Texarkana College flight school, $200,000 in downtown lights on Texarkana, Texas, council agenda tonight

Texarkana College would take over the old terminal building at Texarkana Regional Airport to start a flight school, and West Broad Street downtown would get 16 new light poles and string lighting, under items the Texarkana, Texas, City Council votes on tonight.

The council meets at 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 9, in the council chambers at City Hall, 220 Texas Blvd. The agenda and 289-page meeting packet are posted on the city’s meeting portal. At 5:30 p.m., just before the meeting, the city dedicates a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark marker on the front steps of City Hall.

Also on the agenda: nearly $1.5 million in sewer and wastewater contracts, 12 new breathing air packs for firefighters, a $50,000 downtown facade loan, four zoning cases and the city’s wish list for the 2027 Texas Legislature.

A flight school at the old terminal

Two consent items would hand the former airport terminal to Texarkana College. The airport is owned jointly by both Texarkanas, so the Texas council is asked to sign off on deals the Texarkana Regional Airport Authority has negotiated.

The Texarkana Regional Airport Authority board approved both agreements unanimously in October, and the Texarkana, Arkansas, Board of Directors approved them Nov. 2, the Texarkana Gazette reported. Tonight’s vote is the last city approval needed.

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The first is a ground lease for about 4.3 acres around the old terminal “for the development of a flight school and other aeronautical activities,” according to the staff memo. The college would pay rent on 27,571 square feet at 32 cents a square foot, which works out to about $8,800 a year, adjusted each year for inflation. Parking, drives and landscaped areas come with the lease at no extra charge “in partial consideration” of the college agreeing to renovate and maintain the property, the lease says.

The lease runs 10 years, and the college can extend it four times for five years each, for up to 30 years total. The college commits to $900,000 in capital improvements, counting any grants it lands, and must send the airport authority quarterly progress reports until it reaches that mark.

The second item is a $10 sale. The airport authority would sell the college the existing buildings and improvements on the leased land, which the college would own for as long as the lease lasts and is expected to improve. The land itself stays with the airport, and the airport keeps a reversionary interest in the buildings. The college must use the property for aviation, or the airport would take it back, the Gazette reported.

Two other airport items are also on the consent agenda: a $129,420 contract with Williams Painting to restore the exterior of the Jim E. Yates Terminal, the airport’s fire and rescue station and its wooden directional signs, paid with a TxDOT grant and airport operating money; and a $269,000 Garver work order to add paving in the Runway 4/22 safety area, paid with an Arkansas Economic Development Commission grant. Neither raises what the two cities pay, the memos say. The council also holds a public hearing on the airport’s 2027-2032 capital improvement plan. The Arkansas board approved all three Nov. 2.

New lights on West Broad

An action item would spend up to $200,000 from the city’s Downtown Enhancement Fund on lighting along West Broad Street from State Line Avenue to Spruce Street. The plan, worked out with the Texarkana Community Development Corp. and Main Street Texarkana, calls for 16 new light poles, lamps and string lights.

The project is estimated at $225,460.52, which includes a 20% contingency. Besides the city money, the memo lists $20,000 in donated lighting from Wholesale Electric, $3,500 from Main Street Texarkana, two pending grants totaling $12,000 and a private donation of up to $20,000 to fill any gap.

Quotes came from local companies, the memo says: about $25,067 for the poles from Wholesale Electric and Dealers Electrical Supply, still pending confirmation; $152,417 from Contech to install the poles and electrical circuits; and $10,000 from R&W Electric to hang the string lights and lamps.

Facade loan for 218 Main St.

The other action item is a $50,000 facade improvement loan to Letsgetlit TXK LLC, owned by Major and Morgan Harris, for the building at 218 Main St. The memo says the building is being redeveloped as Haus of Light, “a luxury beauty and wellness collective,” and the owners plan to restore the exterior while keeping its historic character.

The City Loan Committee unanimously recommended the loan Oct. 16 at a 4.95% interest rate over 10 years. The money comes from the city’s Economic Development Fund.

Sewer work and air packs

Other consent items include:

$931,801.36 to Kampco Inc. of Texarkana, Arkansas, for phase two of the Beaumont Street sewer replacement on Beaumont and Caddo streets: 1,800 feet of 8-inch sewer pipe, 13 manholes, a lift station and 1,100 feet of 2-inch force main. Kampco was the lowest of three bidders.
$554,320 to RBIS LLC of Texarkana, Texas, to replace steel columns, supports and catwalks at the Waggoner Creek wastewater treatment plant. RBIS was the lower of two bidders.
Up to $114,350 for 12 self-contained breathing apparatus units for the Texarkana, Texas, Fire Department. The department’s 56 air packs are nearing the end of their 15-year service life all at once, the memo says, so it wants to buy a batch each year to stagger future replacements.
Approval of the Bowie Central Appraisal District’s 2026 tax roll for the city.

Zoning hearings

The council holds public hearings and votes on four zoning requests:

505 S. Eighth St. (Ward 1): Jason Gallegos wants the lots rezoned from commercial to single-family so he can place a 2021 or newer manufactured home there. The Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously recommended denial Oct. 5, and the staff recommendation cites the city’s future land use map, which shows the area as industrial. Approval would take a three-fourths vote of the council.
824 Richmond Road (Ward 1): Rezoning from neighborhood service to general retail so the owner can add a drive-thru window. Staff recommends approval, and the commission unanimously recommended approval with a planned development.
Galleria Oaks Drive at Richwood Place (Ward 6): Andrew and Kelly Pack want about an acre rezoned from single-family to office to build an audiology practice. Staff and the commission recommend approval, the commission with a planned development.
1314 Main St. (Ward 3): A specific use permit to allow a funeral home in an office-zoned building. Staff and the commission recommend approval.

What the city wants from Austin

After a public hearing, the council votes on its legislative priorities for the 90th Texas Legislature, which convenes in January. The list will go with the Northeast Texas Regional Alliance’s legislative trip to Austin in 2027.

It asks lawmakers to protect home rule and the city’s current revenue structure and to oppose new revenue caps and unfunded mandates. Other requests include:

Letting hotel occupancy tax money pay for improvements to existing sports facilities, athletic fields and parks.
Recognizing Trammel’s Trace as a Texas Historic Trail.
Prioritizing Interstate 30, State Line Avenue, interchanges and rail crossings, and more TxDOT money for small urban areas.
State help with replacing the regional water treatment plant, plus coordination on Wright Patman Lake, dam safety and the region’s long-term water supply.
Support for Red River Army Depot and workforce programs with Texarkana College, Texas A&M University-Texarkana and local schools.
Keeping the May and November election dates and nonpartisan city elections.

First look at manufactured homes rule

The council gets a first briefing, with no vote, on a zoning change required by Senate Bill 785, a new state law that makes cities allow new HUD-code manufactured homes by right in at least one residential zone. Staff proposes allowing new manufactured homes by right in the Single Family-3 district. Elsewhere, manufactured homes, new or used, would still need a specific use permit.

Also up for first briefing are a request to rezone 209 W. 38th St. from neighborhood service to general retail for a drive-thru, which staff and the Planning and Zoning Commission both oppose, and the city’s annual Community Development Block Grant performance report. All three get public hearings and votes Dec. 14.

How to attend

The meeting is open to the public. Anyone who wants to speak during open forum fills out an information sheet for the city secretary and gets five minutes. Comments on an item with a public hearing are made during that hearing. The city posts meeting video on its YouTube channel.

The council’s next regular meetings are Dec. 14 and Jan. 11, both at 6 p.m.