SHSU Shares With Citizens Ideas For Off-Campus Criminal Justice Facility

The Feb. 18 edition of the Item discusses the SHSU-hosted session that occurred Tuesday evening at the HEARTS Veterans Museum to let community members know what soon may occupy the land the university acquired next to the museum:

Master Plan Phase 1 To Be Completed In 2014

The Jan. 21 edition of the Houstonian notes that phase one of the 2020 campus master plan for the campus is supposed to be completed later this year:

Bill OKs TDCJ-SHSU Land Deal

The Huntsville Item reports [June 29] that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice will be donating land to SHSU as a site for its planned research park criminal justice programs after a bill sponsored by State Sen. Charles Schwertner was signed by the governor in May.

The Item issued a correction to this story on July 3 (details below).

Senate Bill 1157 allows The Texas Department of Criminal Justice to donate more than 78 acres of land, in a parcel located on Highway 75 North across from the City Service Center, to the university by no later than Jan. 1, 2014. SHSU Vice-President of Finance and Operations Al Hooten said the land would be used for its so-called research park, which will include the Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas and Correctional Management Institute of Texas programs.

“It is our intent to relocate the LEMIT and CMIT programs and provide other training facilities for TDCJ at that site,” Hooten said. “It is our desire that these efforts will further our long-standing working relationship with TDCJ in the area of criminal justice.  Also, the relocation of these programs from the main campus to this property releases considerable space that the University needs for the continued growth of academic programs at the main campus."

The programs are currently located in the criminal justice center on the main campus of SHSU. The programs provide training for law enforcement officers from U.S. and international departments. It’s unclear if other programs will join LEMIT and CMIT at the location after getting less than half the acreage than originally planned.

The new park site is located adjacent to the HEARTS Veterans Museum, which Hooten said SHSU supports, but the university would not own the property.

Plans for the a research park were formally announced on Sept. 6, 2012, when Dr. Dana Gibson, SHSU president, spoke to the university in her annual address to faculty and staff.

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In a written statement to the Item’s request for information about the signing of Senate Bill 1157...nowhere did Vice President Hooten refer to the use of the land as a research park. The land, as stated in the response from the university, will be used to relocate the LEMIT and CMIT programs and provide other training facilities for TDCJ at that site. While Sam Houston State University continues to investigate options for establishing a research park in the future, there are no plans to begin construction of a research park at the location mentioned in the article.

SHSU Research Park Idea Retooled

SHSU has hired a director for a planned research park that could bring new jobs — and other forms of economic development — into the city, reports the Huntsville Item.

Terry Stokes started work in November at SHSU, tasked with developing a master plan for a research park that might house criminal justice-related technology programs.

Stokes said he’s in the process of reviewing previous proposals for sites of the planned park, which include a 200-acre plot of land on Ellisor Road and Highway 19 in Walker County, about 8 miles from the main SHSU campus. About 160 acres of the site would have been donated to the university by the D’Agostino family. At full build-out, the complex would have included, according to developer plans, a full-service hotel and other private tenants.

But consideration of this site became controversial last summer when the Huntsville City Council began to consider commitment of $2 million in providing utility infrastructure to the site, which borders the city’s sewage treatment plant, and annexation of the site and land between it and the city limits. The Ellisor Road site has recently been advertised for sale.

Citizens who spoke out against annexation and using tax funds to build utility lines to the site were critical of its suitability, based on its distance from the city, its access from a two-lane highway and its close proximity to a sewage treatment plant

Critics also pointed to other sites along Interstate 45 near existing utility infrastructure and with immediate access to I-45. SHSU officials postponed public discussion of the Ellisor Road site after acknowledging that the city’s draft hotel study had identified superior sites along I-45.

Master planning efforts will yield details Stokes said he doesn’t yet have — such as what sites might be considered, the total anticipated project cost from site acquisition to completion, the types of programs to be housed at the park, and whether new jobs will be created for Walker County’s existing workforce.

