03/20/06  What do the Billingsley's have against successful residential communities?

A story in The Dallas Managed News  caught my eye.  It's not a Dallas issue, but it is a regional issue, and it's a moral issue.  Jake Batsell's report is about another single-family community under siege by Lucy and Henry Billingsley.

Community may be flying on borrowed time; Dispute threatens Collin County air park's future Saturday, March 18, 2006 by JAKE BATSELL / The Dallas Morning News

... It's a Saturday morning when three pilots from the aviation-themed subdivision near West Plano pull their planes out of backyard hangars, ... Mr. Cobb and many of his neighbors are concerned about the future of their cherished subculture.    A lawsuit pitting the air park's co-founder, David Noell, against its majority owner, developer Henry Billingsley, has stoked their long-held fears that Mr. Billingsley is angling to close the runway and redevelop the property.    Those who live at Air Park Estates, an unincorporated community of about 30 homes wedged between Plano and Carrollton, call it a pilots' paradise. Street names include Lockheed and Beech, and pilots park their planes in oversized garages next to cars and kids' bikes. ... Homeowners say their property and runway rights are legally protected. But ... Mr. Billingsley has already developed much of the land surrounding the air park. ... Air Park-Dallas got off the ground in 1965 when Mr. Noell and his father, Milton, began developing an 85-acre subdivision that brochures touted as "a whole new concept in 'air age living.' " ... In 1983, the Noells sold a 50 percent stake in the air park and its vacant lots to Mr. Billingsley and his wife, Lucy, ... .  The deal allowed Mr. Noell to manage the airstrip and its commercial properties. ... In 2004, Mr. Billingsley, who had become the air park's majority owner, sent a letter terminating Mr. Noell's management lease.    Mr. Noell filed a lawsuit accusing Mr. Billingsley of trying to squeeze him out of their partnership and reach a long-stalled goal: closing the air park and developing the property commercially. ... Tod Edel, an attorney for Mr. Billingsley, said his client has no present plans to close the runway ... "any objective observer of development patterns in Collin County has to seriously question the continued viability of the Air Park concept." ... homeowners say that deed covenants protect their runway rights.    "If we're challenged, we'll defend ourselves," said Mr. Burgdorf, head of the homeowners association. ... Bruce Beard, an obstruction-evaluation manager for the Federal Aviation Administration, said irregular landings at Air Park-Dallas are no more frequent than at any other airport. ... Mr. Beard said complaints about the air park have been scant. The most recent was over a year ago, when an elementary school parent expressed concern about low-flying aircraft. ... Air park homeowners say their runway is not just their own playground. They say it's good for the public because it relieves traffic from the much busier Addison Airport and serves as an occasional base for Angel Flight charity medical missions. ... "As long as they are a viable public-use airport, then the FAA's responsibility is to protect them regardless of the development around it or the price of land or anything else," Mr. Beard said. ... But smaller airports are dwindling across the U.S., and Mr. Beard of the FAA says Air Park-Dallas could be running on borrowed time. He cites the fate of Austin Executive Airpark, which closed in 1999 after a new Dell Inc. computer campus and other developments cropped up north of Austin.    "It tends to happen and it's too bad because when they established Air Park-Dallas, it was out in the country and it was everything they wanted," Mr. Beard said. "But development just finally worked its way out to them." ...

As someone who needs a strong cocktail before comfortably boarding a commercial plane, the chances of my ever going anywhere in a private plane are slim to none.  I don't know a single soul in Air Park-Dallas.  I don't think I have a single friend who owns a private plane.  So, as former Gov. Ann Richards might say "I don't have a dog in this hunt."  However, as a person who believes in honoring deals (like the Wright Amendment), the story really grabbed me.

		After running up to Lewisville for some "honey-do's" for my mother and my husband's elderly aunt, we drove back around 3 pm through steady rain.  Every creek we passed was roaring with "white caps".  Our wonderful rain cannot be absorbed by concrete and buildings and consequently causes major problems for urban and suburban dwellers where city leaders have allowed the likes of Lucy and Henry Billingsley to build more housing and other buildings than common sense and the laws of nature allow.

