RIP Fairfield Lake State Park

[DalTxHornFan 3101]

Again, I have no special knowledge of this situation, but it seems like a pretty cut and dried breach of contract claim between the buyer and seller, with the State on the hook for all of the damages because of it's interference with the contract.

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4976]

On 2/20/2023 at 3:18 PM, UTexasFight said:

I don’t know the full list but Vistra themselves have 2 others:

 

Vistra also leases land to the state at Martin Creek Lake State Park, in Rusk County, and at Lake Colorado City State Park, in Mitchell County. It also leases more than 1,000 acres for public hunting in Robertson County.

Martin Creek is probably the worst state park I've been to, but still it's a state park that is close to a lot of people for a weekend getaway and I believe the fishing is supposed to be pretty good due to the power plant.its probably worth saving just for those reasons. With a bit more funding, they could probably make it decent. It's pretty sad that Oklahoma and Arkansas have much better state park systems than we do. Obviously they have mountains and stuff that we don't have in much of Texas that makes them more attractive getaways, but there is still a need for places to get away and go camping nearby and educational facilities to teach kids about nature.

[zman13 180]

Now it's getting interesting:

 

Quote

The state of Texas may try to use eminent domain to prevent a developer from turning a state park into a private community.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission will hold a special meeting June 10 to consider acquiring the land through condemnation, the process by which governments can use eminent domain.

 

https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/texas-might-use-eminent-domain-to-prevent-developer-taking-over-state-park/

[GreenspointTexas 9600]

Welp, looks like its closing again

 

fuck it, wake me when this is over

[deadshank 24652]

Todd Interests

400 N Ervay St

Dallas, TX 75201 J

une 6, 2023

Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission 4200 Smith School Road Austin, TX 78744

RE: June 10th Commission Contemplating the Use of Eminent Domain on Property Recently Acquired by Todd Interests in Freestone County.

Dear Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission Members: We cannot begin to express our astonishment that officials appointed by Governor Abbott and approved by Lt. Governor Patrick and the Texas Senate are considering the condemnation of private property that TPWD had numerous opportunities to acquire. Is this how you fulfill Governor Abbott’s promise that “Texas is wide open for business”? As a familyowned, Texas-based business and longtime supporters of our state’s pro-business policies, we sincerely hope not. In 1968 Texas Power and Light Company, Texas Electric Service Company, and Dallas Power and Light Company (now collectively, “Luminant”) began the construction of a new power plant and an adjacent cooling lake in Freestone County. While the lake was constructed to support the coal-fired power plant, Luminant allowed TPWD to lease a portion of the land at no cost. The plant closed in 2018, taking hundreds of jobs from the county. At that time, Luminant made known to TPWD its intention to sell the lake and the land around it. TPWD told Luminant that it had no interest in acquiring the Property. In 2020, prior to publicly marketing the property for sale, Luminant again asked TPWD if it would like to purchase the lake and surrounding land. TPWD said it had no interest acquiring all of the land or the lake and did not have the funds to purchase the land TPWD had leased. Our firm became aware of the opportunity to purchase the property through an October 5, 2021 article in the Dallas Morning News, advertising the Property for sale. We knew that TPWD leased a portion of the Property for 50 years, and that during that half-century span it failed to express any interest in acquiring from the property from Luminant. After Luminant enlisted a real estate firm to market Fairfield Lake in 2021 for $110 million, TPWD still took no action. We had no reason to believe that the State