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COLLEYVILLE VOTES TO SETTLE LAWSUITS WITH DEVELOPER

COLLEYVILLE - The City Council last night approved a settlement for dueling lawsuits between the city and longtime community developer Raman Chandler that may secure a swath of land slated to become part of a regional trail system.

The City Council voted unanimously last night to approve an agreement that gives the city a strip of land that varies from 30 feet to 12 feet behind the Caldwell Creek Addition and the yet-to-be built Villas at Caldwell Creek Addition. Both subdivisions are along John McCain Road.

The land is earmarked to become part of a trail system that could someday link Northeast Tarrant County to Fort Worth, Dallas and Lewisville.

"It's the best thing for all the citizens," Councilman Frank Carroll said. "We have resolved an ongoing legal dispute."

But Mayor Richard Newton said last night that he plans to veto the decision, because it provides too many concessions to the developer.

"I don't think of this as a settlement but as a capitulation to the developer's wishes," Newton said.

If he vetoes the settlement, it will go back to the council for a vote at the next meeting. To override the veto, four of the five council members must concur. Council members have called the settlement fair and said that it avoids a costly legal battle.

"It's a compromise and a settlement," Councilwoman Ginny Tigue said. "We're not just giving everything away to Mr. Chandler. ... He is dedicating parkland to the city and he has paid a certain amount of fees for parkland."

Raman Chandler, who is a Colleyville resident, declined to comment on the settlement.

In a lawsuit filed in Tarrant County district court in February, Chandler objected to the city's requirement that he pay both fees to be used for parks and provide land for the trail. Requiring both, he contended, amounted to double dipping and was unconstitutional.

The city, in its counter lawsuit also filed in February, claimed that the parkland fees and the land donation were required under separate ordinances. According to the city, Chandler reneged on an agreement that allowed him to build more houses on the property than normally permitted.

As part of the agreement approved by the City Council last night, the city will waive $7,132 in parkland dedication fees for the Caldwell Creek Addition and will return $4,651 of the roughly $23,000 Chandler has already paid.

Initially, city officials claimed about $30,080 in parkland dedication fees. But when the settlement is complete, Chandler will have paid the city almost $19,000 in fees for the Caldwell Creek Addition.

The settlement also grants Chandler city approval for his Villas at Caldwell Creek Addition and waives any claim to parkland dedication fees - a sum that would have totaled about $13,335, according to the settlement.

In return, Chandler will give up part of a private park behind the Caldwell Creek Addition for the trail. He will move back a fence that separates the subdivision from the public park.

Newton said he objected to the settlement because it included the Villas at Caldwell Creek Addition, a project rejected by the council in the past. He said council members could vote to approve the subdivision if they wished, but should do so as part of a prescribed policy that includes public hearings.

Two residents spoke against the settlement. But Greg Schultz, a homeowner in the Caldwell Creek Addition, said he was pleased with how the settlement handled the land for the trail system.

"I think it's a definite win for the city and the homeowners," he said.

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