Heavy rain continues By HOLLY K. HACKER / The Dallas Morning News Sunday, March 19, 2006

The rain, rain didn't go away. Instead it caused trouble all over Sunday.    Thunderstorms pounded the Dallas-Fort Worth area, producing up to six inches of rain and causing flash flooding in streets, streams and yards. Police officers answered scores of calls about high water levels, and firefighters responded to numerous accidents.    Dallas police received about 80 calls about high water levels in less than an hour and a half Sunday afternoon. Most of the calls came from the central and northeast parts of town ... crews helped drivers whose cars were stalled or trapped by water. ... Flood waters forced police to close part of White Rock Trail Sunday afternoon, but not before two people in their car were trapped briefly in the high-rising water. ... High waters approached the front porches of homes on Springbranch Drive and forced another car to stall on Walnut Hill Lane. ... Along the North Dallas Tollway Sunday, motorists had to slow down in low-lying areas, especially below overpasses. ... In many neighborhoods and along the DART rail line in Garland, front or back yards sprouted small lakes from all the rain. ... Water also slowed the traffic along Interstate 35 and the Harry Hines Boulevard, Mockingbird and Oak Lawn Avenue exits. ... Dallas Love Field reported about 5 inches of rain just on Sunday, with another inch predicted to fall. ... Rising waters in Arlington forced some people to evacuate their homes. ... Forecasters said the West Fork of the Trinity River in Grand Prairie would rise about one foot above flood stage on Sunday evening due to heavy rains. It's the highest crest at that point in more than 56 years.    The weather service also said the Trinity River would rise above flood stage in Dallas on Sunday afternoon and crest nearly four feet above that level after midnight. ... Dallas police said they had received at least four reports of vehicles stalled in high water, including one car in the 2800 block of Shorecrest Drive near Bachman Lake in Northwest Dallas. ...

This is not the heaviest rain we have had in 56 years.  This is a typical Spring storm without tornados.  The problem is Grand Prairie, like most Dallas County municipalities, has too much development.  Like most municipalities, Grand Prairie "civic" leaders don't consider the consequences of over-development when they approve new real estate projects.

Dallas is probably the biggest offender.  We don't take care of what we have, but we keep wanting more.  We have way too many apartments in this city, but our city leaders always find a way to approve more.  They don't care about the impact on our schools, whether it's the Dallas Independent School District or Coppell Independent School District.

Reading Batsell's story about the Billingsley's abusing the homeowners at Air Park-Dallas reminded me of what Lucy and her lawyers got the Dallas Plan Commission and City Council to do for her a few weeks ago.  I went back to DMN's website and found these related stories.

City offering opinions on others' land By ERIC AASEN / The Dallas Morning News Monday, January 2, 2006

A developer's plan to fill land near Coppell with apartments, houses and shops has spurred the unhappy suburb to create its own plan: a report that suggests how land should be developed outside its borders. ... Coppell's plan is part of a strategy to influence not just Billingsley Co.'s controversial development in northwest Dallas, but also hundreds of acres of empty land in Dallas around North Lake and in Carrollton and Lewisville. Coppell leaders hope the plan encourages cities to keep their neighbors in mind as they develop along their borders so that adjacent cities don't bear the brunt of what's being built.    The suburb points to Billingsley's proposed Cypress Waters project near North Lake as a prime example: The site is connected to the rest of Dallas by a narrow strip of land, but it's bordered by Coppell and Irving. Most of the land is in the Coppell Independent School District. ... Whether Dallas takes Coppell's plan seriously remains to be seen. Dallas City Council member Mitchell Rasansky calls the suburb's actions unwise.    "I wonder how [Coppell] would feel if we told Coppell how to develop their property," he said. "They would laugh at us or hang up on us. ... It's very inappropriate what Coppell is doing." ... Dallas officials support the project because it would boost the city's tax base.     Coppell Mayor Doug Stover ... "The way the metroplex is meshing and blending, it's prudent for communities to have a strategy and a plan for land that is contiguous to their city," ... James Schwab, senior research associate for the American Planning Association and co-editor of Zoning Practice magazine.    Mr. Schwab said some other states have oversight over cities' long-term plans so they're consistent with plans from neighboring municipalities.    Coppell's report says several states have established procedures for intergovernmental review of large-scale developments to assess the effects on a region. The report also says that more cities are participating in land-use intergovernmental agreements. ... The developer's plans for Cypress Waters surprised Coppell officials because the land had been vacant for years, said Gary Sieb, Coppell's director of planning.    The city's Web site states: "Until the recent sale of the property, all local and regional land use plans have assumed the site would remain zoned industrial and agricultural." ...  Dallas gave the company the go-ahead to request denser zoning so that it could generate enough tax revenue to provide Cypress Waters with utility and public safety services. ... In addition, Coppell city and school officials have filed separate condemnation petitions to seize some of Billingsley's land. ... Mr. Rasansky said any city should be proud to have a Billingsley development. The council member doesn't see anything wrong with Cypress Waters but said much is wrong with Coppell's recent actions. ...

City Hall morons approved the "denser zoning so that it could generate enough tax revenue to provide Cypress Waters with utility and public safety services."  How does that help Dallas taxpayers?  Particularly homeowners?  Did you know the Appraisal District evaluates apartment properties differently than they do your home?  If your house is in disrepair, but your neighbor's house is new or remodeled or just sold at an inflated rate, your house is appraised on the value of your neighbor's house.  If an apartment building is run down and fully occupied and next to a brand new apartment building, it is still appraised based on its decrepit condition, not on its land value or surrounding properties.  That's how slum landlords can afford to rent their awful apartments for low rents -- they don't pay their fair share of property taxes, but the cause greater demand on our public services.

