardship of our hometown. Cultivate within this chamber a spirit of genuine dialogue, where building lasting, trusting relationships takes precedence over the divisions of our time. Protect our hearts from cynicism and inspire those who govern to act with a justice that is blind to wealth or status, but intimately awake to the needs of the people. May the decisions made here tonight reflect the very best of who we can be together. Amen.

Amen. Thank you. This time I'd ask Councilman John Block to have the Pledge of Allegiance of our country. Thank you. At this time, we have a special recognition that we are GNU. be sure that everybody here knows how fortunate we as a city had a mayor for nine years, and we're gonna pay that allegiance to him tonight. I would also like to be sure that there are other people in the audience that I would not only introduce, but there will be somebody I would like to then also thank for being here with us this evening. He is also being reelected, but he's next door in Farmer's Branch, a very dear friend and somebody that Rick spent a lot of years with, and he's here with us tonight, and that's Mayor Terry Lynn. Terry, please, thank you. I would like at this point to welcome Melissa Alfaro, District Director on behalf of Congressman Mark Vesey. As well, I'd like to ask Maria Fromming, Ana Reyes, and Juan Loya on behalf of Representative Cassandra Garcia-Hernandez. house representative rafael anchia along with terry mesa please join us at this time i'd like to ask our city secretary to come forward and be part of the special presentation recognition of mayor rick sofer so we are going to um miss alfaro we're going to have you go first

and then we're gonna have Ms. Fromming and Reyes and Loya go second, and then I will come up there.

Sounds good. Congressman Vesey wishes he can be here tonight, but he's in D.C. doing the Lord's work. One of the privileges that the Congressman has is recognizing extraordinary individuals in our community on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. And what that means is that recognition will go into the record for all of our nation's history. So with that, I have a video of the congressman recognizing Mayor Stouffer on the House floor.

I honor the distinguished service of my good friend Rick Stouffer. whose more than three decades of dedication to the city of Irving have left a lasting and meaningful impact on the community he proudly serves. He was elected to the city council in 98, and Rick has demonstrated a steady commitment to public service, and he has held so many key leadership roles in addition to mayor, mayor pro tem for the council, and he was reelected to his third term in May 2023, and he's really help the city of Irving grow. Anyone that's been to the city and they've seen Las Colinas and they've seen all the Fortune 1500 companies that have decided to make Irving their home over the last decade is absolutely amazing. And in addition to everything that he's done for Irving, he's also served on the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Board and other regional bodies that reflect a broader vision for the entire Metroplex. Rick is also a person who is deeply rooted in the Irving community. He's involved in so many different civic organizations, and he is just really a great guy. And alongside with his wife of more than 40 years, Melanie, he has really built an amazing legacy in the city of Irving. Rick, congratulations on everything that you've done for the city. Mr. Speaker, I yield back.

Mayor Stouffer, on behalf of the US Congress and Texas Congressional 33 and Congressman Mark Vesey, congratulations. Thank you. And thank you for your service.

Thank you very much.

Would you guys like to join me up here, please? My name is Mariah Fromming. I'm the District Director for State Representative Cassandra Garcia-Hernandez.

Yes, good evening. It's an honor to be here. I'm Ana Reyes with the Office of State Representative Rafael Anchia of House District 103.

I'm George Cuba. I know the listing said Juan Loya, but I'm the other district staffer for Terry Mesa. I'm actually District Assistant for the State Rep Terry Mesa.

All three of the representatives are the representatives who serve Irving, and we're honored to be here tonight. They are all out of town, and we are very sorry to say that. But we are here to present you with a resolution on behalf of the three representatives from the state of Texas. I'm not going to read it all because I think we are all very aware of Mayor Stoker's contributions to the city and his accomplishments, but I do want to read the very end. So it says, we're asked, through his vision, leadership, and commitment to excellence, Rick Stouffer has made a positive and lasting difference in his community, and he has earned the respect and admiration of his fellow citizens. Now, therefore, be it resolved, that Richard H. Stouffer be honored for his many years of service to the city of Irving and that he be extended sincere appreciation for his outstanding contributions. I think I can speak for all three representatives. It's been an honor to work with you to serve Irving, and we are very grateful for your guidance and leadership during our service. So thank you so much.

I enjoy everything about working with Mayor Stouffer.

He is genuinely a good person. His ability to be able to relate to people is unparalleled. His kindness. Compassion and care for others.

He has been such a bright sunshine in our office.

Positive person.

Exceptionally down to earth. It's genuine and it's authentic and I don't think he can be any other way. I look forward to jumping in.

I would put my relationship with him up there with any relationship.

He looks serious all the time. He's really a decent man. When you're actually just sitting there talking to him, he does have a humorous side of himself.

I promise I won't run with the suitors. You are the most important thing in his life when you are with him.

With the mayor you get Mel and that's like a two for one. That's an awesome combo.

If you could see Rick in Dominican Republic trying to do the salsa with some of our friends, you'd understand what he's really like. Mel, the first lady of Irving. We love being on the canal and walking it together or running it.

Or her running it by herself and then I just wait here.

I've seen him have fun. When he slid down the water slide because a new recreation center or pool is opening.

Start picking up speed at the first turn. Anywhere where there's a city event, there's the mayor.

I think that's the real thing that we have to offer in our community is the diversity. It's all these people coming together, feeling comfortable living together, and coming out and celebrating.

It's very easy for elected officials not to want to show up.

I see him do everything that he can to be everywhere. The Rick's always shown up.

He and Melanie have sacrificed so much of their time. He's part of crazy things that we come up with, like the eclipse and the world's largest moon pie.

Ribbon cuttings.

Having, you know, the ability to work with a chief elected official at the local level for Irving, that is so committed to the local community.

We're going on 33 years.

We're going to say it was one of the first places we ate when we came here.

It's inspiring.

A leader has to listen. There's people with different perspectives on things. He allows all the council members to really kind of speak their minds. He listens. He will, you know, reserve and, you know, won't cut you off.

And just because I think one way about something doesn't automatically mean I'm right. And he's got very much that kind of attitude.

Anybody that was a resident or member of this city, he would listen to what they had to say.

And that's critical for a mayor, to be able to really make people feel, I'm listening. You're going to do what you can. If you can't, you're going to tell them.

He never made a decision based upon himself or a small group of people. It was all his decisions were always made on how best to serve the city as a whole and how best to grow and move the city forward at the benefit of the residents, not himself.

I enjoyed the fact that he was very thorough and that he appreciated Some of the issues that he would deal with that weren't necessarily those that grabbed the headlines or were glamorous or sexy.

Traffic transportation. He loves infrastructure.

Infrastructure to me is the backbone and the key to the success of not only our city but every city in the region.

Strategic about what he wanted to do for the city, had a clear vision.

His recent work with DART. And how he showed leadership. That really stands out as a significant milestone.

He knew that mobility meant economic growth.

All his years of really fighting for Irving's interest.

There's a sense of team. that he creates.

He was part of the council that got the Irving Convention Center done, that got the hotel. All of his work in economic development.

He was a really strong catalyst in the Toyota Music Factory.

And his ability to be able to continue to grow the corporate tax base.

And it's exciting to see the success of that team effort.

He has those phone calls with those executives. He talks to them. So when you look at, you know, some of the new corporations, the Wells Fargos of the world. We worked together to bring HEB.

Rick has played a major role. We really worked together with our city management to now have a major Mustang park that is going to be the show place for the Metroplex.

His touch has been on all of that.

I love the way that he engages with our community.

That had unshakable trust.

All the different facets of our community.

We got a very diverse city here, and we got a lot of faiths, a lot of religions, a lot of cultures, a lot of ethnic groups.

To be proactive.

Through the midst of what could have been some pretty tumultuous times, you know, in race relationships.

He also didn't have any partialities to religious affiliations, which I adored about him.

And Rick, he's there for all of us.

He would go to the Islamic Center.

And he does not discriminate.

The Temple, BAPS.

There was a level of trust from the leaders of those groups that if they had a problem, they could come to Rick and they can trust that Rick would have their best interests at heart.

He really does try to pull people together, and he has that gift to do that.

He cares. He really cares about you as an individual.

His heart for the community, his heart for people.

He's been involved with this community now for decades.

Serving on the Planning and Zoning Commission, serving as a council member, now serving as a mayor. Because he was interested in this community. Understanding all the pieces of what makes government work, particularly the people.

He's been a great mentor to me.

He literally goes to each of my staff people and will check on them.

Always there to answer a question.

Stacey, how you doing today? Jennifer, what's up?

And he always returns a phone call.

Julia works with him nonstop. And then Carol, she's just so quiet and sweet, but he tries to get her out of her shell.

He's come to me a number of times and said, Chris, make sure you are taking care of the employees. And he's always had them first in his mind.

His legacy is the word genuine and the word authentic.

A man of great honor and compassion.

He's the ideal person to run for mayor.

I don't think they make him like him anymore.

I believed it then and I believe it now. It's sad to see him go.

And truly caring about this place that has become home.

So getting to know him has been one of the greatest honors of my life.

Mayor Stouffer, thank you for so many years of service to the city.

I do want to thank you, Mayor Stouffer, for everything you have done.

Melanie, thank you for sharing your husband with the city. You two as a couple have been a great bedrock and a foundation for the city and what leadership looks like.

Thank you for your service to the city and us as citizens.

Thank you for your five-star leadership to Irving, Texas.

Your impact will be felt for generations. And thank you on a personal level for making my experience these last nine years with you an extraordinary experience for me.

There really aren't any good words to say more than just thank you, but Thank you, and thank you isn't near enough to say thank you for everything you've done for this community, for me personally and professionally. For all that you mean to us, words alone could not express.

So love for me and for my team and an appreciation for all that you do for us.

And I personally want to thank you for a friendship, even a mentorship, guidance along the way. Our friend, as us in the military say,

Old mayors don't die, they just fade away. So have your journey, enjoy it. And don't be a stranger, because I won't let you.

You're my friend. I can't tell you how much I appreciate what you've done for our community. You're a good man.

Thank you for letting an urbanite kid like me learn and grow and understand what local politics is and what it looks like and how to do it right and how to always be present. Just thank you for all that you've given. Now go away and go have some fun.

Enjoy wherever you're going, and I'm going to miss working with you.

And please don't go too far. We still need you around to help us out here in the city.

I will miss you dearly and you and Melanie need to go and travel the world and not get in trouble. Mayor, that's what you get when you have 36 years of public service. We have prepared a little something something for you. Everyone was invited to thank Mayor. Y'all can have a seat. Thank you. Melanie, where are you? Get up here. Get up here. We have prepared something for you. We asked for a couple of weeks for everybody to submit their messages to the mayor. Those messages included gratitudes from every level of city staff, even state representatives submitted messages, and they span multiple religious, social, regional, and volunteer organizations. Your messages have been compiled alongside hundreds, literally hundreds, of photos in a keepsake book to paint the picture of the mayor's historic three-year terms. And I want you to know, this man is the only man who's served nine years as a mayor, and that's the longest period in which you can serve as a mayor because we are term-limited. So you will get to see this later, but there's literally hundreds of pictures and all of these comments from people. And this is for you, Mayor. We love you. We're going to miss you.

