April 28, 2025 • 46 mins
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Pulling back the curtain on local government decision-making, Councilman Andrew Evans joins the Cross Roads Podcast to explain the often invisible forces that shape our communities.
What makes a councilman vote for a development project that neighbors oppose? Evans walks us through the legislative chess game behind the scenes, revealing how pending bills at the state level could strip away municipal oversight of religious land development. His candid explanation of House Bill 3172 and Senate Bill 954 illuminates why he chose a "bird in hand" approach rather than gambling with neighborhood interests.
The conversation tackles the realities of explosive growth in North Texas, particularly along the 380 corridor, where traffic woes have become a daily struggle for residents. Evans doesn't just acknowledge the frustration—he offers practical pathways for citizen involvement and provides a refreshing perspective on civic engagement that goes beyond attending council meetings.
Perhaps most valuable is Evans' blueprint for effective local governance participation, from subscribing to town newsletters to showing up at HOA meetings. His invitation to the May 7th town hall meeting specifically organized for Hillstone Point residents demonstrates his commitment to strengthening the bridge between citizens and their local government.
Whether you're a longtime resident or new to the area, this episode provides crucial context for understanding who represents you, how development decisions are made, and most importantly, how your voice can meaningfully influence the future of your community. Listen now, then mark your calendar for upcoming community events where you can put your newfound knowledge into action.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Steven Killfoil (00:04):
Crossroads.
Podcast, for those who want tobe in the know, who's your daddy
(01:04):
?
Good morning, Cross Roads.
This is your host, StevenKillfoil.
Welcome to Cross Roads Podcast.
On the show today, as promised,we have a distinguished guest
from the Little Elm Town CouncilCouncilman, Andrew Evans, and
(01:26):
I'm getting ready to dial him inright now.
Perfect, all right, perfect.
(01:48):
Thank you for coming on theshow today, Andrew.
Andrew Evans (01:53):
Sure thing.
Glad to be here.
I just wanted to.
Steven Killfoil (01:56):
You informed me that I made an incorrect
listing of your district, sowould you please help me with
that correction right now?
Andrew Evans (02:08):
Yes, sir, um, and hopefully everybody on your,
your page, I tried to share theLittle little Elm elm District
district map so that everybodycan see their district
councilmen or women, uh, councilmembers uh, within each of the
district.
Um, you know, I reallyencourage everybody that is
(02:30):
listening to this to understandwho your council members are,
and in the town of little Elm,you, each district, has four
people that represent them.
They have the mayor who's there.
So basically, when you'reliving anywhere, anybody, you
vote for.
(02:51):
Those people that you vote forthe people that represent you.
They're supposed to be yourvoice, that's what you're voting
for and that includes your ISDpositions as well, your school
district positions and anythingelse on your ballot.
So I really encourage those tounderstand that the people that
you vote for those are thepeople that you represent or
(03:14):
that represent you.
And in the town of Little Elmyou have four representatives.
You have the mayor, you haveyour district council person
that is actually tied to andliving directly in your district
.
So in the district map that Iprovided as a comment and
response in your messagedetailing this podcast, district
(03:41):
5 is the district that I livein and that's that's how I am a
district representative.
Then each district has twoat-large council positions and
that's Place 1 and Place 6.
And who are?
(04:04):
Two people?
Did you?
(04:25):
And I don't want to be, youknow, I provided that
information in that, in thecomments, so that you would have
the information and really likeI don't, I don't, I'm here to
represent myself, I don't, I'mhere to represent myself.
(04:46):
You asked me to come on torepresent why I made the
decision I made in understandwho represents you, by making
sure that you're aware of thedistrict map and the district
map that's there.
It provides the voices, thepeople that have been voted into
(05:08):
the roles.
So, again, you have a mayor,every district has the mayor.
They have the at-large placeone position, then they have
their actual districtrepresentative and then they
(05:30):
have their place six at-largecouncil member.
So, and I will allow you, asthe host of this podcast, to
present those names to yourlisteners, okay, great.
Steven Killfoil (06:00):
Well, no problem, that's posted out on
the Hillstone Point unfilteredFacebook page, so everyone
listening go to that and readthat information and get to know
your people Also.
I believe we have an eventcoming up in May, correct?
Andrew Evans (06:43):
no-transcript unsuccessful.
However, the most recentinvolvement from your community
for the development that wasvoted on on April 1st the
blessing in disguise that cameout of that was I've been able
(07:04):
to get connected to not only theHOA team but also your
residents came out of that wasI've been able to get connected
to not only the HOA team butalso your residents and I feel
really blessed to have been ableto do that.
Out of that, I've been able toconnect with the HOA president
and I connected her with ourtown manager and I encouraged
our town manager and our townstaff to put together a town
hall specifically for Hill Point, so that we could, so that we
(07:32):
could provide and I apologize,I'm kind of multitasking here
because I want to send you thedistrict map again, just so you
have it, so you might be able toadd it to this, um, to this,
maybe, podcast, just as a uhsomething added support after
this, but, uh, I apologize, thedate of the event is and I'm
(07:57):
pulling it up right now Um.
I believe it's May 7th.
Correct, but if I'm not mistaken, At 7 o'clock.
Yeah, and where is it?
I think it's located at theProvidence Village Elementary
(08:18):
School.
Steven Killfoil (08:18):
I believe, so yes, okay.
Andrew Evans (08:24):
All right, and I'm going to send that over to
you as well.
I'm pulling that up right nowand I'm going to send it your
way.
Okay.
fantastic Fantastic, and thatis, Wednesday,Wednesday, May 7th
at 7 PM and it's at theProvidence Elementary Cafeteria
(08:47):
and that's located at 1000 FM,2931, Aubrey aubrey.
Perfect.
again, that's going to be right on the
invitation that I'm going toforward over to you right now
great.
Steven Killfoil (09:05):
Again make sure to get that info out onto both
Facebook pages of the HillstonePoint HOA and I my hopes are
that in this podcast it willalso encourage the mayor of
Cross Roads and the new citymanager to reach out and do
(09:25):
something of similar fashion forthe folks on the Cross Roads
side, because there's a lot ofunanswered questions and people
are starting to.
Finally, I think, like you said, you know it was a blessing and
at the same time it was bad,but sometimes it takes something
really bad and big to shake itup and get people's attention
(09:47):
and I think now, moving forward,you will have our full
attention and participation,many of us, for sure,
Andrew Evans (09:59):
and I would respectfully disagree.
I mean framing it as somethingbad.
You know, hopefully, as we getthrough the questions that you
ask me, hopefully I might beable to change your mind on it
being such a bad decision,because I mean, for me, I'm not
a gambler, I don't like gamblingwith.
You know my neighbor's livesand hopes.
(10:20):
You know there is obviously ayou know, and I'll save this
until we get to the actualspecific questions related to
the reasons why I voted for theproposal.
Steven Killfoil (10:34):
Okay, will do All right.
Well, let's move on to the veryfirst question, which is what
are some of your goals as acouncilman for your district?
What are some of the ideas thatyou have that you would like to
share with our listeners, andhopefully we'll invoke more
(10:57):
participation to help yougenerate more ideas and support
to help get some of your ideasput into action.
Andrew Evans (11:06):
Yeah, you know I'll be honest with you to help
get some of your ideas put intoaction.
Yeah, you know I'll be honestwith you, I didn't come into
this role with specific goalsother than I wanted to make sure
that we had representation onthe 380 corridor.
When I came into this role, wehad a councilman who was living
(11:28):
in Union Park and they hadfinally started bringing some
attention to the 380 corridor.
However, that individual hadmade a decision that was best
for his family to move and leavethat seat just before the term
was up.
Actually, it was right aboutthe term being up, which left
(11:51):
that seat open and I wasgrateful to have begun getting
connected to different groupswithin the North Texas area
specifically related to theschool districts.
