Specifics on District Community Building - Ethics Policy - LPAA

At the 11/16/10 Board meeting, the architect of the District Building, Mr. Mosely, presented all the design plans. In a nutshell, the building will be about 7000 square feet with a parking lot of 100 spaces and 8 designated handicapped spaces.  The building will be multi-functional and ADA compliant (meaning it is built to accommodate people with disabilities) having two offices, two conference rooms (24'x16' for one and 18'x12' for the other) and a large 50'x50' space complete with a stage (22'x15') and dressing room (8'x16') with A/V booth. The large room can be divided into four separate meeting areas, each with its own ceiling fan, and hold up to 330 people comfortably if left without dividers. A/C has been designed to function in just the part of the building being used, in order to save energy.

In addition, a fully equipped kitchen (21'x21') will be built right off the main room. There will be work tables and a grill in addition to all the appliances. The outside of the building will be made of brick and steel, with a metal roof, along with acoustical tile ceiling.  President Smalls said that the proposed building will act as a command center in case of emergency and is built to withstand hurricane weather. She was less clear on the specifics of what the command center activties might entail, and who might benefit directly by such a use.

$1.3 million has been earmarked for the construction and maintenance of the building, which comes primarily from already issued bonds. The rest comes from a $500 fee paid by the developers for each water tap installed and a $2500 fee for each commercial acre developed. Perhaps the building will be ready for use sometime in 2011 - but definitely by 2012.


Mr. Mosely will be handling the bid process, and stated it would take another 6 weeks or so to get all the necessary permits from the state and county before publishing the request for bids.  Because of the poor quality of the soil on which the foundation will rest, it will require building up that area. In case you haven't seen the sign marking the spot, the construction site is near the curve of Fellows Road  right across from Tom Bass Park II - the golf course section.

At the 11/2/10 meeting, an ethics policy that I introduced was not well received. The other members of the Board requested that the District's attorney, Chris Richardson, create an alternative policy that would quote the relative ethics laws from the state of Texas and the District Board's intention to abide by them. The one that Chris prepared will be discussed and voted on at the 12/7/10 meeting. I will have more to say about this after the next meeting.


Also at the 12/7/10 meeting will be a discussion of a Limited Purpose Annexation Agreement (LPAA) with the city of Houston. Under such an agreement, we would get to vote for 'District D' City Council races and in all other City elections (mayoral, council members-at-large, ballot proposals, etc.) but would not be paying city taxes nor receiving city services (i.e. security through HPD, emergency responders like firefighters or EMTs, garbage pickup or the other kinds of services that the District already provides). We would have to abide by City ordinances as well. Why would we want such an LPAA?


Now that we have a few commercial enterprises in the District (recent Jack in the Box on Cullen, soon-to-come Exxon/Sonic, and existing PODs facility) we can get a 50% cut of the city sales tax by entering into an LPAA. That additional revenue stream is the up side - in addition to having voting power and representation in City Council meetings. The down side, depending on your viewpoint, would be having to abide by Houston ordinances (for example, no fireworks) and that full annexation would not be allowed for a period of 30 years.