The YMCA of Metropolitan Fort Worth wants to improve its services to the city's southeast side. But a zoning change to help get that done was denied by the Fort Worth City Council late Tuesday night.
The YMCA wants to leave its East Berry Street location, McDonald YMCA, for a new building and venture less than a mile away at Renaissance Square. The new development is expected to revive a struggling part of the city.
"We just really feel that our ability to serve the community can be done the best at that site," said Tony Shuman, President and CEO of the YMCA. Shuman says studies have shown that people want the YMCA at the new location and relocating will improve their service to the area by ten-fold.
YMCA would condense McDonald, and another facility nearby, for the one location. The relocation would have been paid for by the sale of the McDonald land, in what amounts to a land swap with the developer of Renaissance Square.
"In essence it's a land swap, it's really budget zero for us," Shuman said. "We'd be able to move for really no cost."
Some residents in the area were upset at what the developer wanted to change the McDonald land into after the YMCA relocates.
Developer Mason Heights wanted to put in apartments, aimed at young professionals wanting to live near the city center. There would have been about 300 units on the site. However, the city council voted to deny the zoning change that would have allowed apartments. In a 7-1 vote, with Councilman Sal Espino the lone opposition and Mayor Betsy Price out of town, the council denied the zoning change without prejudice, meaning the project could be re-applied for.
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While several community groups were in favor of the land swap, zoning change and apartments, an outspoken few were highly opposed fearing the apartments will only add crime in the long run.
"They (apartments) just don't do well, they are more a liability than an asset to us," said Monnie Gilliam, president of the Vicki Lane-Bowie Street Neighborhood Association. "It's not a good deal for us; it affects our quality of life."
Gilliam says the area is already dealing with enough crime from apartments and there's too much multi-family housing in the area going unused already.
Gilliam and a few others said their issue is not with the YMCA wanting to move, it was with the idea of putting in apartments at the McDonald site.
Ultimately the decision rested in the hands of the area's council member, Councilwoman Kelly Allen Gray. Gray was unavailable before Tuesday's city council meeting to discuss the project, but did release a statement.
"We want to do what we can to support our local YMCA, but we also need to consider the possible impacts of adding hundreds of apartments to an area that already has a concentration of multi-family housing," Gray said in the statement. "Before we commit to anything, I want to hear both sides of the discussion at tonight's meeting. In the end, our goal is to do what will best serve our community in the long-term."
Gray's decision led a majority of the council to follow her move. Historically the will of the council sides with the representative of the area where a particular project is located.
The developer, Mason Heights, said before the zoning commission that the goal was to create housing for young professionals who don't want or can't afford a home. It was also expressed that the developer has been a good citizen in the area bringing a major change to southeast Fort Worth with Renaissance Square.
YMCA President and CEO Tony Shuman said before the meeting that his organization would continue to pursue the move if this deal was denied.
"The staff and the board and the members of the YMCA are a resilient bunch, we're going to figure out a way," Shuman said.
Shuman does say the end product may not come as quickly or be as grand as they would like, but they want to service the area at Renaissance Square as it will fit in with all the amenities already going in and allow for better transit to and from the Y.
The city council made the decision late in the night at Tuesday's meeting.