of Texas wanted to acquire Fairfield Lake when we made an offer on the Property. So, on April 21, 2022 – four years after TPWD was given notice of Luminant’s intent to dispose of the Property – Todd Interests, a willing buyer, executed a binding contract of sale with Luminant, a willing seller. Five months later, after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in due diligence, Todd Interests met with Chairman Beaver Aplin per his request and Luminant’s encouragement. Since that September 2022 meeting, we engaged in good faith conversations with Chairman Aplin, despite no legal obligation to do so, even sharing the appraised value of the water rights as a means for this to be a profitable venture for TPWD. The State of Texas, however, has spent the last eight months working to derail our transaction and diminishour transactional rights. Chairman Aplin made no secret of his desire for our transaction to fail, and after we refused to simply walk away from our business transaction he made numerous verbal threats, apparently orchestrated multiple failed legislative actions and in our opinion, spoke many untruths. These, along with many other actions, have been catalogued diligently by our firm and others. While receiving much interference and efforts of sabotage, we did not receive a written proposal to purchase our contractual right until May 12, 2023 – eight months after engaging in conversations with Chairman Aplin. We responded in good faith to the proposal on May 23rd. We never heard from Chairman Aplin again. On June 1, 2023 we fulfilled our contractual obligation and purchased the Property from Luminant. Since taking title we have begun executing our development plan and executed millions of dollars in related contracts. Much of our construction equipment arrived onsite yesterday. While Chairman Aplin no longer engaged with us, on June 1st, while we were in the process of closing, he once again tried to scuttle our transaction by sending an offer directly to Luminant to purchase the Property, at a discount to what we paid. Additionally, the esteemed Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office sent a letter directing us to preserve evidence as if we had been involved in a crime. We assume this was purely an effort of intimidation as it contains nothing of legal substance – simply theatrics for the media in an effort to interfere with our lawful contract. The letter is dated May 25th, the same date that articles of impeachment were filed against the Attorney General. TPWD, like many other state agencies, has the power of eminent domain. We were, however, surprised to learn of the hearing based on the national precedent condemnation would set. TPWD declined an opportunity to purchase the Property. Twice. It then tried to interfere with the contractual rights of private parties through threats, intimidation and misstatements of facts, trying to purchase the property for less than we were paying. But now it seems to imply it will willingly spend many times that amount to acquire the Property through Condemnation. Interestingly, the only funds presently appropriated, through SB 30, are “to purchase from a willing seller.” Members of the Texas House and the Texas Senate have repeatedly demonstrated their opposition to the use of condemnation to acquire Fairfield Lake. Neither House Bill 2332 nor Senate Bill 1656 made it out of committee, let alone got a floor vote. Most striking is the activist message Chairman Aplin, Jeff Hildebrand, Blake Rowling, Dick Scott, James Abell, Oliver Bell, Paul Foster, Ana Gallo, Bobby Patton, Lee Bass, and Dan Friedkin would send to the entire nation on behalf of The State of Texas. A state once considered the vanguard of private property rights would now take from its citizens and diminish the rights of sellers, buyers, and private-property owners of every order. This would be in direct conflict to how the lady and gentlemen of the TPWD Commission have built their private businesses. We have fulfilled our duty as Texans by engaging in good faith efforts with TPWD since the day we first met. We now ask the TPWD Commission to respect our rights as we fulfill our duty to our financial partners and family.

