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);
• 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
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
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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
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
817-480-3233
Co-Vice Chairman
Cecilia DeVijlder
817-657-7045
Secretary
Stacy Aguilar
832-392-8943
Treasurer
Alesha Niedzielda
817-965-2448