It appears the past keeps coming back. "Gungate" is about to come to an end. A few years back I ran across this information. In my opinion it seems timely so I would like to post it again. The following is a description of a billing taken from a slip listing from our city attorney at the time.
“ Gun Range Nuisance – Call from the mayor regarding gun range. Advice as to how to characterize a gun range as a nuisance and ultimately have it removed. Discussed same with Chris Reed and Larry Herbert and put call in to Mary Chambers. Research regarding the relationship between nuisance eradication. “
According to the slip listing this took place on 5/15/2007.
There are many more entries regarding the Gun Range. Tonight our council has an opportunity to correct, what is in my opinion, an injustice. Tonight the council has the ability to shut this “gate” from the past. Tonight I believe that the council should grant the zoning request.
25 comments:
Chris,
Thanks for the reminder.
The following is from
www.leaguecityxfiles.com/gunrangegate.htm
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"Gun Range NO Deal - just Big Attorney Fees
Developer Sam Boyd, Mayor Shults, Chris Reed, Mary Chambers, and City Attorney Gregg lay plans to have gun range labeled as nuisance and closed.
City Attorney Gregg bills city over $5,900 including time for discussions with developer Sam Boyd (campaign contributor for Shults and Tommy Cones) and processing of public information request (PIR).
Gregg fights disclosure and then bills about $700 to comply with PIR.
Dam those pesky public information requests. "
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Follow the link and you will see the details of the planned closure as revealed by Attorney Gregg’s Billing to the City.
Do I smell another lawsuit??
Chris:
Thanks for taking the time to keep us informed. I read the 22 entries from the former City Attorney's detailed legal fees document.
Listed:
Developer Sam Boyd, Mayor Jerry Shults, Mary Chambers, and Dale Hardy (land surveyor for Sam Boyd and other developers).
Open and good government prevails.
Elaine Kosty
Thank goodness for the Freedom of Information Act.
I have no problem with the gun range being where it is. I have a big problem with the gun range property being rezoned from residential to general commercial. Spot zoning is bad policy. General commercial zone has no business being next to single family residential. The gun range property should remain residential with whatever grandfathering or special use formalities to keep the gun range operating. The problem with the proposed rezoning is not with the gun range that's been there forever. The problem is that if the gun range closes, what will the future landowner put there next to homeowners under general commercial? Of all the four commercial zones, GC allows the most harmful businesses next to single family homes.
I've been fighting against this kind of zoning changes for the past 10 years. I'll be fighting against spot zoning for another 10 years.
I think Chuck is honestly concerned about the slippery slope. I doubt the other commenters from the left side of the tracks had the same intention when they unleashed their spew.
Chuck & BHL, I don't understand your comments.
We've all followed this story for some time now. It's pretty simple. The gun range was historically a commercial business with nothing located nearby. It was rezoned underneath the existing owner to residential in an underhanded deal blatantly aimed at running him off his land. (See the sordid trail of Dick Gregg's billing records as city attorney in regard to the gun range.) The owner of the property did not want his zoning changed to residential and it got done without his input thanks entirely to the under-the-table way the old city hall did business.
The simple and correct fix is to allow the property owner to change his property back to what it always was and the way he wanted it.
Plain and simple, this was a rotten deal and it needs to be undone. Time to return to status quo ante.
Jeff
Jeff,
That is a nice story. You should check to see who were the members on the citizens committee that recomended the zoning overlay for the city. You might want to do that before you continue writing on this matter.
Marc
Jeff,
You are oversimplifying and personalizing the issue. Forget about the names of all the people involved for a minute.
Zoning involves buffering land uses from each other. For example, in my case 1 mile west of I-45, there should be general commercial on the already ugly and stinky feeder road, mixed use commercial zone a quarter mile west, office commercial another quarter of a mile west, then neighborhood commercial or other homeowner friendly use, and then the houses.
Maybe another example would illustrate my point better. Where my in-laws live in east Texas, the norm is 50-5000 acre tracts, virtually all of which simultaneously are gun ranges, farms, and small businesses. Oil wells aside, whatever one person does has little affect on neighbors since houses are so far apart.