Mary, would you join me? Come on down. Because you spent a lot of time with this gentleman. I thought I'd have you know.

Thanks, Mayor.

Hi, Mayor.

Congratulations. Congratulations to you.

Mayor, on behalf of this great city of ours, for your leadership, and I'm talking outstanding leadership, the Irving City Council Service Award for your years of selfless dedication to the residents of Irving. Mayor, 2017 to 2026. Godspeed.

You want me to say something before you say something? Yes, do it. Since I didn't, I'm a mayor, so I'm not going to pass up a microphone. But I'm Terry Lynn. I am the mayor of Farmer's Branch, and I've had the pleasure for the last three years of working alongside Mayor Stouffer. And I got to tell you, I want to tell you. He is a wealth of information. I've learned so much from him. He has always been a resource that I could count on. We had some very serious issues that we had to work through, such as DART. Rick was one person, probably more than anybody else, that I could call and talk with. get counsel from, and so I just want to say thank you. I know he's not leaving me, and I know where to find him, but truly, truly just the most generous person, and he is going to be missed. We've got a new mayor and the business of the city will go on and I have every wish for success for you. Thank you. And for the city of Irving. So thank you. Thank you.

Well, as usual, the staff does an outstanding job of making sure they surprise me. I tried to tell them that not to do anything major because this is what you do in these positions. And tonight it's very heartwarming for Melanie and I and very appreciative of the gratitude and to see so many of our friends. But really what tonight is about is these gentlemen that are behind me. This is the next group of people that will lead this city. And I have every confidence in each and every one of them and mayors of Ponta that we will continue to grow this city. We will continue to be a shining light in the Metroplex because of their hard work. So the reality of tonight is thank you all for showing appreciation for what Melanie and I have done and really what Melanie has done and what Melanie has done and what Melanie has done. But really, it's about these guys sitting behind me. and the dedication that they have, the commitment that they have, and the commitment that the Mayor Zapanta has to lead this city into the next three years. So congratulations to them. Thank you very, very much from the bottom of my heart. Both Melanie and I are very humbled by all of this and very appreciative of all of it. But tonight's about these guys, so we need to get me off of here and start talking about them. So thank you all for being here.

And Mayor Zapanta was gracious enough to let us do all of this. It is reception for the outgoing and the incoming. And that being said, Melissa Rafina, if I could have you out for us. I'm sorry. Can you come back up? And now we start with Mayor Zapanta. She's going to read something for you.

Mayor Zabonta, congratulations on your election as Mayor of the City of Irving. On behalf of Congressman Mark Vesey, it is my pleasure to extend my sincerest congratulations, best wishes, as you begin this new chapter of service to one of North Texas' most dynamic and the most diverse community. Throughout your years of public service, you have demonstrated a deep commitment to Irving and its residents. I am confident that your leadership and experience will serve the city as you work to strengthen economic opportunity, enhance public safety, invest in critical infrastructure, and ensure Irving remains a great place to live, to work, and most importantly, to raise a family. On behalf of Congressman Mark Vesey, congratulations. And you'll get the congressional record at the retirement part.

Congratulations, man, on your great victory. You are going to do a great job for the city of Irving. The city of Irving continues to be one of the great places where people want to locate their businesses. You all have so many tremendous corporations that call Irving. keeps growing and I know that it's going to continue to thrive under your leadership and under your direction. I look forward to working with you and continuing to see your beautiful city grow and prosper as it has and has made the Metroplex so proud over the last decades and continuing to work with you and the council on how we can continue to make that growth possible is something that's very important to me. So congratulations again.

Thank you.

John, where were you?

That's a specialty that John and I have. Thank you, City Manager. Now we have a special ceremony that we invite all of you to be part of. Tonight, our Municipal Court Judge, Judge Michael Acuna, will be administering the oath of office through Councilman Fahd Ahmed, District 6, and Councilman Abdul Kabir, District 3, Councilman Mark Conowit, District 5, and myself. We will then break for a 20-minute reception, and then we will convene the regular meeting, and you're all welcome to go home after that, because I'm not sure you want to spend the rest of the evening here. Go ahead and enjoy the... the festivities with us. So at this point, City Operation Update will then... At this point, we are...

I got it. I got it. Don't you want to get sworn in here?

I'm trying to get it done. Okay. We're ready, Judge? Are you... Okay.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. It's an honor for me to administer the oath of office to the newly elected or newly re-elected members of the Council. I would begin by inviting Councilmember Ahmed to please join me at the dais with anyone he would like to join him up here. Good evening, sir.

Good evening, Your Honor.

I requested, Your Honor, if I could say a few words. The moment that we got the election results and I was given the news that I won the election the love that I had for this country grew even more than ever before. The reason was that only in this beautiful country can a 14-year-old immigrant that came here with $6 in his pocket, work hard, sustain a disabled mother, and then work our way up in a way that I was able to unapologetically run for an office And that's not kudos to me, that's kudos to the community that I serve, that you guys all elected me with a great victory of eight out of nine precincts. So I don't take that trust lightly, and I will be your councilman every single time. And the short time that I've been here for one month, I've grown to have a great appreciation for for our city staff our police department our fire department our executive staff under chris hillman and my admiration for our city council and more than anything i'm looking forward to working under the leadership of our mayor el zapanta who's given almost all his life to public public service so thank you very much all of you

So, Councilmember, if you'll please raise your right hand and repeat after me.

I, Fahad Ahmed, do solemnly swear or affirm that I will faithfully execute the duties of this office of City Council District six. District six. City of Irving. City of Irving. Dallas County. Dallas County. Of the state of Texas. Of state of Texas. And will to the best of my ability. And will to the best of my ability. Preserve. Preserve. Protect. Protect. And defend. And defend. The constitution and laws. The constitution and the laws. Of the United States. Of the United States. And of this state. And of this state. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations, sir. Thank you, sir.

Now I'd please ask Councilmember Kabir to join me on the dais with anyone he would like to join him. Okay. So I'm going to ask you actually to please raise your right hand.

Okay.

Okay. And as you have requested for me to recite the oath in its entirety and you to say, I do at the end, if you'll please do that. Okay. I Abdul Kabir do solemnly swear or affirm that I will faithfully execute the duties of the office of city council district three city of Irving, Dallas County, of the state of Texas and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States and of this state, so help me God.

Help me God, I do. Congratulations. Mayor, can I have a couple minutes? Thank you very much. Bismillah. In the name of Allah, the most merciful. First, I would like to thank honorable mayor, my dear colleagues of the city council, and my dear community members and the district who I represent. This is your win. This is a election which we have won for the second term. Thanks for your trust on me to take care of some of the things which the city would like to do. As you probably know, the first three years has been a wonderful, wonderful time, and I have learned so much how the city functions and how the government functions. And with my colleagues, I have learned a lot. So that learning and that education which I got from them, I'm going to use it for next three years. So I need your prayers to have a successful three years, in coming three years. And I would like to thank my district, my volunteer, my campaign volunteers, and the people who have worked hard to accomplish this win. Last but not least, The greatest thanks which I would like to offer is to my wife. She has been a champion in the field as probably you know. She has worked harder than myself and my people. She was there every corner of the street and every corner of our district to make this happen. So I would like to sincerely thank you for your hard work. Thank you very much.

Now I'd ask Council Member Cronenweth and anyone who would like to join him to join me here at the dais. Good evening, sir. As you've requested me to recite the oath in its entirety, if you'll please wait until I do that and then say I do. If you'll please raise your right hand, sir. I, Mark Cronenweth, do solemnly swear or affirm that I will faithfully execute the duties of the Office of City Council, District 5, City of Irving, Dallas County, of the State of Texas, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States and of this state, so help me God.

I do.

Congratulations.

Just real briefly, it's been a great honor to serve this city over the past three years, to serve all of you, doing the best that I can with this wonderful group of men on the city council. To make this place the best it can be to live, work, and play. And, of course, I'm extremely grateful to former Mayor Rick Stover for all the mentorship that he's given to me and to his wife, Melanie, for her friendship and guidance as well. Thank you all very much.

Now I would ask Mayor Sopanta to please join me on the dais and anyone he would like to join him.

I'd like to ask my wife, Rochelle, and my daughter, Catherine Brockett, my son, A.C. Zapanta, my son-in-law, Sean Brockett, and my granddaughter, who's at A&M. So have you got any A&Mers? There she is. I'm ready. All right.

Sir, if you'll please raise your right hand. I, Albert C. Sapanta, do solemnly swear or affirm that I will faithfully execute the duties of the office of mayor, city of Irving, Dallas County, of the state of Texas, and will, to the best of my ability, protect, preserve, and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States and of this state. So help me God. I affirm. So help me God. Congratulations, ma'am. There you go.

I'll make it short because we've got a really great reception. So you all have a chance to meet all of us as well as a lot of my friends. I look out here and I wish I could really say thank you to everybody because a lot of people elected me. And you know, we had what we would look at as a mandate because we had a lot of people that are in the audience and across the whole city. And I really want to say that what that election for both Your mayor, myself in particular, and what you're seeing here as a city council is what Irving is. And when we say it's the most diverse city in Texas, you see it in action. We are going to have the ability to demonstrate to everybody in this state and in this country that we can all live together, work together, and look to the future together. So thank you very much. I look forward to being your mayor. Good evening. Ladies and gentlemen please join us

A new kind of summer camp.

Well, I got a new mini fridge and I wanted to stock it.

Young Emily Flores was so eager to be the first H-E-B customer in Irving, she convinced her mom to arrive more than 48 hours before the grand opening.

We drove by and she's like, mom, let's do it. One, two, three.

Mayor Al Zapata and Irving City Council members were among the VIPs invited to get a sneak peek at the expansive new grocery store located off 635.

So this is really an icon. And for us to have the first in Dallas County right here in Irving, hey, that's a big one.

For decades, the community has been asking for Irving to secure an HEB.

and they have both an HEB and a Jovies in Irving. That's a great win for the city and a great win for the residents.

As they say here, no store does more. More choices, more flavors, and certainly more unique Texas tastes.

What really has impressed me is the variety of items that they have to offer some of the brands of things that I never knew existed.

The selection they have, I just want to start shopping now. As serving residents walk these aisles, they'll find fresh produce, meats, cheeses, but also something more.

