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October 15-21, 2010 · www.community-news.com · 75 cents

THE COMMUNITY NEWS Serving Eastern Parker County, Texas: Aledo · the Annettas · Hudson Oaks · Willow Park

EAST PARKER COUNTY

ON
THE SIDE Walsh Ranch Phase I in the hopper
Pansies still for sale
Pansies ordered from the
senior class can be picked
up Saturday from 10 a.m. to
1 p.m. Additional pansies are
available for $15 a flat.
Hudson Oaks Town
Hall Meeting
All Hudson Oaks residents
and business owners or man-
agers are invited to a town
hall meeting at 7 p.m. on
Thursday, Oct. 21 at Hudson
Oaks City Hall (210 Lakeshore
Drive). The meeting is to pro-
vide the opportunity to review
and comment on proposed
changes to the city’s sign
ordinance. For more informa-
tion, call 682-229-2400. The
formal public hearings on the
proposed changes will be held
in November.
◗ Plans call for
houses to begin mid-2012
By Randy Keck
The Community News
Pending work from the Texas Department
of Transportation, construction on the first
phase of homes on Walsh Ranch will begin
in the spring of 2012.
The Walsh Ranch is the 7,300 acre mas-
ter planned development that straddles the
I-20/I-30 split between Aledo and Fort
Worth. The entire development will ulti-
mately be in the Fort Worth city limits, but
will be in the Aledo Independent School
District.
Stacey Jandrucko, Director of Real Estate
for Walsh Holdings, LLC., told the East
Parker County Chamber of Commerce on
Wednesday, Oct. 13 that over the course of
the ranch’s development, five interchanges
and 20 ramps will be added to the current
I-20/I-30 freeway system.
The first of those interchanges is Walsh
Ranch Parkway, which will run north-south
between FM 1187 and Linkcrest. Jandrucko
pointed out that the new overpass will pro-
vide an additional turnaround between
Aledo and Linkcrest.
Engineering for the interchange has
been completed, but now awaits action from
TxDOT. Jandrucko said she anticipates
construction to be complete by the spring
ALEDO
Small step puts big foot forward
of 2010 on the segment of Walsh Ranch
Parkway that will run north from I-30 to
Weatherford Road. Once the road and over-
pass are in place, construction will begin on
Quail Valley Phase I, which will consist of
homes starting in the $275,000 range. Out
of the 113 acre site there will be 124 residen-
tial lots, and 30 acres will be set aside for
green space.
The first phase of Quail Valley will be
roughly north of I-30 and east of Walsh
Ranch Parkway. The 113 acres have already
been annexed by the City of Fort Worth, and
the plat has been approved.
Jandrucku said 10-15 percent of the lots
would be available for private sale, subject to
building covenant restrictions.
One aspect of the Walsh Ranch develop-
ment that may be significant for residents of
the Aledo ISD is the formation of a founda-
tion for educational development.
Jandrucko told The Community News
that a fee will be imposed as part of the cov-
enant restrictions on lots sold on the ranch.
While the details are not entirely fleshed out,
basically anytime a property changes hands,
a fee will be assessed that goes to the educa- RANDY KECK/THE COMMUNITY NEWS
tional foundation. Stacey Jandrucko, Director of Real Estate for Walsh Holdings,
“That money can be used to support LLC, told the members of the East Parker County Chamber of
school systems, or it could provide other Commerce that plans have been approved for the first phase
education,” Jandrucko said. of the 7,300 acre ranch development. At buildout, the popu-
“We have such a great school district, we lation on Walsh Ranch could reach 40-50,000. See map on
want to support them,” Jandrucko said. page 2A.
ALEDO ISD
State property

