Developer complains of confusion at City Hall
City orders San Gabriel Crossing developer to stop work
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Contractors say they started surveying and moving dirt at 155 Hillcrest in April. |
The City issued a Stop Work Order on July 22.
(RFLH Photos) |
(Posted: 2:45 p.m. July 27, 2010)
The developer of the San Gabriel Crossing apartment complex said he received conflicting messages from city staff regarding a stop work order issued last week by the Building Inspector, and is concerned about what he perceives to be a lack of communication and general confusion at City Hall.
Mark Mayfield, chief executive officer of Texas Housing Foundation, Inc., told the Liberty Hill City Council Monday that he received an order via email from Inspector Pete McKinney, but hours later received another email from City Planner Mel Yantis that he believed rescinded McKinney's directive. As a result, he said work continued at the job site at 155 Hillcrest Lane until some time Monday.
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Developers say Kingsland Trails, an apartment complex for low to moderate income residents in Kingsland, is similar to the proposed San Gabriel Crossing in Liberty Hill. |
Texas Housing Foundation of Marble Falls and its building contractor Nash Builders, Ltd. of Horseshoe Bay are constructing a 76-unit apartment complex for low to moderate income residents. Plans for the site include both one-story and two-story buildings with furnished apartments, a swimming pool and cabana, playground, fitness room and a community resource center. Mayfield estimated it would be fully occupied within six months of opening.
Council member Jack Harkrider said the entire Council received the same email chain, adding that Yantis' statement was a recommendation, not a directive.
"Mel doesn't have the authority for that. The way the email reads is that Mel was recommending the order be rescinded. He was acting as a consultant and it was not his call to make," Harkrider explained.
Yantis, who works part-time for the City of Liberty Hill as a contract employee, at one time held the position of City Administrator. When he resigned from the full-time position, former City Secretary Kathy Clark assumed the role temporarily. The Council later entered a contract with Yantis to work on a part-time basis. Yantis is employed by the City of Jarrell as City Administrator.
Mayor Michele "Mike" Murphy said the item was placed on the Council's regular meeting agenda Monday at McKinney's request. She said he requested the Council clarify its position on the order he issued July 22 in light of Yantis' subsequent email where he recommended it be suspended.
Harkrider attempted to make a motion to keep the order in place until the Council could meet with the developers at 9 a.m. Wednesday, but Attorney Art Rodriguez advised a vote was not necessary unless the Council intended to undo the stop work order. Council member Liz Rundzieher then made a motion to table the item until Wednesday.
"I don't see where two more days (of stopped construction) matter," said Harkrider.
After the meeting, Mayfield told Radio Free Liberty Hill that the confusion at City Hall has become a cause for concern.
"I think this is a case where the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing," Mayfield said. "We thought Mel Yantis was the man and we have been communicating with him since we first started this. We were working under the assumption that the stop order had been lifted by Mel."
Mayfield said the City's order to stop work, even for two days, will cost the company money. Although he would not say exactly how much, he said "it's not pennies. It's hard to put a dollar figure on it, but there is a lot of liability there. When you mobilize construction crews to come to work and everything stops, then has to restart...the construction contractor has contracts with businesses in Liberty Hill that are providing jobs for local people. This hurts them, too."
One of those is Synergy Framing, which he said has 25 people working on the project.
"This is a $9.5 million project, and it's hard to push forward when we never know what awaits us," he said.
Last month, McKinney informed the Council that he had been directed by Mayor Pro Tem Charles Canady to waive $42,000 in permit fees for the San Gabriel Crossing apartment project in the current fiscal year. He said the fees were owed to the City because the developer had changed site plans and missed deadlines that according to city ordinance required new site plans be submitted and additional permit fees paid. Although Canady continues to dispute McKinney's claim that he gave such an order, documents compiled this month by McKinney show the developer could owe as much as $84,000 as a result of missing two deadlines where ordinances required plans be re-submitted. (
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McKinney was not present Monday, but Harkrider told Radio Free Liberty Hill that McKinney issued the order because the project was no longer in compliance with city ordinance.