Related to the school districtsbecause my kids, my children,
went to the Denton ISD and atthat time I was, you know, very
(12:16):
involved in the schools andactually considering running for
the school district.
However, Denton ISD is a verylarge district and I didn't feel
comfortable, as you knowsomebody that doesn't.
I didn't move here to get intopolitics or anything like that.
I just care very much aboutchildren and I care very much
about, you know, neighbors in my, my community.
So, um, and I'm always beensomebody that has been a voice
(12:39):
that you know I stand up forwhat I believe is true and right
, and that is the reasons that Ibegan researching to possibly
run for an ISD seat.
However, I learned that that isa very big task.
(13:01):
The Denton ISD is very large andnot only was I not willing to
take away that time for myfamily, but also just
financially it would have been amonster to tackle and I don't
have the funds.
I work my butt off just to beable to pay my bills, and that
was really what you know.
When our councilperson decidedto move and that seat opened up
(13:24):
for our district, I saw thatmuch more of an opportunity to
get my foot in the door, to be avoice for my neighbors and my
community and be more successfulat that and see where it goes.
However, I know now that Idon't know if you know bigger
offices are anywhere in mymindset.
(13:46):
I mean I can tell you right nowthey're not.
I just want to be a goodrepresentative to my community
and that's what I've done forthe last two years since I was
elected.
I represent a few differentcommunities.
I represent a small piece ofSunset Point, valencia, on the
Lakes, union Park and HillstonePoint, among a couple other
(14:07):
small pockets, and I've doneeverything I can.
I think that I'm confident inknowing that the Valencia on the
Lakes community, I was able toget connected with them and get
on their HOA pages.
I think that anybody you talkto in Union Park would be very
aware of my involvement in thiscommunity, union Parks community
(14:28):
.
I've done everything I can tolisten and hear what's being
shared so that I can work withour town staff and have the
oversight that needs to be takenplace on specific issues that
come up, to be taking place onspecific issues that come up.
(14:48):
And that's really been my goalas the councilman for District 5
is to, when something comes up,make sure that my neighbors
know who to reach out to, how toreach out to them, and if they
aren't prepared or they aren'tcomfortable, then I will be
their voice.
And often, more often than not,I am their voice.
And again, I mean that justgoes to you know kind of my
(15:12):
sadness that I wasn't able toconnect to the Hillstone Point
community earlier, because itwas really I never had seen or
talked to any Hillstone Pointresident until y'all showed up
at that meeting.
So, um, that's my whole goal ofaccount being a councilman is
to um, gain the trust and gainthe respect from my district
(15:36):
constituents, for them to knowthat I am available, I'm
responsive and I will dowhatever I can to uh be a
fighter, be a representative, touh do what's right.
And I'll be honest, what'sright Isn't always exactly what
a neighbor will want.
(15:58):
Um, you know there are sometimes, like this most recent
situation, that I don't believethat everybody had the full
knowledge of what is coming downthe pipeline.
That could have made thingsmuch worse than what we were
able to do.
You know, I believe that whatoccurred was we had a bird in
(16:18):
the hand, which is better thantwo in the bush.
You know, there are some Senatebills and there is a House bill
that is coming down the pipethat I will get into and read
through.
That would have taken away anyopportunity for the town to have
had any oversight with thisdeveloper and this developer
could have just built up thisproperty any which way they
(16:42):
wanted.
And I believe that the developerand with our planning and
zoning and our planning andzoning team, we were able to
work with the developer and theymade many, many, many
accommodations to make this theabsolute best product for the
Hillstone Point community.
When the other opportunity had,we gambled it could have just
(17:09):
been a development that we wouldhave had zero oversight into
and you know, we could have hadtwo-story buildings built all
along the neighborhood walls,with windows looking into
people's backyards, and it couldhave been far worse.
So I truly believe that at thetime we made this, it was the
best opportunity.
So I truly believe that at thetime we made this, it was the
best opportunity and I'mcomfortable standing by that.
(17:30):
Definitely.
Well, as I announced in the adthat I put out on Facebook that
I was hoping to get morequestions in the email, but
unfortunately I did not receiveany.
Get more questions in the email, but unfortunately I did not
receive any.
I do have one from my wife um,if you wouldn't mind taking that
(17:51):
real fast, sure okay she putyou're putting me on the spot,
though.
It's a, it's an, it's an it's aneasy question uh actually right
, it actually ties into, uh, ourside as well.
Steven Killfoil (18:06):
It's something that we've been kind
of hashing over at it with theHOA in regards to, um, helping
put a curb through the, throughthe uh nascar speed, through our
neighborhood situation byactually car track where you
live too oh yeah, man, they comedown Alamandine Avenue.
(18:28):
I know darn well they're doingway more than 35 We've got a lot
of streets like that.
I honestly don't know what theythink they're gonna gain by
doing that, but they're doing itanyway.
We've we've been mashing overthe thought of potentially
gating the community.
Uh, would that be a possibilityon the Little Elm side?
Andrew Evans (18:53):
You know, um, I know that the only way that you,
you all, can control thoseroads is by getting the
community.
I am not, uh, I'm notknowledgeable enough to share
the details of what therequirements would be around
that and what you all would begiving up if that was something
(19:19):
that you pursued.
And just my thoughts.
I don't know, this doesn't comefrom any education, but my
thoughts are the roads that arethere, and so, if I understood
correctly, you're in the CrossRoads section, correct?
But even considering the LittleElm section, the Little Elm
(19:40):
town manages and cares for thoseroads and sidewalks.
They maintain them out of thetax dollars and I would under, I
would believe that Coss Roadsis the same way.
Steven Killfoil (19:52):
No, we are on our own on the Cross Roads side,
so if anything happens to ourroads, as the HOA we're
responsible for them.
Andrew Evans (20:08):
Okay, so.
So I would guess, just based onwhat you shared, that you would
probably gate only the CrossRoads section and then, since
you're already on those roads,that would take away those roads
from being public.
Um, but that is reallysomething that you know you
would probably need to addresswith the Cross Roads town
management and leadership.
I know for Little Elm.
(20:30):
I would believe that if you didgate the Little Elm section,
that you all would then take onthe responsibility to maintain
those roads, because you wouldessentially take away the public
use of those roads because youwould essentially take away the
public use of those roads.
Steven Killfoil (20:46):
Okay, I understood that.
Also on the Little Elm side itwas private, not public road.
Andrew Evans (20:54):
And it's my understanding that if it's got a
little sailboat, our littleLittle Elm sailboat on the
street, sign that those areLittle Elm public roads and
public sidewalks which are partof our maintenance program.
And therefore, if you see anycracks, if you see any issues
with the streets, there is anopportunity for you to put in
(21:16):
tickets and we will come out andtake a look at them and get
them repaired if they fit thecriteria, or we will monitor
them so that when they do fitthe criteria, we'll make sure to
get them fixed up.
Steven Killfoil (21:27):
Oh, that's good to know.
Okay, all right.
Well, thank you for answeringthat quick question.
Here's another one for you.
It's super easy how can thecitizens get more directly
involved to help assist you?
And I hope everybody out herelistening listens very close to
his answer, because this is veryimportant.
Andrew Evans (21:51):
So I have already shared the main sale, the main
sale information, the email orthe website where you can get
tied into all of the mailinglists for the different little
elm emails.
So, everything from thelakefront to the main sale, the
(22:13):
main sale is, in my eyes, thebest email.
Uh, I'm sorry, the, you know.
Uh, thank you.
The email the main sale is thebest email mailing list that you
want to get involved Right upfront.
It shows all of your councilpeople, it shows the mayor and
(22:35):
all the council people 80 toevents going on in the town.
Um, but there's also many otheremail, um, email, uh, what did
(23:03):
I just say?
Uh, yes, the email contactswhere, basically, you get your,
your I hate to say it, butyou're spammed, um, but not
often it's.
