In December and January, the Kennedale City Council dealt with a number of issues including several zoning items that have come about recently with the revival of residential development. The following is a brief summary of action items and topics discussed by the Council. For detailed information on past council meeting see Minutes
and Agendas
December
- City Manager Bob Hart presented the status of the month?s balanced scorecard, noting that sales tax was still down by about 23% or $460,000.00. {{more}}Brick and mortar stores have been even or trending up, however the loss of a few businesses in town combined with a sales tax decrease in several of the larger generators in town have cause this overall decrease. Mr. Hart suggested that Council and staff make an effort to build stronger relationships with businesses in town to keep track of these trends.
- The Council discussed the recent transition to Global Water, noting that a payment kiosk would be installed in early 2014, and that the installation of the new water meters was going well. Residents have expressed both displeasure and appreciation for the new system in varying degrees. Staff hopes to continue to ease residents through the transition period.
- It was reported that the City Marshal Department continued to create sufficient revenue to fund itself.
- Several projects are underway in the Oak Crest area, and that Tarrant County had agreed to contribute $250,000.00 toward the construction of Link Street, based on the expectation of business development in that area.
- A General Election was called for Saturday, May 10th. It will be a joint election along with Tarrant County and Kennedale ISD. City positions up for election this year are Mayor, Council Place 2 and Council Place 4.
Rick Adams was appointed as Chair and Patrick Vader as Vice Chair of the Board of Adjustment/Building Board of Appeals for 2013-2014.
Kennedale City Council Meeting (file)
- A zoning change was approved for approximately 6.3 acres, located at 260 Hilltop (access on 3rd St) that includes 15 lots, from ?OT? Old Town District to ?PD? Planned Development District. Several conditions were added by the Planning and Zoning Commission. These included 5? garage setback from the front of the house; exterior house facades with a minimum of 25% masonry; decorative street lighting; storm water run-off be adequately addressed with detailed drainage plans; elevations not be repeat more than once every fifth house; a home owners? association be required with responsibility of maintaining drainage facilities; and, the developer conduct a traffic study. At a public hearing one resident of the area, Lana Sather of 421 Corry A. Edwards Drive did raise a concern that the additional number of homes would be detrimental to the current quality of life.
- A zoning change was approved for approximately 4.3 acres located at Swiney Hiett and Collett Sublett from agricultural to single family residential. According to the plans this would allow for a maximum of 8 lots at approximately half acre each. A request for replatting of this property however was tabled so that more information could be obtained on the impact in the area. In January the replatting was approved after it was determined that it would not have an impact on water pressure in the area. Larry Ledbetter (Public Works) noted that due to the height and capacity of the city?s current standpipe 40 pounds of pressure was likely to be the average in this area and the size of the new addition should not affect the pressure.
January
- City Manager Bob Hart announced that the city was working with the University of Texas at Arlington on a marketing survey for the TownCenter area.
- Shield Engineering, out of eleven candidates, was hired to complete the landscape and sidewalk project along the southwest side of Kennedale Parkway. The project was halted when the original funding was through the Regional Toll Revenue grant was stopped. A replacement grant through the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) was obtained as an alternate funding mechanism.
City Council members are Mayor John Clark, Charles Overstreet, Liz Carrington, Brian Johnson, Kelly Turner and Frank Fernandez. The Kennedale City Council next meeting is February 13. See next
City Council Meeting
