Hello. Good evening. Hello. Hello. Alright. Well, I am councilwoman Elizabeth Beck, and I'd like to thank you all for coming out tonight for this bond meeting. I hope that you're here for the bond and not the snacks in the back. But if you get cranky or you get hungry, we do have some snacks and water in the back, so don't leave us. Hang in there with us. Just, grab a snack. So this meeting really is, meant to do two things. One, inform you on what we have currently planned in the bond. I wanna make sure that I use that term currently planned in the bond because
the reason that we're at these meetings, across the city is to make sure that we that bond reflects the will of the people. And so it is very important for you tonight to make sure that if there's something that you didn't see in the bond that you'd like to see or questions that you have, now is the time to voice those concerns, to ask those questions, and to be part of the process, because we need to get you to a yes, when it comes time to vote for that on the ballot. And so without further ado, we will go ahead and get started on our bond
presentation. Thank you. So, actually, before before the bond, we have a, my name is Tony Harold. I'm the planning manager on the long range planning team at the City of Fort Worth. We have a short presentation to go over regarding our 2050 comprehensive plan. And with that, I have a a quick video as well. This is our Fort Worth, the place where we grew up. Where our friends will build dreams and where the choices we make today shape the world we live in tomorrow. Our city is growing faster than ever, but growth takes smart planning, designing neighborhoods and districts where people can live, work, learn, and play within reach.
It's about thinking long term, and now is the time to reimagine where we can go next. That's what the 2050 comprehensive plan is all about, a vision and a plan for how we grow, connect, and thrive over the next twenty five years. Think of this as a big picture way to plan. Instead of focusing on one property at a time, we look at how entire neighborhoods, streets, and districts fit together, how homes link to schools and worksites, and how trails lead to parks and community centers. Abandon turning an empty lot into a playground.
Imagine turning an empty lot into a new home or a business right down the street. We can create active neighborhood centers where people meet up with family and friends connected by green corridors, trails, and an efficient transit that will link every corner of our city. This kind of planning keeps each area's character intact while giving every neighborhood a chance to grow in a way that fits its residents. Our future can be a place with even more great jobs and innovative companies with advanced employment and higher education centers.
Vibrant places, great neighborhoods, a city we're all proud to call home. That's the future the comprehensive plan helps guide for all of us. So what would Fort Worth look like when Nigel Wolf? Those decisions start now, and they start with you. Your voice, your ideas, your priorities, they shape the goals and policies that will guide our future. This is your chance to help decide how land is used, how growth happens, and how we enhance the character of our neighborhoods. Join conversation. Share ideas.
And help us reimagine Fort Worth. This is our chance to make Fort Worth a better place with fun. Okay. So I love this video because it really shows who the plan is for. It's not just for you and me right now. It's for our kids. It's for our grandkids, and it's even for our great grandkids. Because over the next twenty five years, this comp plan, the 2050 comprehensive plan, will act as Fort Worth's official guide for decision making when it comes to growth and development. It's essentially a summary of of the goals, objectives, strategies, and policies that will inform
decision making, across the city, ultimately allowing the city to works alongside, neighborhoods in the community in developing stronger neighborhoods, safer neighborhoods, and more strong resilient economies in the country to the ninth largest, eighth largest, seventh largest. As we continue to grow, we wanna grow sustainably and, effectively. So where are we in the process right now? In 2024, we engage with the community, develop an emerging vision of the comprehensive plan of the '25.
We move into 2026 and, ultimately, into plan adoption in 2027. We're really honing in on that vision, and developing, strong goals, and actions needed to turn that vision into reality. Especially and we're and we're doing this by working in consultation with experts, working with departments across the city, the same departments that are out here right now, and most importantly, working with the community. And we're doing this through a couple of ways. We're working, in the public. We're going out to pop up events. We're going to meetings. But, additionally, we have some resources online that we would like we would like y'all
to, engage with. So we do have our primary window. Your primary window into our plan is Connect Fort Worth. That's connectfw.com. It's available through this QR code here, and it'll be available this QR code will also be available at the end of the presentation alongside the bond program. So the Connect for Worth, generally, we have project information on there. We have a timeline. We have all pop up events that'll be available and open to the public for you to come in and engage with us. And throughout the process, we will continue to publish any interim resources that we have, for the public to view.
And most importantly, I'm gonna plug the interactive survey right now. We really would encourage all of you here to share to take and share far and wide our interactive survey. It's a five minute survey. It's super short, super simple, and it really gets to, community needs and priorities. So we're asking you to identify, generally, your needs and priorities for the city of Fort Worth for the next two and a half decades. Additionally, any thoughts on potential challenges and opportunities you see at the city? And then there's an interesting aspect of the interactive survey where you can actually go
to a map, circle areas on the map, and talk about potentially, you know, desired, redevelopment or development, in that area of the city. So we take the survey very seriously. We incorporate we're gonna be incorporating all this information into our ultimate plan. And as as I said earlier, throughout the process, please check back Connect Fort Worth. We are going to continue to add resources as we move through the plan, throughout next year and then, again, ultimate adoption in 2027. For now, after the meeting, we also have a booth out here I know many of you saw when you came in.