What I hope they find is an incredible culture inside the store. You know, grocery shopping is a task. We all know that, but we try to make it a brighter part of someone's day.

As part of the grand opening, HEB showcased that culture, awarding $10,000 checks to four local nonprofits. including the Irving Family Advocacy Center.

Our commitment isn't just inside the four walls. When we commit to a city, we're here as a great citizen to take care of the community, and part of what that is for us is serving the communities.

Of course, for Emily, there's one thing in particular she can't wait to be served.

The blood HR team.

A true taste of Texas, now home in Irving. Robert Sheik for CitySource. Patriotic pride while welcoming the world.

I'm traveling all over the U.S. and I looked up, oh, today is the match year.

Dominique is here from Germany, traveling on business. She was one of hundreds of soccer fans of all ages, many representing the red, white, and blue, gathered on the plaza at Toyota Music Factory to watch the United States opening World Cup match against Paraguay.

This team's looking amazing.

Three first half USA goals gave this crowd plenty to cheer about.

3-0, I didn't expect that. This is a good place to watch the game and be with fellow fans.

More watch parties are planned here throughout this international extravaganza.

We're a great community, you know?

We're really excited. We're just proud to be here. Every country is different, but I'm happy that everyone is, in general, welcome to be here and cheer and celebrate World Cup because it's important. It's for all of us.

As the world unites around this celebration of sport, Irving is embracing the global golazo. Robert Sheik for CitySource.

Sizzling competition. We fire up the grill and see who's cooking the best steak at this year's rare steak championship.

We're happy to kind of be out supporting Irving, supporting the community.

Historic freedom. The community pays tribute to the past while commemorating the present at the city's annual Juneteenth celebration.

It celebrates different cultures and that's just what makes us who we are today. Just a melting pot of cultures. Haunted fun.

We check out the scary sights roaming the Irving Convention Center at this year's Texas Frightener weekend.

I love making people scared, love making people smile, so can't you tell?

And in Feature Flicks, I review one of the most talked about films of the summer, Steven Spielberg's latest sci-fi thriller, Disclosure Day. Hello, everyone. Welcome to Irving Spotlight. I'm Susan Stevens. We begin tonight with an event where culinary passion meets competitive spirit. Rare Steak Championship returns to Levy Event Plaza for a mouth-watering competition. Sizzle. Slice. Chew.

Three, two, one.

Welcome to Rare! The Ultimate Steak Showdown returns to Levy Event Plaza.

Today we have Rare Steak Championship. It's our second year in Irving, so we're super excited to be back.

We're happy to kind of be out supporting the community and just kind of getting our name out there, yeah.

23 of the top steakhouses in DFW are firing up the grill and mixing drinks.

We have a high desert sour. We're partnering with Fry Ranch. We did a bourbon and a mezcal split base, a little bit of orange juice that we amped up, a little agave and a little lemon juice.

I'm not even a bourbon girl, but that just tastes really smooth and the perfect amount of citrus. To find out whose cocktail and cut are above the rest.

We have a cold smoked ribeye on top of barbacoa with masa at the bottom. So essentially it's an open-faced tamale.

We're serving our sliced beef tenderloin with our signature sauce, which is a green peppercorn sauce. It's slightly spicy. And then we have our famous smashed potatoes underneath that.

I'm going to have to come back for a second one of this.

We are serving a grilled Wagyu steak over a tostone, which is a plantain crisp with our house chibichurri and a little bit of guajillo crema at the end.

From creative bites to traditional bold strips, the competition is tough. Fortunately, the steak is tender.

It's so good. I mean, there's nothing wrong. It's quite rewarding.

But this event is about more than competition. It's about a rare experience.

There is no event like this event. You cannot go anywhere where you get this much steak all included in your ticket. The drinks are included. You don't pay for anything once you get inside.

You get to taste this huge variety of different types of steaks from different restaurants. All the chefs are here.

And where the steaks are high, the community comes together. Good food is also part of the annual Juneteenth celebration. The cultural gathering returns to Heritage Park, inviting the community to honor resilience and rich history through music, family fun, and fellowship.

This is a day that we come out and that we celebrate and so I'm just so excited to be able to just come out here and just enjoy food, enjoy good vibes with friends and family and just enjoy the day.

Today is Juneteenth. The city of Irving puts this event on every year like clockwork. We're here to celebrate our freedom. We're here to network. We're here to pour into our small businesses, local vendors, and just have a good time.

We have the Inspiration Band, the More Melodies Band, and we have a saxophonist that's going to be entertaining the group today.

The entertainment has been good. There was some dancing. We kind of got out to do some line dancing and things like that. Food was good. So the sun is out. It's raining this morning, so I'm just happy to be out and celebrate.

It's a day that's becoming more and more popular, I think. It's a federal holiday now. But we really just wanted to enjoy the community and just togetherness.

Juneteenth to me means freedom, just oneness, celebration.

To me, it symbolifies unity, it symbolizes freedom, and it symbolizes power and empowerment and overcoming things that we had to go through as a culture. I think it's important because we need to show that we are sticking together, that we can grow, that we can develop, that we can rebuild the things that have been trying to overcome us.

celebrates different cultures and that's just what makes us who we are today just a melting pot of cultures and just you know coming out and just you know being one we're doing it because we are part of this community so you cannot express and share something if you're not involved so we want them to know that we're always going to put something on for the city of urban and surrounding cities and we're supposed to have fun this is what we call a fun day and kick your feet up

The summer blockbusters are rolling in. Steven Spielberg's newest alien sci-fi thriller Disclosure Day has arrived. And after bringing us legendary extraterrestrial stories like E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, I'm sad to say this highly anticipated alien mystery lacks the Spielberg magic we've come to love from his previous theatrical treasures.

Let's take a look at today. Let's, let's, today is, today's.

Disclosure Day asked the question, what if you found out we are not alone and someone was able to show you undeniable evidence of alien life? Would that scare you? It's an interesting question and could be an interesting movie if the script and the characters were not all over the place. In the film, Dr. Daniel Kellner is on the run from his underground government boss. He carries a great deal of proof that aliens are among us and feels that the entire world should finally know the truth. Luckily for him, a Kansas weather girl, who shockingly is linked to the aliens, can help Kellner get the message out. There are several issues with this film. It appears there wasn't a clear intention of which direction they wanted to go. The tone bounces around from a serious drama to a hokey and unconvincing kids movie. There are numerous plot holes in the convoluted storylines, and the underdeveloped characters make any emotional or climactic scene feel unearned. The saving grace of Disclosure Day and the real reason to watch is Emily Blunt's award-worthy performance as Margaret Fairchild. She brings energy and personality as well as humor to the very long two and a half hour underwhelming sci-fi. Though the rest of the all-star cast, including Josh O'Connor, Colin Firth, and Coleman Domingo, do a fine job, their surface-level roles are not as memorable. There is thrilling action that entertains, and the comedic relief makes the film worth a trip to the box office, but set your expectations low. It does pain me to speak negatively about this movie, especially because of Blunt's performance, but Spielberg can and has done much better than this. The intent to reflect on humanity and have empathy for the unknown is admirable and greatly appreciated, but the efforts made to bring that message to the screen fell flat and rings hollow.

Why would they do this?

When the time is right, everything will become clear.

Don't you let go.

Disclosure Day is now showing. Check AMC Irving Mall and Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Las Clinas for showtimes. Sci-fi and horror fans return to the Irving Convention Center to step into the thrilling world of Texas Frightmare Weekend. Genre legends come together for an unforgettable festival featuring celebrities, exclusive panels, unique cosplayers, and so much more.

Well, we come out every year, and we love making a show.

I love to dress up, and this is a good place to dress up.

What's not to like about coming to a horror convention? The people are just amazing! I offer free childcare.

We are a three-day convention that celebrates horror movies. We try to celebrate all horror movies, classic to new.

There are so many fun, cool things and people to see, and it's great to see everybody celebrating those things together.

I love horror. I've been a horror. Freddy Krueger was my personal boogeyman with recurring dreams when I was little.

Putting people in uncomfortable situations makes you feel alive.

I love making people scared. I love making people smile. Can't you tell?

I've been attending conventions since I was a teenager, but we decided it was time to start selling. We just love horror movies and we love selling and we love supporting the community. Do we want with blood or without blood? There's both in there. We started out doing mostly laser engraving, that's where the name came from, but we've since expanded. So we have everything from pins, accessories, jewelry, plush, and more.

There's so much. The photo ops, the panels are super fun, but the main attraction is always the guests.

Who are you going to call?

Ghostbusters. Ghostbusters. That's right. Always happy to have the Scream crew back. You can see they draw a crowd, and they love Matthew. Matthew Wu. I love the guy. When you meet him, he's actually surprisingly pretty nice.

These kind of conventions bring everybody together from all over the place. We get to meet new people.

It gives people a place to come together and meet people that enjoy the same thing that they do. And that doesn't happen all the time in the horror community. We don't always know where our people are. Everybody can just be themselves about horror. They can like horror and no one will bat an eye and say oh my god this man is incredibly crazy.

Everybody around here accepts you, just loves you, and you know, no judgements.

In addition to exciting festivals, there are several fun things to do around the city. Levi Gomez, our man about town, has taken a break this week, but our intern, Joel Garcia, is filling in and shares his suggestions.

Enjoy a slice of history with the movie and Peaks event here at the Irvine Archives and Museum. The free screening of Pele, Birth of a Legend starts on June 27th at 1pm. Chronicling Pele's rise from poverty to international sports icon, the film highlights perseverance, courage, and determination in the face of hardship. You know her as the star of the Disney Channel series Lizzie McGuire. Hilary Duff is coming to Irvine on her Lucky Me Tour. The singer-songwriter performs here at the Toyota Music Factory on June 30th at 7pm. Celebrate America's 250 years of independence by making a patriotic light. Teens can create a star-destroyed lantern here at the Valley Ranch Library. The craft gets underway on July 2nd at 2 p.m. The Aulaw Music Festival features Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, and more. The festival continues its tradition of unforgettable music and community that has made it a true cultural phenomenon. The performances start on July 3rd at 2 p.m. here at the Toyota Music Factory. Paleontologist B.K. Bones will show you a look back in time to prehistoric Texas where dinosaurs and other amazing creatures roamed the wilds. See a massive T-Rex go and learn why B.K. calls Texas the Bones Star State. Dinosaurs of Texas starts at 2.30 p.m. on July 8th here at Valley Ranch Library. Share your thoughts on the birthday of the United States. Here on the America 250 Wish Wall at the Irving Archives and Museums, you can add your hopes for the next chapter of our nation's story and see what other folks from Irving have to say as well. Stop by anytime this summer.

