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Home My WebLink About2010-03-26 Euless ArticlesDlSTRlB UTED TO: PAGE I OF i % IVU YOR ClTY ClVCL CITY ATTlVY CRIIW MC&LiVIlE BRO W!V YOL'iVG AIV~~VL~L CIVTR &~cDON,'L LD COLLliVS C. BARKER GETCHELL LIBRARY AD!C~IIV LIBRARY REF DA TE DISTR~B UTED 312 6 I 0 DATE OFART~CLE FWST - - ~eer& To the city of Culess for ticketing residents of apartments for parking in ' the fire lane after our big snowstorm. Many of the carports had collapsed, and there weren't 'enough open spaces to +, accommodate eteiybody. ' - Laura Plues, Euless L- - - Cheers: To the Euless Public ~orks'aid Parks Department's personnel for the extra manpower and hours they are giving the residents in removing the fallen trees, limbs and debris caused by the recent winter storm.,You continue to go above and beyond. - Charles S. Coleman, Euless DISTRIBUTED TO: PAGE I OF MAYOR CITY CNCL CITY ATTNY GRIM MCKAMIE BROWN YOUNG ANIMAL CNTR IYIcDONALD COLLINS C.BARKERf-�, GETCHELL LIBRARYADMIN LIBRARY REF DATE DISTRIBUTED 3 /02 & / ` vDATE OF ARTICLE // - / /D NEWSPAPER FWST — LOCAL ORDINANCES Cities at odds overgases _ _. rul Patchwork of rules Each-city's drilling ordinance r "' W,x , *` spells out dozens of rules in- cluding how close a company :emItcv; > can drill from habitable strut=`' p 0,1i4 � , '� 'i f tures.The disagreement is ov- -y vm '; : li , �5 �: ? � r er whether cities can apply �� .e��.> a `* � *4 3 c , their ordinances •to properties " x : r R s beyond their borders./ — 2 i 17 , The situation has come up a ;,3 only a few times but could be- come more common, espe- 3, cially in Northeast Tarrant — , STAR-TELEGRAM/JOYCE MARSHALL County where drilling activity In a few cases,companies are asking to drill on the edge of one is picking up and several cities city on sites close to residences or schools in a neighboring city. share boundaries. — "I think the gas companies The inconsistency could become an argument for at first migrated to the low_ moving to a single drilling ordinance for the region. hanging fruit,the easier sites," said Chris Barker, director of — By AMAN BATHEJA abatheja@star-telegram corn planning and development for Cities in Northeast Tarrant County are finding them- Euless. "As this gas play ma selves at odds with each other in regulating drilling activ- tures, there will be more and ities in the Barnett Shale. • more of these interesting cas — In a handful of cases, companies are requesting to es." drill natural gas wells on the edge of one city on sites that XTO wants to drill on unde- are close to residences or schools in a neighboring city. veloped land near Southlake's Most recently,XTO Energy applied to drill on private southern border on Texas 26 ' property in Southlake, 841 feet from Grapevine High and Brumlow Avenue.The site School.Both Southlake and Grapevine have ordinances is 1,082 feet from the nearest forbidding drilling within 1,000 feet of a home or school, Southlake home but within a but the request won't require a 1,000-foot radius of Grapevine distance variance. homes and Grapevine High "We can't force our zoning School.' onto another city," said Ken Southlake will hold three — Baker, Southlake's director of town hall forums on XTO's ap- planning. plication. The first will be on But some cities, including March 30. North Richland Hills and Fort Officials with both the city Worth,say the enforcement of of Grapevine and the Grape their ordinances does not stop vine-Colleyville school district at their city limits. said it was too early to com- "We're going to enforce our ment on the proposed site. _ ordinance wherever it goes," Grapevine's ordinance, said John Pitstick, director of which requires wells to be at planning and development for least 1,000 feet from homes or North Richland Hills.' schools= does not,apply to The inconsistency on the properties in neighboring cit issue could become an argil- ies,Development Services Di ment for moving toa single rector Scott Williams said. — drilling ordinance for the re- This is the first'drilling a gion,;-according to one major plication for Southlake, rich player in the shale. spent more than a year craft- "If you had something that ing its ordinance.By the time it — was more uniform, it would was approved in 2008, a ore'than