May 04, 2021
This is a summary of the information presented during the meeting portion as an opinion of what and how the information was presented. Corrections to “facts” are welcome and can be sent to [email protected].
Meeting Format:
The format of the meeting was prepared to be a presentation that covered some of “How Jersey Village got to this point?” presented mostly by Justin Ray with some of “What will it look like?” presented by Bobby Warren, Andrew Mitcham, Saul Valentin, and other members of the group involved with the planning to develop the project. The format was designed and enforced to not allow any questions from those in attendance during the entire presentation. This should not be confused with what is known as a “Town Hall Meeting” where questions are allowed. Bobby instead said that individuals could ask questions of the group members on a one-on-one basis after the presentation was completed.
Project Details:
Slides were used to show the proposed layout of the project and the pictures of the project layout were the same drawings that have been available for some time. All of the buildings still are represented by white blocks at different locations in the drawing. An image is shown in the 2020 JV Comprehensive Plan chapter 3-13; however, not sure how much that has or will change by the time construction actually begins or when completed?
The only building with any kind of image was the “City Hall” drawing with no details of the inside like a floor plan showing offices, meeting rooms, or anything at all. In the JV plan, it says the city hall will have 34,000 square feet of space. However, we have been told that JVCC is prepared to sign a contract for the “City Hall” building very soon. As presented, there would be an outdoor park area with seating and a place for outdoor performances and other activities that would become a “place to go and stay”. A comment was made several times is “This will draw people to come as a tourism destination in its own right.”
Other Buildings Identified:
One of the white blocks was presented as being a “Wellness Center” that is to be a 2 story 40,000 square foot building (20,000 on each floor), that would be some sort of health-care facility with maybe doctors’ offices or other type health-care that I guess could be like a 24-hour Fitness center like at West and the Beltway and called a “wellness center”. The construction of this building (no present building details like floor plans or what the building would look like) would not begin until it is 80% sold or at least 5 doctors committed.
Three of the white blocks was presented as “High-end” apartments that would be two stories each and I believe contain 356 units (with an estimated new 1,144 residents) that would be a combination of 1 bedroom, 2 bedrooms, and some 3 bedrooms with no present details of those buildings except the location to the right of the City Hall over to next to the train tracks. These apartments were described to be like none presently available in the entire area around JV and a place that will be highly sought after. No questions were allowed during the presentation so I can only say I had more questions than answers about how reliable that information is. There was no one there to say they were going to build those apartment buildings. I assume that the common area around the City Hall will be the common area for the residents of the apartments because none was presented as separate space, nor was a swimming pool discussed for the apartments.
One of the other white blocks was presented as a “High-end Upscale” hotel, like an Alof or Conrad Hilton, but neither of those two companies. The statement was “this would not be a place that someone would just stay a night, but it would be a place people would come to stay multiple days and sit outside and have a glass of wine and enjoy themselves.” A statement was made that a company was ready to build last year when the pandemic hit and the hotel industry stopped construction everywhere. No other details were provided about that building or how soon it would be built.
Other buildings were described as mixed-use retail, office space, and great restaurants like not available now in this area; however, no names were available to be disclosed.