We have, part of the comprehensive planning team here with us. We have Eric Flateger, the AD, and a senior planner, Estella Alvarez Renoso. Happy to answer any questions y'all have about the comprehensive plan overall, how it may affect or how it interacts with the bond program, and then or or just any questions about the planning process in general. We would, love to talk with you all about it. And with that, I'm actually I'm gonna start I'm gonna move on and give a table of a rose with the 2026 bond program. Great job, Tony. Alright. And similar to Tony with the comprehensive plan, we're gonna go and kick this off
with a short video related to the 2026, proposed bond. In the 2050 comprehensive plan, the city of Fort Worth is looking far ahead, setting an ambitious vision for how our city will grow and thrive in the decades to come. But bringing that big picture vision to life starts with real short term action. That's where the 2026 bond comes in. For 2026, the city is developing an $840,000,000 bond package focused on the foundations that keep Fort Worth moving forward. Out of the city's 67 tax, so your tax rate won't go up.
Fixing every identified need across the city would cost billions, so we have to be strategic. That means making fiscally responsible decisions that deliver the biggest impact with the dollars of your ships and balanced needs across every part of Fort Worth. More than 60% of the proposed bond package focuses on streets and mobility. Designing and proposed transportation projects were chosen to advance the priorities identified in the city's master transportation plan. Another 22% invest in parks and open space, expanding recreation, new parks, recreation, open space,
and a public realm master plan. And the remaining funds support essential community needs that strengthen neighborhoods across our work, like public safety, annual care, library upgrades, upgrades, and affordable single family housing. These projects aren't chosen lightly. They're shaped by data, careful planning, and most importantly, your feedback. Help build our future. Use our interactive balancing act tool to explore the proposed projects and share your input on what projects should be prioritized. You and your neighbors will vote on the bond projects in May 2026.
The comprehensive plan sets our long term vision. The bond program helps make it happen. Alright. So really some three, like, key takeaways I was like to highlight with this specific video is one, because the 2026, the 2026 bond program, given the capacity at 840,000,000, it will not cause your eight your existing tax to increase because it is built within that 15¢ that was discussed in that video. The second item is that it is informed from multiple various trans like, plans that our city staff has worked diligently, over the years to help prepare, help engage with
all all of our various residents across City Of Fort Worth, to then work with city council, help work with our staff as far as even to, save rank all the various projects that we'll be presenting to you today. And the third one, as councilwoman Beck did state at the very beginning, is today is about engagement. Today is about your time to be able to vocalize if you'd like to see a specific project or if you'd like to inquire more or if you have a general comment in proposition or even against, within the 2026 bond program, we'd like to
hear that feedback because we are aggregating so much of that data to help inform our city leadership as well as city council so that we can come forward in next year, in the springtime with that final list. So with that being said, this is the breakdown for the proposed 2026 bond program. Now how exactly did we get here? Well, a lot of this this program really started in October 2024 where we pulled our city staff and we worked with them to really say, okay, what is from
a capital infrastructure, a public capital infrastructure needs? What exactly are all the various projects if you had infinite amount of money? Right. And that amount was $2,700,000,000 So 2,700,000,000.0. I wish we had that to be able to fund right here right now. But we do have to limit that into a capacity that, as we mentioned, fits within our existing tax rate. And that is how we landed at that $840,000,000. And as the breakdown is shown here, about 60.9%
is towards streets and mobility, 22% is towards parks and open space, and the remaining is towards public library, affordable single family housing, public safety, as well as the animal care shelter. Now within each one of these propositions is public art funding, and that is per our city council adopted ordinance. Now the breakdown for public art is that 1% related to the streets and mobility will go towards public art. For all the other propositions that are shown here, we would have about 2% of
that proposition would be allocated towards public art. So that is a number that is in the background as far as with the breakdown that you'll go ahead and see today. Now in each one of these images, there is an exhibit, and it's if you're sitting in the far back, it may be a little bit difficult to read. But if you do walk out to all the various tables, we do have printouts of this exact exhibit in which you're able to really see, okay, what areas is project in? What is the project description? In the upper right hand corner, we have the legend that helps describe, what type of project it is.
But you'll go ahead and see that. And in this case, it is about the entire, 2026 bond program for this particular slide. So with that being said, to begin, we have the streets and mobility proposition, and that is at 511,500,000.0. And this includes expanding major roadways at a 199,100,000.0, Also rebuilding minor roadways at 129,200,000.0. You can consider minor roadways equivalent to neighborhood streets that you've come to become familiar with, if this is not your second rodeo, when it comes to the bond program.
We also have new up new and upgrading traffic signals at 44 0.6, upgrading intersections at 40.9. And I believe on, the 2026 bond program list, for District 9, I know that we also have the, like, South Henderson and West Pennsylvania signal upgrade. So that is also included. And so if you really wanna dive into all the details, all the various projects, our tables, do you have just additional insight, to really dive into some of that? We also have the bridge safety and connections at 40,700,000.0. So I'm a civil engineer by trade.