Multi-family housing (whether condo or apartment) generate more demand on our police and fire departments.   If you have a fire in your home, it can usually be contained to your home.   When there's a fire in an apartment or condo, it almost always involve more than one unit, if not the whole building.  To adequately protect the residents of Billingsley's Cypress Waters on North Lake, we will need to build a fire station in that area because there are no existing Dallas fire stations that can service that area in a few minutes.  If we have to spend more money than the tax revenue denser zoning for Cypress Waters will ever generate, how are we better off?

Honest to God, did you know that land was in the city limits of Dallas?  If you look at the map of the awful city council districts that were designed by Mad Max Aaronson and the late Joe May, do you see any line going over to North Lake land near Coppell?  We don't even know who's district Billingsley's apartments would be in.

Here's the Coppell City Map.  The land in question is on the west side of North Lake.  We can't get there in a hurry, emergency or not.

If the occupants of those 4,700 housing units vote in District 6 (Steve Salazar), it will certainly undo Joe May's agenda of creating a district that is majority Hispanic.  Those residents cannot be in District 13, Mitch Rasansky's district because it is already overpopulated, as compared to District 1 (Elba Garcia) and District 6.  Will we have to redistrict the city again to adjust for those 4,700 new voters?  Pretty expensive process to accommodate a couple of greedy Park Cities residents!

Vote paves way for contentious project By DAVE LEVINTHAL / The Dallas Morning News 12:00 AM CST on Thursday, January 26, 2006

Mind your own turf and keep off ours.    That's the message Dallas delivered neighbors Coppell and Irving, as the Dallas City Council unanimously approved a zoning change on a small but lucrative land tract that it controls several miles outside its core city limits.    The zoning change effectively allows developer Billingsley Co. to proceed with plans to create a massive housing and retail development on the land, tucked between Coppell and Irving and curling around North Lake.    The size, scope and features of the project, however, will probably face future Dallas council votes, and legal proceedings filed by Coppell and the Coppell Independent School District further occlude the land's future use.    Officials from the two suburbs say the development's potentially thousands of residents, although technically living in Dallas, would be an unfair burden on Coppell schools and roads and on public services in Coppell and Irving. ... Robert Freilich, an attorney representing opponents of the rezoning. "Dallas' actions are totally arbitrary from a regional perspective."    Said Coppell Mayor Doug Stover: "We expected there'd be a lot of biased council members because of a lack of information." ... Irving Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Beth Van Duyne described the proposed development as potentially containing twice the population of Addison in one-eighth the space. ... The land dispute is intensifying, as Dallas attorneys this week filed a petition in county court seeking an investigation of Coppell city and school district condemnation claims, as well as depositions from officials of both entities. ... Company owner Lucy Crow Billingsley described Coppell's actions as "scare tactics" and a "land grab." She vowed to fight on in hopes of one day creating Cypress Waters, which today calls for 4,700 housing units and retail developments. ... "We clearly have to protect our property. We have the ultimate right for zoning," Dallas council member Ed Oakley said after the vote. ... City Council member James Fantroy waved a videocassette in the air and accused Mr. Stover of saying last month that he'd work with Dallas City Council members – those who aren't going to jail. ...

It's just too many people in too small of an area that we cannot service.  I don't understand Councilman Oakley's position (nothing new there) that plopping down 4,700 housing units on a sliver of land is "protecting our property".  It's just the opposite.  The council's January 25 decision will put a drain on our city resources and actually limit further the police protection we get today.  Even if I didn't agree with Coppell's position, you have to love their Mayor, Doug Stover.  I just love what he said in December 'he'd work with Dallas City Council members - those who aren't going to jail.'  It's amazing -- an elected official who looks after the quality of life for his constituents and who speaks the truth that we all know.

Here's another story on the Coppell/Billingsley/City of Dallas fight.

City, schools prepare for land battle; February 12, 2006 By ERIC AASEN / The Dallas Morning News

