Blog Archives

Lawyers will make money

7/20/2017

I'm not a Facebooker, but some recent posts have been brought to my attention. Folks, it's been a long time since I had Business Law in college, but I'm remembering something. One of the requirements for a slander or libel suit, is Publication. In my opinion, Facebook would fill the legal requirement of "Publication" regarding any legal action. I have received one report that alleges that Amtex, the proposed developer of the Chiesa Road site contributed to a mayoral campaign. That is not true. I was present when the subject contribution was discussed. The subject campaign contribution was made by a Rowlett resident, and fully legal. To the best of my knowledge, no reimbursement was ever made by Amtex. I believe the contribution was made for reasons that any Rowlett citizen may have for what they deem appropriate. It was helping who they thought would be the best candidate........whether you agree or not.

If some allegations are being made and there is no proof, and it is being published on Facebook, I think the exposure to a libel or slander suit is very real. This has turned into a feeding frenzy and if the falsehoods continue, someone is going to get sued....and the lawyers win again.

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The Stupid Season

7/20/2017

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On the front page of today's Rowlett Lakeshore Times, there is a photo of Tammy Dana-Bashion. She is quoted on the photo as such:

"I don't understand how we get to this position. I don't understand how we can have one project presented to PNZ (sp) and a completely different one coming to City Council, and we have incovenienced all those people out there."

The implication is that there was some skullduggery going on, certainly implying that the developer was up to something.

Wanna know the truth?

Yes, there were changes. The changes were made to satisfy some complaints heard at the P&Z meeting. The height was lowered in two buildings so that fears of neighbors about tenants looking into their back yard were reduced. Elevators were added to satisfy complaints about seniors walking up stairs. Then, Chiesa Road was proposed to be modified (at the developer's expense) in front of the property to alleviate some traffic concerns.

Yes, there were changes to improve the property at the suggestions of the public and members of P&Z. The developer's honor and willingness to listen to the public by instituting good suggested changes was rewarded by PANDERING FOR VOTES .

Mining for votes was more important than what was good for Rowlett. Tammy isn't alone in this behavior. Everyone running for office has this malady. After all, it is the stupid season.

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Garland Seniors

7/18/2017

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Well, Garland knows how to house their seniors.
___________________.

https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2017/07/17/construction-begins-on-senior-living-community.html?ana=e_mc_prem&s=scroll&ed=2017-07-18&u=nVWD2tDeOo2F7YcLuWRMkrBOqre&t=1500379311&j=78564091

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Robbert's reply

7/18/2017

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Below is Robbert Bloemendaal's (City Councilman) response to my "Letter to City Council." It is bizarre. As a clarification, Kent Donahue is the developer of Bayside. I am told Bayside has provisions for 1800 apartment units. If so, don't you think Kent Donahue would favor apartments? I, too, favor apartments, under certain circumstances. That puts Mr. Donahue and I on the same side.

Now look at Robbert's reply. Why would "telling on me" to Kent Donahue serve Robbert's anti-apartment forces?

I don't believe Robbert even understands who's on who's side, let alone the issues involved. In addition, Robbert is threatening to tell on me again to several hundred citizens. For crying out loud, I write a blog!! I tell on myself every day.

Robbert's threats are just like what he learned from the protesters. Throw enough "junk" on the wall, and some of it is going to stick. His threats are all "puff" and no substance.

If he wants a fight with me, he's got it. There is plenty of time between now and the election for mayor. I certainly don't want a mayor that can not distinguish the difference between who's on which side. Somehow, that's not comforting to me as a serving mayor.
______________

I shall be sure to pass on your sentiments about apartments on to Kent Donahue and a few hundred Rowlett citizens.

Robbert van Bloemendaal
Rowlett City Council
Place 1

-------- Original message --------
From: Ron Miller <ronm145@verizon.net>
Date: 7/17/17 10:29 PM (GMT-06:00)
To: City Council <CityCouncil@rowlett.com>
Subject: Chiesa Road project

Dear City Council members-- (See "Another Letter to City Council," dated 7/17/17.

