MIDLOTHIAN – Midlothian Mayor Justin Coffman opened Tuesday night’s council meeting, commenting on the tragic loss of Mercedes Ross, a Midlothian resident who recently passed away.
“We ask all Midlothian residents to keep this family in their prayers as they mourn at this difficult time,” Coffman said.
Consent agenda items passed in one vote except for two items involving Mid-Way Regional Airport, which were pulled for individual discussion.
The items that routinely passed included City Council meeting minutes from September 26, an ordinance amending the “Offenses and Nuisances” Code of Ordinances deleting “Curfew for Minors” in its entirety, a resolution authorizing the Jingle Belles 5K and Rubies Fun Run hosted by the Heritage Belles Booster Club on December 2 in accordance with a Special Event Permit, a three-year Enterprise License Agreement with SHI for all Microsoft Licenses in use by the City of Midlothian with an annual cost of $142,967.24 for a total cost of $428,901.72, the purchase of two network switches to replace and upgrade the server network switches at the Police Department as part of the City’s network maintenance program approved in the FY 2023-24 Budget, a 60-month lease with Dell Financial Services for two Dell PowerStore 500T SAN appliances and associated installation and configuration services through Waypoint Solutions, and an Interlocal Cooperative Purchasing Agreement with the City of Humble.
The items removed from the consent agenda involved Mid-Way Regional Airport; both passed unanimously after discussion.
The first item was to accept and support the Mid-Way Regional Airport Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) Project with a request for Texas Department of Transportation financial assistance. A 90/10 grant program in which the Texas Department of Transportation Airport Project Participation Agreement would cover 90% of the funds and the 10% being split between the cities of Midlothian and Waxahachie. Both this item and the additional Mid-Way Regional Airport costs were budgeted in the new fiscal year budget being paid by the Airport.
Staff notes indicated the current Weather Observing System at the Airport is an aging system with issues that cause frequent downtime. A fully functioning, reliable system is essential to the safety of the Airport, with a project cost estimated at $200,000.
The second Mid-Way Regional Airport item was a similar 90/10 grant for an airport Runway Rehabilitation and Marking Project. That 90% of funds also will be paid from the same Texas Department of Transportation financial assistance program. The airport plans to rehabilitate and mark runway 18-36, the parallel taxiway, and the surrounding apron area. This will be for $787,101.00 with $20,711.00 not shared with TxDOT, making Midlothian and Waxahachie responsible for 10% of the total shared project costs and 100% of the unshared costs currently estimated to be $97,350. It was explained five airports had been conglomerated for runway rehabilitation to bring the costs of engineering and other necessary work down. The rehab will begin in the fall of 2024 and will be done by a TxDot contractor.
There were five public hearings heard, all of which passed.
The first public hearing concerned a secondary dwelling and a Specific Use Permit for development on 7.132 acres of land at 931 Belmont Drive. The property is currently zoned Agricultural (A) District. The applicant was requesting a separate utility meter.
A public hearing for a Specific Use Permit requesting a “Day Care” at the Creekside Church of Christ Addition at 5401 E. Highway 287 was heard. That property, on 19.08 acres, is zoned Agricultural (A) District. The Planning and Zoning Commission also passed this item unanimously in September. The current number of children at the daycare inside the church is about 90. It was noted that the additional space could increase that number by almost 40, opening the opportunity for the church to grow. This item passed 6 -1, with Place 4 Clark Wickcliffe voting against the SUP.
A public hearing with public comment was for an ordinance amending the Planned Development-123 (PD-123) zoning to allow for the development of a “Hotel” on 2.5 acres along the north side of East Main Street and Aspen Parkway. The city’s Future Land Use Plan designates the subject property as a New Town Module. The Comprehensive Plan indicates the New Town Module has “characteristics (that) include a mix of single-family residential, commercial, and community facility uses that encourage walking and biking between locations.”
Staff notes indicated the applicant requested an amendment to the existing Planned Development, which currently allows for a two-story storage building, to allow a four-story dual-brand hotel instead. The building will be a 68,000-square-foot Holiday Inn Express & Suites.
Staff received three letters of support, and the applicant was also on hand to speak. Place 1 Allen Moorman motioned to approve this item, seconded by Place 6 Hud Hartson, with the motion passed 5 -2.
“Dual-brand hotels combine two distinct hotel brands within one building, sharing facilities and amenities while maintaining separate brand identities,” staff pointed out. “This arrangement allows a single hotel building to offer two different hotel experiences to cater to a broader range of guests. One hotel brand intends to cater to guests who will stay for a short period, and the other hotel brand wants to cater to guests who will remain for a more extended period. There are at least four dual-brand hotels within the DFW metroplex: two in Dallas, one in Grapevine, and one in Euless.
A public hearing involved a property southeast of the city’s ball fields; the request was for an ordinance amending zoning from the Agricultural (A) District to a Single Family-2 (SF-2) zoning. This will allow single-family residential use in Rolling Wood Estates on 3.8 acres at 3830 Oak Tree Lane. The request was to amend the plat and adjust the property line. Planning and Zoning voted 7 – 0 to approve, and the council voted unanimously to pass.
A public hearing to amend an ordinance involving the City of Midlothian Zoning Ordinance and Zoning Map is related to the temporary zoning designation of a development with 370 acres to be annexed into the Corporate Limits of the City and changing the zoning classification from Temporary Agricultural (A) to Agricultural (A) Zoning District (Z26-2023- 78).
This land begins at the southeast corner of the intersection of Farm to Market Road 875 (FM 875) and Singleton Road, southerly along the eastern boundary of Singleton Road to its intersection with Midlothian city limits following easterly along the city limits, heading north along the western boundary of Baucum Road and continuing along Baucum Road back to the point of beginning. This also includes a 70-acre parcel to the north that is part of a 3212.1279-acre tract of Creek Ranch, LLC. This tract is a Texas Liability Limited Company to the Salvation Army, according to staff reports, which is a Georgia Corporation.
The change will not affect the current use of the land, and a representative from the Salvation Army was on hand confirming it was in favor of this change. The Midlothian Planning and Zoning Commission approved the item unanimously in September, and the City Council also approved the item unanimously Tuesday night.
Council entered an Executive Session with several items to discuss, and Wickliffe motioned to pass two of the items relating to purchasing real property. Both passed unanimously authorizing the City Manager to negotiate and execute an agreement with Joyce E. Houck to purchase a .368 acre tract of land for a street right-of-way and a .031 acre tract of land for a permanent drainage easement both for the purchase price of $15,073 in association with the construction of the Mockingbird Lane Road Project along with payment of all related closing costs.
The second item involved the purchase sale agreement with MidTech International Center, effective September 14, 2022, to provide for the purchase of additional acreage for $35,000 and modifying the location of the access easement to provide an access point to the seller’s property.
