"........Rather, the open space would go to the future homeowner's association for a private park.
"I made it a point from the very beginning that ... it would remain as a private park for the residents," Chandler said.
(emphasis added)
NOTE FROM BOD: - "private park for residents", Villas had not even had final plat approval at this point, therefore Board of Directors of Caldwell's Creek HOA maintains the "residents" had to be our residents, not any others that may come along later and develop adjacent to our homes, otherwise, if the Villas to the East, what about Shalimar to the West?
Raman Chandler quoted in Ft. Worth Star-Telegram Feb. 11, 1998
Entire article is found as the last news article on this page.
Background: The
following information was taken from the Star-Telegram
pertaining to the Developer Raman
Chandler and issues about Caldwell's Creek.
During Chandler's unsuccessful run for city council he disclosed that Donna Arp
(now mayor)
had disclosed, (after a closed Executive Session of the Colleyville City
Council) to him the city was going to file a lawsuit to force Chandler to
hand over the promise open space at Caldwell's Creek.
A lawsuit
against Chandler Properties had already been contemplated by certain
residents of Caldwell's Creek. Many thought, even then, the park land was
for the exclusive use of Caldwell's Creek residents.
The proceedings of
city councils to conduct private a Executive Session is provided for in
the Texas Open Meetings Act. However, Chandler immediately filed a lawsuit against the
City of Colleyville, after being informed by Arp of the potential action
of the city.
The lawsuit primarily concerned the open space in Caldwell's Creek that Chandler had previously
contracted to
deed to the city. He protested the park land dedication fees and the
dedication of the property. Meanwhile, the residents along Caldwell's Creek were very upset at the
concept of
having a public open space within 20 ft of their backyard fence.
The City Council was
concerned about then Councilman Arp (whom had been
elected that year unopposed as mayor)
revealing to Chandler information from an
Executive Session of City Council meeting and passed a Resolution
requesting no council member reveal such information to "selected
parties" versus the public at large.
Colleyville City ordinances REQUIRE a minimum of 20% PRIVATE OPEN SPACE when getting a Plan Unit Develop Zoning, as is the majority of Caldwell's Creek..
COLLEYVILLE MAYOR BACKS CITIZENS PANEL
GROUP WOULD WRITE ETHICS CODE FOR COUNCIL COLLEYVILLE - Mayor Donna Arp said she wants to set up a citizens panel to write a code of ethics for city leaders after City Council members criticized her relationship with a developer. The panel, which would require approval by the council, would develop guidelines for dealing with nepotism, conflicts of interest, the state Open Meetings and Open Records acts, and other issues, Arp said. She sent letters to council members outlining her plan, but no date has been set for a vote. "I can tell you when I was new on the council, and I think all the council members would probably agree with this, there are so many things thrown at you" that it is hard to know what the rules are, she said. Some members said they have had enough of the issue. Councilman Nelson Thibodeaux said he would not support a debate if it reopens discussion about a conversation Arp had with developer Raman Chandler concerning city business. "She had plenty of opportunities to explain that," Thibodeaux said. "As far as I'm concerned, ... we need to get on with business." Arp was criticized during her campaign for mayor because, when she was a councilwoman last year, she told Chandler that the city was considering suing him. Chandler sued the city a day before the city sued him. The lawsuits were settled in October. Tuesday, the council approved a nonbinding policy barring members from talking about confidential city business if it would give someone a competitive advantage or would hurt the city. Thibodeaux said that policy goes far enough. Councilman Jody Short agreed. "I'd certainly like to get this behind us and get on with the business of the city," said Short, whose supporters made an issue of Arp's discussion with Chandler during the campaign. Councilman Frank Carroll said he does not oppose an ethics policy. "I think I might be more inclined to have a code of ethics drafted by our city staff and then take citizens' comments on it," he said. Chandler said the council's criticism of Arp was "all politics." He said he met with three other council members to discuss his differences with the city before Arp told him that a lawsuit was possible. He said he still believes the city's lawsuit against him was unfair. "I
can't imagine why they wouldn't want a rigid code of ethics to make sure
that citizens get fair and equal treatment," he said. Mike Lee, (817)