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Another letter to Council

7/17/2017

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I just sent the below email to City Council.
_______________________

Dear City Council members--

On July 18, you will cast your votes regarding the approval of the above referenced project, plus the wider web of apartments in general.

As we all know, you will be hearing a lot of noise from a protest group. Some of you have said you must vote for what the majority of citizens want, using the protest group as the "authoritative source" of the majority.

I would like to point out that there are 37,000 voters in Rowlett. Some 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 are not the majority or a mandate from the people. When you get a count of about 18,000 opinions, then call it the majority, or a mandate.

Since that's not going to happen, you could use a random sampling. However, the art of random sampling is the selection of the "random." It has to be representative of the community. You don't have that, either. You only have a select group of protesters, all favoring a particular finding. Where are the seniors? Where are the workforce families? Where are the people of conscience, and care? Are they in your protest group? Under no circumstances do you even have a valid random sampling. If you think you do, you are only demonstrating that you have no statistical analytical skills. In the world of real estate underwriting, that is a fatal flaw that leads to disastrous results. Anyone that has taken college "sticks" would know that.

It's the stupid season. Everybody is running for office. The City of Rowlett could spend many years recovering from this one.

Ron

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Some intelligent thought being brought to bear.

7/17/2017

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These folks don't need any help from me explaining their position. They're actually thinking instead of organizing a protest.
_____________________________________

Dear Friends,

I am scheduled for another procedure on my back tomorrow afternoon so I am not sure if I will be able to attend the meeting. I wanted to talk a minute about this decision that you have to make and address a few topics.

First and foremost, I understand that this will be a difficult item because you are going to have a full room of people vehemently against the tax credit multifamily housing. It will be easy to fold under that type of pressure and succumb to the noise of a few, forgetting the goal of the many. This is especially true now given that several of you are vying for the Mayoral seat in the upcoming election. I ask that you consider the facts and not the negative hype.

In your last meeting, you created Rowlett's Housing Finance Corporation in order to provide a tool to promote this type of development which is sorely needed in this city. You will recall that many more people than what you will see tomorrow were heavily involved in the creation of the vision for Rowlett 2020. We have all touted the need for diversifying the housing inventory in this city for numerous reasons that I don't need to go into now. The need for affordable housing for the workforce that we are striving to attract as well as seniors is paramount. These types of development, in my opinion, are vital to the long term sustainability of Rowlett, a goal which we all should support.

Specifically, this project provides not only that, but also a means for the current mobile home occupants to receive financial help in either relocating, or moving into the new development. It will be rare for this type of benefit to be provided in any other type of scenario in which the owner wishes to sell to another developer. Let's not forget the individual property owner's rights in this. We also get to remove a non-conforming use and with the new development, increase the value of the area.

You will hear that this development will lower property values. Ask for the source of that data. As a Real Estate Broker, I can tell you that is not the case. A simple web search will show you numerous studies to the contrary. For example, in June of last year, the Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies, concluded, "Large, dense, multi-family rental developments do not negatively impact the sales price of nearby single-family homes."

Granted, you will need to address the road condition and plans for improvement. Hopefully staff will have good information to share. Regardless, the traffic load is not 10,000 cars per 24 hour period as stated in some of the "anti-literature". I know there is a 10 year plan in place to bring all roads up to an acceptable PCI rating. The project should not be denied because we are behind in infrastructure improvements.

As you know, Evergreen is already full with a waiting list. We desperately need additional affordable senior living options now. Workforce living will help us to build the critical mass that employers are looking for in order to bring much needed jobs to the community.

Please don't buckle under the pressure you will undoubtedly feel tomorrow, especially those of you that are running for office. Please do what is right, not what is convenient. This project is needed and will help Rowlett now and in the future.

