The zoning change was from Light Industrial (M-1) to Planned Development with a base zoning of a light industrial district.
According to a concept rendering done by Baird Hampton & Brown presented to the council, the 8.65-acre development would include two restaurants, two retail locations, and a coffee shop at the intersection of Champions Drive and Bailey Ranch Road down the street from Aledo High School.
Along with these buildings it would also include a communal green space and will connect to Aledo’s bike trail. The plan also includes a minimum of 300 parking spaces for the complex.
Trey Neville, executive vice president of Jones Lang LaSalle, a commercial real estate services firm, along with Fred Disney spoke to the council regarding the project. Neville said that this plan was tailored to Aledoans.
“We’re not thinking of anyone else but the citizens of Aledo, and Friday nights end up being a great asset for the community,” Neville said.
Neville said how anxious they are to get this development going and they want to start putting the funds already accumulated into action. The development would be open more than likely early 2027. He said that in a perfect world, they are aiming to be open for the first football game of that year.
“There’s a bunch of moving parts,” he said. “For us, real estate development cycles are slow, and so we want to move as fast as possible.”
Neville also said that the construction will not interfere with traffic on Bailey Ranch Road or Champions Drive when council member Ben Clark questioned about whether the construction will affect school traffic.
“I can’t promise you that there’s not going to be a dirt truck out there at 8:30 on some Thursday, and someone’s going to be hurt and upset,” he said. “But we will do our best not to make it any worse than it already is.”
For another item regarding the village, the council also passed a variance to the Aledo Code of Ordinances that would allow the sale of alcoholic beverages in the location of Aledo Village despite it being near the high school.
Along with the rezoning for Aledo Village, the council also approved a re-plat of a commercial lot in Parker Station where Bethel Homes, represented by Jodi and Doug Beard, will create four lots from the .8 acre space.
Some residents of Parker Station, including Frank Urquidez and Jeff Streetman, came to speak in opposition of the plan, citing concerns about what rental properties would do to the property values of the houses in the neighborhood. Urquidez said that based on the work the Beard family has done with a string of houses on John Street, the properties would be used as renter properties.
Streetman said that the homeowner’s association is considering banning short-term rentals and that the original covenant of the neighborhood specified lots need to be at least an acre, and that was another one of his concerns as well as the possible diminishing of property rates.
“That particular part of town that is very unique,” Streetman said. “It’s old school Aledo, but you’re in city limits, you’re in the school district. You got bigger lots with nicer trees, and an old school feel to it. In this particular case, we do feel like they’re going to put smaller monopoly looking houses in there for rent. That’s what we’re opposed to.”
After the citizens came up to speak the Beards were able to speak to the council and explain their plans for the property as well as address the concerns brought up by the residents.
Jodi said the renters on John Street are looking to renew their lease and that she did not think the renters were lowering the property value of the community. She said that if the properties would sell that would be amazing, but they do not know what the market is going to hold and in her 10 years of working in real estate, this is the worst market she has seen.
Jodi did say they are not doing short-term rentals with the properties on John Street. She told the council that everyone needs a home and for different situations, those people need to rent.
“We have a lot of people that are also single mamas that need a place that can’t qualify on their own or we have people that are building in the community that also need a place to stay while they’re building a bigger custom home,” she said. “There’s a lot of different reasons, but I don’t believe personally that these properties would bring down value.”
Doug added that many of the properties around their own house in Aledo have become rental properties and it hasn’t affected the value of the properties or the aesthetics of the properties because of the HOA maintaining the public spaces.
He said that they are wanting to be flexible and do what’s right by the community and by the city.
The Beards originally applied to put in townhomes on the lot in the past, which was struck down by the council and Jodi said that the single-story residences that they presented would fit more with the feedback they received from residents as well as fit with the aesthetics of the community.
They said that, like the houses on John Street, they would be responsible with the upkeep of the grounds such as mowing and the fences, which are planned to be 6 foot tall. The houses would also have their own HOA, according to Jodi.
Council member Shawna Ford, who said she lived in the area, had concerns about how the houses would be connected to the infrastructure in the area and wanted to make sure that there was a plan in place for how the properties would affect the neighborhood.
“It is an old established neighborhood,” she said. “There have been people that have lived there close to thirty years.”
The board also accepted an ordinance amending the telecommunications chapter of the city’s ordinance regarding notification requiring notice requirements of installation of utilities by third parties in public rights-of-way.
Interim city manager Mark McDaniel said that recently citizens have been saying they were not made aware of the work that would be done near their property. This amendment is to make sure the company is required to inform residents by mail or some other option in advance when acquiring their permits.
The council was also presented with the fiscal audit of the 2023-2024 year by the city’s external auditor Kim Knox, which they accepted.
After the audit presentation, members of the city council and staff gathered around the table in the executive room to go over the 2025-2026 budget in detail. McDaniel answered questions the council sent to him as well as answering any new ones that popped up during the meeting.
One major issue addressed was a change to the library budget with the adding of a new employee. Also discussed was looking at the renting rates of the Aledo Community Center and seeing if they need to be changed, as well as an analysis on the Center itself.
They also discussed the possibility of building more playground equipment in the future.
During the meeting Mayor Shane Davis made sure to stress that, if need be, the council can amend the budget depending on the needs of the city.
After coming out of a second executive session the council didn’t take any action on an item regarding a petition by The Storage Place-Ferris LLC for Lot 20-R MidPark Business Community in extra-territorial jurisdiction’s release.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here