685-3858 mikelee@star-telegram.com
The
following Editorial appeared in the Star-Telegram
We don't agree with the step that newly elected Colleyville Mayor Donna Arp took last year, but we must stand in defense of her right to take it. The Colleyville City Council adopted a policy this week aimed at discouraging council members from disclosing information about discussions held in closed-door meetings. Arp, while a member of the council last year, had told developer Raman Chandler that a lawsuit could grow out of a dispute between Chandler and the city. The new policy says that council members "shall not make selective disclosure of confidential matters discussed in executive session, where the disclosure of the information has not been made to the general public, and/or where such disclosure provides an unfair advantage to the recipient." The council can talk all day about what it wants, but it must remember this: Everything it does is public business. There are some topics, including lawsuits, on which the council is allowed in the public interest to hold private discussions. Every council member, including Arp, has the right to free speech and can disagree with her fellow council members about whether information should be kept secret. In making these decisions, she is answerable to no one but the voters who elected her. That freedom of each member to speak out is the most important safeguard against abuse of the privilege that public bodies have been granted to hold limited closed-door meetings. In Arp's case, she should not have tipped the city's legal hand in its disagreement with Chandler. But we cannot abide the council's intended limits on her ability to speak.
Colleyville developer Raman Chandler last year sued Colleyville over a
development issue. Now Chandler is running for a seat on the City Council.
With development the hot issue in many greater Northeast Tarrant County
communities, voters and the candidates who work in development-related
businesses should keep in mind the potential for conflicts of interest.
"It gets to be comical sometimes," Phifer said. "There
have been days I've had to abstain on as many as two or three items. If I
have any interest, real or perceived, I will not vote. Nor will I
participate in discussion, and you can ask any council member that."
Other potential conflicts arise, he said.
"When I call Public Works about issues such as where a waterline
is - specific issues dealing with a tract for development - I always
state, `This is Don calling. I'm calling for my business, not as an
elected official.' "
Once during his first term, a landowner and developer whom Phifer
worked with on a business project walked into Public Works and mentioned
his relationship with Phifer.
"They were throwing my name around," he said. "That's a
real danger."
Chandler is a longtime Colleyville civic leader whose residential
subdivisions display a skillful use of trails, parks and waterways to
create wonderful outdoor settings for homeowners. Still, his candidacy
surprised many in the city because, until now, he preferred to work behind
the political scenes.
Chandler did not answer my request for an interview last week. His
assistant said, "His schedule is so tight right now."
Chandler's next big development, The Villas at Caldwell Creek, is smack
in the middle of Colleyville's most volatile issue: high-density housing.
But Chandler's candidacy is also controversial because of his
involvement in what Councilman Donna Arp calls "one of the hottest
issues in Colleyville forever."
Chandler sued the city last year because he objected to the requirement
that he pay parkland fees and also donate land he promised to hand over
for a nature trail.
The city countersued Chandler. The lawsuit was settled last year by
council members whom Chandler said he helped to elect specifically for
that purpose. He told me in an interview last year that he supported those
candidates and urged others to do the same because they favored ending the
city's legal battle with him.
As part of the settlement, Chandler promised in September to donate to
the city another strip of land behind a commercial property he owns for
the proposed nature trail. Despite the city's repeated requests, Chandler
has yet to donate the land, according to letters between Chandler and the
city.
Chandler's opponent is Colleyville Planning and Zoning Commission
Chairman Jody Short, who works for a traffic engineering company that does
work for cities, but Colleyville is not one of them.
Even if Chandler, Hutto, Phifer and others who work in the
land-development business abstain from voting on issues that affect their
businesses, they can still vote on matters relating to their competitors.
The same applies to votes on roads, sewers and other land-use issues that
can't help but indirectly affect their personal livelihood one way or
another.