 

Sincerely, Patrick Todd Shawn Todd Philip Todd Managing Partner CEO & Partner Partner

Edited June 8, 2023 by deadshank

[TwiceHorn 31466]

1 minute ago, deadshank said:

Todd Interests

400 N Ervay St

Dallas, TX 75201 J

une 6, 2023

Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission 4200 Smith School Road Austin, TX 78744

RE: June 10th Commission Contemplating the Use of Eminent Domain on Property Recently Acquired by Todd Interests in Freestone County.

Dear Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission Members: We cannot begin to express our astonishment that officials appointed by Governor Abbott and approved by Lt. Governor Patrick and the Texas Senate are considering the condemnation of private property that TPWD had numerous opportunities to acquire. Is this how you fulfill Governor Abbott’s promise that “Texas is wide open for business”? As a familyowned, Texas-based business and longtime supporters of our state’s pro-business policies, we sincerely hope not. In 1968 Texas Power and Light Company, Texas Electric Service Company, and Dallas Power and Light Company (now collectively, “Luminant”) began the construction of a new power plant and an adjacent cooling lake in Freestone County. While the lake was constructed to support the coal-fired power plant, Luminant allowed TPWD to lease a portion of the land at no cost. The plant closed in 2018, taking hundreds of jobs from the county. At that time, Luminant made known to TPWD its intention to sell the lake and the land around it. TPWD told Luminant that it had no interest in acquiring the Property. In 2020, prior to publicly marketing the property for sale, Luminant again asked TPWD if it would like to purchase the lake and surrounding land. TPWD said it had no interest acquiring all of the land or the lake and did not have the funds to purchase the land TPWD had leased. Our firm became aware of the opportunity to purchase the property through an October 5, 2021 article in the Dallas Morning News, advertising the Property for sale. We knew that TPWD leased a portion of the Property for 50 years, and that during that half-century span it failed to express any interest in acquiring from the property from Luminant. After Luminant enlisted a real estate firm to market Fairfield Lake in 2021 for $110 million, TPWD still took no action. We had no reason to believe that the State of Texas wanted to acquire Fairfield Lake when we made an offer on the Property. So, on April 21, 2022 – four years after TPWD was given notice of Luminant’s intent to dispose of the Property – Todd Interests, a willing buyer, executed a binding contract of sale with Luminant, a willing seller. Five months later, after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in due diligence, Todd Interests met with Chairman Beaver Aplin per his request and Luminant’s encouragement. Since that September 2022 meeting, we engaged in good faith conversations with Chairman Aplin, despite no legal obligation to do so, even sharing the appraised value of the water rights as a means for this to be a profitable venture for TPWD. The State of Texas, however, has spent the last eight months working to derail our transaction and diminishour transactional rights. Chairman Aplin made no secret of his desire for our transaction to fail, and after we refused to simply walk away from our business transaction he made numerous verbal threats, apparently orchestrated multiple failed legislative actions and in our opinion, spoke many untruths. These, along with many other actions, have been catalogued diligently by our firm and others. While receiving much interference and efforts of sabotage, we did not receive a written proposal to purchase our contractual right until May 12, 2023 – eight months after engaging in conversations with Chairman Aplin. We responded in good faith to the proposal on May 23rd. We never heard from Chairman Aplin again. On June 1, 2023 we fulfilled our contractual obligation and purchased the Property from Luminant. Since taking title we have begun executing our development plan and executed millions of dollars in related contracts. Much of our construction equipment arrived onsite yesterday. While Chairman Aplin no longer engaged with us, on June 1st, while we were in the process of closing, he once again tried to scuttle our transaction by sending an offer directly to Luminant to purchase the Property, at a discount to what we paid. Additionally, the esteemed Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office sent a letter directing us to preserve evidence as if we had been involved in a crime. We assume this was purely an effort of intimidation as it contains nothing of legal substance – simply theatrics for the media in an effort to interfere with our lawful contract. The letter is dated May 25th, the same date that articles of impeachment were filed against the Attorney General. TPWD, like many other state agencies, has the power of eminent domain. We were, however, surprised to learn of the hearing based on the national precedent condemnation would set. TPWD declined an opportunity to purchase the Property. Twice. It then tried to interfere with the contractual rights of private parties through threats, intimidation and misstatements of facts, trying to purchase the property for less than we were paying. But now it seems to imply it will willingly spend many times that amount to acquire the Property through Condemnation. Interestingly, the only funds presently appropriated, through SB 30, are “to purchase from a willing seller.” Members of the Texas House and the Texas Senate have repeatedly demonstrated their opposition to the use of condemnation to acquire Fairfield Lake. Neither House Bill 2332 nor Senate Bill 1656 made it out of committee, let alone got a floor vote. Most striking is the activist message Chairman Aplin, Jeff Hildebrand, Blake Rowling, Dick Scott, James Abell, Oliver Bell, Paul Foster, Ana Gallo, Bobby Patton, Lee Bass, and Dan Friedkin would send to the entire nation on behalf of The State of Texas. A state once considered the vanguard of private property rights would now take from its citizens and diminish the rights of sellers, buyers, and private-property owners of every order. This would be in direct conflict to how the lady and gentlemen of the TPWD Commission have built their private businesses. We have fulfilled our duty as Texans by engaging in good faith efforts with TPWD since the day we first met. We now ask the TPWD Commission to respect our rights as we fulfill our duty to our financial partners and family.

 

Sincerely, Patrick Todd Shawn Todd Philip Todd Managing Partner CEO & Partner Partner

🖕🖕🖕 Daddy Warbucks and the nepo babies.

Lots of nice dog whistles in there.  Somehow avoided saying "woke."

[UTexasFight 9432]

6 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

🖕🖕🖕 Daddy Warbucks and the nepo babies.

Lots of nice dog whistles in there.  Somehow avoided saying "woke."

Sure

but TWPD looks like fools in all of this 

[zman13 180]

https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/texas-parks-and-wildlife-to-use-eminent-domain-for-fairfield-lake-state-park-site/

"The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is petitioning to condemn Fairfield Lake State Park and Fairfield Lake to keep the state park open to the public.

TPWD will use eminent domain to condemn the about 5,000-acre property. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission voted to authorize TPWD to condemn the land at a Saturday special meeting."

