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Sunday, March 18, 2012

Crucial Arlington City Council Vote March 20, 2012





The final vote for a critical zoning request will be taken this Tuesday night March 20, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. at Arlington, TX City Hall. 

As you may recall, that zoning request change for Overcoming Faith Drill Site had been removed from the consent agenda on March 6th.  That was a wise move, motioned by Councilman Robert Shepard, and seconded by another male council member.  We were very pleased because that was, in fact, a controversial item.  

We pray that this zoning request gets voted down on March 20th because:
  • A drill site does not fit into the original vision for the Tierra Verde overlay, which was intended to be environmentally sustainable, memorable for its village-like atmosphere and rural character.  Even Jim Parajon, Planning and Development Director, stated this fact during the February 21st public hearing.
  • Two strong opposers:  Our champion, Councilwoman Sheri Capehart; and the Children's Psychiatrist of Sundance Hospital who represents doctors and many patients.  [The City Secretary told us that - according to Planning & Development - the doctors' opposition letter does not meet the criteria for a petition.  We believe, however, in the spirit of fairness, that the letter be considered acceptable - especially since they were kept out of the loop during the entire planning process and only found out days before the hearing.]  Was this intentional?
  • The two main entities in favor of the drill site are: 1) The operator, Edge Resources; and 2) The Pastor of Overcoming Faith Christian Center.  And did we mention that one petition in favor was signed by the COO of Sundance who is supposedly not authorized to make such decisions?
  • And finally, agenda details indicate that Edge sent out notice about this zoning change to neighborhood groups throughout Arlington.  To date, we cannot find evidence that one of these groups ever received this notice.  Hmmm.
One thing is certain, this crucial vote could be precedent-setting for the rest of the City and all of North Texas.  Think about this ~ if a city can change zoning in a beautiful, high-end community, then what hope is there for the rest of us?  We pray we can save one corner of this wonderful City before it undergoes destruction.

3 comments:

  1. Edge has also been accepted into Audubon International's Signature program ~ not to be confused with The Audubon Society. They are two entirely different entities. Read about it here:

    http://fishcreekmonitor.blogspot.com/2012/02/in-name-of-audubon.html

    It is interesting to note how the gas industry ran those pristine-looking ads on television night after night. Perhaps that strategy isn't working anymore, so they thought they would use the Audubon name to conjure up pleasant feelings as they plan to occupy our residential communities with heavy industrial mining.

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  2. I wonder if Audubon International is familiar with the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 where many species are federally protected?

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  3. Great post. It gives us a lot to think about. And then act on to stop this explosion of gas drilling activities in Arlington and all over North Texas. Enough is enough.

    Hopefully, this zoning change was stopped. Oh, I hear it was tabled? Is that right? Good enough.

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