Farmers Branch updates council on encampments, MetroCrest partnership and reporting options
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Summary
Emergency management coordinator Luke Parton described hotspots near the Dallas border, partnerships with MetroCrest, TxDOT and DART, a biweekly cleaning contract, and resident reporting pathways (city hall main line, MetroCrest form, FB TX Connect and Dallas 311). Council thanked partners and asked staff to seek grant opportunities.
City staff briefed council on Nov. 18 about ongoing efforts to address encampments and services for people experiencing homelessness in Farmers Branch.
Luke Parton, emergency management coordinator, listed recurring hotspot areas (under overpasses and along the 635 corridor, near Denton Drive, Josie Lane, Midway and Webb Chapel), parks where encampments sometimes appear, and private or abandoned properties. He said the city is working with MetroCrest Services for outreach, has formed a Quad Cities regional collaboration (Farmers Branch, Carrollton, Addison and Dallas), and coordinates with TxDOT and DART where rights-of-way or other agencies have jurisdiction.
Parton said the city contracts a cleaning service that performs scheduled sweeps of known hot spots every two weeks to collect debris and trash and that city departments — community services, emergency management, parks, police and public works — are coordinating a standard operating procedure for response. He asked residents to report encampments to the city hall main line (which routes reports to his office) or directly to MetroCrest via an online form; councilors added FB TX Connect and Dallas 311 as reporting alternatives.
Councilwoman Villafranco reported an encampment on Webb Chapel and State Highway 635 on the Dallas side had about 15 people and that, as of her check Oct. 9, those individuals had been removed and she said they received housing. Parton did not provide a total cost for the city’s current responses but said the city’s grant coordinator will research possible grant funding to offset program costs.
Council thanked MetroCrest and police for outreach and response. The presentation ended with the mayor moving the meeting to a closed executive session for legal and economic development matters.
