Category Archives: Posts

Impact to Locale

The Westlake Neighborhood Alliances believes that WHLL is trying to force this Sports Complex onto a site where it does not fit.

The sports complex is wrong for this location.
The proposed sports complex is huge. Current drawings show 818 parking spaces making it the approximate equivalent to the parking lots of two Walmarts or three HEBs.

The proposed site is one mile into the middle of a residential area. There are no other nearby commercial businesses. There is only one access road to the site and it is a narrow, curvy road without a shoulder.

Access to the site is grossly inadequate for a facility of this size.

Site Feasibility Study

Major Site Development Issues Requiring Governmental/Agenecy Variances & Approvals

Clear-cutting of trees from the site and substantial cuts and fills of the grade may irreparably harm the land’s value for future uses. This property is a significant asset of EISD. The lease agreement anticipates the land returning to the district if EISD needs to sell the property in certain financial situations, or if WHLL defaults on the lease, or at the end of the 50-year lease term.

Should the district sell the property, its value may be dramatically reduced to a potential buyer because of the clearing and leveling of the two hilltops. This reduction in value may be of an amount far greater than the value of the lease payments received from WHLL.

The topography of the site is not conducive to ball fields.

There is a 100-foot cliff along the back edge of the property that will be potentially dangerous to WHLL ballplayers and their families, even if reasonable precautions are taken.

There are 200 feet of grade changes on the property (similar in height to a 20-story building). Cuts and fills over 30 feet for individual ball fields will require significant governmental variances in order to accommodate the large, flat surfaces required by ball fields and parking lots.

The proposed site is habitat for endangered species.
The site is confirmed habitat and breeding ground for endangered bird species. WHLL intends to clear much of the site of trees to build the ball fields, potentially damaging or destroying the habitat.

The proposed site has environmentally sensitive features.
EISD’s engineering reports indicate that this tract is in the Critical Water Quality Zone of the Colorado River. In addition, the tract is within a Water Quality Transition Zone, an Upland Zone, and is in the 100-year floodplain. The topography is indicated as rugged.

Runoff from the land discharges into the Colorado River (Lake Austin), the source of drinking water to numerous water districts including the City of Austin. The property contains environmentally sensitive features that need to be protected.

Several of the proposed fields appear to be drawn in or near areas where these features are located and may need to be moved or eliminated to allow sufficient setback. Due to the critical environmental features on the west side of the site, the report called for the development of school improvements in the center and eastern portions of the property.

The surrounding neighborhoods have the right to the quiet enjoyment of their property.
The proposed site is one mile into the middle of a residential area and there are no other nearby commercial businesses. Nights are currently very dark and very quiet.

The complex is located on two hilltops (one of the higher points in the area) making lights and noise impossible to contain within the boundaries of the property. The surrounding neighborhoods have the right to the quiet enjoyment of their property so any increase in lighting or noise may constitute a legal nuisance.

The MegaSportsComplex model is not right for this site or this community.
The MegaSportsComplex model may work on a relatively flat, suburban or rural tract of land, with great access, located on a major roadway. The River Hills location has none of these attributes.

The Project has been a very divisive issue in the community for over a year.
Simply put, many of our residents don’t understand why any organization, particularly one with the history in the community that WHLL has, would try to force this project on a site where it does not fit, in to an area where it is not welcome, and in a way that will knowingly cause irreparable harm to many.

WHLL is planning to operate 365 days a year from 6 am to 10:30 pm.
WHLL has indicated that the Sports Complex is expected to be open every day of the year, including holidays, and only close for a few hours at night. This schedule is more appropriate for a facility in a commercial area and isn’t appropriate for a site located in a residential neighborhood.

Financial Concerns

The negative economic impact to EISD, Travis County and the area residents will be significant.

One resident’s property appraisal was reduced by 27% for 2011, the majority of which was based on the possibility of the sports complex being constructed on the school property.

This resulted in a loss of value of $450,000 for this one property owner and a reduction in 2011 EISD taxes paid of $5,285 and of Travis County taxes paid of $1,482. A 10% loss in the taxable value of property located in the immediately affected neighborhoods would total over $33 million of lost value to our community.

At EISD’s current tax rate this would equate to a loss of taxes paid to the school district of approximately $400,000 per year. This amount far exceeds the $50,000 per year lease amount paid by WHLL to EISD. Additionally, taxes to Travis County would be reduced by approximately $160,000 per year.

