Todd Dodge Dancing With The Stars

DallasGreen · April 20, 2007

What do you see as the odds at my age of 60 of this stadium happening in my lifetime? If A D refuses to do stadium bonds or student fee increase or classrooms within for some state funding ala UT and LSU, I see it as 25 to 1 AGAINST it happening in my lifetime!!!

Green to the Bone · April 20, 2007

Sorry for the long post, but here goes.

A little clarification of the stadium planning process (or any other big university project) is in order.

The idea that the new stadium will be tied up in local zoning reviews is almost certainly wrong. The Texas Local Government Code exempts state and federal property from local land use controls as long as the land is being used for a public purpose. The new stadium is a public purpose. Chapter 105 of the Texas Education Code, the chapter that deals with the UNT System, also specifies that the BOR has "sole and exclusive control" of the uses of university lands. Unless someone can make a novel argument or point to an obscure legal provision, that language giving the BOR exclusive control will prevail.

That said, the practice of the university is to work closely with the city and county governments to make sure that everybody's plans match up as closely as possible. That's a repeated theme of the UNT and the city of Denton master plans. The new stadium will involve a series of interlocal agreements, memoranda of understanding, etc., between the city, county, state, and various special districts on utilities, drainage, traffic, and so forth. The city certainly can try to extract as many changes as possible in the process of negotiating the agreements, but surprises are unlikely. Planners already know generally what those agreements will entail.

It also would not surprise anyone if the same people who objected to the athletic center taking over the golf course also object to the stadium; after all, the stadium will be bigger, louder, and will have very much brighter lights. Those kinds of contingencies are anticipated in the planning process. Any professional planner hopes for the best but expects the worst. Even so, given the ultimate approval that the athletic center received, the outlook for the stadium is favorable.

When RV says 18 months from the start of turning earth, what that means is 18 months from the final go-ahead, not 18 months from now or from some ceremonial groundbreaking. He didn't pull that figure out of thin air; it's what the experts believe, and it's consistent with other stadium construction projects. Building a stadium is more complex than building a parking garage, but it isn't the most complicated job in the world: a skeleton, forms, and lots of poured concrete, then finish work. If there were a significant delay from now, it would probably be linked to funding rather than planning or actual construction.

The university has handled a great deal of construction in the past few years and has significant projects underway now. They'll be able to handle this one, too, once the check is in the bank.