Information Adame refused to allow WtP to Present

This is the information WtP attempted to present to the City Council. Mayor Adame did not allow any information to be presented after item 3).

1) Nothing said it "would" be a park. What it did say is that the funding was for phase three of the bayfront master plan. if you go to the bayfront master plan it is clear the intent was to build a festival park. The leisure horizons proposal would not have been effected by this because it was contained within the coliseum. something that could be done, but not under as long a lease as some would have wanted. it did not interfere with the phase three plan.

2) In "the Bayfront master plan (south central area development plan page 50, 51 & 52 are clear in their intent) identifies several objectives for futrue consideration and implementation. The specific concepts for erealignment of Shoreline focies on foru areas: ... Zone B: South Bayfront Memorial Park -area between Buford Street and the "L" Head". I believe that this is an obvious referral to to the "consideration" of funding to implement the stated plan of a festival park, ie prop 7 in the 2008 bond election.

3) The 1967 inventory is a list of parks, classifying them under a number of park categories, one being the special use. Included in this is the old City Hall Grounds and the Coliseum and Exposition Hall sites. The Exposition hall site of course was on what is now the site of the north coliseum parking lot.

4) In the appendix a list of studies, plans, and reports concerning the centeral study area by the department of planning dated January 4, 1989 it states: "24. Bayfront Activities Committee Final Report, (Ad hoc committee of the park and recreation board.) Accepted 1985, revised 1987. The committee was established to analyze the bayfront activity situation and recommends which site or sites are best suited to hosting such activites as they exist or as may be expected to exist in the future. Two sites were selected based on accessibility, bayfront location, and acreage. The sites included Bayfront Arts and Science Park/Shoreline Medians and McCaughn Park/Coliseum/City Hall/Sherrill Park Area. The 1987 reivision indentifies the Bayfront Festival Park at McCaughn Park/Coliseum/City Hall/Sherrill Park Area."

5) In June of 2009 the Legal Department sent an inquiry to the Texas Municipal League for clarification of park land and got a decision back on July 7, 2009 according to attachments to the City Council meeting on September 8th. The Texas Municipal League’s Director of Legal Services Scott Houston sent the following to Jay Reining a City Legal Department Attorney in response to an inquiry setting clear guidelines.

“ Sale of Park Land

1. Is land being used as a park?

No reported cases or attorney general opinions interpreting this question. Local Government Code § 253.001(b) states “[l]and owned, held, or claimed as a public…park.” Attorney general opinion LO-97-057 states that “[w]e are not aware of any case law addressing whether land must be formally dedicated as a park in order to fall within this provision.”

Conservative course of action would be to err on the side of caution and treat area that citizens think of as a park as such.

If not being used as a park, must sell in accordance with notice and bid requirements of Local Government Code Chapter 272 or public auction requirements in Local Government Code§ 253.008.

2. If being used as a park, how do you sell or lease it?

Start with Local Government Code § 253.001(b) – must submit question of sale to voters.

Also Government Code § 1508.006 prohibits the sale or lease of a park without an election.

Finally, § 26.001 of the Parks and Wildlife Code requires a municipal governing body to determine that the sale of the park is the best use of the land. The city must give notice to the department with supervisory authority over the land and the public at large, and is required to hold a public hearing on the matter.

After the notice, hearing and election have been held, assuming the voters approve the sale, the park may be sold under either the notice and bid requirements of Local Government Code Chapter 272 or the public auction requirements of Local Government Code § 253.008.

3. What if any of the steps in the process fail?

Then the park may not be sold.”