A couple of hours ago, Ridglea Theater owner Jerry Shults received a phone call from councilmember Zim Zimmerman, who said he doesn’t plan on blocking the theater’s historic re-zoning tonight at council. However, Shults said, “I don’t trust Zim as far as I can throw him.”
Shults, who was advised against appearing at council for fear of inflaming Zimmerman, has people in council chambers on standby to relay the good news by phone.
Shults recently said Zimmerman expressed interest on blocking or delaying the re-zoning for purposes that, to Shults, remain murky. “I think he’s mad at me for saving the theater,” Shults said. “I think it would have been better for him if they would have torn it down and people would have forgotten that he signed the demolition certificate.”
Shults said he’s “99.9 percent sure” that the historic re-zoning will go through tonight. The council meeting that began today at 10 a.m. is still in progress. Stay tuned for the good news, because once a building is re-zoned as historic, it’s nearly impervious to demolition, and the Ridglea is perhaps one of the most architecturally significant buildings in all of North Texas. The theater received its historic designation earlier this year.
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Update: Council approved the rezoning of the Ridglea Theater as MU-1/HSE last night.