Garland’s District 3 Council Member Jerry Nickerson hopes to continue serving for another term. As an engineer, he understands many of the challenges that Garland faces. He feels that his experience and background, which includes managing bond programs for cities, school districts and hospital districts, will be an asset to council.
“The citizens’ bond committee did an excellent job. There were tough decisions to make,” he said. “But we can’t remain status quo. If people don’t like change, they are certainly not going to like irrelevancy and that’s what happens if we don’t change.”
Nickerson addressed some of South Garland’s most serious problems during his first term.
The issue of Eastern Hills Country Club is on its way to a solution with My Possibilities getting ready to develop a mix of homes for adults, including a percentage of them for special needs individuals. There were nine public meetings during which citizens could voice their opinions and ask questions.
The citizens’ first choice was another country club and Nickerson pursued that but was told by numerous developers that a country club would never pay out.
“Most South Garland residents want to see growth and that’s who I represent, the majority,” Nickerson said. “I wasn’t trying to drive the development. Someone had said that I was ‘on the take’ and that’s ridiculous.”
The council member has focused on economic redevelopment and said that it took South Garland 30 years to get where it is and it’s not going to improve overnight. He is working to convince council that it’s time to invest in South Garland in the context of what the catalyst study revealed.
“The Rose Hill property at I-30 was one of the central areas where the study indicated we start, but it had been tentatively sold to a charter school,” he said. “I told council if we can’t control who owns that land we’d never be able to execute our plan.”
It was valuable land with I-30 and Rose Hill Road frontage and there would be a school on it that paid no taxes right in the middle of where the catalyst work should start. Nickerson was able to convince council to spend $7 million for the land. He told them that if they were serious about helping redevelop South Garland, the city needed to own it.
Nickerson is happy to have single family development going on in South Garland again. In addition to the My Possibilities project, there is development adjacent to the land the city owns, and on the other end of South Garland there is a 70-home development in its third phase.
“There are nine ongoing projects right now,” he said. “We have to keep that momentum, but I don’t think it will continue unless I’m re-elected.”
A concerning issue is the Cypress Cove area, which was in Dallas city limits until developer DR Horton sued and had it de-annexed. It needs water and wastewater service and they proposed forming a Municipal Utility District which would require a well system and a water and wastewater treatment system. Garland citizens adjacent to the area were concerned about their property values and Nickerson has been addressing their concerns. He hopes there will be an agreement with DR Horton to buy water and service from Garland.
“We already provide sewer services to Sunnyvale and we have the line that runs right down Bobtown Road right past this property,” Nickerson said. “We need to negotiate with DR Horton to pay for improvements to tie into our line. It won’t cost the city much and we’ll have another revenue stream just like we have from Sunnyvale.”
Moving forward he wants to continue to focus on economic redevelopment.
He hopes to add to the progress in South Garland and see that existing issues are properly resolved. He would also like to use his background in hospital operations and design, along with his knowledge and industry relationships, to help with the VA Hospital and Parkland Hospital projects.
Nickerson also wants to look at social issues. He acknowledged that Garland has a great multi-cultural dynamic. He would like to grow that in services to different cultures.
There is more work to do on transportation issues. TxDOT has said the overpass at Bass Pro will be addressed after the bridges across the lake are built. A decision has not been made whether it will be an underpass or overpass at I-30.
Much has been said about the relocation of the I-30 Bass Pro exit. Nickerson feels the it makes sense because of safety issues and traffic capacity and because the road design won’t accommodate the ramp in its present location. The retailers have been misinformed according to Nickerson. He added that people have been harassing TxDOT staff to leave the exit where it is.
“Doing that would not benefit our citizens,” he said.