Right? That's my background. And I would be remiss to say that as far as plugging in infrastructure, we have aging infrastructure across our nation, and we are not immune to it here at the city of Fort Worth. In fact, with the bridge safety and connections, a portion of that funding with forty point seven does go towards tackling, some of that aging infrastructure so that we can be able to have, safety oriented safety forward, bridge, type of safety features. Next is we also have sidewalk and school safety at 28,500,000.0
and Vision Zero projects at 12,300,000.0. So you may ask yourself, okay, April, what's the difference between sidewalks and Vision Zero? So Vision Zero projects, kind of relate back to a recent Vision Zero safety action plan that city council adopted in August just this past year. And that is a plan that is, forward looking to try to reduce the number of fatalities related to, like, traffic transportation related incidents. And so one can look at an entire corridor and see what are some of
the safety features that can be put in place, to be able to lower that and to be able to achieve that goal of limiting, the fatalities that may occur because of that. So it's very, very honed in on vision zero projects and that helps again inform so that our we can move forward with designing as well as implementing within that 12,300,000. For sidewalks in general, that's looking at sidewalks that may have some issues already going on that need to we need to go and go back to and actually come back and and rehabilitate from that sense, for railroad crossings at 6,000,000 and then streetlights
and 5,200,000. So again, here in red, for example, those thick red lines, you'll see that those are, like, in construction proposed for construction. The little, like, cross areas, you'll see those as intersections as well as traffic signals. And you could see where they're all over the city of Fort Worth, and then also those that are identified here at District 9. So next is parks and open space, proposition at a 185,100,000.0. And this is upgrading Metropolitan Community Parks at 57,500,000. So you can consider that, towards, like, your Gateway Park.
So that is a citywide, type of return from that perspective, to at 25,000,000 for Gateway Park, rebuilding the Autotown Car Jefferson Community Center at Hillside for 30,000,000, the open space land conservation for 25,000,000. If you're not familiar with open space, that goes back to the acquisition, of natural open space. We do have a table where it kind of shows some of the proposed areas that could be used towards that that that 25,000,000 could be used towards acquiring. And it's really considering the growth that the city of Fort Worth is experiencing and
may continue to experience, with development coming in, there is added value, that that city council has also identified, to be able to retain some of that natural open space, for future years and future generations to come. Next is the Aquatic Center at 22,000,000 and then the Botanic Garden upgrades at 10,500,000.0 and local here is the Water Garden upgrades at 10,000,000. So sure you'll have walked over to the downtown area. You've got some friends, bought some family. That would definitely add to some of those improvements.
We also have the Fort Worth Zoo infrastructure at 4,000,000. Now something that, really wanna point out between both parks and open space and and a couple of our other propositions such as the streets and mobility that I mentioned earlier, what we have really looked into with some of the projects that we're proposing is about leveraging funds. Right? So whenever we talk about streets and mobility, we have tech stock funds in which that they could potentially cost participate with us. There's also the North Central Texas Council of Governments, in which we're able to, really look at a specific project and, see, okay, if the city of Fort Worth hypothetically
puts in $1, then what would be the low or the regional share? Right? What what is there a way that we can get cost participation in? And so with that particular mechanism, we're able to really highlight and elevate some of the projects to say, hey. These are ranked high because we're able to really leverage our dollars to make those projects happen, so that we can get more projects on that list. So I encourage you again to touch base with so many of our staff because there are those projects that they can help identify. So next is the and let me go and click on that.
There we go. The public library proposition at 14,600,000.0, and this includes the relocation of the Fort Worth History Center, the renovation of the Southwest Regional Library, and the renovation of Diamond Hill Jarvis Library. And so these are, the I know the two renovations, for example, are related to libraries that are are already reaching that forty year mark. And so these are actually next on the list that the library has developed with the facility assessment through a library master plan. And so that is what they're proposing here today.
And, again, it goes back to what what else that how can we continue to chip away at that $2,700,000,000 need? Next is the let me click on that. There we go. The affordable single family housing proposition, and this is at 5,000,000. And this includes buying vacant or blighted properties, and that as well as funding construction and, like, the interest funding the infrastructure costs to develop affordable single family that's single occupied, single owner occupied housing within the city.
So you may ask, okay. How exactly and why is it 1,000,000 to 4,000,000? So the 1,000,000 related to land and acquisition, that is where the city of Fort Worth would go out and purchase that land. It would become, like, from that sense city property. But the 4,000,000 would be used to really leverage dollars as well. So if the city of Fort Worth would were to say, like, put in $1, that can then be used from the external side of the developer, to be able to help build and construct single family, single owner occupied homes.
So this is all related to capital public infrastructure. So the dollar from the bond of the 4,000,000 would go towards public infrastructure related to sidewalks, to water and sewer impact fees if they were necessary from that perspective, transportation impact fees, as well as, specific areas, again, all related to the public side, of affordable single family housing from that perspective. Next is public safety proposition at 63,900,000.0. And I like to look at this particular slide as new rebuild and renovate.
