BEAUMONT, Texas — The City of Beaumont is hosting a free meeting to help potential business owners and developers who want to open new businesses.
The meeting happens every Thursday and will allow potential business owners to find out about free resources the city is offering.
12News was able to speak with the owners of Kirby's Arcade, a new business hoping to get their permit to start building a retro arcade and pickleball court in the city's West End.
"It's every Thursday, where any commercial project going on in the City of Beaumont, can sit down with a table of every department," said Beaumont Deputy Building official Beau Hansen.
Any individual with an idea to start their own business is welcome to attend Thursday's pre-development meeting.
"We start with planning and zoning and they help answer that question," said Hansen. "What is the zoning of that property, can you even do what you want to do on that property?"
The city says they will be able to catch problems earlier.
"So that helps expedite the permitting process," said Hansen.
Chad and Noel Kirby are some of several business owners who have taken advantage of the free meeting.
"This has been a dream for years," said Noel.
They plan on turning their 15-year passion into a go-to spot in Beaumont.
"Chad's been collecting vintage arcades and repairing them, as well as pinball machines," she said.
After collecting over 50 retro games, they want to open Kirby's Arcade.
"We're gonna [ going to] have, like, your Pack Mans, your Galagas, brand new Stern pinball machines," said Chad.
There will also be a pickleball court.
"A year or two ago, brought a commercial lot on Calder," said Noel. "And we've been in the engineering phase of drawing up the plans."
While attending their second pre-development meeting this week, the Kirby's learned some good news.
"We're not gonna [going to] need a water fountain if we are giving out free water," said Chad. "So that's one thing I found out today."
The Kirby's advise other business owners to attend too.
"If you're planning on starting a business, definitely have a pre-development meeting," said Chad. "They're going to teach you a lot along the way, save you a lot of headache."
You can sign up to attend the meetings no matter how far you are in your business plan.
This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.