Photo credit: Dave & Buster’s

What happened: The Midland City Council met on Tuesday, April 28, and approved a $7.7 million airpark entry road contract that came in well below a previously rejected bid, advanced rezoning to allow a Dave & Buster’s along Andrews Highway/Highway 191, and ratified the Midland Development Corporation’s (MDC) $160,000 incentive agreement for a new veterinary hospital.

Council also debated sidewalk requirements during an east Midland rezoning and heard a finance department presentation outlining a public safety budget that has grown by 88% over 10 years to roughly $100 million annually.

Key points:

  • Dave & Buster’s: Council approved the rezoning of a 4.5-acre tract to allow a Dave & Buster’s to develop the site and approved a related permit allowing on-premises alcohol sales. The site’s original planned development zoning required a developer to deliver a master traffic impact study, sign plan, and landscape plan for the entire site. Carving out this parcel removes that requirement.

Councilmen Brian Stubbs and John Burkholder asked staff how the city would hold the larger-site developer to those master-level requirements in the future. Mayor Lori Blong reminded the council that the item at hand was only for rezoning the tract and that the council would have opportunities for further discussion.

City code prohibits alcohol sales within 300 feet of a public school. The nearest school is private, so city staff said the rule did not legally apply. Staff measured the distance voluntarily anyway and reported it at 1,240 feet, well over the threshold the rule would have set if it applied.

  • Public safety budget: City Director of Finance Christy Weakland presented the city’s annual public safety budget update. Funding in police, fire, and EMS has grown by 88% over 10 years, while property tax revenue has grown by roughly 55% over the same period. The city said it is increasingly relying on sales-tax growth, federal funding, and private contributions to fund public safety.
  • East Cuthbert sidewalks: Council approved a rezoning of a vacant property on East Cuthbert Avenue to allow a family to build a home. The city said they intended the property for residential use, but the commercial designation resulted from a citywide zoning update five to six years ago. Blong said the city is waiving application fees for any property that requires a zone change because of this prior city action.

Councilwoman Amy Burkes pushed staff to require sidewalks for the property. Assistant City Manager Jose Ortiz told the council that the property cannot add sidewalks because the area lacks curb and gutter, and that the work would have to wait until the existing asphalt is redone. The applicant’s representative told the council it does not make sense to install sidewalks in advance of the surrounding infrastructure.

Development requirements work when the city ties them to outcomes that make sense in context. A sidewalk installed without a surrounding curb, gutter, or properly placed asphalt does not produce a usable sidewalk. It imposes a requirement that costs the developer money without delivering the intended public benefit, ultimately raising the cost of building in the area for everyone.

  • South Marienfeld auto body shop: Council approved a rezoning on South Marienfeld Street to allow an automobile collision repair and paint shop in a property that has been vacant for years. The vote was 5-1, the only split vote of the meeting. The item before the council was the zoning change, but three council members instead focused on landscaping concerns.

Planning and Development Officer Elizabeth Triggs noted that the city’s landscaping code applies to the property and that the city would require the owner to comply with it. She said older areas like this one often have utilities running beneath landscaping, which staff works through with property owners.

  • Airpark entry road: Council approved a $7.7 million contract for the Midland Airpark entry road enhancements project. Councilwoman Robin Poole said the project had originally received a single bid that came in substantially higher than projections.

Rather than accept it, the city re-engineered the scope to add a second permanent entrance, eliminating the need for a temporary road and giving the airpark two entrances for ongoing use. About $1 million of the project will come from the city’s general fund for drainage improvements.

  • MDC veterinary hospital: Council ratified the economic development agreement approved by the MDC board on April 13 for a 32-job veterinary diagnostic and surgical hospital in West Midland. The MDC capped the agreement at $160,000, paid out as the hospital creates and maintains jobs, and includes clawback provisions if the company does not meet its obligations.
  • Wastewater cleanup: Council ratified $388,080 in emergency cleanup services for an above-ground wastewater line on Lamesa Drive that failed and released sewer into a drainage area. City staff reported it to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.