KELLER, Texas — Parents and staff at Keller ISD’s Basswood Elementary School voiced frustration and demanded action during a crowded meeting organized by the city of Fort Worth on Wednesday evening.
They’re outraged after they learned a Studio 6 Extended Stay Motel, approved by city leaders, is under construction adjacent to the grade school.
“We have pre-schoolers who walk to and from school,” one parent said.
They voiced concern over human trafficking and drug activity they fear the motel’s guests would attract. The meeting, hosted by District 4 Councilmember Charlie Lauersdorf was intended to serve as an information session.
“I’m up here in the hot seat telling you how this happened,” Lauersdorf said.
Parents wanted none of it.
“We don’t want to move forward. We want this to stop,” one parent said.
City leaders went through a formal process to approve the motel, which will sit on commercial land owned by the city. Parents and district leaders said the city didn’t give proper notice prior to approving the motel.
During the meeting, Superintendent Dr. Tracy Johnson alleges said proper notice was never given to the former superintendent, and one of the notices came in the form of a postcard.
“I can’t think about a more flimsy way to notify somebody other than a postcard,” Johnson said. “It makes me think there was not a good effort put toward anybody, but more to get something built that you wanted built.”
Lauersdorf said he acknowledges that the city must improve its notification process moving forward, but it wasn’t what parents wanted to hear.
When Lauersdorf said he would go back to the city’s attorneys and ask what could be done to stop the motel from being built, parents interrupted, saying he must not ask, but demand it.
“This is a big deal to have a motel, we’re sharing greenspace,” Johnson said. “That is the best y’all can do for our kids?”
Johnson said the district would immediately consult with its legal team to put an immediate stop to the motel’s construction.
Toward the end of the meeting, as parents pressed the future motel’s owner, Dev Surati, said he’d temporarily stop construction.
Lauersdorf ended the Feb. 21 meeting with a promise:
“We will 100% meet with our city attorney and figure out what can be done. Let me take the fight now,” Lauersdorf said. “I will 100% do everything possible to stop it.”
Several parents said they plan to protest at the construction site if their demand isn’t met.
In a statement sent to WFAA, on Feb. 28 the Keller ISD Board of Trustees and the motel's developers met to discuss possible next steps and solutions. No final final decisions have been made but the developer agreed to stop construction until at least March 10.