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Senator quashes bill intended to save Fairfield Lake State Park #8846267 05/04/23 07:22 PM
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AUSTIN, Texas — A Senate leader used a last-minute bill substitution this week to quash the idea that Fairfield Lake State Park can be saved by circumventing a future developer’s water rights permit.

Texas Parks & Wildlife Department has operated the Freestone County lake and its surrounding land for 50 years on a lease with Vistra Energy, which owned the adjacent coal plant. When that plant shut down in 2018, Vistra exercised its option to sell the property. Because TPWD failed to act or to partner with a developer, that land is now in the hands of Todd Interests.

What You Need To Know
House members have filed multiple bills to save Fairfield Lake State Park, which was recently sold to Dallas-based Todd Interests

The park is currently open temporarily as the deal closes

The Senate sponsor of the House bill has substituted new language that will strip the bill of its teeth

Meanwhile, the Senate has proposed a $500M fund to make future purchases of parkland
and the rest of story:
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/so...ended-to-save-fairfield-lake-state-park-


�Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in,
where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.�
~ John Muir
Re: Senator quashes bill intended to save Fairfield Lake State Park [Re: jeh7mmmag] #8846271 05/04/23 07:37 PM
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Good! TPWD had plenty of time & opportunity to buy the place. They screwed the pooch & now want to screw over the group buying it.

Re: Senator quashes bill intended to save Fairfield Lake State Park [Re: DUKFVR] #8846970 05/05/23 07:31 PM
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Originally Posted by DUKFVR
Good! TPWD had plenty of time & opportunity to buy the place. They screwed the pooch & now want to screw over the group buying it.



I agree! The state had the chance to buy it and didn’t and then they try to stop the new owners from using it the way that they want to.

Re: Senator quashes bill intended to save Fairfield Lake State Park [Re: jeh7mmmag] #8847013 05/05/23 08:05 PM
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It's a always sumthin...sez RoseAnn RoseAnna Danna.... No good outcome is looming and everbody else can row their boat all they want, but I'd bet a double chaw of of double bubble bubble gum IMO. Too bad too....only place I ever caught tilapia from the bank with a cast net. Was Well worth the haul from Carrollton towing the old Ranger boat.
Ron

Last edited by WileyCoyote; 05/05/23 08:07 PM. Reason: Spaeling

It is TIME for Term Limits, cause Politicians are like childrens diapers and for the same reasons...Robin Williams

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Re: Senator quashes bill intended to save Fairfield Lake State Park [Re: jeh7mmmag] #8847638 05/06/23 04:46 PM
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TPWD is now operating Colorado River State park in the same manner. Leased from energy company Vistra. Will it be next to be sold by owner when coal plants become non profitable? And what will TPWD do to maintain the park.


�Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in,
where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.�
~ John Muir
Re: Senator quashes bill intended to save Fairfield Lake State Park [Re: jeh7mmmag] #8847660 05/06/23 05:30 PM
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Originally Posted by jeh7mmmag
TPWD is now operating Colorado River State park in the same manner. Leased from energy company Vistra. Will it be next to be sold by owner when coal plants become non profitable? And what will TPWD do to maintain the park.


They should buy it or walk. They choose to lease it it


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Re: Senator quashes bill intended to save Fairfield Lake State Park [Re: jeh7mmmag] #8847661 05/06/23 05:31 PM
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Originally Posted by jeh7mmmag
AUSTIN, Texas — A Senate leader used a last-minute bill substitution this week to quash the idea that Fairfield Lake State Park can be saved by circumventing a future developer’s water rights permit.

Texas Parks & Wildlife Department has operated the Freestone County lake and its surrounding land for 50 years on a lease with Vistra Energy, which owned the adjacent coal plant. When that plant shut down in 2018, Vistra exercised its option to sell the property. Because TPWD failed to act or to partner with a developer, that land is now in the hands of Todd Interests.