I think it's very underwhelming.
You know, I hate to say it, butyour spammed, but not often.
I think it's very underwhelming.
I think some of them are everytwo weeks, some of them are one
week, but it's just a way to getinvolved in what's going on
with the town.
I think that we do it often andI'm trying to, and hopefully
your community, hillstone Pointhas seen me get more involved on
(23:24):
the Facebook pages with respectto sharing certain things that
are going on, everything fromwhat's going on with 380 to the
main sale stuff, the lakefrontstuff so that you can all be
involved in the different thingsthat the town provides.
And I think what I was sayingwas is any, even many residents
(23:46):
in Union Park and many residentsin Valencia on the lakes and
Sunset Point.
You know we all get so busywith our families and I, I
myself in the same way and havebeen the same way, and and it's
totally understandable, but youdo want to get involved.
The best way is to know whenthe council meetings are, which
they are the first and thirdTuesday of every single month at
(24:08):
6 pm.
You can watch them online.
The agenda comes out Fridaynight before the meetings and
then you can watch the meetingslive online or you can show up
to the meetings at town hall.
It gives a great opportunity tohear what's going on and meet
(24:29):
your representatives, the mayor,the two at-large positions and
your district council person.
That's really the best way tobegin hearing about what's going
on and then that will give eachindividual an idea of how they
want to get involved.
We have lots of involvementopportunities, everything from
(24:55):
the FLEES, which is the oh mygoodness FLEES.
It stands for Friends of LittleElm Animal Shelter, great
opportunities there and it's agreat acronym FLEES.
So again, friends of Little ElmAnimal Shelter, we've got our
Little Elm Food Bank.
We've got Keeping Little ElmBeautiful, which is a great
(25:15):
opportunity to clean up LittleElm, clean up our trails.
You know there's so manydifferent resources that if
everybody were to go to andspend 10 to 15 minutes in the
littleelmgov website, I thinkthat many of the constituents
could understand where and howthey can get involved.
(25:37):
And I would direct any of theHillstone Point constituents and
anybody else in Little Elm tothat website and just encourage
you to spend 10 or 15 minutesplaying around with it.
You see what's there.
You can see the differentindividuals who work for our
town and the different areas.
(25:58):
It's broken down by parks andrecreation, government and town
staff and finance staff andfinance and accounting and town
staff and finance staff andfinance and accounting.
If people, if constituents,were able to take 10 to 15
minutes.
No-transcript.
(26:19):
Yes, definitely.
Well, since you've already hiton the whole situation regarding
that Ordinance 1802, we'repretty much done with that.
It's finished.
So in all, fairness to….
Remind me Ordinance 1802,you're talking about… yeah, that
rezoning of the 10 acres thatgot approved for the house
(26:42):
proposals beingAndrew Evans: right beside our
neighborhood there at Hillstone.
Steven Killfoil (26:45):
Point, If you don't mind.
I mean I'd like to take aminute and talk about the
different bills, unless you wereheaded down that direction.
Andrew Evans (26:53):
Yes, that's what I was.
Yeah, go ahead and hit on thosebills.
Steven Killfoil (26:57):
Yeah.
So the reason.
So the question directedtowards me was why I voted as
one of the seven votes, why Ivoted to support it.
As I mentioned, I'm not agambler.
What I am aware of is thatthere are two bills that are
(27:19):
being pushed One, I believe, isbeing heavily supported by Jared
Patterson he is one of our arearepresentatives as well as we
have a Senate bill.
So both bills are almost thesame and the bill names are the
House Bill HB3172, and thenthere is a Senate, bill 954.
(27:47):
So that's SB 954.
So just reading real quickly,the beginning of these bills,
these bills state development onreligious land.
Now to remind everybody thatproperty that was being
discussed for this developmentis currently owned by, it's a
(28:10):
religious land and it iscurrently zoned at agriculture.
However they are, thatagricultural zoning is coming up
for rezoning, zoning is comingup for rezoning.
So this bill right here,reading the bill, it states
(28:30):
development on religious landwould, among other things,
provide that religious land island that is owned by a
religious organization or leasedby a religious organization for
a term of at least 40 years.
So what this would do it wouldprovide that religious land,
(28:51):
except for religious landlocated within a quarter mile of
heavy industrial use, anairport, a seaport or military
base, which would not apply tothis property.
It states that a city mustpermit.
So this is basically takingaway the city's rights.
This bill would enforce citiesto permit multifamily and mixed
(29:19):
use as allowable uses onreligious land.
So again, it would force us asa town, the town of Little Elm,
it would force us to permitmultifamily or mixed use that is
allowable.
It also states that a city maynot require a proposed
(29:42):
multifamily or mixed-usedevelopment on religious land to
obtain a zoning or land usechange, special exemption,
variance, conditional useapproval, special use permit,
comprehensive plan amendment orother land use classification or
approval to permit the proposeduse and development.
(30:08):
Allow for the minimum densitythat we would not be allowed to.
Uh, we would not be allowed toenforce a minimum density.
It states that we would have toallow for uh for the.
We would have to.
We would not be able toimplement a minimum density.
We would not be able to haveoversight on the building height
(30:31):
.
We wouldn't have opportunity tohave oversight on the setbacks
or the site development.
Regulations authorized under.
Regulations authorized under.
And it gives some details belowand then it says for a
multifamily or mixed-usedevelopment on religious land.
A city may not restrict theheight of a proposed development
(30:53):
to less than 40 feet and threefull stories Required front
setbacks greater than 15 feet,rear setbacks greater than 10
feet or side setbacks greaterthan 5 feet.
We wouldn't be able toestablish minimum parking
(31:15):
requirements except as requiredby federal law.
Restrict the ratio of thedevelopment's proposed building
gross floor area to site area,building coverage, density, unit
size and and I'm just going tosay these bills go on, this bill
goes on.
Uh, again, I'm going to statethe building it's hb 3172 and sb
(31:40):
954.
These bills are being pushedthrough and supported by the
leadership of our arearepresentatives and our Senate
representatives.
Andrew Evans (31:51):
So I would say it's a definite no for both.
Steven Killfoil (32:01):
But are those going to be on the ballot, and
they would not come to ourballot is would not come to our
ballot, is my understanding.
So again, I don't want togamble with my constituents
livelihoods.
We had a excellent product thatwas delivered.
(32:22):
The developer that came in mademultiple accommodations.
They added more trees, theyadded a park area, they offered
to do single stories all the wayaround, which minimizes their
actual opportunity to recover,their actual opportunity to
(32:46):
recover.
Uh, they did one single storiesall the way around.
Instead of doing a six footwooden fence, they offered eight
foot.
Uh, um, sorry, brick, uh, notbrick, but they the name is uh,
I'm forgetting the name uh, nota cinder, it's a cinder block
wall and essentially there's aname for it.
I apologize for forgetting thename right now, but it's an
(33:07):
eight-foot non-wooden fence,it's a cinder block brick wall.
So there were many, manyopportunities that we gained by
having this developer go throughthe planning and zoning process
to provide a product that wasfar superior to what we, if we
had gambled and these bills hadgone through, what any developer
(33:31):
could have offered thisreligious uh, this religious
religious organization adeveloper could have offered
this religious organization ifthese bills go through.
So it was either I gamble andsay, look, I hear you
constituents, I want to voteagainst this and then leave it
(33:57):
up to chance that if these gothrough, it's in the religious
organization's favor, if thesebills go through.
And had we not supported thatdeveloper?
But that developer was goingabove and beyond to try to
provide a far superior productthan what could be put in place.
(34:17):
Most of the comments that Iheard were highly around two
points.
One was a park.
Putting a park in that place,which let alone does not own
that land, nor do we have thefinances to just put a park, and
not only what that would do tothe town, because I also care
about the town as a whole.
(34:39):
We wouldn't have theopportunity to recoup any of the
actual taxes for that property.
