7 January

Last nights Council Meeting had a few interesting twists.  The first was the unanimous approval of the Flight Deck Trampoline facility.  This new business will be located behind the Macaroni Grill on the Southeast corner of I-20 and Cooper.  The business is essentially a wall to wall trampoline and the facility looks like it will be fun for the whole family to bounce around together and enjoy some physical activity.  Fundamentally, this is a good re-utilization of an existing structure.  Their first Flight Deck was constructed over near the Joint Use Military Base in Ft. Worth.  It has been open for 7 months and has been hugely successful.  It was a pleasure to welcome their new venture to Arlington.

Five years in the making, the afternoon session was introduced to a final version of the UDC (Unified Development Code) revision.  Staff has taken all the building codes of the city of Arlington and streamlined them into one go-to manual.  This sets forth the improved standards that will take into consideration improvements in materials, efficiency, and building standards.  It will set the guidelines for builders, and improve the quality of construction throughout our city.  This has been a long time in coming and Clayton Husband and Jim Parajon should be commended for their efforts.

Lastly, the evening session approved the final version of the Auto Related Business ordinance.  There has been some back and forth concerning the final wording in one section of the ordinance.  Due mostly to Councilman Robert Shepard’s efforts, the concerns of existing auto business owners have been calmed.  In my opinion, the onslaught of 260 auto related businesses in the last two years posed concern going forward.  This ordinance allows the city a seat at the table when considering NEW auto related businesses in the future, while grandfathering current auto related use property.

On another note this blog has recieved over 22,000 views since it was started, a little over a year ago.  Thanks for your interest and staying informed.