And that wraps up this episode of Irving Spotlight. Join us next time as we let it go and follow Elsa and Anna in Irving Youth Theatre's production of Frozen Junior. And we head downtown to celebrate Independence Day at the Irving Sparks and Stripes Parade. As always, tell us stories you'd like to see on the show. You can email us at ictn at irvingtx.gov or connect with us on social media. So subscribe to our YouTube channel, like us on Facebook and follow us on X and Instagram. We'd love to hear from you. Thanks so much for tuning in and have a great evening. For Irving Spotlight, I'm Susan Stevens.

Thank you.

This is the drill. This is the drill. Let's go now.

Respond on training eight. Engine seven. Engine 12. Engine five.

A fire training scenario where the onlookers are the students.

All units respond to the structure fire. This was pretty epic. I highly recommend this to anybody. It was awesome to actually see them in action. I'm actually inspiring myself to become a firefighter.

Lester Hunt was one of the dozens of Irving residents who attended Fire Ground 101, a one-day crash course hosted by the Irving Fire Department.

Most people, you know, they see the fire department driving down the street, and that's the extent of the interactions we get on a daily basis. We wanted a program where we could just be out here, answer some questions, and see how we do our things.

While much of the day was in a classroom setting.

We can look at fire patterns and see how the fire was affected by wind or the water we sprayed.

The highlight was out here. as attendees witnessed firefighters respond to a structure fire as part of a training drill.

This is a really, really good educational class that a lot of residents need to be looking out for in the future. It's something that they can then take back to their families and take back to their neighborhoods as well. And this is a great class to learn about what they do.

Seeing these crews respond so quickly impressed everyone in attendance. And for hopeful firefighter Lester, the class was especially impactful.

I was hyped about it for the entire week, and it's overexceeded the expectations of which I had.

Fire education, as hot as it gets. Robert Sheik for CitySource. A new kind of summer camp.

Well, I got a new mini fridge and I wanted to stock it.

Young Emily Flores was so eager to be the first H-E-B customer in Irving, she convinced her mom to arrive more than 48 hours before the grand opening.

We drove by and she's like, mom, let's do it. One, two, three.

Mayor Al Zapata and Irving City Council members were among the VIPs invited to get a sneak peek at the expansive new grocery store located off 635.

So this is really an icon. And for us to have the first in Dallas County right here in Irving, hey, that's a big one.

For decades, the community has been asking for Irving to secure an HEV.

and they have both an HEB and a Jovies in Irving. That's a great win for the city and a great win for the residents.

As they say here, no store does more. More choices, more flavors, and certainly more unique Texas tastes.

What really has impressed me is the variety of items that they have to offer, some of the brands of things that I never knew existed.

The selection they have, I just want to start shopping now. As Irving residents walk these aisles, they'll find fresh produce, meats, cheeses, but also something more.

What I hope they find is an incredible culture inside the store. You know, grocery shopping is a task. We all know that, but we try to make it a brighter part of someone's day.

As part of the grand opening, HEB showcased that culture, awarding $10,000 checks to four local nonprofits. including the Irving Family Advocacy Center.

Our commitment isn't just inside the four walls. When we commit to a city, we're here as a great citizen to take care of the community, and part of what that is for us is serving the community.

Of course, for Emily, there's one thing in particular she can't wait to be served.

The blood HR team.

A true taste of Texas, now home in Irving. Robert Sheik for CitySource. Patriotic pride while welcoming the world.

I'm traveling all over the U.S. and I looked up, oh, today is the match year.

Dominique is here from Germany, traveling on business. She was one of hundreds of soccer fans of all ages, many representing the red, white, and blue, gathered on the plaza at Toyota Music Factory to watch the United States opening World Cup match against Paraguay.

This team's looking amazing.

Three first half USA goals gave this crowd plenty to cheer about.

3-0, I didn't expect that. This is a good place to watch the game and be with fellow fans.

More watch parties are planned here throughout this international extravaganza.

We're a great community, you know?

We're really excited. We're just proud to be here. Every country is different, but I'm happy that everyone is, in general, welcome to be here and cheer and celebrate World Cup because it's important. It's for all of us.

As the world unites around this celebration of sport, Irving is embracing the global golazo. Robert Sheik for CitySource.

Sizzling competition. We fire up the grill and see who's cooking the best steak at this year's Rare Steak Championship.

We're happy to kind of be out supporting Irving, supporting the community.

Historic freedom. The community pays tribute to the past while commemorating the present at the city's annual Juneteenth celebration.

It celebrates different cultures and that's just what makes us who we are today. Just a melting pot of cultures.

Haunted fun. We check out the scary sights roaming the Irving Convention Center at this year's Texas Frightener weekend.

I love making people scared, love making people smile, so can't you tell?

And in feature flicks, I review one of the most talked about films of the summer, Steven Spielberg's latest sci-fi thriller, Disclosure Day. Hello, everyone. Welcome to Irving Spotlight. I'm Susan Stevens. We begin tonight with an event where culinary passion meets competitive spirit. Rare Steak Championship returns to Levy Event Plaza for a mouth-watering competition. Sizzle. Slice. Chew.

Three, two, one.

Welcome to Rare!

The Ultimate Steak Showdown returns to Levy Event Plaza. Today we have Rare Steak Championship. It's our second year in Irving, so we're super excited to be back.

We're happy to kind of be out supporting the community and just kind of getting our name out there, yeah.

23 of the top steakhouses in DFW are firing up the grill and mixing drinks.

We have a high desert sour. We're partnering with Fry Ranch. We did a bourbon and a mezcal split base, a little bit of orange juice that we amped up, a little agave, and a little lemon juice.

I'm not even a bourbon girl, but that just tastes really smooth and the perfect amount of citrus. To find out whose cocktail and cut are above the rest.

We have a cold smoked ribeye on top of barbacoa with masa at the bottom. So essentially, it's an open-faced tamale.

We're serving our sliced beef tenderloin with our signature sauce, which is a green peppercorn sauce. It's slightly spicy. And then we have our famous smashed potatoes underneath that.

I'm going to have to come back for a second one of this.

We are serving a grilled Wagyu steak over a tostone, which is a plantain crisp with our house chibichurri and a little bit of guajillo crema at the end.

From creative bites to traditional bold strips, the competition is tough. Fortunately, the steak is tender.

It's quite rewarding.

But this event is about more than competition. It's about a rare experience.

There is no event like this event. You cannot go anywhere where you get this much steak all included in your ticket. The drinks are included. You don't pay for anything once you get inside.

You get to taste this huge variety of different types of steaks from different restaurants. All the chefs are here.

And where the stakes are high, the community comes together. Good food is also part of the annual Juneteenth celebration. The cultural gathering returns to Heritage Park, inviting the community to honor resilience and rich history through music, family fun, and fellowship.

This is a day that we come out and that we celebrate and so I'm just so excited to be able to just come out here and just enjoy food, enjoy good vibes with friends and family and just enjoy the day.

Today is Juneteenth. The city of Irving puts this event on every year like clockwork. We're here to celebrate our freedom. We're here to network. We're here to pour into our small businesses, local vendors, and just have a good time.

We have the Inspiration Band, the More Melodies Band, and we have a saxophonist that's going to be entertaining the group today.

The entertainment has been good. There was some dancing. We kind of got out to do some line dancing and things like that. Food was good. So the sun is out. It was raining this morning, so I'm just happy to be out and celebrate.

It's a day that's becoming more and more popular, I think. It's a federal holiday now. But we really just wanted to enjoy the community and just togetherness.

Juneteenth to me means freedom, just oneness, celebration.

To me, it symbolifies unity, it symbolizes freedom, and it symbolizes power and empowerment and overcoming things that we had to go through as a culture. I think it's important because we need to show that we are sticking together, that we can grow, that we can develop, that we can rebuild the things that have been trying to overcome us.

celebrates different cultures, and that's just what makes us who we are today, just a melting pot of cultures and just, you know, coming out and just, you know, being one.

We're doing it because we are a part of this community, so you cannot express and share something if you're not involved. So we want them to know that we're always going to put something on for the city of Irving and surrounding cities, and we're supposed to have fun. This is what we call a fun day, and kick your feet up.

The summer blockbusters are rolling in. Steven Spielberg's newest alien sci-fi thriller, Disclosure Day, has arrived. And after bringing us legendary extraterrestrial stories like E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, I'm sad to say this highly anticipated alien mystery lacks the Spielberg magic we've come to love from his previous theatrical treasures.

Let's take a look at today.

Let's, let's, today is, today's... Disclosure Day asked the question, what if you found out we are not alone and someone was able to show you undeniable evidence of alien life? Would that scare you? It's an interesting question and could be an interesting movie if the script and the characters were not all over me.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I'd like to call the Irving City Council back in session at this time. We have no operations update. We do have a public hearing on the budget, and it's public hearing on the 2026-27 City of Irving fiscal year budget. Sinead, do we have anybody to speak on this?

Yes, sir. We have two speakers. First up is George Cuba, and second up is Laura Anderson, and you will have three minutes to speak. Mr. Cuba? Perhaps he left. All right, Laura. Laura, please. Your party.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council. It will not take me three minutes. I just have one thing to talk to you about on the agenda. I first want to thank you for what you did for the inclement weather shelter. I heard that you had a presentation a couple weeks ago, and it was a huge success with y'all giving us the $100,000. It kept people safe. when the weather got below 32. Recently, two very smart men who I think a whole lot of, Colvin Gibson and the mayor, Al Zapanta, talked to me about what do we do when the weather gets hot over 100. We need cooling stations just like we need warming stations in the winter. I don't know how y'all can go about doing that. I think there's some really good ideas. I know the mayor has some ideas. Dennis has some ideas. However you do it, please think about how we can keep people cool and keep them from passing away from the heat i know at one point the libraries were kind of an option they are no longer an option um especially for the homeless we do have many helping hands on monday wednesday and friday and they have been keeping the center open when it's um hot until five But they actually need funds to pay people to keep the centers open. And so I just wish that you would consider adding that to the budget and continue with the inclement weather shelter as well. Thank you so much, Mayor. And y'all, I'm so happy that y'all are here and can't wait to see what you do for us. Thank you.

Thank you.

This concludes our speakers. Mr. Kuba's here? Mr. Kuba? Come on up. You have three minutes.

