Remarks by Marcos Villanueva
188 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 8 of 8
“which is what I said from the beginning, it's a very ambitious thing. Listen, I hope it happens. But if the hospital doesn't happen, we're obviously gonna have additional space. And the concern is that based on that additional space, that the developer might attempt to come back to us for additional units. I'm willing to listen, but I'm a little hesitant only because that area is a juggernaut. He's making a lot of roadway improvements, but Northwest Seventh and 114th Avenue is going to be very difficult. I'm open to it. Like I said from the beginning, I said it in front of everybody, I think…”
“Right. Okay. A few other questions. We're going to have I think 7.9 million. Then after credits 6.5 million in police and government impact. We're shaking our head.”
“Okay, so we started at 7.5 and our 4.7 Scott, please come to the podium. The exact amount is really not relevant. Scott Mendelsburg, Finance Director, City of Sweetwater. But if you want to play those games, we can.”
“All right. Thank you, Scott. Um, How much access are we talking about when it comes to the school? Cause I'm a little, I'm a little confused when it comes to the school, school access. Um, could you explain that in detail?”
“Yeah. They said there was limited access. I just wanna know what that means.”
“Okay. So I have two more, uh, requests to consider just a request. You guys are going to go ahead and develop a school, which means that that school needs to have some sort of security component. And I would respectfully request that the developer take into strong consideration to have a Sweetwater police off-duty working at that school for several reasons. He understands being a law enforcement professional, but I would most certainly want to have that radio concurrency, that immediate communication where if something, God forbid, does happen, That officer who has the same frequency as our…”
“I wouldn't impose that on him because I understand that does come with a financial strain. I just think that having a police officer in a school is different than having a private security guard in a school. Now, by saying this, the police command staff back there saying, oh, my God, how are we going to stop this? Well, that's their problem. They got to figure that out. Our officers are going to have more off duties and they're going to be happy about that. Right. Especially the off duty coordinator sitting there. And then. You said something about the park that we're going to have limited…”
“understand I I respect the developer but I wouldn't go to the developer to ask permission for anything it's just my view I believe that is under the city's purview I get along great with the developer I love this project I've been trying to push this project from the beginning but he knows that I do have those mode those things where I'm like no kiddo and this is one of them I want you to take into consideration that any special event is never going to be conducted during school hours. So that's number one. The city doesn't have special events during school hours. Number two, our city special…”
“And the applicant is not asking for a variance to extend hours of operation for the not the bars, restaurants, nightclubs, comedy clubs, whatever it is that he's there are no variance request in this application. Excellent. I don't believe that I have any other questions. I think that I covered a whole lot. I hope that I was able to answer some of your questions with that. I will yield does any other commission wish to speak? Commissioner young you have the floor.”
“Yeah. So I'm going to say two more things. I also heard you earlier refer to CRAs. Now, again, I think that's very ambitious. Now, I don't have much experience at the 111 building, I don't have anybody here spend much time there. Oh yeah, you were there for like 23 years. That's all. And it's my understanding that the Board of County Commissioners right now is shooting down any attempt at a CRA. So again, I think that's very ambitious. I don't think that's going to happen. I think you'll have more hopes as a CDD, a community development district. It benefits the city to have a CRA because the…”
“yeah i think it's gonna be great i mean i want front row tickets to anything and i'm not sitting in the front row um so that's the first thing is the cra i don't think i don't think that look i didn't think we were gonna get a park and we got three acres so at this point do what you're gonna do uh i will say this final thing so aside from how we may or may not feel about the developer i have my personal feelings about him Our job is to negotiate and advocate for the city of Sweetwater. And I think the mayor has been a tenacious negotiator. I've actually opposed the mayor saying, guys, I think…”
“I think we have a lot to discuss. I am tired of kicking this can down the road. We've had some debates and dialogues and some heated discussions. Been on TikTok and Instagram and all that crap. I have, police been throwing pens at me every time I drink coffee. It's very interesting. I understand the developer's losing a lot of money. And it's more money than I could ever fathom. At this point, it's just make believe money to me when he says those numbers. I understand that the developer and development team and the 32,000 consultants that you guys have want to get this done as quickly as…”
“Before we go, uh, just one last point. Um, and I really appreciate the fact that you guys agreed to this is you're donating an additional acre of land for a police department. Is that accurate? it's not april fool's day mr president so we're not we're not donating another eight so you know what why don't we consider it so if you guys can go back to developer um i know he's away but knowing him he's watching uh so if you want to donate an acre of land you know i mean i'll accept it i'll accept it for our police department you know we we live in cramped spaces um our police parliament we're 90…”