HOUSTON – After a monthslong debate, the Aldine ISD board voted unanimously on Tuesday night to stop pursuing a property that has been in one family for more than a century.
The 7-0 vote followed comment from about a dozen community members urging the board to let the Upchurch family keep their property, instead of taking it for a $50 million football stadium construction project.
After the vote, several people in the meeting erupted in applause.
“I don’t know what to say, but I’m just glad it turned out like that,” property owner Travis Upchurch Jr. told KPRC 2′s Bryce Newberry after the vote.
The 79-year-old, who has lived in the home for nearly 50 years, found out in June the district was trying to take his property through eminent domain and his kids have been fighting to stop it ever since.
“There’s no playbook for how to fight eminent domain. We talked to the attorneys who said there’s nothing you can do,” said his son, Travis.
His daughter said they have been emailing school board members and they had a good feeling going into Tuesday’s meeting.
“We’ve all been emailing the school board for months. We’ve had plenty of people submit public comment and we’ve tried to get the news on this to put pressure on them to do the right thing. We don’t know why they’re moving forward now instead of August or September, but we’re happy that we got the outcome that we’re having tonight,” Tara Upchurch said.
Several community members spoke against the board’s plan during Tuesday night’s meeting.
“This should have never have been an issue in the first place,” said one community member during public comment.
“Pursuing this property would crush the decades of family memories and all the history that exists on this property,” another community member said.
Aldine ISD released this statement to KPRC 2 after the vote:
“The Aldine ISD Board of Trustees voted to discontinue negotiations to purchase land from Travis Upchurch at 1810 Aldine Meadows and land owned by the Upchurch Family at 1926 Aldine Meadows authorized by prior resolutions dated November 15, 2022 and April 18, 2023.
This will allow Travis Upchurch to retain ownership and landowner responsibilities for these properties. To this end, this matter is concluded and all negotiations have ceased.
Aldine ISD looks forward to the opening of the new W.W. Thorne stadium in August 2024.”
“It’s a relief because he has worried and fretted,” said Tina Robinson, Upchurch’s daughter. “We are glad and we are at peace.”
While Upchurch gets to go home, the family still has questions about how the board got misled into thinking no one lived at the home.
“If it can happen once, it can certainly happen again, if there hasn’t been changes made,” Travis Upchurch said, adding that he hopes the district will operate with more scrutiny.
The timing of the vote raised questions for the Upchurch family, who said they still want the board’s decision in writing after having been through “a lot.”
“We want to be assured that this is authentic because there is elections next week and we want to make sure this isn’t just some sort of publicity stunt on the school district’s part,” Travis Upchurch said.