Kip Averitt Helped Developer Acquire PK Lake Property - Cheap!

What price homeland, hearth, shelter, water? We shall see.

After a boost from State Senate Natural Resources
Committee Chairman Kip Averitt and Brazos River Authority Board
Chairman Chris DeCluitt, an Arlington developer acquired lake
front property for a little less than $1 per square foot - 1,200
acres for $50 million, or about $41,000 per acre.

"That's a very cheap price," according to a knowledgeable land
developer who requested anonymity.

To keep the developed property, all Michael H. Patterson of
Patterson PK Land Partnership has to do is pay a fair market
price to the lease holders - discounted for the amount of lease
money they have invested - or sell it to them under the same
terms.

Senator Averitt requested an Attorney General's Opinion on how to
determine a fair market value for resale to property owners who
own homes there on October 16, 2007.

On October 29 of 2007, the BRA Board adopted a working draft
divestiture policy under the leadership of Presiding Officer
Chris DeCluitt.

The rest is history. The Possum Kingdom Lake Association has
filed legal papers challenging the method proposed to determine
fair market value. After much legal wrangling, they arrived at an
acceptable solution.

Finally, in May of 2009, the Legislature passed HB 3031, which
authorized the state agency to divest itself of the property
under the approved formula for determining fair market value.

Authored by Representative Jim Keffer of Eastland, the measure
gained the approval of both chambers of the legislature, Governor
Rick Perry signed it, and it became effective immediately on May
27 of last year.

Representative Keffer is a member of the all-important
Redictricting Committee, which will draw new boundaries for U.S.
House of Representatives District 17 this year based upon the
findings of the 2010 Census. He is the Chairman of the House of
Representatives Energy Committee and represents Brown, Eastland,
Shackelford, Stephens, Palo Pinto and Hood Counties.

During the process of considering the bill, Mr. DeCluitt
testified before the House of Representatives Natural Resources
Committee on April 7, 2009, along with Mr. Patterson, members of
the PK Lake Association and staffers of the Brazos River
Authority.

The measure was considered by the Texas Senate Agriculture and
Rural Affairs Committee, which heard from Mr. Patterson, Matt
Phillips, government and customer relations manager of the BRA,
members of the PK Lake Association, residents and various other
staff members.

These notes are from the PK Lake Association website at
http://pklakeassn.org

"17 July 2007, the BRA directors adopted a divestiture resolution
to sell to each leaseholder their lot leased from the BRA at
Possum Kingdom

"29 October 2007, the BRA directors adopted a working draft
policy for divestiture of Brazos River Authority-owned property
at Lake Possum Kingdom (Click Here). Prior to the adoption of the
draft, Senator Kip Averitt on 16 October requested the Texas
Attorney General (AG) for an opinion (RQ0639AG) concerning the
legal requirements governing how the land will be valued for
purchase (Click Here) to view. Both documents are also posted on
the BRA web site (Click Here). " - Possum Kingdom Lake
Association, http://pklakeassn.org

Mr. Darren Yancy, a real estate and insurance broker who is
challenging Senator Averitt for the right to be elected Senator
of District 22, was unavailable for comment.

jim@downdirtyword.com