Green spaces, avoiding mountainside building, historic preservation in MW comprehensive plan

Weatherford Democrat
By Glenn Evans gevans@weatherforddemocrat.com
November 10, 2023

MINERAL WELLS — A final draft of the Mineral Wells Comprehensive Plan was unveiled to city planners Tuesday with emphasis on historic preservation, pedestrian mobility and keeping mountainsides construction-free.

“You don’t want to just build out the sides of the mountains, the escarpments, to where they’re not natural anymore,” Kimley-Horn consultant Mark Bowers told a joint meeting of the city council, planning and zoning commission and the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee.

The city hired the Dallas-based consultants in 2022 to conduct public surveys and guide a roadmap to 2050.

Bowers said Tuesday was the final presentation, giving council members one week for any tweaks en route to a Dec. 5 unveiling.

That open meeting will include a public hearing for residents, after which the council could formally adopt it.

City dwellers and visitors have helped guide the plan, Bowers said, listing 379 responses to an online survey. Another 300-plus and more than 250 respectively provided input during last year’s Crazy Water Festival and the Spooky Wells Halloween event, Bowers said.

“We were pleased with the feedback we got from the community,” he told the 35 or 40 gathered in the Steve Perdue Fire Training Center.

Bowers said the plan calls for “pods of development” surrounding green spaces with trails.

“Open space is so critical to Mineral Wells,” he said.

He listed four areas of focus — the hospital/wellness district on the west side of town, downtown, the airport and Fort Wolters.

The hospital district, he said, should cultivate apartments for health care workers, plus restaurants and a small hotel for families with members in the hospital.

The airport should be zoned for light industrial use, with surrounding thoroughfares designated for commercial truck traffic.

Trucks also should be routed away from the downtown commercial district, he added.

Fort Wolters, now mostly an industrial park with some city offices, needs a “wide range of housing” for employees bolstering the city’s workforce. Bowers added a green space should connect with Mineral Wells State Park next to the old Army base.

Ward 2 Councilman Carlos Maldonado pointed out a planning glitch that arises with Fort Wolters.

Owing to the way it was transferred to the city under the Base Realignment and Closure Act, much of what the city might want to do there will have to be cleared through the U.S. Congress, he said.

“There’s so much opportunity at Fort Wolters,” Maldonado, a title professional, told the council.

Consultant Tony Allende recommended asking Congress to remove limitations that remain on the old fort.

Bicycle/pedestrian trails emerged as a priority in surveys, along with sidewalks connecting neighborhoods to shopping areas and schools.

Allende said those moves dovetail with a recent statutory designation of Mineral Wells by the Texas Legislature.

“You are now the Wellness Capital (of Texas),” he said. “And you can build on that.”

Bowers said much of the plan should be accomplished in a public/private sector partnership model.

“The city will play a major role but can’t do it all alone,” he said, urging nonprofit and civic groups be enlisted in the plan.

The map to 2050 is not complete, Bowers added.

“There may be trends that come up in 10 years from now that didn’t come up today,” he said.