HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-05-16 Euless Articles DISTRIBUTED TO: PAGE 44411%
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' .Walter A."Dub"Elliott Jr.
PIROSA
1
•
tessimakell
;--- EULESS Walter A.
"Dub" Elliott Jr., went to
be with the Lord on Thurs-
day,May 8,2008.
MEMORIAL SERVICE: 10 a.m.
Saturday at First United Methodist
Church of Euless,106 N. Main, Eu-
less. Visitation: The family will re-
ceive friends afterward.
Dub was born April 13,1928,to
Allen and Maggie Hill Elliott in Tur-
key,Texas. He graduated from Arp
High School in 1946 and then joined
and proudly served his country in the
Navy. He then graduated from Kil-
gore Junior College and later from
Texas A&M with a degree in civil en-
gineering. In 1950 he married Iris
Spear,and in 1957 they moved to Eu-
less,where he opened his engineer-
ing firm of Elliott and Hughes Inc.
Dub was named engineer of the year
in 1975 and was a past president of
the HEB Chamber of Commerce and
was a very active and faithful mem-
ber of
em-
ber.of his church,First United Meth-
odist Church of Euless.
SURVIVORS: Wife, Iris; son,
Steve Elliott and his wife, Nancy;
' daughter,Sheryl Elliott Laws and her
husband, Steve; grandsons,Marcus,
Mitchell,Bryce and Barrett;brothers,
Kelly and Lindley Elliott; and many
nephews,nieces,cousins and friends.
' Lucas Funeral Home
Hurst,817-284-7271
View and sign guestbook at
www.star-telegram.com/obituaries
1
1
I
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MUNICIPAL
' ELECTIONS
Saleh is elected to her 6th term as mayor
EULESS - Mayor Mary Lib Saleh will serve her sixth term 1
after winning re-election with no ~pposition.
City Councilman Leon Hog& 72, won 63.9 percent of the
vote to 36.1 percent for security officer Lorren Brittan, 58, .;
for Place 2, according to complete but unofficial results.
For the Place 4 seat, Donna Mickan, 64, a retired educator, .
defeated registered accessibility specialist Jay Heilman, 57.6 -
percent to 42.4 percent.
About 3.8 percent of the city's 26,788 registered voters .
cast ballots in the election. - Jessica DeLeon -
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Euless owns 120 acres south of Harwood Road that it may lease for.
gas wells.
STAR-TELEG~AMJTIM BEDISON
:Drilling bids sought for city land
: BY JESSICA D~LE~N Drilling would have to be
jdeleonmtar-telegram.com - done within two years of the
EUGSS - ~orizontal gas dril- awarding of the contract, said
-ling may soon take place un- Mike Collins, director of plan-
: der city parks and other city- ning and development.
-owned land. The minimum bids are a
The council unanimously $19,000-per-acre bonus and
approved the measure Tues- 26.5 percent royalty.
day night, The property includes Mid-
The city wants to take com- way, Blessing Branch, Heri-
petitive bids for drilling under tage, South Euless, JA. Carr,
120 acres of city property Kiddie Carr, West Park and
south of Harwood Road. Wilshire parks, as well as other
The first notice seeking bids city property, such as the law
has already been sent out, and enforcement building and fire
the bids are to be opened May stations. ,
26. The council is expected to
award the contract June 10. JESSICA DELE~N, a17+sss-3932
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DATE DISTRIBUTED 5/'ce/0g DAZOFARTIC'LE 3 NEWSPAPER FWST
TRAFFIC CONGESTION
Texas among
few states that
are enlightened
about signals
It and six other states are
finding ways to move traffic at
intersections. '
McClatchy Newspapers
and Star-Telegram staff
Texas and parts of Tarrant County
appear to have gotten the message
that fine-tuning traffic signals re-
duces traffic congestion and air
pollution.
Texas, a U.S. leader in traffic sig-
nal efficiency since the mid-1990s,
adjusts its state-operated signals
every two or three years to reflect
changes in traffic volume, accord-
ing to the National Transportation
Operations Coalition, a transporta-
tion engineers group. Once in three
years is a national goal unmet in
many states.
In Tarrant County, Fort Worth,
Arlington and several other cities
report that they synchronize traffic
lights and use carrleras and sensors,
-especially along major thorough-
fares.