As staggering as these numbers may be, they are indicative of the markets’ assessment of the overall negative impact to our community as a result of the proposed Sports Complex.

Adult Facility in the Guise of Youth Use?

Adult leagues should not be part of a Youth Sports Complex.

WHLL has presented this project as a Youth Sports Complex. WHLL has indicated by email that they can’t agree to use the facility for youths only or even predominately for youths.

It would appear that adult use may be a substantial, if not predominate use of the facility.

We believe that this runs contrary to the stated objective of WHLL (“serving youth 4 to 16″), and is an inappropriate use of school district assets. In addition, certain activities, such as property development, property management, and adult sports leagues, may fall outside of the parameters of the exempt purpose of the organization and could result in significant tax consequences.

WHLL is planning to operate 365 days a year from 6 am to 10:30 pm.

WHLL has indicated that the Sports Complex is expected to be open every day of the year, including holidays, and only close for a few hours at night. This schedule is more appropriate for a facility in a commercial area and isn’t appropriate for a site located in a residential neighborhood.

Many people we have spoken to are not aware of the size, scope, and intended use that this sports complex is all about.

The WestLake Neighborhood Alliance(WNA) contacted Chris concerning this project with hopes to agree to use that was truly ‘for the kids’.  We all agree that our kids would benefit from a public park type space with additional baseball and football fields. This complex goes way beyond such and further, appears to be anything but a true public space. In fact, generating revenue from all sorts of different booked activities comes across as one of the high priorities for this space. This is land that we, the tax payers own. This is land that also isn’t even right for this kind of complex and will come with a high cost to the tax payers in the form of required improvements to the road and possibly sewer lift addition are enforced. We the tax paying public will not have public access to this space and have real liability of the infrastructure around this space – and that’s not even getting into all the issues with the site itself in terms of general suitability for this kind of construction to begin with.

Chris Ellis professionally is the principle of Endeavor Realestate Group which is a commercial land developer. He now leads the charge of WHLL respecting this ‘endeavor’ to build this large scale sports complex on River Hills Road.

Regardless of what we hear about this ‘being for the kids’ – Chris makes it very clear that a very large investment would be made in this facility and the intention is to generate as much revenue as possible from as many bookings as possible and with no assurance of predominant youth use. This facility may be for the use of some kids, but its scope and intent are clearly well beyond something ‘for the kids’.

The red text is the reply from Chris on behalf of the WHLL. It is in all caps and complete as he provided it in response to a true ‘for the kids’ use that the WNA had requested

1. Permitted Uses: Activities of the sports complex shall be limited to youth athletics (baseball, softball, basketball, football, soccer, tennis, lacrosse, or swimming).  Participants in any such events must be age 19 or younger.   Adult usage of any facility on the youth sports complex may be allowed if  (1) WHLL, or their sub lessee, is not able to fully utilize the particular facility for youth sports activities due to lack of demand and (2) the total usage by the adults by percentage of playing time is 10% or less for that particular facility. UNFORTUNATELY WHLL CANNOT AGREE TO ANY LIMITATIONS ON THE FACILITIES BEING USED BY “YOUTH’S” ONLY (OR PREDOMINANTLY).  WHLL WILL BE INVESTING SIGNIFICANT DOLLARS IN TO THESE FACILITIES AND IT IS OUR INTENTION TO BOOK THEM AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE AND UTILIZE THEM TO THEIR FULLEST EXTENT.  WHLL IS HAPPY TO LOOK AT A SPECIFIC LIST OF “RESTRICTED USES” THAT YOU MAY HAVE A CONCERN WITH.  IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PROPOSE A SPECIFIC LIST OF “RESTRICTED USES” WE WILL REVIEW THEM PROMPTLY AND GET BACK WITH YOU.

This part alone says it all – retyped without the caps and red from Chris Ellis: “Unfortunately WHLL cannot agree to any limitations of the facilities being used by “youth’s” only (or predominantly). WHLL will be investigating significant dollars into these facilities in to these facilities and it is our intention to book them as often as possible and to utilize them to their fullest extent.”

This project is intended to be funded by donations raised by WHLL by/and in the community. It is an investment the community would be making, yet when you read this, doesn’t sound like that’s how they see it. You can be the judge of what this development is really for and all about.