‘We’re conservationists’: Fairfield Lake developer testifies at Texas Senate hearing
The Dallas-based private developer of Fairfield Lake State Park appeared before a state Senate committee Monday and urged legislators to drop a bill that could limit the firm’s ability to use the park land and lake water.
Shawn Todd, of Todd Interests, had largely kept a low public profile as debate raged about his firm’s purchase of a 5,000-acre tract of land that includes the current Fairfield Lake State Park. The state has leased the park land from energy company Vistra Corp. for about 50 years.
But on Monday morning, Todd appeared at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs. That included hearing testimony and questions on a bill that would give the the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department more input when an entity requests changes to its water rights.
In his testimony, Todd emphasized that his firm is a “small family business” and said that the bill would impede on private property rights.
The state Parks and Wildlife Department “covets something that’s not theirs,” Todd said.
The legislation originated as a House bill, filed by Itasca Republican Rep. Angelia Orr, which originally sought to use eminent domain to preserve the state park land. Orr modified the House bill to instead give the Parks and Wildlife Department the ability to weigh in on water rights changes at Fairfeld Lake State Park, after Parks and Wildlife Commissioner Arch “Beaver” Aplin III said at a hearing that he believes Todd Interests plans to sell lake water to the Metroplex.
Orr’s bill was approved by the entire House last week and sent to a Senate committee. However, the Senate version of the bill has been modified yet again. The modified version had not been posted by early Monday morning, but Sen. Charles Perry, a Lubbock Republican and the sponsor of the Senate bill, said that his version would apply the process changes to all parks, instead of just to Fairfield Lake State Park.
“If it’s good for one, it’s good for all,” Perry said at the hearing. “If it’s not good for all, it’s not good for one.”
The public debate over Fairfield Lake State Park has stretched on for months. Longtime property owner Vistra Corp. listed the 1,800-acre park land and the surrounding acreage for $110 million, after shuttering the former power plant on the property. Both Vistra and state officials say that the power company was not interested in selling just the park portion of the land, and that the Parks and Wildlife Department did not make a formal offer on the whole property.
Vistra instead entered into a contract with Todd Interests, which plans to develop the property into a private community of high-end homes, complete with a golf course. In marketing materials previously obtained by the Star-Telegram, the development firm specifically touts the planned privacy of the community, emphasizing that the lake would not be accessible to the public.
The state has since attempted to purchase the entire tract of land, armed with dollars from the state sporting goods tax, although it has not offered as much money as Todd Interests is willing to pay.
The situation has sparked fierce debate, with outdoors enthusiasts and Fairfield locals arguing that the private development would cost the community greatly, both because of the loss of a public asset and because of the economic impact on the town and county. Todd Interests and some legislators have pushed back, saying that the sale of the land is a private matter and that government shouldn’t interfere in matters of private property rights.
Todd, at Monday’s legislative hearing, also responded to concerns about the destruction of natural habitats and said that his firm could put thousands of homes on the property and is instead opting for a few hundred, which would maintain the existing habitats in the area.
Todd described his firm as the “largest preservation firm in the state of Texas” and said the planned development is “low-density.”
“We’re conservationists and we’re preservationists,” he told the committee.
Todd Interests and its representatives have also raised the possibility of a lawsuit if the state were to interfere with the transaction or the development. A lawyer for the firm, Ed McCarthy, said at Monday’s hearing that he believes passing the bill would open the state up to litigation.
The Senate bill is currently still within the Senate Committee on Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs. It would need to be passed by that committee before being heard by the entire Senate chamber.