Nationally, fine-tuning controls
on the nation's traffic signals would
reduce U.S. road congestion by as
much as 10 percent, cut air pollu-
tion from vehicles by as much as -
a fifth, reduce accidents at inter-
sections and save about five
tanks of gas annually per house:
hold, according to the coalition.
"People who say we can't do
anything about congestion are
wrong. We can do lots," said Joel
Marcuson, a specialist in urban
intersections with the Jacobs En-
gineering Group in Phoenix.
Right now, however, three-
quarters of the nation's 300,000
traffic signals need replacement
or tirhing adjustments for opti-
mum performance, according to
the U.S. Transportation Depart-
ment.
Among the obstacles are a na-
tionwide shortage of skilled traf-
fic engineers, unfocused local
political leaders with tight bud-
gets and stodgy local traffic de-
partments. Federal aid that could
ease congestion goes mainly to
building and maintaining roads.
Nonetheless, lots of cities and
at least seven states - California,
Florida, Washington, Minnesota,
MaryIand, Georgia and Texas -
are finding ways to move traffic
through intersections faster, the
coalition reports. Below is a sam-
ple of what local communities
are doing.
- 8
h Fort Worth: Lights are synchronized on major arterial
streek during peak traffic periods. Sensor loops in the
pavement control signals when traffic is lighter. Down-
town lights are synchronized based on times and days.
~rlingon: Voters approved $400,000 in a 2003 bond
election for software, equipment and cameras that now
monitor the city's major roadways and intersections. 1 Traffic engineers can identify trouble spots through a lens
perched about 40 feet above a roadway and adjust traffic
signals to compensate for wrecks or bottlenecks. ,
Colleyville: The city operates traffic signals at two
intersections. The signals at Brown Trail and Cheek-Sparg-
er Road have a camera that tells computers when to
change the lights. The signals at Heritage Avenue and
Cheek-Sparger have a detection system in the pavement
to tell those lights when to change. The state-operated '
traffic lights on Texas 26 are also synchronized. .
Euless: The city has synchronized lights on Farm Road
157 from South Pipeline Road to Mid-Cities Boulevard. It ,,
will soon synchronize lights on Mid-Cities, Harwood Road
and North Main Street.
Grapevine: Lights are synchronized on Nonhwest
Highway, Main Street, Texas 121, Glade Road and Texas
114. The crty also has some motion-detecti'on systems.
Haltom City: The city synchronizes traffic signals at
Western Cente'r Boulevard and Silver Sage Drive and at
Western Center Boulevard and Haltom Road.
North Richland Hills: The City Council awarded an
$80,000 contract in April to Dallas-based Lee Engineering
to synchronize traffic lights on Boulevard 26 and Mid-
Cities Boulevard. Lee is expected to analyze 23 intersec-
tions along the two roads. Work is scheduled to be com-
pleted in August.
Frank Greve of ~cclatch~ Newspapers and Star-Telegram staff writers
Bill Teeter, Jessica DeLe6n, Noor Elashi, John ~irich and ~alb Claunch
contributed to th~s report.. 3
Bright lights?
Engineers say traffic light coordination
in your city could need improvement
if you answer no to any of these ques-
tions:
Can you some-
times make it
through six to ,
eight consecutive
intersections on
green lights?
a Is there useful
traffic information
on the radio and
on roadside mes-
sage signs?
E Is it rare thpt
there's no ZSS
traffic when you're
stopped at a light?
Can you drive
into the next juris- Several North-
diction without * east Tarrant cit-
encoufitering ies take steps.
congestion at the. s TIV~UL MOSELPI
border?
Are predictable traffic jams, such as
the postgame exits from stadium
parking lots, handled adroitly?
g01 What do you think? B - To post a comment on this
report, go to '
star-telegra~.com/comments ' A
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EULESS
Tax breaks for project are .OICd
By JESSICA D~LEON , the project goes forward. The Glade Parks
jdeieonastar-,telegram.com panel also created a zoning'
EULESS - The developer of district for the center. The area
the Glade Parks, the 193-acre has already been cleared of
planned shopping and resi- trees and' brush.
dential center on Texas 121 Glade Parks will be a re-
and Glade Road, will receive gional destination, Planning.
tax rebates potentially worth and Development Director
millions of dollars. Mike Collins said.
The council voted unani- ''We're real, real -excited
mously Tuesday to approve ' about their development," he
th6 incentives to ensure that said. "It's got some cool stuff."