What You Need To Know
House members have filed multiple bills to save Fairfield Lake State Park, which was recently sold to Dallas-based Todd Interests

The park is currently open temporarily as the deal closes

The Senate sponsor of the House bill has substituted new language that will strip the bill of its teeth

Meanwhile, the Senate has proposed a $500M fund to make future purchases of parkland
and the rest of story:
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/so...ended-to-save-fairfield-lake-state-park-



said day for private property rights


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Re: Senator quashes bill intended to save Fairfield Lake State Park [Re: jeh7mmmag] #8849289 05/09/23 10:55 AM
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Yep, the fix was in.


Without a sense of urgency, nothing ever happens.

Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley, Rancher Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
Re: Senator quashes bill intended to save Fairfield Lake State Park [Re: jeh7mmmag] #8852051 05/13/23 06:00 PM
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Texas officials have never prioritized public grounds. If the state owned this ground already, if someone bid high enough it would be long gone and billed and advertised as a great and beneficial deal for Texans.

The only reason this is happening now is probably because an interest group learned the park is in jeopardy and started organizing and raising hell.

If it were Colorado State Park i would never get over it.

Last edited by Bryan C. Heimann; 05/13/23 06:01 PM.

1 Thessalonians 4:11-14
Re: Senator quashes bill intended to save Fairfield Lake State Park [Re: jeh7mmmag] #8853424 05/16/23 08:13 PM
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I concur completely with the last 1/3 of the article….

The “save the park” was nothing more than a cheap political stunt! All politicians are whores!


Originally Posted by Sneaky
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Actually, BBC is pretty damn good

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Re: Senator quashes bill intended to save Fairfield Lake State Park [Re: jeh7mmmag] #8858356 05/26/23 04:11 PM
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Re: Senator quashes bill intended to save Fairfield Lake State Park [Re: Lakhota] #8858424 05/26/23 05:50 PM
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Originally Posted by Lakhota
Originally Posted by DUKFVR
Good! TPWD had plenty of time & opportunity to buy the place. They screwed the pooch & now want to screw over the group buying it.



I agree! The state had the chance to buy it and didn’t and then they try to stop the new owners from using it the way that they want to.


Screw TP&W! They already use my hunting and fishing license fees to maintain these failing parks that can't support themselves and then I have to pay to get in one? Turn them all into hunting land and maintain the boat ramps is what I'd like to see.

Re: Senator quashes bill intended to save Fairfield Lake State Park [Re: jeh7mmmag] #8858744 05/27/23 01:12 PM
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Don't know what Vistra / Todd Interests has said about this? Maybe there is some late hope for SP.
Austin trying to save face after doing nothing?

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/25/texas-fairfield-lake-state-park-lease-deal-tpwd/

https://www.ksat.com/news/local/202...illion-dollar-homes-private-golf-course/


�Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in,
where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.�
~ John Muir
Re: Senator quashes bill intended to save Fairfield Lake State Park [Re: jeh7mmmag] #8862129 06/03/23 02:27 PM
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Meeting Announced to Consider Condemning Property Including Fairfield Lake State Park
https://tpwd.texas.gov/newsmedia/releases/?req=20230602a

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

Future of Fairfield Lake State Park uncertain as Texas attempts to buy land from developer
https://www.kxxv.com/hometown/texas...exas-attempts-to-buy-land-from-developer


�Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in,
where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.�
~ John Muir
Re: Senator quashes bill intended to save Fairfield Lake State Park [Re: jeh7mmmag] #8862142 06/03/23 02:56 PM
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I hope the property owner wins this.

Re: Senator quashes bill intended to save Fairfield Lake State Park [Re: jeh7mmmag] #8862170 06/03/23 04:05 PM
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Wasting 25 million because they forgot to bid on time is a waste of Austin & taxpayer money. If they use ED then Vistra will up the price several million. Austin Just trying to save face again because of the outcry over their failure to bid on time. How much will this end up costing taxpayer and sportsman's?


�Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in,
where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.�
~ John Muir
Re: Senator quashes bill intended to save Fairfield Lake State Park [Re: jeh7mmmag] #8863368 06/06/23 01:39 AM
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Originally Posted by jeh7mmmag
Wasting 25 million because they forgot to bid on time is a waste of Austin & taxpayer money. If they use ED then Vistra will up the price several million. Austin Just trying to save face again because of the outcry over their failure to bid on time. How much will this end up costing taxpayer and sportsman's?


hopefully zero, The public never owned the park so its a dead issue, Forcing private hands over recreation is a very bad precedent and goes against the constitution of TX and US


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Re: Senator quashes bill intended to save Fairfield Lake State Park [Re: jeh7mmmag] #8864115 06/07/23 06:50 PM
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Here is the letter issued by the owner this week. One side of the story and if true, pretty sad the way the state has approached this.

https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2023...osed-for-good/

Todd Interests400 N Ervay StDallas, TX 75201June 6, 2023Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission4200 Smith School RoadAustin, TX 78744RE: June 10th Commission Contemplating the Use of Eminent Domain on Property Recently Acquired byTodd 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 byLt. Governor Patrick and the Texas Senate are considering the condemnation of private property that TPWDhad numerous opportunities to acquire.Is this how you fulfill Governor Abbott’s promise that “Texas is wide open for business”? As a family-owned, Texas-based business and longtime supporters of our state’s pro-business policies, we sincerelyhope not.In 1968 Texas Power and Light Company, Texas Electric Service Company, and Dallas Power and LightCompany (now collectively, “Luminant”) began the construction of a new power plant and an adjacentcooling 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 hundredsof jobs from the county. At that time, Luminant made known to TPWD its intention to sell the lake and theland 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 lakeand surrounding land. TPWD said it had no interest acquiring all of the land or the lake and did not havethe 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 inthe Dallas Morning News, advertising the Property for sale. We knew that TPWD leased a portion of theProperty for 50 years, and that during that half-century span it failed to express any interest in acquiringfrom the property from Luminant. After Luminant enlisted a real estate firm to market Fairfield Lake in2021 for $110 million, TPWD still took no action. We had no reason to believe that the State of Texaswanted to acquire Fairfield Lake when we made an offer on the Property. So, on April 21, 2022 – four yearsafter 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 withChairman Beaver Aplin per his request and Luminant’s encouragement. Since that September 2022meeting, 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 diminish

400 NORTHERVAYSTREET, SUITE150, DALLAS, TX 75201our transactional rights. Chairman Aplin made no secret of his desire for our transaction to fail, and afterwe refused to simply walk away from our business transaction he made numerous verbal threats, apparentlyorchestrated multiple failed legislative actions and in our opinion, spoke many untruths. These, along withmany other actions, have been catalogued diligently by our firm and others. While receiving muchinterference and efforts of sabotage, we did not receive a written proposal to purchase our contractual rightuntil May 12, 2023 – eight months after engaging in conversations with Chairman Aplin. We responded ingood faith to the proposal on May 23rd. We never heard from Chairman Aplin again. On June 1, 2023 wefulfilled 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 ourconstruction equipment arrived onsite yesterday. While Chairman Aplin no longer engaged with us, on June1st, while we were in the process of closing, he once again tried to scuttle our transaction by sending anoffer 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 preserveevidence as if we had been involved in a crime. We assume this was purely an effort of intimidation as itcontains nothing of legal substance – simply theatrics for the media in an effort to interfere with our lawfulcontract. The letter is dated May 25th, the same date that articles of impeachment were filed against theAttorney General.TPWD, like many other state agencies, has the power of eminent domain. We were, however, surprised tolearn of the hearing based on the national precedent condemnation would set. TPWD declined anopportunity 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 thanwe were paying. But now it seems to imply it will willingly spend many times that amount to acquire theProperty 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 repeatedlydemonstrated their opposition to the use of condemnation to acquire Fairfield Lake. Neither House Bill2332 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, **** Scott, JamesAbell, Oliver Bell, Paul Foster, Ana Gallo, Bobby Patton, Lee Bass, and Dan Friedkin would send to theentire nation on behalf of The State of Texas. A state once considered the vanguard of private property rightswould now take from its citizens and diminish the rights of sellers, buyers, and private-property owners ofevery order. This would be in direct conflict to how the lady and gentlemen of the TPWD Commissionhave built their private businesses.We have fulfilled our duty as Texans by engaging in good faith efforts with TPWD since the day we firstmet. We now ask the TPWD Commission to respect our rights as we fulfill our duty to our financial partnersand family.Sincerely,

