Texas is losing a state park to multimillion-dollar homes, private golf course

A preferred state park southeast of Dallas is poised to change into an unique neighborhood with multimillion-dollar houses and a private golf course.

The private landowner of Fairfield Lake State Park is promoting the property to a Dallas developer, who plans to construct the gated neighborhood.

Texas Parks and Wildlife acquired discover Monday that the almost 50-year-old lease will finish in June of this 12 months, mentioned Arch “Beaver” Aplin III, chairman of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission.

Although the park has been open to the general public since 1976, the property is owned by Vistra Energy, which leased the land to the state for gratis.

Vistra will promote to Todd Interests, the developer answerable for high-end initiatives in downtown Dallas, together with The National and East Quarter. The developer, Shawn Todd, has indicated he’ll now not lease the land, state officers say.

Todd Interests didn’t reply to requests for remark Tuesday.

“It is crystal clear that the developer plans to close down the park,” mentioned Aplin, who is the founder and CEO of Buc-ee’s. “To lose a gem like Fairfield Lake, it’s just horrible.”

Overlooking the two,400-acre Fairfield Lake, the park affords miles of trails for climbing, biking and horseback driving, however its largest draw is fishing for bass and catfish.

The park and lake lie alongside a rural stretch of land in Freestone County, roughly 80 miles southeast of Dallas. Its central location to Dallas, Houston and Austin makes the realm extremely wanted actual property.

Vistra listed the property on the market in 2021 with an asking worth of $110 million.

At the time, Texas Parks and Wildlife couldn’t afford to buy the land, Aplin mentioned. But now, after passage of a constitutional modification in 2019 that directs sales-tax income from sporting items to the division, it might need the means to accomplish that.

The park’s closure comes at a essential time: Texas is rising quick, with the inhabitants quickly anticipated to hit 30 million. Park visitation skyrocketed through the COVID-19 pandemic and reveals no indicators of slowing, park officers have mentioned.

In 2021, Texas state parks had a document 9.94 million guests. Last 12 months, Fairfield welcomed more than 80,000 visitors, greater than any 12 months in its historical past.

On common, parks are seeing a 2% to 5% leap in guests annually. This 12 months, the variety of guests is anticipated to high 10 million for the primary time.

Texas, nonetheless, lags behind different states in public parkland, in accordance to a latest report by the nonprofit Environment Texas Research and Policy Center. The state ranks thirty fifth within the nation for state park acreage per capita. Texas has 8 million extra folks than Florida, however 86,000 fewer acres of state parkland, the report says.

“Texas really doesn’t have enough state park land,” mentioned Janice Bezanson, senior coverage director for the Texas Conservation Alliance. “It’s particularly sad to see a popular park shut down at a time when we should be celebrating our state parks.”

This 12 months marks the a centesimal anniversary of the state’s parks system, with quite a few celebrations deliberate throughout the state.

Later this 12 months, Palo Pinto Mountains State Park is scheduled to open about 75 miles west of Fort Worth. It would be the area’s first new state park in 25 years.

Fairfield is not the one state park on leased land. Texas leases land for greater than a dozen different parks, together with Monahans Sandhills State Park in West Texas and Ray Roberts Lake State Park, north of Dallas.