PETITION LINK: http://www.petitiononline.com/FM75022/petition.html
As you know, Red Oak filed suit against the Town and the O&G Board as a result of the Board's June 18th denial of all variances requested for the Riverwalk site.
There is a VERY strong concern that Town leadership may seek to settle this suit outside of court, rather than vigorously defending it. This would be against the best interests of Flower Mound residents. Why?
--It could immediately open up the center of Town to gas drilling
--It would communicate to aggressive developers/homeowners that all one has to do is threaten to sue and the Town will back down (this goes beyond gas drilling.
What's to keep for example, a used car lot, a liquor store, or an adult bookstore from insisting that they be allowed a location on every other corner?
--It would undermine the authority of ALL Town boards
--It would undermine the agreed-upon PROCESS for handling O&G variance requests. The Town Council put these in place--they need to uphold them.
--It would indicate a disregard for the will of the residents and the established processes for handling disputes arising out of board decisions.
Certain members of Town leadership may assert that a settlement is in the best interest of the Town as protracted litigation could be expensive. Litigation will be expensive and it may well be protracted, but the alternative could be much more expensive. Does the Town want to face a potential lawsuit every time a developer is denied a variance?
What can you do?
1) Sign the petition stating that the Town needs to protects its citizens by vigorously defending itself from the Red Oak suit. Furthermore, if Town leaders do not aggressively fight the suit, then we, the citizens, have no choice but to seek leaders who will stand up against Red Oak or any developer who doesn't agree with the decisions of our Town boards.
Sign the petition here:
http://www.petitiononline.com/FM75022/petition.html
Also, please forward this link to as many Flower Mound residents as possible. Write them a short note explaining why this is so important.
2) Attend the Planning and Zoning meeting on Monday, July 14th at 6:30pm. The Red Oak lawsuit will be discussed and public comments will be allowed.
3) Attend the Town Council work session on Thursday July 17th at 6:00pm. During the work session, the Council will discuss how they will respond to the Red Oak suit. There will be a public participation session in the beginning and public comments will be allowed.(In all instances, if you wish to speak, you should keep it factual and under three minutes.)
4) Write letters and send emails to the mayor and members of Town Council.
(Their contact information can be found here: http://www.flower-mound.com/council/council.php) If you send a letter or an email, please bring a hard copy to the meeting on the 17th and those will be presented to the Town secretary for inclusion in the meeting minutes. (If you cannot be at the meeting, give your letter or email to someone who will be there.)
5) Write letters to the editor of the local papers as well as the Dallas Morning News and the Ft. Worth Star Telegram.Your participation matters. Make your voice heard and let Town leaders know that they need to protect the citizens by fighting the Red Oak lawsuit.
The Town Council decisions made in the next few days will resonate for future generations of Flower Mound. If our Council will not look to the future, we must.
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7 comments:
Does anyone find it ironic that just few months ago the organizers of this site were openly and routinely criticizing the town officials and the o/g ordinance as inadequately protecting the town from drilling, and now we are encouraged to send e-mails to the same officials supporting the same ordinance? I just can not help but wonder how this "support" will be received.
Whether or not the current O&G ordinance is adequate is a moot point for this situation.
The concern is that Town officials will fail to aggressively defend the Red Oak suit, which could serve to make the Town susceptible to future challeges from other developers to Board decisons.
This concern extends far beyond gas drilling. It goes to the heart of the Town's right to develop and enforce its own ordinances. (Rather than having them dicated to us by developers.)
The organizers of this site live very close to potential drilling sites. You can't blame them for being concerned about the ordinance back when this all started. When your home and quality of life is affected by an ordinance, you might fight to make sure it is protecting you. I too have to side with the organizers of this site that this is not only about gas drilling and that the outcome can affect our town's ability to govern our beautiful city.
I find it more ironic that Flower Mound receives an award for, among other things, "ambiance." I wonder how many points you get in the ambiance category for gas wells? For people who don't believe in the cause, ya'll sure do hang out on this site a lot. I can't wait to post on drilloneverycorner.blogspot.com.
Well said!!
Everyone needs to step further in to the issue and look at the big picture here. If they are allowed to drill in to the center of our city...that means a pipeline will be put in shortly thereafter. If you look at the railroad commission's outline for pipeline requirements, you will see any monkey could put one in if they wanted. To allow them to drill is allowing them to tear our city up with a pipeline. Look at the big picture everyone, pipelines can use eminent domain. We must stop the drilling to stop the pipeline. They say that eminent domain is a last resort...but they can and will use it (see Ft. Worth's battle). While they want you to believe that drilling is safe (that might be true), there is no mention of the safety of pipelines because they know it's risky to bring it up. If you don't think this issue affects you...think again. That pipeline is coming right down your street whether you like it or not. Stop the urban drilling.
I think the original poster here was slightly incorrect. I don't think there CAN be a settlement outside of a court in this case. The court is the next step in the appeals process after a denial of a variance by the oil & gas board of appeals. By this court action, the original petitioner is asking the court for an opinion on the matter...the court may very well agree with Oil and Gas board of appeals.
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