We just go put a park on it.
Furthermore, regarding thatpark, I heard many individuals
at the meetings talking abouthow they don't have a park close
by, and the closest one isseven miles away, however,
(35:01):
exactly two miles down the roador less, because I run that
distance, I run down three.
Union Park is two miles downthe road, literally Union Park.
We have a big central park thatis public.
It is not specific to ourcommunity, it is public and it's
(35:26):
a big park.
So, just touching on the parkpiece, little Elm doesn't have
the funds, nor do we own thatland to put a park there.
And secondly, I hope that yourcommunity, hillstone Point,
knows that they have a bigcentral park just two miles down
the road.
(35:46):
I will understand the argumentthat 380 is terrible getting
down there.
And that brings me to the nextpoint that I've heard a lot
about, which is the traffic, thetraffic going through that 720,
380 intersection.
I totally understand and Isympathize because I'm dealing
with the 380 traffic as well.
(36:07):
We've had closures at our mainentrances, at all of our
entrances for Union Park.
We've had close for longperiods of time.
It's been very stressful andhard to get out of our community
and I know that you guys areprobably dealing with it even
worse because of Silverado.
That community is one of thebiggest communities in all the
(36:29):
country right now.
I believe it's one of the topfive developments that are being
built in the entire country andyou all are dealing with all
that traffic that's trying tocome down to 380 and funneled
into that single lane yeah, weget it coming and going, so yeah
, not in little elms opportunityto fix.
(36:51):
However, again, this goes backto the blessing in disguise.
I am glad that I finallyconnected with you guys because
you guys can continue to bringme up to speed with the regular
issues that you're seeing.
I know one of the constituents.
I already connected him to ourpolice chief so he sat down on
April 22nd and had a meetingwith him.
(37:12):
We also set up a town hallcoming on May 7th.
I want to be involved, I wantto hear about the issues, but I
want to encourage you all to beas patient as you can, because
none of this is going to happenovernight and it's not something
that Little Elm had anyforesight into or opportunity to
hold Silverado accountable forthis.
(37:33):
Quite honestly, if I wereHillstone Point's neighbors, I
would do my best to find a wayto get involved with silverado's
hoa and their development andbe at every meeting that you can
, yelling at them, because whatthey're doing to y'all is not
not right.
(37:54):
And if there's something I cando, if y'all can get me involved
in that I.
I can't do the legwork, but Iwill show up with you guys.
If you tell me when to show up,I will do whatever I can to
move my schedule around to bethere, and that's what I do for
all of my communities.
I show up as a volunteer, as aneighbor, just as a constituent,
(38:16):
to Union Park municipalmanagement meetings.
Municipal management meetingsI'm not on, I don't get paid to
go to the meetings, I don't, I'mnot on board.
But I do it so that I can beinvolved and I can be
knowledgeable and, as thingscome up, I can speak my mind in
the public, the public speakingor the public comments time.
(38:38):
So I just, if you all are havingthose issues, I can't do it, I
can take care of, you know,issues related to public safety,
getting our town staff involvedrelative to Little Elm items,
but things that are going onwith that road that is not
managed or handled by Little Elmand really is being taken over
(39:05):
by the northern community that'sbeing built.
I encourage you all to getinvolved, find ways to get in
there, and I will stand by you.
So that is my best advice inthat respect and I will say that
this development that we didapprove is not going to be built
(39:25):
next year.
It likely won't.
It's probably two, two and ahalf years down the road before
you've seen a single neighbor.
I will agree that there willprobably be trucks that go there
, maybe in like two years-ish,but at that time hopefully we
are better connected andhopefully I can have our town
better prepared when thisdevelopment begins, so that we
(39:48):
are making steps to not cause aneven worse problem than is
already there.
Right, Absolutely.
Andrew Evans (39:58):
I think a lot of this traffic will fix itself
once and I don't know what thetimeline is on this but
Commissioner Williams fromDenton County told me that Main
Street or 1385, is going to bewidened to six lanes all the way
(40:18):
up to Friendship Road, all theway up to Friendship Road.
So at that point in time allthose people in that Silverado
unit will be able to divert andget out on Main Street to get to
380.
They won't have to go down thisbackside so much Like now.
That's the main way.
(40:40):
So I think once they widen thatuh 1385 into six lanes, that's
going to really make a hugeimpact on that traffic, uh,
rerouting it, but God knows howlong that's going to be.
You know there's they've got tofinish three 80 first before
(41:01):
they can even begin to widen anyof those side roads.
Steven Killfoil (41:03):
So yeah, and you know I I hate to remind
everybody, but I I mean I'magain, I live right off of 380
and I moved here and I knew thatthis is a growing new area and,
as hard as it is to say, Irespectfully just want to remind
everybody that we boughtknowing that this is a growing
(41:23):
area and we have to have alittle bit of patience.
I know we've already provided,you know, patience and I'm
dealing with it every day.
It's so bad, but you know, ifwe can, just I feel like we're
almost there and biggest lightthat we started to see was just
what was it?
Two weeks ago, all those lanesopened up at the 720-380
(41:47):
intersection and I'm reallyhopeful and the feedback that I
got when I shared that it seemedfairly positive.
Now I don't know if that'schanged, if it's gotten worse,
but I'm really hopeful that ithas improved, at least for those
you know kind of heading,heading North through that
intersect, um, I I don't knowhow much it's helped heading
South, but um, you know I'mremaining prayerful that it's
(42:10):
going to continue getting better.
Andrew Evans (42:13):
Absolutely, absolutely Well.
That answered a lot ofquestions, I'm certain, and I
want to thank you again for yourtime for coming on the podcast.
Steven Killfoil (42:26):
I'm a talker even.
Oh, that's no problem.
Andrew Evans (42:30):
We'll get you on again.
I'm guaranteeing you that.
Okay, everybody, local eventsaround our area.
Mark your calendars for this.
Saturday, may 3rd, forCrossroads' first market of the
summer, from 8 am to 11 am atthe park.
At 424 and Fish Trap Road, dunnFarming is going to bring out
some awesome produce.
(42:50):
There'll be other vendors there.
It's something you want to takeadvantage of.
Trust me, they have good veg,so you want to come on out.
So that's from 8 am 11 am.
Monday, may 5th.
The town council will havetheir meeting at 6 pm and
tuesday, may 6.
Planning and zoning will meetat 7 pm.
(43:12):
Wednesday, may 7th.
There's two very importantmeetings.
The park and recs board willhave their meeting at the
crossroads police Department atsix, but at seven o'clock over
in Providence Village we've gotthe meet and greet, the little
council and the mayor over thereat the cafeteria.
(43:34):
So that's the one I'm going to.
And the Municipal DevelopmentDistrict will meet Thursday, may
8th at 6 pm.
And the Municipal DevelopmentDistrict will meet Thursday, may
(43:54):
8th at 6 pm, followed Saturdaywith week two of the Crossroads
Summer Market in the park from 8am to 11 pm.
Okay Well, thank you again,andrew.
I really appreciate your inputReally appreciate your input and
I'm sure, now that we got thisgoing again and I'll be
uploading it also onto theFacebook page as well as my own,
hopefully I'll get some morefeedback.
Guys out there listening,listen, I'm really disappointed.
(44:15):
I really expected my email boxto blow up with questions, so
hopefully we'll see you there onMay 7th and you will have your
questions, because then is whenyou need to bring them out,
wouldn't you agree?
Steven Killfoil (44:32):
Absolutely.
We're going to have our townstaff there.
We'll have some.
I'm going to.
I'm hoping that our policechief will be there, but at
least we'll have some goodrepresentative from our public
safety.
So I look forward to seeingeverybody there.
Andrew Evans (44:44):
Hey, are you going to have a chief Russ there?
Steven Killfoil (44:47):
You know what?
I don't know if the fire isgoing to be there, cause that
hasn't really been somethingthat was um asked about, but I
can double check.
