6 February 12 - 18, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents to make that happen,” Jenkins said. “There is not the infrastructure in place for this facility to run safely.” Hutchins is just one of the nearly two dozen North Texas towns that the city of Dallas supplies water to. The town is a wholesale water client, which means they pay Dallas for what they use and for the cost of supplying that water. In a statement pro- vided to the Observer, Dallas Water Utilities said that “no conversation has occurred re- garding an increase in water supply” to Hutchins. The possibility of a sudden influx of water demand from a regional partner was discussed by the Dallas City Council last December, when officials presented the city’s long-term water supply plan. If things continue business as usual, Big D could run out of water by 2040, Dallas Water Utilities Director Sarah Standifer told the council. There are plans in place to prevent that and ensure water supply as the region continues to grow, the horse- shoe was assured, but the idea seemed to shake some council members, especially as they considered that Dallas is some- what beholden to developments that may increase water demand as regional part- ners decide to build. At the time, data center development was the water-hungry boogie man. Council member Adam Bazaldua questioned whether the city should consider renegoti- ating contracts with its member cities to in- clude variable rates, so that developments such as data centers are factored in. In other words, if a member city hypothetically asked Dallas for 200% more water overnight, it would come at a price. In a statement, Bazaldua said “no current action” has been taken to review the city’s water contracts. He also condemned the proposed ICE facility, while reaffirming his confidence in the long-range water plan dis- cussed in December. “I unequivocally oppose the opening of another ICE facility, which runs counter to the values of safety, dignity, and trust we work to uphold in the City of Dallas,” Ba- zaldua said Stalling … Stalling … Surprise A ny infrastructure upgrades around the Hutchins warehouse, such as pipes, would be the town’s respon- sibility, Dallas Water Utilities said. That could be an inflection point for the project. Federal developments typically do not have to comply with the same ordinances as local developments. The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution allows the federal government to supersede local rules, meaning restrictions such as zoning don’t apply to its projects. But the government also cannot force a local municipality to build the infrastructure a given project may require, Bloomberg re- ports. Things like public roads, utilities and sewage systems may be where towns like Hutchins find some footing in pushing back against ICE’s expansion. Jenkins said he was “not aware” of any efforts on the part of local officials to attempt to stall the Hutchins facility in this way. He added that because a property deed has not yet been filed with the county, there may still be time for non-partisan, “common sense” to prevail about the weaknesses of the Hutchins location. “You would typically hear from federal partners about something of this size,” Jen- kins said. “It may be in those early stages where they are going to, at some point, reach out. Or it may be a trial balloon of throwing out a bunch of locations and then getting the feedback on what the challenges would be.” Still, Hutchins isn’t holding its breath. Last week, Surprise, Arizona, officials were blindsided when a sale of a 400,000-square- foot warehouse on the edge of town was fi- nalized. According to local reports, the Department of Homeland Security paid $70 million in cash for the facility, which is planned to hold up to 1,500 detainees. “The city was not aware that there were efforts underway to purchase the building, was not notified of the transaction by any of the parties involved and has not been con- tacted by DHS or any federal agency about the intended use of the building,” Surprise officials said in a statement. Hutchins Mayor Mario Vasquez did not respond to the Observer’s request for com- ment, but said during the Feb. 2 council meeting that the entire council stands op- posed to what is being planned for the town. “We have reached out to officials from the county, all the way to Washington. We are talking to people about this, trying to stop this thing here,” Vasquez said. “We are doing our due diligence to stop this thing. We’ll continue to work to see if we can turn this train to go another direction.” ▼ TRANSPORTATION DART DEMANDS ADDISON DRAFTS A MASS TRANSIT WISH LIST TO AVOID VOTE. BY AUSTIN WOOD T he Addison City Council voted to send a “letter of demands” to the Dal- las Area Rapid Transit board at a meeting on Feb. 3. Less than two months after the body balked at the idea of an exit vote from DART, City Council members voted 5-2 to call a May withdrawal election on Jan. 27. Addi- son is the sixth member city to call such an election, joining neighboring Farmers Branch, along with Irving, Plano, Highland Park and University Park. Several cities have submitted letters to the DART board outlining city-specific goals and calling for changes to the agency’s fund- ing structure and governance. The proposals serve as the basis for negotiations to call off elections by March 24, the last day to legally do so. Farmers Branch and Irving’s publicly available letters were included in a presenta- tion made available to Council members ahead of the meeting. After close to two hours of at times tense discussion on what the city would like to see in the document, termed a “letter of de- mands” by Council member Dan Liscio in the meeting, an uneasy consensus was reached on Addison’s goals for funding reform, levels of service and DART governance. The Council decided to request the re- turn of some of the city’s 1-cent sales tax contribution in the form of a general mobil- ity program. Similar to proposals from Plano and Farmers Branch, the GMP would ini- tially return 25% of Addison’s sales tax dol- lars to the city, increasing to 50% by 2031. As in other discontented member cities, Addison’s return on investment under DART has come under scrutiny from offi- cials in recent months, with agency data from an Ernst and Young study showing that the city contributed $16.7 million in sales tax to DART in 2023. That year, $9 million worth of services were provided to Addison. However, under a general mobility pro- gram, cities would be required to direct freed-up revenue toward transportation-re- lated projects and likely have to provide DART with annual expenditure reports. Council members like Howard Freed and Randy Smith said they wouldn’t support that model as a long-term solution. “They couldn’t come back with any per- centage to me that I would be happy with on financing, because they would have to dic- tate that,” Smith said in the meeting. “And at this point, I don’t know why we are concen- trating on us writing a letter.” Only the state legislature can perma- nently reduce DART’s sales tax contribu- tions without stipulations on how the funds are spent. Council member Darren Gardner called the GMP a “stopgap” until cities can effect more fundamental changes in Austin. The group decided to call for bus, rail and federally required paratransit services to continue being provided by DART, with GMP funds used to fund circulator routes and point-to-point service. Alternate service models, including microtransit, will be dis- cussed at a future meeting. City Manager David Gaines said it was unrealistic for bus, rail and paratransit ser- vice levels to remain unchanged with an up to 50% reduction in sales tax contribution. “We’re not going to do 50% with the same service level,” Gaines said in the meeting. Mayor Bruce Artsfen, who cast one of the two votes against calling the May election, said some demands were contradictory. “I think we kind of have conflicting goals here. We want to save a little and get all this money back. We want them to do every- thing,” Artsfen said. “Want everything to be cleaner and safer. Which… 100% I’m on board for that, but we can’t reduce service and re- duce the scope of what they’re offering and provide better service.” Changes to DART’s governance structure were also called for. Council members Unfair Park from p4 Gordon Shattles/DART DART has recently made many cuts to services and routes. Adobe Stock The president’s mass immigration efforts are in full swing.
