Economic Development Board - Regular Meeting

. . . Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. ¶¶

Thank you.

I would like to welcome you to the June 15th, 2026 City Council meeting.

We're starting this in a pretty unique way. We have representatives from the Miss Keller organization here that we want to recognize. We couldn't be more excited about it. I just want you to know, as mayor, as one of 47,000 in this city, that we're very proud of you and how you represent our community. It's been great to get to know each of you. We're excited for you and your competition. You're going to crush it. We know that. And, you know, we'd like to invite you up. Here we have members of our Economic Development Board. This is, I know, unique for y'all as well, but they have a schedule, and we've got to make sure we follow it because they've got a big competition coming up. And so what we'll do is I'll read your names on these certificates of recognition, and then we'll take a big group photo, and after the photo, the microphone will be one of yours, and we'll call you up, and you can kind of share your story. Sounds good? Okay. All right, first up, would like to recognize Aaliyah Guthrie. Aaliyah is Miss Keller, 2026. Hey, congratulations.

Thank you so much.

Absolutely, here you go.

Thank you, love.

All right, next up, we have Tammy McCoo. Tammy is the Miss Southern Stars Teen 2026. Congratulations. Thank you. And you go to Central? Central High School. Central High School. That's awesome. Glad to have you here. And next up, we have Anna Riley Lang. Anna is actually on the Keller Girls Lacrosse Team, state championship runner-up. So welcome back. Thank you. And also, Keller, hi. Hi. Just graduated. Congratulations. Thanks for being here.

Thank you so much.

Absolutely. Well, let's take a big group photo. Development Board, come on up.

We'll stand way in the back.

Okay, so we'll look at Miss Anna Irwins.

I'm going to squeeze in somewhere.

Michelle, come on up.

Thank you.

There you go. There you go.

Okay.

See everyone. Thanks.

Anyone else? Okay, you ready? Everyone may be seated except for the young lady.

Okay. Right here, right next to me. You're gonna be interviewed.

Okay, so I'm gonna ask you a question. What's your name?

Rookie mayor.

All right, let's try this again. What's your name?

Lorelei.

And how old are you, Lorelei?

I'm four years old.

Four years old. Thank you so much for being here.

You're amazing. Did you know that? Yeah. Yeah, you did. Good. Good, good, good. Well, is there anything that you would like to say? The microphone is yours.

Everyone, I am so glad you're here, and I really want you to come here again.

Fantastic. Round of applause. You did great. Thank you so much.

You can be seated.

Good job. Good job. Good luck following that. So in all seriousness for the competition, we're going to have our contestants come up. So Ms. Keller, you're up first. Sure. Anything you want to share?

Absolutely. Thank you all again for being here. It's a tough act to follow, not going to lie. But my name is Alia Guthrie, and I'm your Miss Keller. And my community service initiative is Alia's Ambition, Fight for a Cure for Alzheimer's Disease and Early Detection. I lost my grandmother and great-grandmother to Alzheimer's disease. And that's why I'm so passionate about it. I'm an advocate, AIM congressional team member, and volunteer with the Alzheimer's Association. I've been able to accumulate 1,500 hours of community service since July 2022. And that number is only increasing. And my talent for Miss Texas will be dance. I have an associate's degree in dance. I'm currently majoring in journalism with a minor in communication studies at Texas Christian University.

Go Frogs! Thank you. Great job. Great job. Next up, Miss Southern Stars, 2026. Thank you.

Hi, everyone. My name is Tammy McCoo. I'm 16 years old. I run track and field at Central High School. And my platform is Beyond the Breakout, which is a platform for that I created to help young teens who are struggling with acne, letting them know that they're not alone, it's hormonal, and it's normal, and that it's okay to have acne. And as someone who has struggled, I share my own personal experiences with teens like myself. And so yeah, that's just a little bit about me.

Thank you.

Great job. And last but not least, we have Ms. Yellow Rose. Ms. Lang?

Thank you so much. So I am Anna Riley Lang, and I am 19 years old today. I recently graduated from Keller High School, and my CSI is Morgan's Message, which is mental health advocacy for student athletes. So as a student athlete, I have experienced firsthand the pressures that come with being on the field. And so I make it my mission to promote helpful tips and just spread awareness so that no athlete has to struggle in silence. As far as my talent, I will be singing at Miss Texas, and this is also my first year competing, but I'm just so excited and so thankful to Miss Michelle Donato for taking me under her wing, and I'm really looking forward to competing this weekend. Thank you.

All right, one more round of applause for our title holders. All right. Well, so we're going to briefly recess and start our Economic Development Board meeting. But just again, on behalf of the City of Keller, I want to congratulate you, encourage you. You have a fun and exciting contest ahead, and we're excited to see how it goes. Thanks for being here. Thank you.

Thank you.

so ¦ ¦ Thank you. © transcript Emily Beynon Thank you.

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All right, and we're back. That was exciting. Great way to start an Economic Development Board meeting. Thanks to y'all for helping recognize our title holders. First up, well, we just did the presentation, so we have item C, consider approval of the minutes of the Monday, March 23rd Economic Development Board meeting. Who's gonna be the person that motions to amend the minutes? Nobody? No, amend. Any amendments? I've seen it happen once in six years. Okay. All right, we need a motion to approve. Motion to approve. Mr. White? Motion to approve. Got a second. Motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. All right. Minutes are approved. D1, grant programs. Well, we're going to actually, did you want to reorder that?

Yes. Oh, yeah. I think you changed it on me, right?

E1 is to consider a city of color facade improvement grant request for 118 West Olive Street. And then after we consider E1, we'll jump back to D1. All right?

So good evening everyone. Tonight we will be presenting a facade improvement grant for 118 West Olive Street. So 118 West Olive Street is in Old Town Keller. The business located here is Blue Grass Legacy Group. It's a financial planning business. Kyle Gabhart is the applicant and property owner. Today we do have their contractor, Jimmy, from Kingdom Construction Co. here. The total project cost is $38,900 related to the facade improvement grant. and the applicant is requesting $10,000, the max. The overall estimated project cost is $173,000. And then here is the aerial view of the property, just so you all can see where it's located. And here's a before picture, street roof photo that was taken the 10th on this site visit. The applicant plans to remove existing exterior materials and install premium board and batten siding, construct a seven foot deep wraparound porch, install energy efficient commercial windows and entry doors, install decorative and security lighting fixtures, and complete exterior paint and sealant. And then here's just street views photos, just of both sides so you can see. And then just here are some closeup pictures. First ones of the siding on the building, as well as paint and current porch condition. And then here's a conceptual rendering that reflects the proposed improvements that I mentioned. So exact colors are on the right to be used for the trim, base of the house, and accent doors. And then I just want to know, this is conceptual, so the landscaping that is reflected will not be the current landscaping, but additional landscaping will be completed after their overall project, being the one that was estimated at $173,000 is complete, and that will be done outside the facade. And then this wasn't reflected, you can't see this in the rendering, but this is just an example of the decorative and security lighting fixtures. And then you should have in those three papers the cost estimate breakdown that was provided by the applicant from their contractor. So you can definitely take a minute. So that would just be the siding and cladding, architectural porch, administration, exterior finish and paint, exterior lighting. And just a reminder, the applicant has requested the maximum grant amount of $10,000. And this is a site plan. And Sarah will provide a few comments.

So this applicant's going through multiple processes all at the same time, which I actually would love to see, because you get a full picture of what they're proposing on the property. So not only are they seeking a facade and permit grant, they're also scheduled for consideration by council in a couple of weeks for their specific use permit for office exceeding 1,200 square feet on the first floor of a building in Old Town Keller, which is a mouthful. And then they're also revising their site plan to reflect that expansion of the business. So shown here complies with all of the guidelines for Old Town Keller. So the site plan will go through the process assuming that their SUP is approved. Since they're not asking for any variances or anything on the site plan, that will be just reviewed by staff. But nothing big or concerning on the site plan. Just appreciate them doing all the different pieces of the process concurrently, because, like I said, it does help us see full scope of the project.

Was there anything in the scope of the project that city required?

In terms of, like, there certainly wasn't a requirement to expand.

But, I mean, as far as, like, ramps or redoing things to make sure it complies?

I'm aware of.

So everything that they have in $38,000 is something that they want to do, not that they have to do.

on Olive Street, because it's on the west side, that public parking, the sidewalk, all of those things that aren't quite in place in some places on the east side, all of that's already here on Olive Street. So they're focusing definitely more on the aesthetic improvement of the building rather than on some of those other things you might see on the other side of 377. I think it's just at the front of the building and then they've got that other section of porch in the back.

