The Bee Cave Bee

Hill Country Texas Galleria LLC today announced that it has terminated its proposal to purchase the Field of Dreams from the Lake Travis Youth Association (“LTYA”) and donate it to the City of Bee Cave (“City”) as a park.

Manger/Member Adrian Overstreet said:

“It is with great regret that we have announced today that we are terminating our offer to acquire the Field of Dreams from the (“LTYA”) for the purpose of donating it to the City of Bee Cave as a park.

As we said when we announced this proposed gift the easy part of this proposal was our making the contribution to fund the purchase. The more difficult part was negotiating an agreement between the City and the LTYA regarding the use of the field by LTYA and the improvements that were needed to make the Field of Dreams acceptable as a city park.

Despite good faith negotiations on the part of all parties it has become apparent that the parties are unable to satisfactorily address the LTYA’s concerns regarding the terms of a proposed operating agreement or the City’s well founded concerns regarding the condition of the fields, the cost of bringing them up to current code, or their further concern that the acceptance of this gift would be a financial burden to the City and its taxpayers in the future.

I want to thank all of the participants for their efforts to make this vision a reality.”

Maria Lowman posted the following response online today.:

"Earlier today Mr. Overstreet withdrew his offer to purchase the Field of Dreams. I am dissapointed.

History: The Mayor and council asked both Council Member Monty Parker and myself to begin discussions or negotiations with Mr. Overstreet regarding this transaction. To date we have had exactly one meeting, in attendance were Mr.Overstreet, his Counsel, City Staff, City Counsel and myself. During that meeting, we provided Mr. Overstreet an initial list of items the City would like to see as part of any transaction, items such as (not exhaustive);

• The fields needed to be playable and safe (currently the fields have been closed due to a landscaping error which “killed” all the existing grass. All soccer play was moved to other fields in the area with the help of LTISD.)

• The lighting situation - code violations existed that needed to be remedied.
• Compliance with various city ordinances
• ADA compliance
• Adequate parking
• Bathroom facilities
• A license agreement allowing LTYA to play on the fields
• Transfer of impervious cover

To date, we have been unsuccessful with securing any response to our initial list of requirements. While I greatly appreciate Mr. Overstreet’s efforts to facilitate this transaction, it seems there were insurmountable hurdles that resulted in his rescinding his offer to purchase the FOD from the LTYA.

My perspective, and as I shared with Mr. Overstreet, while the City very much appreciated his offer, this “gift’ must be one in the best interest of our city residents, one the city could afford and one where we would not unduly burden subsequent councils in a manner with which they would not be able to maintain a high quality facility for our sports enthusiasts."

Ray Sullivan from the LTYA posted this on our FaceBook group -

"LTYA greatly appreciates Adrian Overstreet and the City of Bee Cave for their cooperative and creative thinking in exploring youth sports and community park options for our fast-growing community.

After good faith negotiations the parties did not see a path forward in the short term. LTYA will continue to own and operate the 19-acre Field of Dreams sports field complex to serve nearly 6,000 children and their families in our fast-growing community.

Just as we have for nearly four decades, the volunteer-run Lake Travis Youth Association will work hard to provide the children of our community quality instructional athletic programs that promote a balance of competitiveness, enjoyment, and success in a safe, non-threatening environment, creating a lifelong love of sports."

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