Uh, I can double check with thetown.
Andrew Evans (44:58):
Yeah, that'd be great to have him there, him, or
?
Uh, who's the other chief, thefire marshal, the guy that runs
the fire academy?
Jamie Conner.
Yeah, jamie Conner.
Right, I've had both of them onmy podcast.
They're great.
I love them both.
Yep they're amazing.
Absolutely Okay, folks.
(45:20):
Well, until next week, withsome new amazing guests on the
show.
I'll see you at the top thanks,bye, guys bye, bye, bye.
Steven Killfoil (45:37):
Crossroads podcast podcast, we'll be right
back, but those who want to be,it know who's your daddy.
Crossroads.
Podcast, for those who want tobe in the know, who's your daddy
(01:04):
?
Good morning, Cross Roads.
This is your host, StevenKillfoil.
Welcome to Cross Roads Podcast.
On the show today, as promised,we have a distinguished guest
from the Little Elm Town CouncilCouncilman, Andrew Evans, and
(01:26):
I'm getting ready to dial him inright now.
Perfect, all right, perfect.
(01:48):
Thank you for coming on theshow today, Andrew.
Andrew Evans (01:53):
Sure thing.
Glad to be here.
I just wanted to.
Steven Killfoil (01:56):
You informed me that I made an incorrect
listing of your district, sowould you please help me with
that correction right now?
Andrew Evans (02:08):
Yes, sir, um, and hopefully everybody on your,
your page, I tried to share theLittle little Elm elm District
district map so that everybodycan see their district
councilmen or women, uh, councilmembers uh, within each of the
district.
Um, you know, I reallyencourage everybody that is
(02:30):
listening to this to understandwho your council members are,
and in the town of little Elm,you, each district, has four
people that represent them.
They have the mayor who's there.
So basically, when you'reliving anywhere, anybody, you
vote for.
(02:51):
Those people that you vote forthe people that represent you.
They're supposed to be yourvoice, that's what you're voting
for and that includes your ISDpositions as well, your school
district positions and anythingelse on your ballot.
So I really encourage those tounderstand that the people that
you vote for those are thepeople that you represent or
(03:14):
that represent you.
And in the town of Little Elmyou have four representatives.
You have the mayor, you haveyour district council person
that is actually tied to andliving directly in your district
.
So in the district map that Iprovided as a comment and
response in your messagedetailing this podcast, district
(03:41):
5 is the district that I livein and that's that's how I am a
district representative.
Then each district has twoat-large council positions and
that's Place 1 and Place 6.
And who are?
(04:04):
Two people?
Did you?
(04:25):
And I don't want to be, youknow, I provided that
information in that, in thecomments, so that you would have
the information and really likeI don't, I don't, I'm here to
represent myself, I don't, I'mhere to represent myself.
(04:46):
You asked me to come on torepresent why I made the
decision I made in understandwho represents you, by making
sure that you're aware of thedistrict map and the district
map that's there.
It provides the voices, thepeople that have been voted into
(05:08):
the roles.
So, again, you have a mayor,every district has the mayor.
They have the at-large placeone position, then they have
their actual districtrepresentative and then they
(05:30):
have their place six at-largecouncil member.
So, and I will allow you, asthe host of this podcast, to
present those names to yourlisteners, okay, great.
Steven Killfoil (06:00):
Well, no problem, that's posted out on
the Hillstone Point unfilteredFacebook page, so everyone
listening go to that and readthat information and get to know
your people Also.
I believe we have an eventcoming up in May, correct?
Andrew Evans (06:43):
no-transcript unsuccessful.
However, the most recentinvolvement from your community
for the development that wasvoted on on April 1st the
blessing in disguise that cameout of that was I've been able
(07:04):
to get connected to not only theHOA team but also your
residents came out of that wasI've been able to get connected
to not only the HOA team butalso your residents and I feel
really blessed to have been ableto do that.
Out of that, I've been able toconnect with the HOA president
and I connected her with ourtown manager and I encouraged
our town manager and our townstaff to put together a town
hall specifically for Hill Point, so that we could, so that we
(07:32):
could provide and I apologize,I'm kind of multitasking here
because I want to send you thedistrict map again, just so you
have it, so you might be able toadd it to this, um, to this,
maybe, podcast, just as a uhsomething added support after
this, but, uh, I apologize, thedate of the event is and I'm
(07:57):
pulling it up right now Um.
I believe it's May 7th.
Correct, but if I'm not mistaken, At 7 o'clock.
Yeah, and where is it?
I think it's located at theProvidence Village Elementary
(08:18):
School.
Steven Killfoil (08:18):
I believe, so yes, okay.
Andrew Evans (08:24):
All right, and I'm going to send that over to
you as well.
I'm pulling that up right nowand I'm going to send it your
way.
Okay.
fantastic Fantastic, and thatis, Wednesday,Wednesday, May 7th
at 7 PM and it's at theProvidence Elementary Cafeteria
(08:47):
and that's located at 1000 FM,2931, Aubrey aubrey.
Perfect.
again, that's going to be right on the
invitation that I'm going toforward over to you right now
great.
Steven Killfoil (09:05):
Again make sure to get that info out onto both
Facebook pages of the HillstonePoint HOA and I my hopes are
that in this podcast it willalso encourage the mayor of
Cross Roads and the new citymanager to reach out and do
(09:25):
something of similar fashion forthe folks on the Cross Roads
side, because there's a lot ofunanswered questions and people
are starting to.
Finally, I think, like you said, you know it was a blessing and
at the same time it was bad,but sometimes it takes something
really bad and big to shake itup and get people's attention
(09:47):
and I think now, moving forward,you will have our full
attention and participation,many of us, for sure,
Andrew Evans (09:59):
and I would respectfully disagree.
I mean framing it as somethingbad.
You know, hopefully, as we getthrough the questions that you
ask me, hopefully I might beable to change your mind on it
being such a bad decision,because I mean, for me, I'm not
a gambler, I don't like gamblingwith.
You know my neighbor's livesand hopes.
(10:20):
You know there is obviously ayou know, and I'll save this
until we get to the actualspecific questions related to
the reasons why I voted for theproposal.
Steven Killfoil (10:34):
Okay, will do All right.
Well, let's move on to the veryfirst question, which is what
are some of your goals as acouncilman for your district?
What are some of the ideas thatyou have that you would like to
share with our listeners, andhopefully we'll invoke more
(10:57):
participation to help yougenerate more ideas and support
to help get some of your ideasput into action.
Andrew Evans (11:06):
Yeah, you know I'll be honest with you to help
get some of your ideas put intoaction.
Yeah, you know I'll be honestwith you, I didn't come into
this role with specific goalsother than I wanted to make sure
that we had representation onthe 380 corridor.
When I came into this role, wehad a councilman who was living
(11:28):
in Union Park and they hadfinally started bringing some
attention to the 380 corridor.
However, that individual hadmade a decision that was best
for his family to move and leavethat seat just before the term
was up.
Actually, it was right aboutthe term being up, which left
(11:51):
that seat open and I wasgrateful to have begun getting
connected to different groupswithin the North Texas area
specifically related to theschool districts.
Related to the school districtsbecause my kids, my children,
went to the Denton ISD and atthat time I was, you know, very
(12:16):
involved in the schools andactually considering running for
the school district.
However, Denton ISD is a verylarge district and I didn't feel
comfortable, as you knowsomebody that doesn't.
I didn't move here to get intopolitics or anything like that.
I just care very much aboutchildren and I care very much
about, you know, neighbors in my, my community.
So, um, and I'm always beensomebody that has been a voice
(12:39):
that you know I stand up forwhat I believe is true and right
, and that is the reasons that Ibegan researching to possibly
run for an ISD seat.
However, I learned that that isa very big task.
