The Sundown City Council announced during the March meeting the acquisition of 12 properties owned by Sabinal Energy that were gifted to the city.
Sundown City Administrator Billy Hernandez explained that the process had taken the better part of a year with discussions going back and forth between the city and Sabinal Energy. During a previous meeting, the council approved an amount of $25,000 to seek the purchase of properties owned by Sabinal Energy.
However, after dealing with the legal and land personnel with the company, discussions would continue to go back and forth for several months. As a result, the amount of land that was desired by the city was slightly cut down due to some areas having plugged wells or various oilfield lines running through the ground in specific spots.
In turn, Sabinal Energy made the decision to gift the land that is usable to the City of Sundown. Moving forward, Hernandez explained that the properties have been platted and is needing deed work done.
Additionally, there is a long road ahead before the properties are considered ready for bid. The council will be making decisions in the future regarding how much work is needed such as streets and utility service lines before putting the properties to bid for the public.
With the various properties under the City of Sundown, Mayor Jonathan Strickland calls the purchase an opportunity for small growth within the town. In various meetings held by the council, the general consensus has been the desire to establish some form of growth for the city, but being landlocked by oilfield land has presented the biggest obstacle.
“I just want to give a big thank you to Sabinal Energy for working with us,” said Strickland. “They gave us the opportunity for growth and I know it will be important for us moving forward.”
The properties acquired were previously in the possession of Chevron before changing to Sabinal Energy hands. During the time of Chevron ownership, Hernandez explained that the city had approached the business about purchasing their unused properties but were unsuccessful as discussions would fizzle out before gaining any traction.
Strickland explained it was not until current Sundown Police Chief Jeff Foster made the move to the Sundown area in the Summer of 2022 that discussions about acquiring more property was had.
“During those previous discussions, they were not interested in selling to the community for whatever reason,” said Strickland. “When Jeff Foster came to the area with his large family, I thought we have to have somewhere for these folks who came to Sundown to live.”
From there, Strickland and Hernandez began looking at areas of properties that have not been touched or developed.
“We are expecting Jeff to come to our city and do this job; we had to look and see if there was anywhere for these folks to live wether it be possibly putting a trailer or build something to accommodate his family,” said Strickland.