Texas First Lady, Governor’s wife, kicks off Rockwall’s Main St. revitalization program

Texas First Lady Anita Perry, with her husband, Texas Gov. Rick Perry

Despite the driving rainstorm, Texas First Lady Anita Perry, the wife of Gov. Rick Perry, presented the City of Rockwall with the 2009 Texas Main Street City designation today at the Old Historic Downtown Courthouse.

The ceremony, plus brief reception at the City Center afterward, kicked off the City’s three-year program to revitalize the its historic downtown using preservation and economic development strategies.

The award presented to Rockwall by Perry, representing the Texas Historic Commission (THC) in partnership with the Office of the First Lady, recognizes communities that showcase a passionate dedication to community preservation efforts through their participation in THC programs.

“Preserving Texas historic treasures ensures that our unique culture and rich heritage is saved for future generations,” she said. “The Main Street designation recognizes communities which embrace the treasures of their past and protect them for the benefit and enjoyment of all Texans’ futures.”

Perry was welcomed by Mayor Bill Cecil and newly-hired Rockwall Main Street Manager Bethany Golden.

Joining Perry were representatives from the the Texas Historical Commission and Independent Bankers Association of Texas.

Rockwall preparing to cancel May city elections

Yesterday was the deadline for candidates across North Texas to file for municipal elections in May.

Since no one filed in Rockwall to oppose Mayor Bill Cecil or current City Council members Glen Farris, Matt Scott or David Sweet, the City is preparing to cancel the election.

The cancellation also means there will be no vote to change the city charter to allow city council members to campaign for mayor without stepping down first.

Arrest of Barbara Sims for cheese heroin possession poses important questions

Now that Rowlett grandmother Barbara Sims has been arrested for intent to deliver a large quantity of cheese heroin and was identified by police as a “high-level drug dealer,” it poses several questions to leaders and residents of Rowlett.

While she’s out on bail and the investigation continues,  should pressure be mounted to require her to sell her home and move immediately?

As my wife said, she’ll probably just set up her alleged manufacturing operation somewhere else anyway, now that she’s been released.

If I lived in the 6500 block of Fairfield Dr. I would be particularly irate to have someone so labeled living amongst my neighbors.

What can or should they do?

What should residents of Rowlett do?

In Rockwall, where I live, one of the major news stories this past week has been the case of Tim Salahi and Paige Elliot, who died from using the very same drug which Sims is suspected to have manufactured.

I don’t want someone like her anywhere near Rockwall or Rowlett.

No doubt, everyone deserves his or her day in court, but considering all that was found in Sims home, there’s a very strong likelihood that she is in fact a “high-level drug dealer” and should be forced to leave our area.

What do you think? How can we do it?

Rockwall City Council votes to annex Lake Rockwall Estates, 6-1

Houses, mobile homes, autos and more are crowded into the generally run-down Lake Rockwall Estates area, located South of I-30 off Horizon Rd.

In an effort to clean up a generally run-down portion of the  community where over 1,000 children live, the Rockwall City Council voted last night to annex Lake Rockwall Estates, 6-1.

More city services will now be provided to the area, plus police will add patrols to the area troubled by high crime.

Read the details on the blogs of two City Council members:

RockwallTalks by Glen Farris

Margo Nielsen

Rockwall now has healthy inventory of building lots available

About one year ago, the City of Rockwall was almost out of developed lots available to homebuilders for building new homes.

Now the City has turned that statistic around and has an 89-month supply, with an inventory of about 1,090 lots on the ground, according to Rockwall City Manager Julie Couch.

“Up until about a year ago, we were almost out of new lots,” she said. “We now have an inventory.”

Rockwall also has nearly 2,000 lots that have preliminary plats. Another 800 are zoned for residential use.

According to City Planning director Robert Lacroix, the lot supply is a healthy inventory for a growing community.

“It takes a year to 18 months to go out and develop land so you can sell lots,” Lacroix said. “We’re probably in a very good position for people when things start to change and they want to move.”

Three years ago, Rockwall was fourth on the list of the top 10 fastest-growing counties in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, increasing at about 4,500 people a year. But annual starts have declined by a quarter to 147.

The city used to see 500 to 700 permits a year, Couch said.

Dick Skorburg, president of The Skorburg Co., is developing the Stone Creek subdivision in Rockwall, which will have 1,700 lots on 800 acres, built in 10 phases, according to Skorburg’s Web site.