Respectfully,

Rick Sheffield
Board Member, Rowlett Housing Finance Corporation
Rowlett, TX 75088

_____________________
And
_____________________
From: Anna Knight

Subject: RE: "CHIESA ROAD PROJECT" DEBATE

Date: July 17, 2017 at 12:32:08 PM CDT

To: robbertvb@rowlett.com, tdana-bashion@rowlett.com, dbobbit@rowlett.com, bhargrave@rowlett.com, tgottel@rowlett.com, mbrown@rowlett.com

Cc: citycouncil@rowlett.com,

To City of Rowlett Council,

I have recently followed the concerns of neighboring residents of the Chiesa Road project, and followed closely Ron Miller’s blogs in which he has attempted from his perspective, to clarify the issues and concerns surrounding it. The following is my interpretation of the issues. The question - who is actually listening?

Ron's blog has a way of clarifying many of the hazy or mute points regarding the Chiesa Road project, putting into perspective the logic for building the apartments. A glaring and salient point is the fact that the trailer court was in place long before the homes in/around the location were a thought, thus negating devaluation concerns. That the builders have greatly modified their original blueprint, and taken seriously the ingress/egress of said complex seems to show they are listening to the neighborhood concerns, that speaks highly for the local residents, and should allay many concerns.

After having given years of productivity to this or other communities, Senior Citizens too often and basically become the fragile fragment of society, looked down upon by many of the younger (and not so young) generation as bothersome, or completely ignored. Sadly forgetting it is they who have built the foundation upon which they are rapidly increasing the current environment. Compassion is a word they speak, but fail to comprehend and act upon. Isn't now the time to take seriously the plight of the somewhat - if not forgotten Senior Citizens struggle to have basic living accommodations at costs commensurate with their income?

One added point for the younger generation who may not understand the plight of many Senior Citizens who grew up and worked in a completely different era, both financially and mentally. Pay checks that were then considered high, would be refused by today's workforce, The difference in cost of living then and now must be a requisite concern when considering the need for Seniors of today, just as one day, it will be for the younger people of today.

Anna Knight
Department of Defense, Retired
Rowlett Resident since 2002
___________________________

So.......where is your email to City Council?
.

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Mayoral candidate (and other stuff)

7/15/2017

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Well, the time is near. On the evening of July 18, City Council, including three of the mayoral candidates will cast their vote on an important issue. The issue is apartments. Not upscale apartments, not market rate apartment, not apartments for seniors, or workforce apartments........but apartments in total.

As said above, four of the members casting their votes are running for office. The citizens of Rowlett that are against all apartments are aware of this. They learned early in life that if they don't get their way, they can fall to the floor, cry, yell, whine, until they get their way. Their big brothers and sisters have learned to overturn cars, set them on fire, throw chairs thru storefront windows, and loot stores. Apparently, our legal system says that's okay. Certainly, the right to assemble is fine. I guess that means throwing a fit and being generally disruptive is included.

The only ones unaccounted so far are the ones that read, think, and do nothing. Maybe that someone is you. How about doing something grown up. If you are against all apartments, how about writing City Council and telling them. However, if you have been following this blog, you know all the information is here to help you make intelligent comments regarding apartments. If you are for apartments for seniors and workforce persons, who you see and deal with everyday, write City Council and let them know. Email makes it easy. It's a sophisticated and grown up way of letting City Council know how you think without throwing a temper tantrum.

I have summarized about everything I can think of in a blog post titled, "Open Letter to City Council," and dated July 13, 2017. It's just a couple of posts preceding this one. If you want to email all or part of City Council, you don't have to leave your computer.

Below are the email addresses (live links):

All of City Council:
citycouncil@rowlett.com

Robbert Bloemendaal
robbertvb@rowlett.com

Tammy Dana-Bashion
tdana-bashion@rowlett.com

Debby Bobbit
dbobbit@rowlett.com

Todd Gottel
tgottel@rowlett.com

Bruce Hargrave
bhargrave@rowlett.com

Martha Brown
mbrown@rowlett.com

Pamela Bell
pbell@rowlett.com

If you remain quiet, I assume you are okay with all that headed your way, and that's more than the apartment issue. It's the way our city government does business.

.

