Minutes from April Meeting with Councilwoman Macy Hill
Fort Worth City Councilwoman Macy Hill
Fort Worth (Councilwoman's assistant) Sammi Roop
Fort Worth Parks and Rec Joel McEnany
SSNA President Deanne Kearney
SSNA Vice President Brian Keller
SSNA Treasurer Tom Mast
SSNA Secretary Adrienne Taylor
Deanne first mentioned how the SOI was only posted to Bonfire for 6 weeks, but after she reached out it was extended to 6-7 months. Joel explained that their lawyer had suggested the 6 week timeframe in order to only receive contacts of interested parties without their full proposals yet. No parties responded with interest yet. Joel said this is the first time FW is soliciting private parties to operate businesses on their land, so the process has been unclear to them.
Deanne explains that the entirety of the Casino Beach property is overgrown, run down, and run over with homeless. She shows pictures taken the day before by the board members who gathered at Casino Beach to document the current conditions in preparation for the meeting. The board noticed the day before how the homeless are fully camping under the bridge, with firepits and litter drifting everywhere, including in the lake. Furthering the problem is how the homeless have a nice walkway across the bridge from Lake Worth, which delivers them conveniently into a secluded area for camping for the night.
Macy Hill asked if we have ever tried to contact anyone about the homeless situation. We reassured here neighbors have done so frequently and have even tried using the MyFW app, just as she highly suggested we do at our SSNA meeting a year ago.
The board made clear the urgency of some of the conditions, in particular the old wooden dock for the Queen Marie, which is dilapidated and a real hazard on city property. The board requested the city clean up the area for our safety and also so potential developers will see a more attractive space.
Deanne wondered about installing cable fencing along the beach to prevent cars from pulling up to the shoreline to fish, however not all board members agree with this restriction.
Brian reminded everyone how Councilman Shingleton had some infrastructure installed at Casino Beach years ago which does make it an appealing area to develop, especially now with completion of the bridge construction for easy access.
Joel talked about a conference he recently attended which gave exciting examples of how to use private companies on city land for better city spaces.
Tom talked about concerns in the SOI wording, how buried in the wording is said that the city will help in development only after they have a committed developer. Tom's concern is that this is not an enticing arrangement. Tom also suggested hiring a broker to actively look for developers to lease the land. Lastly, he mentioned listing the SOI on LoopNet in addition to Bonfire as it will get better attention and traction. His idea is that a broker along with LoopNet and better clarified wording of the city's involvement will attract developers.
Macy Hill expressed concern about individual companies coming in without a unified plan, resulting in undesirable operations, upsetting us residents. This is why she suggests we stick to the plan of finding one visionary developer instead of leasing out portions individually.
Tom highlighted how there are two residential lots on Surfside owned by the city. These lots are overgrown, contributing to the unkept look of the area, and could be sold off for homes to be built. Joel and Macy took this under advisement.
Joel confused me about bond money and out of cycle bond money and needing to involve the City Manager's office to gain funding outside of bond money. Macy and Joel both said the bond money doesn't cover nearly enough projects and that Parks gets very little of it.
Deanne lamented how we had so many of our neighbors utilize the bond budget tool, at their suggestion, as a way to get money for Casino Beach, only to learn later that Casino Beach is listed as 15th in priority for any money the Parks department would get, which is very little. So the suggestion to have so many people use the bond budget tool was misleadingly unhelpful, which damages our reputation with the members of our neighborhood association. She also complained about Fort Worth having posted the SOI to Facebook, which racked up 800 comments from people all over Fort Worth and even Lake Worth, Florida with all sorts of zany and concerning ideas. Deanne had neighbors calling her out of concern over the suggestions, that the city would take them into account.
Macy strongly stated that Casino Beach is now more firmly on her radar and she will look into making the SOI more visible (LoopNet as a suggestion).
Joel stated he will look into cleaning up Casino Beach, will look into hiring a broker for land, and into selling the two residential lots on Surfside. (something about Joel McKnight, someone Brian remembered working with on Love Circle)
Macy also mentioned needing to reach out to the real estate council.
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