Dear Fort Worth,

WHO's in charge?

Read a letter to the City of Fort Worth from a concerned taxpayer.  All taxpayers should be so concerned. 

Attend the Fort Worth City Council meeting February 14th, to find out what exactly what YOU are paying for. And remember that next election.

I would like to bring to the attention all in Fort Worth another atrocity by the Fort worth City Council and perhaps our State leaders.  It appears that a pipeline and a distribution facility by Devon Energy was allowed to be placed in the way of a runway at Alliance Airport.  In order to correct this blunder, Devon will be paid up to $3.66 million tax dollars.  Fort worth's portion will be 5% or $180,000.  Since Alliance is a Fort Worth project, why would the City allow this to happen?  Did they not know there were plans or might be plans for a runway?  If not, why didn't they.  Even though Fort Worth's portion is $180,000, the remaining 3.5 million is taxpayer dollars, of which we individually will end up paying part of that too.

This is similar to another blunder recently, when Fort Worth allowed a gas drilling facility to be placed in a location along I-35 in the Northern part of Fort Worth.  For a number of years the Highway Department and the City of Fort Worth worked on a plan to widen a highly congested portion of highway, I-35.  While this project was in the works, neighborhoods along the route had been assured the highway would not be relocated closer to their neighborhoods.  Someplace along the way in the City's need and greed or lack of concern, a gas drilling facility was permitted and allowed to be drilled in the location needed for the highway.  Despite the previous assurances to local residences, the highway now must be rerouted closer to the neighborhoods resulting in more traffic noise, pollution and hazards as a result of the high volume traffic being nearer to their homes.  How many tax dollars will be lost  as a result over the years, because residential property located closer to busy highways always loses value.  The well site will never produce enough to off-set the neighborhoods lost value.   The drilling facility could be moved, but the the price to do so is staggering. 

In a matter somewhat related, the City wants to place an injection well and place pipelines onto the Alliance Airport now, how stupid is that?  What happens when another expansion or runway for the Alliance Airport is needed, will the Injection Well or the pipelines be a hinderance or danger?  How much does it cost to move pipelines or an injection well?  Guess who will bear that entire amount?  

  Some of these things could be prevented if the City had a Comprehensive Zoning Plan.  Wait, they do, but the City Attorney's Office claims the Gas Drilling Ordinance regulates gas drilling and not the Comprehensive Zoning Plan, in essence the gas drilling is exempt from the the Comprehensive Zoning Plan.  My question is, since when does a City Ordinance overrule State Law?  It doesn't.  The State of Texas mandates all Home Rule Cities have a Comprehensive Zoning Plan that must be followed, with very few exceptions.  The City has no authority to disregard State Law and exempt the gas drilling industry from the Comprehensive Zoning Plan, but Fort Worth for some reason is placing itself above State Law.

The reason for a Comprehensive Zoning Plan is to protect the citizens from stupid or intentional blunders by individuals that seem to have an agenda or a City that doesn't seem to be able to plan or think past its nose.

Different city, same story

A recent Letter to the Editor says it all.  Too bad YOUR city can't read.

The citizens keep putting it together.  Good thing THE PEOPLE are paying attention.  That's about all they can afford to pay anymore.

Arlington apartments
At the Jan. 3 Arlington City Council meeting, presenters for the Center Court Redevelopment project said it is not aimed at students then used students in explaining why it did not need the correct number of parking spaces. All but one council member drooled over the project even after the council was blindsided by the developer talking about tax incentives.

This project is way too big for the property, and yet the council approved the zoning. Only one council member voted no, and I thank Sheri Capehart for her common sense. The rest of the council could not hear what those closest to the project site could hear -- the stretching of truth. Those who spoke in support do not live in this area, which shows the council does not care about the people in our neighborhood. What a slap in the face.

-- Sandra K DenBraber, Arlington

Standing Ovation

For the residents of Mallard Cove.

See what a community can do, if they do something.

Bravo.

Read about the Mallard Cove Compressor Stations being unanimously denied by the Fort Worth Zoning Commission in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  Bravo to the Fort Worth Planning and Zoning Commission.  Good to know not everything goes the Fort Worth Way.

Where will YOU be December 6?  Trust us, it's better than must see TV and who knows, you might even save your neighborhood.

Read the comments from THE PEOPLE too.

The site at 7429 Randol Mill Road covers more than 40 acres near the Trinity River in a semirural area east of East Loop 820 and north of Interstate 30.

The vote was met with a standing ovation from residents of the Mallard Cove and River Trails neighborhoods, who had packed the city's council chambers.

The zoning request will now go before the City Council on Dec. 6.

Texas Midstream asked for a continuance, but the commission voted against it and then denied the zoning request.

Commission member Ann Zadeh expressed frustration with the company's stall tactics and suggested that it was trying to "wear down" the opposition.

Commission member Charles Edmonds, whose district includes the proposed site, said he received 137 pages of e-mails in opposition to the zoning request. He told Texas Midstream officials that a delay would do little good.