Thank you. Good evening, council. My name is George Kuba. I live in 2325 Meadowcrest Lane. That's in very south Irving. I think I'm 0.4 miles from the THAT'S IMPORTANT BECAUSE THE CAMPEON TRAILS SOUTH RUNS NEAR MY HOUSE. I WALK IT AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK, AND I WANTED TO TALK ABOUT, WITH RESPECT TO THE BUDGET, OF COURSE, BUDGETING MORE FOR PARKS AND REC, BUT ALSO SOME OF THE IMPROVEMENTS COULD BE DONE TO CAMPEON TRAILS. I KNOW THAT THE IMPROVEMENTS HAVE BEEN DONE WHERE THE the part that runs along Hunter Farrell between Story and MacArthur, it's wider, it's nicer. And I think it was Grand Prairie that added mile markers and that kind of where it goes back to Irving where there was a mile marker passing MacArthur, GOES DOWN AND TAKES A LEFT BEFORE THE UNDERPASS AND WHERE IT CONNECTS TO MOUNTAIN CREEK PARK. IT WAS A BLUE MILE MARKER. IT WAS REMOVED FOR SOME REASON. IT MUST HAVE BEEN SOME KIND OF SOMETHING LICIT. IT WAS NEVER PUT UP. THAT SOUNDS LIKE A MINOR THING, BUT I WALK IT OFTEN, SO I SEE WHAT HAS CHANGED AND WHAT IS LACKING. THAT ALSO GOES INTO THE BROADER POINT OF QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENTS FOR THE CAMPEON TRAIL SOUTH. I understand walking during the daytime during the summer is a very bad idea, but it is noticeable early morning and also before dusk that there is really no shade the whole strip from story and really the BACK ROAD TO LONESTAR PARK ALL THE WAY TO HUNTER FERRELL, THERE'S NO SHADE AT ALL. UNDERSTANDABLY, TRYING TO PLANT A BUNCH OF TREES NEXT TO A TRAIL IS NOT ONLY A BIG EFFORT, BUT ALSO THE ROOTS COULD END UP AFFECTING THE SIDEWALK. BUT LOOKING AT SOME KIND OF SHADING WOULD BE PRETTY NICE FOR THAT PART. I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE CITY TO FOCUS ON THE SMALL THINGS LIKE THAT. OF COURSE, THE OTHER THING, WHICH IS PROBABLY NOT THE FIRST TIME, NOT THE ONLY TIME, BUT POTHOLES, THERE ARE SOME AREAS OF THE STREETS, TO BE FAIR, MORE SPECIFIC AREAS THAT TEND TO BE POTHOLE PRONE. I'm not sure what the problem is aside from, you know, more drivers and more heavier vehicles. And so a part of the road ends up being run over more and therefore it leads to depressed air and therefore a pothole. Just, I don't know, making sure that those are an area of focus. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, thank you, Sinead. Our next item is consent agenda items 3 to 26. Is there any council member wishing to pull any item from this consent agenda?

Motion to approve. Second. Thank you.

I'll share your vote, please. Okay. Next item is zoning cases and companion items. Items 27 through 31. At this time, we'll ask anyone wishing to speak for or against any of our zoning cases to stand and be sworn in by the city secretary, Shanae Jennings.

Please stand and raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear or affirm that all statements which you will make tonight to the city of Irving are the truth and nothing but the truth? Everybody needs to sign in for future reference.

Okay, thank you. This time, Item 27, Ordinance 2025-256, CUP, considering a conditional use permit to allow a 5.725 square foot event center rental hall within 500 feet of a residential lot and a variance to the minimum required parking to 241 West Rochelle Road. Shanae, do we have anyone signed up to speak on this item?

Not that I'm aware of.

Let me turn it to the council.

We do have, is the applicant here?

Is the applicant here? Okay, please.

state your name and address because I don't have it.

My name is Ashraf Ali Khan. I'm from Southlake, Texas.

What's your address?

Address?

Yeah.

Oh, for the property address or my home address? Southlake, Texas. 508 Coyote Road, Southlake, Texas.

Thank you.

Yeah, okay. So we're requesting for a variance for... you know, 20 parking spots. We already have submitted more detailed information to the zoning department before, and we had some variance for 20 parking spaces, and discussed with them that, you know, we have some offices which close at 5 o'clock, and we can utilize that parking spots for event halls. That was what I was requesting for that.

Councilmembers and any comments at this point Here man, yes I'm sorry.

I didn't quite understand. Did you say you have an agreement with somebody for parking spaces I

Actually, I own the whole property, and we have 200 parking spaces. So most of the tenants are there. We have like 30% to 40%. They leave the premises at 5 o'clock, and the event hall is usually after 5, and that's why we are requesting for the variance for 22 parking spaces.

What are the hours of the event?

Usually after 5.

Do you have hours set?

Not yet. So until we get that permit for the cup, then we can set up the hours and everything. But usually for the wedding and other invitations, usually after 5, 6 o'clock event. And basically we have offices that other tenants are there, so they close at 5 o'clock, and we have plenty of parking spaces over there.

What would be a viable solution if you had an afternoon event?

I have next property. I own the next property, too. They can park over there, too.

Is that the AutoZone one?

No, behind the AutoZone. We have an open lot and stuff like that.

Are both of those properties under the same ownership?

I own it. It's a different LLC.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. What I understood in the work session is the AutoZone has an objection on the parking. So if you have a MOU or if you have talked to them and they are okay, to use the parking spots which you are requesting for?

So the requirement is like the 3,000 square foot. They need, you know, actually like 20 to 1 is like 15. It's more than, you know, 15 parking spaces over there. So it's no, you know, common area that, you know, we usually work together. And it is, if any problem, that we can resolve that one.

I understand that most of the event centers are operated during the off hours, you know, 6 o'clock, 7 o'clock later. Yes, yes. So what was the... What is the activity at that time in your property?

The zoning allow you 2,000 square foot. I'm asking for 5,000. So I can open like 2,000 square foot, but the zoning require more than 2,000. They have to have a cup application. So that's what the requirement. So that's why we applied for that. All right. Thank you. Any more questions?

Dennis? Yeah, so the event center is going to be 5725 square feet?

The actual square foot area. Of the event center? Yes.

What's the capacity, people capacity?

Usually 100, 150. So it will be 100, 150.

At your maximum capacity, maybe 150? Yeah.

So the 57 square feet is all included with the restroom and everything together, but the actual area can only fit like 100, 150.

So basically about 60 spaces realistically.

Yeah, like if you consider like 30 to 40, yeah. Okay, all right.

If no further comments, I would like to put a motion to approve.

I have a comment. Jocelyn, this might be more for you. I didn't ask this in work session, but also the request is for zero feet from a single family development. So do you have any photos from the single family development? I'll close this.

It's adjacent. So there's, I don't know if we can, Daxon, if you can bring up the slides, the aerial, the single family lots are directly behind the shopping center. So the measurement is property line to property line. Since they're adjacent, it's a zero setback. Okay. That's okay. I think we got it, Daxon.

Okay. Yes. We've considered, we've seen these at convent centers before, too, and when they're this close to the residential, they haven't been supported.

Yes, they have. We have approved one before, this close to the residential, on MacArthur. The issue with the residential, though, it's behind the shopping center, behind a fence, 40 feet into the yard. There's no impact to the residents. of this event center because this event center faces out on Rochelle. The residence is behind the whole center. There's no impact to the residence. I just want to clarify that.

Actually, the city already has an easement with my property. So they have a back alley easement so there's plenty of space and there's no noise or nothing like that. So it's facing Rochelle Street.

We did have a similar situation involving that shopping center at Rochelle and O'Connor. And O'Connor. And O'Connor. On O'Connor. Next to Tio Carlos over there. And it was right behind residential. With the commercial facing the street.

Okay. Abdul, you had a motion? I'll say. Okay.

Mayor, council, just before you vote on this, just remember, the motion is to approve. As staff kind of mentioned in the main setting, this is a CUP. You have the ability to put a time limit on it. If there is no time limit, then it will be for an unlimited amount of time. So just a point of information if you wanted to consider that.

Thank you, Mr. Ray. Yes, Adam. Excuse me, do you mean a time limit like operations time limit or? Time limit in terms of years.

You can do that because this is a CUP. So at the end of that time period, you would have the opportunity to reevaluate this or they would renew their, kind of go back through this process. Okay.

Are there any, I don't even know what to, do we have a precedence for this if it's approved? Like what kind of time limit we have?

In the past, with the one we did approve next to residential, we put a three-year time limit on it.

Three years?

Mark? Yeah, this was with PNC. It was a 9-0 vote. There isn't sufficient parking, and it's zero feet from the residential. So I do not support this case.

Yes. Thank you, Mayor. So you okay with the time limit? Yes, I'm okay with that.

What would be? Three years is fine. And then? Let's see. If there are any complaints, then, you know, we can reapply for that. You could come back and ask for the extension to that? Yes, sir. Okay.

Thank you.

Go ahead, John. Well, Dennis and Abdul, I think you would have to withdraw and remake the motion in order to add that. Exactly.

Yeah, I would like to do that. I would like to amend the motion to go for a time period of three years and motion to approve for that.

Okay. K.O., we good on this? Yes, sir. Just so we're clear, the motion has been amended. So what is before you is just to add the three-year time period. So that's what you'll be voting on. It's a motion to approve. And the time period will be for a three-year period. We're just going to keep it simple.

And the second agrees?

Dennis? Yeah, Dennis has provided the second.

Okay. Let's go ahead and show your vote. Motion fails. I'm sorry? KO at this point because that was amended to this? Is it done at this point or do we need to go back to it?

You don't need to go back to it. We just did it very simply that if you were voting for it, you were voting for it with the three-year period of time. So you're fine.

Okay.

So it does fail?

It does fail, yes, sir.

Sorry.

We cannot table it? Can we table it? No? Okay.

Thank you. Okay, we're on the item number 28 ordinance two zero two six dash two one dash ZC considering a zoning change from C dash C community commercial SP one CC detailed site plan community commercial and state highway 161 overlay through SP2, CO, generalized site plan, commercial office, and cemetery uses, and State Highway 161 overlay, with a variance to the minimum size of a cemetery for 190 Valley View Lane. Shanae, do we have anyone signed up to speak on this item?

Yes, we have Sharon Barbosa Crane and Mr. Jim Dewey. Mr. Dewey, you do have to arrive here before 7 and sign up, please, in the future. Sharon, you're first.

Good evening, counsel. I'm not here as the presenter. I'm here to testify on behalf of the case. If you all would like for Mr. Dewey to go first, I'm happy to do that. So I'll just... If that is okay with you all, I'll just sit here and wait until you're done with this presentation.

You just want to speak? Yes. Okay. So, Mr. Dewey, please come up.

Good evening. Let me ask a question. Sinead?

Yes.

And Carol? Does Jim have to get permission, or where are we on this?

Our rules of procedure state that he has to sign up to speak, yes.

And you're good?

We signed him up. But in the future, you need to sign up before 7 o'clock.