So again the rendering was, it didn't show the depth of the wraparound porch.

So right now the blue is the existing structure.

The red is going to be the office and then there's a door that comes from that red leading on to the yellow which is the wraparound porch. So that will have the front facing will be steps heading towards the front. And then, of course, there's the right side will be enclosed. Excuse me, the left side. The right side, if you're standing on the porch looking towards the street, as we look at the drawing, the left side there would be enclosed. Meaning it will have a wall next to it. We're calling it wraparound because it wraps around the side of the building.

Okay.

And what's the maximum capacity for the building, the entirety of it? As far as the, I don't know what the capacity would be as far as the people inside.

Correct. So I know right now they have about four to five employees. They're only adding three offices and they're individual offices. The plan is for them to expand to up to 10 employees by doing that. But the total square footage outside of the roof is going to be right at 1,800, if I remember right. So I don't know if the city says, hey, with 1,800, this is the max capacity. I know they're going to be running 8 to 10 employees in there at any capacity.

Are you back to this one? No, that one. Okay.

So what you see there to the left, which is the white picket fence, is actually going to be replaced with black ornamental metal fencing. So it'll be about the same height. It's four foot, so it has a top rail and a bottom rail. And it'll have that fence there. To the right of the property... So there's actually a walkway there that's a concrete sidewalk. But it belongs to the neighboring property. They've just done that to allow for people to walk through. But if you were to walk down that little corridor, then the side of the property all the way to the back is already fenced with a T-post style fencing. But it will also be the black ornamental metal fencing

How many parking spots they have for 8 to 10 employees? All the parking's public.

Yeah, it's all public. They face the poor shack. So it's right there in that little section that faces the poor shack.

Yeah, I think I just, just to give a positive note to this, I'm very familiar with this property. I think it's a great improvement to what we want to see in Old Town. And I think the use and how they want to do it makes complete sense to the facade grant. I know that the owner owns this building. He's like an owner-operator. And he's been here quite a while. So for me personally, I think with what's been presented is really a positive, I think, step in the right direction with the purpose of the facade grant.

Yeah, this one seems like it's aligned with, we'd like to see more of these kind of holes. Yeah. Yeah, just just the random you well some of the ones in the past were not as strong as this one and it seemed like they were just trying to do a project that was about the same amount as the facade grant and it just didn't feel like it was building up the entire area where this could actually He's definitely invested this business are 100% invested in the community and

And like I said, I have a personal relationship with him, and I can't vote anyway. But I do know that he's extremely invested in this community and his plans on being here for a really long time.

Yeah, I kind of love, too, to see that he has already invested, but he's investing so much more to double the space and expand on his business. Which I think, on one hand, we'd love to see more retail and things, but I think that walkable, like that foot traffic of people that are having lunch and working all day in that area as well, and they can walk to those restaurants that are right there. Adding more people to the building is, I think, a good thing. And he's definitely got the land to expand to do that. So I think that's exciting to see that he's expanding.

There's probably more properties like this that could be renovated in that area. It might encourage some of those folks to do that.

With that process like he's done for this one.

Yeah, because the, I haven't done the math, but I imagine if you were to just level it and start over again a new build, it would be substantially more expensive. And if we can help...

So we've got $13,000 left for the rest of the year.

So our current development grant budget is $35,000. The remaining grant funds is $13,060.50. And that will reflect all of the grants to be paid out this fiscal year. So that would include the grant that we just recently approved of $160,000 because that project is expected to be paid out this fiscal year.

And then just a reminder that even if other grants were to come between now and the end of the fiscal year, some of those could potentially be paid out in FY27 if they come through August, September. It just, you know, it's not like a quick payout because it's reimbursement. So I wouldn't get too hung up on we only have $13,000 left because the likelihood is it'll be FY27. But also a reminder, we also have an economic development incentive budget where with council approval, if we were to bring you another project that you felt great about, recommend it to council, there are funds for, there are people funds for additional ones.

The reset of that is in October, right? October 1st.

Are you aware, do we have more in the pipeline that are gonna be coming through?

Yes and no. You know, there's always interest. It's a matter of getting things submitted on time. I think, do we have any super active ones right now?

No, we have, we had interest of the one, I don't know if they haven't submitted anything.

Right. You may, I would guess you may see one more before the end of the fiscal year. Maybe two, but most likely those won't get paid out until FY27.

If you like them. And then just a reminder, just for section four of the grant policy under considerations for grant awards and fund allocation, these are the items that you need to consider. I just won't read them all.

All right. Make a motion to approve for the full 10.

I'll second. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Yes, thank you very much. All right. So then the item that we skipped over, D1, grant program review and discussion update. And are you reading that one?

Yes. Okay. This mouse always gets me.

I'm not making it a secret anymore.

Yeah, I was going to say, trust me, I pay way too much in streaming to start a regular cable, too.

We only have one choice at our house.

Pretty standard, but so... No one has cable.

I do. Oh, I do. Only because I'm a wire.

Thank you for your contribution.

For the Ranger Sports Network. Why are you... We watch all of the games. Well, because I play every single one, and it's part of, like... That's awesome.

So these two are funding that particular...

Yes. Okay, awesome. Okay, so y'all saw we sent you a couple of questions to bring some feedback to us today. Before we get to your feedback, we are going to discuss our existing grant programs and share some slides to kind of get the conversation going and give you some context as to why we're asking you those questions. Something that hopefully you've seen it, you've heard about it. If you haven't, we're going to share more today. We have our feedback from the citizen survey. It just came out recently. Lots of really good nuggets. Economic development. There's some items that residents definitely want to see as a priority. With this, we also want to take time with having some new members of the city council and some examples that we're gonna give you later on, it feels like a time to really reconsider the structure of our grants. I know that since I've been here in April 25, we've had some interesting facade improvement grants come through that have tripped us up a little bit and what are the specifics, what's the application process, does this qualify? And so we thought, let's just take the time to look through everything Do we need to simplify it? What are the next steps? And with several new members of the city council, it's an opportunity to see kind of where we're going with the grant program. Okay, so the next few slides will give you more information about what the survey results were like as it pertains to economic development specifically. So this is a really interesting one. Residents chose from a list of priorities for the use of tax dollars, one of the top three responses was attracting quality businesses, including sit-down restaurants. This is no surprise to any of you. This is pretty on-brand, on-trend. Was that a number one though? Yeah, we'll get to that. Oh, okay, sorry. Spoiler alert. And then when asked where Keller could improve, residents identified continued business development as an opportunity. So this is the overview positives about the city right over the near the top 10 it's restaurants and business growth and old town beautification and old town in general. Concerns and suggestions. This was really interesting to look through. So more sit down, quality dining. We hear it all the time. Better retail shopping options. We hear that often. Old Town Town Center development and then the support of small local businesses. And then this is the big one. Residents chose incentives to attract quality businesses as the top priority to use tax dollars.

I kind of wish you guys had broken that out. Quality businesses and sit down restaurants separately.

Personally.

We'll report back that feedback.

So we do the survey every other year, so hopefully you remember that, but that's a good observation. We tweak those on those surveys to kind of zero in on that.

Because sit-down restaurants, people always say that. That is, we've seen, we don't necessarily have the traffic during the day for the sit-down restaurants, but everyone talks about needing quality businesses, needing an anchor business, so I would like to see those separated. Okay, perfect. Yeah, we'll get that feedback to our team.

Okay. So let's review what we have going right now. We have the Facade Improvement Grant. It was established in 2009. It was for only Old Town Keller and it used to be a $5,000 match. Then in 2013, it was amended to include any business in the city. And then in 2021, it was up to a $10,000 grant, no matching requirements. The last three fiscal years, this is the activity that we've had. So FY24, five approved applications, all in Old Town Keller. Only one application did not, so there were five approved and one who applied and didn't make it through the process. It did not get denied, it just didn't finish the application process. Then FY25, two approved and two that were not completed, also in Old Town. And then this current fiscal year, we have the one approved application that you saw last month at 116 Taylor Street, and then the one pending that was presented earlier in the meeting. Reminder of the life safety grant program. This was established in November of 2024. A really, really great, strong program. We've had a ton of interest, a ton of conversations with prospects, but no one has formally applied for it since the grant's inception.

What do you think the reason is for that?