Christmas Tyme
in Aledo
The annual Christmas Tyme
in Aledo celebration will be
held from 5-9 p.m. Saturday,
Dec. 4 at locations throughout
Aledo. The Craft Fair in con-
junction with Christmas Tyme
will be held at the Community
Center, 104 Robinson Court,
from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. For
more information, call Aledo
City Hall at 817-441-7016.
Two Birthday Parties
Reubene Scott turns 90 this
month, and two big birthday
parties are planned for the
occasion.
The Community News will
host a come-and-go party
from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on
Saturday, Oct. 23 at Clear
Fork Grill, 29 Crown Road in
Willow Park. In lieu of gifts,
food donations are requested
for the Center of Hope.
Hors d’ oeuvres will be
served. No RSVP is required.
The East Parker County
Library will hold a come-and-
go birthday party from 6-7:30
p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 26.
Reubene will be honored for
her long career as a writer
and supporter of the EPCL.
Cake and refreshments will
be served. There will also be
a presentation of a water-
color portrait of Reubene,
courtesy of Diane Brown of
Rural Girl Graphics, as part
of her Never Give Up Award
from this past spring’s EPCL
Garden Party.
In lieu of gifts, Reubene
has asked that donations
be made to the EPCL in her
honor.
The EPCL is located at 201
FM-1187 North in Aledo.
RSVP via e-mail at epcldir@
hotmail.com or by phone at
817-441-6545.
◗ Aledo adds city logo to
street signs
By Dominic Genetti
The Community News
It may sound like something out
of the 1991 comedy “What About
Bob?”
Baby steps to the door, baby steps
to the car; but that’s exactly what the
City of Aledo is doing as they prog-
ress forward with their economic
development project. And a small,
but large step forward is now view-
able in the public eye.
“It’s a small step for us and as we
(the council) approve the strategic
plan this month at our council meet-
ing, then we’ll be able to move for-
ward with even a bigger steps,” Aledo
Mayor Kit Marshall said.
The city’s economic development
plan is spread out over 20 years and
includes plans of retail, restaurants,
parks and business. But to promote
the city and Aledo’s identity, the city
has gone ahead and placed the city’s
new logo on local street signs.
It’s a small implementation
that Wendy Shabay, the Freese and
Nicols engineer overseeing the proj-
ect, said can really buff up the city
in public forums over the summer.
Groups of representitives across Parker County gathered at Victory Baptist Church in Weatherford for the annual Pink Luncheon on Friday, Oct. 8. The
Luncheon is held in support of breast cancer awareness. Entertainer Betty Buckley was the featured speaker.
Emphasizing the city’s name in as
many places and on as many objects
as possible, she said, will create a
great image of identity.
“The logo was a huge step for us,”
Marshall said. “As you put your city
out there, you have to have some-
thing that’s identifiable.”
The logo, which reflects the col-
ors of Aledo ISD, orange and black,
displays the historic buildings of
downtown Aledo along Front Street.
Marshall calls the year-old image
“one of the early steps into economic
development.”
“A street sign, for instance, is one
of those easy places to put (the logo),”
the mayor said. “Clearly you can have
banners, a lot of other placements,
but it all requires money, so you start
looking at where you can put your
logo that’s going to be cost effective.
“Well, a city has to have street
signs, and so what better place to put
your city logo? It’s just one of those
things, it was an easy placement on
a street sign and yet clearly identifies
the city.”
Each city street sign costs $33.65
and Aledo has so far replaced 35 of
them, bringing the current total of
money spent to $1,177.75.
“As the budget permits, we will
Annual Awareness
continue to change out the old
street signs and add this fantastic
logo,” Aledo City Administrator Ken
Pfeifer said. “The effort there, per
the strategic planning process, is to
put more of this logo identification
on our buildings.”
The logo’s immediate placement
was on city vehicles.
Up next in the Aledo’s economic
development future is the approval
by the Aledo City Council of the stra-
tegic plan. Approving the strategic
plan will allow the city’s economic
development board to move into an
implementation plan that will set
more of the plans in stone.
The Aledo City Council meets
Oct. 21 for their regular meeting at
the Aledo Community Center.
tax looming?
◗ Senators seek solution
to state school funding
By Tony Eierdam
The Community News
With possibility of a legal
challenge to the state of Texas’s
school finance system, key state
senators feel it is time to estab-
lish a permanent system to fund
education.
In a report that came out last
week, Texas state Senate Finance
Chairman Steve Ogden (R-
Bryan) was quoted in the Austin
American-Statesman, “If you go
out and ask people for permis-
sion, a lot of times they say, yes.”
He would prefer that the state’s
voters, rather than the courts,
have the final say on how Texas
should pay for its public schools.
A statewide property tax,
according to state Sen. Robert
Duncan (R-Lubbock), “wouldn’t
add to taxpayers’ total burden, but
it would provide for an equitable
and efficient public education sys-
tem, as required by the state con-
stitution, because the state could
redistribute the money according
to established formulas.”
Turn to TAX, page 2A
DOMINIC GENETTI/THE COMMUNITY NEWS

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Volume 21, Number 42
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Copyright 2010, The Community News