But what if Harding Lawson didn't make an error in its Phase II report, and Berg-Oliver took samples from the wrong tank battery site? Wouldn't it be wise, as the EPA suggested last week, to conduct more testing just to be sure something wasn't missed?
"I've sent a copy of our reports to the EPA," Thayer said. "But the EPA has no jurisdiction over this site."
That remains to be seen, says Wilkinson. The agency has "extensive legal jurisdiction" under a federal law that regulates hazardous waste facilities, Wilkinson says. But, because of the "oil-field exemption," the feds would have to have evidence of contamination caused by materials other than those used in the actual process of drilling for, and extracting, oil.
That, of course, will require more testing by the developers, something no one seems able or willing to get Baxter-Nash to perform.
"The data speaks for itself," Wilkinson says.
While just another example of the persistence and power of Houston's real estate developers, the City Park project also reflects the myopic vision of city officials, whose willingness to help finance private development is so automatic as to be almost reckless.
Indeed, signs of Mayor Lee Brown's "neighborhood-oriented" governing style were nowhere to be found at the December 1 public hearing on the City Park TIRZ. Brown, who has promised to implement a program to ensure greater involvement of residents in the redevelopment of their communities, betrayed that promise by abruptly cutting speakers off when their time at the podium expired. The mayor didn't bother to question either the developer or the residents and passed most of the meeting hunched over the speaker's list with a pen in his hand. Most Councilmembers --led by Bruce Tatro, a staunch supporter of the City Park TIRZ --posed questions that subtly challenged the most critical residents to prove they weren't namby-pamby environmentalists or antidevelopment heretics.
Meanwhile, opponents of City Park were appalled that the city, which administers the federal flood insurance program for Harris County, would encourage development in a portion of the 100-year flood plain surrounded by residential neighborhoods.
"This is totally irresponsible," said Shady Acres resident Dixie Gay Friend. "City Council should be taking steps to help with the flooding problem, not making it worse."
Whether or not the White Oak can handle the storm-water runoff from another 20 acres of concrete along its banks seemed like a reasonable concern, especially since roughly 80 acres immediately south of the City Park site belongs to the Harris County Flood Control District which, as its name suggests, owns land for just one reason. Moreover, the Federal Emergency Management Agency recently determined that Baxter's land, as well as several adjoining neighborhoods in a large watershed to the east, are now within the 100-year flood plain.
Many opponents of the project complained that traffic in the area didn't justify early construction of the East T.C. Jester extension. Janet Rodgers, whose family lives at the present terminus of the road, in a house overlooking a rich expanse of open space that will be destroyed, confronted city officials with their own traffic analysis, which shows the extension won't be needed until well into the next decade.
"To help a development that we in the community do not want, the city is proposing to build a road we do not need," Rodgers said.
None of the residents' complaints seemed to resonate with Brown and City Council, who were clearly more interested in hearing the reasons to approve the City Park project. Indeed, planning director Bob Litke admitted that Baxter planned to develop the site, with or without the TIRZ. But, Litke said, if the city agreed to finance construction of the T.C. Jester extension, Baxter-Nash could attract commercial developers to the site. Without the road, Litke warned, Baxter would likely end up building almost twice as many apartment units.
"The area, as we see it, cannot develop for commercial activity ... unless the road is put in place," Litke told Council. "It's my judgment that if we don't create T.C. Jester at this time, this particular proposal is not likely to occur, and having commercial development mixed with residential development is a good use of land."
But is it a good use of this land?
Maybe. Then again, maybe not.
Last week, Councilmembers were just learning that Baxter-Nash had misled them about the environmental status of the land. Indeed, most weren't even aware that, until about 15 years ago, the site was a producing oil field. Some had been in office long enough to remember that, even before the Kennedy Heights lawsuit, former Mayor Bob Lanier delayed at least one city-sponsored housing project when environmental concerns arose.
Lanier was just being prudent, of course. The feds had promised $500,000 in housing money for the development, as long as the city took responsibility for making sure the site was clean and safe for future homeowners.
So far, no one in the current administration seems remotely interested in extending the same courtesy.