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Mayoral candidate

7/15/2017

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I usually try to stay out of politics. However, I just read the upteenth Facebook post of Mayoral Candidate Robbert Bloemendaal. In his post, he declares no more apartments. There is no reason for why. There is no discussion about the needs for seniors. There is no discussion about helping new families that can't afford to buy a home. There is no discussion about other problems caused by such a narrow edict, and extenuating circumstances. In other words, there is absolutely no compassion for hundreds, maybe thousands, of Rowlett citizen's needs.

What it is, folks, is pandering by an arrogant, egotistical, self centered pompous ass......and he's running for mayor. He doesn't care about anything except getting votes. I prefer someone with more character and integrity as mayor of Rowlett. Robbert could be dangerous as a mayor.

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Thank heavens, a dialogue.

7/14/2017

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There are two comments from Brandon on the Open Letter to the City Council post below. Unbelievably, its an honest to goodness dialogue. I will reply sometime over the weekend. Still building a patio.

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Open letter to City Council

7/13/2017

2 Comments

Dear Honorable Council--

Well, here you are again……facing a hostile crowd and having to make a decision. I know it’s not comfortable. My opinions differ from the hostile crowd. I don’t have a hundred people to make noise for me. There is just me…..and my keyboard.

I want to talk about the Chiesa Road zoning requested by AMTEX for developing a 114 apartment unit complex. The request was denied by P&Z.

Most of you know I spent 25 years with three major lending institutions engaged primarily in real estate development finance. Two of those lenders were nationwide, thus requiring preliminary research in many towns in which not much was known. The single best skill a loan officer could develop in these "out of town" loan requests was the ability to digest information about a new city fairly quickly in order to make a decision on whether to spend a good amount of time and expense to proceed...or reach a quick decision to pass. This is good policy. The second best answer a borrower can get is a quick "no."    This allows the lender to go on to other deals, and the borrower to go on to other lenders.

As a loan officer, I always looked for the negatives, first.    I did this because it saved time. There was no need to invest additional time and energy into an unmakeable deal.

I am putting my lender hat back on to look at the Chiesa Road project, which will come before you July 18. So, here we go.

Apartments in general:

The very first negative that pops into place is the well organized "anti-apartment" crowd that has created somewhat of a ground swell of resentment in what seems to be not only against apartments, but nearly everything along Chiesa Road and Miller Road. When this group of citizens appeared at P&Z, they offered a preview of what's coming to City Council. I understand there were 50 speakers.    I have heard the same stories over and over again for dozens of times, in dozens of City Council meetings in dozens of cities. The stories do not vary by much.

But, let's dial it down to Rowlett.   There seems to be a lot of skuttlebutt about Rowlett building far too many apartments. One of the road maps that Rowlett "officialdom" uses is a study named Rowlett 2020. In Rowlett 2020, it is forecast that Rowlett will have about 15,000 apartments when Rowlett is fully built out and containing about 120,000 residents. At at the present time, Rowlett is about half that population at 62,000 residents. Therefore, statistically Rowlett could be around 7,000 units built or being considered for development.

Rowlett is far below that number. I have heard some of "officialdom" say we had 5,000 units either built or under consideration. Where? What market strata are they designed to serve? Are they for very upscale? Are they for Seniors? Workforce? Market rate? Section 8? I have also heard that 1,800 units are in Bayside. Bayside is a totally different market than the Rowlett apartment market. The "apartment" market is a lot more sophisticated than a simple word. Citing urban legends or myths doesn't provide much room for academic discussion.

In the Rowlett market there are proposed apartments for Bayside (upscale), Apartments for market rate (Huffines, The Villages, Scenic Drive apartments, and new apartments at the base of the new GWBT). Senior apartments (Evergreen). Workforce (None). Subsidized as in Section 8 (none). The Huffines project filled up immediately. It's my understanding tenants are now moving in The Village. There is something wrong with the Scenic Road project. It has slowed for several weeks and I think construction has stopped at the present time. Somebody on Staff or Council needs to find out what's going on here.

