Here are the headlines Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe read on-air this week:
New park plans for old landfill
A proposal to redevelop the city’s old landfill into a major city park is moving ahead after the Public Utilities Board agreed Monday to partnership talks with the town of Cross Roads.
Denton closed the Moseley Road landfill in the 1970s. The landfill was on the far northeast edge of the city and needed environmental upgrades that proved expensive. In addition, the landfill was already an unwelcome neighbor to those living along Lewisville Lake. Now that the land has been remediated, Denton can consider other options for its use. Looking to its own long-range plans, the Town of Cross Roads proposed a park with hiking and biking trails and outdoor gathering spaces.
PUB member Devin Taylor said he thought leasing the land, rather than selling it, should help the city manage any lingering risk with the property.
Devin Taylor: “We have a permanent responsibility for the landfill portion of this. And I would love to see this in its best use. And, I like the idea of leasing for recreation or selling the peripheral areas that do not have landfill under them. All those seem like interesting ideas—or the energy park, a city use that’s more than mowing it once a year, something like that. But I do, I just want to make sure that whatever option is considered, we consider our permanent responsibility to the property there.”
The City Council is scheduled to discuss the Cross Roads park proposal on June 4.
More information at cityofdenton.com.
Charter committee appointments coming June 4
Also, on June 4, the City Council is expected to appoint volunteers to a new citizen charter review committee.
The council has been chipping away at a to-do list for the committee over the past several months. The list includes possible changes to city council districts, terms, and pay, along with extending the municipal judge’s term from two to four years. The citizen committee will also consider how council members can recalled, after the back-to-back recall of two council members in a bitter battle over redistricting.
New council member Jill Jester said she would like to limit the committee’s work to the council’s 10-part to-do list. She worried about the effect any personal agendas might have on the entire committee’s work.
But the majority of other council members disagreed, saying that they wanted to hear what the group has to say in the coming months. In addition, council members agreed to let the committee elect its own leadership, rather than appoint someone to the role.
Texas law allows bigger cities to govern themselves through a charter, earning them the nickname of home-rule cities. While Denton’s modern charter has been in place since the 1950s, city leaders return to the citizens every 10 years or so to consider changes, improvements or reforms to the city charter.
They are planning to call the next charter amendment election for May 2025.
More information at cityofdenton.com.
Local climate action plan revived
Finally, city documents show the local climate action plan could be back on the agenda June 18. The staff sent the plan back to the drawing board last fall after several council members said it was too costly.
According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Texas is twice as vulnerable to economic slowdowns in the summer compared to the rest of the country. Last summer’s heat wave cost the state about $24 billion in economic activity. And recent scientific analysis found Denton will experience four times as many dangerous heat days in the coming years as it did in the 1970s.
More information at dallasfed.org.
Early voting ends Friday in primary run-offs
In-person early voting ends Friday for the primary runoffs.
In Denton, Democrats will choose between Michael Braxton and Dale Frey as the party nominee to Texas Senate District 30.
Republicans also have a District 30 runoff between Jace Yarbrough and Brent Hagenbuch. In addition, Republicans will choose between incumbent Lynn Stucky or challenger, Andy Hopper, for nominee to Texas House District 64.
The election is Tuesday, May 28. More information at votedenton.gov.
Time to get wet!
The splashpad at Carl Young Park re-opened last Saturday with a major expansion and more than a dozen new ways to get wet.
The Civic Center Pool and Water Works Park open for the summer this holiday weekend, but remember that federal, state, county and city buildings are closed Monday for Memorial Day. City trash and recycling collection also moves back one day for the rest of the week.
More information at dentonparks.com.
NOTICE: LOCAL NEWS WILL BE ON HIATUS BEGINNING MAY 25 AND RETURNS TO KUZU ON JUNE 1.
Local News currently airs each Wednesday at 10 a.m. on KUZU 92.9 FM-LP in Denton, Texas, with rebroadcasts airing at 3 p.m. Thursday, and 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. Friday. The Weekend Edition of Local News airs each Saturday at 4 p.m., with rebroadcasts at 9 p.m. and midnight; and 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. Sunday.
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Local News and Weekend Edition scripts are published on Substack. Subscribe for free at peggyheinkelwolfe.substack.com and follow live microblogging of Local News on Mastodon @phwolfe940@denton.social. Peggy is an award-winning, veteran journalist and a Denton County resident since 1993.