"The first condemnation steps include giving a formal written offer followed by a final written offer on or after 30 days. The final offer has to be equal to or greater than the land’s appraised value. The landowner has 14 days to consider the best and final offer"

[WBT 20568]

On 6/8/2023 at 11:56 PM, UTexasFight said:

Sure

but TWPD looks like fools in all of this 

Yeah.  But the company that thinks it's going to buy a 50-year state park and turn it into a golf course also isn't too bright.

[UTexasFight 9432]

Quote

The commission also voted to begin drafting a commission policy that limits eminent domain to “extraordinary and unusual situations like Fairfield.” The proposal will be considered Aug. 24.

 

“we promise never to do this again…. Only when we fuck up twice and need a third chance.

 

…..just kidding. Toes were crossed.”

 

 

 so in other words any land TWPD leases, they effectively own it

Edited June 13, 2023 by UTexasFight

[TwiceHorn 31466]

On 6/8/2023 at 11:56 PM, UTexasFight said:

Sure

but TWPD looks like fools in all of this 

Well, TPWD was powerless to do anything until just recently.  Underfunded and no eminent domain power.

Aaaand, the party that looks kind of foolish here is a state government that gave TPWD no money or power until it was late in the day and the political winds had shifted.

Edited June 19, 2023 by TwiceHorn

[Braff Zacklin 13572]

This seems like a gross overstep by the state government and improper application of eminent domain.

I'm all for parks and public use--Texas citizens need both more than they need another gated community and/or golf course--but this is a bad precedent and reads like it easily could have been avoided.

Hope the third party is compensated handsomely.

[UTexasFight 9432]

1 hour ago, Braff Zacklin said:

This seems like a gross overstep by the state government and improper application of eminent domain.

I'm all for parks and public use--Texas citizens need both more than they need another gated community and/or golf course--but this is a bad precedent and reads like it easily could have been avoided.

Hope the third party is compensated handsomely.

They will be…

by you, me, and every other Texas taxpayer.

[BLKNSTY 289]

They will be…
by you, me, and every other Texas taxpayer.

yup. just got to do a little song and dance first.

[TwiceHorn 31466]

Well, unlike a lot of eminent domain situations, the public use is crystal clear.

And, unlike a lot of eminent domain situations, the valuation should be pretty clearly established at a pro rata share of whatever the developers were going to pay Vistra for it.

So, if you don't like the cost to taxpayers, feel free to vote out the dipshits in the Texas lege. I'm all for it.  After they finish flushing Paxton, finally, of course.

Edited June 19, 2023 by TwiceHorn

[TwiceHorn 31466]

On 6/12/2023 at 7:15 PM, UTexasFight said:

 

“we promise never to do this again…. Only when we fuck up twice and need a third chance.

 

…..just kidding. Toes were crossed.”

 

 

 so in other words any land TWPD leases, they effectively own it

Rather than own it, they have a pretty compelling implicit right of first refusal before the lease gets terminated.

They still gotta pay.

[deadshank 24652]

4 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Well, unlike a lot of eminent domain situations, the public use is crystal clear.

And, unlike a lot of eminent domain situations, the valuation should be pretty clearly established at a pro rata share of whatever the developers were going to pay Vistra for it.

So, if you don't like the cost to taxpayers, feel free to vote out the dipshits in the Texas lege. I'm all for it.  After they finish flushing Paxton, finally, of course.

Clearly a market  value has been established through the purchase price.  That is a hefty price tag.  Does the State of Texas think they can waltz in and pay $0.50  on the dollar and walk away?  

Also, Paxton is an attorney. Attorneys can participate in real estate commissions.  This will be ripe for shenanigans.

[hornmpa96 2618]

I’ve always understood that eminent domain required the state to pay fair market value for the acquired property. In this case, there is a willing buyer/seller who agreed in writing on the value. The litigation related to the value of the property seems to be fairly straightforward. Also, I’m surprised that the Commissioners on that list took this approach as it won’t be popular at their clubs.

[DougO 5247]

On 6/3/2023 at 2:34 PM, zman13 said:

Now it's getting interesting:

 

 

https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/texas-might-use-eminent-domain-to-prevent-developer-taking-over-state-park/

Man, it sucks to lose the park, but I'm not a big fan of the shitty methods to attempt to retain it. But fuck a bunch of developing some beautiful natural land. Just shitty shit all the way around. Wish a bazillionaire would swoop in and buy it all from everyone and just leave it the hell alone.

