MIDLOTHIAN – The Midlothian City Council killed plans for an ala “Friends” type Central Perk coffee shop drive-thru at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting. Congestion was named as one of the major issues during the public hearing.
Questions were asked and some business owners at the meeting said during public comments they felt promises made in the Walnut Grove Center North Addition, where the coffee shop will be located, have not come to fruition.
Place 6 councilmember Hud Hartson made a motion to vote against the coffee shop drive-thru Specific Use Permit at 2450 Presidential Parkway stating “The line for the proposed coffee shop is only five cars in length. With the coming very large housing addition encompassing 2,200 homes, Bridgewater, right next to this location I don’t feel it is a good idea to have cars backing up onto Presidential Parkway due to a very short line. Recently we have had multiple other coffee shops come to the city and all of them had much greater capacity in their lines”
The vote was 4 – 2 with the four voting against Hartson, Mayor Richard Reno, Justin Coffman and Walter Darrach. Wayne Sibley and Ted Miller voted for the coffee shop drive-thru and Clark Wickliffe was not at the council meeting.
Midlothian Veteran’s Memorial
Another hot topic on the agenda was the upcoming plans for the City of Midlothian Veteran’s Memorial. Council discussed the policy for name inclusion on the memorial.
At one point an idea had been bandied around concerning if names were necessary or just a QR code in which people could scan the memorial. Timing was also an issue in regard to the names being engraved on the stone by Veteran’s Day this year.
While there is still much to be worked out regarding names to be included and the criteria, it was decided that the names would not be able to be engraved by this Veteran’s Day, but will be by Veteran’s Day 2022 in a unanimous vote by council.
Focal Point of New Community Park
Midlothian resident Bill Vansyckle whose wife is the Vice President of the Blue Star Mothers, Bluebonnet Chapter in Ellis County spoke in favor of the names being engraved.
“I am very proud of Midlothian’s Mayor and City Council Members for the approval to have the names of the Midlothian area’s veterans engraved on the tribute/memorial monuments,” he said.
“Our family history in military service began as far back as World War I, WWII and conflicts since then. My only son served in the Army’s 1st CAV Division. He spent two tours in Iraq where he earned his CIB (Combat Infantry Badge) and my wife, Martha, still serves works today with the Blue Star Mothers in Ellis County. I stand ready to volunteer and support the City of Midlothian and their veterans in any capacity. The city’s design for the Veterans’ Tribute and Memorial is so beautiful that I know it will be the focal point at the new Community Park on 14th Street and I ask all veterans from the Midlothian Area and their families to watch for communications from the city detailing how to forward veterans’ information.”
