The Sounds of Silence
June 17, 2008
I doubled check just to be sure–the land adjacent to Camp Bullis is in district 8. Now, how is it that we have heard so little from the district 8 representative, Diane Cibrian, about the development issue? After all, this is the person who campaigned against development and it’s resulting congestion. This is the person who closed down the not a strip club strip club Booby Rock before it got started. This is a person who doesn’t turn down free publicity–we heard plenty from her with the rezoning fiasco around Toyota and she got her two cents in regarding the auditor mess. So why so quiet now?
I can guess the response–she’s trying to work out a compromise behind the scenes in the best interest for everyone. After all, she created the Camp Bullis Joint Land Use Study Committee:
City Councilwoman Diane Cibrian, who chairs the Camp Bullis Joint Land Use Study Committee, a panel she created in response to concerns about encroaching development, said zoning for the tract wouldn’t be done until the issues raised by the Army had been addressed.
“As a result of the issues raised by Camp Bullis, the developer’s plans have changed,” said Cibrian, who helped negotiate the moratorium on development last summer. “The developer understands that lower-density land usage will be required for that area. The developer is agreeable to this and will work to lower the density of residential development and will work with Bullis.”
Now committees can be a good way to get things done in politics. But I can’t help but think that if Cibrian was serious about protecting Camp Bullis’ needs, we would be hearing a lot more from her. I suspect this is more of a case of using a committee as a cover for letting politically influential persons get what they want.
Why would I say that? You mean besides the fact that Cibrian has been so quiet about the issue? First, there is the comment by Mayor Hardberger:
Hardberger said closure seems a drastic and unlikely possibility, but he vowed to do his part to control growth. He supports Cibrian’s efforts to work out deals with those wanting to develop properties, but said he’ll support Camp Bullis and the Army if solutions cannot be found.
So he’ll support Camp Bullis rather than the committee. Why so little faith in the committee? That brings me to the second reason why I think the committee is just cover in this case. Gene Dawson Jr. of Pape-Dawson is on the executive committee. If this committee was meant to resolve differences, of course, you would need a real estate developer on the committee. But Dawson has been pretty good at publicly supporting the city’s attempts to protect the environment and control growth but making sure any regulations don’t hinder his clients.
The preliminary plans were specifically filed to avoid the aquifer ordinance, according to a Jan. 31, 1995, letter written by Stephen Kacmar, then a vice president at Pape-Dawson.
Writing to a client, Kacmar said Pape-Dawson Engineers had “been working behind the scene with respect to the new development regulations over the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone.”
Kindly note, Kacmar continued, that the aquifer ordinance said any preliminary plan filed before the new rules are approved can justify vested rights.
“As you know, we prepared a (preliminary plan),” Kacmar wrote, and Pape-Dawson filed it “just prior to council action on the new regulations.
So why has Cibrian become much more interested in protecting land rights which jeopardizes over 8000 jobs than those involved in the moral climate of the neighborhood? As a semi-declared candidate for mayor (or, I suspect, any other political office that become vacant in a year), it’s time to follow the money.
Posted in Camp Bullis, Diane Cibrian, District 8
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