Life on the Circle, Spring 2016

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Bluebonnet Place Neighborhood Association

Bluebonnet Village & Berry Street Initiative Updates

Next Meeting: March 7th

BSI & Bluebonnet Village Contacts:

• Jay Coates (Bluebonnet

Village); [email protected]

• Johnson (BSI); [email protected]

• Ann Zadeh

(Councilwoman);

[email protected]

• Jacob Browning

(Neighborhood

Education Specialist);

Jacob.Browning@fortwor

thtexas.gov

Everyone is welcome at our

neighborhood association

meetings. Come prepared to

meet neighbors and enjoy a

bowl of chips & salsa at Los Vaqueros!

Upcoming Events:

Neighborhood Association Meeting: 6:30pm @ Los Vaqueros

03/7

Issue 01 | Jan-Mar 2016

+ Caroling on the Green We had a wonderful turn out

for holiday event on the

Circle in December. Go to Page 2 to read more,

page 2

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The process of writing a form-based

code for the Berry/Cleburne Road

future transit stop area will continue

with a public meeting probably in

February to review the draft

document. The code is a customized

zoning ordinance involving changes to

land use and development regulations

along Berry St. between

(approximately) Paschal High School

and 8th Ave.

In the near future, BSI will hold a

meeting to consider changes to Berry

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Street Initiative governance. We want to

have broad participation in BSI,

especially from residents in adjacent

neighborhoods, and the current structure

is limiting in that regard. We will likely

appoint a task force to review the BSI

bylaws and recommend changes. We also

have a vacancy in the Vice Chair position

that needs to be filled.

Working with the developer and TCU, the

BSI Executive Committee supported a

(continued)

We’re Online:

Website: www.bluebonnetplace.org Facebook: http://bit.ly/bluebonnetplacefacebook Email: [email protected] *Watch for online postings and emails regarding upcoming events

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variance from the two-story minimum

height requirement for the proposed

Chase Bank at the NW corner of

University and Berry. The variance,

which was approved by the Board of

Adjustment, allows only the ground

floor of the bank to be occupied, but

requires the owner to work with TCU

in designing into the building the

ability to add a second floor at a

future date. The building will look

like a two-story building from the

outside.

The BSI Executive Committee agreed

to write a letter asking a new urban

design center, being created by

former UTA School of Architecture

Dean Don Gatzke, to work with

neighborhood residents and

property and business owners

around Bluebonnet Circle to help

with a future mixed-use planning

process for the Circle. The design

center wants to kick off with a

University Dr. project, so this fits well

their mission and focus. It’s possible

the center may be located in a

building on the Circle for a short

while before it moves to a permanent

location, probably in downtown.

Over the past 18-24 months a small

group has been working with the

City and adjacent neighborhoods

towards the goal of creating the

Urban Village that the City, in

concert with surrounding

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neighborhoods, planned in the early

2000’s. (See Bluebonnets Urban

Village page here:

http://fortworthtexas.gov/bluebonne

t-circle-urban-village and the Urban

Village Plan in the provided

attachment.) This group, which

includes members of our

neighborhood association, plans to

meet within the next few weeks.

- sodales.

+ Introducing: AVAILABLE AD SPACE!

Are you a business in the Bluebonnet Circle

community? We’d love to get you involved!

Starting Issue 02, we will have advertising

space available for purchase in our

newsletter. These quarterly newsletters

will be circulated through our email

listserve, posted on our website, and posted on

various social media platforms.

Pricing:

$25: Business Card Ad

$50: ¼ Page Ad

$75: ½ Page Ad

Contact:

Stacy Aguilar

[email protected]

Benbrook & Park Ridge Road Updates

We have an update from the City

regarding road improvements in our

neighborhood. It looks like the roads will

need to be completely redone, which will

happen in 2018. Prior to then, the City will

provide patching repairs. We will receive

updates on when the interim repairs will

happen.

Thank you to Perry Langenstein for

submitting work orders and taking

hundreds of photos of the needed repairs.

And thanks to Greg Fawcett for assisting

Perry and Henry Tate who has helped out

in the past! And finally, thank you Jacob

Browning for following up for us.

Caroling and on the Green: Our First-Ever Holiday Event!

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The Bluebonnet Place Neighborhood

Association put on their first-ever Holiday

Caroling event on Wednesday December

16th, 2015. The event was open to all and

a record setting attendance of 125+

people made the evening a huge success.

