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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCorrespondenceMorgan Hester From: Drjmbrooks@aol.com Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2013 4:07 PM To: Morgan Hester Cc: Jason Schubert; Lance Simms; dickson@madison-construction.com; mrjones@madison- construction.com; berniebernard@tdi-bi.com; Donnie Willis; gailmills@tdi-bi.com; meganbrooks@tdi-bi.com Subject: Re: TDI-Brooks' Wellborn Campus Landscaping Related to Lab Bldg Closing Morgan, The stamped plans just had a minimum landscaping plan to meet CS requirements that was provided by our building architect. In all my correspondence, I have been trying to get you out of thinking in those terms. The approved plan doesn't represent what we are actually doing landscaping -wise. This is not a commercial development where we are trying to do a minimum amount of landscaping to meet city requirements. This is our "home" in many respects and we are developing our landscaping as we go along with development of this campus. We have employed a landscape architect and have probably spent $500,000-$700,000 so far in landscaping out here. I can pull the amount we have spent if you would like to see them. It far exceed the amount in the building plan. I know our irrigation has cost nearly $150.000 along. By the time we have completed the additional admin building next to the lab building, we will have spent probably upwards to $1 million in landscaping. I doubt when we are complete that you will find a prettier commercial or academic building campus anywhere in the City. Thus, our landscaping will not look anything like what is in the stamped plan. The more appropriate question is: Does our landscaping around the laboratory building meet the minimum city requirements? I think you will find it far exceed the min CS requirements. OK to come out tomorrow morning anytime after 9-AM. Just give me a call on my cell (220-3798) when you head this way or. get near. I am located in the laboratory building (14,391 B). Regards, Jim James M. Brooks, Ph.D. TDI-Brooks Int'I Inc. In a message dated 4/11/13 3:22:14 PM, mhester@cstx.gov writes: Jim, In order for us to return the bond, the landscaping will need to be inspected based on the approved plans and determined to be complete. If you are ready for me to come out, I can do so tomorrow morning. In the event that everything is as shown on the stamped plans, the check will be ready as early as Wednesday of next week. Thank you! Morgan Hester Staff Planner Planning & Development Services City of College Station P.O. Box 9960 1101 Texas Avenue College Station, TX 77842 Office: 979,764.3570 Fax: 979.764.3496 Email: mhester@cstx.gov Website: www.cstx.gov City of College Station : 75th Anniversary From: drjmbrooks@aol.com [mailto:drjmbrooks@aol.comj Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2013 2:45 PM To: Morgan Hester Cc: Jason Schubert; Lance Simms; dickson@madison-construction.com; mrjones@madison-construction.com; berniebernard@tdi-bi.com; Donnie Willis; gailmills@tdi-bi.com; meganbrooks@tdi-bi.com Subject: Re: TDI-Brooks' Wellborn Campus Landscaping Related to Lab Bldg Closing Morgan, How does TDI-Brooks go about getting the $70,500 bond we put up for landscaping for our laboratory building at our Wellborn campus? Regards, Jim James M. Brooks, Ph.D. TDI-Brooks Int'l Inc. c - 979-220-3798 o - 979-693-3446 -----Original Message ----- From: Drjmbrooks <Drjmbrooks@aol.com> To: mhester <mhester@cstx.gov> Cc: jschubert <jschubert@cstx.gov>; Isimms <Isimms@cstx.gov>; dickson <dickson@madison-construction.com>; mrjones <mrjones@madison-construction.com>; berniebernard <berniebernard@tdi-bi.com>; dwillis <dwillis@cstx.gov>; gailmills <gailmills@tdi-bi.com> Sent: Tue, Dec 18, 2012 8:10 pm Subject: Re: TDI-Brooks' Wellborn Campus Landscaping Related to Lab Bldg Closing Morgan, Tks for the phone call. The amount for irrigation and landscaping in the lab bldg budget with Madison is $46,875 which x1.5 equates to $70,312.50. 