SHSU Searches For New Research Park Site

The July 13 edition of the Item reports that SHSU officials have asked the city to help investigate other sites for its research park:

SHSU determined the original site on Highway 19 is not viable, city sources confirmed Thursday.  That means, Mayor Mac Woodward confirmed, the public hearings to discuss possible annexation of 359 acres of land to include the 160-acre park will be cancelled, and there will be no more discussion of extending $2.1 million in city utilities to the site.

The original site is located in the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction, miles from city infrastructure, and would have required at least a 12-inch water line extension that would have cost, in addition to sewer line extension, $2.1 million. The developer requested that the city of Huntsville foot the bill.

...city sources confirmed that a recent study on optimum sites for location of a hotel and conference center — like one that would be associated with the research park — identified sites along Interstate 45 as most viable.  These sites would have easy access to Interstate 45 and proximity to existing city utilities.

Over the past month, City Council fielded numerous questions and comments from citizens about the costs associated with utility line extension to the original Highway 19 site, possible annexation of the site, and the lack of consideration given to other sites with fewer associated costs to the city.

More: SHSU: Hwy 19 land still a possibility (Item; July 13)

Citizens Speak On Annexation

The Huntsville Item reports on the Tuesday, July 3 City Council meeting where the proposed SHSU research park was discussed:

The Huntsville City Council on Tuesday unanimously agreed to push back the first public meeting on the proposed annexation of a university research park to August to allow the city more time to gather information to answer questions raised by citizens.

Sam Houston State University plans to build a research park on a 160-acre tract owned by D’Agostino Companies east of the city limits at Highway 19 and Ellisor Road. The heavily wooded lot, which borders a small subdivision of ranch-style homes, is about 5 miles from SHSU’s campus in Huntsville.

The developer has asked the city to foot the bill for the extension of water and sewer lines to the property — 60 acres of which would be donated to SHSU for use as a research park. Most of the rest of the land would be developed as a private and taxable mixed-use and hotel and convention center complex.

The city is applying for federal grants to help fund the cost of a 12-inch water line to the site but the city would be expected to absorb the rest of the costs.

Item: HSU, Developer Discuss Park

Tuesday’s Huntsville City Council meeting again debated the proposed SHSU Research Park northeast of town, according to the Huntsville Item:

Item: Council OK’s Annexation Process

The June 20 edition of the Huntsville Item highlights the City Council's okay to annex the proposed site of the SHSU research park:

Item: HSU Planning To Open Research Park

The May 5 edition of the Huntsville Item reports that SHSU appears to be planning its first research park in Huntsville (or anywhere!):

August 2011 Regents Report

Today@Sam has a run-down of the capital improvement projects discussed by the Texas State University System Board of Regents, the governing body of SHSU; these include:

Approvals:

• Design development documents presented by Ford, Power and Carson, Architects and Planners, Inc., of San Antonio, for the restoration of Austin Hall, with a budget of $2.2 million. The project will totally funded by the Higher Education Assistance Fund, a capital funding source provided by the state constitution.
• Purchase of 2.75 acres located at 2208 Avenue I. Said, President Dana Gibson, “This property will be used for future campus expansion and parking according to the master plan. The property’s location is between the edge of the west campus and Sam South where University Police and Facilities Maintenance offices are located, as well as being adjacent to Raven Village. If it is not acquired, the university could potentially be blocked from growth of the campus to the west and become landlocked.”

May 2011 Regents Report

Today@Sam has a run-down of the capital improvement projects approved by the Texas State University System Board of Regents, the governing body of SHSU; these include:
Construction:

• An athletic office complex.
• A parking structure at Bobby K. Marks Drive and Bowers Boulevard.
• A soccer/track/tennis complex.
• A South Dining Commons

Demolition:

• Smith-Kirkley Hall.
• The buildings on Sorority Hill.

Name changes:

• The Northside Dining Facility will be known as Old Main Market upon completion. The new dining facility is located approximately one block north of the previous site of the Old Main building, which burned in 1982.
• The agricultural engineering technology center was renamed the William R. Harrell Agricultural Engineering Technology Center in memory of the late Dr. Billy Harrell, who served in a number of leadership capacities in the university’s Department of Agricultural and Industrial Sciences for 37 years.