Edited June 19, 2023 by DougO

[elfenix 34239]

On 6/8/2023 at 4:56 PM, deadshank said:

Todd Interests

400 N Ervay St

Dallas, TX 75201 J

une 6, 2023

Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission 4200 Smith School Road Austin, TX 78744

RE: June 10th Commission Contemplating the Use of Eminent Domain on Property Recently Acquired by Todd Interests in Freestone County.

Dear Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission Members: We cannot begin to express our astonishment that officials appointed by Governor Abbott and approved by Lt. Governor Patrick and the Texas Senate are considering the condemnation of private property that TPWD had numerous opportunities to acquire. Is this how you fulfill Governor Abbott’s promise that “Texas is wide open for business”? As a familyowned, Texas-based business and longtime supporters of our state’s pro-business policies, we sincerely hope not. In 1968 Texas Power and Light Company, Texas Electric Service Company, and Dallas Power and Light Company (now collectively, “Luminant”) began the construction of a new power plant and an adjacent cooling lake in Freestone County. While the lake was constructed to support the coal-fired power plant, Luminant allowed TPWD to lease a portion of the land at no cost. The plant closed in 2018, taking hundreds of jobs from the county. At that time, Luminant made known to TPWD its intention to sell the lake and the land around it. TPWD told Luminant that it had no interest in acquiring the Property. In 2020, prior to publicly marketing the property for sale, Luminant again asked TPWD if it would like to purchase the lake and surrounding land. TPWD said it had no interest acquiring all of the land or the lake and did not have the funds to purchase the land TPWD had leased. Our firm became aware of the opportunity to purchase the property through an October 5, 2021 article in the Dallas Morning News, advertising the Property for sale. We knew that TPWD leased a portion of the Property for 50 years, and that during that half-century span it failed to express any interest in acquiring from the property from Luminant. After Luminant enlisted a real estate firm to market Fairfield Lake in 2021 for $110 million, TPWD still took no action. We had no reason to believe that the State of Texas wanted to acquire Fairfield Lake when we made an offer on the Property. So, on April 21, 2022 – four years after TPWD was given notice of Luminant’s intent to dispose of the Property – Todd Interests, a willing buyer, executed a binding contract of sale with Luminant, a willing seller. Five months later, after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in due diligence, Todd Interests met with Chairman Beaver Aplin per his request and Luminant’s encouragement. Since that September 2022 meeting, we engaged in good faith conversations with Chairman Aplin, despite no legal obligation to do so, even sharing the appraised value of the water rights as a means for this to be a profitable venture for TPWD. The State of Texas, however, has spent the last eight months working to derail our transaction and diminishour transactional rights. Chairman Aplin made no secret of his desire for our transaction to fail, and after we refused to simply walk away from our business transaction he made numerous verbal threats, apparently orchestrated multiple failed legislative actions and in our opinion, spoke many untruths. These, along with many other actions, have been catalogued diligently by our firm and others. While receiving much interference and efforts of sabotage, we did not receive a written proposal to purchase our contractual right until May 12, 2023 – eight months after engaging in conversations with Chairman Aplin. We responded in good faith to the proposal on May 23rd. We never heard from Chairman Aplin again. On June 1, 2023 we fulfilled our contractual obligation and purchased the Property from Luminant. Since taking title we have begun executing our development plan and executed millions of dollars in related contracts. Much of our construction equipment arrived onsite yesterday. While Chairman Aplin no longer engaged with us, on June 1st, while we were in the process of closing, he once again tried to scuttle our transaction by sending an offer directly to Luminant to purchase the Property, at a discount to what we paid. Additionally, the esteemed Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office sent a letter directing us to preserve evidence as if we had been involved in a crime. We assume this was purely an effort of intimidation as it contains nothing of legal substance – simply theatrics for the media in an effort to interfere with our lawful contract. The letter is dated May 25th, the same date that articles of impeachment were filed against the Attorney General. TPWD, like many other state agencies, has the power of eminent domain. We were, however, surprised to learn of the hearing based on the national precedent condemnation would set. TPWD declined an opportunity to purchase the Property. Twice. It then tried to interfere with the contractual rights of private parties through threats, intimidation and misstatements of facts, trying to purchase the property for less than we were paying. But now it seems to imply it will willingly spend many times that amount to acquire the Property through Condemnation. Interestingly, the only funds presently appropriated, through SB 30, are “to purchase from a willing seller.” Members of the Texas House and the Texas Senate have repeatedly demonstrated their opposition to the use of condemnation to acquire Fairfield Lake. Neither House Bill 2332 nor Senate Bill 1656 made it out of committee, let alone got a floor vote. Most striking is the activist message Chairman Aplin, Jeff Hildebrand, Blake Rowling, Dick Scott, James Abell, Oliver Bell, Paul Foster, Ana Gallo, Bobby Patton, Lee Bass, and Dan Friedkin would send to the entire nation on behalf of The State of Texas. A state once considered the vanguard of private property rights would now take from its citizens and diminish the rights of sellers, buyers, and private-property owners of every order. This would be in direct conflict to how the lady and gentlemen of the TPWD Commission have built their private businesses. We have fulfilled our duty as Texans by engaging in good faith efforts with TPWD since the day we first met. We now ask the TPWD Commission to respect our rights as we fulfill our duty to our financial partners and family.

