Cowboys & Eminent Domain

From the Star-Telegram:

Cowboys, Arlington say a deal is close

By David Wethe
Star-Telegram Staff Writer


ARLINGTON -- In a move that pushes Arlington closer to the goal line in a stadium deal with the Dallas Cowboys, the City Council unanimously agreed Tuesday to send a resolution to the state comptroller to put a tax increase proposal on the Nov. 2 ballot.

The city and the team still must finalize a master agreement to equally share the costs of a $650 million stadium.

Both sides say they are close to a done deal.

"It looks like the major obstacles have been overcome," Mayor Robert Cluck said Tuesday night. He added that seeing the results of the cost-benefit analysis, which will be presented to the council in a closed-door session Friday, is key.

"It wasn't as optimistic'' Monday, he said. "Today, it's more optimistic."

Cluck declined to say what the major obstacles were, but he said there now are only minor details to work out.

The two sides are racing to meet a deadline of Aug. 24, the last day Arlington can put an item on the Nov. 2 ballot. Tuesday's resolution is the first step toward getting the item on the ballot. Next Tuesday, the council is expected to vote on whether to add an item on the ballot that would ask voters to raise five taxes to pay for the stadium.

The city is looking to add a half-cent sales tax, a 2-cent hotel occupancy tax, a 5-cent car-rental tax, a $3 parking tax and a 10 percent ticket tax.

"We're making a lot of progress," said Stephen Jones, vice president of the Cowboys. "It's coming down to the wire, and we're optimistic we can meet the deadline."

Also during Tuesday's council meeting, residents spoke out about the stadium proposal.

Southeast Arlington resident Tim Raiter said he wasn't against the Cowboys' coming to Arlington.

"What I am against is the tax burden against Arlington residents," he said, wearing a sticker that campaigned against a "Jones tax," referring to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

Carl Oehler said he thought the city was handling the stadium search properly.

"I like the way you're standing up and making good decisions and not bowing down," said Oehler, who lives in central Arlington. "I think the Cowboys stadium will be a tremendous asset to Arlington."

The primary tract that city officials are examining for a stadium sits in a neighborhood that's increased its taxable value 75 percent to $67.5 million over the past decade according to a Star-Telegram analysis of county tax records.

The land is north of Division Street, east of Collins Street, west of Stadium Drive and south of Randol Mill Road, according to sources close to the negotiations.

That area -- with about 180 acres of single-family homes, apartments, shops, gas stations and a miniature-golf course -- sits just southwest of Ameriquest Field in Arlington.

While the city has identified this area as a primary site, two other locations are still being considered. As many as four sites had been considered, but the Cowboys discarded one last week, Cluck said.

But the Cowboys are not so specific. Brett Daniels, a team spokesman, said only that the land being looked at is south of Ameriquest Field and Six Flags Over Texas.

Officials for both sides remain mum on the other two sites.

Land costs would be included in the $650 million price tag, Daniels has said. The city would split the stadium's cost with the team, 50-50.

In June 2001, Jones broached the idea of moving the team from Texas Stadium in Irving when its lease expires in 2008. Since then, the team has also talked with officials in Dallas, Irving and Grapevine.

When the team considered building a stadium at Fair Park in Dallas, the Cowboys planned to spend $50 million to put up two parking garages, he said. There would be no land costs because the site is owned by the city of Dallas.

In Arlington, the opposite is true. Garages wouldn't be needed, but paying for land would be.

As a result, the two are almost interchangeable, Daniels said. The two sides are still negotiating who would actually buy the land, he said.

Charlie Scott, who owns 20 houses and 10 vacant lots in the primary stadium neighborhood, said he and his neighbors are eager to sell, for a fair price.

"I'm not in the business to gouge Jerry Jones or gouge the city," said Scott, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1980. "If we get treated fairly, we're 100 percent committed to the stadium coming here."

Scott, who serves as the unofficial spokesman for about 45 people who own 96 parcels in two subdivisions just southwest of Ameriquest Field, said he has the support of his fellow property owners.

The subdivisions make up about 30 acres, just the size that the Cowboys have said a stadium would need without parking.

Neighbors in the Stonegate Pines mobile-home park are more divided.

Opinions range from strong support to disapproval for the city to buy property at market value to build a stadium.

Robert Neel, 32, recently bought a trailer in the subdivision and wouldn't mind paying an increase in sales taxes to get the stadium. He is also interested in selling his property.

"Everybody should be willing to pay for part of the cost," he said.

Cluck hasn't ruled out using eminent domain to acquire stadium property, but he said that would be the last option.

Brenda Parker, who has lived in Stonegate Pines for 15 years, said she needs more information before deciding if it would be good to sell her home for a Cowboys stadium.

"You're uprooting family ties and history," said Parker, a die-hard Minnesota Vikings fan whose home is trimmed in purple. "I know it seems easy for us to move our home because it's on wheels."

What's next

In a closed-door meeting Friday, the City Council will hear results of a cost-benefit analysis of the proposed stadium.

Staff Writer Jennifer Floyd Engel contributed to this report.