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NEWS
| November 10, 2004
Arlington
City OKs financial adviser hire
Residents will be helped financially
to make room for the Cowboys stadium.
By Marti
Harvey
The Shorthorn Staff
The city council voted Tuesday to institute guidelines for acquiring
property and to hire a financial adviser for the Cowboys Complex
Development Project.
Council members agreed unanimously to offer relocation assistance
for property owners, business owners and renters who voluntarily
sell or vacate their properties to make way for the Dallas Cowboys
stadium.
All offers include fair market value, a lump sum payment and moving
expenses. Businesses and homeowners will have 90 days to move while
renters will have 45 days.
Resident Pat Lowe lives in the area where the stadium may be built
and expects her property to be taken.
She reminded Mayor Robert Cluck about a conversation she had with
him at one of the city’s town hall meetings.
“You said we would be pleased with the offer and that you
would be fair,” she said. “Well, we aren’t pleased,
and you’re not being fair.”
In response, Cluck said he would send a representative of Pinnacle
Corp., the company responsible for stadium land acquisition, to
talk with her and see if they could come to an agreement on the
fair market value of her land.
Cluck said an independent appraiser will assess values, then offers
will be sent to property owners. If the city and the property owner
can’t come to an agreement on value, the owner can request
an administrative hearing.
However, if an agreement still can’t be reached, the city
may take ownership of the property through eminent domain.
Property owner and 28-year Arlington resident Anita Barton said
she was not sure if her house was in the proposed development area
but said she needed to know so she could move on with her life.
“I’m not sure whether or not they’re talking about
my property, because we don’t actually know where the stadium
will be, do we?” Barton asked.
Cluck said the Cowboys will make that decision.
“Will they have a footprint soon?” she asked.
“I hope so,” he said.
The council also agreed to hire Public Financial Management to provide
advisory services for the financing of the stadium. The fees for
these services will be billed at $200 per hour and capped at $130,000.
The company was also the financial adviser during the financing
of Ameriquest Field.
It will oversee the issuance of bonds and other financial instruments
that are part of the city’s obligation under the financing
agreement with the Cowboys.
A time frame for property acquisition and the issuance of bonds
will be determined after the city and the Cowboys close the deal,
which is expected after the beginning of the year.
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Time
to MovE
If property owners on the site of the new Cowboys stadium
do not voluntarily sell their property, the city can
take it through eminent domain and compensate them at
a fair market value.
On top of that, the following guidelines and payments
were approved at Tuesday’s council meeting:
Owner-Occupants
Lump sum payment of $22,500
Moving expenses
90 days to vacate property
Resident-Tenants
Lump sum payment of $5,250
Moving expenses
45 days to vacate property
Businesses
Lump sum payment of $10,000
Moving expenses
90 days to vacate
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