Round Top Land Dispute Draws A Standing-Room-Only Crowd

A standing-room only crowd packed the Round Top Town Council meeting Thursday evening for a discussion about new public parking in an old right-of-way that runs through the Bethlehem Lutheran Church property.

Several members of the congregation spoke against any effort by the town to carve up the church grounds. One of them, Jackie Sacks, compared the situation to a birthday cake in which the baker took a slice out of the middle.

In the end, Round Top Mayor Judith Vincent said the town would like to discuss possibly swapping some land with the church’s leadership. However, church leaders said no one from the town contacted them about this proposal before the meeting.

Vincent said an attorney from Brenham contacted the town officials last year asking whether the town would be interested in abandoning the right-of-way. Another section of Third St., between White St. and SH 237, was abandoned by the town in the 1970s. Vincent said the town informed the attorney that it was not interested in abandoning the right-of-way without compensation. She said the town made a counter proposal for a land swap: the town would abandon its right-of-way for Third St. in exchange for some of the church’s property a block to the north at the corner of S. White St. and Bauer Rummel Rd.

The corner of White and Bauer Rummel would provide a more practical location for public parking since there are businesses with very limited parking just across the street from there.

Vincent said town officials never heard anything back from the church after making the counter offer. At the meeting Thursday, Church officials said they never hired an attorney to work on their behalf. One audience member suggested that a church member may have spoken with an attorney, and that attorney reached out to the City to inquire about the right-ofway. But the attorney was not working for the church. Jeff Gau, a member of the congregation, described it as “two old boys talking.”

“We have no record of any formal communication with the town concerning Third Street,” said Jerry Schatte, president of the Bethlehem Lutheran Church Council.

“Our congregation is prepared to engage the resources necessary to defend our property rights throughout this process, and we wish for transparent communications in the future,” Schatte added.

A teen from the church, Avery Nelius, spoke about what the church grounds mean to her.

“The exact field that has been proposed to be turned into a parking lot is one that I played sharks and minnows in as a kid,” Nelius said. “The exact church field that has been proposed to be turned into a parking lot is one that I have celebrated Easter at at the Stone Altar with my family and the congregation … I could continue with all the ways this field has impacted me and the community, but that is not something an outsider can understand.”

Several members of the congregation said their concerns were raised last week after noticing some new survey markers at the four corners of the right-of-way.

“When you start seeing stakes in the ground, it makes people nervous,” one of them said.

“I asked the survey company to put stakes at each of the four corners so that the public could drive over there and see what we’re talking about,” Vincent said. “Not because we’re going to break ground tomorrow, not because there’s any of that, but because I want you and the council members to really go over there and see what we’re talking about. That’s why they’re there.”

Vincent said the town desperately needs public parking, and one way to create some is to use existing rights-of-way.

Vincent presented an overlay map showing what such a parking lot might look like.

“What you can see from this overlay is that there are 50 to 60 parking spaces,” she said. “This is not insignificant. This is not inconsequential, right? And this wouldn’t solve the whole town’s parking problem. I mean, we need parking in a lot of different areas, but it would be a wonderful start, right?”

Vincent said the location of the Third Street right-ofway is not an ideal location for parking. But if the town could swap some land with the Church, a parking lot along Bauer Rummel Rd. would benefit the nearby commercial district.

Former Mayor Barry Bone said town code of ordinances require new businesses to provide parking for their customers.

“The permits, in my opinion, should not have been issued,” he said. “That’s water under the bridge now because they’ve done it.”

Local property owner Douglas Knutsen said he offered to sell 2.5 acres of his land many years ago for public parking. No one was interested in buying his land, he said, and now that land is worth millions of dollars.

Those decisions all took place under prior town leadership. Mayor Vincent said she’s trying to find a solution to the town’s parking problem as it exists today.

Alderman Lou Ann Phillips asked the church council’s secretary, Jackie Sacks, if the church would be interested in a land swap.

“Jackie, do you think the church would consider something like that? A land swap?” Phillips asked.

“I’m not going to comment on behalf of the council,” Sacks said.

“We would love to have a conversation with the governing body of the Church,” Phillips said.

The item on the agenda was for discussion only. The Town Council took no action.