The battle between Coppell and Billingsley Co. over a controversial residential development near North Lake in Dallas is likely to be lengthy, costly and nasty. ... Coppell city and school officials, who vehemently oppose the large number of proposed apartments and houses, are pressing ahead with condemnation proceedings to try to seize part of the Billingsley property, which borders the suburb. ... The city and school district have spent about $900,000 on the issue, said Clay Phillips, Coppell's deputy city manager.    Coppell Mayor Doug Stover is willing to spend more because he wants to preserve his city's quality of life.    Most of the Billingsley land is in the Coppell Independent School District, so city officials are concerned that Cypress Waters residents will overcrowd Coppell schools. ... "If it requires the city to spend a couple million dollars to do this, then we'll spend a couple million dollars," Mr. Stover said. ... Coppell declared in its condemnation filing that it is empowered by the Texas Local Government Code to "exercise the power of eminent domain outside of the city's territorial boundaries" to build parks and work force and senior housing. Coppell school officials want to seize some of the land to build schools.    But it would be up to the courts to decide whether Coppell city and school officials have the legal right to take the land, Mr. Vassallo said. ... Billingsley is "not stopping in terms of building" Cypress Waters. ... The Dallas City Council approved denser zoning last month for the northwest Dallas project, but Coppell is considering filing an action to void the zoning. ... Dallas has filed petitions to take depositions from Coppell officials regarding the Billingsley project. ... For Coppell, the legal bills will only rise. Of the approximately $900,000 in bills, city officials are footing 70 percent. The city has set aside about $500,000 this fiscal year to cover North Lake costs.    The Coppell school board decided in January to continue paying 30 percent of North Lake costs, up to $400,000. The board will reassess the matter if the district reaches that cap. Coppell Superintendent Jeff Turner estimates the district has spent more than $250,000 on the matter. ... "We feel very strongly that we have a right to be at the table with land use that's going to be negatively impacting our community," he said. " ... Rider Scott, a Strasburger & Price attorney who has represented both North Texas condemners and condemnees but isn't involved in the North Lake dispute.  ... It's not uncommon for a city to condemn external land in certain situations, Mr. Scott said, such as if it needs to connect water lines to a reservoir or a wastewater treatment plant. ... Mr. Vassallo said that Coppell has no right to take his company's land. He's not aware of a Texas case where a city condemned external land because it "doesn't like what another city is allowing [on] that property." ... All sides are anticipating a long legal fight.    Mr. Stover said: "If it takes 15 years, we'll go the distance."    Said Mr. Vassallo: "Billingsley will go another mile past Coppell."

Why is the City of Dallas spending our tax dollars to take depositions from Coppell officials regarding the Billingsley project?  This Lucy Billingsley's fight -- not yours or mine.  Park Cities residents Lucy and Henry Billingsley can afford to pay their own legal fees.

That's not the way things are done by Park Cities residents who do business with the City of Dallas.  PC residents buy public relations people to fund campaigns to get Dallas residents to spend our tax money on things that PC residents want and use much more than Dallas residents -- like a stupid Opera House! 

Lucy and Henry Billingsley already are rich beyond your wildest dreams -- but not theirs.  For people like Lucy and Henry and that Son of a Bigamist Billionaire Ray Hunt, no amount of personal wealth is enough.  No amount of porking out at the public trough is enough.

They don't care about the general public's needs that are not being met because our elected officials are squandering our public monies on the whims and greed of the ODB, the Billingsley's and Hunt's who know how to punch the buttons of small-thinking politicians who can't do enough to accommodate those who can never have enough. As DallasArena.com often says, those with the gold rule.

So, are Lucy and Henry greedy or evil or evil and greedy?  There's no denying they are greedy.  They are doing something evil to several different communities.  Coppell is a town that puts great store in providing great education for their children.  They don't want what has happened in Dallas to happen to their schools. 

Burnet Elementary in my neighborhood has almost as many classrooms in portable buildings as in the school building itself.  The majority of the school children at Burnet come from apartments that surround our neighborhood.  The only good news we have is that the DISD is buying two big apartment complexes on Brockbank to demolish so they can build a new and much needed middle school.  They will demolish 350 units, which will immediately reduce some of the over-crowding at Burnet Elementary.  Removing those 350 units will also reduce police calls  in our area substantially.  When we get our crime watch stats, 99% of the reported crime comes from the apartment complexes.

Look at Vickery Meadow and Lake Highlands, Councilman Rasansky and Councilman Blaydes know the negative impact of too many apartments in too small of an area.  What Lucy Billingsley is proposing for North Lake is "twice the population of Addison in one-eighth the space"(Irving Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Beth Van Duyne). 

With the City Council's assistance, developers like Lucy and Henry Billingsley are insuring that future downpours in Dallas will automatically trigger flooding and loss of life.  Oak Lawn/Uptown and the Turtle Creek area ore overwhelmed with mammoth size apartment buildings with totally inadequate green space.  Drive down Cedar Springs from Love Field to Turtle Creek, and you will quickly understand how a 3-day rain storm can overwhelm Turtle Creek and shut down the North Dallas Tollroad and Central Expressway and Stemmons Freeway at Oak Lawn. 

What Billingsley is proposing for her North Lake property is even more dense than the overbuilding in Oak Lawn.  Not only will Coppell schools be flooded with new students they cannot accommodate, but they will have the same kind of urban flooding that overbuilt Dallas neighborhoods now experience.

It's just wrong!  It's greedy!  It's evil!

sb