A combination of things. Sometimes a tenant really needs it, but maybe their landlord is not in agreement and you need to have the landlord's agreement, their buy-in, their investment. And also the items that a lot of these folks need are so expensive the 50k match is great and generous it can really make a big difference for someone but ultimately some of these folks are going to be spending more than 100k well i know fire systems can run three four hundred thousand dollars in some of these buildings yeah so um

Is that exclusively for the business, or can the landlord apply for his business to make it better for them too?

Well, the goal, and this is where we really need to define things, the goal is to attract businesses who otherwise wouldn't be able to come to Keller. So I think that if a landlord were to apply, we'd be looking at what tenant are you doing this for, or who are you looking to bring? Because if it was just for the landlord or the property itself, it doesn't really match what the application states.

Well, I asked about AAA Cafe when they were having the issue with the whole system there. Would AAA Cafe have to be the ones to do it? Or could you do it in partnership with the landlord?

Well, they would have to be a new business. I don't believe that an existing business can apply.

At the time, they were struggling to open because there was an issue with the .

I think they were one of the businesses we had in mind when this was created. Yeah, and so what I would say, the answer is probably yes, and if the landlord would, but I think the general direction from council and even the board is to say that if the landlords want to make an investment, that's great. We also want to see the skin of the game. We want to see that kind of match because we've had a lot of times where what the landlord has really done is a source of frustration at times. Well, I know you need to make that investment. I don't want to do it. So if the city does, that's great, but they're not willing to also recognize this is That's right. And so I guess I'm putting, you know, I would say that we probably entertain it as long as they understand that we'd expect some form of match, especially from the landlord, because we want to see our landlords do a better job of investing within the community.

I had a conversation about somebody who was interested in this, and their thing was they have a lease, and they'd have to pony up all this money for this fire suppression system, but eventually it belongs to the landlord, not to them. So that, for them, that was a detractor for them, because they could invest all this money and come five years from now, the landlord say, oh, I'm not renewing your lease.

or whatever their timeframe is.

And it now stays with the building, not with the business. So that's a pretty big investment, especially on a business that's trying to come in and establish.

Do we have any sort of minimum requirements for tenants who apply for grants as far as the term of their lease? that's something i've noticed with other cities that do some grants is that they have a minimum of it has to be a five or a seven year lease but to even be considered to guarantee they're invested in the community just as much as yeah we don't have that currently we have times where we will require them to put this in if a new business comes in or um i know we've had

where a tenant is in one building, there's four tenants in the building, one tenant wanted to move from one space just next door to the next space, from 2,000 to 3,000 square feet, and he was being required to spend all this extra money to get up to new different code zones, or coding ordinances, everything, where the rest of the building didn't. You know, the tenants in the rest of the building didn't have to do it. And so, it was a point of contention, why was he getting picked on? So do we have that kind of scenario happen where we're going to require people to put in fire suppression in cases?

I think that's up to the fire marshal to investigate if it's a safety requirement, if it's a life safety requirement.

I would also say we just updated some of our codes to be a little more business friendly, so I think we'd want to take that scenario and compare it to how we just updated the code.

I have two questions. One, what's the full budget each fiscal year for this particular grant? How many people could apply for this in a year?

It's like 225k.

And it's not being utilized each year or very minimally? It depends.

It depends on what is going on each year as far as incentives.

And then separately from that, one of the thoughts that I had was, and I don't know if there's any other programs that exist outside of this, but specifically in Old Town Keller, like considering spaces that are opportunity zones where we're already investing tax dollars in developing areas, Old Town Keller is obviously what comes to mind with that, with the Elm Street project. So there's many buildings along Elm Street that are going to need to be converted. And if we want them to be more experiential or restaurant style, my thought was if there was some type of program for those buildings being converted, if this was an opportunity within this type of product that we have or something else, but specifically in areas that we're looking to see those types of things be developed there. Because my only concern with Elm Street specifically is There is such a level of requirement to get those buildings to where they need to be for a restaurant that we potentially might finish developing that project and end up with either more offices or retail, but not get the restaurants, the sit-down restaurant experience that we want in that area. So there's opportunity zones that we can kind of segment out and maybe restructure this to make it a little bit more friendly for that area specifically that we want to see, that I'd be curious to see if that's something we could explore about.

We will get to all the ideas. We're going to write them all down. So keep that thought. And then these are some of the existing incentive options that are available as well, other than the grants. So the sales tax reimbursement, ad valorem reimbursement, permit fees reimbursement, and impact fees reimbursement. Now, our questions for you Because we want this to be a really brainstorming, what are our next steps, something really substantial that we can really work on to improve the application process and what we want to do moving forward. So the first question is, do we need a business expansion grant? And for context, the city council gave the economic development team the direction about a month ago to look into what would a business expansion incentive look like. Other cities don't have one specifically. I tried looking to see what others have. And so it would be kind of like a first of its kind in our region. And we have a restaurant in Old Town, Hush, and they are expanding. into hops, they're building a restaurant called Hops, Hush and Hops, in Old Town Keller. And what the question was, is there an incentive that could be formed for businesses, retail, restaurant, entertainment, who want to expand within the city? So help with their second business or their third business, is that something that would be considered? We'll get to that in a second. As we were thinking through that, we thought, well, is that complicating it a little bit, potentially? Because now you have a whole other program, another application for you all to work through, more details. So then we thought, OK, maybe we look at, are our incentive programs achieving the outcomes that you're hoping for? Are there gaps in our current toolbox? as we continue to focus on business recruitment and redevelopment expansion, is there value in simplifying the process into a more flexible economic development incentive fund, still with a lot of accountability, oversight, but rather than maintaining all the multiple grants and it getting a little bit confusing for the applicant and for all of us, maybe creating some kind of rubric for y'all as you're making your recommendation to counsel of, okay, so these are the potential eligible uses. Facade improvement grant, life safety, root of government. Whoops, whoops. Sorry, I don't know what's happening.

This is usually my favorite slide. Next steps. I forgot to use the... I thought the projector was going out.

No, I'm not a mouse person, so then when I get to this mouse, I'm like... You're not a mouse person?

So do you just push the screen?

Yeah, I'm just kind of like here.

That is a weird comment to make on peg channels.

I'm starting to get concerned. We have two people on cable still. I'm a mouse person. I'm joking.

So anyway, so it could be one application, facade, life safety, redevelopment assistance, expansion assistance, recruitment projects, infrastructure, utility improvements, wood safeguards, including Stacey you suggested maybe for specific ones maybe like a leasing term, you know, they're in a lease for five years ten years Yes, so that could be a safeguard obviously the the ones we already have which is board recommendation council approval performance requirements funding caps and obviously aligning with the strategic goals of the council so with that I can't wait to hear your feedback. What I hope we come away with, so two action items I want to make sure we come away with. One, what are our next steps? What are the next steps for, do you want to see a simplified application that you will build and then we will present to city council? Do you want to keep it how it is so we'll hash it out? And then two, with HOPS, How do you feel about recommending an incentive to city council for HOPs when they have already started their process? So as far as pre-construction, they're down the path further than usually when people come to us for incentives. They usually come before they have made a commitment. And so HOPs came to us kind of on the they're about to start building typeface. So would love to walk away with what is your recommendation for hops? So lots to think about tonight.

Could you give a quick summary of the intention with hops, where they're going to be, their building, those sorts of things?

In fact, I can show you some pictures. Yeah, what's the concept? Yeah, why don't you all start discussing the other points while I pull this up? and then we can get into HOPs.

So I guess, what's the first question you want us to answer?

Do you want to simplify the application process? So my question for that is, you have a lot of different programs. So whatever you come up with, it needs to be, I answer this question, it takes me to this. Because otherwise you're just going to confuse people more when you lump everything into one. So if it's a program that leads me through, And it takes me, I answer yes to this, it takes me to this section. Otherwise, if it's one big application, you're going to have more people screw it up than get it right.

Well, is she talking about for the applicant or is she talking about for us? No, she's simplifying for us.

Well, for the application process, that's typically done, I mean, that's done in person. It's not an online. Well, it's already tripping people up. Yeah.

And there's the programs themselves are so specific.

and just pouring it in the water.

