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Minutes of the 19 Feb 2013 Mistletoe Heights Association Meeting
Introduction of the MHA officers elected at the Dec 2012 meeting
President: Kyle Jensen
Kyle has lived on Mistletoe Dr for about a year, but just recently bought the house he had been rented. Kyle grew up in Denton and Still works in Denton. Kyle's fiancé, Stephanie, works at Cook's Children Hospital.
Vice-President: Ben Belsher
Ben is originally from Arizona and works in the Radio Shack corporate office. Ben has lived in the neighborhood for about five years.
Secretary: Rosaline Eastepp Takes
Rosaline has lived in the neighborhood for about ten years. Rosaline retired from Lockheed Martin a year ago; her husband, Steve, still works at Lockheed.
Treasurer: Jeri Jo Blackmon
Jeri Jo has lived in the neighborhood for about thirty years and has been MHA treasurer for six years. Jeri Jo once worked for the IRS and now provides professional tax services.
Newsletter Editor : Stefanie Ball Piwetz
Stefanie has lived the neighborhood for five years. Stefanie works as an editor for the Amon Carter Museum.
XTO Liaison: Aaron Shutt
Aaron is a graduate of TCU and an attorney and has lived in the neighborhood for five years.
Report from Ben Belsher regarding the proposed apartment complex
The Apartment development team (Developer, Architect and Real Estate Broker) met with the MHA officers 15 January 2013. The notes below are from the minutes of that meeting.
John Altman, First Enterprise Corp., Proposed Apartments Developer
Neil DiGiammatteo, First Enterprise Corp., Proposed Apartments Developer
Dwight Hartwick, Architect for Proposed Apartments Developer
Grant Huff, Real Estate Broker (Office Rep at Transwestern)
Information presented by the Development team:
There is a proposed apartment development being developed for the vacant lot at the northwest corner of Mistletoe Blvd and the railroad tracks. (See attachment) It is to be a 220 unit complex with three levels of parking, one level below grade, two above grade and four levels of apartments above the parking. There will be six levels above grade. There will be parking for 385 spaces, with no surface parking or parking outside the building. 65% of the apartments will be 1-bedroom and the other 35% will be 2-bedroom apartments.
The architect has taken photos of Mistletoe Heights houses and plans on the design to blend in with the historic architecture. The lighting will also be of historic design. The architect envisions a skin of stone and brick. The architect welcomes suggestions from the neighborhood. Elevation plans will be available for the Feb 19th meeting.
The property is expected to have a AA rating by the appraisers and lenders.
The property is currently owned by Baylor and Mistletoe Properties (approx 1/2 of the lot and the other 1/2 by Mistletoe Properties). The storm drain that runs under the current building (vacated by FW Sprinkler) will need to be moved and upgraded.
There will be no fill dirt for the project, some dirt will be excavated and exported.
The lost is zoned NS T5, Commercial or residential. There are Developmental Standards (Urban Style) required for the property.
Beckham Street will be closed. The parking garage will be accessed via 12th Avenue.
The loan will be a Ginnie Mae Mortgage. There is a 90 day window before substantial amount of hard money;y is required. The looks/skin can be worked after the 90 day window.
Developers have a meeting with the City :Thursday, 2/17/2013 at 1:00pm, City Hall.
MHA officers' Concerns:
Quality:
There are few (if any?) apartment complexes that have held their value after 40 or 50 years. The Architect stated the skin can be made of brick. It was pointed out a brick house in Wedgewood and a brick house in Westover can not be compared. Just because a skin may be made of brick or stone does not guarantee quality. A list of properties that Mr. Altman developed was requested. See Attachment. Mr. Altman also noted he had refurbished the building on Magnolia that houses Cat City Grill.
Traffic:
Even though the garage entrance is on 12th Ave which connects to Rosedale, it does not prohibit 385 cars from accessing Mistletoe Blvd. Developers needs to work with city to limit access to Mistletoe Blvd. If and when the Train Station is built, west bound traffic on Mistletoe Blvd will be diverted. Suggest working with city to prevent left hand turn to 12th Ave from east bound Mistletoe Blvd traffic.
Noise:
Train noise will reverberate off of 6 story building right by rr tracks back into the neighborhood. How will that be mitigated? How will this affect the length of noise wall required for train station if the apartments are built BEFORE the train station? How will this affect the length of noise wall required for train station if the apartments are built AFTER the train station?
Lights:
No bright lights should shine on neighborhood.
The MHA officers suggested a committee of homeowners, whose homes are east of Forest Park, meet to gather information to denounce the project or promote the project and to work with the city and/or developers to see that Mistletoe Heights Homeowners' best interests are addressed.
There has been a hiccup in the proposed plan and the team is now redesigning the parking per city code. The development team will be doing a presentation for a meeting with Mistletoe Heights. There will be open dialog.
Mike Brennan stated the property is under contract and the expected closing date is June. The current zoning for the property is T5 which allows up to eight stories, but the area may be rezoned T4 which limits the buildings to six stories.
Ben Belsher is heading the MH committee interfacing with the developers. If one wishes to serve on the committee, please contact Ben.
Other notes on the proposed development: The swimming pool is to be located on the neighborhood side of the property. A concern will be noise from the train reverberating back into the neighborhood from the apartment complex or a noise wall that may be built.
