Saturday, April 5, 2008

Duncanville City Council approves new condos

By Brian Allen of Best Southwest Citizen

Johnette Jameson

While the date may have been April 1, the Duncanville City Council’s unanimous agreement on a potentially thorny economic development project was no joke.

It did surprise its fair share of observers, though. The plan in action is the development of 31 condominium units through an agreement between the City of Duncanville and Signate Custom Group. City officials have been working toward this project on a 1.8 acre tract of land bounded by E. Center Street, E. Cherry Street and N. Merrill Avenue for several years.

District 5 Councilwoman Johnette Jameson said the council had gone over just about every detail of the development before coming to this united stance.

“I just wanted to say that I also had some questions and some reservations and I’ve had all my questions answered,” she said. “And I’ve received all the material that I asked for on this.”

In Dec. 2005 the council changed the zoning on the land from “Local Retail-2″ to “Planned Development (townhouse/mixed-use). In April 2006 the council got a sustainable development grant through the North Central Texas Council of Governments to assist with infrastructure improvements.

“The call for sustainable projects is an effort on the part of the North Central Texas Council of Governments to encourage development along the rail lines,” City Manager Kent Cagle said. “You can have more sustainable development, work or live near the rail station where you can walk or ride a bicycle or drive a short distance to a rail station. That will take you to another employment center somewhere else.”

Cagle went on to say that mass transit would need to enter the equation as the region keeps growing. He noted that Duncanville was the only city that received 100 percent of the grant it applied for. The city manager said that spoke to the quality of the grant and the quality of the project at hand.

The next move toward the development came in June 2006, when the council approved the purchase of the property for $350,000.

Before the council at Tuesday’s meeting was an agreement selling the land to the city’s 4B Economic Development Corporation, so that entity could transfer it to the developer. The development agreement provides for Duncanville to receive 7.54 percent of the sales price of each unit until the $350,000 incentive is repaid.

Basing the agreement on an average sale price of $150,000, the city would receive $11,310 from the sale of each unit. City staff also estimates $32,000 per year in property tax will come to Duncanville from the development.

Councilmembers Paul Ford and Deborah Hodge, who are often critical of 4B expenditures, raised some questions but ultimately threw their support behind the condos.

Ford asked if the contract provided any deadlines as to when the development must be finished.

“It has to be open-ended to a certain degree because we want them to finish,” Cagle said. “We don’t want to kick them off before it’s done.”

Hodge expressed some concerns, including using the city’s general fund for economic development.

“My preference would be for the contract to be with the 4B Board, I think that’s where it belongs,” she said. “No one has supported me in that decision. However, the city has already committed themselves to go down this path. They’ve already put out money for the property. They’ve put out money already for the NCTCOG grant.”

She said she would vote for it, though she wasn’t the sure the current state of the economy makes it the best time to do the project.

Pegasus News content partner - Best Southwest Citizen

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• Real Estate > Residential
• Politics and Government > City Government > Duncanville

Comments

TexasPatriot Anonymous

Kudo's to Councilmember's Hodge, Jameson and Ford for their efforts to ensure that the taxpayers of Duncanville did not get taken to the cleaners again. Ms. Hodge pointed out many weak areas of the contract in such a reasoned way that Mr. Cagel had no choice but to incorporate her recommended changes.

Thank God for streaming video,

Tony Smith, Duncanville

4 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

TexasPatriot Anonymous

Correct Bluebonnet,

The Constitution of the United States begins with “We the People of the United States” and this applies equally to all smaller governments in the nation.

Mr. Cagle seem to believe that Duncanville is an autarchy. He forgets that he is an employee of the people and that his primary function is to serve our needs, not the mayor, council or his own.

It is obvious that there are those who would prefer an autarchy in Duncanville which would give the city council absolute control and the people would have no voice whatsoever. This often seems to be the case as it is now. At this time, three fifth's of the city really does not have a voice in the system and this is socialism, pure and simple.

Your right, we do need to return to a free and open government and return the power to the people of the city.

Respectfully, Tony

4 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )