(Editor’s note: This comment has been transcribed in full. The Branch Herald has not fact checked anything in this statement.)
“Good evening. Tom Cusick. 13901 Midway Rd. So Council, Mayor, I think you guys probably have something on the agenda tonight that is a project that we’ve been working on for years in the City of Farmers Branch, and I just want to take a few minutes to address a few things and discuss it before this conversation comes up. So, one thing about this parcel that we’ve talked about. We’ve started, Thomas Cusick Custom Homes, back in 2017. I’ve been a Farmers Branch resident for 12 years, and during that time, I’ve had a sister company that’s done remodels and other work throughout our community. During this time from our process, we’ve done roughly 50 new construction houses in the City of Farmers Branch along with countless other remodels along the way. A low estimated value of these homes is roughly $1 million each. Simple math would say we’ve contributed approximately $50 million of value to our community through the years.
“Third-party information can validate that. That’s not my opinion. That’s something that can actually be looked up and validated out there if you want to take the time to do that.
“We originally reached out to the City of Farmers Branch in October of 2018, regarding a vacant parcel at 13309 Josey Lane.
“We were instructed at that time that the parcel would not be sold individually but if I was able to precure surrounding properties, the city would consider selling it to us after we made those financial commitments to the surrounding properties.
“Following these directives, I purchased three townhomes and the former Edward Jones building and the acquisition costs for those properties alone were just under $2 million.
“From there, the city then agreed to go ahead and sell us the vacant parcel at 13309 Josey Lane, Farmers Branch, to me with the intention of rezoning and developing the combined parcels into townhomes.
“This even went so far that the new comp plan included our townhome project into townhomes, which you guys have all seen and approved.
“After the city completed the appraisal at that time, we agreed to go into a purchase price of $200,000 for 13309 Josey Lane.
“From that point in time, I engaged a civil engineer, architect and landscape architect to work on plans, and per the contract generated by the City of Farmers Branch, the city required final design and approval on our project and our townhomes.
“Throughout the process of trying to obtain city approval for our townhomes, we went through four different revisions.
“This required the civil engineer, the architectural plans and the landscape plans to be completely redone four separate times. This obviously cost us valuable time along with hundreds of thousands of dollars in revisions.
“Since this time, it is our understanding, the city has changed their position concerning involvement with developers, no longer providing [three-minute timer rings] I’m going to go over, no longer providing influence and mandating final approval on designs and projects.
“However, that didn’t help our costs or our time required to mandate these changes.
“The city then continued to engage in other conversation, meetings and provide staff comments as late as August 2024.
“We even came before this council for approval in February 2024 for this project.”
Mayor Terry Lynne: “Tom, I can give you one more minute.”
Tom Cusick: “That’s all I need. Thank you. Since then, the city is claiming a by-the-book approach, choosing to have 13309 Josey Lane reappraised, placed on the MLS, in an effort to accept bids for the final sale of this [parcel]. Of course, this process doesn’t take into account the previous request of the agreement I had with the city. An agreement in which we were told if we purchased all the surrounding areas, the city would consider selling this parcel and would never sell this parcel by itself.
“So instead, on top of this, the city has decided to increase the price of the parcel based on a new appraisal, and as I mentioned in the beginning of my comments, I’m not going to take sole value for the improved value in the Dallas area. However, we have absolutely continued to increase property value in the Farmers Branch community. That’s validated third party.
“I’ll cut myself a little short here. I’ll say this. Councilmembers, my plan is in place. It’s been in place for seven years. I have a plan. I have presented a plan. My plan is a part of the new comp plan that was approved by councilmembers in this community. My plan brings a roughly $30 investment to the city of Farmers Branch. My plan will bring needed housing to our community. My plan will benefit and beautify our parks in our community. My plan is the only one like it in Farmers Branch, and my plan provides the highest and best use for our city. So I’m asking that you guys please consider and accept my offer that we have put together that we’ve been working on for seven years. Let’s continue what we started. Let’s finish what we began with. My plan is in place and ready to go. I appreciate the extra time. Thank you all very much.”
