Urgent – Signing date for Tuesday, February 19, 2008 has been canceled

I realize that I just sent out the reminder for tomorrow’s signing day a couple of hours ago, but I just received late word from Paloma that a good number of gas lease packets will not be ready by tomorrow’s signing day.

They are still having staffing problems which has affected their readiness at the past few signing meetings we had. Those problems have cascaded down to our signing meetings and have manifested in a number of our members showing up on their scheduled signing days only to be told that their lease packets were not ready. This is not acceptable!

Tomorrow was shaping up to be more of the same. I do NOT want this to continue to happen to any of our members. For this reason, I have told Paloma that we will cancel tomorrow’s signing meeting, giving them a few days to regroup for a new signing date that I will arrange.

Tomorrow’s meeting will be rescheduled and I will broadcast a message with the new signing date and times. I’ve been in contact with Paloma’s manager who is keenly aware of the problem and has promised that they will be fully prepared at the next signing meeting date.

I am truly sorry for any confusion and inconvenience that has resulted from this last minute schedule change. I will work with Paloma to see that this does NOT happen again.

Maximize your acreage – get a copy of your survey!

The Wedgwood East Neighborhood Association has a post on their website on how to maximize your acreage by measuring your lot to the middle of the street using your surveyed measurements.  If you don’t know what they are one way to find out is find out what they are from the neighborhood plats that can be found in the Tarrant County Clerks records library in downtown Fort Worth.   The WENA site tells how to obtain your neighborhood plat:

If you don’t have a surveyed copy of your lot’s dimensions**, you can get it at the Deeds and Records Office in the basement of the old Tarrant County courthouse downtown for $3.50. You’ll need to take a description of your property, such as Block 16, Lot 8. [Source: WENA]

If you have an actual survey that was done on your property that would be ideal as well.

Read the complete article here.

[**Update:  I edited this post after I realized that the WENA article was not telling how to obtain a copy of one’s property survey but rather the “survey of [one’s] lot dimensions” which are lot measurements that appear on the neighborhood plats in the county clerks record library.]

I called the Tarrant County Clerk’s office this morning (Feb. 15, 2008) and the clerk verified that there are no individual residential property surveys in their records and that the lot dimensions do appear on these plats.

If you had a survey done on your property but cannot locate it, you should try to contact your title company to see if they have an archived copy.

Another resource would be to contact the company who originally did the survey.   (“Oh sure, and while I’m at it let me instantly recall the name of my third grade teacher’s pet parakeet!).   However, that information might be in your copy of your property’s deed papers.  Good luck!

Subdivisions approved for Neighborhood Group

According to the terms of the contract with Paloma only the following neighborhoods are approved to be included in the Neighborhood Group lease. They are:

APPROVED SUBDIVISIONS

ABR Addition
Academy Park Addition
April Sound
Bretts Addition
Brittany Meadows
Christopher, J Addition
Coronet Estates
Crown Ridge Addition
Eagles Nest
Foxfire Addition
Hialeah Addition
I. Earles Survey
Joplin, LL Survey
Kelly, Thomas E Addition
Laguna Village Addition
McKamy Oaks Addition
Moore-Dobkins-Estes
Oak Country Addition
Park Chase Addition
Park Run Addition
R Throckmorton Survey
School Hill Addition

We did have some neighbors who joined our group early on who live in a subdivision that, unfortunately, was not approved by Paloma for being included in this lease deal. Those subdivisions that were not approved are as follows:

SUBDIVISIONS NOT APPROVED

Arroyo Oaks
Belle Aceda Point
Eagle Chase Addition
Enchanted Gardens
Forest Acres
Fussell Addition
Glen Side Addition
Glen Springs Addition
Green Acre Gardens Addition
Hidden Creek Estates
Huntwick Six Addition
Indian Wells Addition
J. Hawkins Survey
Oak Hill Estates
Oldfield Village
Richey A C Survey
Rush Creek Ranch Estates #2
Thousand Oaks Sub.
Trails West Addition
Willow Bend Addition
Willow Park Addition

Despite our best efforts during negotiations to include and keep all property owners who joined our group, the final determination ultimately belonged to Paloma Resources. I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused anyone.

Another map for lease signing dates and times

I’ve created a Google map highlighting the Red, Blue and Green areas of Neighborhood Group that corresponds to the subdivisions each color represents. I’ve also added some details to each shaded section about that groups particular signing date and timeframe. (All of the signings will take place at the Pleasanview Baptist Church at 4400 Pleasantview Drive, but each of the groups will have different signing dates and timeframes).

Another good thing is that you can type in your street address and click the “Search Map” button and Google Maps will pinpoint your property on the map. This way you can see it in a visually interactive way.

Please note that the areas I’ve drawn on this Google Map are the general outlines of the Red, Blue and Green areas, not an exact representation. Paloma has only approved the subdivisions listed in the earlier blog post to be part of the Neighborhood Group lease deal.

Map of Lease Signings by Subdivision Groups (Red, Blue and Green groups)

Neighborhood Group lease signing instructions

Congratulations! The gas lease signing dates for Neighborhood Group have finally been set!