It's difficult enough to be an elected official in a fast-growth city
without having the charge of potential conflicts of interest hanging over
your every move. Dave Lieber's column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and
Fridays. (817) 685-3830 www.star-telegram.com/dave
DEVELOPER, COLLEYVILLE END LAWSUITS COLLEYVILLE
- The City Council has settled its lawsuits with developer Raman
Chandler, but only after Chandler added
a provision reserving his right to sue city officials if they make
disparaging remarks about his company.
The
council was scheduled to finalize the settlement and re-plat Chandler's
Caldwell Creek subdivision at its Oct. 20 meeting, but it waited until
Wednesday because Chandler had not signed the agreement.
Chandler
signed after inserting a paragraph saying that he does not "release
any future tortious acts and/or statements by the City of Colleyville,
its elected officials, agents, attorney or employees."
Chandler
declined to comment, but council members interpreted that as a caution
to candidates in coming elections. They approved the re-plat, 5-0,
saying that Chandler could sue for libel or slander
anyway.
"He
was concerned that someone might attempt to use that as a weapon, is my
understanding," Councilman Frank Carroll said. "If you decide
to kick this dog in the future, the dog might decide to bite your leg
off."
Mayor
Richard Newton said he opposes the clause but signed it Wednesday
because the council overrode his previous veto.
"It
implies that something was said inappropriately at the last election,
which it was not," he said.
Chandler
sued in February, objecting to ordinances that required him to donate
money for city parks along with a strip of land for a hiking trail.
According
to the settlement, Chandler will donate land along the
Caldwell Creek subdivision for a trail. The city waived $7,132 and
returned $4,651 in fees for the subdivision. The settlement also gives Chandler
approval for the Villas at Caldwell Creek Addition, a proposed
subdivision along John McCain Road.
COLLEYVILLE - The City Council has overridden
Mayor Richard Newton's veto of a lawsuit settlement between the city
and Raman Chandler, developer of the Caldwell Creek Addition.
As part of the settlement, unanimously approved by
the council last night, the city will get an approximately 24-foot
swathe of land along the length of the subdivision for part of a
regional trail system. In return, the city will waive $7,132 and
return $4,651 in development fees for the Caldwell Creek Addition.
The settlement also gives Chandler approval for the Villas at
Caldwell Creek Addition, a proposed subdivision off John McCain
Road.
"This was a unique situation that has been
going on since 1991 that was resolved so we can complete the
trail," said Councilman Nelson Thibodeaux, a resident of
Caldwell Creek Addition who abstained from voting.
At the council meeting, Chandler also promised to
give the city a strip of land behind a commercial property near
Caldwell Creek Addition for part of the trail.
Newton vetoed the council's unanimous approval of
the settlement last week because he said it provided too many
concessions to the developer and circumvented the city's zoning
processes and ordinances
COLLEYVILLE - The City Council last
night approved a settlement for dueling lawsuits between the city
and longtime community developer Raman Chandler that may secure a
swath of land slated to become part of a regional trail system.
The City Council voted unanimously
last night to approve an agreement that gives the city a strip of
land that varies from 30 feet to 12 feet behind the Caldwell Creek
Addition and the yet-to-be built Villas at Caldwell Creek Addition.
Both subdivisions are along John McCain Road.
The land is earmarked to become part
of a trail system that could someday link Northeast Tarrant County
to Fort Worth, Dallas and Lewisville.
"It's the best thing for all the
citizens," Councilman Frank Carroll said. "We have
resolved an ongoing legal dispute."
But Mayor Richard Newton said last
night that he plans to veto the decision, because it provides too
many concessions to the developer.
"I don't think of this as a
settlement but as a capitulation to the developer's wishes,"
Newton said.
If he vetoes the settlement, it will
go back to the council for a vote at the next meeting. To override
the veto, four of the five council members must concur. Council
members have called the settlement fair and said that it avoids a
costly legal battle.
"It's a compromise and a
settlement," Councilwoman Ginny Tigue said. "We're not
just giving everything away to Mr. Chandler. ... He is dedicating
parkland to the city and he has paid a certain amount of fees for
parkland."