You can create a funnel. I mean, definitely on the technology side of it, you can easily create some type of funnel that's accessible on the city website. I know we have a section about starting a business in Keller and seeing the different opportunities. Because I think it will also incentivize people when they do want to come and develop or do some kind of project, they can see what is accessible and available. And that is actually one of our downfalls is a lot of times people don't even know what's accessible. or like what's available and like, and what they qualify for. So I think if you create some type of funnel system of like answer these questions and as we go we can make the recommendation and then have that as a starting point. But it is, even for me, I've gone through the facade grant process, I know you have as well. And that's a pretty, I mean, it should be a pretty straightforward kind of deal. And it is, it's a process from a business standpoint. And then even just the reimbursement was, was a clunky process too. So I think on one hand, I would love to see simplification. And then also us setting a clear standard of this is what we want to see. And so that way, if they don't check these boxes, now we can have this side conversation. Or maybe they can skip through some of the points that they have to go through throughout. I don't know if we want to say, if they check all this, they actually don't even need to come to economic, because they already hit this threshold. And it saves on the amount of, boards and people that they have to go through. Otherwise, if it's a special nuance and they don't check those boxes, now let's come here, let's talk it through. I just would like to see definitely something a little bit more streamlined, at least in the process.

Just to kind of understand, do you have all the programs listed? Do you have them listed, all the current programs that we have? Do you have listed on one of the slides for us to kind of take a look? It's something to think about. If the council approved, you said that life safety stuff in 2024 and you've not had anyone at all apply to that, that's something for us to think about because you just don't want to have programs for program's sake and then not have anyone because the rate of success is tied to that application actually being applied for and things like that.

So that problem that was trying to solve is very niche. It's a very small group of people that wouldn't even potentially qualify. My first thought is maybe I would think about segmenting how we invest in Old Town and how we invest in small businesses into two separate Just like she alluded earlier. The facade grant has become a fix-up buildings in Old Town grant, which is kind of different than are we investing in new businesses or expanding new businesses in Keller. Old Town still needs a lot of investment just on the real estate portion. As the roads continue to be improved, we've got very old buildings. Kyle's building is an example of a building that looks okay from the street, needs a lot of work to get up to a standard, but that's separate from how we attract new businesses and restaurants.

for us to think about in general, whether it's a niche or whether it's general, because if we keep creating different programs and things like that, first and foremost, what's the specific goal? For me, I'm concerned that we have a program approved since 2024. This is two years, and no one, for me, I'm looking at that, because that's not success in that, even if it's a little niche.

Is that a communication until very recently. I talked to the gentleman beforehand in the other room. He said, I kind of got caught at the last second. They asked me if I could help him. He couldn't be here. Kyle couldn't be here. And we didn't know about this until the last moment here. we don't know about, business-wise. Businesses don't know about.

Yeah, and so if we create programs and businesses don't know about it, then we're not creating it for the business. Because whenever you create anything, it has to be targeted to the audience that we want to reach. And if we're not reaching that, it's something for us to look at. Because it's not the business. We have all the businesses there. So that's just one example. Another example of success, for example, the open rewards. started November. I didn't know anything about it, but when I knew about it, I started telling everybody I knew. And, you know, you communicated the success of it. That's an example. So even as we're thinking, whether new ideas, simplification of application or whatever, again, I'm going back to that. If a council approved that two years ago and we we've not even had one single business take advantage of that, then it's something for us to look at and say, okay, how can we refine? Do we want to refine that? I don't know. I'm just bringing in the thoughts for us to think through.

This is something that previously, if a business was trying to come to Keller and they had life safety requirements, they could apply to a Chapter 380 or an overall incentive to get life safety. It's one of those things where you present the specifics to city council, and to y'all as well, and then they determine that. So it doesn't need to be this specific life safety. It could be within an incentive application, life safety, for more information, meet with staff.

So the question was asked that why do you think no one, and you said it multiple factors. Yes.

Well, I do know we did have a business who has already gone out. in town center, who had to go in and update the fire suppression system, who would have benefited from this, and their landlord would not agree to it. But they still had to do it to open, and I think that's part of one of the reasons why they closed and went totally online. Because they had to invest so much of their own money to get this fire suppression system, and they lasted a year.

Not even a year. That's a big part of it. property owner needs to be in agreement.

$50,000 isn't going to make the difference between saving your business and not.

For them, it could. $50,000? It would for this business, but they also would need premium.

What was the original comment? Mine? $50,000 isn't going to make the difference between saving your business and not.

But opening your business and staying in the first year, 100% could make the difference.

Yeah, I understand, but

And they didn't make five years. I know, but that's what I'm saying. But I'm saying, absolutely, I have three businesses that have closed in Town Center that $50,000 could have saved them.

But there's a bigger issue with Town Center.

But I'm saying, I know for a fact that this one particular business came in had to have been in the fire suppression system, the landlord absolutely wouldn't have helped at all and they didn't last a year. And it was because they had to put so much initial money in and they didn't get the foot traffic to recover any of that money. So yeah, they closed and went 100% online.

Anna correctly, that is a really interesting policy discussion. I'm going to say it a little bit less polite. What type of businesses do we want to incent? Do we want to incent people who are coming in here on a shoestring budget? Because it could, to your points, be a make or break. But do we really want to incentivize that? Because if it's a make or break $50,000, are they prepared to enter the environment? Which is, I think, at least what I understand if I'm wrong just you know tell me I'm wrong I think we're looking for a framework like what types of what are the factors that you want to see when we're attracting businesses you know do you want to see OTK you know kind of continue to improve from a aesthetic perspective I think we just need to be a little bit more broader conceptually is that where you want us to head, or do you want us to get more detailed?

I think broader for today, and then we can really workshop it in this group of the specifics, because it's my understanding, and I wasn't here, that y'all built the life safety framework, correct?

So on that point, I remember actually expressing the same exact concerns. That was very, and credit to our staff for being innovative, that was very staff-driven, that discussion. But I guess I just personally don't want to get us so caught up on... Basically, I'm saying I had the same exact concerns, and I hoped that my case wouldn't be right. It turns out, for whatever reason, it's not as successful. Bottom line... I think if we stay kind of high level and just tell Anna, hey, when we're going out and spending economic development dollars, these are the top things we want to target, right? Like if it's going to be sit-down restaurants or quality businesses, right? What are the factors that drive that? If it's life safety, I mean, we could literally just put it on a website and use the Chapter 380 as the vehicle. Like we don't need to have a – or if you want to have a separate process with more paperwork, we could. But what I hear is staff basically saying in a really polite way, hey, we have a lot of paperwork with not as many outcomes as we want. So what we could do is reimagine the grant program, use Chapter 380 as the vehicle with clear delineated factors. So like, yeah, so like what are, you know, being the restaurant business, Steve could probably articulate better than I could, hey, here's what drives restaurants to come to Keller and y'all could too. Being an OTK, Ashley could go through. So I think that's where we probably want to go.

Mayor, can you answer, why did they say only new businesses for the fire suppression? Why did we put that caveat on it instead of any business that wanted to expand?

I think the goal was still recruitment.

Okay. So looking at... Well, going back to the expansion, a business expansion, a lot of them will have to upgrade their fire suppression to expand.

True. And that's exactly the point, right? If we have one... business grant, and then it will be at your discretion in city councils, right? So we can, if you were to give us that as our go get it, go rework this application, then we will come back with, okay, this is what we came up with, and these are the targeted areas, recruitment, expansion, all the things. And then when we bring applications to this board and city council, then you have that freedom, right, to make that recommendation. And if it's someone that you see the investment, you see the purpose, the future, it'll give y'all a lot more flexibility and It's just the application trips people up quite a bit. Us as well. Because it's, I mean, Justin knows. We just went through this together. It's a lot. And it should be, right? Because it's next to your dollars. But I think that there's a way to make it better for everyone.

Maybe the 380 is the platform. And so the next question is, is it a restaurant? Is it... tax or whatever it may be, or the $50,000 for the safety, whatever it may be, but at least it has a platform to kind of guide them what they are eligible for or not.

Well, and ideally, the first step would be that they call us because, you know, there are folks that say, I need everything, right? And then we'll be like, well, what is the ask? What do you actually need? And they'll kind of go, um, What can you give me? So I think if it can be an initial conversation of bring us what you actually need. I really need a new fire suppression system and it would really help me if you could help me paint the facade. I don't know, just a combination. But I do think that in an application and online, I agree, we should have the possible improvement.

Well, it shows them what's available for them to help them open up their business. So then it can list out, hey, this is what's available for you. Your business is OTC, RTK. Here's what you have to go for. So as opposed to like when we gave it for the restaurants by the lyric, we gave them a five-year plan on tax incentives each year. And it was 100% by year five. So there are different things for different businesses

So you will always prefer for them to call you and not spend all the time completing everything online.

It's very case by case, right?

It's case by case, and somebody might say, you know, getting a reimbursement of my impact fees

is really going to help me right now versus the sales tax reimbursement over time. Also, as we know, we need to grow the sales tax. We need the sales tax to stay in the building. And so maybe at your discretion, you say, well, no, we're going to do that sales tax in five years. And so we don't want to give sales tax reimbursement. It's better if upfront we you know, give these, the fee reimbursement because we really gotta be thinking about the future, right? Our sales tax right now, growth is, and, We're really gonna, we're really.

So let me ask, do we currently have a needs assessment that they have to complete like some of the larger cities do? Businesses complete a needs assessment and staff gets that and you look through the needs assessment and say, okay, you know, a facade grant might be good here, this might be good there. Do we currently have something like that? Instead of them completing an actual application, they complete a needs assessment of actually what their business needs, where they are. And then that's something that you then look at. And then you do that follow up of that one on one, however you do it. But there will be a needs assessment that you already know what their needs are.

I think it's tricky, though, because I think instead of, there's a lot of needs. Businesses have a lot of needs. And what we need to communicate back to the board and the council is, what is the ask? Because they're asking for taxpayer dollars. Yeah. And so if somebody were to tell us everything, everything they need. Yeah.

Well, and that's part of my thing, even with the facade stuff. Because I've been in this some new. But I've seen this be easy with giving away money, OK? Relatively easy. It's not easy. No, I understand. I'm just saying. That's the hardest tip I have. Thank you, Justin. Thank you, Justin. for the front of buildings when I think of facade, not the whole building around the back if it's hidden. But secondly, should we have a maximum amount allowable based on the size of the project? It's 20% or we need jobs that are investments that are $50,000 minimum investments to be able to give $10,000 or whatever it is. Because I look at all of this as a business owner who was here for 15 years and never asked for a dime. if we just easily give away on a $20,000 ask, we give 10, we're not leveraging our money, okay? We're giving too much. And so that person's going to be grateful, just like this gentleman, very nice gentleman. They knew nothing about this thing until just recently, and they're getting a request, and we've agreed or recommended $10,000. It's fine, and that's $10,000 found for him. I can tell you as a small business owner, 5,000 I'd be grateful for, 6,000, whatever it is. So I look at how we can leverage this better. If we're not using money in certain areas, can we pull it over into other things so that we can go after a larger customer that's of better financial standing, that is a company or a business that we'd like to bring in? Can we do that? Do we have that kind of discretion?

Well, and you're just I would absolutely vote for a higher investment to get the max cap. Or just put it at a percentage.

I'm just going to do a $100,000 facility adjustment.

We're going to give them 20%.

$175,000 investment. They're enlarging the place. They're going to bring more people in. They're going to eat out. Or they're just at least not doing anything. dollar facade grant and they want ten or we give them eight or ten or whatever it is, that's not really helping the city out from a money, as you're saying, our ORIs can be very low on that. So how do we leverage it to make it stronger?

It is a good, like I said, we want to, we need to encourage real estate investment in OCK in particular. And to be responsive to the city's investment in the infrastructure. And then we have, how do we keep and build and grow businesses to come here and fill empty suites everywhere else? grant was intended to help businesses expand and move into a suite that doesn't meet code and we've got to do fire suppression and that sort of stuff. So maybe we're just talking about redefining those two and then 380 is kind of how people get in the door and they can be guided into different things if that particular investment is matching what

I think if we just had some sort of general guidelines or the framework that Mayor was talking about that sort of steer people towards things that would be considered for the 380, which is kind of this universal tool that we can apply in different ways and make it very tailored for the situation. especially after my first year on the board and seeing all the things that come through is, wow, the actual taxpayer cost is not the 10,000. It is way more than that because of what's going on on the back end and just the amount of human effort involved. It's like this thing started out as a good incentive program, but after watching it for a while, I mean, I agree with it. It's probably something we probably shouldn't continue in the way that we're doing it now. Yeah.

So I'm really glad you said that because that was after, I've only had economic development for a little while, but I've watched Melanie spend more time on a $6,000 reimbursement than I've got planners on full-blown plan development zoning change applications, which are very complex, you know, multiple public hearings, planning and zoning, dealing with neighbors and all sorts of stuff. Not to diminish what the effort they do, but in terms of scope, I have a lot of concerns. And some of it is the technology and going all through email where we've been able to pull most all of our other applications into an online portal. But I'm very glad that you said that because that's been my concern is how much time we're spending for here with Melanie. Not just on the application, but also on the reimbursement side. I think tedious is usually the word that comes to mind when I watch all of the back and forth on these.

So are we looking to streamline the processes as well as look at the different vehicles that we currently offer and maybe tweak that as well, what we're offering? Yeah. I think on one hand, just to give feedback from what I understand with businesses and just to go back to the point about the $50,000, there's one aspect of passive assets and fixed assets. And I think when you're coming into a property and if a leasehold has to invest in a transformer, I'll use that one as an example, or something that obviously they are going to need in order to open this building. But $50,000 could have better been spent towards marketing, as opposed to a transformer on a building that they don't own. I would love to see if we can structure things towards grants that are for things like that. Because truly, that is kind of a loss lead for them. To spend that type of money just coming into a business and have to spend $50,000 on something that they don't own the asset, per se. They literally need it to even open their building and invest. and have that be an upfront, I don't care how much you're spending on the project, that $50,000 could be way better utilized. And so I just feel like in that instance, and I think we're going to see a lot of that in OTK specifically, or even in other areas. Even if they are expanding and they find that the suppression system, that should not be a barrier. That becomes the opportunity or the trigger point That we go, you know what, you have been here, you've had so much success, you have to expand and knock down the wall and build the Vivo Brothers as one. And I think Aquario at one point, they had interest in doing that. So it's just like, why would, if they're limited or in some type of total that doesn't allow them to do that, and it's a matter of like a utility or a suppression system or whatever, but they've already had this great success, like how can we make that happen? available to them to do.

Can we not make that part from the city as a requirement on the landlord or the owner of the property somehow?

Is it a matter of the landlord just not willing to match that?

If we're going to allow that use, then the landlord has to be required for the building to be designed for that use.

I've seen so many deals where a landlord will not do anything. No, I

they're having to do required work that benefits the landlord. So the landlord says, he'll just take it off.

But what if he just leaves it to someone else? What if he decided to just lease it to someone else at the same price?

investing into a building that we'd like to kind of stay a restaurant and that was required to be a restaurant.

But in that instance, they weren't going to get a reimbursement until over the course of like the next five years, right? And so it's like that upfront cost, like how can we alleviate some of that unexpected burden that's now going to fall to the business in order for them to even open their doors?

And so in that instance... That's what I'm saying. They put it on the landlord, they raise the rent, so they amortize the cost, not the city. They raise it per square foot prices. That's leasehold improvement.

So many times the rent's already, across the street for an example, it's already so high.

And I understand that. Here's the reality of liability.

Isn't the return on investment, though, in that instance, so say, for example, let's say they're right here and they want to expand next door and they need this $100,000 sprinkler system in order to do this and this grant could help them alleviate that cost, right? By us, even with taxpayers' dollars, by us helping them And they're expanding now their footprint and doubling their space. Like the Bebo Brothers is a great example. They've had, I mean, that place is packed. And so we are getting a return on the investment on the tax dollars money because now we've increased their footprint, increased their sales tax revenue. Like that does still happen regardless of the asset investment to the landlord.

Well, but we have to understand is probably doing by doubling the size of his place. How many years does it take to replace that $100,000 in sales tax revenue? Does it take 20 years, 15 years, five years? What is it? So that's part of what I'm talking about, the leverage side of it. and that we get a return on it in a reasonable period of time.

Whatever we determine as reasonable. I just don't think you can draw lines around it to guarantee.

Not looking for guarantees, but we're looking to put the proper responsibility of cost in the right places.

I think you go from the other direction. The city passes an anti-occupancy tax. on landlords. Again, we're creating incentives or disincentives.

Correct.

Wheels are turning now, so that's... That's a good idea.