They just signed me up. And I appreciate that. I was not able to be here at 7. I was here shortly thereafter. But they do not allow anybody to sign up after 7. I think maybe that should be considered. But I'm OK. They were very nice and let me sign up while I was sitting in the audience. But good evening, Mayor Zapanta. Congratulations on all the re-elected and newly re-elected members. I'm Jim Dewey with JDJR Engineers, 2500 Texas Drive, Suite 100, Irving, Texas. I'm here tonight on behalf of the Islamic Center of Irving. They have this property under contract with hopes to develop this property as a cemetery for their community. We're asking for two variances. I'm going to first talk about what I think is the lesser of the two variances, and that's the setback for the graves or the internments. The ordinance that was recently adopted for cemetery development requires that you have a 20-foot building setback as well as a 20-foot internment setback from the property lines. We are honoring those setbacks. from the exterior property lines. I don't think when the ordinance was developed, they really anticipated a cemetery encircling a family cemetery. So we're only asking for the variance of the zero foot setback for graves or internments on the internal property lines where we surround the Harrington family cemetery. They don't have any requirements for setbacks. So I think that makes some sense. And we are honoring the setbacks along all the exterior property lines. Now the other variance is a little major, bigger variance. And that's to the acreage. The city staff came up with acreage, minimum acreage of 25 acres. We only have 4.7 acres. That's a huge variance. I think... that the 25-acre minimum is appropriate, or may be appropriate, for corporate-owned, for-profit cemeteries to ensure that they have sustainability and maintenance and perpetual care. However, cemeteries for a religious organization or group, a faith-based organization, 25 acres in 20, $26, I think if it's not feasible for most, if not all, to be able to have a cemetery for their religious faith, their church, synagogue or mosque, and be able to economically do that, I think it's economically just unfeasible. And so with this cemetery request, It is for a faith-based organization. We anticipate having enough graves for a 20 to 30 year lifespan. Now in terms of perpetual care, they have insured me that they will put 30% of the fee that they charge to reserve a plot into an endowment fund for perpetual care. The cemetery associations recommend a minimum of 10%, but they're going to do 30% to make sure that they have enough money to maintain this in perpetuity. Now, we postponed this case in order to address some issues that the staff had, not with the land use, but with engineering issues related to the development of this tract. First being access. This property has very limited access on Valley View, only 83 feet of frontage, and it's right where box coverts for drainage are going to come under the highway. So there is some issues. Access to Valley View could be done, but the city staff, we met with them. They asked us to consider an alternate access. After conferring with ICI, they agreed we're going to not access Valley View at all. We're going to access from Block Drive in the rear. I think it's shown on your site plan. And we're going to have to pave some street paving in Estelle, connect to Block, come over west. This property, if you look on your site plan, has a long, narrow strip going from the majority of the track up to the old Estelle right-of-way. There's no pavement there. But we will be constructing street pavement in Estelle in addition to the private drive going up through the flag lot portion of the track. So we did agree to that in a cooperative spirit in trying to make this work with the staff. They had some traffic concerns about maybe larger funeral events here and having traffic maybe cause some issues along Valley View this way. We have no impact on Valley View Lane. The other issue that was brought up is drainage. There is a large creek that runs through this property on the west side that continues and runs through the animal shelter property and the dog park. We will meet all city requirements for drainage. We already have spent and had a study done to determine jurisdictional waters. What that means is if there's any wetlands or anything that would preclude us from being able to work in the creek, and there are no jurisdictional waters on this property, we plan on realigning the channel, widening it, concrete lining it, and containing the 100-year flood completely within the channel, which actually exceeds what the city ordinance would require. We've made that plain and clear to the staff and that's what we'll do. And last, If you have a family cemetery on your property or inside your property, state law requires that you cannot prevent access from the family. You have to provide them access. Right now they really don't have much access. There's no paved roads or driveways. That property hasn't been maintained. The cemetery, quite frankly, has not been maintained for many years. We are providing them concrete driveway access to within 20 to 30 feet of of their cemetery. In addition, ICI wants to be able to maintain the family cemetery for them. We will be reaching out. We know who to reach out to. The representative from ICI that I have been dealing with on this project knows the Harrington family. They've purchased some property from the Harrington family. We know the great-grandson of one of the members that are buried in the Harrington family. So we will be reaching out. Hopefully they will agree to allow us to do maintenance, keep it clean. It is internal to our cemetery, so we feel like it's important that it be maintained, and hopefully they'll agree. We have not gotten that agreement yet. That is something we will be trying to do. I hope they will allow us to do that. I think it makes sense for both parties. I can't understand why they wouldn't, but I just wanted everybody to be assured that access will be provided in much, much better access than they've had for many years. So with that, I'd be glad to answer any questions you have regarding this request.

Abdul?

Thank you, Mayor. A quick question on On the accessibility to Harrington Cemetery, after we pave the road, once we clean it up, if their family, somebody from their family, come up and say that they would like to have a burial for their family members or anybody they choose to, do we have the access for them to get in there and bury in that? Absolutely.

We'll have a 24-foot drive. coming in from Estelle, encircling this property. And that driveway will be within 20 to 30 feet of their cemetery. And we're not gonna have burials in that area to allow access for them, about a 20-foot strip. You cannot block access by state law. They will be welcome to intern other members of their family if they choose to do so.

That is one of the things which we thought of is because if somebody wanted to get burial in that area, they have the accessibility and we could facilitate that.

They will have far better access than they have now. Okay, thank you.

Louise?

Hello, I missed you in the work session. By the time I wanted to ask a few questions, you guys were gone, but that's okay.

Well, unfortunately, I had to leave because I had a pre-development meeting on another project in Irving that was virtual. So I was intending to stay, but I couldn't.

No, that's fine. It was a little bit confusing how it happened. I mean, I've had many conversations with my colleagues and community leaders. So I want to ask a few questions because there seems to be, especially because the site is so small, it's less than five acres. So you say that you're going to fund it by selling all the plots right away, very quickly. But then on the other hand, it's going to take almost 30 years potentially to fill up. So walk me a little bit through the process of what it looks like. Who has access to those plots initially? What are the barriers of entry, if any? What does the process look like?

Well, like any cemetery, there may be some hours or limits on access, but anybody that has a family member in there will be allowed to go and visit that.

No, no, meaning to purchase for the initial sale of the plots.

What's your question?

What is the process? Like, let's say I want to buy a plot of there. You know, it's going to be a minute, but maybe I have a grandmother or something, hopefully. And what does that process look like? when it comes to what are the requirements to qualify to be able to purchase a plot to bury a family member potentially?

Well, that's a very good question. I'm not sure I'm the one that can answer that properly, but what I can say is they will have a price for a plot. Now, my understanding is you do not get a specific plot. Okay, but you're guaranteed a plot, and they start at one area and work their way through the cemetery.

Okay, I'm not sure if he wanted to say something.

Yes.

That's Dawood Jamil. He's the representative from ICI, if y'all would allow him. Yeah, please.

Good evening.

Please state your name and address.

Dawood Jamil, 4608 Luxor Drive in Irving. Answering your question specifically, nobody is selling slots for burial to anybody. It's basically the right to bury. The Islamic Center Irving will be owning it. So whoever wants to bury their loved ones, they would be getting the right to bury. So they would be not purchasing a specific lot, but the right to bury a

But the right to bury is limited and there's an initial sale. Is that something that is going to be transferable?

Yes. I think somebody buying a right to bury here in the year 2026 may not exercise the right themselves. They may use it 10 years later, 15 years later for themselves or transfer it to somebody else who may need it at that time.

The question is, what is the process to transfer? Is there a fixed price? Is there a cap? Are there resident requirements? How does that work?

Well, the initial price that we are currently thinking of with the developmental costs and things like that is about $2,000 per burial.

That's the initial price, $2,000. Okay.

But later on, things may change based on the developmental costs, but it's around $2,000.

But let's say a family member buys one plot, and a couple years later they want to resell it. Like, what is the pricing based on for that?

There is no real control of pricing. I mean, there is no real cap on it.

And they could sell to anybody, potentially?

Yeah, they could sell it to anybody, correct. Or sell the right, again, it's not a piece of real estate that they are selling, but the right to bury somebody there. It could be any location.

I see. I mean, some of the concerns that I've heard from the community, because this is a need that exists that is very legitimate, is that in some other places the prices are skyrocketing. And especially, and this is my concern, I've had conversations with some community leaders about this, that Irving is such a great location, you know, everybody's going to want to bury, you know, from other cities around too, not just Irving. And so I was having some conversations with KO where if there was any way where we could hopefully the land that we dedicate to cemetery uses in Irving if there's any way we can restrict it for Irving residents. Because otherwise, we might have a small cemetery. The plots are going to go through the roof. In a couple of years, we're going to need another one. And we'll have to work through that. So all these concerns are real. And the limited land that we have that we're going to dedicate to this, I would wish it is indeed reserved and administered properly for the long term for Irving residents.

In that regard, what we have done is we are having a cap of like each family could buy the number of lots based on the family count. Like five people in the family, they can buy five lots.

So in that sense, it's not like somebody can buy 50 and then just sell them for it?

No, not by any means. Because this is to address the genuine need for the community. Because right now, the closest cemetery that we have is in Denton. And by 380, a little bit west of 35, on any given day, like a typical day, it's about an hour, 15 minutes to get there. So travel time alone is like two and a half to three hours. In our faith, it's an obligation to take the dead to the burial place. And a lot of people are unable to take that kind of time off during the middle of the day. to make that three-, four-hour journey and get back. So what they do is they basically do not even participate in this obligation. So this would turn it around, make it much closer to home here.

Right, so that's perfectly understandable, and I sympathize with that. For me, it's just a matter of I wish we could do something where we are able to keep it for Irving residents, because otherwise... I mean, frankly, I get the cap, but I think we're going to run out of space. I think, like, within a very short amount of time, we're going to be working towards another one, and that's fine. But that's one concern. And this is, Kayo, if you could clarify if there's any tools that we can use to sort of ensure that, like, what would the path to restrict the use for Irving residents look like? if there's any sort of path.

Because it's a land use issue, the council really doesn't have the ability to do that through a zoning case. So it really would have to just be a commitment that you all make to do that if that's what you would like to do. But that was the question posed to me is that in the zoning case, could there be a limitation that the plots only be sold to or used by Irving residents, and we don't really have the ability to do that on the regulatory side.

Actually, now, given the size of Irving and the community, it's easily conceivable that this will all be consumed by the people at the Islamic Center in Estes Road and the other one in VRIC in Valley Ranch. I mean, there are so many families around. In reality, maybe 90% of it will be purchased by people in Irving. If that's what you want.

So that's all? Yeah. Abdul?

May I go? Sorry. Yes. Apologies.

Mr. Mayor, if there is no other comments, I would like to propose the approval of the motion to approve.

Is there a second? Or do you have a comment? I had a question for Trevor. Go ahead, please. Is Trevor here?

I don't think you've gone through applicants for and against, have you? I'm sorry?

Trevor, there's a...

