Why might a Studio 6 extended stay motel be built less than 300 feet from a Keller ISD elementary school?
The city of Fort Worth said it’s ultimately because zoning allowed the construction. Motel owner Dev Surati said there should be no problem. He was born and raised in a hotel, he said, and there’s a solid client base in the area.
Keller ISD administration and Basswood Elementary parents want better answers.
At a Feb. 21 town hall at Basswood Elementary, Superintendent Tracy Johnson demanded the city of Fort Worth and Surati stop construction. Surati agreed to stop, temporarily, while he, officials and community members work out legal and zoning issues.
Parents’ main complaint was that the motel’s proximity to the school could encourage bad actors and crime that persists in the area to creep closer to school property. Many Basswood parents say if the motel is built their students will be in danger.
Basswood Elementary parent Armanda Marin said she believes motels like these could act as hotbeds for crime.
“How are we going to keep our playground safe from people coming in in the middle of the night to play on the playground, (from) whatever paraphernalia is in the grass?” Marin asked. “How do we keep our kids safe if this does go through?”
What’s the difference between Studio 6 and Motel 6?
- Studio 6 properties feature larger rooms of 280-290 square feet and fully equipped kitchens complete with dishes, utensils, and cookware.
- Studio 6 properties are geared for those travelers who are staying for five nights or longer, with rates corresponding to how long the guest is at the property
Source: Studio 6
Other parents mentioned risks that could come with sex offenders staying in the hotel. Some mentioned the greater risk of a school shooting.
“If my grandkids went to this school, I’d be fighting just as hard as these parents and these educators are doing,” Keller ISD trustee John Birt said.
During the meeting, parents screamed at council member Charles Lauersdorf, who represents the area, and Surati to work with neighbors and residents, who they say weren’t notified of the project until it started.
“Didn’t you find it strange that there was no opposition, at all, to the proposed change?” Marin asked Lauersdorf.
That lack of community awareness is one of Keller ISD’s objections to the motel.
Fort Worth officials said that, on Sept. 29, a notification was sent to multiple homeowner associations around the neighborhood noting the zoning change that would allow Surati to build a hotel within the area zoned for light industrial use.
At the town hall, multiple parents said their neighborhoods weren’t made aware of the requested change. Lauersdorf highlighted a lack of communication from homeowners associations for not notifying residents.
Likewise, Keller ISD had no idea that a motel was being built until just a few days before the town hall.
The notification was sent to the former superintendent, Rick Westfall, who hadn’t worked for Keller ISD at that point for almost seven months, and the district’s former executive director of facility services, Hudson Huff.
“When I see this, it makes me think that there really was not a good effort put towards notifying anybody,” Johnson said.
She demanded that Fort Worth pull the plug on the project.
Initially, Lauersdorf wasn’t confident the deal could be canceled so late into the process. He said Surati had already received city approval to move forward. Dirt has already been moved, Surati said.
After listening to an hourlong barrage of complaints from Keller ISD parents and administrators, Lauersdorf later assured residents he would implore his legal department to see “if anything can be done about this.”
“I will 100% do everything possible to stop it,” Lauersdorf said. He and Johnson discussed setting up a Feb. 22 meeting with city attorneys and other leaders.
Surati, on the other hand, attempted to deflect some of the criticism away from him and the motel and onto Keller ISD.
In 2003, Home Depot bought around 40 acres and built a store at 7100 N. Freeway in Fort Worth. In 2007, Keller ISD bought the school’s land from Home Depot and, in 2008, built Basswood Elementary on the property.
“As far as I’ve done my research, this land has been zoned light industrial. We are doing what zoning allows us to do,” Surati said, emphasizing that Keller ISD knew this land’s potential use long ago.
Lauersdorf also noted the school’s strange location.
“The school’s playground is back to a Home Depot separated by a chain link fence,” he said. “Having a hotel next to everything else is not something that’s out of the blue. It’s not like a typical elementary school that’s surrounded by nothing.”
Still, parents weren’t content. Residents screamed from the audience, asking Surati if he would enroll his child in a school next to a motel.
He responded saying he was born and raised in a hotel. He sees no problem with it, he said.
Regardless, Keller ISD parents, administrators and Lauersdorf are united in fighting against the construction of the Studio 6.
Basswood parent Carlos Fernandez took the microphone announcing he would physically protest on the construction site Monday, Feb. 26, if no action is taken by then. Many in the audience applauded him, claiming they would join his cause.
“This is an exceptional school with exceptional families and exceptional kids and staff members,” Johnson said. “We feel as passionate as you do about this. So our first priority is to get it stopped along with the support of everybody in this room right here.”
Matthew Sgroi is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at matthew.sgroi@fortworthreport.org or @MatthewSgroi1 on X, formerly known as Twitter. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.