I want to look at who should be responsible for what. If I own a building, I'm responsible for all of it. If I don't own a building and I go into a building and I want to lease that building and that landlord knows what it's for, he should be responsible for getting... the base electrical heating HVAC you know dialed in for me to be able to operate that space and that should be part of the rent and I have to decide can I put that into my budget and see if I'm going to be able to make it work if we give it to the occupant all the time and it benefits the landlord we're not really going to know if we get a return on this either because That business may or may not make it anyway, and we've given the money to a landlord who's benefited, and we've improved their property, but we then don't see anything from it.

But then from that instance, say for example, if that property wasn't developed to have what it needs for another restaurant to come in, it's going to be harder to then lease that up to the next person. So the idea, even with the transformer concept, it was kind of that same thought. It's like, yeah, but, you know, yes, that leasee would leave and the building would be improved and that owner would benefit, but it's now prepared to then easily lease to the next person and not have that hurdle.

It makes it less likely that the restaurant fails and it's replaced by office. Yes.

That's what we don't want. Yeah.

Right.

So it sounds like maybe that's where you have to determine the return.

being careful with taxpayer dollar not subsidizing absentee landlords so a performance driven concept to incentivize restaurants who are facing infrastructure issues like is that kind of where you want us at Anna in terms of like a bullet point here's the factors that we need to consider when we're using a chapter 380 grant so I guess that might be

And I would make sure, I don't know if you said restaurants, but I would just zoom out and say businesses across the board any time. Whatever the opportunity is, we want to take that approach.

Yeah, but I would, I mean, you could wait it, right? I mean, you could, yeah. I mean, obviously we don't want to lose, you know, non-restaurant businesses that are going to bring great foot traffic or vibrant in their own way. But maybe you wait a new restaurant a little bit more or less. I mean, I I wanna make sure we're giving you the feedback, Anna, that you're looking for.

One thing that Anna mentioned earlier and I do agree with or think that we should consider is when someone reinvests in Keller, there should be a bigger consideration than and franchises and stuff like that just to cut the franchise fee or the, you know.

We do that at the chamber. You come in with a second business, you get a discount. You come in with a third business, you get even a bigger discount.

Yeah, so I think what I'm hearing, and I'm probably going to go back and watch the meeting a couple of times just to make sure I'm hearing everything correctly, is our team will go to the drawing board. We will take your feedback, figure out what the application needs to look like, and simplify, keep oversight. And really, it's going to be a case by case under the 380 umbrella. And you will make your recommendations. City Council will say yay, nay. Does that sound good?

I heard the word funnel earlier, too.

Well, and I do, like, every time we do a facade grant, you always list what criteria it needs to meet. That is helpful for us to have a rubric saying it needs to meet yes, no. You get a no, you get two no's, you're out. Like, that makes it easier when we're having these discussions, too.

What does facade mean? Is that the visuals part that you see, or is it the whole building? You see a lot of wraparound. Exactly what we're having to say.

is the French word for false front, so.

I do have to say, though, in the couple years that I've been on this board, we haven't got a whole lot of requests for the max amount for our project that barely goes over it. I feel like the people that have come in that have asked for the max amount have a pretty large scope in all they're doing.

Well, the one earlier this year did that.

So, I mean, they're few and far between. I feel like most of them have come in and they're doing other things besides just the front. They're asking, I'm doing all these other things, will you help me pay for the front?

We want people who understand that they have a cost to business and being in business and that they formulate that into their You know, projections of their business. $5,000 is going to make or break you opening up a business you say that's going to do a million dollars a year. You're not my person. Forgive me. That's just the way I look at it. If it's, you know, going to really enhance something, in some ways it's for people that don't need it as much.

And that's happening on Friday. And we will have potentially new guidance, directions, new goals. And so then we'll be able to look at everything case by case, does this fulfill the goals that have been set by the city council for the strategic plan. So I think this gives everybody a lot of flexibility. Hopefully gives Melanie back some of her time. So we will start working on it. We'll be workshopping it for a while. We'll probably bring back drafts to you. You'll give us feedback until we land at something. But obviously, we want to expedite it so that we can get it out there and make it simple for everyone.

businesses around here and around this table tonight, it seems like we probably should put some effort into just understanding the landlord piece, like what can be done, what other cities are doing, or what is successful, because it doesn't matter whether it's a restaurant or a different, there's several, I would say everybody's got friction with their landlords at Keller, so. Well, they keep trying to charge stuff like prices.

And in some instances, Highland Park prices.

And they don't want to invest any money into their property.

Well, that's a big, big one.

They'll take the hit or they'll wait somebody to come in and say, I'll get it for 12 months. They close down, I still got money. And that's the problem with most of these landlords. That's their attitude they take. They're not in it for the long haul. My company I work for, when we open up these huge 40,000-foot facilities, landlords are invested. and then trash and all the other stuff that goes with it so that they're good landlords because they want good tenants. A lot of these landlords just turn and burn. And when you go down Main Street or Town Hall here and the other places, you see these places that are just empty.

It's because there's no incentive for them to fill them. They're part of a reed.

It's different with apartments. There's incentive for them to film. When they get below 80%, the manager of that complex, they're on the hot seat. They can't do it. They find someone that can. So there's no way to... We have to find a way to get these landlords to be more invested in our city in the future. Because, like you said, with the REIT, they don't care. They'll take the hit.

Well, and something that we're running into, and I think this could be a work session for another time, is... a lot of these landlords are expecting and waiting for that unicorn national credit tenant that simply is not going to come here because we're not on 114. And so we've brought prospects that are strong prospects that maybe don't have that kind of credit, and they're not taking them. But that's a conversation for another day. I die on this hill almost every day.

Are we having open rewards next fiscal year? Because that was a very good... We're going to get to that.

We're going to get to that.

I have some thoughts.

Okay. Let me take you all through, and this is in no way a presentation about hops for you to recommend specific incentives. Well, actually, let me just explain. Let me just bring this up. I want to show you what hops is doing, what the business has done at hush to see if you think it's worth finding a recommendation to make to city council. So some background, you know, incentives are typically considered prior to permitting and construction. In this case, they've gone through the process, but the applicant believes consideration is warranted due to proven operational success within Keller. significant private investment, and they really believe in color. They want to have at least four concepts in color. That's their goal. And if you know them, you know that they're go-getters. So Hops is going to be a, they're going to build it from the ground up. It's on Keller Parkway, at 200 Keller Parkway. It's OTK zoning. The concept is a high-end Pan-Asian steakhouse.

Nice.

And by the way, the applicant would be happy to be here I didn't invite them, not because I didn't intend to, but because the conversations were about the business grants in general. So if they were to have an incentive firm of what you would want to recommend to counsel, we would absolutely invite them and have them give you more context. So pretty large footprint, 7,000 square foot restaurant, that's big, especially in today's world. So the overview, upscale dining, estimated investment, approximately $2 million, lots of jobs. And then what would be cool about, what's going to be really cool about Hobbs, it's sort of your introduction to Elm Street from Keller Parkway. And here's a look at what the space is. These are some of the renders.

That's that empty space on the end on the right?

It's not empty.

It's right now just laying on.

So they haven't built it yet. They're in the process. So this is something that we don't really have currently. The closest we have. Which one? The chop house. So again, Impact of Color introduces a unique restaurant concept, not currently represented in color. Something we hear a lot is folks want more Asian food. We don't have enough. I hear a lot of we need more Chinese restaurants. Do we know what

in from Westlake and even Southlake maybe or from outlying areas.

Wabi House is doing a pretty good job of bringing in outside customers.

Yeah, Togi's another one.

Cajun.

They're doing well. Just to show you context, Hush has been performing pretty well and they surpassed their expectations. And these numbers are provided by Hodge themselves. And then these are their projections for hops. I know that they're being conservative because they told me that, and I think that they are. So anyway, these folks have spent about $175,000 in fees that they've already paid. And their question is, is there anything that the council would consider to help them alleviate some of the $2 million expense? Is that sales tax reimbursement over time? Is it helping with the impact fees? Is it helping them with a future location or a future concept?

Is that $2 million built from the ground up? Yeah, that seems low. That's way low.

I would think it's closer to three, three and a half million. Well, if you look at the inside, it's probably closer. Just the equipment itself, three and a half is closer to four or four and a half. Four and a half million, maybe five. I used to go to Chinese restaurants. I mean, based on push.

The estimated investment you're thinking is about 4.5 million? They're not going to go for two million. Marble. Not right now. Or it won't have the aesthetics you're looking for.

