I have a good friend who lives in Fairmount and he said that the Neighborhood Assoc is planning on a hard push to stop this project in it's tracks....
I think the FNA is headed for a long overdue ass-kicking. Imagine Texas successfully shutting down the Oklahoma Casinos lined up along the Red River just across from Texas/Oklahoma Border?... Didn't happen; aint happening!
Magnolia is one of several Urban Villages designated and sectioned by the Department of Development Services and have been created to discourage the indiscriminate opening of entertainment establishments peppered throughout majority residential neighborhoods. One can argue that UV have equal or greater powers than do NA.
The Magnolia Urban Village does not come under the auspices of the Fairmount Historic District as I would strongly agree that it was created to be an entity of and unto itself. Any adjacent district will have limited legal recourse to stop a project within the MUV unless the project was of such a nature as a vice, public nuisance, or inflicted tangible harm. Magnolia @ Hemphill lies squared within the MUV. It also is along Hemphill Street which is undergoing a major redo.
I predict and certainly hope for is when FNA brings its objection to the City Council, CC will be codified once for all that Urban Villages have the ultimate jurisdiction for projects within their boundaries.