So the first item would be related to, 19,400,000.0 of related to the new Fire Station 46 in the Southwest Fort Worth area. Next would be rebuilding in the Fire Station 40 in the Northwest Fort Worth area at 15,000,000. And then finally, it'd be related to the renovation of the zipper building that's located here in Downtown Fort Worth. But that is really about aggregating and bringing together so many of our services. So whenever we think about police, fire, emergency services, we'd be bringing all of that
in down together into one roof. The reality is is that we've had technology just, you know, take off, and we need to be able to catch up with that technology. We need to be able to provide services that are optimized, for today so that we can react and that we can be able to provide you services, quicker from that perspective and also be instant be far more reactive to be able to help answer that. But all that being said is we all work together, and that would all go towards the new 911 call center at 28,300,000.0.
Finally is the animal shelter proposition at 59,900,000.0, and this includes building a new animal control shelter with increased space. And this is intended to replace the current Chuck and Brenda Silcox animal shelter. So this particular, the Chuck and Brenda Silcox animal shelter was built in 1998. And so if you look at the 2020 census, the city of Fort Worth was at 560,000 people. And just a rule of thumb as of now is that for every 1,000 individuals
that move to the city of Fort Worth, there's about 25 to 35 animals that enter the animal welfare system, and the city is currently at about an 86 live release rate. Through building, the new animal control shelter, we'll be able to increase that space to be able to hopefully achieve a higher, live release rate. And this would hopefully be a onetime capital expense to take us through to the next thirty, forty years from that sense. So I know the Chuck and Brenda Silcox animal shelter has been expanded three times
since. And so currently, there's no more space to grow into. And so this is the time in which staff was proposing this particular, item for a bond proposition. And next, I really just wanna walk through some of the bond program history about, like, how we got here and what else have what else has been sort of implemented throughout the city. So in 2018, the bond program was at 400,000,000, and you could see this is where all the various projects were located across Fort Worth. Next in 2022 was at 560,000,000, and you could see that the 2018 projects are
grayed back now, and the 2022 is exactly shown in color. And then we move forward to 2026 at 840,000,000. So you can see exactly where all the various projects were over time and have been over time, and how they're being proposed today. And something I do wanna point out so whenever we are selecting a project and we go out and we begin to, you know, actually sell the bonds, year over year, well, that in each one of those trenches kinda kicks off that following phase within the project life cycle.
So the first time you may be doing the preliminary study, you may be doing design and then you get additional funding from that second trench of cash and so forth, within the bond to the point where you're able to actually implement and deliver that project through construction. So there are projects that are completed within that four year timeframe, but some of them are a little bit more complex. And that is related to ways in which you might have to have right of way acquisition, or you may need specific permits and to be able to get through all of that sometimes even have some federal, permitting that you have to get through,
and that can also kind of help extend that time frame. So we're fortunate enough to be able to come to you, our residents, and propose a bond so far every four years and, say, the 2022 bond program, we may have some that are still about to enter into construction, just because we're finally there within that phase because they were probably a bit more complex and may take that six year time frame as compared to four years. But here's everything in terms of the 2026 and kind of shown as an overlay. And so finally, as we've mentioned before, is that this is not an entirely baked
list. There are still potentials for project swaps. There are still potentials for us to be able to add. But in order to add a project, I do wanna point out that we have to be able to kind of swap out in kind as far as the dollars. So say, for example, that we wanted to rebuild the fire station 12 stockyards. Well, this is just an example dollar, but this is at 15,000,000. That would mean that from that exact same proposition or another proposition within the overall bond program, we'd have to find another project to swap out or another dollar amount to swap out.
So whenever you are considering specific projects to add, consider what projects you'd also like to propose for removal because that is the type of decision that our city council, will also have to make through discussions, as well as, like, working with city leadership and city staff. So how exactly do you provide your feedback? Well, shown here is a QR code. We can also go to www.connectfwfortworth.com. So if you were to take out your phones and if you were to highlight this particular QR code, it will take you to what we have called the balancing
act activity. And it really highlights what I just mentioned earlier. If there's a specific project that you would really like to see on this particular bond program, you can actually add comments and you can state, I would like to see x y z. We are actually aggregating all of that data that you're submitting so that we can provide it to city council. It is a live activity. It is something that as soon as you hit submit, we instantly get that. You can also go to that connect Fort Worth website, and there's an email address related to the 2026 bond program. And it goes to myself and our team, in which we're able to hear more
from you. We're able to share your comments as well. So in that QR code, you can also find out about projects. I know there's an individual here earlier that really wanna know a little bit more about the scope. But some of, our particular websites do have, like, actual descriptions of each of the projects, and it also tells you where in space are located. We have some slider activities. If for some reason you didn't see that grayed out exhibit from earlier, you can actually see how all of that overlays, on top of each other. So here we are today from a community engagement event standpoint, and this is fall twenty twenty five.
The project list will be finalized heading towards the end of this year, and that is through, again, council discussion, in which once we have that finalist finalized, we'll go ahead and move forward with the council calling the election in the January, February 2026 time frame so that we can come back to you, with the community education events to be able to notify you of what that finalist looks like so that in May on 05/02/2026, we can go hopefully engage with the bond election, and you can
go ahead and, go ahead and cast your vote from that perspective. And we're gonna go and open up for questions in just a moment. But we do have some microphones, that we're gonna go ahead and pass around, from that standpoint because this is a live, like, streamed event. And so any questions that you have, we'd love to capture it. And so that way, we can have, all of our various individuals. As much as I would love to help answer all of your questions today. We actually have a great group of subject matter experts. In fact, they're here to represent each one of these propositions because they'll be responsible
for fully implementing that, design into the future. So with that being said, we do have a question up here. If you have and I can go and share my okay. Perfect. We'll get open up for questions. So yes, sir. Hey, good, sir. This would be the least important of my questions, and I hope to get the microphone back. But didn't you just tell us that the staff's final proposal will be complete in about one month from this meeting? Yes. That you'd present it to council, and after that, it'd be too late to tell the staff what we want.
