Resident urges Haslet to accept donation of 210 Main Street; longtime Old Town resident raises vacancy, code enforcement concerns

An Echo B board leader told the Haslet City Council on Monday that the board voted April 15 to remove 210 Main Street from the open market and convey the property to the city to be used as parkland, and asked the council to consider that gift at a future meeting.

The speaker, who identified themself as “the president of that board,” asked the council to “consider this gift at your next council meeting.” The speaker did not provide a first and last name in the public comment record.

Sandra Smith, a resident at 300 Gamel Street who said she follows "Old Town" housing closely, presented occupancy statistics she said are current for Old Town. She told council: “So there's 29 homes in Old Town…Of those 29 homes, 10 of them have homesteads…19 of the houses in Old Town are either vacant or they're not occupied by the owner of record.” Smith also said on Gamel Street the south side has no owner-occupants and the north side is about half owner-occupied; on Main Street she said seven homes exist, “out of the 7 homes on Main Street, only 2 are occupied by the owner of record.”

Smith urged the city to consider permitting or other controls for rental properties to address what she characterized as “very lax code enforcement,” and said she planned to speak with the planning and zoning department.

Council did not take formal action during the meeting on either the proposed donation or on code enforcement changes; the Echo B board representative requested the council place the donation on a future agenda for consideration.