(13:01):
The Denton ISD is very large andnot only was I not willing to
take away that time for myfamily, but also just
financially it would have been amonster to tackle and I don't
have the funds.
I work my butt off just to beable to pay my bills, and that
was really what you know.
When our councilperson decidedto move and that seat opened up
(13:24):
for our district, I saw thatmuch more of an opportunity to
get my foot in the door, to be avoice for my neighbors and my
community and be more successfulat that and see where it goes.
However, I know now that Idon't know if you know bigger
offices are anywhere in mymindset.
(13:46):
I mean I can tell you right nowthey're not.
I just want to be a goodrepresentative to my community
and that's what I've done forthe last two years since I was
elected.
I represent a few differentcommunities.
I represent a small piece ofSunset Point, valencia, on the
Lakes, union Park and HillstonePoint, among a couple other
(14:07):
small pockets, and I've doneeverything I can.
I think that I'm confident inknowing that the Valencia on the
Lakes community, I was able toget connected with them and get
on their HOA pages.
I think that anybody you talkto in Union Park would be very
aware of my involvement in thiscommunity, union Parks community
(14:28):
.
I've done everything I can tolisten and hear what's being
shared so that I can work withour town staff and have the
oversight that needs to be takenplace on specific issues that
come up, to be taking place onspecific issues that come up.
(14:48):
And that's really been my goalas the councilman for District 5
is to, when something comes up,make sure that my neighbors
know who to reach out to, how toreach out to them, and if they
aren't prepared or they aren'tcomfortable, then I will be
their voice.
And often, more often than not,I am their voice.
And again, I mean that justgoes to you know kind of my
(15:12):
sadness that I wasn't able toconnect to the Hillstone Point
community earlier, because itwas really I never had seen or
talked to any Hillstone Pointresident until y'all showed up
at that meeting.
So, um, that's my whole goal ofaccount being a councilman is
to um, gain the trust and gainthe respect from my district
(15:36):
constituents, for them to knowthat I am available, I'm
responsive and I will dowhatever I can to uh be a
fighter, be a representative, touh do what's right.
And I'll be honest, what'sright Isn't always exactly what
a neighbor will want.
(15:58):
Um, you know there are sometimes, like this most recent
situation, that I don't believethat everybody had the full
knowledge of what is coming downthe pipeline.
That could have made thingsmuch worse than what we were
able to do.
You know, I believe that whatoccurred was we had a bird in
(16:18):
the hand, which is better thantwo in the bush.
You know, there are some Senatebills and there is a House bill
that is coming down the pipethat I will get into and read
through.
That would have taken away anyopportunity for the town to have
had any oversight with thisdeveloper and this developer
could have just built up thisproperty any which way they
(16:42):
wanted.
And I believe that the developerand with our planning and
zoning and our planning andzoning team, we were able to
work with the developer and theymade many, many, many
accommodations to make this theabsolute best product for the
Hillstone Point community.
When the other opportunity had,we gambled it could have just
(17:09):
been a development that we wouldhave had zero oversight into
and you know, we could have hadtwo-story buildings built all
along the neighborhood walls,with windows looking into
people's backyards, and it couldhave been far worse.
So I truly believe that at thetime we made this, it was the
best opportunity.
So I truly believe that at thetime we made this, it was the
best opportunity and I'mcomfortable standing by that.
(17:30):
Definitely.
Well, as I announced in the adthat I put out on Facebook that
I was hoping to get morequestions in the email, but
unfortunately I did not receiveany.
Get more questions in the email, but unfortunately I did not
receive any.
I do have one from my wife um,if you wouldn't mind taking that
(17:51):
real fast, sure okay she putyou're putting me on the spot,
though.
It's a, it's an, it's an it's aneasy question uh actually right
, it actually ties into, uh, ourside as well.
Steven Killfoil (18:06):
It's something that we've been kind
of hashing over at it with theHOA in regards to, um, helping
put a curb through the, throughthe uh nascar speed, through our
neighborhood situation byactually car track where you
live too oh yeah, man, they comedown Alamandine Avenue.
(18:28):
I know darn well they're doingway more than 35 We've got a lot
of streets like that.
I honestly don't know what theythink they're gonna gain by
doing that, but they're doing itanyway.
We've we've been mashing overthe thought of potentially
gating the community.
Uh, would that be a possibilityon the Little Elm side?
Andrew Evans (18:53):
You know, um, I know that the only way that you,
you all, can control thoseroads is by getting the
community.
I am not, uh, I'm notknowledgeable enough to share
the details of what therequirements would be around
that and what you all would begiving up if that was something
(19:19):
that you pursued.
And just my thoughts.
I don't know, this doesn't comefrom any education, but my
thoughts are the roads that arethere, and so, if I understood
correctly, you're in the CrossRoads section, correct?
But even considering the LittleElm section, the Little Elm
(19:40):
town manages and cares for thoseroads and sidewalks.
They maintain them out of thetax dollars and I would under, I
would believe that Coss Roadsis the same way.
Steven Killfoil (19:52):
No, we are on our own on the Cross Roads side,
so if anything happens to ourroads, as the HOA we're
responsible for them.
Andrew Evans (20:08):
Okay, so.
So I would guess, just based onwhat you shared, that you would
probably gate only the CrossRoads section and then, since
you're already on those roads,that would take away those roads
from being public.
Um, but that is reallysomething that you know you
would probably need to addresswith the Cross Roads town
management and leadership.
I know for Little Elm.
(20:30):
I would believe that if you didgate the Little Elm section,
that you all would then take onthe responsibility to maintain
those roads, because you wouldessentially take away the public
use of those roads because youwould essentially take away the
public use of those roads.
Steven Killfoil (20:46):
Okay, I understood that.
Also on the Little Elm side itwas private, not public road.
Andrew Evans (20:54):
And it's my understanding that if it's got a
little sailboat, our littleLittle Elm sailboat on the
street, sign that those areLittle Elm public roads and
public sidewalks which are partof our maintenance program.
And therefore, if you see anycracks, if you see any issues
with the streets, there is anopportunity for you to put in
(21:16):
tickets and we will come out andtake a look at them and get
them repaired if they fit thecriteria, or we will monitor
them so that when they do fitthe criteria, we'll make sure to
get them fixed up.
Steven Killfoil (21:27):
Oh, that's good to know.
Okay, all right.
Well, thank you for answeringthat quick question.
Here's another one for you.
It's super easy how can thecitizens get more directly
involved to help assist you?
And I hope everybody out herelistening listens very close to
his answer, because this is veryimportant.
Andrew Evans (21:51):
So I have already shared the main sale, the main
sale information, the email orthe website where you can get
tied into all of the mailinglists for the different little
elm emails.
So, everything from thelakefront to the main sale, the
(22:13):
main sale is, in my eyes, thebest email.
Uh, I'm sorry, the, you know.
Uh, thank you.
The email the main sale is thebest email mailing list that you
want to get involved Right upfront.
It shows all of your councilpeople, it shows the mayor and
(22:35):
all the council people 80 toevents going on in the town.
Um, but there's also many otheremail, um, email, uh, what did
(23:03):
I just say?
Uh, yes, the email contactswhere, basically, you get your,
your I hate to say it, butyou're spammed, um, but not
often it's.
I think it's very underwhelming.
You know, I hate to say it, butyour spammed, but not often.
I think it's very underwhelming.
I think some of them are everytwo weeks, some of them are one
week, but it's just a way to getinvolved in what's going on
with the town.
I think that we do it often andI'm trying to, and hopefully
your community, hillstone Pointhas seen me get more involved on
(23:24):
the Facebook pages with respectto sharing certain things that
are going on, everything fromwhat's going on with 380 to the
main sale stuff, the lakefrontstuff so that you can all be
involved in the different thingsthat the town provides.
And I think what I was sayingwas is any, even many residents
(23:46):
in Union Park and many residentsin Valencia on the lakes and
Sunset Point.
