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Market Street project
By Chris Taylor, Staff Writer
A group of boy scouts attended the Thursday Flower Mound Town Council meeting. The scouts attended the meeting for a merit badge, but what they got was an education in politics.
During the heated meeting, Mayor Jody Smith cautioned the audience to maintain decorum. Much of the audience in attendance was there to protest the Shops at Market Street Project.
The Council voted 4-1 to deny an amendment to the Master Plan redefining the Master Plan.
“The Master Plan is intended to be a guide for development, not the letter of the law,” Bill Dahlstrom, a spokesman for Market Street, said.
The urban forest zone designation is something that was created in the 2001 Master Plan, but the intent behind the forest is what is being debated. The area is not just about trees, but an ecosystem including the trees.
“We acknowledge there are many trees, but there is no distinction on how you define the urban forest zone,” Dahlstrom said.
Robert Dozier another spokesperson for Market Street was under a barrage of intense questioning from citizens and Council Members during the question session of the agenda item.
“We believe the urban forest will be an asset to us, as well. It is important to us to save as much as possible,” Dozier said.
Citizens who spoke out did not agree. Many asked why it was necessary to destroy so many trees. Dozier said that the developers were actually saving and preserving many of the trees.
“We have addressed many of the issues with trees. We feel we have satisfied the intent of the Master Plan,” he said.
Dozier then referred to an e-mail that has been sent to Council Members as having erroneous information concerning ancient forest trees. Dozier said that none of the tress in the proposed area, near 2499 and 1171, had any trees that qualified as ancient forest trees.
Council Member Tim Trotter said that some of the trees were around 100 years old, then asked, “What is an ancient forest in your estimation?”
The question drew cheers and applause from members in the audience.
“Could we please have decorum in the hall?” Mayor Jody Smith asked.
Dozier said that ancient forest is defined term, but did not offer the criteria for what constitutes an ancient forest.
“To say that this is not an ancient forest, per se, is not a fair estimate,” Trotter said.
Dozier faced more questions as citizens were allowed to speak.
“Why is it necessary to come in and tear down a beautiful area to build a building that we have thousands of in Flower Mound?” Laurie Price, a resident, asked.
Donald Bar asked the representatives of the project what the largest diameter of tree that would be destroyed during the construction would be. Dozier said that it would be a 31-32 inch tree.
Another resident asked why Flower Mound needs another grocery store when there are 7 in a three-mile radius.
Dozier was asked if the store could be moved to save more of the trees.
“We have turned this site plan upside down and inside out. The way it is located is the only way it works. There is not another way to design the site and save more trees,” Dozier said.
Dozier said that by eliminating the other buildings on the site, Market Street would no longer want to build on that site.
The other agenda items for Market Street were tabled until a later date.
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
Charles Barrett wrote on Jan 21, 2007 2:07 PM:
" The Market Street permit denial has taught me that the prize goes to the people who complain and moan the loudest, without regard to morals, ethics, or the merits of their case.
The Town should do the ETHICAL and MORAL thing if we, the voters, really do want to preserve the Urban Forest: The council needs to float a bond issue (voted on by the residents), and we should use Eminent Domain if necessary to BUY the Urban Forest land at a fair market price, and declare it to be a Town Park.
The Environmental Commission seems to think it’s ok for government to come in like a thief in the night and take away my constitutional property rights, if I have trees on my property – yet, by their own admission, very few trees in Flower Mound would even be considered protected by Texas State standards, so now they are pushing for even more restrictions on economic development.
The Master Plan, if used in this manor, should be dead – Drive a stake in its heart. I expected common sense to prevail, but obviously I was wrong.
"
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