Amid fight for Fairfield Lake, lawmakers worry about another state park in West Texas
As the state of Texas continues to face down the loss of Fairfield Lake State Park to development, officials say they will begin conversations about purchasing the only other state park that sits on privately owned land to prevent a similar fate.
State officials are still looking for ways to retain Fairfield Lake State Park, which Texas has leased for decades from power company Vistra Corp. Vistra is in the process of selling 5,000 acres, including the 1,800-acre park, to private developer Todd Interests. The Dallas-based development firm plans build a gated community of multi-million dollar homes and might also sell water from Fairfield Lake to the Metroplex, the Star-Telegram previously reported.
A representative from Todd Interests indicated publicly last week that the firm plans to move forward with its development, rather than selling the land to the state. And while some state lawmakers want to use eminent domain to obtain ownership of the park land, there’s currently no clear path forward to retaining public access to the site.
Vistra also owns the land at Lake Colorado City State Park in West Texas.
At a Thursday legislative hearing of the House Committee on Culture, Recreation & Tourism, a Vistra spokesperson said the company would be open to selling the 500 acres at Lake Colorado. The spokesperson, Brad Watson, said that Vistra would expect fair market value for that land.
“Vistra’s invitation ... is to look to the future,” Watson told the committee.
Republican Rep. Trent Ashby of Lufkin, the committee chairman, replied that he would be interested in those conversations.
“We will definitely be following up with you on that,” Asbhy told Watson.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission Chair Arch “Beaver” Aplin III, who also spoke at the committee hearing, said he would immediately reach out to Vistra about the possibility.
Lake Colorado City State Park is in Mitchell County, about halfway between Abilene and Midland. The park — which state records show is officially owned by Texas Electric Service Co., a precursor to the Vistra subsidiary Luminant — has a number of parallels to Fairfield Lake State Park.
Both parks contain lakes that were constructed as cooling reservoirs for power plants that Vistra and its subsidiaries operated on nearby property. Both of the parks opened under leases from Vistra in the 1970s — Fairfield in 1976 and Lake Colorado City in 1972.
But, importantly, the Lake Colorado City State Park land is not currently under contract with a private buyer, meaning that there’s a relatively clear path for the state Parks and Wildlife Department to purchase the land.
While lawmakers and state officials have said publicly and at legislative hearings that they want to do everything they can to keep Fairfield Lake State Park open, they’ve also expressed an interest in preventing the future closure of other state parks. One of those lawmakers is Rep. Angelia Orr, an Itasca Republican whose district includes Fairfield Lake. She filed the first bill seeking eminent domain to keep the park open. In February, she told the Star-Telegram that she’s thinking about other state parks, too.
“This is not a county or regional issue, I think it is quickly becoming a statewide issue and it’s making us have to look at other state parks and who owns or leases that,” Orr said at the time. “I don’t know that we’re gonna have a good outcome for Fairfield Lake — I hope so — but if we don’t, at least we’ve started having discussions.”
According to records provided by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, there are 15 state parks that sit on leased land, including Fairfield Lake and Lake Colorado City. But all 13 of the other parks are leased to the state by government entities, with eight of the 13 currently owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Only the two Vistra-owned parks are leased from a private owner.
Also at Thursday’s House committee hearing, which was dedicated solely to Fairfield Lake State Park and related issues, lawmakers asked Watson, the Vistra spokesperson, about Vistra’s property taxes and raised concerns about public access to cemeteries near Fairfield Lake. Aplin, the Parks and Wildlife Commission chair, repeatedly said that he hoped to reopen conversations about acquiring the park land, and asked both Vistra and Todd Interests to consider restarting those talks.
Todd Interests did not send a representative to Thursday’s hearing. Committee Chair Ashby said the developer was invited but “respectfully declined.” Todd Interests has not responded to Star-Telegram interview requests.
This story was originally published March 9, 2023 at 11:55 AM.