Road Diet
Susan Pressley reported the city may do the restriping of Forest Park in April, depending on weather. The temperature must be above 40 degrees and under dry conditions. It is estimated the project will take a few days.
TPW (Transportation and Public Works) will be working on the traffic light patterns and timing on Forest Park and also on 8th Ave and Rosedale.
Gas Leases
Aaron Shutt has been communicating with XTO on behalf of the neighborhood since the death of Norm Stemple. The well has been drilled, but is not producing because Chesapeake has not completed the pipeline from the well. It is estimated the pipeline will be flowing within the next thirty to sixty days.
The well site is located just north of Hangman's House of Horrors on Forest Park. There are three units being drilled at this location. The Mistletoe Heights unit is Unit B.
Once the gas is flowing, XTO will then be doing due diligence checking titles. The first royalty check will probably arrive about six months after gas starts flowing. There is no estimate regarding check size. XTO is not sure whether the royalty checks will be monthly or quarterly.
Newsletter
Stefanie Piwetz has just begun working on her second edition of the MHA Newsletter. She has asked for someone to volunteer as a designer. Joe Halbach has volunteered to help with that role. Joe has lived in the neighborhood for twenty-three years.
We still need someone to help with advertising. Jeri Jo reported that the rate increase went over ok and we are now asking advertisers to pay in advance.
Stefanie has requested ideas or content suggestions. If you have pertinent neighborhood photos, please send them to Stefanie, stefanieball@yahoo.com.
Jim Peipert was volunteered (and he accepted) to be MHA photographer. Please contact Jim with photograph opportunities. Jim Peipert <altonjim@gmail.com>.
Treasurer's Report
(See attachment) A couple of significant points: Dues are down, the water bill for Newby Park has doubled. Scott Ewing is working on adding the ability to pay dues on-line at the website. http://www.mistletoeheights.org
Crime Report
There are two neighborhood police officers, Sidney Keith for MH west of Forest Park, and David Cloninger for MH east of Forest Park. Officer Cloninger attended the meeting and reported MH has a low crime rate and there were no trends for the crimes that were committed. The most common crimes were car burglaries of possessions left in-sight in the cars.
Eartha Pitre, M.A. - Central Division Crime Prevention Specialist, reported on several programs available to residents which included Child ID, Auto etching and Personal Possessions Etching. There is no charge for these services and use of these services may result in lower insurance premiums. The FWPD website gives more information about the services. http://www.fortworthpd.com/Programs/Default.aspx
Citizens on Patrol (COPS) If interested, contact FWPD. There will be a background check for participants. Fairmont and Ryan Place have active COPS programs.
NTTA Noise Wall
Rosaline Takes spoke with Kevin Reilly, NTTA Chisholm Trail Project Engineer, regarding the wall that will be built along the berm on West Rosedale South. Kevin reported "We currently anticipate the wall to commence construction late this year. Our initial discussion which indicated a spring start has been revised after looking at the overall construction schedules. As we adjust our work to traffic conditions and interaction between two contractors in the area, the exact start date of the wall fluctuates. Unfortunately, that is why I can’t give you a more precise start date at this time. As we do get closer to actually starting the wall construction we will get the word out to you. Our goal will to be to notify all at least two weeks prior to our crews getting into the area. "
There was discussion regarding the dead foliage along the berm. Should it be cut down as it is a fire hazard, and if so, should the homeowners along Rosedale be responsible. It was suggested we have a neighborhood cleanup day two or three times a year. Rosaline Takes will organize the first cleanup day.
Volunteers Needed
Kathy McReynolds and Martin Herring are stepping down from the MH Historic Committee. This committee aids in helping homeowners wishing to remodel or build within the historic overlay with the design process. Kathy or Martin will be happy to provide information to prospective committee members. Please contact Kyle Jensen if you wish to participate on the committee.
Scott Ewing would like to have the help of a web editor. Scott will still handle the technical aspect of the MH website.
New MH sign
The neighborhood is looking for funding for a new sign at a new location, perhaps at the intersection of Forest Park and Mistletoe Blvd. The city requires $500,000 insurance policy which costs about $700 per year if the sign is in the City right-of-way.
Kyle Jensen has set up a FB account for MH. Check it out. www.facebook.com/mistletoeheights
New Development at FP and Rosedale
It was reported the NW corner of FB and Rosedale will be the location of a new multistory bank building with office space.
FW Bike Sharing
FWBS (Fort Worth Bike Sharing) is launching a brand new bicycle system that is going to put 300 bikes at 30 different stations around Fort Worth.
On the morning of Monday, April 22nd (just so happens to be Earth Day) all of the new bike sharing bikes will be pedaled to one location for some speeches and a ribbon cutting ceremony and then all 300 bikes will ride off to the stations. Volunteers are needed to ride one of those bikes. You may request to deliver your bike to a bike share station that's convenient to you.
http://fortworthbikesharing.wordpress.com/2013/02/20/fort-worth-b-cycle-bike-sharing-system-to-launch-earth-day-april-22
Cowtown Marathon
A motion was made by Kathy McReynolds to spend no more than $100.00 to provide food and drink for the Mistletoe Heights Cheer Station for the Cowtown Marathon. The motion was seconded by Jeri Jo Blackmon. The motion carried.
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