Arlington council OKs term limit review, approves controversial Mayfield development
Arlington officials can assemble a committee to explore alternative term lengths for the mayor and representatives, the City Council decided Tuesday.
Members voted 7-2 to establish the Term Limits Advisory Committee, which would host public discussion surrounding the council’s three two-year term allotment. Council members in support insisted the committee would not throw out the term limits that 63% of voters approved in late 2018.
“I do feel that what the voters voted for, or many of them voted for, was for term limits — period,” said Helen Moise, District 1 councilwoman.
Term limits, which officials say are among the most strict in the country, made their way onto the ballot after residents rallied enough petition signatures. The advisory committee will research term limit practices, facilitate community discussions and make recommendations to the city council. The committee would disband after it advises the council, according to the resolution.
Marvin Sutton, District 3 councilman, assisted in the petition drive and said he made sure those who signed knew what they were endorsing. He held that voters had plenty of information to inform their decision.
“All I’m saying is let’s respect the will of the vote,” he said.
Sutton and Dr. Barbara Odom-Wesley, District 8 at-large councilwoman, both voted against the measure. Odom-Wesley said current term limits inhibit the council’s ability to effect positive change in the city. However, she said she doesn’t “share the sense of urgency.”
“I’m thinking whether we need a few more years’ experience ... and look at the advantages and disadvantages again before we put this out for study,” Odom-Wesley said.
The five speakers who opposed the committee questioned whether council members cared more about their political careers than their electorate.
“Why should you be on this council in the first place if citizens do not matter to you?” one speaker asked before calling for the council’s resignation.
The sole speaker in support of the committee said Arlington would be better served by putting off the discussion.
City OKs controversial townhome development
Council members also approved a proposal to make way for residential development on a lot that environmentalists and historians claimed was vital to preserve.
Attention surrounding the proposal to build 64 townhomes at 1001 W. Mayfield Road drew attention from former leaders of Heart of Arlington Neighborhood Association, which urged the city to seek a third-party opinion before tearing down hundreds of trees and paving over a stream leading into Johnson Creek.
“This is the wrong place to put residencies,” Grace Darling, former neighborhood association president, told the Star-Telegram. Darling and multiple people raised issue with developers chopping down the five post oak trees on the property. Developers told the council they were unable to save the trees.
After over an hour of presentations and questions from city council members, Jim Maibach, president of Peyco Southwest, assured the council the plans would help drainage. The company secured a contract with a nearby property owner to turn 2.4 acres of bordering property into a detention pond. Additionally, Maibach said, the project would weed out invasive trees that bogged down the flow of streams on the 9.5-acre plot.
“We heard from the community, ‘Don’t flood us downstream.’ We listened and we did what they asked us to do,” he said.
Maibach added that the developer planned to plant more than 200 trees and 800 shrubs on the property.
Members voted 6-2-1 after weighing the possible economic impact new homes would have on nearby businesses, especially as establishments across the city face financial woes during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Maibach claimed the homes would breathe life into an area surrounded by industrial development, draw new residents to nearby businesses on Cooper Street and fill a growing need for affordable housing.
Dr. Ignacio Nunez, councilman for District 5, said the area of Arlington could use a new development such as the Mayfield townhomes.
“I think it’s really going to be a huge benefit to that particular section of Arlington,” Nunez said.
This story was originally published July 1, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
