| Council
Hocutt chimed into the Star-Telegram article by saying,
"The thing that's frustrating about the dairy museum on the
master plan is the fact that it has inhibited our staff to move
forward. It has kind of handcuffed them to do what's best
for the city"
Colleyville
citizens should make no mistake about what has
"handcuffed" the city staff moving forward on parks. It is
a lack of funds. The cash cow for Colleyville parks was the
Colleyville Economic Development Corporation (CEDC). That
money is now allocated to cover shortfalls in the Library and City
Hall, not parks. Mr. Hocutt should be frustrated by the fact
he approved a study on the "expendable" income of
residents, to prove some bragging rights, but there is not enough
money for our park system to buy a park bench.
The McPherson
Master plan was based on the Park Master Plan prepared by
Carter-Burgess in September 1999. Further, the park plan
meets 8 out of the 13 highest priorities set out by citizens and
virtually every organization, that had anything remotely involved
with parks,everyone from the AARP to Pee Wee football was on the Advisory
Panel.
The Park Master Plan was not driven by 5 of the best friends or
political supporters of city council, but, in addition to the
above groups, a scientific study with citizens, in a random
survey, with a 95% (plus or minus 4.5%) accuracy.
The dairy museum is NOT a $7.8 million "pork barrel"
project. In fact, the development of an open park with
passive areas and parking, amounted to more than $6 million of that
total. The $1.8 million anticipated cost of the museum
building was ALWAYS planned to be built with private funds raised, with the
assistance of the Dairy Farmers of America. That association
had already pledged to contribute to operating cost. The
museum project would have even had the potential to contribute funds to
assist in building the entire park.
The lack of vision
and negative atmosphere doomed the museum project. Not
possible to raise the private money to build and care for this
museum?...Let me refer you to the recent $1 million contribution,
from Oak Farms, to the Latino Cultural Center in Dallas.
This museum would
have provided a historical heritage of the area where loads of
school bus children, from miles around, would see dairy cattle,
demonstrations turning milk into cheese, whip cream, etc. and the
citizens would enjoy a beautiful passive park, that would help be
maintained by the museum profits.
I would rather be
talking about a small museum, uniquely identified with our city,
than reading ridiculous reports about Colleyville residents having
more expendable income than Southlake.
This museum was
seen as a future profit center for the city, not a drain on the annual budget, like the $250,000 shortfall covered every year at
the Community Center or the $800,000 in annual operational cost the
Library will require.
Concerning
McPherson, the Master Park plan urged a preservation of the
cultural aspects of the area, including saving the silo, barn,
milking area, feed troughs and other out buildings.
However, that
vision went out the window with the failed leadership of the city
council over the past two years. No more discussions with
the Dairy Farmers to see if there was an opportunity to jointly
undertake a project that would be unique to Colleyville.
Instead, citizens were served up a plate where the main course is
political rhetoric, spiced up with misrepresentations and
garnished with absolute lies.
Colleyville
citizens need not to worry about a diary museum. The attitude of
the majority whips of your city council, have clearly seen to that
by seeking to gain more political advantage versus maintaining any
dialogue with the dairy industry.
Now your council
will appoint a few of their good political buddies to reconsider
the McPherson Park Plan. After all, we can call ourselves a
"special rural atmosphere town" and people will believe
us. No need to preserve any of the city's heritage or historical
aspects. After all, the City of Grapevine is taking care of
that. In the last few years at least two historical homes
were moved from Colleyville to Grapevine. At least they
appreciate and value our heritage.
McPherson
Park was planned in three phases. The first two were designed to create a beautiful natural park and finally open the
park to the actual
citizens' benefit.
The LAST phase was a dairy museum, funded by
private funds, that would have placed Colleyville in a unique
position of identity and recognition. In lieu of that
concept, your city council is counting votes with the athletic
organizations, promising parks they can't deliver and fields of
dreams without any funds.
Why? Colleyville has a
virtually bankrupted park system, because funds were pilfered off
to feed the council's interest projects. The
TIF funds provided the Villages could have built 4 museums.
The debt load of keeping the Village concept alive and pouring in
public parking lots, a Library and City Hall, will
"inhibit" even the ability to have a public bond vote to
build parks.
The city even traded land, held in the Park Trust Fund, to
the Village developer. That adeptly handled transaction saw
the city receive 14,000 sq. ft. of land for trading 55,000 sq. ft.
to the developer. Just two years before, developer David
Bagwell requested to trade 3 acres (not adjacent to the park) for
1 acre of McPherson Park land and was turned down by Mayor Richard
Newton and the majority of that council.
We have about 180 acre of parks, much of which is private HOA
land, 80 acres below the nationally recommended park acreage per 1,000
population and, by 2020, Colleyville will be 150 acres short of
park land.
This column
provides scanned documents below from the McPherson Plan and
excerpts from the 124 page Master Park plan. |
The
Comprehensive Parks, Recreation and Open Space Master Plan
Click on the following to see the scanned document referenced:
Cover
Page Dated September 1999
List of
Participants from City Boards and Committees (appointed by
their respective organizations)
Ranking
by Peer Cities of Current Parks per 1,000 population Colleyville
ranked 7th out of 8 cities. However, if you remove the park
credit that private to homeowners, Colleyville is a solid last
place
Methodology
Used for Citizen Input Report
is considered 95% accurate (plus or minus 4.5%) to actually
reflect citizen's opinions on parks and needs
Ranking
of Park Priority Needs From Comprehensive Study 1-13
Ranking
of Park Priority Needs From Comprehensive Study 14-30
Ranking
of Park Priority Needs From Comprehensive Study 31-34
Specific
Recommendations, from the study, for McPherson
McPherson
Master Park Plan
Park
Plan Compared to Citizen's Priorities The
park plan met 8 out of 13 priorities established by citizens, more
than any other current park or plans.
Color
Map of Master Plan The overhead look at the plan reflects
the use of physical building assets already in place, with the
sole new building being a privately funded 15,000 sq. ft. museum,
and open space for other activity.
Three
Phase Overlay Map This map shows the three phases of the
park, with the first two phases completing all park related items
and last phase the museum area.
Text
of the Three Phases with Specifics Text of phases Anticipated
Costs of First Phase Page 1
Page 2
$2,495,668 Anticipated
Costs of Second Phase
$610,233
Anticipated
Costs of Third Phase
$4,741,355 Results
of McPherson Master Plan Anticipated Cost Total $7,847,256 Dairy
Museum Building $1,800,000 |
