By Bill Zeeble, KERA reporter
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-644461.mp3
Dallas, TX – Bill Zeeble, KERA reporter: Here's one developers' vision tied to the current Trinity Toll Road and river park plan. Exquisite high rise apartments, condos and office buildings along Industrial and Irving boulevards, towering above the levee, overlooking a beautiful park, lakes, skyline, and, ok, a highway. Real estate broker and Vote No organizer Marcus Wood stands next to Dallas County's Crowley Courts building, in the old Union Pacific Rail Yard. Two years ago he sold this Industrial Boulevard property to JPI, the single largest Trinity River Corridor land holder, with 100 acres. Today, the company's breaking ground on its Water Front Towers high-rise project, where occupants will be able to peer down upon the Trinity River.
Marcus Wood, Real Estate Broker: When you're sitting there next to a world famous designer's bridge, Mr. Calatarava, the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, people come from around the world to see his bridges. This'll be the first of two. It'll put Dallas on the map. It'll make all the difference in the world in terms of Dallas as a destination and pull people right here.
Zeeble: So what happens to developers with plans like these, if voters eliminate the toll road? Not everyone buys into Wood's grand vision, but one who does is JPI Executive Vice President Jim Fadley. He worries this & other projects along Industrial could die before they're born, with a toll road rejection.
Jim Fadley, JPI Executive Vice President and Senior Operationas: I think there'll be a huge pause button that's hit. Nobody will not know what'll happen for a year or more. Yes people say there are a lot of other places to build, so there'll be an effort to figure that out. Of course that's been studied for years. The only alternative of any merit is along Industrial. Industrial now houses many businesses and it's also where we have our property holdings. An alternative is going to pretty much wipe out the vast majority of land holdings available for redevelopment.
Zeeble: Fadley says that's because an Industrial highway would take up to 300 businesses. Many fear commerce would crater, & economic development payoffs would plummet. Marcus Wood estimates a Yes vote would cost hundreds of millions in lost tax dollars But wait, says Patrick Phillips, Urban Development Consultant with Economic Research Associates. Dallas paid his company to study high speed reliever route options in 2001 and 2, then updated the study for the current development plan. Phillips says when just looking at land values, the best payoff would come from a park with a low speed, meandering parkway.
Patrick Phillips: If you think about adding value to adjacent communities or to create a compelling destination for visitors then it's the park you're concerned with and you want a road that does no harm to the park experience. That leads you to a lower speed, gentler road experience that may not do a whole lot to relieve congestion. 1313 A lower speed parkway is much more beneficial.
Zeeble: Phillips says think of New York's 5th Avenue properties adjacent to Central Park, with its meandering road and walkways. Dallas never paid for a low-speed parkway study. It only asked for the economic impact of speedway options. Phillips, however, says Dallas claims dual needs - a route to relieve traffic congestion and parks.
Phillips: It's clear that in Dallas both roads and green space create value.
Zeeble: Not for Mark Spence.
Mark Spence, answering phone:125 Yessir!
Zeeble: For 25 years Spence has run Superior Cooling Services, which fixes diesel engine radiators. Located upriver on Irving Boulevard, Vote Yes signs stand out front, against prevailing business views up and down the boulevard. Spence wants NO toll road.
Spence: I see concrete being poured by the river that would be, for a generation to come, a tremendous mistake, for them to say how/why did you let this happen? 33411/344 There's a lot of places to build roads but where can you build this kind of park?
Zeeble: Spence lived and raised his children here, less than a mile from the river. Photos of his grandkids in kayaks make them Trinity river poster children. He says the park and river - without a tollway - would let everyone enjoy a natural, rural environment even though it's in the city. He knows that if he wins, his business might be taken for the alternate toll road along Industrial and Irving Boulevards. But he's not worried.
Spence: That's a scare tactic. I don't believe there'll be a toll way on Irving anymore than I believe the story that the cow jumped over the moon.
Zeeble: Spence says there are dozens of untried options to fix the mix master. Officials, he claims, have kept them quiet. Across the street, business neighbor Richard Knox, of Knox Oil, is unconvinced by Spence. A sign at his truck fueling station on Sylvan and Irving reads Vote No. Knox likes the current plan for the toll road and park improvements.
Richard Knox, owner, Knox Oil of Texas: This road is just a vibrant part of helping the city. If we don't have a road, we'll have what's called gridlock. Ever since I was a kid, Mayor Erik Johnson talked about the Trinity River, but it never happened. And we're on the forefront of that happening.
Zeeble: Knox dreams of those Calatrava bridges equaling Paris's Eiffel Tower. And he likes that nearly every local official backs the toll road, including those who often disagree each other. And he disagrees with the Patrick Phillips's assessment of land values. Knox is convinced the icing on his cake may come from his soaring land values if voters keep the toll way.
Knox: On this property here, it can go up to 27 stories on this property. And that's what they envision. You know, 27 stories looking at the river. We're going to be a high-rise deal at the end of the day.
Zeeble: But not, he fears, if voters say Yes, or an Industrial Boulevard toll way takes a 3rd of his land. Would the city seriously consider an Industrial freeway if voters reject the Trinity Toll Road? Jim Fadley and other toll road supporters don't think so, because of the expenses and business relocations. Toll road opponents say an Industrial route should not be ruled out. Bill Zeeble, KERA News.
Bzeeble@Kera.Org
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