Posted on 12/23/2003 7:47:23 PM PST by GeronL
North Lake Park used to be a happening place, even during the holiday season.
Radio-controlled jets used to streak through the skies above while motorboats and water-skiers skimmed the surface of the 850-acre lake. Families and friends would gather on weekends around the picnic tables. In 1986, about 25,000 people listened to evangelists rail against rock 'n' roll and secular education with the lake in the background. There used to be a two-mile Christmas lights display along the lakeshore each December.
Today, the only human activity at North Lake Park is grass cutting by the maintenance workers. The chain-link fence surrounding 600 acres keeps out any other would-be parkgoers.
For a number of reasons, including the national security climate after the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a TXU spokesman, that park is likely to remain closed. TXU's North Lake power plant sits on the lake's north shore.
"We have to maintain a buffer property around that plant, and whenever people start getting close, we start to have complaints because of the noise from the plant," said Baty Houston of the TXU commercial real estate division. "That lake was OK for the small watercraft, but there are currents [generated by the power plant] in that lake, and it's dangerous. So the company is also worried about the liability."
Originally maintained and operated by Dallas since the late 1950s, North Lake Park was taken over by Irving in 1989, although the park is owned by TXU and lies in Dallas city limits.
But because TXU denied the city's request for a long-term lease, Irving decided to spend its $250,000 in annual maintenance costs on park property inside Irving.
"We could have continued to maintain and operate it, but if it wasn't going to be a part of our future master planned park program, then why did we need to continue to spend money for the basic operation and maintenance?" said Irving City Manager Stephen McCullough.
The lake, which borders Coppell and Irving, serves as a cooling reservoir for TXU's North Lake power plant on the north shore.
"That property was bought for power generation, and with deregulation, we didn't know if we were going to need it for possible co-generation plants or whatever," Mr. Houston said.
Park's regional pull
Mr. McCullough said the park is big enough to qualify as a regional attraction. "It drew people from numerous cities, not just from Irving." He said residents of Coppell, Grapevine, Dallas, Carrollton, Lewisville and other cities frequented the park. "I think there were more non-Irving residents using it than Irving residents."
After Irving stopped maintaining the park in 1998, Coppell negotiated with TXU to operate the park but had the same concern – the company insisted on having the ability to cancel the lease on short notice.
"We wanted to put in some little fishing docks and some other things, maybe invest a few hundred thousand dollars," said Coppell City Manager Jim Witt. "But when they have the right to pull it out from under you in 90 days at any time, it really wasn't much of a deal."
Since then, the park has remained unused, boat ramps vacant, picnic tables empty and the lake now a refuge to wildlife without interruption from human visitors.
Matt Cooper, a 19-year-old Coppell resident and college student, said he has fond memories of swimming in the lake even into the winter, because the power plant keeps the water warmer than other lakes. He would also spend a lot of time flying his radio-controlled airplane with his dad at the concrete radio-controlled airstrip.
"It was great," Mr. Cooper said. "But once they shut it down, the RC club tried to just buy out that little part of the land. But TXU wouldn't budge at all. Then we had to stop because all the other places are too far away – it was a shame."
Although the company has fielded requests from developers seeking a variety of businesses on the lake, all have been turned away.
"We've had people come to us for residential, commercial, entertainment, all kinds of things – anything from equestrian to golf course [use] to offices, hotels, theme parks, soccer fields – you name it," said Mr. Houston. "We've looked at possibly selling part of it for development, but so far the company just doesn't want to do any of it."
Mr. Witt said Coppell would still like to have access to the park for its residents but isn't willing to spend the money without an assurance that the park would be open for them well into the future.
"I ride by there every now and then and think it would've been great," Mr. Witt said. "But that's their determination. If that's the highest and best use for TXU, that's fine with Coppell; we'll just move on down the road."
And since Sept. 11, 2001, TXU isn't interested in the park concept.
"TXU Energy has many considerations to weigh regarding the future use of the North Lake Park, including but not limited to security and lake access," said Rand LaVonn, spokesman for TXU Energy. "Due to such concerns, we feel we must restrict such access to the property and to the lake at this time."
Security issues
Until the security climate, the energy market or the economic incentives change, TXU's North Lake Park seems destined to remain a haven for power generation and wildlife.
"I guess in the pre-9-11 days, we didn't have some of these overriding concerns," Mr. Witt said. "It's just another indication of how we start to limit our resources and opportunities in our society because of security issues."
Mr. Cooper doesn't buy into the security concerns. "I think there are ways to handle the security issue. I think that's just their way of tip-toeing around whatever issue they really have."
He said that when he goes by the old park, he remembers the good times, and the resentment. "It almost makes me mad because it's right there, right in front of us for everyone to use, and not one city could open it. Even Irving, Lewisville and Coppell could have gone in together and paid a little bit and have this nice public area for people to use. It's kind of sad."
But as Mr. McCullough pointed out: "TXU owns it and it's part of their plan for the future. ... If it's part of their master plan in providing power service to the region, that's important to us also."
E-mail sstafford@dallasnews.com
Its closure is a big loss.
We must reopen this park! We must give up the war on everything to reopen this park /sarcasm.
It was a great park!
Notice the new tagline.
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