Is that right? So we are collecting thank you. There you go. Okay. Yes or no. So we are collecting data, and we are gonna propose all of the various, comments, the various projects that are being proposed so that we can present it to council. We could begin working with them. But the list will be finalized heading into the January, February time frame. Since I may not get this back, I'm Charles Stryfe, and I am totally supportive of the bond package as a whole. I really do like, the open space initiatives, the parks initiative, a lot of what
public works is doing. And the libraries to me are very important, including, the archival records. These are really important. There's some things I don't understand. We're put still putting money into the botanic garden and the zoo, and a lot of that's contractual. But we went through a long and torturous process of turning over to essentially one family, both the zoo and the botanic garden, and it was gonna save us a lot of tax money. And I don't think it is.
And here we are saying, let's decide against multifamily housing and pour it into the botanic garden, which we do not control as a city and over which we have very little say. I don't really understand the botanic garden projects. I'd probably be very much in favor of them. But right now, there's a lot to be said for multifamily housing and for support of affordable housing in general. I hope we can come up with that. As a whole, I really support this program. As far as the trade offs that you speak of, I would just assume that,
I know that the city's obligated to spend a lot of money at the zoo because it was written by the most expensive law firm in Texas in a very one-sided way, the contracts. But it's time to look at where the money's going and where it's gonna come from. I'm glad you stated it to us that way. I'm Charles Dreyfus, and I really appreciate your attention. Thank you. Yep. Alright. We have two. I see right over here, and then we'll go and capture you. I may have missed it out in the the outer room, but have you divided these projects up into separate proposals yet?
Do we have a list of those proposals? Yes. We do have a list of all the projects. They are online. The propositions. There's proposition one is libraries, proposition two is parks, whatever. You have that already, and will that change at all? So each one of the propositions as they state today, they're still proposed. And so the dollar amount, that's in there can also change depending on your feedback. The projects that are within each one of the propositions on the very first slide that I broke down for each one, so that's streets and mobility, parks, parks and
open space, and and so forth with that list. Those propositions are currently the ones that are being proposed at this time. And so, they are as they state at this time. I don't think the question is Yes. Will we be voting on these individually Oh, okay. Yes. We will be voting on each one of these propositions individually. As of now, we've been working with our legal team, but that is, right now, as proposed, will be each one individually. And we have our assistant city manager saying yes. Each proposition will be voted on individually. K?
Okay. Good evening. My name is Robin Kelly. And full disclosure, I am a member executive member of Gateway Park Action, Coalition. And so, thank you, Gateway Park. It's the time has come, but it's been coming since 1971. Great. Thank you for 25,000,000. However, we would like to have 50,000,000. This is something that has been an evolution for, like I said, 1971. It's been here and there and been promised.
And so I would like for that increase. Thank you. Alright. Thank you. K. We have two questions up here and then back there. Early can you hear me? Early on, you mentioned that the streets projects have 1% public art and all the other projects have 2%. Is that written in the ordinances, or who's made that decision? That is per the ordinance. Hi. I'm Lund Burnham. And for decades, I've come to these meetings, complained about you're not putting enough into parks. Particularly, I was on the, board for the Friends of the Fort Worth Nature Center for years and just, like, skipped over, skipped over, skipped over.
Now I'm going to complain about what you're not doing for housing. Across this nation, it has recognized that one of our biggest crisis in our cities is inadequate low income housing. And what you're talking about is single family. You get far more for your dollar in multifamily than you do in single family. So as somebody who decades ago worked for the City of Fort Worth in low income neighborhood advocacy work and fifty years later, I'm concerned we're still not concerned we're
still not doing enough about low income housing or libraries. There's so many other things that we should be emphasizing. I will be voting against Streets and because it always gets more than its fair share. Thank you. I'd like to add so we do have Casey Thomas, and she is the director of neighborhood services and, is essentially also leading the charge with the proposition related to single family affordable housing, and she'd like to share additional information related to that proposition. Casey? Hi. Yes. I'm Casey Thomas. And so I would, just add as far as the city gets grant funding from
HUD housing and urban development every year. And most of that grant funding, we do use towards developing, multifamily affordable housing. This is, we have not had an opportunity to put funds as as many funds towards single family housing. But I would say if there is an interest to put money in affordable, affordable rental housing, using some of the avenues that were expressed here where you can share your feedback and sharing it with your council member would be the way to do that. But that's kind of the reason as to why we're not putting the money into
multifamily housing. Thank you, Casey. K. We have a second question. Oh, sorry. Back here and then we'll couldn't talk. Yep. Hi. My name is Dan Hayes, and I'm also a member of the Gateway Park Action Coalition along with Robin. I just wanted to give you a couple of facts and figures to think about. Gateway Park is essentially the same size as New York's Central Park. It is attracting 600,000 visits a year and is the seventeenth most visited outdoor attraction in the state. And by itself by itself, it is larger than 60% of the parks in Fort
Worth. So we have a new master plan, but it takes money. It's not the first master plan. There were master plans in nineteen seventy eight, eighty eight, 2002, 2009, and 2015. So they're really just wish list with pretty pictures. So that's why we need the money. And it's a park that is beneficial to everybody. I'm going to give, council member Beck a copy of this heat map to show where some of the folks in her district, are coming from. Thank you. Thank you. The question up here.