likely standardize plunge in natural gas prices the process," said Leah King, had slowed drilling activity to Chesapeake Energy's senior a crawl. — director of public affairs. DlSTRIB U TED TO: PAGE OF2 -- lCL4 YOR CITY CIVCL CITY A TTNY CRIiVl MCGIfVllE BR 0 W:V YO UNG AfVIiVL4 L CNTR ~~IcDO~VA LD COLLIIVS C. BARKER GETCHELL LIBRIIR Y A DibIIiV LIBRARY REF DATEDISTRIBUTED 3/db/1C) DATEOFARTICLE 3)17/10 NEkYSPILPEI FWST Fort Worth has had re- ;ders. ' quests from companies want- "Some cities may have in ing to drill *thin the city but their ordinance that it applies near homes or other protected to -all structures regardless of structures in Benbrook or un- whether they're in the city, but incorporated Tarrant County, ours is not written that way," said Tom Edwards, a gas in- Hawkins said. spector for Fort Worth. In those cases, the companies Seeking clarity were required to find a differ- For many cities, the rules re- ent site or apply for a variance, garding drilling near city limits he said. aren't crystal clear. 'X school's a school, no In Euless and Hurst, offi- matter where the school is," cials couldn't say whether Edwards said. their ordinances applied to x-r~ has requested to drill 0.n 3 acres in Southlake.Thesite is about North Hills re- structures in tit- 841 feet from Grapevine High School and lessthan 1,000feetfrom a ceived a request from Chess- ies, in part because the issue few homes in Grapevine. peake in 2008 to drill at Little hasn't come up yet. STAR-TELEGRAM Bear Creek Park. City officials Officials with, Chesapeake Even though Southlake's . said Chesapeake needed a Energy say the competing ordinance doesn't requireno . . variance because some homes rul& make drilling requests to apply for special ~per'hs- Colleyville Community De- ' in Keller wkre closer than 600 more difficult and time-con- sion to drill close to structures velopment Director Ron Ruth- feet to the proposed drill site. suming than they need to be in another city, the issue could ven said the company didn't "Whether they're citizens of for both natural gas compa- still come up in the city's dis- need a waiver because the North Richland Hllls or anoth- nies and the municipalities. A cussions. homes were in Southlake. , er city, that's the community uniform ordinance would XTO did not return a call "We can only govern what's standards that we want to en- make the process move more seeking comment on Tuesday, within our own borders," force," Pitstick said. smoothly, said Chesapeake Ruthven said. Following protests from spokesman Brian Murnahan. Discretion allowed Soulhlake residents pro- Keller residents, Chesapeake Murnahan predicted that Compared to Fort Worth and tested, and Colleyvllle's Plan- withdrew its application and others may start seriously dis- other cities, Southlake's ordi- ning & Zoning Commission. proposed a new site farther cussing the benefits of a uni- nance does give its council put off voting on the applica- away from any habitable form ordinance Bs urban dril- more discretion regarding tion for months. structures. North Richland ling accelerates and the ques- what issues it can consider In February, Titan filed a Hills granted Chesapeake's tions around it become more when deciding on a drilling new request for a si'te farther drilling permit on Thursday, complicated. He said Chesa- application, Baker said. than 1,000 feet from any ' Pitstick said. peake wasn't planning to take Colleyville took a similar homes. The first hearing on The application would a lead role on the issue. stance in August when Titan the new application is at least have likely been handled dif- . "At the .moment it's not a Operating applied to drill a month away, Ruthven said. ferently if the situation had lobbying topic for us," Murna- south of Big Bear Creek. The been reversed. han said. "It's just something site was closer to seven South- 'A school's a schooly ' David Hawkins, senior we're trying to put out there as lake homes than the 1,000- Some cities are comfortable planner with Keller,. said the a regional suggestion." foot limit specified by Colley- applying their rules both with- city's ordinance cannot be ap- ville's ordinance. in and past the city limits. , plJed to structures past its bor- AMAN BATHEJA, 817-390-7695 DISTRlB UTEB TO: P,4 CE OF I -- IVIA YOR CITY CNCL CITY ATTiVY CRIiCI ICIC&liVllE BROPYN YOUIVG ANIIVL~L CNTR 1VlcDO:VA LD COLLIIVS C. BARKER CETCHELL LlBRAR Y ADiVIllV LIBRARY REF DATE DISTRIB UTED 31db /lo DATEOFABTICLE 3 / 1 8 1 ' NEWSPMER FFYST - Job fair in Euless CareerSolutions, a nonprofit group that runs an ongoingse- iies of job-skills works$ops in Euless, Fort Worth, Arhgtod Grand Prairie and several other locations in Texas and outside the state, will hold a job fair from 10'a.m.