Generally speaking, Rowlett is well behind the Rowlett 2020 plan for development of apartments. The very upscale apartment development is being served by Bayside. The Market Rate market is being served by the projects mentioned above. We in Rowlett have known that the Seniors have been under-served for at least 10 years.    Evergreen apartments are underway to serve this market. It is not complete yet, but it is fully leased out with a full waiting list. I have been told they are not accepting any more reservations on the waiting list. Do you think that market has been poorly served? If you shut down "all apartments," you shut down housing for seniors, workforce, and literally render the newly created Housing Finance Corporation useless. Do you think the loud voices at the back of Chambers are advising you well on this?

Apartments fill different needs. It is quite possible a market could be overbuilt with Market Rate apartments and still be under-served for Senior housing. Ya gotta be smart enough to know the difference. Evergreen should prove something to you. Furthermore, Bayside is a completely separate market from other Rowlett apartment projects.   Bayside's market extends as far away as Kansas City. To include Bayside's apartment unit count into Rowlett's count is a statistical error. It is only technically correct. I would suspect the Bayside apartment proforma does not even rely on any tenants from Rowlett. I would subtract Bayside's 1800 proposed units from the Rowlett count.

Apartments lower Real Estate Values:

We have all heard that apartments lower values of surrounding real estate. That is probably not true. In fact, in some cases, real estate values improve. Let's look at the proposed Chiesa Road project. The Chiesa Road project is currently a small and well maintained 37 unit mobile home park. I have lived in Rowlett for 42 years. The mobile home park has always been there. If there is anything with a lesser reputation than apartments, it is a mobile home park. The mobile home park was built many, many years before any of the surrounding homes........including the homes of all the protesters. If there was a devaluation of real estate values, it had already taken place when each of the protesters purchased their house. I have read hundreds of appraisals. I have never read an appraisal whereby the appraiser applied functional or economic depreciation to devalue a house because of a nearby apartment project. I have seen appraisals whereby a mobile home park had a negative influence on value. A really well done apartment project would be an improvement over the mobile home park and would probably improve surrounding real estate values!!    The current mobile home project would probably appraise at about $200,000 from an income approach. The proposed apartment project will probably require an investment from $13 million to $15 million. Furthermore, the project's major marketing effort will be aimed toward the much needed Senior community.    Which one do you think adds more to the Rowlett community?.

Traffic:

The protesters at the P&Z meeting focused on traffic. It was represented that the proposed Chiesa Road project would add significant traffic to an already overloaded Chiesa Road. The protesters cited 10,000 cars per day traveled Chiesa Road. I don't know where this number come from, but a couple of other traffic studies I have seen say 7,100 to 7,500 cars per day. Anyhow, let's use to protester's count to do a little analyzing work. The proposed apartment project has 114 units. The marketing will emphasize seniors. I would estimate perhaps 50%-60% of the tenants will be seniors. Many would be retired and some with only one car. The balance could be workforce and have two cars. I would estimate the seniors would average one car trip per day and workforce average two car trips per day. I know my assumptions are not scientific, but they are a legitimate attempt to estimate how much traffic would add to the 10,000 cars per day, as represented by the protesters.

Do the arithmetic, folks. Estimates above say that 114 units, 50% estimated as senior tenants and 50% workforce would add 74 senior car trips and 148 workforce trips on Chiesa Road over a 24 hour period. When measured against 10,000 car trips per day, as represented by the protesters, the Chiesa Road project would add 222 daily cars on Chiesa Road. Folks, that adds 2.2% to the traffic load. That is certainly not overwhelming Chiesa Road. In fact, it is almost immaterial.

However, other development is going to come to Chiesa Road. The above should give notice to Council that some road improvements are needed for the future of the area. I know from my term on City Council that a four lane divided road was proposed for future improvements to Chiesa Road. This is overkill. That is more than is needed and far more expensive than necessary. There already exists a 90 foot easement, and that is enough to widen Chiesa Road by one lane, thus making three lanes. The center lane can be dedicated to left hand turns and right turn lanes can be built at Miller Road and Schrade Roads. That relatively simple modification will relieve a number of "backups." True, still expensive, but nothing like the four lane divided highway.