Let's go the opposite direction. Picture a square mile of city land developed in the 1950's divided into little squares. They all contain single family homes except for Joe's auto body shop in the middle. Zoning comes along decades later. The proper zoning for ALL parcels in that square mile is single family residential, INCLUDING JOE'S GARAGE. The vehicle for grandfathering his business is an automatically granted special use permit with his name on it. Otherwise, if you zone Joe's Garage as general commercial, you have just screwed all his neighbors. Eventually, Joe will go one way or another. Under general commercial zoning, the subsequent landowner can put any of many types of dirty, noisy, polluting, and otherwise nasty businesses there. All the surrounding neighbors will suffer reduced quality of life and lowered property values. One person's marginal gain leads to many people's substantial losses.
That is the literal definition of "beggar-thy-neighbor."
Nobody seems to be using the word "variance" anymore. Variances have historically let the city make exceptions for individual and extenuating circumstances without trashing an overall general long-range vision for a neighborhood.
Paul,
First the request would have to be rejected by the city council, then Mr. Randall could enter a request for a variance from the Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA). Hmmm.
Finally, the perpetrator of Garbage Gate incident has been held accountable for his actions. Many were blamed for bringing in the new contractor, but undoubtedly the firing of Travis Doughty holds accountable city staff to adhere to policy. He has been pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes long enough. nYou can stop blaming Jerry now.
So Ms Shults, if TD was really the mastermind then how come your hubby and CR let him get away with all the shenanigans?
Were they that asleep at the wheel?
You know BHL, People such as Tad Nelson, Jerry Shults, Mike Hembre the likes of which will never be seen running for office again. No quality people like these would even want to be involved. Why should they? Tad Nelson et al did so much for this community and the school district. The city and the school district should divide up the days that they send someone with a latte to his back door at 8:00 when he is on his way to the office.
Sour one,
That is too funny!!! Never answered BHL's question did ya? Yep the good old boys are gone (or soon to be)and the people started it off by getting rid of Jerry. Call it what you will but he was smashed by the voters at the polls and he is old news. (even though he is still the butt of many city jokes like what do you call League City between 2005 and 2008? Jerry rigged) You are correct Jerry and his boys know better than to attempt to run for office in League City. The voters are awake and they tossed out the nightmare.
Why not ask the former Mayor how Mr. Randall's land got rezoned? LOL
(
So I guess Jerry's unable to defend himself so he sends his wife out. Unfortunately Ms Shults displays a lack of class by saying folks like Keith Dill, Phyllis Sanborn, Mike Barber, et al aren't quality folks.
Yes we all know what a quality kind of guy Tad is. So do the folks who watch the security video at Kroger's.
Mr. Mallios, if you were as smart as you think you are, you would know that Mr. Randall himself was on the committee that recomended the zoning for his lot.
So to set the record straight you are saying that Mr. Randall selected his own zoning and he has been able to make jerry and all his boys the scapegoat. And in the mean time got Jerry defeated and Toni elected? LOL You are too funny. This would make a great book. So why not write one and call it “poor jerry so misunderstood. “
Three workers were injured in the Panhandle explosion. One was hospitalized in Oklahoma City in critical condition but was expected to survive. Two others escaped with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.
After investigators finish looking over the site, workers will repair the ruptured natural gasoline pipeline, which is expected to take several days, said Houston-based Enterprise Products Partners LP, which partially owns the 36-inch-diameter line. It is a 395-mile segment of a pipeline extending from western to eastern Texas, the company said.
Rhonda Cochran said she could see the flames as she was driving from Booker to her home in Darrouzett. "They were huge," she told the Amarillo Globe-News. "I was eight miles away from Darrouzett. You could see the flames."
Authorities identified the man killed in Monday's blast as James Robert Neese, 45, of Ramona, Okla. His body was found about 600 feet from the explosion site."James was a beloved, hardworking father who always put his family first," his wife, Lavonne Neese, said in a written statement. At least seven of the other 13 workers who had been close to the site were treated at hospitals, mostly for burns to their necks and arms as they ran away from the massive fireball, Haag said.
