Texarkana, Texas, City Council voted unanimously Monday to renovate almost 300 local public-housing units by authorizing the Housing Authority's application for tax credits to help fund the renovations.
The $20 million plan to renovate the units is part of a financing package made possible by a Department of Housing and Urban Development program.
The new program replaces the government-driven public housing model first enacted in the 1930s with a public-private partnership model. HATT plans to spend about $20 million renovating 294 housing units in the Robinson Terrace, Williams Homes, Hampton Homes and Bright Street properties, as well as several others scattered throughout the city.
Improvements will include remodeled kitchens and bathrooms with new appliances and fixtures; new roofs and windows; updated air-conditioning, plumbing and electrical; new lighting; upgraded elevators; and new landscaping.
The next step will be approval from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs in March or April. Construction could begin in the second quarter of this year.
Before the vote, the council held a public hearing on the issue but no one spoke.
Also Monday, the council heard a first reading on a proposal to allow establishments with the appropriate state permit to extend alcohol service from midnight to 2 a.m.
Tusks-N-Horns Bar and Grill, which recently opened at The Wyndham Garden Hotel on North State Line Avenue, requested the city establish a late-hours alcohol ordinance.
Owner Bennie Franklin said in a letter to the council that he wants to retain bar revenues that are now traveling across the state line to Arkansas.
Any establishment wanting to serve alcohol until 2 a.m. would have to get a Mixed Beverage Late Hours Permit from Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
Franklin attended Monday's meeting and said he could answer questions anyone had about the proposal.
A public hearing is scheduled for March 12 with a vote at a subsequent meeting