The project
Some highlights of the project, developed by Chicago-based Ru-
bloff:
It will have a bridge over Bear Creek and a'promenade with six
three-story buildings on the west side; a clock tower in the center^
. . and four one-story buildings to. the east. ' . -
The three-story buildings will have stores on'the ground floors
and professional offices on the upper floors. The one-storybuild-
ings will house stores. No tenant names have been released. The developer has yet to
Residences, including town homes and high-end residential lofts, announce the tenants'namesfor
will be built. the stores at Glade Parks.
rn About 60 acres of open space with a natural preserve willbe set STAR-TELEGRAM~IM BEDISON
aside. . -
The center will be'built in phases, with construction of the &ores
and the promenade starting within two years. '. . . PoliTex
. . . .
. .. .. . . ... - Find political insights from
. . , ~ .- ... 1 The incentives . : . . ; ., , .: , . . City . Hall to D.C. at
The city will rebate one-half of 3 percent of ge"eral sales and use star-telegram.com/blogs .,
. .1 . , taxes for 25 years. . .
Zoning change ! The rebate cannot exceed $32 million over the 25 years.
The agreement starts Jan. 1 andrequires the developer to com- The council created a stand-
plete all roads, the bridge, drainage and other infrastructure. alone zoning district for Glade .
The city struck a similar deal with the Shops at Vineyard Village, a Parksthat will include its own
shopping center across Texas 121 from Glade Parks. ' , development standards. '-.
City officials say they will receive much more in tax revenue from
Glade Parks than they will rebate. "If we give $32 million, we get
$96 million," Councilman Tim Stinneford said at the meeting. JESSICA DELE~N. 817-685-3932
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APPRAISAL DISTRICT
Tarrant property values
upalmost 10% in 2008
The values are preliminary
in part because mineral
rights are not included.
Star-Telegram
Property values, in Tarrant
County rose almost 10 per-
cent in 2008, according to the
preliminary figures released
Thursday by the Tarrant Ap-
praisal District.
The county's overall mar-
ket value rose 8.7 percent to
$136.1, billion, according to
TAD.
Net taxable value - the
value on which assessments
are based - rose 9.4 percent
to $125.8 billion. Net taxable
value is the amount remain-
ing after subtracting the vari-
ous exemptions and taxfreez-
es available to many property
owners.
John Marshall, executive
director of the TAD, noted
that the values are "very pre- ,-
lirninary" for a number of rea-"
sons. The first deadline for
protesting property values is
June 2, and values for mineral
rights are not included. Mar-
shall predicted mineral val-
ues would add $2.5 billion to
the county's tax rolls, or about
1.5 percent.
Nearly every taxing juris-
diction in the county showed
gains in net tixable v$ue.
Blue Mound, Roanoke and
Everman saw declines of less
than 3 percent.
Tmant County saw a de-
crease in residential building
permits from about 14,200 in
2006 to 9,069 last year, Mar-
shall said. That drop was off-
set by a 4 1 percent increase in
new commercial construc-
tion, he said.
Marshall said the local
economy was somewhat in-
sulated from economic prob-
lems hitting other parts of the
country thanks in part to the
booming interest in the Bar-
nett Shale and a relatively ro-
bust job market. Other parts
of the state, such as El Paso
and McAllen, are seeing
much larger jumps in ap-
praisals, he said.
He said foreclosure-s had a
small effect, even though they
are up 23 percent this year.
"If those had all been in
one school district or one
neighborhood, that would
have affected that market, but
they were spread out" around
the county," Marshall said.
Plenty of values rose
sharply. Marshal Boyd, part-
ner in Williams Trew Real Es-
tate Services, a large residen-
tial and rural property agency
based in Fort Worth, said his
firm has been flooded with
calls from local clients inter-
ested in protesting their ap-
praisal.
"There's two sides to it,"
Boyd said. "You could say, 'Oh
great, the values of the prop-
erties are increasing, and
that's good for homeowners,'
but it also makes our cornrnu-
nities less affordable."
Stronger caps possible
Property values are expected
to be a hot-button issue in
next year's legislative session
in Austin, with lawmakers still
smarting from seeing their
most recent tax cut effectively
wiped out by rising appraisals
in many parts of the state.
"It's my impression the cit-
izens are ready to revolt on
this," state Rep. Phil King, R-
Weatherford, said in a phone
interview last week.
