The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 85, No. 209, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 8, 2006 Page: 3 of 16
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BAYTOWN & BEYOND
THE BAYTOWN SUN
Thwsdav lune 8,2006
New Taft Circle owner
Barbers Hill cuts costs
N
on over budget bond work
to ask for extension
Dilapidated apartments vacant since 2001
le
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ss
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MKiI
JUNE
Calendar of Events
e
June 5
June 10 Kids Craft Fair, llam-lpm
Presented By: Rho Omicron Omega Chapter
June 18 Father’s Day!
r-
4
i-
V
281-428-5755
1010 West Baker Road, Suite 102 •Baytown, Texas 77521 .
agreement.
In other business, the
Council will bid farewell to
6123 Garth Road • Baytown, TX 77521
(281) 839-0700 • www.crespoandjirrels.com
©2006 MKJ Marketing
June 7-11 Awakening Productions Presents
“Mystical Magic of the Endangered”
Starring Master Illusionist Joe Exotic
Show times: Weds.-Sat. at 6pm &
Sun. at 2pm Visit Baby Lions,
Baby Tigers & Baby Humphrey the
Camel on Exhibit during Mall Hours
SAN JACINTO MALI.
1-10 at Garth Baytown, TX
www.sanjacintomall.com
Help Support the Endangered. Recycle
Your Empty Inkjet Cartridges and Cell
Phones. Proceeds benefit G. W. Exotic
Animal Foundation *
Recycle area located near exhibit or pick-up a
postage prepaid bag.
(Mb
. ’ -
i-
L. iflD
Dave Jirrels, Funeral Director
n
IS.
IP
n.
L
n
9
«...
♦I
KidzDay
Arts, Crafts, Face Painting, Balloon Art,
Games 8c Prizes
lpm-3pm at Center Court!
Visit Customer Service for a
Kidz Club registration form
“Committed to
the Community”
Father’s Day Gift with Purchase Begins June 9
Bring your same day mall receipts
totaling $100 or more to Customer
Service and receive a FREE gift for Dad!
Limit Iper customer, per day.
While supplies last
June 29 93.7 Blood Drive
Ipm-Spm in the Community Room
Most Insurance Accepted
Same day appointments available
Knowledgeable & friendly staff
On-site x-ray & lab facilities
Convenient location & parking
money to bridge the gap. Officials walked /
away from the meeting still roughly $100,000
over budget but indicated talks on how to
save more money would continue. ’ f
Join san Jacinto Mall
at 6pm on June 9th tor
FAN FF5T1
to the city from Rood, the
repairs have been delayed
because of medical issues
ty. The suit claimed that A&K within his family and the
inability to obtain specified
roofing material in the time-
frame called for in the agree-
ment with the city.
Rood and Alfred Anontini,
a principal of A&K
Investments, both requested
to speak to Council tonight to
long complained to city offi- request an extension of the
! demolition could cost as
r much as $1million. In July
) 2005, the city’s Urban
I Rehabilitation Standards
i Review board approved the
/ demolition.
Fan Fest
6pm in the Food Court
Meet & Greet Bayou Bowl Players
Autographs, Face Painting, Balloon Art, Games
& Prizes. 2006 Bayou Bowl - Texas vs.
Louisiana High School Seniors All-Star Game.
Benefiting the Shriners Hospital For Children
I
Dave Jirrels, Crespo & Jirrels Funeral and
Cremation Services’ newest parther, was bom
and raised in Wichita, Kansas. A resident of
Baytown for nearly a decade, Dave is active in
a variety of civic organizations, including the
Kiwanis Club of Baytpwn, Civil Service
Commission, Baytown Chamber of
Commerce, Partners in Education and Lee
College Small Business Development Center.
An ordained deacon and active member of
Second Baptist Church, he and his wife, the
former Judy Navarre, have 3 sons, Andrew,
Timothy and Daniel.
Dave welcomes the opportunity to continue
serving the families of the community as he
has over the past eight years. He is a
knowledgeable and compassionate source of
support when it matters the most.
1jCRESPp-&Jirrels
M Funeral and Cremation Services
“Where there’s a definite difference."
BY KEN FOUNTAIN
ken.fountain@baytownsun.com
The convoluted history of
the Taft Circle Apartments
enters a new phase tonight as
the dilapidated complex’s new
owner plans to ask City
’ Council for an extension on
its rehabilitation.
The complex in southeast
Baytown has been vacant
since October 2001, when the redemption of the property
health department declared its Sept. 30,2003, the last day
11 buildings uninhabitable
because of code violations.
Since then, ownership of
the property had been dispute.
The property was listed in the
Harris County Appraisal
■ v *’ <■
BY AUSTIN KINGHOBN
sunnews@baytownsun.com
MONT BELV1EU Barbers Hill adminis-
trators and school board trustees were forced
to make tough decisions and get creative on
Monday as they wrangled with how to cut
costs on construction bids that have returned
significantly over budget.
It took officials hours to trim roughly
$650,000 from two showcase items of the
$43.8 million bond issue approved by voters
in October — an expansion of the high
school that will add 50 classrooms and an
extensive renovation of the district’s field
house. In total, officials were facing
$750,000 in over budget Expenses, which did
not include two additional projects the board
wanted to add to the construction list: a
refinished field house court and expanded
lobby.