Third row. Yep. Thank you. My name is Carol Roark, and I wanna talk about a resource that underlies a lot of what goes on in planning projects, in executing projects. And you may not think of it that way, but the Fort Worth History Center, which is a division of the Fort Worth Public Library, has a lot of the records of the city of Fort Worth and what has been done in the years over the in the past. And many people come to Fort Worth to use that collection either to do tax
development projects, rehabilitation of of buildings in the city to to get tax benefits for them, or to write books about the history of Fort Worth, or to do promotional videos, filming something related to Fort Worth. And the resource for that information is at the Fort Worth History Center. And they have been squeezed into a very small space right now relying on they have room for the books, but they don't have room for the archives. That is the papers, the photographs, the maps, the documents that underlie a lot of
the projects that that we end up doing, providing that resource information. And the proposal to move them into the former city hall, now now former city hall, and give them some space to expand to actually have more materials on-site so that if you're somebody who's coming from Boston or Houston or wherever to work as an engineer to work on a project and you need documents, you can go and get them instead of having to request them online several days in advance and then,
oops, you made a mistake. And when you get here, you discover that they pulled the wrong box for you or that that you you gave them the wrong box number. It it it makes it a much more seamless process to have the materials available and to have the staff there at the same time. And the new location proposed is gonna be a much better space, plus it will give people who had the library on Bolt Street, that community. It will give that that branch library back to them. Alright. Thank you, Carol. Hi. My name is Michelle Kennedy.
And, again, in full disclosure, I'm with Habitat for Humanity. And I appreciate the city taking an effort to address affordable housing in our community. And it's the first time housing has been included in a bond as far as I understand. From perspective, I would just like to point out that the city of Denton is ranked a hundred and seventy seventh in size in the nation. The city of Fort Worth is tenth. Yet the city of Denton committed $15,000,000 to housing.
And we're if I understood you correctly, we're looking forward. We already know we have a growing need, and affordable housing serves our essential workers for the most part, the people who keep our economy moving forward. Do y'all really think $5,000,000 is sufficient? I'm sorry. We're gonna lose a 100,000 of that. So do you really think that's sufficient? And the need is is bigger. And for the first time, are we gonna let Denton, who's a hundred and seventy
seventh, outdo us at number 10? I I mean, I appreciate it. Don't please don't don't hear me, standing against it. I do appreciate the effort. I'm just grateful that something is being done. I just wanted to state the comparison. Thank you. Alright. Thank you, Michelle. And I do wanna point out, thank Michelle, the affordable single family housing is new to the bond program, and it did join, the bond program list, in August year.
And council, made the decision to add it on. And at the time, it is at 5,000,000. And so thank you for your comment, and we will definitely be sharing, the $15,000,000 figure comparison, back as comment as comments as well, to our city council and the data that we're aggregating. And, again, right now, this is about engaging with you, and so we do appreciate your comment as well as being able to provide a dollar amount because it's an aggregate, that we could provide hard data for. Thank you. Thank you for giving me the opportunity. Thank you. Yes. Question. I'm sure everybody knows that I'm in favor of more money for affordable housing as
well. I'm Anne Zeta, and, I do appreciate that it is on the bond this time. And I know that that was due to the efforts of our councilwoman, and I appreciate her standing up for adding that to our bond as well. But I just wanna publicly state that we need more money for affordable housing to be in this bond. We have a housing crisis, and I understand that we do a lot of multifamily housing, and I I like the emphasis on also having affordable single family. So, again, I'm not here to slam staff or anyone who has made the effort to put this in the bond, but I just wanted to publicly state that it's a it's a good first suggestion and hopefully we can end up with more in
the actual printed bond that we all get to vote on. Alright. Thank you, Anne. Okay. Do you have any more questions? Okay. We have, one and two. Okay. I'm just wondering where in the, proposition would a community center fit in? We have, we're we're Uptown Fort Worth Neighborhood Association, Rock Island. And, we have about four or five five thousand residents. We don't have a community center. We lost all of our businesses.
So where would that fall in under the proposition? Yeah. That would be under parks and open space, as well from a proposition standpoint. And we do have, Joel here today. And so he also worked with us to help develop, the project list as well as where that specific project is on the list or even just also adding to the list. From that perspective, he can expand more. So, Joel? Yeah. Sure. Joel McElhaney, assistant director of park and recreation department. And, so April's correct. We our community centers are in the, what's listed here second or proposition b or
two, park and open space. So currently, we have recommended the replacement of a Tatiana Carr Jefferson. The community center is severely undersized. It's, lacks good clear sight lines, and the condition of the building building warrant a full replacement. And, then we also have an expansion of the NorthPark YMCA that's partnership to provide a a community center on the North Side Of Fort Worth. So that facility right now does not have a gym. It's basically a big fitness room. So we'd be able to provide more of the type of facilities we have at our community centers, through that partnership.
