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Lesley Property-CS 970925 JORDAN, DUNLAP & PRATHER, L.L.P. ATTORN'EY$ A.\~I) COL~SELOR$ B.~N~ ON~ P~fiTON~ $LqTE 400 JERRY N. JORDAN 8111 PRESTON RO.~ ROBERT C. PRATHER, SR. fia~l~airmail.net D.aLL&S, TE~S 75225 prathers~aol.com WALTER H. DUN~P, JR. (~1~) 696-6060 JOHN W. HARRIS F.~ (~14) 696-67~4 harrislw43~aol.com September 25, 1997 Mr. Jim Witt City Manager City of Coppell P. o. Box 478 Coppell, Texas 75019 Re: Property of Mrs. Hattie Mae Lesley Our File No. 10168/12 Dear Mr. Witt: It was a pleasure meeting with you and member of your staff last Friday to discuss the possibilities that exist for the City of Coppell and for Mrs. Hattie Mae Lesley in connection with her property which is located at Belt Line and LBJ. I wish to thank you for all of the information that you provided and for the substantial assistance that members of your staff gave to me. It is a great help to have copies of the zoning map, the topo map, the aerial photographs, the water, sewer and storm drainage projections for this property. All of your staff were quite helpful and I commend the gentlemen to you. Please convey to them my thanks. As evidence of the desire of Mrs. Lesley to proceed in the hopes of concluding an agreement to sell her property, I have been authorized to acquire a Phase I Environment Assessment of the 27- acre tract. The environmental people will be in touch with your office for additional information as they prepare that assessment. Obviously, that is the first step in terms of getting the 27-acre tract cleared up. I think we all share a common vision as to what all of the Lesley property could wind up being as the primary southern gateway to the City. I believe it is in the best interest of both Mrs. Lesley and the City to work to find a purchaser who will utilize the tract creatively. Several points were made during our conversation which I wish to reiterate in accordance with my understanding of them: 1. Water. I understand that there is a 12-inch line at the northeast corner of the 184-acre tract. Your water plan Mr. Jim Witt September 25, 1997 Page 2 calls for that line to be looped to tie into a 12-inch main over on the west side of the property. I further understand that the line does not have to go along LBJ, but could go through the middle of the property at properly-designated sites and using stubs off of it to service the adjacent buildings. 2. Central Roadway. At a minimum, a major T intersection could be done for a central roadway to go through the 184-acre tract tying in between Belt Line and Freeport Parkway. 3. Liquor Permit. We understand that private clubs that can sell liquor would be a possibility. This is of no interest to Mrs. Lesley, individually, but certainly some buyers would find that this is an important element. 4. Tax Abatement. We understand that for corporate offices of the size that would be involved in this transaction that tax abatement of city taxes at 75 percent for a five-year period is the current policy. We understand that you have 12 of these at the present time. 5. Section 380 Pro~ram. It is a possibility that funds could be made available under the Section 380 program in the right situation. As we proceed with looking at the various alternatives, this is a matter that needs to be kept in mind. 6. Hotel Taxes. Questions were asked about hotel tax rates. We understand that currently it is 13 percent. 7. Water to 27-Acre Tract. I made an inquiry about the cost of bringing water across Belt Line to tie in the 27-acre tract into the system and your engineer indicated that his off the cuff guess would be something in the neighborhood of $15,000 to bore that water line. The 27- acre tract, as I understand your ideal wish list for the tract, would be a development under an integrated plan. There is also the possible use of Section 380 monies in connection with the site improvement situation. 8. Time Line and Platting. In respect to the 184-acre tract, it would seem possible that a buyer could get to the point of even pushing dirt in 60 days, although the total platting might take four to six months. 9. Wrangler Road. We understand that you are in the process of building Wrangler Road and making improvements to it. Mr. Jim Witt September 25, 1997 Page 3 10. Street Lights and Safety Signals. At City expense, we understand that the signalization of Belt Line would all be tied in together to get the best traffic control and flow, and that street lights can be provided. 11. Spine Road. The spine road ("Lesley Blvd."?) should tie from Belt Line to Freeport Parkway. From both the traffic control and the standpoint of fire protection, it seems that a spine road is mandatory and would tie into Freeport Parkway north after you came off of the overpass. I understand no specific planning has been made for that. Although we did not discuss it, it would seem essential that in approving any platting for the 31 acres which lies to the west of the Lesley property, a consideration should be given as to how the spine road would tie in. You pointed out that with the location of the fire station, it appears logical that the quickest access to the Lesley property would be through Freeport Parkway road coming in from the West rather than dealing with Belt Line. As the word gets out that Mrs. Lesley is seriously looking toward the sale of her property, I think that this may lead to a substantial number of inquiries coming in to the City. I will keep all of the materials that you have supplied to me, and have them available for inspection by any of the people who are wanting to do their due diligence in checking these matters out. I would request that you instruct your staff that in the event there are inquiries about the property that you would refer the potential buyers to me rather than contacting the Lesleys. It occurred to me that perhaps your business development people might wish to prepare a single page fact sheet about the property which would give information as to the general location of water lines, sewage, storm drainage, general description of the toDo~raDh¥, fire coverage, master Dlan zoning, Dresent zoning, and any special requirements that you might have in connection with the development of the property such as the looping of the water line and the establishment of at least a spine road. With any change in use, of course, there will be rollback taxes that will be generated. Would you be so kind as to ask your tax people to calculate the City's portion of rollback taxes if the change in use occurred in 19977 That could be a potential windfall situation for the City. Could the City's share be used for site improvements such as water, signalization, lighting, etc.? Mr. Jim Witt September 25, 1997 Page 4 I am looking forward to working with you and your staff in respect to having an optimum development of the Lesley property. Thanks for your courtesy and cooperation. I am Sincerely yours', / .~orney for H~ttie Mae Lesley JNJ: wb