The newly reconstituted Fort Worth Board of Adjustment held its first meeting Nov. 19, meeting for five hours due to a heavy agenda.
The Fort Worth City Council combined the residential and commercial boards of adjustment Nov. 11 and approved new rules of procedure at the same meeting. The city staff proposed the combination of the boards, which hear appeals to the city’s zoning ordinance, to better manage time and other resources.
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The council also named 11 permanent board members and four alternatives Nov. 11 and Nov. 18.
The new board’s first meeting consisted of 11 residential and five commercial cases. Of the 11 residential cases, the board approved eight. Applicants for the unapproved cases have the option to reapply to the board once identified deficiencies are resolved.
Of the five commercial cases, the board approved three, including an electronic monument sign for what will be the 13th RaceTrac convenience store and gas station in the Fort Worth area. The store is under construction at Interstate 35W and West Risinger Road.
The board continued one of the commercial cases to its December meeting at the applicant’s request. It is related to a new AT&T communications tower intended to improve high-speed wireless broadband access for communities in and around the Texas Motor Speedway.
Fort Worth Board of Adjustment
Documenter name: Doug Wilhelm
Date: Nov. 19
See more about this meeting at documenters.org.
The board turned down the remaining commercial case due to the applicant’s design for two multifamily housing units that did not meet open space zoning requirements.
Zoning ordinance changes intended to streamline the case load for the new boards of adjustment have not yet been finalized.
Board staff could not offer a projected date for when the changes would go to the Zoning Commission for preliminary approval and then to City Council for final approval.
The December meeting of the boards of adjustment will be Dec. 17 in the City Council Work Session Room at City Hall.
The new Fort Worth Board of Adjustment comprises James Whitton, Mayor Mattie Parker’s nominee; Sergio Garza, council member Carlos Flores’ District 2 nominee; Michael Johnston, council member Michael Crain’s District 3 nominee; Bob Riley, council member Charlie Lauersdorf’s District 4 nominee; James Hook, council member Deborah Peoples’ District 5 nominee; Sandra King, council member Mia Hall’s District 6 nominee; Whitley Wolman, council member Macy Hill’s District 7 nominee; Lucretia Powell, council member Chris Nettles’ District 8 nominee; Kay Duffy, council member Elizabeth Beck’s District 9 nominee; Janna Herrera, council member Alan Blaylock’s District 10 nominee; and Juan Manuel Acosta, council member Jeanette Martinez’s District 11 nominee.
The four alternates: Deborah Freed, Eric Arteaga, Logan Primm and Jarrett Wilson.
Of the new members, Whitton, King, Arteaga and Primm were not on the former two boards.
To see a case-by-case breakdown of how the meeting went, click here to read the Documenter’s notes at documenters.org.
Doug Wilhelm is a member of the Fort Worth Report’s Documenters crew.
If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at news@fortworthreport.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.
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