The traffic issue is negligible particularly if the City of Rowlett improves Chiesa Road as suggested above.   It will take the developer another 6 months to finalize plans and financing and another year to build. By that time, the City of Rowlett should have some definitive plans about the improvements to Chiesa Road.

It's my opinion that Traffic is an overblown issue, and fixable. It needs to be fixed, anyway, because of other development that is sure to happen on Chiesa and Miller Road projects.

Existing Tenants:

Probably the ones most effected immediately by the Chiesa Road issue are the tenants of the mobile home park. To some extent, they are protected by the Federal Relocation Act. However, that is only if someone like the proposed apartment developer buys the land. In this case, the tenants would be entitled to some relocation financial aid. If someone buys the land that does not fall under the Federal Relocation jurisdiction, the tenants will be evicted without any financial aid.

I am not the real estate agent on this property. However, I know what the agent should now be thinking. The one thing the agent should know is that the property is much more "sellable" if the tenants weren't there. There is only very modest income being generated by the mobile home park. The sellers are interested in selling for a much higher number........and quickly.   From a purely business point of view, the agent should be advising their client to vacate the park. The land will sell much faster without a tenant problem. This will place some tenants in a very vunerable position. There would be a high probability that the new purchasers would not come under Relocation jurisdiction. Some of you know tenants in this park. Some tenants would be in dire financial straights without financial aid. Some have expressed interest in moving back into the project if ever completed.

Rowlett's needs:

It has long been known that Rowlett has not done much for our seniors and young population. That has been a major criticism recognized by the Robert Charles Lessor Survey, and more recently under the Rowlett 2020 findings. More recently, workforce citizens have become under-served because of the rapidly escalating cost for homes.   Rowlett never had much in the way of apartments. One of the reasons for the hue and cry rising up from the "anti-apartment" faction was because there weren't any apartments to begin with. Two projects are a "whole bunch" when there wasn't any before.

Anyhow, because of excellent growth in our local economy, cost of housing has created severe needs, particularly in senior and workforce populations. Costs have simply outdistanced their ability to pay. The proposed project on Chiesa Road helps relieve that need. There isn't a better example of that need than the success of Evergreen.   Now we must add workforce to that need. Perhaps the HFC can help in this endeavor.

The developer:

Amtex is the proposed developer of the Chiesa Road project. I will leave it to the Executive Director to provide information on the project and the company, but it should be sufficient to say that the company owns and operates $1.4 billion in rental units. Yes, that's a B. That number would suggest they know how to develop apartments. I know from talking to the developer that, learning from the P&Z hearing, they have added elevators to the buildings, reduced the building to two story instead of three story, and are engineering a new egress/ingress entry onto Chiesa Road to aid traffic. The developer is competent and well experienced in the types of projects proposed on the subject site.

Conclusion:

So, here we are. I have used some experience and a little arithmetic to draw some conclusions. Those conclusions tell me that I could easily recommend to any of my previous loan committees that I think the Chiesa Road is a good deal for everybody. Nobody gets hurt. What do I know? Well, I've been doing this sort of thing for 50 years. Actually, everything above is abbreviated. I've identified the difference in the apartment markets, showing a need for the proposed product. I've proved up the need. I've discussed the probability that the apartments do not have an adverse effect of real estate values, and I have made a simple calculation that mitigates the traffic issue. The developer is very experienced and is quite capable of performing as represented. And finally, there is nothing the "anti growth" citizens of Rowlett can do to stop the Dallas metroplex from continuing to push out it's sphere of influence. To try to do otherwise will lead you down the path of Balch Springs 45 years ago.

I don't have 100 people to yell for me. I have just me.
I am appealing to your sense of intellect instead of your political urges. It's tough, I know. You need to approve this project for development.

Thanks for your time.

Ron Miller.

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