“Each submarket needs to be looked at on their own merits because they vary greatly,” he said. “There are quite a few submarkets that are healthy. We’re happy with all of our projects and where we are.”

Rockwall City Council agrees not to exceed tax rate of 50.88 cents

After an all day meeting on August 15th, the Rockwall City Council agreed to a tax rate not to exceed 50.88 cents for the upcoming fiscal year.

For more details, see City Council member Glen Farris’ new blog “Rockwall Talks.”

Work to begin soon on new 88-acre retail center including Costco

Talks are underway and work will begin soon to develop a new 88-acre site at the intersection of I-30 and Highway 205 for a new retail store and townhouse community.

Costco Wholesale Corp. has already received approval from the City of Rockwall for a 153,000-square foot store on 20.2 of the 50 retail-designated acres which will be called Rockwall Corners Shopping Center.

The developer, St. Ives, an affiliate of Bridge Realty Partners Inc., is bound by a confidentiality agreement so its executives won’t disclose additional stores, but their plan is to divide the rest of the retail land into five pad sites. including a two-acre tract for an 18,000-square foot strip of inline space.

Work won’t begin, however, until construction is further along to make Hwy. 205 into eight lanes and the I-30 overpass into six lanes.

According to Dale Bryant, the developer’s leasing agent, he will be starting talks this week with interested retailers who quickly contacted him after word about the development leaked out. He says talks are also under way with two multifamily developers who are negotiating for that land.

Gale Roberge, senior project manager for St. Ives’ construction manager, Dallas-based Falcon Construction Advisors, says infrastructure will be completed by the end of November, allowing Costco to take over its development site for vertical work to begin.

She said St. Ives’ site has 1,000 feet of frontage along I-30’s service road.

“It’s a lot more exciting of a project, but at this stage, it’s just the infrastructure and laying the groundwork for development.”

Bryant said St. Ives acquired the land from two property owners after it had been overlooked for years, primarily due to topography and drainage issues.

“We were able to work that out with the city, however,” he said.

Preventing family violence discussed with Rockwall city council member

A Rockwall man who witnessed his abusive father murder his mother and then commit suicide when he was a child met with a Rockwall city council member today to discuss starting a family violence prevention program for the City of Rockwall.

Rockwallrocks.com publisher J. J. Smith, who founded the Lillian Smith Family Violence Foundation in memory of his mother and directs their public education efforts, met with City Council member Matt Scott, who is also an attorney who specializes in working with corporate human resources departments.

Both men have a particular interest in stopping family violence – which includes child abuse and sexual assaults – which is why Smith initially contacted Scott. As a City Council member, Scott has worked to make it difficult for convicted sex offenders to live in Rockwall.

Smith recommended that they utilize the free resources of the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence (www.caepv.org) which is a national association comprised of corporations including Blue Cross of Texas/Oklahoma, Texas Health Resources and the City of Chicago, which have developed family violence programs to assist employees.

Smith agreed to obtain and provide all of the documents from the CAEPV so that Scott can review and discuss using and implementing them with other City Council members. Scott plans to contact Blue Cross of Texas to learn more about how they have designed their program.

City of Rockwall tax rates likely to rise for fourth year in a row

City of Rockwall tax rates are likely to rise again for the fourth time in four years, according to an article in today’s Dallas Morning News, which you can read here.

But the good news is since the debt load will expire in two years, this is likely to be the last increase for a while.

In essence, as the article explains, the City may be stuck having to increase taxes now to pay for necessary services for the rapidly-growing population because previous city councils did not properly allocate funds for present and future needs.

City Council members will no doubt be feeling the 100-degree heat soon when they make final decisions.

City staffers will begin presenting their budget proposals early next month. Now’s the time to approach your City Council members about budget requests.

Jason Castro homecoming parade, concert May 29

The City of Rockwall will sponsor a homecoming parade for “American Idol” fourth-place finisher Jason Casto this Thursday evening, just prior to the weekly Thursday evening ‘Concerts by the Lake’ series.

According to the City, the parade will begin on Ridge Rd. at Summer Lee Dr. at 5:30 pm and wind its way down to The Harbor, including cars carrying Jason Castro, his family and friends, Mayor and Mrs. Bill Cecil plus some selected fans.

At The Harbor’s amphitheatre, Mayor Bill Cecil will present a key to the City to Jason and then the new musical star, well-known for his dreadlock hair-style, will perform several songs for his fans, including “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” with his ukelele.

Come early to enjoy the historic evening. It will be a madhouse!