I mean, just the cost of... For me, and in my opinion, is... getting to the project, to get it up and running. Because that's where those hidden costs come in. Well, and in time, time is money. And time is when you start to reconsider. Because that's Keller's reputation. We are hard to deal with, and we have been. And it takes so long to get something done. And that's what I've heard from many, many people for many, many years.

Do they have an ask?

They ask for...

Yes.

This is after the fact. Is there a number? Yes. There's a number. I don't remember off the top of my head. I think the policy question, really to kind of put it in a nutshell, is for a business that's already here, like building. They're going to build their concept. Do you want to get kind of where David's going or anyone else's idea? Do you still want to invest economic development dollars into a business that's already going to be constructed? Yeah. They're going to build that.

Owner operated, they own it.

I feel like that's just good business. Especially if they're going to continue. That's a no-brainer.

I'M GOING TO PLAY DEVIL'S ADVOCATE, NOT BECAUSE I DISAGREE, BUT I'M JUST GOING TO FRAME IT BECAUSE I WANT TO DO JUSTICE TO MY COLLEAGUES ON CITY COUNCIL. OKAY?

In this particular case, we're thanking them after the fact. If it had been done before, we might end up in the same place. But here's the thing is, again, to Bev's point and several others, is they want to have four footprints here. If we take care of this now and it doesn't kill us, Then the next one comes, and the next one comes. I can tell you, when you have people that invest their own money like that, and they are invested in it, they are going to do everything in their power to make sure it's successful. And if it's not, they're going to go down swinging as hard as they can. And we've got a few businesses in our town that look like they want to do that kind of a thing. So I think, in this case, yes.

That's what I was going to ask. What was the ask from them? Is this something you can share with us?

Well, and to play devil's advocate to a business that's already coming or down the road, nothing's been built yet. How do we guarantee that they are going to build? I mean, yes, they're going through permitting. But we don't want to end up with another building like 1716 Keller Parkway and Bloomfield-Almos Park that has been a shell for two years now that's still not done and just sitting there?

Well, currently our big downside is that we just don't make as much money off them to reimburse us for city time to get to the point that they're at, right? What do we lose by giving them their fees back? We didn't make as much money. Okay, they don't end up building on that spot. And it makes it more likely that they do the third concept, they do the fourth concept. We feel like we are partners.

And it's high sales tax revenue in a small spot.

And if we want to sit down restaurants, then we got to put our money where our mouth is at some point.

So the ask was help with, it was one of those long lists of consider everything. the way I was thinking about it was some of the upfront costs reimbursement, because again, as part of my duties to all of you, I want to save that sales tax for, for us for later. And so if, if I were to recommend kind of which direction to go would be some of those fees.

Uh, but yeah,

But we'd have to obviously nail down exactly what you feel comfortable with. Is it all of the impact fees? Is it some of it? What is it exactly? Because then we do have to take it in front of city council, who may or may not have the same opinions as you.

I would do a percentage of the fees. And then next time when they come into the third concept, they apply ahead of time and maybe the ask can be greater. But like, again, with the chamber, you come in with one business, second business is 50% off. It doesn't have to be 50% off. We're going to give you 30% of your fees back.

But I think it also could be based on their revenue, too. So they open up the business, hey, here's, for arbitrary reasons, here's $50,000 off the impact fees. You're forecasted to do $2.5 million. You know, if you do... have it as a size and scale so you know that way but I still think their numbers are low on the build out and their revenue especially for a higher end restaurant because the alcohol alone is going to probably bring them in one million a year yeah I actually love that suggestion That makes them have skin to gain. We're giving them money and showing, hey, we're good partners with you. And then when you do your next one, we'll move the percentages up a little bit more.

So that would be a factor.

Expedited processing. In your Chapter 380 agreement. So it's the sliding scale of like... Yeah. Okay. And expedited processing. That's got to be part of it. Here's what I can tell you. I grew up in the development business in... square feet from dirt to CO in two and a half months. We did this in high school in the summertime, okay? And it still stands today, I'm glad to say. It's over by the wax museum. But anyway, so that's how it used to work. And now we can't even get permitting done in that amount of time sometimes. And They want to go. And then they hit the city wall and they say, oh my gosh.

Well, it's their SBA loans too because they have a certain date they've got to commit to when they start paying that loan back. And are we having to pay back a loan without being open yet?

Not yet. That's a problem. Mayor, to your point, Steve's point about the sliding scale, that could be your tag for the economic investment. That's the incentive. That's the incentive part of it is we're giving them a park, but if they exceed this, then we're giving them a little bit. That's the incentives. Right, but that's your conversation that you could have with council if we do go forward with some type of recommendation for this is, yes, we understand they're already in the process, but the incentive for them to continue and to exceed their estimate of revenue is this. Can we get, what, 2% or 225?

What do we get? City tax 225? I think they won't sell.

we can only give away the 1% of general fund dollars. So as you look at a $2 million annual sales, that brings about $20,000 in sales tax. That's what you're working with, and usually you're trying to do 50% of that.

So we work it off of that number. But again, I go back to, I think they're two years before gas is low. We're in the dream.

I think their build-up's very low.

and operators like shopping us like i don't want to create a disincentive for i want them to incentivize to continue replicating so to me like philosophically your policy perspective the incentive would be hey thank you for doing a second restaurant um and not shopping us to other municipalities go to a third and you know we have your back um to me that's the message but

Okay, so we'll work on that too.

The last thing I should say is I think I can share. Council did want to have this discussion. So we didn't give HOPS a clear yes or a clear no. It was just a new kind of idea that they wanted y'all's feedback. And obviously I do too. So thank you for

Yeah, if we can bring in restaurants that'll bring people from outside because you're competing with Alliance and Southlake and everything else. If we can bring in those special kind of places, then we can import money, tax money.

What's the projected timeline that they have from concept to open?

I'm trying to remember how long it was going to take. building and they already paid all their fees.

I do like what you said to that because that is something I've even looked at as well for any investments is that burn rate. And a part of that burn rate is what you potentially could get tripped up on and what could delay the project and how to put those buffers in there. So I think even to your point, to what you said, I really think that's another aspect about the expediting of that process because that is a consistent thing that I hear as well and of experience.

earlier having that cash flow yeah yeah yeah time is money and then when you're excited about it get going because then you lose the it loses the shine and then i get you know dissatisfied with their well today's the day we're going to declare today's the day that we're going to stop having killer have that reputation

than just city staff. Right now we're running 98% of our building permits are out the door in 30 days. A lot of them less than that. And a lot of times what can trip up things in a project are poor project management. If you don't have the right person kind of driving the bus through all of the different processes and not just with the city but also different regulating agencies. All of those things.

that has the background to be able to, when someone comes in and says, hey, I want to bring in a restaurant or something, that can understand all the different factors that they need to attend to, the applicants do, so that, because right now, you go to Katrina for this, you go to this person for this, you go to that person for this, there's someone that knows all that stuff that when they meet with the people say, hey, have you thought about this, this, this, and this? This is what you need to do. This is what they'll require. So that it might shorten that time. That's Sarah.

And if you're lucky enough to get in front of her...

the Oracle I mean to your point like there is there is not anyone on staff that can sit down and tell you these are all your fire requirements all of your building requirements all of your planning all you know we simply we don't have that nobody can't can do that and a lot of times an applicant wants those responses without putting something in front of us and so they'll tell us conceptually what they want to do that's a very different conversation I've got a set of plans in front of me and front of the fire marshal in front of our commercial claims reviewer and now we can get very good feedback on that and so I think we've got a handful of staff members that can can give a pretty thorough first blush you know overview but it's it's going to come with a lot of sort of recommendations for additional research checklist

that says okay these are the things you asked about or what you brought to us these are the things you need to consider these are the ordinance ones that you need to look at because I can tell you can look at our ordinances and you can get different answers looking at for one type of ordinance and you can come up with three or different four different responses or come back with what you need to do three or four different ways there is a process

development review committee meetings, and all of the key players, so all the department heads necessary sit in that meeting, and Sarah takes excellent notes, I mean, thorough notes, and those go back, and then it's up to the project manager to go through it diligently, because that can really delay. Like, oh, they missed this thing from public works, oh, you gotta go back, oh, you know, and so there's more nuance.

Well, the question is, is that more a symptom of how many codes and stuff we have? that go out to the furthest end of an explanation of what you need to do, what direction a trash can needs to face, if it's an east-facing building versus a north-facing building.