-2 p.m. April 8 at First Baptist Church Euless, 1000 W, Auport Free- way. For more information, go to www.careerso1utionswork- shop.org. SANDRA BAKER, 817-390-7727 SABAKER@STAR-TELECRAM.COM SCOTT NISHIMURA, 81s390-7808 SNISHIMURA@STAR-TELE- GRAM.COM BARRY SHLACHTER, 817-390-7718 BARRY@STAR-TELEGRAM.COM DiSTiUB UTED TO: ik!A YOR CITY CIVCL CITY ATTiVY CIU&i ~IC&~IV~IE BRO WiV YO UiVG AlVIiX-iL CIVTR McDOiVilLD COLLIlVS C. BARKER GETCHELL LIBRilK Y ADltll~V LIBRARY REF DA TE DISTiUB UTED 3Id6 /lo DATEOFARTICLE 3 / 1 5 1' (3 NEFYSPAPER FFVST EULESS I CIVIL RIGHTS Apartments showed bias in renting, ex-worker says The former leasing agent has filed complaints with HUD and a state agency. By DIANE SMITH dianesm~thmstar-telegram corn EULESS - A former leasing agent at a Euless apartment complex is asking state and federal officials to investigate whether the complex commit- ted civil-rights violations by denying apartments to poten- tial tenants with Middle East- ern or Asian backgrounds. Daniesha Davis, 29, filed a discrimination complaint with the U.S. Housing and Ur- ban Development Depart- ment in January. The com- plaint says her employers at Stonebridge at Bear Creek told her to place Middle Eastern and Asian tenants in two buildings at the complex. When those blocks of apartments were full, Davis said, she was told to turn away Middle Easterners and Asians 'in4uiring about apartments - even if units in other parts 'of the complex were vacant. - Potential tenants with .Middle Eastern- or Asian- Sounding names or accents ,@ere told "no vacancies" ;when they called the complex ;at 2250 Fuller-Wiser Road, 'Davis said. 1 "I was told that no one else wanted to live by these peo- Iple. hat they whert dirty and 'they cooked with curry," she told the Star-Telegram. r ] Nancy Hart, vice president /of operations.for the compa- ny that oversees Stonebridge, strongly denied the allega- j tions. - - "We have res~Ondedtothe-' sues that it impossible ' Davis said she was placed which are for her to continue to work in an uncomfortable position. unfounded, and we feel quite there, , and struggled with the issue certain Our position be "After they learned of it, for months before deciding -i~~~~~~~~.'' Hart said- "We they retaliated against her," to fde a complaint. :enjoy all the residents that we Gomez said. "It was kind of eating at my ,have and represent a. Euless' affordable housing , conscience," Davis said. +t~de Vectrum ethnici-, and its locatign near Dallas1 "There were just so many ties ." Fort Worth Airport have at- people turned away." ' PattersOnl .- who tracted immigrants from ma- Staff wrlter Melody McDonald contrtb- works as a leasing consultant ny parts of the world, includ- uted to this report at Stonebridge, said the com- ing Tonga, Mexico, Pakistan, : plex does not discriminate Nepal and Liberia. The city's DIANE SMITH, 817-390-7675 against anyone. international flavor has been "We are built on a stan- touted by city leaders. dard of excellence in total ~ut the recent discrimina- commitment to equal oppor- tion claims have drawn con- tunity and fairress to all," cern from the Council on Patterson said. American-1sla;ic Relations, 5 Gomez, d Dallas em- a national Muslim civil-rights ployment attori ey who is group. The group urged HUD representing r avis, said to take a closer look. HUD referred Davis' com- The council is concerned praint to the Texas Workforce that, if Middle Eastern and Commission's Civil Rights Di- Asian people are being sin- vision. gled out, practicing Muslims A spokeswoman for that are among those being dis- agency said she cannot dis- criminated against, said cuss or confirm complaints, Mustafaa Carroll, president but Gomez said the agency of its Dallas-Fort Worth notified Davis that the case is board. being reviewed. He said misconce~tions