‘A legacy retreat’: Mock-ups reveal developer’s plans for Fairfield Lake State Park

The Dallas developer purchasing the Fairfield Lake property plans to turn the 50-year-old state park into “a luxury lake and golf enclave” and “legacy retreat,” according to a newly obtained document, with hundreds of waterfront homes, a private golf course and hiking trails exclusively for residents.

Todd Interests’ vision for the property are detailed in a 32-slide brochure-style presentation that the Star-Telegram obtained through public records requests, which touts Fairfield Lake as the largest private lake in the U.S. In January, CEO Shawn Todd shared the presentation by text message to Arch “Beaver” Aplin III, the state Parks and Wildlife Commission chairman, at a time when the commission was still talking with the developer about finding ways to preserve the park.

While state officials involved in discussions about the land’s sale have described the contours of Todd Interests’ plans for the property, the developer and its representatives have declined to talk about their intentions. At a late February legislative hearing, an attorney for Todd Interests, Black Beckham, said the “ultimate plans” were “undetermined at this time, and they’re confidential.”

Todd Interests has not responded to repeated requests for comment over the past two months. When the Star-Telegram requested comment from Todd for this story, Beckham responded instead.

In an email, Beckham referred to the presentation as “proprietary information.”

“Any information that was produced by Todd Interests on this project and provided to others was done so under strict confidentiality and is not in the Public Domain,” Beckham said. “Accordingly, we have reason to believe the information that you have obtained is absolutely protected by non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements.”

In reality, because Todd sent the document to a public official, the document had become subject to Texas’ public information laws.

While Todd Interests is publicly silent on the project, the brochure goes into detail on what the development could look like, and describes the property as being “preserved” by its future residents in the gated community. It’s unclear how the developer’s plans may have changed in recent weeks, or how they might still change in the future, but the brochure offers a snapshot of Todd Interests’ vision for the Fairfield Lake property.

According to that brochure, the property, dubbed “Freestone” in reference to its location within Freestone County, includes plans for:

• A clubhouse with saunas, steam rooms, a lazy river, a swim-up bar and multiple eateries;

• A fieldhouse with open and covered pickleball courts, a whiffleball stadium, athletic fields and hiking trails, though it is unclear whether these trails would be the same ones the public has used for years in the state park;

• A waterfront golf course and an additional short course;

• Several hundred “estates,” which are homes that sit on a minimum of one acre;

• 16 “golf cabins” for guests to stay in.

Renderings of the development show the large clubhouse perched on a peninsula that extends into Fairfield Lake, with lodge-style flair and stone accents. On one side of the clubhouse, as rendered, the lazy river encircles an island of lounge chairs and umbrellas. On another side, a dock extends into the lake, allowing residents of the community to access the clubhouse by boat.

The fieldhouse and the homes are rendered in a similar style as the clubhouse. One home is shown with a multi-car garage, a private pool out back and a boathouse on the lake. The brochure specifies that the average lakefront lot has 245 feet of shoreline, and that residents can build custom homes as well.

“The ample lot size coupled with minimal density will preserve Freestone’s raw beauty and sustain fresh air for generations to come,” the brochure says.

The brochure does not say how much each home might cost, but state officials have said their understanding is that the homes will be multimillion-dollar properties.

The exclusive community is planned to sit on 5,000 acres that currently belong to power company Vistra Corp. Within that land is the 1,800-acre Fairfield Lake State Park which, through a lease from Vistra to the state, has been open to the public for about 50 years.

As the land sale to Todd Interests has taken shape, Vistra has given the state a lease termination notice. While the state park is currently open for day visitors only, the lease will officially end in June.

The state Parks and Wildlife Department has attempted to negotiate a deal to purchase the park land or the full 5,000 acres. At this point, though, such a deal would require Todd Interests to step back from the purchasing, and the developer does not seem interested in doing so. (Some state lawmakers have said that the state should’ve acted on the property sooner, before the property was under contract.)

Residents and lawmakers have balked at the idea of losing publicly accessible land. But the Todd Interests brochure flaunts the privacy of the property.

“No public access is available to any portion of the lake or the land surrounding it,” the brochure says.

The brochure also points to the property’s history as a state park.

“Land maintained as a Texas state park for 50 years will now be preserved by 400 members laying roots together,” the brochure says.

Aplin, the state Parks and Wildlife Commission chair, said Wednesday that he hasn’t heard from Todd Interests recently, but still hopes to find a way to keep the park publicly accessible.

“The path to keeping it a state park is if these parties can sit down together and find a way to make that happen in a compromise,” Aplin said. “I don’t know what that path looks like, but I remain optimistic.”

Lawmakers are also still seeking a way to preserve the park land.

Rep. Angelia Orr, an Itasca Republican, initially filed a bill seeking eminent domain authority for the state to reclaim the park land. At a committee hearing, Orr substituted that bill with different text, dropping the eminent domain portion and instead seeking to give the state Parks and Wildlife Commission a say in whether Fairfield Lake’s water rights are modified.

This would give the state more input in the event that the developers tries to sell water from the lake, as Aplin, the Parks and Wildlife Commission chair, believes they will.

On Monday, the House Culture, Recreation and Tourism Committee voted to recommend Orr’s bill be passed by the House at large. In order to take effect, that bill would need to be passed by both the House and Senate chambers and signed by the governor.