Re: Senator quashes bill intended to save Fairfield Lake State Park [Re: jeh7mmmag] #8864133 06/07/23 07:36 PM
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The state needs to Piss Off and let it go, they had every opportunity to buy it and opted not to and once a new buyer stepped up they wanted to throw a temper tantrum…

Re: Senator quashes bill intended to save Fairfield Lake State Park [Re: Ol Thumper] #8865845 06/10/23 06:41 PM
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Originally Posted by Ol Thumper
The state needs to Piss Off and let it go, they had every opportunity to buy it and opted not to and once a new buyer stepped up they wanted to throw a temper tantrum…


they are about to vote to Eminent domain it


If they do, Every vote for yes should be hung for treason, and their personal property auctioned off to the public. If their heirs get pennies on the dollars Booo hooo


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Re: Senator quashes bill intended to save Fairfield Lake State Park [Re: jeh7mmmag] #8865884 06/10/23 07:24 PM
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Well the SORRY POS's voted for eminent domain. Hope they all rot in hell. Sure would like to see how they would take it if the state decided they wanted some of their land.

Last edited by DUKFVR; 06/10/23 07:25 PM.
Re: Senator quashes bill intended to save Fairfield Lake State Park [Re: jeh7mmmag] #8865909 06/10/23 08:26 PM
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Last edited by jeh7mmmag; 06/10/23 08:30 PM.

�Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in,
where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.�
~ John Muir
Re: Senator quashes bill intended to save Fairfield Lake State Park [Re: jeh7mmmag] #8866000 06/10/23 11:41 PM
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Originally Posted by jeh7mmmag


its absolute and utter BS. They had a chance to buy and they didnt, so now they want to STEAL it from who did buy it. Cowards!!! Shame to call them Texans

Every member who voted today to USE ED should have all their homes and procession's sold at auction for penny’s on the dollar, so they know what it feels like

Make note—— Any land owner enrolled into WALK IN lease programs needs to dis-enroll ASAP, Unless you want to loose your land to state use!!! Not far fetched anymore.




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Re: Senator quashes bill intended to save Fairfield Lake State Park [Re: jeh7mmmag] #8883982 07/17/23 06:36 PM
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The new landowners were very short sighted if they didn't recognize before they bought it the state could take it through eminent domain. The state simply called their bluff.

As for stealing, it's not like the state is paying nothing for it.


"Some people will never like you because your spirit irritates their demons."
Re: Senator quashes bill intended to save Fairfield Lake State Park [Re: jeh7mmmag] #8884715 07/18/23 08:44 PM
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So... Is Fairfield gonna be huntable in the '23 season? gotta go see Archie & Janette anyway pdq.

Got my own problems with being able to go anywhere this year except mebbe back to Mother Francis's Heart Hospital with my Betterhalf's health issues. She got to come home still kicking about a week ago so I ain't making any plans for anything else this year. Might be able to sneak a hunt in late outside of Fayetteville....

God Bless Louis & Peaches for the gift of a magnificent building and the dedicated team of Specialists at the new Mother Francis Heart Hospital in Tyler.
Ron


It is TIME for Term Limits, cause Politicians are like childrens diapers and for the same reasons...Robin Williams

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