Since she the about the Muslim communi- plaint, Davis said, her em- Q, and Islam have lingered player reassigned her, which since 9-11. He said Middle left her unem-* , Easterners and Asians who ployed. The reassignment ' practice Islam have seen in- forced her to split her work creased discrimination in hours between emIjloyment and housing. es and to work weekends, Davis said the focus ap- which created child-care is- peared to be on prospective tenants' nationality and cul- ture rather than religion since Middle Eastern and Asian people were described as "curry people." "My heart kind of sank," Davis said. "I've never heard anyone say that before." DISTRIBUTED TO: PACE / OF 4 - 1l.U YOR CI TY CIVCL CITY ATTNY CRfiVI ~ICX-~IWIE BROWIV YO L'IVC ANIIVL~L CNTR McDOlVALD COLLINS C. BARKER CETCHELL LIBRAH Y ADIVIIIV LIBRARY REF DATE DISTRIB UTED 3/d@/lG DATEOFARTICLE 3 / 1 7 / IVE FYSP.,.LpER FFVST Euless to get Nepalese community center with Hindu, Buddhist temples March 19,2010 EULESS -- Long known as a popular place to live for Tongans and other Pacific Islanders, Euless is also a hot spot for Nepalese immigrants. So much, in fact, that Euless Boulevard will soon be sprouting Hindu and Buddhist temples. Four acres along Euless Boulevard will soon become a center of worship and culture for Nepalese immigrants and Nepalese-American families. The tract at 2219 W. Euless Blvd. will be the home of the Nepalese Cultural and Spiritual Center. Lush landscaping, the temples and a community center are included in the project, which organizers hope will convey a spirit of peace, friendship and charity. 'We are trying to preserve our culture," said Murali Adhikari of Euless, a volunteer wi,th the center who is helping lead the project. "We are trying to teach the essence of our culture and religion." Nepal, in Southern Asia between India and China, has about 28.5 million people and is perhaps best known for being home to Mount Everest. The predominant religions, Hinduism and Buddhism, are practiced by 80 percent and 10 percent of the population, respectively. Adhikari said people from Nepal have moved to North Texas to pursue economic opportunities or advanced degrees at schools such as the University of Texas at Arlington and North Lake College in Irving. Many have moved to cities such as Irving and Euless, following relatives and friends who moved here first. Many Nepalese worship at Hindu and Buddhist temples in various parts of the Metroplex. The Euless project is an attempt to offer Nepalese families a central place to meet and worship. Organizers also hope to pass cultural, religious and family traditions to the American-born children of Nepalese immigrants. "They must understand all those things," Adhikari said. Nepalese families have been following the project's progress on www.Hamroaawaz.com, which keeps the community informed about local and international events. "This project ... is one of the biggest projects that anyone has done in the Nepali community," said Chhitij Bhattachan, a reporter for the Web site. DISTRIBUTED TO: 1PL4 YOR CITY CflCL CITY ATTNY CRIitI iPICh2iPIIE BRO WiV YOUIVG AlVIibL4L CIVTR McDOiVALD COLLIiVS C. B,.lRKER GETCHELL LIBRAK YADI~IIIV LIBRARY REF DATEDIsTRIBbrTED 3/d"I(0 DATEOFARTICLE 3//7//0 mw,w FWsT Construction of the estimated $1.5 million complex is expected to start later this year. It will be built in phases and is expected to be completed in six to eight years. The community center will include two assembly halls that feature Nepali architecture. The temples will each be 40 feet tall and 40 feet wide. The community raised $300,000 to help pay for the property, Adhikari said. About 300 people are part of the community effort, he said. In January, the Euless City Council voted 7-0 to grant a special-use permit for the project. The project fits with a mix of revitalization and cultural diversity that characterizes Euless Boulevard, said Chris Barker, Euless' director of planning and development. "It's going to have unique architecture," he said, noting that plans included architectural drawings from Nepal. Once the temples are constructed, everyone is welcome to visit. "They are always open," Adhikari said. "You can go anytime you like." DIANE SMITH, 81 7-390-7675 dianesmithastar-telegram.com