Today Cedar Hill (Duncanville, Tex.), Vol. 41, No. 15, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 20, 2006 Page: 2 of 18
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Page 2 • Cedar Hill Today • Thursday, July 20, 2006
CEDAR HILL TODAY
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Pointe
From Page 1
creation of the Cedar Hill Public
Improvement District No. 1, more
commonly known as the High Pointe
PID, in 1998.
“The city gave us some money, but
most of it came from the two HOAs
for petitioning homeowners and small
expenses,” said Reed, the High Pointe
PID’s secretary and longtime histori-
an.
A PID is defined as a geographical
area established to provide specific
types of improvements or mainte-
nance within the area, fiinded by a
special assessment levied against
property owners within the area.
PIDs can then perform mainte-
nance and landscaping duties above
and beyond what the city can ordinar-
ily provide.
Cedar Hill has two PIDS — High
Pointe and the younger association in
Waterford Oaks.
Both PIDs assign a tax rate of 10
cents per $ 100 of assessed valuation
per home. The tax is subject to city
council approval.
The money raised is used to
improve common areas within the
PID’s boundaries, going further than
perhaps what the city can offer.
“The city is always concerned
about costs,” Reed said. “What the
PID is saying is, ‘We are not satisfied
with the level of services you are pro-
viding our community.’ What you’re
saying is, ‘We want something better.
Obviously, you want to restore the
things that went south.”
High Pointe adopted North Clark
Road, parts of Wintergreen Road,
High Pointe Lane, Straus Road and
Old Straus Road, and those areas
became common property under the
maintenance and upkeep jurisdiction
of the PID.
Private property is off-limits to the
Today photo by CHRIS HUDSON
High Pointe’s Public Improvement District was created in 1998 and
was inspired by the Westchester PID in Grand Prairie.
PID, which is not the same thing as a
mandatory HOA that can regulate
some aspects of how a resident pres-
ents his or her home.
The only way someone’s property
can fall under PID jurisdiction is if a
part of it, say, one side of a fence,
falls along a street considered part of
common property.
In that case, if the common part of
someone’s fence is falling down, then
the PID can replace it with no cost to
the resident except what is raised
through the PID tax.
High Pointe got right to work after
its creation.
“We added fences and a large irri-
gation project, some more trees, crepe
myrtles and shrubs,” said Kennedy,
the PID’s treasurer.
Homes in High Pointe had an esti-
mated total taxable value of
$307,800,326 in 2004. There were
about 2,636 residences within the PID
back then.
In 2005-06, the PID’s budget proj-
ects an estimated $349,634 in rev-
enues, $87,930 in administrative and
operation expenses and $129,060 in
maintenance and landscaping costs
for a total operating expense of *
$216,990.
Its capital improvements budget
for this year totals $ 132,644.
The city contributes $20,000 to the
budget, which Kennedy said goes
toward the cost of services the city
would provide if the PID didn’t exist.
State law also dictates that the PID
maintain a five-year long-range plan.
“We develop the budget in con-
junction with the city and take it to
them,” Reed said.
High Pointe’s tax rate has always
been 10 cents since its inception.
“All of our money is held by the
city except for a small petty cash
fund,” Reed said.
High Pointe has worked closely
with city officials through the years,
Kennedy said.
“The city has never balked at any-
thing that we do because we’ve been
very straightforward and open with
what we do,” he said.
PID taxes pay for extra police
patrols in High Pointe for four hours
on Fridays and four hours on Satur-
days and for a code enforcement offi-
cer.
“We have a good relationship with
the city because we take care of
things that they don’t have to worry
about,” Reed said. “The city still
takes care of the streets and sewage
and things like that, but it would
probably mow here once a month.
The PID mows 40 times a year.”
The PID reimburses the city for
overtime costs accrued by the extra
police patrols, Kennedy said, adding
that Police Chief Steve Rhodes, Code
Enforcement Director Johnny Kendro,
City Manager Alan Sims, members of
the city council, the Parks and Rec-
reation Department and the Public
Works Department have all “excep-
tionally supported” the PID.
The PID board, made up of seven
officers, meets once a month at High
Pointe Baptist Church, although there
is no meeting in July.
Fencing has seen a tremendous
improvement in High Pointe since the
advent of the PID and the creation of
vinyl fences, Kennedy said.
“Thanks to vinyl, we might be able
to get out of the fence-building busi-
ness,” he said.
There are nine subdivisions within
High Pointe, and all should have their
own unique identities, Reed said.
“The PID has reached a stage in its
maturity where we’re looking at joint
projects with the city,” he said, nam-
ing a proposed water feature to be
used as an entry feature at Flameleaf
near the Duncanville city limits and
repairing fences near Hillcrest Baptist
Church.
“It all comes back to keeping
property values up,” Reed said. “Real
estate agents say a PID typically adds
about $5,000 to property values.”
One of the things Kennedy would
like to see is a more varied member-
ship on the PID’s board of directors.
Turnover is a rarity, he said.
“A lot of us have been on it from
the very beginning,” he said, adding
that he wants to see a higher turnout
at meetings, too.
The PID has made a definite
impact in their neighborhoods, both
men say.
“There was a monument near the
entrance to The Meadows, and we all
kind of liked it,” Kennedy said. “It
was located on private property
owned by the developer, and he kept
telling us when he sold the property,
he was going to bulldoze it.