The idea for the musical event started

with the neighbors expressing a desire to

have more events on Bluebonnet Circle

and specifically musical events. Social

Committee Chair and Bluebonnet Place

Neighborhood Association Member,

Angie Watts brought that idea to life.

Angie works at St. Andrews Catholic

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School and her husband plays in the

5Choir Band at the Church. 5Choir had

been looking for a venue to showcase

their talent and Angie jumped on the

opportunity to have them perform on the

Circle. The 5Choir Director was excited

and quickly created a performance

schedule including, 5Choir, Hyry &

Sullivan, Dream Traveler and Joe

Kennedy & the Rum Runners. The bands

tested the sound the week prior and spent

the entire afternoon setting up their

(continued)

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equipment on December 16th. The

performance was spectacular and

everyone who attended thoroughly

enjoyed the event. We had people

from many of the surrounding

neighborhoods and it was a great

way to build a stronger community,

showcase great musicians and to use

the beautiful Bluebonnet Circle.

Everyone was treated to cookies and

hot chocolate.

Special thanks to the bands and their

performers, to Angie Watts for the

idea and the hot chocolate and

cookies, and for helping to set up

and hand out hot chocolate & cookies

to attendees; to Michele Hanson for

paying the $90.00 in fees to use the

Circle and the electricity, and for

cookies, handing out hot chocolate &

cookies to attendees, for running

back and forth to her home for hot

water, for putting up signs at local

retailers and handing out fliers in

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neighborhoods; to Ceclia Devijlder

for coordinating the Block Captain

fliers, handing out fliers on her block

and bringing cookies; to Cierra

Graves for bringing cookies and

handing out hot chocolate/cookies to

attendees; to Stacy Aguilar for

bringing cookies; to all of the Block

Captains who ran house to house

with fliers; to Michael Smith for

running to get hot water and to

anyone else that helped make this a

successful event.

Everyone involved is looking

forward to doing another concert

soon!

“Special thanks to the bands and their performers, to Angie Watts for the idea and the hot chocolate and cookies, and for helping to set up and hand out hot chocolate & cookies to attendees!” – Michele Hanson

- sodales.

+ BUZZ

Around Bluebonnet

The BUZZ…is Stacy and Daniel Aguilar are

expecting a new arrival to their family soon.

Baby Jane Piper may arrive any time. Be watching for a little

addition to our neighborhood soon!

The BUZZ…also heard that Michele Hanson &

Michael Smith "Tied the Knot" recently! The two

lovebirds exchanged their vows on

December 27th, 2015. What a great way to start the New Year!

HAVE SOMETHING TO ADD? Make sure to

email any new announcements to

stacyedwardsaguilar@

gmail.com.

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Common Ground Grill & Tap (3201

S. University Drive). Towards the

end of last year, a new restaurant

opened in our neighborhood at the

corner of University and Devitt.

Common Ground has a relaxing bar

environment with burgers,

sandwiches, and specials like shrimp

and grits with red chile-goat cheese

polenta and sunflower chimichurri.

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Be sure to swing by for lunch or

dinner (served daily) or a hearty

brunch on the weekend! There’s a

nice outdoor patio, a great bar,

televisions scattered about, and a

free parking garage right next door.

i-Pho (2817 W Berry Street). Just up

the street on Berry, a new Pho and

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Vietnamese restaurant opened at the

corner of Waits and Berry. The

service is always great and friendly.

And if you get pho, they have a

“toppings bar” with everything you

might want. They even have a

vegetarian option with veggie broth

(instead of chicken or beef).

Chairman

Michele Hanson

[email protected]

512-818-0807

Check out our new restaurants! Welcome to the neighborhood Common Ground & i-Pho.

Common Ground (above) is a gastro pub and bar, and i-Pho (left) is a pho and Vietnamese restaurant.

+ BPNA Executive Board

Co-Vice Chairman

Becky Jackson-Snowden

[email protected]

817-480-3233

Co-Vice Chairman

Cecilia DeVijlder

[email protected]

817-657-7045

Secretary

Stacy Aguilar

[email protected]

832-392-8943

Treasurer

Alesha Niedzielda

[email protected]

817-965-2448

Life on the Circle, Spring 2016

Documents

Transcript of Life on the Circle, Spring 2016