What we have going on right now is fire station community center, and that's almost a full replacement save the, the historic, fire station part that's being preserved. So that project is currently in in design, and it will be completed in, I believe, two years. That's a 20,000 square foot center. And, yeah. So the the area you were talking about, I could talk to you later and get a little more information on it. That'd be helpful? Alright. Thank you. What about buildings that are being closed down like a school? Mhmm. Yeah. We we have a good partnership with Fort Worth ISD, and I've met with them
and reviewed their list of school closures. We have talked about that. Some of their buildings, they have slated for other uses, you know, educational uses, so that's great. There was one building that was being demolished for the condition of the building. That was SS Dillo on the East Side, but we even asked about that. Was that, you know, would that be considered? And they said, no. That building really has to be demolished. But there were, facilities on that list that they didn't necessarily have a use for. So, yeah, we'd have that conversation. A school is not always the best fit for a community center, you know, sometimes.
Sometimes it is. So that's definitely something we wanna we we would explore then. For our neighbors, it's Nash. Yes. Yeah. I thought about yeah. Gonna be vacant, we're gonna have people move into it. That that is a site they had another educational use for. But when that one was on the list, we asked about that. So, yeah. And we'll keep talking. Thank you, Joel. Alright. We have a question over here. I actually just have a couple of comments that I wanted to add. I'm Danielle Roberts. I'm a TCU graduate, and I'm now a business owner. I employ about 200 people in North Fort Worth.
And about thirty years ago, I was just across the street here at Waits Hall, probably studying for finals. And that was just before we built the South Chuck Silcox Animal Shelter. It is a very old and dilapidated building. It's leaky. It has terrible airflow. So I am in full support of the dollars that have been given to, redo the shelter. I wanted to point out, that a new shelter is not just about animals. It's about people, neighborhoods, and community well-being.
It's about public safety and the kind of city that we wanna be. Adequate shelters work to strengthen public safety. We have fewer loose animals, meaning fewer bites, fewer car accidents, less strain on emergency services. Well equipped shelters support a sense of family and good neighbors. This isn't just a place that animals go. It's a resource hub for all kinds of people who lose their pet and are trying to find their pet, who find a stray and want to take it somewhere where it has a chance. A safe, clean shelter means to have a trusted, efficient place to turn to for help. It connects people in crisis with temporary care options, low cost vaccinations, and rehoming support.
I'm a foster, and I myself have referred many people to the shelter for these options. When I do refer them, I tell them to go to the north shelter because the south shelter is appalling. I wouldn't even want to be in it. I wouldn't want to work there, and I certainly wanna be an animal that is housed there. So I came out for to give my support to the fact that we process 20,000 animals a year through Fort Worth. That's 20,000 animals that are not out on the streets, roaming in packs and creating buttloads of puppies. And, unlike some other city projects, there are no federal or outside funds available for
the construction of a new shelter. The bond is the only viable way to make it happen. And so if we want Fort Worth to have a shelter that reflects our values as a a growing, caring, humane city, We need a shelter that can keep up with that growth. I am definitely gonna vote for it and, stump for it wherever I have an opportunity to. I think this bond is our shining moment to make it real, and I hope the city council will consider including it as written. Thank you, Danielle. Comment or question? My name is Lauren King. And, disclosure, I am the CEO of Partnership Homes.
So I work with, a lot of housing and homeless organizations throughout the city, and county. I actually have a process question. So you mentioned you showed, like, the bond from, what, '16 no. 1822, and '26. And said, sometimes for projects, you have to do a bunch of planning, and then when the next bond gets approved, then you get to actually do the project? Or can you help help me understand that process? Yeah. And great question. And I and I will clarify that, and I kind of stumbled a little bit
on that particular process. Okay. So, for each particular bond program, anytime that a bond program is passed from this perspective, the city does go out to be able to sell the bond notes. And so those come in the form of trenches of cash. So we don't get all the money all at one time right up front. So So sales 400,000,000. You can get 100,000,000 the first year, another million 100,000,000 so forth each year, through that four year cycle. And so there is quite a bit of propositions that were shown.
And so exactly being able to parcel out that money for each one of those propositions so that we can basically kick start and get those projects go up and going. We basically seed, for each one of those respective phases so that we're making the most use of those dollars for each year that that bond program goes through. So that first year may be very much honed in on the preliminary design, say that second year or third year, they're nearing towards that 100%. So in the fourth year, once we get that fourth tranche of cash, they're able
to actually go to full construction, able to utilize those dollars during that time. So hopefully that helps clarify what I meant by each one of those years. Okay. Yeah. So my follow-up question is, if we go through and we haven't designed some of these programs yet, help me understand why we would fund them in the bond? Like, I could never as a nonprofit, I could never go to a funder and say, I just need $5,000,000 because I'd I'd I'll need to do stuff. And I need infrastructure for my agency or whatever.