"You have a high barrier. It's not compatible and not consistent with the comprehensive plan," Edmonds said. "In this case, you have the additional barrier that you have a very well-organized, very articulate group that is opposed to this specific site. I don't think extending this conversation any further is going to do any good."

Hitting the nail on the head

Is what the New York Times keeps doing.

(This story, "As Thailand Floods Spread, Experts Blame Officials, Not Rains", originally appeared in The New York Times.)

On the other side of the world, yet it sounds so familiar...

As some of Thailand’s worst flooding in half a century bears down on Bangkok — submerging cities, industrial parks and ancient temples as it comes — experts in water management are blaming human activity for turning an unusually heavy monsoon season into a disaster.

The main factors, they say, are deforestation, overbuilding in catchment areas, the damming and diversion of natural waterways, urban sprawl, and the filling-in of canals, combined with bad planning. Warnings to the authorities, they say, have been in vain.

Those who tried to warn them have been called crazy.

Ain't so crazy now, is it?

Nothing ever happens...

Till it happens to you.

Guess WHAT?  It's happening.  All around you. Pay attention.

Read the letter to the Editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

It was only a matter of time until the ugly side of natural gas finally reared its head in my neighborhood. Just when I was getting used to the natural gas wells dotting the landscape, now the lords of natural gas want to put a compressor station several hundred feet from my front door along a bucolic stretch of Randol Mill Road in east Fort Worth.

You might not think much about the barnlike structure if you saw it. But the fact that this compressor station requires a zoning exception should tell you a lot. Not only is there the potential for a lot of noise, but these installations also emit benzene and formaldehyde, two compounds sure to dampen interest in buying a house in my neighborhood.

It's my understanding that ZC-11-098 is still under review. But if this is approved, it leads to one conclusion: The powers that be have decided a little collateral damage for the greater good is perfectly acceptable. That's all fine and good -- until you're the collateral damage.

-- Keith Sternberg, Fort Worth

Mallard Cove Update

The compressor stations on Randol Mill have been generating a lot of noise and they aren't even there yet.  People are waking up.  What happens when sheep get pissed?

The Fort Worth Weekly and the citizens that comment, give you the update.  YOU can't afford to miss it.

The Fort Worth League of Neighborhoods is urging the Fort Worth Zoning Commission to deny a rezoning request that would pave the way for an industrial site with up to 15 compressor stations near Randol Mill Road and East Loop 820. Mallard Cove residents have already been battling an adjacent sand mining operation (“Dust-Up,” July 28, 2011) and now they’re facing the prospect of living in a nightmare situation a la DISH, the little town north of Fort Worth that got so littered with compressor stations that residents began getting sick from fumes.

“I have looked at the zoning of the immediate area, and what I see is all residential [zoning] or neighborhood-friendly business [zoning] and no heavy industrial,” said homeowner Jim Ashford, adding that the zoning change “is not in the interest of the health and well-being of the neighborhood either financially or from a health and safety stand point for the citizens.”

UPDATE - Mallard Cove Zoning vote here.  

UPDATE - Mallard Cove Council Meeting December 6, 2011 here.  

Calling Trophy Club

Trophy Club Clock Tower

You paying attention out there?

You better be.  A developer wants to develop and side step the council and planning and zoning commission.  Read the story and the letter to the editor (from a citizen who's paying attention) in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

To Town Manager Mike Slye, the 26 acres east of the clock tower are "our golden nugget" that could reduce residential property taxes if the owner is allowed to develop the land for commercial and other uses.

What has some residents concerned are the prospective uses, the owner and a proposed new way of approving zoning changes.

Rumors arose last week after a joint meeting of the Town Council and the Planning and Zoning Commission to discuss an 88-page proposal by Scott Beck, whose family once owned much of Trophy Club, to develop land bounded by Texas 114 and Trophy Club and Indian Creek drives.

At Monday night's council meeting, about two dozen residents sought assurance that Beck's plan would not be approved without their input.

"I'd like to see the whole concept so we can let you know if we think it's right," said Jodi Ashby, who said she opposed the 12-story buildings in the plan.

If approved, Slye said, the town's staff could authorize changes to the Beck development without having to take it back through the zoning commission and council. The changes would have to meet the restrictions of the original plan, he said.

Slye said the council and commission will have a workshop Oct. 10 and a public hearing Oct. 17. The plan could go for a vote Oct. 17, he said.

Planned development

I attended a Trophy Club workshop on Monday about a rezoning document for the development of the 26 acres by the clock tower entrance of our town.

I know we have a lot of new residents who don't know the history of Trophy Club, but the ordinance change is being presented so that the site developer is not required to get full independent review of his development by our Planning and Zoning Board.

The Planning and Zoning Board is made up of residents and is in place to protect us from letting a developer do whatever he wants with only minimum guidelines. On Monday I heard our city manager mention apartments, brownstones, town homes and possible hotel sites.

Residents of Trophy Club should contact City Council members to inform them that all developers should have to go through full independent review with the Planning and Zoning Board for everything. No exceptions. It's not that we don't want development; we just want to be sure that all precautions are made to keep Trophy Club as beautiful as it is at this time.