Raman Chandler, who is a Colleyville
resident, declined to comment on the settlement.
In a lawsuit filed in Tarrant County
district court in February, Chandler objected to the city's
requirement that he pay both fees to be used for parks and provide
land for the trail. Requiring both, he contended, amounted to double
dipping and was unconstitutional.
The city, in its counter lawsuit also
filed in February, claimed that the parkland fees and the land
donation were required under separate ordinances. According to the
city, Chandler reneged on an agreement that allowed him to build
more houses on the property than normally permitted.
As part of the agreement approved by
the City Council last night, the city will waive $7,132 in parkland
dedication fees for the Caldwell Creek Addition and will return
$4,651 of the roughly $23,000 Chandler has already paid.
Initially, city officials claimed
about $30,080 in parkland dedication fees. But when the settlement
is complete, Chandler will have paid the city almost $19,000 in fees
for the Caldwell Creek Addition.
The settlement also grants Chandler
city approval for his Villas at Caldwell Creek Addition and waives
any claim to parkland dedication fees - a sum that would have
totaled about $13,335, according to the settlement.
In return, Chandler will give up part
of a private park behind the Caldwell Creek Addition for the trail.
He will move back a fence that separates the subdivision from the
public park.
Newton said he objected to the
settlement because it included the Villas at Caldwell Creek
Addition, a project rejected by the council in the past. He said
council members could vote to approve the subdivision if they
wished, but should do so as part of a prescribed policy that
includes public hearings.
Two residents spoke against the
settlement. But Greg Schultz, a homeowner in the Caldwell Creek
Addition, said he was pleased with how the settlement handled the
land for the trail system.
"I think it's a definite win for
the city and the homeowners," he said.
Colleyville power broker Raman Chandler
appears to be pulling the strings of Colleyville's City Council.
The council is poised for a 5-0 vote Aug. 18 to
approve a settlement of two lawsuits involving Chandler.
Chandler had sued Colleyville to keep the city from
taking a portion of a private park in one of his subdivisions,
Caldwell's Creek, and turning it into a public hiking and biking
trail. The city countersued Chandler to force him to
give up part of the parkland, which he had promised to donate when
Caldwell's Creek was approved in 1993.
After that, Chandler supported
three new council candidates - all of whom won - in the May
election.
The new council immediately set out to settle the
parkland issue, and the proposed settlement is way too favorable for
Chandler, long a major player behind the scenes in
Colleyville.
Thankfully, Mayor Richard Newton is waving a red
flag about the sweetheart deal. He threatens to veto the proposed
settlement.
He would be wise to do so.
The Colleyville council members will plead their
case to the public, saying that it is foolish to waste precious
taxpayers dollars on costly litigation.
Usually they would be right. But sometimes
principle is greater than price.
In this case, the sweetheart settlement would
appear to make it difficult for Colleyville to ask developers to
donate parkland or to pay fees so the city can preserve precious
open space.
What's more important for a rapidly developing
city than to ensure that future generations may enjoy open space?
With a veto, Newton would isolate himself
politically from the five council members. But this is a heroic
position worth taking.
The feud between Chandler and
Newton is ironic because Chandler originally
encouraged Newton to run for City Council in 1989, both said.
Chandler invited Newton to attend
a political committee meeting, both said. Chandler
then encouraged other members of the committee to support the
newcomer, Chandler said.
Chandler, the former owner of the
Colleyville newspaper, has built about 500 houses in Colleyville
during his career as a developer. He helped lead the city's fight
for a half-cent sales tax in 1996 and was a member of a
now-disbanded group that called itself the Colleyville Country Club.
The group of business leaders had informal monthly meetings to
discuss city matters.
"If you notice how Raman
works, he's always in there working hard, but he never emerges as a
public leader. He hasn't chosen to do that," Newton said.
Chandler's quiet role can no
longer be ignored.
In an interview this week, Chandler
described how he met with Caldwell's Creek homeowners this year and
told them that they had the power to change the city's position
about the parkland behind their subdivision.
