By David Ball
david.ball@panews.com

A Fort Worth builder’s proposal for low-income apartments got a tepid reception from the city council this week.

Donnie McDaniel, with Palomar Modular Buildings of Fort Worth offered to build the city apartment units for low- to middle-income families.

“They will be state of the art with new technology. It doesn’t look like low-income housing,” McDaniel said.

But council members said they wanted houses, not apartments.

“We’re looking for rooftops in Port Arthur,” Harold Doucet, District 4 councilman, said. “We have lots of multifamily housing. It exceeds our needs. We’re urban. We want rooftops, that creates property value and revenue we’re lacking.”

Thomas Kinlaw III, District 3 councilman, said the city doesn’t need more apartment complexes.
“How are apartment complexes a better answer than housetops?” he asked.

He also said McDaniel needs to contact the city’s planning department or the housing department before he spoke to the city council.