I mean, this is, I know that's a- No, I know, and I think that we just gotta remember, too, that this is Keller, and we have high standards, and that's why we are Keller, right? And that's, there are cities that maybe don't have those standards. and they could never compete with color. So I think that there is something to why these things were set, not to say that they can't be changed. Simplified. Right, reconsidered, whatnot. But I would say, this is not my area of expertise, but there are standards for a reason.

No, I lived in Southlake, and the standard there, they changed them all. They went from 65% pervious coverage when I lived there to 80% in a lot of cases. And so things do change over time. So we can simplify them. And I know there are different unique situations.

You're really looking at what the GCs should be doing for the build. And it gets down, I mean, I know for the, when I worked at Corporate Set, we had a smart sheet that had your timeline. Like when you met, when I met with franchisees, it was like, have you contacted the fire marshal? Have you done this? Have you done that? But that's really on...

person's going in it Ross baby don't understand what the codes say because there's three different explanations of it in three different ways in two separate areas okay signage trash whatever it is then that needs clarification and so yes I agree with you they come in with all of their stuff and if there's a someone a guru an Oracle at our city that can say okay you really need to go staff was confused about a few things.

Or find a chief whose work to cover for and recommend him to other techs. Well, and that can be a thing.

I think from like a high level, our economic development landing page on the website will soon have a, we completed, surprise, we finally did that new business guide after a lot of research, a lot of meetings. So the new business guide will give folks a pretty big picture, call the fire marshal before you do this. And then call this person, and then meet with this person. And it's almost like a board game of stop, go here first, and then, but we can't get too much into the weeds because that's where a GC, who knows what they're doing and is a good project manager, should do that for whoever hired them, right? Because there's no way that anybody here...

They understand our codes versus Southlake versus... Yes.

And they know how to bulk it up and what questions to ask and how to interpret it and that's their entire job.

So we've used our discussion.

I guess maybe it's a conversation offline. I'd like to meet with you or get some time and really sort of understand the problem. Because I deal with requirements, very deep, lengthy requirements in aerospace and other places and work with a lot of stuff. I'm not sure how much awareness folks have about just the pace of AI progress and how AI tools can be used. But we've actually done projects where we created these synthetic oracles that are 100% accurate and can do some of these things. So I would definitely like to explore that and see what can be done, because there's a lot of progress that could be made. And it probably wouldn't be that expensive if we do it strategically.

Like help Melanie with all the backend things she has to do.

Well, so but I think this is giving you pretty clear factors and direction on the grants, on Chapter 3A agreements, a lot of things to consider.

Do you have what you need, Anna? I do. I appreciate this period of conversation. Well, I don't want to keep you all too much longer, so I'm going to go through the economic development update. April and May. For April, we had six new business CEOs, Keto's Creative LLC, it's a relocation from Fort Worth. It took over Pandemic, Pandemonic, sorry. And then Taylor and Stark Fashion at 721, Keller Parkway, Unit 104. The Market at Keller at 163 South Main Street. Relocation from Roanoke is now open. It is awesome. Colburn Insurance Agency LLC at 423 Keller Parkway. Unit B, 10 feet tall dance studio LLC at 1103 Keller Parkway. A new classical arts school at 8825 Davis Boulevard. Unit 150. And then for May, we had nine new business CEOs. Energy Related Services Corporation at 950 North Main Street. The Champs Porter Spa LLC at 761 Taylor Parkway. I can never pronounce his name. Thaddeus? But he's a great photographer. Thank you, Melanie. Thaddeus? Yes. Photography. He used to be in the South, like some of you might know him, at 460 Taylor Parkway. Fresh Monkey Smoothie Shop. Y'all, I'm addicted. Please go. It's so good. And it's actually healthy, but it actually tastes good.

Fresh Monkey? Yes. Their ice cream's healthy?

Yes. Boyd's Protein Shake. And it actually tastes good. No, seriously, Steve, go right after this. It's so good. It's so good. And if you download the app, you can pre-order and you can get rewards. My Smile Keller Dentistry at 796 Miller Parkway. Bradley's Cowtown Customs at 1240 Katy Road. Elements Massage, you've heard about them previously. They had their SEP, but they just got, they got recently their CO at 1411 Keller Parkway. Orn Smith LLC at 432 North Main Street. And last but not least, Jade Beauty Collective at 116 Taylor Street, which is the one that y'all recommended the facade. We have a new restaurant going over Baja. Yeah, it's already open. So we usually do the COs for the previous month. So I'll give you the June COs next month.

OK.

Yes. Yes, so skipping over to the link permits currently under review or in process, Orban Games is, we're awaiting revisions from them at 800 South Main Street. They sell cards and games, and it's like your typical old tiny kind of fun game store. Not a great way to describe it, but you're just going to have to go see. McAllister's Deli at 1241 Keller Parkway. Frostbank at 1231 Keller Parkway, and then Hopps at 200 Keller Parkway got their building permit. Some updates on incentivized projects. City's boards had their pre-construction meeting in May, and they're anticipating breaking ground this summer. We will definitely let you know when that happens, because we'd love for you to come and be a part of the groundbreaking.

So I thought they said June.

Yeah, yes, they did. But when I was looking at this, I thought it's already June 15th. So hopefully it's still June.

But maybe it's July. Can we set up a call with them?

Yeah.

That would be awesome.

Yeah, and Aaron, you've been talking with them, right? Yeah. Flex, they have three LOIs that have been accepted, but they can't share who they are just yet. They assured us that it's going to be concepts that we're really excited about. They're aiming to have the shell for the space ready to go by the end of the year, pending weather, and then hopefully have their first few tenants moving in Q2 of 2027. So we will keep y'all updated. Okay, next really exciting, keep it in color, America's 250th edition. So we have asked, we sent an email and posted on social media to all of our businesses to let us know what kind of promotions they're running for the 250th anniversary of our country. And we are gonna be doing a special social media campaign highlighting as many as we can get to of these businesses. But fun for y'all, we also have created some posters for businesses to display at their business. So if you would like, To go to businesses, you know, maybe you're going to go eat at the Bevo's or you're going to go get your nails done. Give a poster to the businesses you visit, which we brought some here.

And we brought a pretty big stack.

So if you want to take a stack of posters to give to your business friends.

This is just a little preview. How many can we get?

And also, if you run out, let your friends know that we're going to have boosters at Town Hall. And they're over here at the lobby. They can walk in, grab a booster. The goal is to get businesses engaged in celebrating Keller Lights and then the anniversary.

So, that's what's happening.

And if you see us post about a business, please engage, share, like. Yeah, we have a hundred.

Y'all can take a view each. Okay, so we had our small business week May 3rd through 9th.

As y'all might remember, this year we

We switched gears and we ran a digital initiative instead that highlighted nine pillar small businesses and those were at first comfort zone. Basically, our team sends out a notice of this promotion and the first 20, 19 businesses that show up get selected to have their business highlighted.

Say that again, I'm sorry. We had our small business week the first week of May.

And normally it's an in-person scavenger hunt, but we switched it to be online so that we could help the businesses get more engagement on their own social media pages. Some of it was go follow this page, go comment on one of their posts. So we had some really good engagement. We had over 22,000 social media views in a reach of over 12,000. And then, last but not least, open rewards. I know it feels like forever since we wrapped this up, but I wanted to show you which businesses were in the top 20 of transaction counts and It's a little bit of what we suspected that it was going to be the big box businesses so from We had a couple of goals for this program as far as promoting small business and having more traction with small business It was not as successful however We will know in a few months that if we can attribute any form of sales tax growth to this program or not when we get the numbers from the comptroller's office, which are usually three months behind. So I will have an update for y'all in a couple of months to see if it moved the needle at all. But yeah, it's just the, any questions?

have your merchandise okay so you've had 34 so far cool so anyone that wants to participate just have them fill out the form and then we'll basically pick the best of the best and spotlight them through our social media channels and however else we can yeah and there will be a post listing everyone so even if they didn't get their own individual post we are going to thank anybody that submitted where's that at or do they

Where's the form?

Yes, so it is on our social media page, but business has got a personal email with the link. But if you're looking for it, if you go to Keep It In Color, our Facebook, where we can send it to you.

On Facebook?

Yes, but we'll send it. But make sure it's a Keep It In Color account.

What's the deadline? June 19th.

Yeah, we extended it.

Yeah, so if you have the next probably three or four days, any business contacts that you think would be great to participate and just be highlighted because they're doing a great job, now's the time.

Any other questions?

That's exciting.