Ridglea Hills Neighborhood Association

General Meeting Minutes

Sunday, January 29, 2017

3PM Ridglea Hills Elementary

Welcome and Introductory Remarks – Chris Holbert

Approximately 100 people were in attendance when Chris Holbert called the meeting to order at 3:15pm. He thanked everyone for coming and acknowledged how great 2016 was for the neighborhood. Chris announced that Paul Lager resigned as VP so he could travel more. Matt Allan will be stepping in as VP and will be working with business development. Elections will be coming up in January of 2018 and we would love to have new people involved via committees and the Executive Committee.

Approval of Minutes

Meeting Minutes from the October meeting were posted at ridgleahills.com on October 9th. Link is http://ridgleahills.com/2016/10/meeting-minutes-october-2016/.   Anne Hufsteler put forth a motion to accept and the motion was accepted.  Minutes were approved.

Councilman Zim Zimmerman:

Clayton Road between Floyd and Woodstock – completed this week

Woodstock between Rowan and Clayton has been completed

He acknowledged how terrible the road conditions are at Clayton and Angus and will put it on the list to be resurfaced.

Sidewalks will be going in on Vickery from Westridge to Walmart

Primrose is just about complete on Westridge

The senior living center will be open this fall and Greens of Ridglea Townhomes have begun to pull permits.

Camp Bowie Business leaders meet at Buffalo West.

1st two weeks of February – the Joint Reserve Base will be doing a training program and will have increased air traffic.

Bob Bashein asked if Vickery will be narrowed to accommodate the side walks. Zim said that this is not true and it will not be narrowed.

Question about Water Bills – some residents on the road construction have noticed a double or triple in water bills. Zim recommended getting in touch with Sandy in his office.

Zim said that he has been able to get the city to change their staggered bidding process to help them move projects along more quickly.

Question about the Weatherford Traffic Circle – yield signs are being ignored.  He’s been trying to get the signs changed to a traditional round about.

Question about vacant Kroger Building – everything is in limbo wth the developer, however, as soon as permits can get approved with the city, we will have a forum and formally announce it.

Ridglea Presbyterian Church – first week of March is the deadline for QT to officially commit to the project.

Paul Lager asked about paper leaf bag collection saying that they make a mess.

FWPD Neighborhood Police Officer Alan Pennington

Officer Pennington introduced himself. Question about the house on the corner of Piedmont – there was a drive by shooting with 5 shots fired.  Suspects have been identified because the renters knew who it was.  He said the police department’s hands are tied.  He recommended the neighborhood start writing letters to the owners complaining about the situation. Beverly Branham commented that shots being fired makes the neighborhood unsafe. Officer Pennington said that he caught a burglar going through an unlocked vehicle last week. Mike Burkhart asked about the burglaries the past few weeks.  Alan said that crime goes up and down and said that we are surrounded by not so great areas and sometimes they walk over from Como or Bomber Heights.

He recommends the app Crime Mapping. It is up to the minute stats of the neighborhood.

Alan recommends calling 911 before calling him.  He is the second line of defense when it comes to suspicious activity in the neighborhood.  911 dispatches much quicker and prioritizes calls.

Stacy Buky asked about door to door solicitors going around at 9pm.  The Ridglea North NPO said that it is taken care of and they have not been back. Zim recommended everyone getting a no soliciting sign because they are not supposed to ring the doorbell if there is a sign present.

Primrose School, Glenn Hudsall

3777 Westridge is under construction. They offer childcare starting at 6 weeks to Pre K and will have after school programs for kids at Ridglea Hills.  Summer and After School goes up to age 12.

Council Candidate Dr. Brian Byrd

Brian Byrd introduced himself.  He grew up in Fort Worth and graduated in 88 for Heights.  He is a physician and built a hospice company which he sold 3 years ago.  He has been married for 22 years. He said he is running for better solutions to the roads and bridges, i.e. the construction on Clayton Road.  He also brought up high and rising property taxes and said that he believes we need a budget hawk on city council.  He believes we need to increase business development in Fort Worth. He believes we have a terrible human trafficking problem and it needs to be addressed. He invited everyone to talk with him after the meeting.

Chris Holbert announced that a forum will be set up prior to the election for both candidates.

Julie Miers gave the Treasurer’s Report. Anne Hufstetler put forth a motion to accept and it was seconded. Report was accepted.

Julie put forth the proposed budget.  She said we are already close to 200 members for 2017.

Question was asked about raising dues.  We said they were raised from $12 to $25 two years ago.  Now, Halloween in the Hills is for dues paying members only. Question was asked why RHE gets $500 and the other schools get $250.  Chris replied it is because RHE is within our boundaries. Ann Hufstetler made a motion to approve the budget and it was seconded.  Budget was approved unanimously.

Matt Allan had no new business.

Amanda Wear recommended making sure we have everyone’s email address.  She encouraged everyone to join the Facebook group.  Also, everyone should visit RidgleaHills.com for information and make sure to scroll through the posts for all of the up to date information.  Also, dues can be paid via paypal online.

Ann Hufstetler went over the upcoming events for 2017.  The first one will be Happy Hour.  This year will see the addition of a July 4th parade on Saturday, July 1st to coordinate with the Luther Lake Fireworks.  Randall Archie will be the chair for the parade committee.

Halloween in the Hills will be the Sunday afternoon before Halloween.  Planning has already begun.

Progressive Dinner – finding donations has been difficult at this time of the year.  We are going to try a Holiday Party and move the Progressive Dinner to the Spring.  Restaurant participation will be easier to find and hopefully, participation will be higher for it to be a true fundraiser.

Chris Holbert announced that RHNA has received $200 donation for a beatification project. Chris has been in contact with Presidents of neighboring organizations so that we get together as a group on a collaboration of the associations.  Cowtown Cleanup will be on April 1st.

Development in the area: there was an open meeting regarding the QT and Race Track stations that are proposed for the area.  Race Track will be going in at Clayton and Camp Bowie.  They will not face Camp Bowie due to code, and will begin construction soon. It will replace the Fina that was there.

Quick Trip will be going in where Westridge and Camp Bowie meet where the Ridglea Presbyterian Church is located.  Representatives from QT were present and showed renderings and provided an update. They are in the due diligence portion and are getting a survey, etc.  Working with the Camp Bowie Historical District to work out the architecture, etc. The store will face Westridge, not CB. He said they are doing the best they can regarding the architecture of the store fitting into the area.  He said the church wants to move due to foundation issues and flooding in the basement, they also have no parking for members.

Holly Ross asked if they could leave some of the existing structure.  He said he would highly doubt that would be possible.  He said that QT is not just another gas station and will do everything they can to be good neighbors. They said this is a smaller fueling station than most other QT stations. It will be 24 hours. QT is huge advocate for Safe Place and the reason they are open for 24 hours. He said that they do the best job we possibly can policing beggars and pan handlers.

Jared on Dwight Ave asked about the traffic studies.  QT does not generate traffic and they go to intersections because there is existing traffic there.

Q&A:

Panhandling is a big concern and people were concerned about the homeless population and how can we address it on Camp Bowie.  Chris said that we can only call the police and try to get it handled that way.

Is Citizens on Patrol still around? The active number of patrollers has increased.

Ann Hufstetler made a motion to adjourn. It was seconded and meeting was adjourned at 5:01pm.