1 will have our Controller write a $70,500 check tomorrow and someone here will bring it by with the Madison estimate that I provided earlier. I disagree that TDI-Brooks should be required to deposit $70,500 in a CS bank account with the amount of investment we have demonstrated in our property and its current and planned high level of investment in landscaping. After dealing with the City on the construction of our Wellborn campus, I may have to switch my party affiliation to Libertarian. From my perspective the City is trying to exercise way too much control over our private business and Wellborn campus. You are going to continue to see push back from me on many of these stupid rules. The City needs to be able to distinquish between developers that come in and build something and leave; and private companies that are building their home offices for the long-term. Regards, Jim James M. Brooks, Ph.D. TDI-Brooks Int'I Inc. In a message dated 12/18/12 3:09:00 PM, mhester()cstx.gov writes: Mr. Brooks, With all site inspections, Planning requires that the site reflects the approved plans for a full CO — this includes the stamped site plan, stamped landscape plan, and stamped building elevations. In the event that the approved landscaping is not installed at the time a CO is requested, a landscape bond in the amount of 150% of the total cost can be provided to the City of College Station. The other option would be to install the approved landscaping and call for a CO upon completion. Due to the time constraint, we will accept a check in the required amount. This will be sufficient for a Temporary CO. Please be aware that we will deposit it, but when we are notified that the landscaping has been installed, we will issue a refund of the provided amount. A full CO can then be issued. To clear up any confusion about Donnie's response to his CO inspection, multiple departments will inspect the site. Once all departments' issues have been addressed, a Temporary CO can be issued. I plan to inspect the site tomorrow on behalf of Planning. Morgan Hester Staff Planner Planning & Development Services City of College Station P.O. Box 9960 1101 Texas Avenue College Station, TX 77842 Office: 979.764.3570 Fax: 979.764.3496 Email: mhester(a)cstx.gov Website: www.cstx.00v From: Donnie Willis Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2012 2:28 PM To:'drimbrooks(oaol.com'; Morgan Hester Cc: Molly Hitchcock; Lance Simms; dickson(abmadison-construction.com; mriones(a)madison-construction.com; berniebernard(aDtdi-bi.com Subject: RE: TDI-Brooks' Wellborn Campus Landscaping Related to Lab Bldg Closing Dear Mr. Brooks, I met with Mike at the site today and informed him I had no problem OKing a Temp CO for the building, as long as erosion control is in place and re -vegetation of the site beginings within 14 days of the completion of the construction of this building. Short answer, clean up site, seed, sod, or plug areas disturbed by construction. After that we set back and wait for the grass to grow. Respectfully, From: drimbrooks(o)aol.com (mailto:drjmbrooks(aDaol.com] Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2012 2:04 PM To: Morgan Hester; Donnie Willis Cc: Molly Hitchcock; Lance Simms; dickson(omadison-construction.com; mriones(a)madison-construction.com; berniebernard (o)td i-bi.com Subject: Re: TDI-Brooks' Wellborn Campus Landscaping Related to Lab Bldg Closing No To follow-up on the last e-mail, here are some pictures as follows: 1. StoneWork-Lab - view of the lakeside side of laboratory building showing multi -tier large stone blocks already set for landscaping this side of the laboratory building. These are on top of a reinforced concrete base. 2. & 3. Two view of #1 above from across the pond and from the office building. 4. Picture of the roadway with fence installed along the roadway and large pasture. The fence encompasses the large pasture along IG&N and South Dowling roads. It will be painted shortly. 