$1M approved for potential lawsuit related to Dallas-Fort Worth bullet train plans​on January 24, 2025 at 11:29 pm

DALLAS — The Regional Transportation Council this week took a step to prepare for potential legal action over a high-speed rail route connecting Dallas to Houston from one of the wealthiest developers in North Texas.

The Regional Transportation Council Thursday approved up to $1 million – to be issued in $250,000 increments – for use in a potential legal battle over the high-speed rail route between Fort Worth to Dallas. Regional Transportation Council Chair Clay Lewis Jenkins said when a $250,000 allocation is used up, the board would approve the allocation of the next installment of funds.

“Just in terms of internal legal resources, we have a pretty lean team here at COG – it’s two of us,” said NCTCOG legal counsel Ken Kirkpatrick. “I think, pointing back to the October letter that we preserve, not destroy documents related to this particular topic – in reality that’s a precursor to litigation. They’re sending a signal when you get done with the EA, whatever the final decision is, if we don’t like it, we’re going to litigation.”

The Regional Transportation Council, the 45-member policymaking arm of the North Central Texas Council of Governments, approved allocating the funding “for potential litigation” by Dallas-based Hunt Realty Investments related to the environmental assessment for the proposed high-speed rail route in Dallas-Fort Worth. The vote was 42-3.

“We are supportive of going forward, I don’t think it’s necessary to vote every $250,000,” Arlington Mayor Jim Ross, who was among the three who voted against the allocation, said.

The pre-emptive action came after North Central Texas Council of Governments staff said they had received numerous letters from Hunt Realty and other Hunt-related entities about the proposed high-speed rail route connecting Dallas and Fort Worth.

Hunt Realty Investments, one of the companies Hunt controls, opposed an earlier route proposed for the train to run directly past Reunion Tower, and the Dallas City Council voted against that route in June. The city council greenlit an economic development study on a new route that would run west of Downtown Dallas in October.

A Jan. 3 letter to NCTCOG outlined Hunt’s opposition to the line, including a claim one of the routes proposed violates a 1975 agreement between Hunt and the city of Dallas. That route would then run west of downtown Dallas, between the Trinity River and South Riverfront Boulevard. The proposed route would then cut across Houston Street and I-35E before reaching a station in the Cedars.

When Hunt Realty Investments raised those concerns in June, it said the proposed route of the train line could risk the economic viability of the Hyatt Regency Hotel and the new Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.

It also alleged the NCTCOG has not received final approval for the Dallas station, is improperly putting other transportation projects on hold until rail is approved and endangering Dallas parks and bridges with the proposed route.

A spokesperson for Hunt Consolidated previously declined to comment, saying “The Hunt organization is privately held, and as such, we do not comment on our activities nor on the activities of others.”