Resident who started the drive says traffic, parking, noise will worsen
A petition opposing the construction of a community center in Fair Oaks Ranch is making the rounds, having “taken on a life of its own” after its appearance on a national petition website.
Carole Willoughby, a Chartwell neighborhood resident in Fair Oaks Ranch, launched the petition June 13 on Change.org, seeking “to get the word out there, and to be heard” with objections to the city’s plans to construct a 5,300 squarefoot community center in the city municipal complex area.
As of Monday, 176 signatures have been affixed to the petition, with a goal of about 270, she said. The site will remain up, she said, until later this summer when it will be presented to the mayor and council.
Willoughby, a 26-year Fair Oaks Ranch resident, said parking will be a headache for Chartwell Lane residents should the community center be built. Center construction calls for only an additional 12-14 parking spaces, which she calls inadequate for the events to be held there.
“We don’t want the building at all, here, at this location,” Willoughby said. “Traffic is already bad, with the school right here.”
Chartwell curls off Dietz Elkhorn Road behind Fair Oaks Ranch Elementary, which is on FM 3351 (a.k.a. Ralph Fair Road). Chartwell is one of two roadways off Dietz Elkhorn that visitors can take to access City Hall, the police station, the utilities department and the Fair Oaks Ranch Homeowners Association building.
City Manager Scott Huizenga said concerns over parking “are exaggerated, significantly,” as the city municipal complex contains enough enough space to cover all parking needs.
“Our code allows for a shared parking plan,” he said. “We identified 94 (parking spots) with another 10 coming ... the resulting103104 spaces are more than adequate for a building of this size.
“When I met with the neighborhood folks, I’ve tried to explain that,” he said. “We’ve had literally a dozen meetings; every council member has met with residents of this neighborhood at least once, to address their concerns.”
Willoughby said Fair Oaks Ranch residents never voted on whether they wanted a community center, which she said is being funded using Municipal Development District money.
A survey was sent to Fair Oaks residents asking for input on design, roofing, “style points,” she said, rather than whether residents wanted a building in the first place.
Huizenga said the city received 250 responses; “only 3 percent had a negative response to the concept,” he said.
But Willoughby said the 250odd survey responses “hardly speaks for the opinion of a city with 10,000-12,000 residents.”
Willoughby recently opened her home for conversation with the mayor, city council members, the city manager and others involved, so they could hear the opinions of the Chartwell neighborhood — whose residents, she said, will be subjected to constant traffic headaches, increased noise levels and potential safety concerns if a center is opened for public use.
She also questioned why the city won’t renovate and remodel the Foreman Home, which offers 2,400 square feet of space for the city but will be knocked down to build the community center.
“They need something for city council to have a place to meet. They need voting areas, so they need something,” she acknowledged. “But does it need to be 5,300 square feet? And they are going to open it (for) public events, and you know what that means.”
Huizenga said the Foreman House has been mothballed since the city built its police station in 2016. “It’s sat unused. We looked at it, and ... the remediation cost of that building was too exorbitant.”
Huizenga said the community center would primarily be used for city council meetings, elections and town halls, but would be available to public groups to use — short of hosting any concerts, large parties, etc.
“That was not really the intent,” Huizenga said. “It would be open to the HOA, city council, Boy Scouts, those type of community things,” he said. Late hours would be restricted, and use would include an alcohol ban.
The facility would have a warming kitchen and meet city purposes ... “the maximum capacity, done in a table-style setting, would be 128, at capacity,” he said.
Up to 200 could be squeezed in for council meetings or town halls, but not for any reception-type events, where the 128 maximum capacity would be enforced.
The desire to build a community center dates back to 2020, she said. “The Fair Oaks Ranch council members, they (serve) out of the goodness of their heart. But this is a movement from a previous council; there may be council members that aren’t even in favor of it.”
And to open such a center to public use, “where we have residents living so close, is kind of unfair,” she said.
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