You know we all get so busywith our families and I, I
myself in the same way and havebeen the same way, and and it's
totally understandable, but youdo want to get involved.
The best way is to know whenthe council meetings are, which
they are the first and thirdTuesday of every single month at
(24:08):
6 pm.
You can watch them online.
The agenda comes out Fridaynight before the meetings and
then you can watch the meetingslive online or you can show up
to the meetings at town hall.
It gives a great opportunity tohear what's going on and meet
(24:29):
your representatives, the mayor,the two at-large positions and
your district council person.
That's really the best way tobegin hearing about what's going
on and then that will give eachindividual an idea of how they
want to get involved.
We have lots of involvementopportunities, everything from
(24:55):
the FLEES, which is the oh mygoodness FLEES.
It stands for Friends of LittleElm Animal Shelter, great
opportunities there and it's agreat acronym FLEES.
So again, friends of Little ElmAnimal Shelter, we've got our
Little Elm Food Bank.
We've got Keeping Little ElmBeautiful, which is a great
(25:15):
opportunity to clean up LittleElm, clean up our trails.
You know there's so manydifferent resources that if
everybody were to go to andspend 10 to 15 minutes in the
littleelmgov website, I thinkthat many of the constituents
could understand where and howthey can get involved.
(25:37):
And I would direct any of theHillstone Point constituents and
anybody else in Little Elm tothat website and just encourage
you to spend 10 or 15 minutesplaying around with it.
You see what's there.
You can see the differentindividuals who work for our
town and the different areas.
(25:58):
It's broken down by parks andrecreation, government and town
staff and finance staff andfinance and accounting and town
staff and finance staff andfinance and accounting.
If people, if constituents,were able to take 10 to 15
minutes.
No-transcript.
(26:19):
Yes, definitely.
Well, since you've already hiton the whole situation regarding
that Ordinance 1802, we'repretty much done with that.
It's finished.
So in all, fairness to….
Remind me Ordinance 1802,you're talking about… yeah, that
rezoning of the 10 acres thatgot approved for the house
(26:42):
proposals beingAndrew Evans: right beside our
neighborhood there at Hillstone.
Steven Killfoil (26:45):
Point, If you don't mind.
I mean I'd like to take aminute and talk about the
different bills, unless you wereheaded down that direction.
Andrew Evans (26:53):
Yes, that's what I was.
Yeah, go ahead and hit on thosebills.
Steven Killfoil (26:57):
Yeah.
So the reason.
So the question directedtowards me was why I voted as
one of the seven votes, why Ivoted to support it.
As I mentioned, I'm not agambler.
What I am aware of is thatthere are two bills that are
(27:19):
being pushed One, I believe, isbeing heavily supported by Jared
Patterson he is one of our arearepresentatives as well as we
have a Senate bill.
So both bills are almost thesame and the bill names are the
House Bill HB3172, and thenthere is a Senate, bill 954.
(27:47):
So that's SB 954.
So just reading real quickly,the beginning of these bills,
these bills state development onreligious land.
Now to remind everybody thatproperty that was being
discussed for this developmentis currently owned by, it's a
(28:10):
religious land and it iscurrently zoned at agriculture.
However they are, thatagricultural zoning is coming up
for rezoning, zoning is comingup for rezoning.
So this bill right here,reading the bill, it states
(28:30):
development on religious landwould, among other things,
provide that religious land island that is owned by a
religious organization or leasedby a religious organization for
a term of at least 40 years.
So what this would do it wouldprovide that religious land,
(28:51):
except for religious landlocated within a quarter mile of
heavy industrial use, anairport, a seaport or military
base, which would not apply tothis property.
It states that a city mustpermit.
So this is basically takingaway the city's rights.
This bill would enforce citiesto permit multifamily and mixed
(29:19):
use as allowable uses onreligious land.
So again, it would force us asa town, the town of Little Elm,
it would force us to permitmultifamily or mixed use that is
allowable.
It also states that a city maynot require a proposed
(29:42):
multifamily or mixed-usedevelopment on religious land to
obtain a zoning or land usechange, special exemption,
variance, conditional useapproval, special use permit,
comprehensive plan amendment orother land use classification or
approval to permit the proposeduse and development.
(30:08):
Allow for the minimum densitythat we would not be allowed to.
Uh, we would not be allowed toenforce a minimum density.
It states that we would have toallow for uh for the.
We would have to.
We would not be able toimplement a minimum density.
We would not be able to haveoversight on the building height
(30:31):
.
We wouldn't have opportunity tohave oversight on the setbacks
or the site development.
Regulations authorized under.
Regulations authorized under.
And it gives some details belowand then it says for a
multifamily or mixed-usedevelopment on religious land.
A city may not restrict theheight of a proposed development
(30:53):
to less than 40 feet and threefull stories Required front
setbacks greater than 15 feet,rear setbacks greater than 10
feet or side setbacks greaterthan 5 feet.
We wouldn't be able toestablish minimum parking
(31:15):
requirements except as requiredby federal law.
Restrict the ratio of thedevelopment's proposed building
gross floor area to site area,building coverage, density, unit
size and and I'm just going tosay these bills go on, this bill
goes on.
Uh, again, I'm going to statethe building it's hb 3172 and sb
(31:40):
954.
These bills are being pushedthrough and supported by the
leadership of our arearepresentatives and our Senate
representatives.
Andrew Evans (31:51):
So I would say it's a definite no for both.
Steven Killfoil (32:01):
But are those going to be on the ballot, and
they would not come to ourballot is would not come to our
ballot, is my understanding.
So again, I don't want togamble with my constituents
livelihoods.
We had a excellent product thatwas delivered.
(32:22):
The developer that came in mademultiple accommodations.
They added more trees, theyadded a park area, they offered
to do single stories all the wayaround, which minimizes their
actual opportunity to recover,their actual opportunity to
(32:46):
recover.
Uh, they did one single storiesall the way around.
Instead of doing a six footwooden fence, they offered eight
foot.
Uh, um, sorry, brick, uh, notbrick, but they the name is uh,
I'm forgetting the name uh, nota cinder, it's a cinder block
wall and essentially there's aname for it.
I apologize for forgetting thename right now, but it's an
(33:07):
eight-foot non-wooden fence,it's a cinder block brick wall.
So there were many, manyopportunities that we gained by
having this developer go throughthe planning and zoning process
to provide a product that wasfar superior to what we, if we
had gambled and these bills hadgone through, what any developer
(33:31):
could have offered thisreligious uh, this religious
religious organization adeveloper could have offered
this religious organization ifthese bills go through.
So it was either I gamble andsay, look, I hear you
constituents, I want to voteagainst this and then leave it
(33:57):
up to chance that if these gothrough, it's in the religious
organization's favor, if thesebills go through.
And had we not supported thatdeveloper?
But that developer was goingabove and beyond to try to
provide a far superior productthan what could be put in place.
(34:17):
Most of the comments that Iheard were highly around two
points.
One was a park.
Putting a park in that place,which let alone does not own
that land, nor do we have thefinances to just put a park, and
not only what that would do tothe town, because I also care
about the town as a whole.
(34:39):
We wouldn't have theopportunity to recoup any of the
actual taxes for that property.
We just go put a park on it.
Furthermore, regarding thatpark, I heard many individuals
at the meetings talking abouthow they don't have a park close
by, and the closest one isseven miles away, however,
(35:01):
exactly two miles down the roador less, because I run that
distance, I run down three.
Union Park is two miles downthe road, literally Union Park.
We have a big central park thatis public.
It is not specific to ourcommunity, it is public and it's
(35:26):
a big park.
So, just touching on the parkpiece, little Elm doesn't have
the funds, nor do we own thatland to put a park there.
And secondly, I hope that yourcommunity, hillstone Point,
knows that they have a bigcentral park just two miles down
the road.
(35:46):
I will understand the argumentthat 380 is terrible getting
down there.
