Texas drops eminent domain effort to seize Fairfield Lake property from developer
The state of Texas will no longer pursue eminent domain on the former Fairfield Lake State Park property, leaving the thousands of acres to be developed by Dallas-based Todd Interests.
Todd Interests on Tuesday morning released an announcement that had been drafted by the state Parks and Wildlife Department. The statement, which comes shortly after the land was valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, outlines that Texas will drop its eminent domain proceedings for the former park land and stop its efforts to reestablish the property as a public park.
Cory Chandler, spokesperson for the department, said Tuesday that the state received a signed copy of the agreement back from Todd Interests, after the firm had released the press statement.
The former park property has been the center of a contentious public saga for most of this year, with the state trying and failing to purchase the property before it was sold to the private developer. The park had been part of the property for about five decades through a lease agreement with the former landowner, energy company Vistra Corp.
After Todd Interests closed on the land for more than $100 million in early June, the state’s Parks and Wildlife Commission, an appointed body, gave unanimous permission for the Parks and Wildlife Department to pursue eminent domain. The state then went through the process of making an offer to Todd Interests for the property — which firm founder Shawn Todd refused — and then filing in court to condemn the property.
Legal experts have told the Star-Telegram that there was nothing Todd Interests could do to stop the state from using eminent domain on the property, and that the state was well within its legal rights to use eminent domain to reestablish a park. But, still, the state would be required to pay fair market value for the land.
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At that valuation hearing in November, a panel of local property owners ruled on how much the land was worth, and therefore how much the state would have to pay to take the land. The state argued that the property was worth about $85 million. After a several-day hearing, though, the panel ruled closer to Todd Interests’ argument, establishing a property value of $418 million, more than four times the amount that Todd Interests paid for the land this summer.
State Sen. Charles Perry — a Lubbock Republican and the chair of the Senate Committee on Water, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs — told the Star-Telegram after the valuation that the state doesn’t have the funding to pay the $418 million price tag.
An eminent domain professor told the Star-Telegram at the time that the valuation was “staggering,” and that he expected the state would file an appeal and try to lower that number through the court system.
With Tuesday’s announcement, though, the state has dropped that effort.
In the press release, the state Parks and Wildlife Department’s executive director, David Yoskowitz, nodded to the financial implications of the Fairfield fight.
“TPWD recognizes the importance of conserving our state’s natural resources and providing recreational opportunities for Texans,” Yoskowitz said in the release. “However, TPWD must also responsibly manage the state’s fiscal resources in order to maximize the benefit of our parks for all Texans.”
Todd did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday morning. His firm plans to transform the former park property into a high-end, gated community, complete with a golf course and a clubhouse.