His comment to the homeowners, he recalled, was,
"In cities, it's a lot easier to get things changed with votes
than with lawyers and judges."
"If that's power brokering," he said in
the interview, "then I guess I'm guilty."
The mayor said, "Are we going to let a
developer who has problems with Colleyville swing the weight to get
a new council and then swing the vote and do what he wants? That's
pork-barrel politics, and it doesn't do any good for the average
Joe."
If the settlement is approved, Chandler
would not have to pay $7,133 in parkland dedication fees for
Caldwell's Creek, and he would be reimbursed $4,652 in fees already
paid.
"I can't come up with a rationale for
that," Newton said.
The settlement also waives $13,335 in parkland
fees that apply to an adjacent Chandler development
called the Villas at Caldwell's Creek. But the Villas at Caldwell's
Creek is not part of the lawsuits. An added sweet in this sweetheart
deal.
Chandler said he believed that the
city unfairly wanted to charge him parkland dedication fees and also
force him to donate land. He said he wanted to prove in court that
this was unconstitutional, but his legal fees would cost $100,000.
It's apparent that this council is taking care of
a power broker and friend under the guise of saving legal fees. But
what price can be placed on the council's reputation for integrity
and independence? Would another developer get the same kind of
preferential treatment?
Council members must reconsider their thinking on
the proposed settlement. Failing that, Richard Newton must use his
veto power. He is correct in his goals to do the most that can be
done to build up Colleyville's parks system.
The council might override his veto, but the
public would get to determine whether the council bases its
decisions on personal relationships or on what is best for the city.
Dave Lieber's column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and
Fridays. (817) 685-3830 dlieber@star-telegram.com
COLLEYVILLE -- Plans for a new residential
development have been halted after city officials and developer Raman
Chandler were unable to agree on legal stipulations.
A motion to approve a final plat for The Villas at
Caldwell's Creek, a 11.6-acre development on the south side of John
McCain Road, was defeated by the Planning and Zoning Commission
Monday in a 4-2 vote.
The decision comes months after Chandler
debated with city staff members as to whether he was required to
donate a portion of the property as public park land, which would
eventually become part of a hiking/biking trail system along the
Cottonbelt Trail.
The plat was originally approved by the commission
last fall; however, it was subsequently denied by the City Council.
The proposal was then brought back before the commission, where it
was tabled twice before Monday's vote.
The point of contention is the interpretation of
two ordinances stating how open space should be used. While the
city's planned-unit development ordinance requires at least 20
percent of a residential plat be deemed as "private open
space," the zoning ordinance and exhibit that were approved by
the City Council last year requires that "open space" in
such developments be deeded to the city as public park land.
"The staff's contention has been that the
public open space is what is called for," said Tom Niederauer,
senior planner for the city, prior to the vote.
However, Chandler has maintained
that he never agreed to donate the open space for public use.
"I made it a point from the very beginning
that ... it would remain as a private park for the residents," Chandler
said. Chandler said he has a legal right
to develop the property without having to give up the open space to
the city. "The city can't require me to give them land without
just compensation."
Following the vote, Chandler said
although commissioners favored his plans to develop the land, they
did not want to approve the plat without the public open space
donation.
"Their duty is to make a determination based
on the land use, and I think that they clearly expressed that this
was the best use of the land," he said.
However, the commission was not charged with
requiring the plat to include public open space, Chandler
added. "I think that's a determination that the City Council
would deal with but not necessarily the (commission)."
Commissioners said they were put in a awkward
position and that without the open space donation, it would be
difficult for the city to acquire the land for the trail system
several years down the road.
"It's difficult not to get it now and having
to go through these processes," said commissioner Chairman
Steve Lebo, who along with Frank Carroll were the only commissioners
who voted in favor of approving the plat.
Commissioner Jody Short said the real issue is
that the ordinance is poorly worded.
"We kinda have a vague zoning ordinance on
our hands," he said. "We should have tied that down
better."
Chandler said he plans to go
before the City Council with the final plat. Since the commission
turned it down, however, approval of the final plat would require a
4-1 vote in favor of it.
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