Representatives from PBK-Architects and
Purcell Construction blamed the overages on
cost increases for both materials and labor,
noting a significant portion of the area’s
skilled construction work force had been
diverted to Louisiana to aid in Hurricane
Katrina recovery efforts.
“What’s going on with fuel prices affects
representative of PBK Architects. “Another
example is that copper pricing has almost
tripled since March.”
As board members poured over a list of
suggested changes, the driving force behind
the decision of what would stay and what
would go became whether or not the item
was something voters would feel they were
------------ _r.u-u._j
“When we start going back to the voters
. ' . ' ' . is
time around, it’s not going to happen,” said
BOOB BRVDU BDUJL
"7/w family doctor”
,Hours: Mon-Thu (8:15-5).
Fri (8:15-12)
2 cials about dangerous condi-
n tions.
1 A year ago, City Council
2 approved spending $220,000 Councilman Ronnie Anderson,
■ from the city’s capital ■ -----•*--* r
r improvement project fund to
» demolish the complex. But
T city staff said that a complete “ last month’s election, Caskey,
apolitical novicty defeated
Anderson by seven votes.
Anderson petitioned for a
recount, which last week con-
firmed the results.
The meeting begins at 6:30
of BiMowVcity Haft* 24o7r additions instead of carpet that matched the
ZZi y existing facilities was shot down over con-
Love,
) Your Grandparents, Charles 4
• A if Evelyn’ a’h-Kevin & Shannon
iX'^'an11 Raegan'Jo3hua 8 Faith
District as being owned by
Woodbridge Properties Inc.,
which bought it at auction in
March 2003 after property
was foreclosed upon for
unpaid back taxes from for-
mer owner A&K Investments.
But,Woodbridge filed a
lawsuit in a Harris Comity
civil court seeking to clarify
ownership, claiming that
A&K Investments filed for
on
cern that the public would feel it was not get-
ting a product that matched the quality of the
high school.
But board members did find features to cut
that they felt would not compromise the
expectations of the bond issues that provided
the funding for the work, including dropping
a glazed block masonry look in the field ■■
house’s showers and bathrooms in favor of
the same ceramic tile that adorns such facili-
ties in the high school and new elementary
school— a move that by itself saved cut out
$187,000. An additional $54,000 was saved
by choosing a less expensive roof application
method.
Board members also approved a minor
redesign of the high school additions that
would remove the need to relocate electrical
utilities at a savings of $50,000. cut back on
parking spaces and made modifications other
planned features such as cutting art display
cases in the high school from four to two and
opting for less expensive seating for the field
house.
Amid the cutting officials were able to
insert two items into the expenses that were
left out. on the initial proposals-— refinishing
the field house court and expanding the
■—-- O-—o — •••-•-—r------——- building’s lobby, although plans for a ticket
almost every aspect of it, said Ron Bailey, a booth and some additional storage space were
ranrAConfativA nr PRV ArnnitA/Hc “Annftar »
scrapped.
Superintendent Greg Poole said he felt the
court re finishing was sorely needed, with the
current court discolored and suffering from
water damage in one area. Furthermore, the
current court lacks sufficient, markings for
volleyball, a sport that has become increas-
ingly popular in the district.
“If we’re going to spend all this money on
the field house, we need to be able to have all
the sports in there,” said board member
George Barerra.
' Ashley
Guidry
W? Happy
Sweet 16th
Wj Birthday
Chinh Q. Nguyen, M.D.
Board Certified Family Practice
Comprehensive Family Healthcare:
• Complete wellness exams
• Sport-school physicals
• General medical problems
• Management of: heart disease,
hypertension, cholesterol, diabetes,
anxiety, depression, asthma,
—--------- COPD, allergy
• Minor surgical procedures
district fulfilled its promises in the past.
Suggestions to use tile in the high school
existing facilities was shot down over con-
ceed with rehabilitation. In
November, Council reached a
non-negotiable agreement
with the owners to begin the
rehabilitation, with a strict
repair schedule.
In early May, however, the
two owners sold their interests
in the property to a new
owner, Robert Rood of
Houston. Rood had already
applied for and was granted a
permit to begin roof repairs
and replacement at the com-
possible. plex in March.
According to the suit, A&K According to a June 1 letter
only paid about $84,000, less
than a fifth of the $515,000
needed to redeem the proper-
therefore only bought one of
two portions of the complex.
In the years since, the
already dilapidated property
has fallen into an even greater
state of disrepair, and resi-
dents of the adjacent
Plumwood subdivision have
who has represented District 5 promised with passage of the bond,
since 2000, and install his sue- '*—■ *--* ‘ -
cessor, Lynn A. Caskey IL In with another bond and say we’ll get it this
. MVVigV uuivi iu.
( j board member Benny May. /If we start short- <—^Witlreuts made and costs still roughly
7 mg them, the pocketbooks are going to close.” $400,000 over budget, John Koonce, the dis-
Superintendent Greg Poole agreed, saying ^>5 Executive Director of Finance, raised
his impression was that the district’s bond the possibility of using roughly $400,000 in
proposals had been successful because the interest accrued by the yet to be used bond
1 district fulfilled its promises in the past. mnnPU tn hrirW oan nffiriak walked
Later, representatives of the p.m. in the Council Chamber
two owners appealed to City <.
Council to allow them to pro- Market Street.
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Cash, Wanda Garner. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 85, No. 209, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 8, 2006, newspaper, June 8, 2006; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1191105/m1/3/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.