As an update to an item appearing in this space Tuesday, the Aldine (Texas) Independent School District board voted 7-0 on Tuesday night to rescind the resolution for eminent domain involving homes next to W.W. Thorne Stadium.
As a result, the Aldine Meadows property belonging to 79-year-old Travis Upchurch Sr. will not be turned into a stadium parking lot after all.
As reported by Houston ABC affiliate KTRK, Upchurch has lived for 43 years in the home on property that has been in his family since the early 1900s.
"I've been here a long time," he said before Tuesday's vote. "It's just part of us, I guess."
Related: School District Mulls Eminent Domaine to Seize Family's Land for Stadium Parking Lot
According to KTRK's Mycah Hatfield and Daniela Hurtado, the district built Thorne Stadium in 1979, later beginning construction to replace the stadium with a new venue on the same plot of land in 2022. It is slated to be completed in 2024.
"They claim they want to use it for a parking lot, but I've been here since the stadium was built, and it's never been filled up with a football game," Upchurch said.
The district had eminent domain as a weapon in the fight.
"Eminent domain is the state's right to take private land for public use. However, the Texas Constitution protects landowners and requires governmental entities to pay just compensation for that taking," Richard Weaver, a real estate attorney not associated with the case, told KTRK.
Travis Justin Upchurch Jr., the 79-year-old's son, said the family used every opportunity they could to get in front of the school board, while receiving a tremendous amount of support from community members who approached the board on their behalf.
"He wants to live here," Upchurch Jr. said about his father. "We want him to live here."
The younger Upchurch added that the family would be happy to turn the property into green space once he no longer wants to or no longer can live there.
