Results from the City Council Meeting

We were successful in getting the Arlington City Council to place a contingency on the Southwind Meadows rezoning and development effort that will require them to have a signed cost sharing agreement with our community before they can proceed.

The Southwind board met with all city council members and the Planning and Zoning (P&Z) committee earlier in the day to state our case and request their help in this matter. Later that day, P&Z called the Southwind Meadows developer and notified them they will put a contingency clause on the 2nd reading of the rezoning request scheduled in August. This contingency will require that a cost sharing agreement agreed to and signed by both parties must be in place, otherwise the 2nd reading will be pulled off the agenda. The developer and subsequently our lawyer Lance Williams agreed to that approach and at the city council meeting later that evening, both the developer and our board expressed support for this resolution and the city council unanimously voted it into the record. Note that the Southwind Meadows development cannot proceed without our signature on the cost sharing agreement, so this gives us leverage to ensure all previously negotiated issues will be addressed.

After a discussion with the developer following the city council meeting, where we reiterated our desire to sign the cost sharing agreement as soon as possible, we anticipate having it in place by early July.

We had asked our community through our Southwind website, Nextdoor, and an email blast from Classic to attend the city council meeting to support us and impress upon the city council our seriousness as a community to resolve this issue in our favor. To my knowledge, I counted a total of six residents that I saw at the council meeting. We were fortunate a show of force was not necessary to gain the results we needed.

To recap what the cost sharing agreement will contain and how it benefits our community:

• The developer will share 50% of all maintenance cost , both near term and long term (long term means contributions to the Southwind reserve fund) for the Hwy 360 entrance area, Southwind Dr., the front pond, and the walking trails.

• The developer will install a well at the front pond, repair drainage issues at the pond, and ensure we have a constant water level at the pond.

• The developer will contribute $500/year maintenance towards our playground. Note that the developer stated they could not put a playground on their development and we have no way to override that decision. Given that their residents will to some extent utilize our playground due to its proximity to their community and our playground is not access controlled, this is the best solution we could negotiate.

I have asked the developer to provide the latest drawing and plans for their community that was presented at the P&Z hearing in May. We will post that information on our Southwind website when we receive it. In talking with the P&Z personnel yesterday, they reiterated Southwind Meadows made a number of improvements to meet P&Z criteria and will be very attractive neighborhood and a nice addition to this area.