 

Sincerely, Patrick Todd Shawn Todd Philip Todd Managing Partner CEO & Partner Partner

counterpoint:

 

 

[zman13 180]

In a new attempt to save Fairfield Lake State Park, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department filed a petition to condemn and seize the 5,000-acre property south of Dallas through eminent domain.

The petition was filed in Freestone County District Court Friday morning, after months of unsuccessful negotiations with Dallas-based developer Todd Interests, which plans to turn the former park into a high-end gated subdivision.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department wrote in an email that this step was “necessary to pursue acquisition at fair market value to preserve Fairfield Lake State Park and Fairfield Lake for all Texans.”

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/09/01/texas-fairfield-lake-state-park-condemnation-petition-eminent-domain/

[Steel Shank 9425]

This smells a lot like the City of Austin and the South Terminal fiasco.

[deadshank 24652]

50 minutes ago, zman13 said:

In a new attempt to save Fairfield Lake State Park, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department filed a petition to condemn and seize the 5,000-acre property south of Dallas through eminent domain.

The petition was filed in Freestone County District Court Friday morning, after months of unsuccessful negotiations with Dallas-based developer Todd Interests, which plans to turn the former park into a high-end gated subdivision.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department wrote in an email that this step was “necessary to pursue acquisition at fair market value to preserve Fairfield Lake State Park and Fairfield Lake for all Texans.”

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/09/01/texas-fairfield-lake-state-park-condemnation-petition-eminent-domain/

"Fair market value."  Do you think there will be an argument over that?  

Todd has the amount they paid plus the projected income from home sales.  They will have a very good data set for their valuation.

This may be a very expensive park for the State of Texas.  Of course, the folks in our esteemed state government that fumbled this entire thing will point fingers at everyone else and attempt to avoid any scrutiny and backlash.

 

[zman13 180]

And the eminent domain idea is dead.

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/12/05/texas-fairfield-lake-state-park-eminent-domain-developer/

Quote

A Freestone County judge then appointed a panel of local landowners to set a fair market value for the property as part of the eminent domain process. The state could have taken immediate possession of the property if it agreed to pay that amount, but it balked at the panel’s price — $418.3 million, about four times more than what Todd Interests paid for the land a few months ago.

The state, which had argued that the value of the property was $85 million, could have appealed that decision and triggered a civil trial but instead decided to cease efforts to take the property. The Parks and Wildlife Department also said it doesn’t intend to make future attempts to seize any portion of the property, including water rights.

 

[deadshank 24652]

2 hours ago, zman13 said:

And the eminent domain idea is dead.

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/12/05/texas-fairfield-lake-state-park-eminent-domain-developer/

 

Face it.  TPWD done goofed. 

[TwiceHorn 31466]

42 minutes ago, deadshank said:

Face it.  TPWD done goofed. 

Well, they tried to do something their "constituents" wanted them to do.  If they had had eminent domain power at the outset, they might have succeeded.  Sounds like ol Todd et fils gave Vistra a solid buttfucking and that probably wouldn't have happened had TPWD had eminent domain power.

[elfenix 34239]

developer buys it for $110 million while the lege sits on its ass because it only meets every 3rd blue moon.  less than a year later whichever yokels live in freestone county value it at $400 million?  horse. shit.

[deadshank 24652]

6 hours ago, elfenix said:

developer buys it for $110 million while the lege sits on its ass because it only meets every 3rd blue moon.  less than a year later whichever yokels live in freestone county value it at $400 million?  horse. shit.

Equally impressive that the state argued the acreage is worth $85 million.