In the packet, it was mentioned here that a possible solution for the creek is to concrete the channel, which would contain the 100-year floodplain. Is it as simple as that, that by concreting it, then you've resolved the floodplain issues?

I would say it's simple to say that. It's probably, I mean, it's not as easy to do, but it's doable. I mean, it's an engineering design that would have to be done. But yeah, depending on kind of the flood, I mean, the flood waters and how much water is coming through there will determine how difficult that would be. But I mean, it's an engineering task that would have to be done.

I guess not knowing these engineering issues, it seems you think of water flowing, running down into that creek, and whether it's a natural bed or a concrete bed, if the water flow is going to be so great that it's going to overflow, it wouldn't make a difference. So I don't understand that.

Yeah, so depending on if you're designing it to the 100-year flood, the 50-year, that would dictate how deep it has to be, how wide it's got to be, whether it has to be concrete line versus have a soil bottom. So all those things would have to be considered, and the design would have to meet that 100-year flood.

So it's digging it deeper and concreting it. Or wider. Or wider, yeah. And if you're talking about the size of the lot as being significant, I guess we're only talking about making it deeper. Correct.

Yeah.

And you don't know whether that's feasible engineering-wise? Not at this point without having those studies done. Okay, thanks. Yes, sir.

Any other comments at this time? Justin, let me ask you to step up. I've got a question for you. From a land use perspective and our ordinance of 25 acres, we haven't had this kind of a program come forward or this kind of a request that has this high of a variance. Am I correct?

This is the first cemetery we've processed since we set the standards last January. So the 25 acres came from the Texas Crematories and Cemetery Association, that was their recommendation. We have a summary on your report. You all remember that we had the discussion. And that is where the 25 acres came from, is recommending that that would provide a larger lifespan for the cemetery, more income, and just the ability to maintain it at a higher level.

Okay. Any other comments? I think... Jocelyn, the discussions of P&Z, what were some of their concerns as well? Because I know it was about the acreage and the high percentage of variance. Am I correct on that?

Yes, it was just consistent with the concerns that we've had. P&Z is very much, you know, the council set these regulations. They want to be consistent with the regulations that council had decided.

Okay, thank you. Jim, let me say something to you. You really did an excellent job. I have to commend you because you answered what you could answer, and then you stood up and said, well, maybe this, maybe that. And, you know, I'm thanking you. Well, thank you. Because that's a credibility to you as a professional.

The last thing I want to do is give an answer that's not correct.

Thank you. So I wanted to let you know that. Thank you.

If I could have a minute to address the finance thing. Yeah, sure. The existing creek that runs through this property, Commissioner Cronenweth, is very narrow. And it's an old creek. It's about four feet deep, but only about 10 feet wide. You can greatly expand the capacity of that channel by widening it. And something you may not know, because it's something only engineers may know, is If you concrete line it, it carries a lot more than if it's grass line because there's friction, grass, weeds that deter the flow. But when you go to something that's a hard surface, it carries more water. And then, of course, it'll be a lot less maintenance. Now, it's obviously more cost up front, but ICI, we've talked about this, they want to do that cost up front so that there's very little maintenance long term. And because the waters are not jurisdictional, then we can do that. And Irving allows it. It's in their drainage ordinance. But the federal government can't. We're not obligated to maintain the creek as is.

OK. So we have a motion on the table to approve. Do we still have somebody? I'm sorry.

Yes, we do. Sharon.

Okay, Sharon.

Thank you. Mayor Zapanta and Council Manager Hillman and staff, Sharon Barbosa Crane, 2608 Islander Dale Irving. I'm going to speak to you here for a moment about the zoning case 2026-21. I'm speaking in favor of this case. I was involved with the team that brought this subject to Austin in order to provide the opportunity for people who need to have cemeteries to have one inside city limits, which you couldn't before this. And so the city took several years to develop an ordinance, which is the way the bracketed law was written. The cities get to develop an ordinance if they want to take advantage of the state law. And in doing so, imposed the area, which is primarily what I want to speak to you about, because When you look at the other concerns that have been raised, just to be factual about our process, our development process, they are not zoning issues. They are platting and permitting issues. The drainage, the traffic, et cetera, will all be taken care of during those other processes in the development process. And if you get into platting and permitting and you can't do it, you cannot meet those requirements, the development doesn't happen. Everyone who brings a case To develop understands that. It's happened more than once. But it just simply won't happen. So what we're dealing with is land use. So I'd like to say that the 25 acres is too much. It's a bar too high for people to meet. If you restrict this, what you're doing is you're telling every church, every mosque, every synagogue, every temple, and other Eleo-Mossen area organizations like Shriners and Elks, whoever, so forth, that there's no way that you can have a cemetery in a community where you have people who need one. And that really should not be the intent of our service toward each other. Through our government and through the processes that we allow, A variance is not breaking our law. A variance is provided in the law as one of the elements of the law. And so when you grant a variance, then you are actually upholding the law as you have written in it and accepted it. And you didn't have to put 25 acres in there. Dallas didn't. Dallas just passed a similar ordinance as Irving, but they did not put that kind of acreage in there. In fact, I'm not sure they put any requirement of a minimum in So that this is an arbitrary number that Irving chose, and it turns out to be one that doesn't really work for the people who need it. So I ask you to give that as your consideration. The recommendation from the cemeteries and the cemeteries association, this is interesting. This is not industry standard. This is their opinion. This is a 100-year-old organization that has served as a clearinghouse and a liaison to bring these different groups together to help them understand state law and various needs in the industry and how you apply them. And so if you would consider the fact of need here for your constituents, I think it'd be really appreciated. Thank you.

May I? Yes, you may. I have a question for Mr. Jamil, if you would. So there are a couple of things that kind of stuck out to me. When you're preparing for a funeral service, where does a funeral service take place?

The funeral service actually, the service takes place obviously in the mosque.

Okay. And how much of a distance is it for you to go to the existing cemetery that you go to?

Oh, I cannot recall the exact mileage, but time-wise it's about an hour, hour and a half.

And if I understand right, it's usually in the afternoon?

Yeah, because typically the funeral services are right after the noon prayers. around like 1, 2 o'clock. So by the time the cottage leaves the mosque premises towards Denton, it's like 3.30. They get caught up in traffic. I personally spent an hour and a half many times. So it's an hour and a half to go, hour and a half to come, and then you spend another maybe 45 minutes or so at the site. So it's like a four-hour trip. But to this particular site from ICI, it's less than five minutes.

more people will be able to...

Absolutely.

And I'm assuming that's an intrinsic value to them to be able to attend a funeral.

Exactly. Because it's an obligation on the living. I mean, the living have on the dead. Basically, the ability to take them to the burial site is a big meritorious, highly meritorious act. That's an obligation.

And the last question I have, Mr. Jamil, is if you wanted to provide this level of convenience to your congregants, what's the possibility of doing that with meeting the requirement of the city ordinance of 25 acres in the city of Irving?

It's...

I mean, almost impossible because 25... To begin with, I don't think there are tracks, 25 acres or more than that, that are developable at this time. And then... The cost of just 25 acres, I mean, it's for a cemetery use. I mean, it's one thing for some other industrial use or commercial venture, but for something like a cemetery, you know, the cost is going to be prohibitive.

And I haven't been involved in this project, so I'm kind of new to this. So would you say that this opportunity of this land kind of fell in your lap and you're like, let's do a cemetery here, or you were looking for cemetery land and this was the best case scenario you could have found?

I think it's the latter.

This was the best-case scenario you could have found to make cemetery available.

Yeah, and it's right next to an existing cemetery, for one thing, and the neighborhood surrounding it is basically DFW Airport on almost all the sides, and there is an apartment complex on one side, and then the rest of it is basically the city's animal shelter. And then there's also a track... owned by ISD. It's not an issue for any of the residences.

Thank you. What this really is about is whether we want to allow people to have cemeteries in the city of Irving anymore. I thought the 25 acres was outrageous, and I expressed it when they came with us. I even said, you don't have 25 acres in this city for anybody to get to put a cemetery. Basically, what the city of Irving is saying is that you're not putting a cemetery in the city of Irving, period. You're using this 25 acre number as your ability to say no. I have a cemetery in my neighborhood. It's about four acres. They're still burying people there. I've been burying people there since probably the 50s. And there is a church right across the street. In the last two funerals I went to, I walked across the street from the church to the cemetery. Those things may not be important to a lot of you, but they're important to people. And I think as a city council member leader, we need to be trying to do whatever we can to help the citizens of our city. And so this piece of property surrounds another cemetery. It sits over by the airport. It's not near anybody's home. It's not going to hurt anybody to put a four-acre cemetery at this location. Not a single person in the city of Irving is this going to be a detriment to. So I don't understand why we're so caught up in the fact that we want 25 acres for a cemetery. So I think trying to stay... Not getting emotional, but I just don't understand this at all. So at the end of the day, what we are telling the people in the city of Irving, you're not going to have a cemetery in the city of Irving, period. But I am going to vote for this because I think it's the right thing to do. It's the right thing to do for our community and for our citizens. And I'm not going to withhold the opportunity from citizens in our city who pay taxes. who support our city and who do things simply because of a number called 25 acres. So I'm going to support it because I think it's the right thing to do.

Okay. Before we move forward, any other comments?

I have some comments.

Mark.

So the... When the law changed to require cities and counties that are the size of Dallas County, we were obligated to come up with standards to evaluate what these applications for cemeteries. So that's where that came from. The prior legislation was born as a result of these small cemeteries being established in large urban areas that impeded development in those areas. There was a recognition that the land needed to be preserved for development in these urban areas as they grew out, as land became limited and not as available for housing, for businesses, for other things like that. And so that's why the state law prevented any further construction of cemeteries in these large urban counties. That law was changed not by people in the industry. I guess Ms. Barbosa-Crane went down there. But when that law changed and we had to come up with standards to determine whether or not we would allow such a cemetery, we weren't obligated to grant them. It was just standards for us to come up with to evaluate the requests. We went to the industry experts. So it's not just something that was made out of we consulted with industry experts, we retained them, to get an idea of what made sense for an appropriate cemetery. And the recommendations were for these 25-acre cemeteries. The reason is so that there would be sufficient space to provide for future growth and accommodation for those that might be buried there. And the perpetual care, obviously, is so that if the cemetery should fail then, The state, through the Department of Banking, would have the financial obligation to take it over. The idea that, well, people want it and there isn't 25 acres here does not justify saying, therefore, we should not have a 25-acre requirement. The practical reality that there isn't such a large enough size doesn't mean that we should, therefore, allow smaller cemeteries. That is a non sequitur. That does not make sense. The reality remains the same, that the experts say that for a viable long-term cemetery, there should be at least 25 acres. So what we did was the logical thing to do. We consulted with the experts and they came up with these standards. And very recently, and we adopted them as a council, to just a year or so later say we're gonna ignore those with an 81% variance does not make sense. And then we have other issues with this parcel. We've talked about the creek, whether that's gonna be a problem or not. We've talked about that this is, that there's other uses that could be used for this property, and we talked about the perpetual care. But I understand people wanting to have the cemetery, but there are reasons why you don't have those which were reflected in the prior law and is reflected in the standards that we adopted. And also, the recommendation that we received from the experts coincides with the recommendation from the state authorities on the issue as well. So again, it's not coming out of the blue. It's from the people that are actually experts in that area. And so even though I sympathize with the people wanting to have a cemetery there, it doesn't make sense. It doesn't comply with our standards. It's a huge variance, and I'm opposed to the case for those reasons.

