VOL 7 No. 20
email: editor@ĩindependent.com
www.fbindependent.com ww .fbindependent.com
Phone: 281-980-6745
FORT BEND FAIR. BALANCED. INFORMATIVE. WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 2014
P. O.BOX 623, SUGAR LAND, TX 77487-0623
Official newspaper of Fort Bend County, Missouri City & Sugar Land
Three new faces on FBISD board; Missouri City gets a new councilman
Burdine By BARBARA FULENWIDER Missouri City Mayor Allen Owen was returned to office by a 3-1 margin in Saturday’s election but incumbent AtLarge Position 2 Councilman Danny Nguyen wasn’t as fortunate. His challenger, Chris Preston, won with 2,680 votes – 83 more than Nguyen’s 2,597 votes. In Stafford, A.J. Honore won the unexpired city council term vacated by former Council Member Felecia Evans Smith. Honore won with 471 votes (60.46 percent) and his opponent, Virginia Rosas, received 308 votes (39.54 percent). Fort Bend residents elected three new Fort Bend ISD trustees to the board. Jason Burdine won Position 1 against three other challengers. He received 4,855 (39.5 percent) of the total 12,291 votes cast. There was no incumbent in this race. Q. Iman came in second with 3,469 votes (28.22 percent); Ramesh Cheriviraia, 3,042 (24.75 percent); and C.J. Udoagwu, got 925 votes (7.53 percent). The winner of the Position 4 seat on FBISD’s board is Kristin K. Tassin, who defeated incumbent Bruce Albright and two other candidates. Tassin, an attorney, received 4,848 votes or 41.08 percent of the
Tassin total 11,801 votes cast in that race. Albright came in second with 3,636 votes (30.81 percent) followed by Deron Harrington with 2,634 (22.32 percent) and Rodrigo Carreon with 683 (5.79 percent). KP George won the Position 5 seat on the board of Texas’ seventh largest school district. George won with 4,187 votes (36.64 percent) to Patsy Taylor’s 4,036 votes (35.32 percent). Kris Allfrey came in third with 3,203 votes (28.03 percent). Stafford residents elected Christopher Caldwell and Rodney Butler to the Stafford Municipal School District Board. Butler got 356 votes (31.60 percent), Caldwell, 309 (21.41 percent), Lisa Thompson, 304 (21.07 percent), Xavier Herrera, 262 (18.16 percent) and Mike Guerra, 112 (7.76 percent). All four of the propositions Missouri City had on the ballot were approved by voters. The $40-million referendum will pay to replace/repair aged streets, sidewalks and a bridge, improve drainage and public facilities and build the city another fire station. The first proposition for $6.5 million for drainage improvements was approved 3,855 to
George 1,350 or 74.06 percent in favor and 25.94 percent opposed. Proposition 2 for $22.5 million for infrastructure was approved 3-1 by voters. A total of 3,855 voted in favor and 1,350 voted against. Proposition 3 was for $5 million to build a fire station in Lake Olympia. A total of 3,844 or 74.53 percent voted for it while 1,314 or 25.47 percent voted opposed. Proposition 4 for $6 million will be used to repair and/or design and build new public buildings. It was approved by 3,336 people or 65.33 percent and opposed by 1,770 or 34.67 percent of those who voted on it. The Sugar Land mayor and at-large councilmen were unopposed so that town held no election, nor did Stafford, which had three councilmen up for reelection, filed to return to council and had no opponents. There are 274,831 registered voters in Fort Bend County and of that total 18,379 voted early or on May 10. The percent of the total who voted was 6.69. In Fort Bend ISD a total 12,488 people voted, but as many as 2,060 did not vote in all three school board races, though they are eligible to voie for the three positions. For example, 2,060 people did not vote for anyone in Position 5.
Deacon’s Dugout kicks off annual fundraiser
Kickball costume winners. Taking top costume honors at the inaugural Sugar Land Skeeters Kickball Classic were members of The Johnson Development Corp.’s Glam Slam team. The event raised nearly $11,300 for local disadvantaged youth. Seismic Ventures’ Veloc- healthy activities thanks to the Solar Craft, Inc.; and the Misity Raptors kicked their way generosity of these companies souri City fire and police departments. to No. 1 during the inaugural and their employees.” Sponsoring the event, which Winning best costume at the Sugar Land Skeeters Kickball event was The Johnson De- also included children’s acClassic. More than a dozen teams velopment Corp. Glam Slams tivities, were Unified Energy, participated in the March 29 team, who wore team shirts M.D. Anderson Cancer Cendouble-elimination tournament and pink tutus. Best name hon- ter, Roberts Markel Weinbenefiting Deacon’s Dugout ors went to the Roberts Market berg Butler Hailey law firm, Foundation, which raises funds Weinberg Butler Hailey law Houston Methodist Sugar to help local disadvantaged firm, who played as Attractive Land Hospital, The Johnson Development Corp., Memoyouth in the area. The organi- Nuisance. Other companies facing off rial Hermann Hospital; Nalco zation is named after former Major League Baseball player on the field were Unified En- Champion, Thomas Parr, M.D., Deacon Jones, who is now a ergy; The University of Texas and Trendmaker Homes. Inspecial assistant with the Sugar M.D. Anderson Cancer Cen- kind sponsors were the Sugar ter, Sugar Land; Memorial Land Skeeters, Fastenal, Ronn Land Skeeters. “We raised approximately Hermann Sports Medicine & Goodier, Legends Hospital$11,300 which is an impres- Rehabilitation; Houston Meth- ity and Fort Settlement Middle sive start for this new annual odist Sugar Land Hospital; School PALS. For more inforevent,” Jones said. “We will be Trendmaker Homes; Nalco mation on Deacon’s Dugout, able to help so many more chil- Champion; Sugar Creek Bap- visit www.SugarLandSkeeters. dren through educational and tist Church, Sienna campus; com.