King was recently appoint- ' Schools
ed to head an appraisal re- school districts saw large in-
form committee to consider creases in net taxable value: Aledo
ideas like stronger appraisal up 10.5 percent, Keller 12.6 per-
Caps. King said lawmakers cent, Mansfield 11 percent,
should use a projkcted bud- Northwest 13.4 percent and
get surplus to address the is- Southlake Carroll 12.2 percent.
sue. The Fort Worth school district
"I think youneed to consti- saw an 1u- percent increase in
tutionally dedicate a percent- net taxable value, and Arlington's
age of surplus to buy down was up 6 percent. But those in-
property taxes," King said. creases won't mean any more
"That way they can't go up money for school districts, said
like what happened the last Steve Brown, associate superin-
time." tendent of finance for the Arling-
King is asking property ton school district, because of the
owners with large appraisal school-finance package the Legis-
increases to send him copies lature passed in 2006.
of their appraisals. Appraisals Brown said the law means this
can be faxed to his local office year's gains "do nothing but help
at 817-596-8375, or a copy the state. They will reduce the
can be e-mailed to amount of state aid we get dollar
phil.king@house.state.tx.us for dollar."
or mailed to Rep. Phil King, The 2006 law required distriqts
EQ. BOX 2910, Austin, TX to reduce their rates by about
78768. one-third over two years. It ex-
panded taxes on businesses,
tobacco and the private sales of
used cars to compensate for the
money that would no longer go
directly to the school districts.
North Richland Hills
In North Richland Hills, net tax-
able value increased by 10.1 per-
cent to $3.9 billion, which in-
cludes $18.6 million under pro-
test, said Mary Peters, city
spokeswoman. Of the $93.8 mil-
lion in new construction,'$57.1
million is residential and $36.7
million is.commercial.
"We have seen a lot of con-
struction activity in the Forest
Glenn, Thornbridge and Graham
Ranch neighborhoods," she said.
The commercial construction
includes several store and office
projects and the Venue at Home-
Town, an apartment business
development in Home Town NRH
planned &velopment off Bou-
levard 26.
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MA YOR CITY CIVCL CITYATTNY GRIM MCKAMIE RIDGK.1 Y(2) DECK BROWV
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Behind the numbers
The figures are based on the
.value of land, buildings and
business inventories as of Jan.
1. he growth is calculated on
net taxable value, which, re-
flects deductions for home-
stead exemptions, abatements
and free-port exemptions for
businesses. The numbers are
preliminary and could fall,
dependingon protests. Certi-
fied numbers - which mean
that less than 5 percent of the
total value is still under pro-
test by property owners -
areset to be released July 25.
How to protest
To protest a valuation, prop-
erty owners may file a com-
plaint with the Tarrant Ap-
praisal Review Board. A form,
printed on the back of ap-
~raisal notices mailed out this
month, is available but not
required. A protest must:
Be in writing ' J,'
Identify the
property owner
Identify the property that is
the subject of the protest
w Indicate disagreement with
some determination by the
appraisal .
w Be postmarked or delivered
to the review board by June 2
or the deadline date printed
on the appraisal notice, ,
whichever is later
The mailing address for
the Tarrant Appraisal Review
Board is P.O. Box 185519, Fort
Worth, 76181-0519. The
, Tarrant Appraisal District is at
2500 Handley-Ederville Road
in Fort Worth.
~omeowners with ques-
tions about their appraisals
may call 81 7-284-3925.
Those with questions
about exemptions may call
81 7-284-4063.
Prsliminar- net taxable property values
Thesevalues cornb~nefnformat~onfrom theTarrant, Denton,
Johnson and Parker apprarsal dlstrim.Some information was not
available from the Dallas,Johnson, Wrseand Ellis apprarsaldinr~cts.
2C48
2007 preliminary Pct.
Taxunit final values values chg.
Aledo IS0 $2.05 b~llron $2.26 brllion 10.4846
Arlington 517.7 brllion Sl8.7billion 5.8%
Arlrngton ISD 920.3 brlllon $21.5 b~ll~on 6.01%
Azle ' $026 million S668rnrllion 6.613%
Azle ISD $1 98 b~llion $2.17 b~llion 9Am
Bedford $2.98 brllron 93.14 b111ion 5.46%
Benbrook - - - $1 29 brllron $1.43 b~llron 10 76%.