“Well, we never really believed he
would do it, but we went over there
one day and sure enough, he was
about ready to get started on it, but
we collected a number of signatures
from nearby homeowners and were
able to buy the land and have the PID
take it over.”
Oaks
From Page 1
ulate the presentation of their
private property.
In reality, PIDs can only
regulate common property —
mainly property located along
major neighborhood intersec-
tions, for example.
A PID w defined as a geo-
graphical area established to
provide specific types of im-
provements or maintenance
within the area, funded by a
special assessment levied
against property owners within
the area.
PIDs can then perform
maintenance and landscaping
duties above and beyond what
the city can ordinarily provide.
Currently, both Waterford
Oaks and High Pointe assess a
tax rate of 10 cents per $100
of a home’s assessed valuation.
The rate has remained
steady for several years and
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can be raised or lowered. All
PID tax rates must be app-
roved by the city council.
Most PID assessments are
automatically included in
mortgage payments, and most
people nevernotice them,
Waterford Oaks and High
Pointe officials said.
Getting a PID started, as
Reed told the residents of
Waterford Oaks at that first
meeting, is a chore in itself.
“You have to decide what
your boundaries are, what your
bylaws are going to be, and
then you have to petition your
neighbors,” Rush said.
PID creation requires the
vote of at least 51 percent of
property owners listed on cur-
rent tax rolls.
“At the first meeting, we
had about 35 people or so and
a couple of naysayers,” Rush
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said, mentioning that most of
the wary attendees were afraid
of the possibility of regulating
things such as paint choices
and other private property
issues. I
Waterford Oaks’ budget is
about $65,000 a year, and all
of it is held by the city.
“That keeps things very
transparent and makes us feel
more comfortable,” Brown
said.
Brown and Rush both say
the neighborhood’s relation-
ship with the city has been
great.
Since constructing a new
fountain and decorative brick
entry way, Waterford Oaks has
also:
• Replaced old, non-work-
ing irrigation along the front
median;
• Replaced aging trees
along the Waterford Oaks
median with new trees better
suited for this area and added
new landscaping;
• Worked with the city to
get old, non-working street-
lights along Calvert and
Waterford Oaks replaced with
standard lighting;
• Installed long-lasting
fencing along Calvert Drive,
probably the neighborhood’s
busiest entry, Rush said;
• Installed engraved signs
on both sides of the Calvert
entry and on the south side of
the Lowe entry;
• irrig^tjpn, and
landscaping af,the Calvert
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entry;
• Displayed holiday lighting
at the Belt Line Road and
Calvert entries.
“We’re so excited about the
things we’ve been able to do
here,” Rush said. “When we
realized our entry way was
going to be tom down, we
knew we couldn’t fix it our-
selves. There’s nothing like a
beautiful entrance to help you
think positively about our
neighborhood.
“Before (the PID formed),
all we could see was our dollar
signs going down.”
Once the campaigning was
over, 81 percent of the neigh-
borhood’s residents signed the
petition to form the PID, Rush
said.
Just reaching people at
home was a huge problem con-
sidering busy work schedules,
Brown said, estimating it took
about five visits to each home
on average to reach someone.
Common areas that fall
under the PID’s jurisdiction
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include the front entry way off
Belt Line Road and areas by
Calvert and Joe Wilson Road,
and future projects include
removing some concrete barri-
ers along Jpc Wilson between
Calvert and Lowe and adding
landscaping such as crepe'.myr-
tles.
The PID also plans lighting
improvements on Calvert and
near the walkway bridge close
to the rear entrance of Bessie
Coleman Middle School.
“We had a weird situation
with some lights because the
original developer lined the
streets with these lights that
had these huge globes on top,
but the kids kept crushing
them with basketballs,” Rush
said.
In the long run, there are
plans to dramatically improve
the entry way by Duncanville
• Road, Brown said.
“We have two small monu-
ments there now, but we want
to do something really dramat-
ic,” he said.
Most of these projects will
be brought up at the PID’s next
meeting.
During the school year, the
seven-member PID board
meets at Waterford Oaks
Elementary, but during the
summer the board has to find
other accommodations.
The board currently has one
vacancy, and elections aren’t
too far off in the future.
, t “We-h^rfi little friCpf
turnpy^pY^yy yeafri &H?.h
said, adding that she, Brown
and treasurer Randy Dark have
been there from the beginning.
The PID is looking at sever-
al joint projects with the city.
Brown said.
“They’ve done a lot, but
we’d like to add some things
like more park benches and
landscaping,” Rush said.
Some landscaping projects
have been affected by the city’s
water-use restrictions, Rush
said.
“We had a huge project at
the front entry way,” she said.
“We had just killed a bunch of
the grass there and had a big
thing planned,” but then the
water restrictions kicked in.
The PID’s assessment also
provides extra police patrols,
which started in Waterford
Oaks about a month ago and
calls for extra patrols on either
Friday or Saturday.
“Anything we do to improve
our neighborhood helps bring
the whole city up.” Rush said.
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Gooch, Robin. Today Cedar Hill (Duncanville, Tex.), Vol. 41, No. 15, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 20, 2006, newspaper, July 20, 2006; Duncanville, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth623971/m1/2/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Zula B. Wylie Memorial Library.