5. Picture of current landscaping around warehouse showing pond, waterfall, etc. Jim James M. Brooks, Ph.D. TDI-Brooks Int'I Inc. c - 979-220-3798 o - 979-693-3446 -----Original Message ----- From: drjmbrooks <drjmbrooksna aol.com> To: mhester <mhester(ocstx.gov>; dwillis <dwillis(c)cstx.gov> Cc: mhitchcock <mhitchcockna cstx.gov>; Lsimms <Lsimmsna cstx.gov>; dickson <dickson(a)madison-construction.com>; mrjones <mrionesPmadison-construction.com>; berniebernard <berniebernard(a)tdi-bi.com> Sent: Tue, Dec 18, 2012 1:30 pm Subject: TDI-Brooks' Wellborn Campus Landscaping Related to Lab Bldg Closing Dear Morgan and Donnie, TDI-Brooks is trying to get a a temporary occupancy for our laboratory building on our Wellborn Campus this week or next. This is important to us to close on this building by year's end as it will significantly effect our tax liability for 2012 if a temporary occupancy is not obtained by year's end. Madison our construction firm has pretty well closed all the issues to get the TO with the exception of the landscaping issue which is my responsibility. Morgan is telling me we need a 150% bond and it is my understanding Donnie has told Madison we are OK as is to get the TO. So, I am confused. Our original plan for landscaping for the building only had a minimal plan in it to meet the City requirement. The attached budget for the landscaping in the laboratory budget is—$45,000 (see attached). We looked at this original plan as just a place holder so as to get started on the construction. Since that time, we have conducted a couple of major landscaping projects including (1) installation of a front entrance along S. Dowling and (2) construction of a high quality wood fence along all the roadways and the front pasture. We have about $175,000 in these two projects. A couple of pictures of the front entrance and the pasture fence are enclosed. We have begun construction of the rock feature on the pond side of the laboratory building (see attached picture) which represents about $30,000 of large stone landscaping blocks. We have commissioned construction with Bob Ruth our Landscape Architect of the IG&N Entrance which will again contain like the S. Dowling feature a large rock entrance feature, electric gate, large water feature, irrigation and scrubs. We expect to spend—$175,000 on this IG&N Entrance feature, gate, sign and landscaping. As well attached is the current landscaping plan for the office building which with the stone rock walls already installed (see attached picture) and will probably cost in the $80,000-$120,000 range. We are also planning a large water feature between the lab and admin buildings that will include a rock stream with flowing water out of the pond, pools, etc. Attached is also our preliminary plan for the landscaping along the roadway with includes live oaks, street lights and other scrubs. Right now, we are sourcing the purchase of about 15-20 600-gallon live oak trees for this roadway through the property. So to be asked to put up a bond to ensure that we provide minimal landscaping to City standards is somewhat insulting. A year from now, we will have to put at least $600,000 into irrigation and landscaping on the campus and will continue to do so as we continue our development plan for this campus. Last week, we moved from TDI-Brooks to our property company, GEO3, $400,000 specifically for the landscaping we are planning to conduct over the next quarter. If we have to get Prosperity Bank to put up a $67,500 bond ($45,000 x 1.5) we will. But we consider this ridiculous considering the landscaping effort you can see we have already put into this property. I challenge you a year from now to find another business in CS that has anywhere near the amount of effort in landscaping as the TDI-Brooks campus. It is also frustrating that TDI-Brooks itself can't give you this guarantee. We are a $40 Million/year revenue company with a multimillion dollar credit line with Bank of Houston. TDI-Brooks is conducting all the completed and planned landscaping out of our TDI-Brooks cash flow and not through our SBA construction loan through Prosperity Bank. So asking them to provide this bond on an item that TDI-Brooks is paying directly is not appropriate, but can be done if necessary. So please rethink this issue and tell us quickly if you require a landscaping bond for TDI-Brooks to get a Temporary Occupancy on the laboratory building and if so how much. Let me send pictures next in a supplemental e-mail to keep attachments below 5MB. Sincerely, Jim James M. Brooks, Ph.D. TDI-Brooks Int'I Inc. c - 979-220-3798 o - 979-693-3446 City of College Station Home of Texas A&M University City of College Station Home of Texas A&M University