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Colleyville developer Raman Chandler last year sued Colleyville over a development issue. Now Chandler is running for a seat on the City Council.

With development the hot issue in many greater Northeast Tarrant County communities, voters and the candidates who work in development-related businesses should keep in mind the potential for conflicts of interest.

"It gets to be comical sometimes," Phifer said. "There have been days I've had to abstain on as many as two or three items. If I have any interest, real or perceived, I will not vote. Nor will I participate in discussion, and you can ask any council member that."

Other potential conflicts arise, he said.

"When I call Public Works about issues such as where a waterline is - specific issues dealing with a tract for development - I always state, `This is Don calling. I'm calling for my business, not as an elected official.' "

Once during his first term, a landowner and developer whom Phifer worked with on a business project walked into Public Works and mentioned his relationship with Phifer.

"They were throwing my name around," he said. "That's a real danger."

Chandler is a longtime Colleyville civic leader whose residential subdivisions display a skillful use of trails, parks and waterways to create wonderful outdoor settings for homeowners. Still, his candidacy surprised many in the city because, until now, he preferred to work behind the political scenes.

Chandler did not answer my request for an interview last week. His assistant said, "His schedule is so tight right now."

Chandler's next big development, The Villas at Caldwell Creek, is smack in the middle of Colleyville's most volatile issue: high-density housing.

But Chandler's candidacy is also controversial because of his involvement in what Councilman Donna Arp calls "one of the hottest issues in Colleyville forever."

Chandler sued the city last year because he objected to the requirement that he pay parkland fees and also donate land he promised to hand over for a nature trail.

The city countersued Chandler. The lawsuit was settled last year by council members whom Chandler said he helped to elect specifically for that purpose. He told me in an interview last year that he supported those candidates and urged others to do the same because they favored ending the city's legal battle with him.

As part of the settlement, Chandler promised in September to donate to the city another strip of land behind a commercial property he owns for the proposed nature trail. Despite the city's repeated requests, Chandler has yet to donate the land, according to letters between Chandler and the city.

Chandler's opponent is Colleyville Planning and Zoning Commission Chairman Jody Short, who works for a traffic engineering company that does work for cities, but Colleyville is not one of them.

Even if Chandler, Hutto, Phifer and others who work in the land-development business abstain from voting on issues that affect their businesses, they can still vote on matters relating to their competitors. The same applies to votes on roads, sewers and other land-use issues that can't help but indirectly affect their personal livelihood one way or another.

It's difficult enough to be an elected official in a fast-growth city without having the charge of potential conflicts of interest hanging over your every move. Dave Lieber's column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. (817) 685-3830 www.star-telegram.com/dave

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