[Update: All signings will take place at Pleasantview Baptist Church, 4400 Pleasantview Drive, Arlington, TX. Please note that there are scheduled dates and times depending on which subdivision your property is located. Continue reading for those details…]

In order to expedite and manage the processing of these signings more effectively, Paloma will be conducting the signings a bit differently. For the signing purposes the Neighborhood Group area will be divided into three (3) sections or groups of subdivisions. In order to make it easier to remember I have labeled these groups RED, BLUE and GREEN. The dates and times for each (subdivision) group are posted below.

The link below will bring up a map from Paloma Resources of Neighborhood Group’s area showing the three sections and the signing dates for each section.

Sectioned Map of Neighborhood Group Showing Signing Dates/Times

RED Group Details

RED GROUP – Thursday, February 07, 2008 –
Signing Times: 5:00pm – 8:00pm
This group includes the following subdivisions:

Hialeah
McKamy Oaks
Laguna Village
I Earls Addn

BLUE Group Details

BLUE GROUP – Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Signing Times: 5:00pm – 8:00pm
This group includes the following subdivisions:

Bretts Court Addn
Coronet Est
FoxFire
Oak Country
T.E. Kelly Addn
School Hill
Park Run
Park Chase

GREEN Group details

GREEN GROUP – Saturday, February 16, 2008
Signing Times: 10:00am – 2:00pm
This group includes the following subdivisions:

JR Hawkins [Update: J Hawkins was added in error]
Moore Dobkins & Estes Sub
LL Jopling Addn
Throckmorton Addn
ABR Addn
Academy Park
Children’s Courtyard Office Park
Hidden Meadow
Brittany Meadows
April Sound
Crown Ridge
Eagles Nest

Finally, Tuesday, February 19, 2008 from 5:00pm – 8:00pm has been reserved only for those members who absolutely cannot make their scheduled signing date. Persons who will be out of town, live outside of the area or outside of Texas or are otherwise unable to make any of these scheduled signing dates will need to contact Paloma directly to discuss alternate arrangements. The number to Paloma Resources is 817-332-4900.

Neighborhood Group Gas Lease deal ready to begin lease signing sessions

As you know, Neighborhood Group Negotiation Committee has been in talks with Paloma Resources and our committee of leaders has finally reached agreement with them.

At last, the time has come for what we have all been waiting for…the signing of our leases!!

Last night a group-wide email was sent to all the members of Neighborhood Group. Attached with this email were sample documents provided by Paloma that you will find in the full lease package. Your personalized full gas lease packet will be handed to you at the time you show up for the signing. The signing dates and times for Neighborhood Group have been set up and special instructions will be sent in an post following this one.

When you receive your packet some of the documents will be standard forms but some will be personalized with your information. Please read documents carefully. The lease which will be offered to you by Paloma Resources should be an exact match of those copies you received as attachments in the email earlier tonight, with the only differences being a) that your names will be filled in and your property will be identified in a Schedule or Addendum to the lease that you actually sign and b) The lessee will be Paloma Barnett, LLC, not GMB Professional Land Services. Here are the highlights:

• Signing bonus of $16,850 per acre.
• The bonus and royalties will be calculated based on your lot size, which will include acreage to the center of all abutting public streets and easements.
• The royalty is 25%.
• The term is 3 years with a 2 year option (if a well isn’t drilled within the 3 years, they can extend it by two years by paying you the same bonus again).
• There are no surface rights in the lease and a well cannot be drilled within 600 feet of any residence within our subdivision (this is a stronger position than the city ordinance).
• The lease contains a lengthy environmental compliance clause.
• Paloma Resources will not seek subordination agreements (obtained from your lender) for any homes unless they are directly above a well-bore (there are no current plans for any well-bores under our neighborhoods – we’re too far away).
• We, as homeowners, are providing no warranty guaranty of title

Your negotiation team was made up of your neighbors and others. We must explain that none of the people who drafted this lease are providing any legal advice or representation in their capacity as attorneys (including Bob Haelle, Randy Stroud, Ron Gonzales or any attorneys that have assisted us in this lease agreement.) This has truly been a situation of “neighbors helping neighbors” with no attorney/client relationships having been formed”. If you want the advice of an attorney, you are going to have to hire your own. We also want to remind you of the principle we have followed since day one…no one is being forced to sign a lease. Just because you agreed to be a Neighborhood Group member does not mean that you have to sign this lease or any other lease. The decision to sign is completely up to you. All we have done, by coming together, is allow the neighbors who do desire to lease their minerals to obtain an extremely competitive offer.

Whether you sign with Paloma Resources, or someone else, your lease can be traded, sold, or assigned to another company. One good thing about the Paloma Resources lease is it contains a very straight forward 600 foot restriction which is much stronger than the 600 foot “loophole” restriction in the current city ordinance. If you sign with Paloma Resources and the lease ends up being sold or traded to another drilling company, they will have to abide by all terms of the lease, including the 600 foot restriction and the environmental compliance clause.

If you have already signed a lease, the Paloma Resource offer is simply not an option for you.

Lastly, the leaders of Neighborhood Group are obligated to promote and endorse the agreement we reached with Paloma Resources, and that is exactly what we are doing. We are proud of our efforts and believe they have allowed each of us to obtain an offer much better than anything any one of us could have achieved on our own.

If you need to make special arrangements for signing your lease contract, at the very bottom of this email are phone numbers you can call.

Thank each and every one of you for your patience and steadfastness.