San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Couple frustrated after TPWD halts seizure of state park
When Lisa and Keith Owens were ready to retire, they sought a quiet piece of country property in Central Texas where they could be a short drive from family and close enough to nature. They settled in Fairfield, moving to the city northeast of Houston in 2021 after years of living in Austin.
Their home is only two hours away from their son, daughter, daughter-in-law and Keith Owens’ father. The couple also was able to move Lisa Owens’ mother onto the much larger property. The acreage also has plenty of room for their chickens and miniature donkeys.
And a star attraction was just 2 miles away. The glorious Fairfield Lake State Park, a peaceful place where they can fish, view the lake and just relax.
“It is such a beautiful park,” said Keith Owens, 59. “The road you drive on to get through (the park), it’s so long and winding. You forget that you’re in a state park. You feel like you’re just going down a two-lane country road, it’s that beautiful.”
Their retirement dream is now hazy after a decision by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to drop its efforts to gain ownership of the 5,000acre property containing Fairfield Lake State Park and its lake.
Vistra Corp., which leased the property housing the park and its lake to the state, put the land up for sale. Soon, they announced the sale to Dallasbased private developer Todd Interests who, according to KXAN-TV, bought the property for more than $100 million in June 2023.
Todd Interests intends to turn the land into a lakefront residential community and championship-level golf
course, which was initially reported by the Fort Worth StarTelegram in April. The company also posted a video of the construction on the property.
At first Lisa Owens thought the talk of a sale was a rumor. “When we found out that it was going to probably be more of a reality, it might be a fight, we immediately started writing our representatives,” she said.
Some residents were concerned about the state park being taken and the lake becoming a private area for the new neighborhood. Protesters created a Facebook group known as the “Save Fairfield Lake State Park.”
The couple also feared that if Todd Interests was able to build a private luxury neighborhood,
the property tax would increase for residents who live nearby. If the price of the land does spike, there’s a possibility Lisa and Keith Owens will have to continue their retirement by moving to a different area.
“The whole feeling has changed. We’re actually thinking, you know, at some point in the next couple of years, we might have to move,” Keith Owens said. Lisa Owens, 60, said they also could get priced out similar to the property tax increase in Austin. KXAN-TV reported the property tax rate increased by 3.4% in Austin.
The parks department filed a petition to seize the property through eminent domain, raising the couple’s hopes.
They monitored the Facebook page, trying to keep up with the updates about the proceedings and what they could do to help. The two said they wrote to congressmen, board members and other community and political leaders. They even wrote to Todd Interests CEO and founder Shawn Todd, and according to them, have not heard back from him.
While grocery shopping at a local store earlier this month, Lisa Owens said she looked down at her phone to see a notification in the Facebook group about the parks department no longer pursuing the state park and lake’s property. That decision came after a three-person commission found the value of the property was worth more than $418 million.
“My heart dropped when I heard the news,” she said.
They said the decision was concerning and frustrating because it appeared the department “stopped fighting when the citizens (were) still fighting.”
“You got Proposition 14 passed overwhelmingly in many places,” Lisa Owen said. “So, that tells you how important it was. Now, you have officials backing down and saying, ‘No, we’re not gonna do it.’ I don’t get it.”
Proposition 14 has produced the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund, a $1 billion fund that would be used to create, preserve and improve state parks. The parks department said they made the decision based on the timeline it would take to obtain the property. They also would have to undo the construction that Todd Interests already started on the land.
“We were expecting … maybe it’s going to be appealed and a judge will say, ‘No, this (price) was ridiculous,’” Keith Owens said. “But then for (the officials) to say, ‘No.’ We don’t trust anybody anymore.”
And they still want to know how the property value jumped fourfold.
For now, they are trying to focus on their lives, but said the decision has affected them mentally.
Fairfield Lake State Park had become a staple, offering an environment for campers, events for holidays such as the Fourth of July, and no homes surrounding the lake.
“It was an awesome experience and then to have like the sun coming up, or the sun going down. It was transcendent,” Keith Owens said. “To know that (we) had (the state park) about 10 minutes away every day for the rest of (our life) … we were very, very happy.”