"I don't sense any animosity there. I just think Pete is trying to do his job," Harkrider said.
Mayfield said the City's ordinances regarding building permits, as well as its definition of when construction begins are unclear.
"We would argue that we were not passed the (permit) expiration date before construction began. Where is their proof of that?" he said.
"I have never in my life dealt with anything like this," he said. "In the counties were we are doing business, we have never experienced anything like this."
Mayfield said
Texas Housing Foundation, Inc., has 13 housing projects in seven counties. He said the project in Kingsland is most similar to San Gabriel Crossing.
Mayfield said he wasn't sure what was driving all of the confusion on the Liberty Hill project. He said in the other communities where he has done business, he has never missed city deadlines and never been required to pay additional permitting fees.
"I thought it might just be growing pains, but it doesn't even seem like we have been dealing with official representatives of the City," he said.
Documents compiled by McKinney at the request of the Mayor show email communications between agents for the developers and Yantis, Clark and Kathy Canady, the wife of the Mayor Pro Tem who also serves as chair of the Planning & Zoning Commission.
"I don't know if this is an attitude of the community, whether they are against housing of the poor, or what it's about," Mayfield said. "But this will be the nicest rental property in Liberty Hill without a close second."
When the Liberty Hill City Council and its Planning & Zoning Commission first considered the company's application for a Conditional Use Permit, dozens of local residents packed the Council Chamber on different occasions expressing their opposition to the apartment complex. An online petition contained more than 300 signatures, although many of those did not reside inside the city limits.
Some claimed the development would lower neighborhood property values, pose a danger to children attending Liberty Hill Elementary School, and become a haven for criminal activity.
"I realize all of it was said in ignorance of the project," said Mayfield. "The Council was supportive, but the outcry was from people who were uninformed. This is something that will be a benefit that the community can't see yet."
Over the objections of the public, the Council voted in 2008 to grant the permit with Harkrider and Councilman Glen Gavin voting no. Harkrider told Radio Free Liberty Hill this week that they voted no because they believed the developer was trying to rush through building plans they had not had time to review.
In other business Monday, the Council voted unanimously to approve a Conditional Use Permit to allow group living at a duplex at 106 Nita Cove. Occupants will be residents of Hope House, a home outside of Liberty Hill for youth and adults with severe to profound mental retardation. The permit will allow eight adult residents to use the duplex for sleeping purposes. Hope House Director Dave Gould said the residents will return to Hope House during the day.
The Planning & Zoning Commission held a public hearing on the permit application earlier this month and voted unanimously to recommend Council approval. No one was present to speak at the first public hearing.
Although no one addressed the Council during a public hearing earlier in the meeting, the owners of a home across the street requested the Council delay voting on the matter until the couple had time to learn more about the proposal. They said they don't live in Liberty Hill and did not learn about the plan in time to attend the Planning & Zoning meeting last week.
"This effects our home and this is the only meeting that we knew of," said the property owner, who did not identify himself.
Because there was a motion and a second to approve the permit, Canady told the Mayor that it was time to vote. The Mayor said the public hearing was earlier in the meeting and no one stepped addressed the Council.
However, when the public hearing on the permit was opened, Council members sat quietly for about a minute instead of instructing any speakers to come forward. The public hearing was quickly closed with a motion from Harkrider.
"You haven't approved anything yet, so you could postpone it (the vote)," the homeowner told the Mayor. "You're not required to vote on that right now."
After she called for the vote and it was unanimous, the couple left the Chamber with Gould who offered to explain his plans for the duplex.
Also Monday, the Council postponed discussion on an agreement between the City and the Stonewall Ranch Master Community regarding the police department providing preventive patrols int he neighborhood. Chief Randy Williams said he had not had time to meet with Stonewall representatives to develop the agreement, and requested the item be placed on a future Council agenda.
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