Right? And so I'm struggling a little bit with, like, help me understand how we don't have designs for some of the very expensive projects that are that are proposed. When we actually the city does have a lot of plans, but yeah. How so help me understand that process, I guess. Yeah. So earlier, I was talking about plans from a master plan standpoint. That really tells, like, the big picture, where exactly are all the needs. Library, for example, does has a library plan in which they have facility assessments and they kind of have an assessment of, you know, what building has the greatest need,
say, from a overall renovation standpoint. But I'm gonna speak in terms of, say, transportation. So if I have a roadway project, for example, From a master transportation plan, we've kind of identified where a certain network has to connect to from a traffic flow. There's been some modeling that I've helped control how that connection occurs. So I have a very high, high level. What the bond proposition dollars help do and help accomplish is to be able to take this from a professional services standpoint into the engineering phase. And so from an engineering design standpoint, we're able to bring on professionals to be
able to provide their engineering services, to be able to say, okay. If I know I have to make an, connection from point a to point b, I'm gonna have to look at all the various properties. And in theory, the master transportation plan really tries to look at where an existing roadway is. And if there is additional right away that needed to be acquired, they can help identify what those parcels are are during the design phase. And so that trench of cash, that particular bringing on the professional services component, that is what we utilize those bonds for.
And it's really related to design, engineering, right of way acquisition, and then finally through construction, which is that really, that's the larger part of that cash, that's needed because typically construction would cost way more than the engineering services or far more. Excuse me. Did that help? Alright. Thank you. K. Any more comments or questions? I know we have we're almost up at time. So I'll accept about one or two and then councilwoman Beck will help close this out. Hello? Okay. I'm Wesley Kirk with support for with art, and, I wanted to bring up the
fact that I don't know if everyone knew this, but the Fort Worth Community Arts Center was the largest publicly owned community art space in the state of Texas. It's something we should all take great pride in. Almost every theater in town has been incubated there. Almost every artist in town has found opportunities there that they can't find anywhere else. And we know that it would be $26,000,000 to repair it, but because the city has underfunded and under supported it for for decades, we no longer have that space. And I'm frustrated to not see it on this bond, but I also recognize that
we don't have a Department of Arts and Culture like other cities. We we fund Arts Fort Worth, which does an amazing job of supporting our arts ecosystem, But the problem is is we don't have a department that is fighting, like, libraries and transportation and public works to make sure that it is on this bond. So what will it take for us as a city, as a community, to see this vital city resource be restored, through a bond, through any other way. So from that perspective, we would definitely, one, thank you for localizing that specific area,
that specific type of project. We have we'll we'll take note of that. But even from, say, even a department level and so forth, that is definitely from engaging with your council members. And, also, we every year, we come out with a budget cycle and a budget process, when it comes to also city function. So that's kind of a a two part series there. One related to city staff and departments within budget, but then in operations, but the second related to a specific project, that would be working with us here, in commenting and providing input.
And Madori, I'm not sure if you'd like to add additional information or even, parks and so forth, related to anything related to art. So No. I I don't think there's anything to add, but thank you so much for being such an avid art supporter. I just I I admire your, dedication to it. Thank you for speaking up. Okay. And with that being said, councilwoman Peckwood, do you do you have any closing remarks? We do appreciate everybody hopping on in, being present, making time on a Monday, to be here. Please go to connectforearth.com. If not, take a photo of the QR code.
And with that, councilwoman Beck. Thank you. Thank you for everyone that stood up today, raised your hand, and advocated for your community, or for your proposition. Please, if you are not already signed up for the District 9 newsletter, I would implore you to do so. As, as staff said, you know, in the next month, they're gonna be finalizing all of these recommendations. And so, we will that is the the number one avenue that our office is gonna use to communicate with you what those changes are. So if you're not signed up, please please get signed up.
So that way, I can let you know, make sure you're on top of it. Also, pay attention to city socials and city newsletters because they will also be blasting out that information as well. If today you heard something, you felt something, and you didn't feel like you, maybe you didn't want to raise your hand or, you know, you didn't like to speak in public, please fill out that QR code. Even if you did speak up today, please fill out that QR code, because staff is gonna compile that and bring that back to us. That aggregate is really how council how staff is gonna formulate that final bond proposal
and bring it to city council. And your voice is so important in this matter, and I don't want you to think that the that the system that it's already baked. I can give you a great example. In last bond when, there was a initial bond proposal for Forest Park Pool and because the community was so incredibly vocal about what they wanted to see there, millions of dollars were added to that project. And that was a direct response to, you know, being booed at Forest Park Pool. But but but staff heard you.
They heard those boos, and they got that put in the bond. So I don't mind a boo if it's gonna get us what we need. So just keep that in mind that it really does work if you, if you commit to working it. So thank you everyone for, advocating for your communities. You make Fort Worth better. You make District 9 better. And so with that, I hope you go enjoy, this nice cool weather, maybe some soup or a hot dinner. Alright. Thank you. The tables are open. Please feel free to engage with staff, ask additional questions, take some handouts with you,
shares anything on