Okay, Dennis? My comment would be the experts need to come out and look at Shady Oaks Cemetery. Had those experts been here 50 years ago, they would have said, you cannot build this cemetery because it's only four acres. That cemetery has been well kept. That cemetery is still allowing people to be built in it. So just because somebody called themselves an expert don't mean they're an expert. Basically, the reality of it is that one cemetery on Conflans and Compton would prove the experts wrong. So with that, I will still support and I'll shut up for tonight. Amen.

John? Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to call the question. We have a motion and a second on the floor.

I'd like to make one final statement and then we'll move right to it, John. Sharon, you're a proponent and always supporting us in Irving. I hope I didn't hear you comparing us to Dallas and how they're making decisions. Jim, you know what I'm saying, okay? So do you, Sharon. Okay. I just had to put it out there. But there's another side to this. We as a city and all You know who we were at the time that this was being passed. We're never, never talked to by our state representatives. And the impact, and you know that for a fact that I know it. At the end of the day, we were being put upon and where we had to make some decisions and then we made them. And that was because we went out and we had a lot of input from various sources. And we made the call. And so our variance Shouldn't say very our 25 acres is not just being pulled out of the Hat and by the way Dennis There are 25 acres available in this city That's not about doubting. They're available. So at this point, I don't think we need to go any farther We have a motion. Am I correct? Is there a second? Okay, gentlemen show your vote Okay, it passes. Thank you. Next item. Ordinance 29-2026-82-ZC, considering zoning change from CN Neighborhood Commercial and State Highway 161 overlay. to SP1CN Detail Site Plan, Neighborhood Commercial, and State Highway 161 Overlay to allow an auto service center. Minor as a principal use within the State Highway 161 Overlay, 4149 North Beltline Road. Sinead, do we have anybody who would like to comment or is the applicant here?

No, we do not. The applicant requested postponement, I believe, of this case. Okay.

That's correct, Mayor. This one, the applicant has requested postponement to your July 16th council meeting.

I move that we postpone to July 16th. Do we have a second?

Okay.

Please show your vote.

Ordinance, item 30, ordinance 2026-84-ZC, considering a zoning change from SP2ML-20A, generalized site plan, light industrial 20A, plus data center and state highway 161 overlay to SP2ML-20A, Generalized Site Plan Light Industrial 20A plus data center and State Highway 161 overlay for a variance to allow parking spaces not to exceed 71% within a 30-foot parking setback 4401 North State Highway 161. Sinead, do we have anyone signed up to speak?

Yes, Scott Ellermann.

Okay. Thanks, Scott.

Good evening. Scott Ellerman, 4401 North State Highway 161, Irving, Texas. Thank you this evening for your time tonight, counsel. I have a brief presentation and will make myself available for questions.

Do I bicycle on the next one? Oh, there we go.

Our property is approximately 24 acres and the current home of the Awakened Church, one of Irving's largest and most respected church for almost 75 years. Over a year ago, this property was approved for rezoning for a data center and warehousing. And we were able to finalize a transaction that enabled the Awakened Church to construct and relocate into a new permanent facility that they are close to finishing at 4600 Regent Boulevard within the city of Irving. and they've been continuing their operations and services within the facility currently and today. Once rezoned, we pursued permitting for the data center, continued our due diligence with Encore, which we had substantially done in 2024, awaiting the zoning for finalization as our primary objective was to ultimately build a data center. We spent significant time in Capital pursuing the data center path. However, we recently received notice from both Encore and ERCOT that their process had changed and our project was not slated to be heard for finalization until a minimum of 2029. This change caused all prospects to terminate pursuit of this project and ultimately forced us to pivot to our secondary choice, which was a warehouse development. We submitted our plans for permitting for this warehouse, and we were told of the parking constraints within the 161 overlay, which led staff to ask us to place all parking in the rear to be in compliance. This location, however, is in a space where the truck traffic occurs and traverses. While with the kind assistance of staff, we have provided that design for current permitting considerations, we do not feel this is the better choice for employee safety. This variance request is designed to ultimately alleviate this problem by allowing the parking to be in the front. As we depict here within the site plan is the current location and what's being permitted for parking along the rear. We appreciate staff working with us throughout this process to identify compliant alternatives. The current compliant layout forces employees to walk through active truck loading areas to reach the building. We believe separating people from truck circulation is the safer design. Additionally, limiting parking in this manner can restrict the number of employees a future user can comfortably support on this site, which can impact the future occupants' operations and staffing needs. These concerns have led us to file a variance request to allow the parking in the front of the building, which is the same site plan we actually illustrated to City Council in planning and zoning in our zoning case in March of 2025. Within the past three years, there have been two warehouses within the 161 overlay that received a similar variance request that we stand here making today. And it was really this parking limitation and both properties are located less than a half a mile south of our properties that I note here in blue. Both properties have delivered. Both properties have leased to reputable companies like Costco and BP Aero. who not only made a significant investment into the space, but contribute to the tax base as well. Additionally, within the past 60 days, we've received a significant amount of prospective bill-to-suit interest and have had several conversations with one of the largest private companies in the United States to occupy the full building. However, once they were made aware of the parking limitation and our pending variance request, they had completely disengaged from any conversations until the vote tonight in the path forward. They have communicated that the existing plan that is permitted does not work because of the concern that they share along with us for having parking behind the truck court and compromising the safety of future employees. In conclusion, we believe the warehouse is the highest and best use for the site under the existing zoning, and our goal is to deliver a high quality, fully occupied industrial project that contributes to the long term economic value to Irving. The request does not increase building size, truck traffic, or the intensity of the use overall. It simply allows for safer and more functional employee parking placement. Thank you.

Mark? I have a question for the applicant. For the landscape grass area in the front of the building, Do you have in mind exactly what that is? We talked before, and one thing I was concerned about before was, again, the appearance of the building. I'd like to see shrubs across there that would obscure the parking spaces.

Yes, sir. I didn't include that in my presentation. I have this here. I was just going to put it on the projector, if we can put that up. And bear with me, I had to color because it was extremely difficult to see the circles where all the trees were represented. Everything you see in green that we colored out is actually a representation of live oak, red live oak trees, red oak trees. This is the landscaping plan that we actually have permitted for the facility. when we if we are uh successful in our variance request tonight the landscaping plan will not change the only thing that will be different is parking along the front and so the intent actually of this landscaping was to screen the building a little more from the highway and the parking spaces in the park of course in the parking space thank you john uh well if there are no other

I would like to make a motion to approve with the P&Z's recommendation.

I'll second.

I'd like to make a comment before we vote at this point. You and I visited, and I said I'd reserve until this vote at this point, and I'll show my vote eventually when we do vote. But I remember very vividly our discussions and the commitments that you all made to a data center. And you also committed that you had a letter that was coming or was eminent from Encore to be able to have the ability to have the power that you all needed for that data center. And I also understand during the P&Z discussions, the discussion was they were recommending that you not maintain or keep the data center option in play. I guess I'm trying to understand I understand why you're trying to do something with the property now because you're not going to have an ability to do much on a data center as far as the Encore study. I think they told you about five years before they could get to it. And I understand why you made this decision to go to warehouse. So now let me ask the question. The warehouse that you're proposing, how many individuals will be working there? And so what does it take and how much parking space?

Well, there would be approximately 310 car parking spaces for a 350,000 square foot facility, which is a very typical ratio provided in a standard warehouse. Now with regard to the prospective group that's interested in the space, their employment is to be determined. What is critical to them for their own operation is there will be a showroom component to ultimately display their product that people can come in and out of the facility to witness and see some of the product being tested. There will be no retail sales or transactions involved from what I understand. within this operation. It's merely just a showroom. And then there will also be warehouse and office employees within the facility. I just don't know the approximate number. So you don't know how many people will be working there? Well, I know that they requested to maintain all 310 car parks, which is an indication that there will be considerable job growth, job creation through this prospective group as well as

a little bit of attendance via the showroom well if i was to look at the comparison of what a data center and what that would then bring to the city not only in potential personnel but also tax and all the development that might go along with it minus a lot of the truck traffic that you're going to be dealing with with this kind of a building that you're talking about at this point so i'm reluctant at this point because I really don't know what you're going to do with that building, and yet you want to maintain that option for data center. Would you consider eliminating that or removing that?

I've mentioned in private meetings that our priority is obtaining the parking variance tonight. And while we would like to maintain the flexibility to keep the data center overlay and zoning overlay the priority is obtaining this for the long-term value of the project. And that is a compromise that we would be willing to make, albeit our preference would be to hold on to that ordinance for future flexibility. And to your point about... The benefits that a data center will ultimately create, I couldn't agree more. There's a reason why it was our primary objective and our primary business plan. Procedural changes within Oncor and ERCOT's review rendered that unfeasible for at least five years, as you mentioned. And so right now, our priority is putting the site into production.

I appreciate your honesty, because you've been very forthright, and I appreciate that. My concern again was how we got to where we are right now when the constituents or the parishioners for the cavalry were looking to move and they had a time frame to be able to make that move on Regent and then whatever happened that did not go forward and now they're up on I think Freeport area which is great for them and I think they're building out that location at this point. But What concerns, I guess, the whole putting forward of how we made those adjustments and how we then made those commitments. At this point, I don't argue one bit. Thank you for saying you would be willing to look at that opportunity to go forward with or without a data center at this point. So thank you for being straightforward on that. Yes, sir. Thank you. We do have a motion and a second. Any other comments at this point? Okay, show your vote. Okay, thank you. We will now move on to item number 31, ordinance 2026, 122-ZC, considering a zoning change from SP2, generalized site plan, professional office with outdoor aviation equipment training and State Highway 183 overlay to SP2, generalized site plan, neighborhood commercial with outdoor aviation equipment and electrical line worker training and State Highway 183 overlay 400 East Airport Freeway. Sinead, do we have anyone signed up to speak?

Jim Dewey.

Mayor, I'd like to make a motion to approve. Second.

Show your vote. Thank you, Jim. That concludes our zoning cases at this point. Do we have, Sinead, any public comments from the public at this point?

We do. We have four.