The Galveston County Daily News

Friendswood will negotiate with Alvin to annex 60 acres of land the city planned to buy for parks before a judge ruled that the the land could not be purchased with money from certificates of obligation.

Some Friendswood City Council members said Monday night that they still had questions about the judge’s ruling, which they said did not specifically bar the city from buying the land outside of its city limits.

Judge Scott Jenkins of the 53rd District Court signed an order in July ruling in favor of five residents, who dubbed themselves the Friendswood 5. The residents fought the city’s plans to issue $11 million in certificates of obligation to pay for a litany of projects, including buying park land in Alvin. Jenkins wrote in his order that all relief sought by the city is denied and the city takes nothing. The order does not specifically say, however, that the city can’t buy the land using other sources of revenue, some councilmembers argued.

By annexing the land, the city avoids any legal questions about buying the land outside of city limits. Friendswood also avoids paying penalties for terminating the $2.6 million contract the city signed in September 2008 to buy the land.

According to the terms of the contract, Friendswood may have to pay $180,000 plus the cost of improvements to the property to cancel the contract. The total cost of improvements was estimated at $1.25 million; however, its not yet known how much improvements landowner David Wight has made to the land. The city has estimated Wight did up to $400,000 worth of improvements.

The city tried to buy the land in Alvin because officials said it was the cheapest and the best possible site for a new ballpark to alleviate crowding at others. But some residents argued the city was breaking the law and had agreed to pay too much for the land along FM 528.