-- Jennifer Winmill, Trophy Club

UPDATE - For the latest on Trophy Club corruption, go here. 

Collect Call from District 4 - Fort Worth

After the post concerning Danny Scarth (credit belongs to the Fort Worth Weekly, we just share the word) we received an email from one of his constituents.

Seems the voters don't like being sold down the river.  Or to the gas drillers, whatever the case may be. 

They ask good questions too - WHY didn't anyone know before the election?  Welcome to the team, Mallard Cove Resident.

Another neighborhood needs help.  They probably thought it couldn't happen to them either.  WHO's next?  YOU?

Dear Editor,

I am so happy to read your website which uncovers what Danny Scarth has done and I am so regretted about not reading it before the election. He is now our District 4 councilman and he is very likely to vote yes on building a large scale gas compressor station right next to our Mallard Cove neighborhood at Randol Mill Road in Fort Worth. I feel so unfortunate that our district representative does not represent us.

Barnett Shale will hold a open house meeting on Sept 27 (Tue) from 6 to 7:30pm at Comfort Suites Hotel (643 Northeast Loop 820, Fort Worth, TX 76118).

Zoning Commission Hearing will be held on Oct 12 (Wed) at 10am at FW Council Chambers at City Hall.

City Council Meeting will be held on Nov 1 (Tue) at 7pm at City Hall.

I hope your team will cover this matter and stop greedy council men from destroying the Fort Worth.

Mallard Cove Resident

Southlake and Haltom City

What's the difference?  Too many to list, however this week we noticed a glaring one.

Both Southlake and Haltom City's Planning and Zoning boards voted down drilling sites, forcing a council super majority vote to pass.

Will give you one guess which council did so without any hesitation.

Read about one the other one in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Kudos

to Southlake Planning and Zoning Commission for looking out for their residents.  Not just the residents with gas leases.  Maybe you could teach some other P & Z Boards a thing or two.

Read about it in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 

Pleas from residents who don't want a 16-inch natural gas pipeline near their Southlake homes paid off early Friday.

Heavy snow was falling just after midnight when the Planning and Zoning Commission voted 4-1 to deny XTO Energy's request to drill on Texas 26 near Brumlow Avenue.

Southlake resident Molly Bullard said the line would devalue "million-dollar homes" and would kill the trees that define Johnson Road.

John McFadden said he's concerned because his son's bedroom "would literally be within putting distance from this pipeline."

Commissioner Joe Lancor said he was concerned that XTO didn't have waivers from one of the Southlake homes within 1,000 feet of the drill site.

What the Hell?

Southlake Planning and Zoning Commission is asking just that.  Read about the latest gas drilling bait and switch drama playing out there in the Southlake Journal.  And be there Tuesday for the City Council vote, it could be fun.

The City Council could vote Tuesday on whether to authorize the city's first gas wells, despite objections from some Planning and Zoning Commission members who voted against the application.

But some residents, including planning and zoning commissioners, say the city is ignoring the will of the commission by not requiring a supermajority vote, or six of the seven council members. Typically, when the commission denies a request, a supermajority is required for approval.

A city attorney's ruling later that day said that because the commission didn't follow up that vote with a recommendation to deny the permit, XTO Energy could proceed to the council without a commission recommendation. Attorney Tim Sralla advised City Manager Shana Yelverton that a supermajority would not be needed.

That surprised many commissioners, who said their intent was to deny the application, according to e-mails obtained through the Public Information Act by residents who live near the drilling site in the Chapel Downs subdivision. One of the residents forwarded the e-mails to the Star-Telegram.

Commissioner Jim Hamel, in a Nov. 20 e-mail to city officials, said Sralla's opinion is "incorrect on several fronts." He also wrote that he and other commissioners were never told that a specific motion to deny was needed. "If we needed a separate denial to make a legally operative recommendation, it seems to me that should have been made clear to us long before now," Hamel wrote, calling Sralla's conclusion "simply absurd." Last week, Hamel said he stands by those statements.

However, Ken Baker, the city's planning director, told Yelverton in a text message that he believed that Sralla's opinion was factual. "I cannot read the commissioners' minds and thus do not know of their intentions," he wrote.

Bet he can read their minds now...

Southlake 180 day moratorium on gas drilling

Read about it in the Southlake Journal.

If you were moving to Tarrant County, WHERE would you choose to live?  Somewhere that rubber stamps drilling, or somewhere that looks at the consequences?

City administrators had proposed a 90-day moratorium, but Mayor John Terrell and other council members doubled that.

XTO's request to drill up to 18 wells has been tabled three times, once by the zoning commission and twice by the council.

In Keller, XTO has requested that the City Council delay until Feb. 15 a decision on the Sky Creek Ranch drill site, which is within 1,000 feet of 18 Southlake homes. The Keller Planning and Zoning Commission recommended Jan. 10 that the council deny the request to drill up to 12 wells there.