Sugar Land City Council yields to the ‘power of the pulpit’ By BARBRA FULENWIDER Sugar Land City Council at its May 6 meeting heard strong support for St. Laurence Catholic Church’s expansion plans and then equally strong opposition from nearby homeowners. After everyone had their say, six council members voted to approve the conditional use permit. Councilmember Amy Mitchell abstained, which is recorded as a “no” vote. Since homeowners who spoke were not pleased with the initial plan, Councilman Joe Zimmerman “clarified” Councilman Harish Jajoo’s motion. He added that residents and the church’s building committee should continue to talk to see if a mutual agreement can be reached. If it is, then city council will consider the alternative plan at the second reading of the agenda item on May 20. The church has been working on a plan for 13 months to build and operate a 79,521 square foot religious education center and child day care facility on part of the existing campus. At the meeting, it was referred to as a life center. Currently, the proposed site has two buildings on it that total 35,640 square feet and are used for religious education and day care. Background information provided by Ruth Lohmer,
city’s principal planner, says that the proposed redevelopment of the church campus necessitates a conditional use permit for the new building, which is in a district zoned residential. This past January, 15 people opposed the plan at a Sugar Land Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) public hearing and 35 supported it. Those who opposed cited concerns about privacy, use and enjoyment of their property, queuing, traffic, noise, property values and crime. In February, P&Z met to review a revised proposal that located the building farther from the residences. The revised plan preserved the majority of protected trees, and included more trees. In March, the P&Z met again and reviewed the CUP. Even though the meeting did not include a public hearing, nine members of the public spoke during the public comment part and seven of the nine were church neighbors. The P&Z Commissioners in a 6-3 vote approved the site plan, including planting new trees, the queuing plans and hours of operation, tree protection, an eight-foot tall, solid masonry fence along the property lines directly adjacent to residences, and all windows on the second floor of the life cen-
ter to be frosted. The city planner started her presentation to council at the Tuesday meeting by saying that the CUP proposal they were to vote on includes no new land uses and would replace two existing buildings with a larger, taller building closer to houses. There would also be an accessory building, day care capacity would increase from the current maximum of 153 to 211 and there would be 57 fewer parking spaces. Then the architect, the owner of a real estate market research firm and a consultant on the proposed church expansion all spoke. The market research manager said his economic analysis determined the new development would have absolutely no impact on nearby houses. The consultant said a traffic impact analysis was not required by the city and that there would be sufficient parking and very few cut-throughs in the neighborhood. Steve Eubanks, a long-time Sugar Land developer and member of St. Laurence, told council that he’s worked on the project since last April and “regrets that no consensus has been reached. We ask you to approve the plan approved by P&Z and staff.” See CHURCH, Page 3
Employees with Trendmaker Homes became the “Slim Pickins” during the Sugar Land Skeeters Kickball Classic. More than a dozen teams participated in the new annual event.
School board trustee questioned on campaign sign removal By SESHADRI KUMAR The Meadows Place Police Department and the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office are investigating a complaint against Fort Bend ISD Trustee Bruce Albright that he removed a campaign sign belonging to Kris Allfrey, a candidate for the school board, from the property of Helfman Ford. Since a video camera recording showed Albright removing a sign from the site, following a complaint from Allfrey, the Meadows Place police asked
Albright to visit the police department for an inquiry. The incident took place a week prior to last Saturday’s election. Both Albright and Allfrey lost their elections. District Attorney John Healey said the investigation is continuing. Depending on the value of the sign, the motive behind the removal of the sign and other evidence, the nature of the charge will be determined, Healey said. If the value of the sign is $50 or below, the charge will be a Class C misdemeanor, involv-
ing a fine. If the value is more than $50, the charge will be a Class B misdemeanor involving jail time of up to six months. The challenge is to determine the “value” which may be more than the actual cost of the material. Also, the charge could be one of theft or criminal mischief, depending on the motive behind the incident. Albright reportedly told the police that he removed the sign on the belief that the sign was illegally placed in Helfman Ford property. Albright is an employee of Helfman Ford.