And that brings me to the nextpoint that I've heard a lot
about, which is the traffic, thetraffic going through that 720,
380 intersection.
I totally understand and Isympathize because I'm dealing
with the 380 traffic as well.
(36:07):
We've had closures at our mainentrances, at all of our
entrances for Union Park.
We've had close for longperiods of time.
It's been very stressful andhard to get out of our community
and I know that you guys areprobably dealing with it even
worse because of Silverado.
That community is one of thebiggest communities in all the
(36:29):
country right now.
I believe it's one of the topfive developments that are being
built in the entire country andyou all are dealing with all
that traffic that's trying tocome down to 380 and funneled
into that single lane yeah, weget it coming and going, so yeah
, not in little elms opportunityto fix.
(36:51):
However, again, this goes backto the blessing in disguise.
I am glad that I finallyconnected with you guys because
you guys can continue to bringme up to speed with the regular
issues that you're seeing.
I know one of the constituents.
I already connected him to ourpolice chief so he sat down on
April 22nd and had a meetingwith him.
(37:12):
We also set up a town hallcoming on May 7th.
I want to be involved, I wantto hear about the issues, but I
want to encourage you all to beas patient as you can, because
none of this is going to happenovernight and it's not something
that Little Elm had anyforesight into or opportunity to
hold Silverado accountable forthis.
(37:33):
Quite honestly, if I wereHillstone Point's neighbors, I
would do my best to find a wayto get involved with silverado's
hoa and their development andbe at every meeting that you can
, yelling at them, because whatthey're doing to y'all is not
not right.
(37:54):
And if there's something I cando, if y'all can get me involved
in that I.
I can't do the legwork, but Iwill show up with you guys.
If you tell me when to show up,I will do whatever I can to
move my schedule around to bethere, and that's what I do for
all of my communities.
I show up as a volunteer, as aneighbor, just as a constituent,
(38:16):
to Union Park municipalmanagement meetings.
Municipal management meetingsI'm not on, I don't get paid to
go to the meetings, I don't, I'mnot on board.
But I do it so that I can beinvolved and I can be
knowledgeable and, as thingscome up, I can speak my mind in
the public, the public speakingor the public comments time.
(38:38):
So I just, if you all are havingthose issues, I can't do it, I
can take care of, you know,issues related to public safety,
getting our town staff involvedrelative to Little Elm items,
but things that are going onwith that road that is not
managed or handled by Little Elmand really is being taken over
(39:05):
by the northern community that'sbeing built.
I encourage you all to getinvolved, find ways to get in
there, and I will stand by you.
So that is my best advice inthat respect and I will say that
this development that we didapprove is not going to be built
(39:25):
next year.
It likely won't.
It's probably two, two and ahalf years down the road before
you've seen a single neighbor.
I will agree that there willprobably be trucks that go there
, maybe in like two years-ish,but at that time hopefully we
are better connected andhopefully I can have our town
better prepared when thisdevelopment begins, so that we
(39:48):
are making steps to not cause aneven worse problem than is
already there.
Right, Absolutely.
Andrew Evans (39:58):
I think a lot of this traffic will fix itself
once and I don't know what thetimeline is on this but
Commissioner Williams fromDenton County told me that Main
Street or 1385, is going to bewidened to six lanes all the way
(40:18):
up to Friendship Road, all theway up to Friendship Road.
So at that point in time allthose people in that Silverado
unit will be able to divert andget out on Main Street to get to
380.
They won't have to go down thisbackside so much Like now.
That's the main way.
(40:40):
So I think once they widen thatuh 1385 into six lanes, that's
going to really make a hugeimpact on that traffic, uh,
rerouting it, but God knows howlong that's going to be.
You know there's they've got tofinish three 80 first before
(41:01):
they can even begin to widen anyof those side roads.
Steven Killfoil (41:03):
So yeah, and you know I I hate to remind
everybody, but I I mean I'magain, I live right off of 380
and I moved here and I knew thatthis is a growing new area and,
as hard as it is to say, Irespectfully just want to remind
everybody that we boughtknowing that this is a growing
(41:23):
area and we have to have alittle bit of patience.
I know we've already provided,you know, patience and I'm
dealing with it every day.
It's so bad, but you know, ifwe can, just I feel like we're
almost there and biggest lightthat we started to see was just
what was it?
Two weeks ago, all those lanesopened up at the 720-380
(41:47):
intersection and I'm reallyhopeful and the feedback that I
got when I shared that it seemedfairly positive.
Now I don't know if that'schanged, if it's gotten worse,
but I'm really hopeful that ithas improved, at least for those
you know kind of heading,heading North through that
intersect, um, I I don't knowhow much it's helped heading
South, but um, you know I'mremaining prayerful that it's
(42:10):
going to continue getting better.
Andrew Evans (42:13):
Absolutely, absolutely Well.
That answered a lot ofquestions, I'm certain, and I
want to thank you again for yourtime for coming on the podcast.
Steven Killfoil (42:26):
I'm a talker even.
Oh, that's no problem.
Andrew Evans (42:30):
We'll get you on again.
I'm guaranteeing you that.
Okay, everybody, local eventsaround our area.
Mark your calendars for this.
Saturday, may 3rd, forCrossroads' first market of the
summer, from 8 am to 11 am atthe park.
At 424 and Fish Trap Road, dunnFarming is going to bring out
some awesome produce.
(42:50):
There'll be other vendors there.
It's something you want to takeadvantage of.
Trust me, they have good veg,so you want to come on out.
So that's from 8 am 11 am.
Monday, may 5th.
The town council will havetheir meeting at 6 pm and
tuesday, may 6.
Planning and zoning will meetat 7 pm.
(43:12):
Wednesday, may 7th.
There's two very importantmeetings.
The park and recs board willhave their meeting at the
crossroads police Department atsix, but at seven o'clock over
in Providence Village we've gotthe meet and greet, the little
council and the mayor over thereat the cafeteria.
(43:34):
So that's the one I'm going to.
And the Municipal DevelopmentDistrict will meet Thursday, may
8th at 6 pm.
And the Municipal DevelopmentDistrict will meet Thursday, may
(43:54):
8th at 6 pm, followed Saturdaywith week two of the Crossroads
Summer Market in the park from 8am to 11 pm.
Okay Well, thank you again,andrew.
I really appreciate your inputReally appreciate your input and
I'm sure, now that we got thisgoing again and I'll be
uploading it also onto theFacebook page as well as my own,
hopefully I'll get some morefeedback.
Guys out there listening,listen, I'm really disappointed.
(44:15):
I really expected my email boxto blow up with questions, so
hopefully we'll see you there onMay 7th and you will have your
questions, because then is whenyou need to bring them out,
wouldn't you agree?
Steven Killfoil (44:32):
Absolutely.
We're going to have our townstaff there.
We'll have some.
I'm going to.
I'm hoping that our policechief will be there, but at
least we'll have some goodrepresentative from our public
safety.
So I look forward to seeingeverybody there.
Andrew Evans (44:44):
Hey, are you going to have a chief Russ there?
Steven Killfoil (44:47):
You know what?
I don't know if the fire isgoing to be there, cause that
hasn't really been somethingthat was um asked about, but I
can double check.
Uh, I can double check with thetown.
Andrew Evans (44:58):
Yeah, that'd be great to have him there, him, or
?
Uh, who's the other chief, thefire marshal, the guy that runs
the fire academy?
Jamie Conner.
Yeah, jamie Conner.
Right, I've had both of them onmy podcast.
They're great.
I love them both.
Yep they're amazing.
Absolutely Okay, folks.
(45:20):
Well, until next week, withsome new amazing guests on the
show.
I'll see you at the top thanks,bye, guys bye, bye, bye.
Steven Killfoil (45:37):
Crossroads podcast podcast, we'll be right
back, but those who want to be,it know who's your daddy.
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