Birdvtlle 1SD . . . 57.1 0 b~llion $7.75 billiow 9 Om
Blue Wound 977.7 rnlllion 575.9 m~!lion -2.2296
Burieson (Tarrantonly) S443 million $501 million 13.14%
Burlesan ISD Farrant only)- $943 rnrllion - $1 11 b~llron 11.86% . Carroll lSD $4.91 b~llion $5.51 brllion 1216%
Castleberry 150 - - $498 mrll~on 5532 rnrllion 6.79%
Coileyville . t - ' -, 93.40billion $351 brllion 8.94%
CounryCollegeO~strict $116b1lllon 5127blll1on 9.39%
County Eosp~tal ~rn~icr $1 15 b~llion 8126billion 9.38%
Crowley n/a S696 million n/a
Crowley l5D .. n/a . 54.78 brllion nja
Oalworth~ngton Gardens - $289 rnrllion $313mrll1on. 7 9746
Eagle Mtn-Saginaw ISD 55.64b1lIion- 56.76 btllion ". 9.21%'
Edgecl~ffVillage . - $174mrllion Sl86milllon 7 26%
~rnergency~e~cesg~st-i 1:-'$4.55 b~llron - $5 03 brllion 105396
Euless , - -.. $2.618 b~llron $2.79 b~llron 6.957: -
Everman $149 rnrllion S146 million' -2.48%
Everman 150- -. --r-- $990mrllron $1 04 brllron 4 61%
Flower Mound . . . * 86.37 brllion $7.20 b~llion "12.98%
Forest Hrll -- - $396 rnlllron _ p27 m~ll~on 7.97%
Fort Worth (Ta;ran<~enr&) $39.0 brllion A s42.9billion A29996
Fort'vVonh ISD - $24.4 b~llion $27 2 b1111on 1 148a/o
~rrsh ~at&~u~~ly~st~l~_ 5121 million $141 m~llion, J6.3456
Godley ISD - -4a. $800 mrllron n/a
Grand ~rair~e(Tarrantonl<) + :-.Ada - $5.25 brllion . ry5
Grapevrne(Tarranton1y) -- n/a $6.35 billron n/a
Grapeme-Colleyv~ll+D a $10.2 brllion 810.9 billion - 655%
HaltornClty - .. - . -. $1 60 brllion $7.74 b~llron 8.8396
Haslet -. '$475 mtllion : $541 rnrllion 1820% . .- -
Hurst $2.31 brillon 92.46 brllron 652%
~Hurst-~ul~~-B~dfordl~~ $8.33 bfilion,--58.99 billLon - 7.84%
- 'Keller - - 53.55 brllion $3.93 brllion . 10.5296
Keller ISD A - $9.56 b~llion- *$10.8 brllion 1267%
Kennedale - . A $443 m~ll~on - 5487mrllion 9.87%
KennedalelSD $923 m~llion . $993 mrllron 7.54%
Lake Worth - - $410 rn~lhon -5437 mrll~on 6.80%
Lake Worth ED - = 474pn?1llion_ S812mrllion 4.21%
Lakesrde 596.1 mrllron SlO4rnrll1on 7 69%
(Tarrant,Denton) ; - . --
NorthRrchland~Hillr ..<- $3.58tr1llion $3.%bilIion tO.OS?&
Pantego .- - $246 m~llron $269 mrll~on _ 9.48%
Pelican Bay . ,; = $25.2 rnlllron $25.6 mlllion - 7.27%
Regroyal Water D~sy~ct . - $40 4 brllion 944.9 billion 11.09%
Reno --: $96.0 million $108 mtltionV 72.63%
Rrchland Hills - 5432mrllion $450 rnrll~on -5.90%
RrverOak . - .. . ' ' $228 rn-illion . $240 million 5.38% . - 'Roanoke . . . $99 8m1lI1on.~$98.8mrllion ' 4.95%
. $1.13 b~llion" $1 18 billion "- 3.53% Saginaw , ., u.+" <- *
Sansom Park -- 1 . - S705m1llion S117rnrllion 11 43%
. ,.,- - S.93 blll~on -.$5 52.brll1on A1203% .SouthIaae . , 1 . _
Trophy Club . - - 1 5732m1llro~ - $749rnrllion - - 221% . -. ~atauga . $1.02 billion ,. 51.07 b~llion 4.47%
WestoverHills - - -; . S3Sl rnrllron S409 mrllron 16.44%
~es~~or,h~illa~e' . . - _ SldS million 3149miltion 22.W
Wh~teSettlement 5578 rn~ll~on -5619 m~llron . 7 05%
Whrte Sec;lemectlSD ,- - $123 billipn-_$1.>7_b1l!ion - 10.$A'%-