Public Area:
Public Area was identified as the city hall, the grounds in front of city hall, the “wet area detention pond”, and the drainage channel that feeds run-off water from that area under 290 and into the channel that is along Village Dr that flows between Wall and DE Lozier streets. It was said that there will be a “water feature” across Jones Rd from city hall that will be at where the drainage channel starts in Village Center. Bobby described a “Walk/Bike Path” that “would be” included along the channel from the Village Center going under the train tracks, under Highway 290 including the feeder lanes, and coming above ground east of 290 along the side of the channel until Rio Grande – a distance of about ¾ mile. Bobby did not explain how the channel could be increased in size and made that deep to allow a path beside the channel for people to walk under the tracks and freeway or ride on a bike. He even spoke of golf carts, but current ordinances do not allow them. I believe the current water channel under 290 is in the form of large culverts to allow some water to drain from that area due to Jones Rd flooding during heavy rains. I am fairly sure that only the State of Texas can approve any changes within its’ right of way and what goes under the freeway and the owners of the tracks would also have to allow those changes. “Water finds its’ own level” describes that water will flow to the lowest area and will not move to higher ground until the water level reaches that point or is forced to a higher level via pumps. If the channel is dug deeper under 290 to allow adults to walk or bike on a path that is higher than the normal water channel, then how much deeper will that be than the bottom of the channel within JV along Village Dr? If the channel is lower than the channel along Village Dr, then the water would flow toward the Village Center until the channel under 290 is full or level on both sides of 290. That is what I know about the science of water. Now, Bobby set up this meeting to inform the residents and he has floated the idea about this walk/bike path on Facebook and Nextdoor so he has thought about it for some time.
Traffic Issues:
During the presentation about what could be in the various buildings, traffic was discussed with turn lanes constructed at various points to allow the flow of traffic without blocking the flow of traffic. Bobby said “if the Village Center” generated enough traffic to cause backups, that would be a very good thing and the city would work with the county to get more roads cut through that area to resolve any problems. Again, no questions were allowed during any portion of the presentation so no discussion about existing traffic occurred. Today, a large number of 18 wheelers and other trucks use that portion of Jones Rd to get to and from the businesses on 529 as a quicker route to or from 290. That is without the issues of the train crossing at grade level.
Construction Time Lines:
Construction timeline estimates were shown on one slide, indicated that the first building was slated to begin in June 2021 with the next building slated for August 2021 and another one in November 2021. The Hotel would follow in December or early 2022. With the presentation on May o4, 2021, and dates as shown, it is hard to believe that any building is far enough along for anyone to sign a contract committing to anything. Bobby said the words “Trust Me” many times during and following the presentation and yet everything presented was still in the form of “Blue-Sky” talking.
Village Center without City Hall:
When the question of the project being developed without the City Hall as the anchor, it was stated that yes it could be done but the project would have to be redesigned with another anchor to draw people to the center. That means that the people wanting to stay at the hotel would not be there for a few days or the people that would lease high-end apartments in that area would not be drawn without city hall and of course the same would be true for all of the other businesses. It has nothing to do with the more than $8 million that Jersey Village would be putting into the city hall building upfront.
Sales Taxes, Property Taxes, and Hotel Taxes:
During the presentation, comments were made that car dealerships are ok but they don’t provide any sales taxes to the city. That is true for car sales, but not for repairs or sales of other items. To that point, a “wellness center” can mean several things, but doctors’ offices were discussed more than other types. There are no sales taxes collected for doctor visits. Within Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, increases in property taxes and hotel taxes are required to stay within the TIRZ to be used to pay off debts and expenses for developing within that zone before the city sees any additional funds – that it could be 30-40-50 years.
Here are some comments from the JV City Manager regarding the TIRZ. – March 22, 2019, CY-FAIR News.
Before the city could move forward with development, he said a tax increment reinvestment zone needed to be established. A TIRZ finances improvements meant to boost property values within its boundaries. Portions of the incremental increase in future ad valorem property tax revenue are given to the TIRZ to pay for improvement projects.
The city of Jersey Village established TIRZ No. 2 in 2017 and approved the Final Financing Plan and Project Plan for TIRZ No. 2 on in February 2018.
“The TIRZ as proposed will allow the City and other taxing entities to partner with each other for public improvements each may have planned for the area,” states the TIRZ No. 2 plan document. “The City believes that a TIRZ is the best mechanism by which to partner with the private sector developers to plan, fund, and construct the needed improvements over the long-range time horizon such an ambitious undertaking might require.”
The source of all of the increase in sale taxes that could be used to lower property taxes in Jersey Village must be limited to the restaurants and retail space within the Village Center and those businesses have not been defined. The Wellness Center, Hotel, office space, and apartments are unlikely to generate sales taxes.