When Steve “Coach” Fournier – Executive Director of the Burke Center for Youth in Central Texas – first heard about local government’s plans to seize a broad band of the Burke Center’s property for new wastewater lines to eventually service a high-end golf course at a very modest compensation, it seemed like a done deal.
“Their legal team contacted us and just said, ‘We’re letting you know this is where the easement is going to go, and this is how much we are going to pay you for it,’” Coach Fournier recalls.
The easement, or right-of-way, was part of a project by the City of Dripping Springs and the Driftwood Conservation District to expand wastewater capacity and use treated wastewater to irrigate the greens at Driftwood Golf and Ranch Club. The project required new wastewater lines to be built along Ranch to Market Road 150, and Driftwood, backed by the city, was using its power of condemnation to get the land necessary for the pipelines.
Condemnation is a state-approved process by which the government and various utility organizations can seize people’s land in order to build pipelines, power lines, roads, and other infrastructure, as long as it’s for “public use.” The landowner still owns the land, but with newly limited usage.
“I went to an informational meeting about the project, and saw the easement was going to be a 20-plus-foot swath along the front of our whole property and would remove dozens of fully mature trees,” remembers Fournier. “It’s a significant infringement. And what they were offering was really not a lot of money for literally making the whole front of our property unusable and taking down all those trees. But I wasn’t sure what to do about it.”
Coach Fournier contacted local attorney and longtime friend of the Burke Center Robert Avera, who recommended fellow attorney Patrick L. Reznik with Braun & Gresham. Reznik quickly confirmed not only was the deal being offered to the Burke Center a bad one, but it was nowhere near done.
“Patrick came out to the center himself, walked the property, and said, ‘Yeah, you’re getting seriously lowballed, and I can help you,” Fournier says. “He came across as a straight-shooting, solid guy. For me, if I can trust someone enough to stand back and not have to micromanage them, that’s one less thing I have to handle. I trusted Patrick, and he did not disappoint.”
The Burke Center for Youth, founded in 1973, is a nonprofit residential treatment center designed to help boys 10-17 years old who have experienced trauma.
“They’re the most lost children in our society,” asserts Fournier. “Babies get taken care of, girls get taken care of, but boys are often left to deal with difficulties on their own. They can’t – they’re kids who have been hurt.”
Today, the center is located on a 55-acre ranch that serves up to 30 boys at a time, and includes a dormitory with a private room for each boy, a University of Texas Charter School, an equine therapy program, a garden and greenhouse, a gymnasium, swimming pools, and sports fields. The full-time team includes five therapists, equine therapists and coaches – plus nine horses – and enough staff to maintain a 1:3 adult-to-child ratio (well above the state standard of 1:5).
“Every single inch of this property is dedicated to helping these boys heal from their traumas,” Fournier affirms. “But shoestring budgets are the nature of nonprofits; money is always desperately needed. We’re lucky to have more than 100 volunteers who come in to help us – every boy has two mentors, and we’ve got volunteers teaching the boys auto shop, welding, woodworking, guitar, swimming, fly-fishing, 3-D printing, Spanish and German language, and more.”
“We’ve created a good, normalizing place where kids can get what they need and still be kids,” effuses Burke Business Manager Cynthia Gindorf. “They can kick around on a soccer field, shoot hoops on a basketball court, go swimming – stuff other kids get to do all the time. The dynamic is different for every single child, and we tailor everything according to what that singular child needs.”
Patrick L. Reznik viewed his job as negotiating for the Burke Center to ensure appropriate compensation and easement terms for losing access to part of its property, as well as the trees that serve as a buffer between the campus and a highly traveled roadway. In addition to an excellent reputation, extensive expertise, and expansive knowledge from representing exclusively landowners, Reznik was also intimately familiar with the community.
“The Burke Center is 15 minutes from my house,” he notes. “This is my backyard. So, I have invaluable insight into the history and landscape of the area, including property values. I’ve got a vast database of local land sales, along with relationships with local appraisers, brokers, and real estate agents – and 30 years of experience as a trial lawyer, especially in Hays County. I was perfectly prepared to fight on behalf of the Burke Center.”
The Burke Center was originally offered an absurdly low compensation amount , fear-induced intimidation tactics are typical feelings landowners feel from agencies exercising condemnation.
“We kept getting pressured to settle for the initial offer,” says Coach Fournier. “Three times, their legal team said, ‘This is your final offer, and if you don’t accept it, then you’re getting nothing.’ I called Patrick and said, ‘What do we need to do?’ And he insisted, ‘Nope, don’t do anything. I got it.’ And he did.”
Coach Fournier and Gindorf say even though the situation took about a year to resolve, Reznik and his team at Braun & Gresham were consistently communicative, responsive, and clearly working with the center’s best interests in mind and at heart. Ultimately, Reznik was able to negotiate for almost quadruple the initial offer.
“Turning an unwelcome negative into a blessing that can bring money into a nonprofit that does extraordinary work with kids and can use it to do good in the world – there’s a lot of value in that,” states Reznik.
“Patrick 100 percent succeeded and did exactly what I hoped he would with the trust I gave him,” Fournier concludes. “He did an amazing job and got us a much more appropriate compensation for the loss and inconvenience that were going to happen no matter what. Our community is extremely caring and giving; when they see there’s a need, they step up and do what’s required. They’re incredible people, and Patrick is no different.”