Government
BY ADAM DOE
City o cials renew Denton Woman’s Club building lease in 4 3 vote In a 4-3 vote at a May 5 City Council meeting, Denton o cials renewed the city’s land lease with the Denton Woman’s Club for its building at Quakertown Park. The current lease is set to expire Aug. 6, council documents state. The details Mayor Gerard Hudspeth and council members Joe Holland, Jill Jester and Brandon McGee voted to approve the lease. It includes an initial 20-year term with two optional 10-year renewals for a total possible term of 40 years. The club will pay the city $1,320 annually to lease the land, with adjustments for in ation every ve years. New lease conditions include adding a historical marker within 180 days of the new lease taking e ect and allowing the city 24 full-day rentals of the space at no charge to the city. Some background The previous agreement, executed in 1927, leased the land to the club for 1 cent a year for a 99-year term. The building is on city-owned land and the club paid to build and maintain the building since its construction in the 1920’s. The building sits on city-owned land where a former freedmen’s town and middle-class Black neighborhood called Quakertown once existed. In the early 1920’s, the city forcibly relocated several families and destroyed dozens of businesses and homes in the community, city documents state.
Council approves $26M for automated water meters Denton residents will be able to track their water usage more accurately after Denton City Council approved $26 million to install advanced metering infrastructure, a city- wide automated water metering system, at an April 21 council meeting. The new meters will hone in on earlier leak detection and save the city money on labor for manual meter reading, said Kyle Pedigo, the city’s water utility planning manager. In a nutshell The new system will replace the roughly 46,000 commercial and residential water meters in Denton. Savings from manual meter readings, plus vehicle expenses, will fully recoup the $26 million cost in 11-13 years, city documents state. The city is expected to save $18 million over implementation, according to city documents. Contractors will replace about 2,000 meters a month over the next two years, Pedigo said. The installation will interrupt water services for less than one hour, and citizens will be noti ed four weeks in advance, he added. The new automated system will include a customer portal and allow Denton residents to see their water usage in near-real time, Pedigo said.
The women’s club building hosts events for nonpro ts and city events, like the Denton Arts and Jazz Festival.
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What they’re saying Several Denton citizens suggested postponing the lease renewal to allow more time for public input and community engagement, including future District 1 representative Jordan Villarreal. “This building sits in Quakertown Park on land tied to the forced removal of our historically Black community, and renewing another long-term lease on prime public property without a broader, trans- parent process only serves to repeat that history instead of repairing it,” Villarreal said. McGee moved to delay the vote to allow time for more community engagement, but failed 3-4 with council members Jester, Suzi Rumohr, Holland and Hudspeth voting against the postponement. Denton Woman’s Club member Lindsey Miller supported the lease renewal, saying the building serves an important civic function.
City to cover 59% of Cole Ranch sewer line expansion The city of Denton will cover more than half the cost of new sewer lines for the Cole Ranch mas- ter-planned community to accommodate future growth after council approved a cost-sharing agreement with the developers at a May 5 meeting. Some context The project will add 48-inch wastewater The sewer line will run southwest of Denton Enterprise Airport, southeast across I-35W and will replace the 17-inch line currently planned in the Cole Ranch operating agreement, Development Services Director Charlie Rosendahl said.
Funding sources for new wastewater lines for Cole Ranch
Landmark 1.32%: $192,021
City of Denton 59.04%: $8,598,367
Cole Ranch 39.64%: $5,772,302
The project’s cost will be almost $14.6 million and be split between the city and municipal management districts for Cole Ranch and Land- mark. The costs are based on how each party will contribute to wastewater ow, Rosendahl said.
infrastructure to the Hickory Branch wastewater trunk main to expand capacity in anticipation of population growth, council documents state.
SOURCE: CITY OF DENTON COMMUNITY IMPACT
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COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
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