If this zoning is passed by city council, it undermines the city’s ability to require future applicants to adhere to the protocol of the past. In the past applicants who wish to rezone large tracts of land would have to submit a master plan or other documentation detailing usage and drainage. What Mr. Randall has asked for is a change of zoning of 81 acres based on no plan and no specific uses for the areas of land that the gun range does not operate on. His sole motivation is to “prevent anyone from jacking with him in the future” To allow him to change from Residential zoning, a fairly restrictive zoning class, to General Commercial, a fairly liberal zoning class, makes little sense when one considers the location of this plot of land. While no one wants to see his gun range business zoned out of business, certainly council can approach this issue in a more appropriate manner then to just grant a rezone of the entire 81 acres. If this request is passed on the next reading unchanged from its current form granting a blanket rezoning of the 81 acres, I believe a serious blow to the credibility of what zoning has worked hard to accomplish for the citizens of League City will occur. On top of that, this action reestablishes a new benchmark for what personal benefits can be obtained by politically connected people in League City. If council supports this rezone, it is my opionion that the next council meeting should have an agenda item to repeal zoning in League City as it will have become meaningless.
Marc Edelman
Former League City Planning and Zoning Commissioner
Wait a durn minute!!!
At first I thought marc had a well reasoned argument. But then, I read the GDN editorial and whoa...
What we have is Ernie's land sandwiched between Sam Boyd and property that is GC zoned.
Following to the logical conclusion of Marc's position, if Ernie's land were to remain residential, it would have to be developed as such with GC business right next door.
So how is this different than Sam's homes being right next door to GC? (I'll admit this is an overcharacterization, as specific details of any SPECIFIC development plan MUST be considered before approval.)
To me the issue, as Marc and others have properly stated, is WHAT type of business could be established in a GC zone and whether that business is a good fit all things considered.
Who has that crystal ball to forsee? Does that mean some GC businesses are ok next to residential but others aren't?
If that's the case then Mike Lee hit the nail on the head when he said that "we have a serious flaw in zoning". I think this is less about Ernie's property and more about pride.
A lot of best-intentioned folks over the years worked to create a comprehensive zoning plan to address what was seen as serious inadequacies. They did the best job they could, but as often the case, not every situation can be considered and there is no perfect solution.
Now that some flaws have been exposed, rather than acknowledge those flaws, they are simply advocating for maintaining the current system logic because that's the way it has to be.
We should be proud of our accomplishments. It's when we let that pride stand in the way of acknowledging that perhaps some adjustments should be made, or at least considered, is when it becomes sinful pride.
Chris,
One of the bigger issues revolving around the rezoning of the property surrounding the gun range is that the process should be applied equally to all applicants. While Ernie does have some GC surrounding it, I don't think characterizing it as sandwiched between GC is correct. It is bordered by some GC. The issue I am most concerned about is the contemplation of rezoning 81 acres without any consideration of the uses and the implications of what could go there under GC. A hydrology study that tells us what the impact on the existing lake and surrounding properties would be for development of the surrounding property in question is also missing. To contemplate these issues, we need some idea of the planned uses. If passed as requested, I believe irreparable harm will be done to zoning. This will establish that zoning decisions and changes in League City are arbitrary and capricious. Once this is established it is difficult to hold others to the standards that are needed for zoning to perform as intended. This is a can of worms we may regret soon if this rezone is granted as is.
without any consideration of the uses and the implications of what could go there under GC. A hydrology study that tells us what the impact on the existing lake and surrounding properties would be for development of the surrounding property in question is also missing.
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How does one perform such studies without an advanced knowledge of what the development plan would be? Does it have to be a "worst case" study?
What provisions exist in LC to prevent specific development plans from being implemented once a developer desires to move forward with a specific plan?
BHL
Exactly.
Marc
BHL: Sour Ex-Mayor has a perfectly good excuse for sending his tearful wife out to do his pleading now. When he is not muttering to himself and looking ready for pasture, he is busy writing his memoirs -- “Poor Soured Jerry, So Misunderstood,“ as Chris said. Sure to be a best seller.
Memo to Arnold: "How can we characterize Sour One's wife as a public nuisance and have her removed?"
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