MISTLETOE HEIGHTS NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING

November 21, 2017, 7:03 – 8:35 pm

Location: Pereth’s Residence, 1126 Mistletoe Drive

Officers: Josh Lindsay, Jeri Jo Blackmon, Mary Ellen Peipert.

Secretary: Valerie Ewing

Attendees: 17 Mistletoe Heights residents

Guests:

1. Wayne Owen, Planning Director, Tarrant Regional Water District.  Wayne.owen@trwd.com 817-335-2491

2. Tabitha Butler, Community Engagement. She helps build relationships and assists in problem solving for neighborhood and community organizations here in Fort Worth.   

Call to Order: Meeting began with Josh introducing special guests.

Approval of the Minutes: Minutes, from the August meeting were distributed and approved.  

Guest Speaker: Wayne Owen introduced himself and talked about the Tarrant Regional Water District.  He provided a handout with information on their mission, funding, and maps showing reservoirs that supply water to the DFW area.  In 1922, the Trinity River flooded significantly enough to warrant change and TRWD was created for flood control.  He referred to a map on the handout that showed Eagle Mountain Lake and Lake Bridgeport that were built between 1922-1938.  The debt to build them was paid off by 1985.  A small tax they charge now, pays for flood control, and it generates 10 million per year.  He reports that the river still floods it’s just not as visible. He then referred to the Richland-Chambers reservoir that was built in the 1950s after a drought, followed by Cedar Creek, built in the 1960s.  Pipelines pump water to FW from these reservoirs which takes a lot of electricity. Fort Worth has 4 water treatment plants.  What followed was a brief historical account of our area referencing the 95th Meridian and cultural differences between the Apaches and Comanches.  Fun facts: The Chisholm trail, west of the 95th Meridian, was used to run cattle and chosen for its more arid climate, DFW is the 4th largest metropolitan area in the US and the 10th largest in the world. Question about pipelines and electricity: Renewable energy is being used to move the water through the pipelines via wind generation.  He also mentioned that the TRWD office is partly run on solar power.   The discussion then switched to the new pedestrian trail being built along the east bank of the Trinity River near our neighborhood.  Eventually the trail will go to the Tillery Bridge.  Completion may be around May or longer. This concluded his visit.  

Officer Reports

Treasurer: A sheet detailing income and expenses was passed around.  Quick summary: Expenses YTD: $8491, Income $7635. Net: ($856).  Please send in your dues donations before years end.

Newsletter - nothing new to report

Committee Reports

Development: a mistletoe heights resident recently purchased land located east of Jerome and south of Mistletoe Blvd.  It is mixed zoning; residential and commercial.  The commercial part is zoned T5I (Transect 5 Industrial) which could support a 10-story building.  The plan is to build an Assisted Living Facility but details are still being worked out.  The land was purchased in an attempt to prevent it from being developed exclusively for commercial purposes. 

Quiet zone:  In our vicinity there are 3 RR crossings: Mistletoe Blvd, Park Place, and Windsor.  The crossings are near enough to neighborhoods surrounding them that a push for a quiet zone must be done at the same time for it to be effective.  Fairmount, Blue Bonnet, Park Hill, Ryan Place, Berkeley, and Mistletoe Heights are in support of enforcing a quiet zone and have asked the City of FW to help.   Ann Zadeh, Kay Granger, and Konni Burton have all gotten involved with this project, hopefully a solution will be provided soon.

Old business:

TIF for the new Saigebrook Apartment Development was approved with stipulations limiting the units to 100-110 which is lower than the 200+ unit plans seen previously.

New business:

Alley Drainage: what follows is a concern brought to our attention by a MH resident who is dealing with alley drainage funneling into her basement during heavy rains. She has reached out to Ann Zadeh’s office for help and since then has had 2 meetings discussing storm water and alley drainage.  Per storm drain map, there are not many storm drains in our neighborhood.  The next meeting will discuss an engineering study that hopefully addresses this issue as the alleys could use gentle grading, etc. The meeting will be held Tuesday, November 28^th at 4pm in the alley behind 2325 Mistletoe Ave.  Everyone is welcome to attend.    

Modifications to Historic Preservation Ordinance: The City is revisiting their historic preservation ordinance and will be making a decision on December 14^th.  They are understaffed and looking at ways to reduce the workload.  This will impact us when we lose some of the protection we have.  For instance, our older homes need a lot of maintenance and a percentage of this cost can be tax deductible under the historic preservation discount but this may go away if we don’t take action.  They want to change it so that renovation is limited to outside/exterior only and not the interior (i.e., kitchen remodel).  It is important that we stay involved, the next meeting on this subject is Wednesday, November 29^th at 5:30pm.  Location: Josh Lindsay’s house, 2238 Mistletoe Blvd. Please attend to stay informed!

Officer Elections

Josh Lindsay, Chad Jung, and Mary Ellen will all be stepping down from their positions as President, Vice President, and Newsletter respectively.  Officers remaining are Jeri Jo Blackmon, Treasurer and Valerie Ewing, Secretary. 

A nominating committee was organized by Susan Presley which aided in selecting new members to take over the available officer positions.  New Officers presented: Corey Bearden as President. Mark Philpot as Vice President.  Jeff and Hannah Parks for the Newsletter.  Request to attendees: Are there any nominations from the floor?  None. Motion to approve slate of nominating committee as is: All in favor?  Aye.  Any opposed?  None.

Brief introduction of the new officers:

· Cory Bearden lives in MH on Edwin Street.  He works as a real estate agent and his wife is a teacher at Lily B Clayton. 

· Mark Philpot moved to MH 2 years ago and lives on Harrison Street. He enjoys our front porch community and meeting neighbors. 

· Jeff and Hannah Parks were not present at the meeting. 

Christmas Party: December 3rd 5-8pm at Susan Pressley’s house on 2341 West Magnolia Street.   

Josh Lindsay gave his parting speech.  He has been invited, as an ad hoc member, to participate in the Architectural Department for Near Southside. Congratulations Josh on your new role.  All the best to the departing Officers: Mary Ellen, Chad, and Josh - you will be missed!

Meeting adjourned