State Scuttled Fairfield Park Deal- Dallas Morning News

Insider texts reveal Texas officials never took serious steps to buy the parkland
State officials passed up an offer to save Fairfield Lake State Park this month, just days before the Texas parks department celebrated its centennial, according to newly uncovered text messages.

The 1,821-acre park sits on land the state leases at no cost from energy company Vistra Corp., part of a larger tract that also includes the 2,400-acre lake and 3,204 acres along the northern shores. It will close permanently Tuesday. Vistra has agreed to sell it to Todd Interests, a Dallas developer.

Screenshots we obtained of a text conversation between Texas Parks and Wildlife Commissioner Arch “Beaver” Aplin, Todd Interests founder Shawn Todd and Vistra CEO Jim Burke show that, even as state officials publicly treated the park’s sale as a triumph of developer interests over the common good, they inexplicably failed to take serious steps to buy most of the parkland. Todd, Aplin and a Vistra spokesperson all verified the authenticity of the messages.

In the texts, Todd offers to complete the purchase of the entire property and then sell the parkland to the state, minus what Todd called a “tiny” carve-out in the northern peninsula of the park, for $60 million. Todd would have retained water rights and restricted some boating activities.

The carve-out would have closed hiking trails but would not have disrupted campsites, picnic areas or boat ramps, Todd said. The precise size of the carve-out was never agreed upon. But apparently, it was still a deal-breaker for the state. In response to Todd’s offer, Aplin texted, “I just spoke with the Lt Gov and he reminded me I asked him and the leadership for the ok to buy it all, not the park minus.”

When Todd pressed for compromise, Aplin responded by emphasizing the importance of the northern peninsula because of its hiking trails. The deal fell through.

The texts also reveal that the state has never made a competitive offer to buy the land. The agreement under contract is for approximately $110 million, the texts say. The state’s best offer, which Aplin texted Feb. 2, was $60 million plus a tax incentive in the form of a conservation easement to Vistra. The offer to Todd was simply for him to walk away, expenses paid, out of “altruism.” Aplin said he later offered Todd a fee in the amount of 3% to 6% of the value of the deal.

The $60 million was for the entire property, not just parkland. Aplin told us he wanted to buy the lake and expand the park.

“TPWD can commit to a 60 MM deal with commission approval,” Aplin texted. “My concept was an altruistic approach for Todd’s and Vistra. I know you have a deal at 100+ MM. We can’t get there, hence my altruistic suggestion.”

Aplin offered other perks to sweeten the deal.

“Feb 8th Centennial celebration, 100 yrs of parks with Governor Abbott presenting. It’s a big deal,” Aplin texted. “We announce this gift, both of you present, with me and the Gov, on 8th at our biggest celebration ever.” He even offered naming rights.

It’s hard to estimate the size of the donation Aplin was soliciting here. From Vistra, it was $50 million minus the value of the tax incentive. From Todd, it was opportunity cost. Todd told us he expects to make hundreds of millions developing the site. The water rights alone are worth that much, he said. When we asked Aplin, founder of the Buc-ee’s convenience store chain, if he would walk away from that much money, he wouldn’t answer.

But it doesn’t matter because even if Todd abandoned the deal, the state wouldn’t be next in line.

In a phone call on Feb. 7, Todd said, Vistra made it clear that in a hypothetical situation in which Todd didn’t close, the company still wouldn’t sell the land at the price the state was offering. A Vistra spokesperson confirmed that exchange. Aplin acknowledged it but speculated that Vistra might have produced a counteroffer if it hadn’t been restricted by its contract with Todd.

Proposed budgets from the Texas House and Senate set aside $100 million for park acquisition in the coming biennium. Even if all of that funding was directed at Fairfield, the state would still be short.

But Aplin and TPWD Executive Director David Yoskowitz have been saying publicly that the state is in a position to purchase the park because of the sporting goods tax passed by the Legislature in 2019.

The state’s math doesn’t seem to add up, and negotiations have been disorganized. Multiple Todd Interests and Vistra representatives told us they have received no formal offer from the state. Nothing on state letterhead. Nothing through formal channels.

There’s another conundrum with the state’s handling of this deal. In 2018, Aplin said TPWD asked Vistra to sell only the park portion of the property. Vistra declined, a spokesperson confirmed. But this month, when Todd offered the park portion, state officials wanted to buy the whole thing, at half price.

When the whole property was for sale, the state only wanted part. When part was for sale, the state wanted the whole thing.

At one point, the parties discussed yet another option. Todd offered to walk away in exchange for $50 million and 250 acres, and let TPWD negotiate its own deal with Vistra. Aplin declined.

None of this answers the more frustrating question of why this issue was allowed to get out of hand. In 2019, the department’s then-Executive Director Carter Smith suggested the state’s plan was wishing and hoping.

“It would be our hope that we could continue to see that lease extended with the new buyer of that property so that the state park did not go away, but ultimately we’re going to be at the mercy of the new owner,” Smith said in a hearing.

That same year, when the sporting goods tax passed, the state knew it was going to have additional revenue. We asked Aplin why the department couldn’t have used revenue projections to present Vistra with a new offer, before another buyer got involved.

“It’s not that simple,” he said. “We’ve got 89 parks, 254 counties, over $1 billion in deferred maintenance. We’ve got a lot of balls in the air. ... Do I wish we would have bought it in 2021? Yes. In 2019? Yes.”

There are two ways to understand what went wrong with Fairfield Lake State Park. It’s either the fault of a greedy developer or an inept bureaucracy. Both are trite stereotypes. But in this case, one of them is true.

And the sad part is more and more of these power plant lakes are going to be sold off in the near future. Public access to some of the states best bass lakes will be gone forever.

Developers are licking their chops!

nothing was an accident

Beaver plans on putting a Bucci's out there....

So let me get this correct, when they agreed to sell part of the land to the state the state said no we want all of it and then when they agreed to sell all of the land to the state the state said no we just part of it What I want to know is who with state is going to have prime Todd lots on Fairfield in 2025...

Who wants lake lot with no water

Thanks for the great update, our paper the Star Telegram is a waste of time and money anymore. Heads need to roll at the top of TPWD, there is no excuse for this debacle.

The blade is being sharpened

It's a shame the State Park will be closing. I enjoyed the times I was there!

Most newspapers are these days. The Houston Comical wouldn't make good bird cage liner.

They conveniently leave out that the commission had limited funds. The legislature would have had to act and they weren't in session at the time all of this was going down...

It's a tragic loss for regular folks.


20 July 2008 – Fairfield

Follow the money......

Texas is continually asking us to donate—for example, during license plate renewal—money to state parks. Well, if the Fairfield fiasco is how things are mismanaged, to what end?

Can a state as massive and as wealthy as Texas not afford public lands?