HCC trustee says college holding back information on land purchase

A Houston Community College trustee says the school's administration won't cough up all of the information it has about a plan to move HCC's Sienna Plantation campus to a new location in Missouri City.

The HCC Board of Trustees is set to vote Wednesday on the purchase of two tracts of land along Texas Parkway for $3.6 million. Trustee Dave Wilson says the college won't give the board necessary information about the purchase, including appraisals of the property.

"Those appraisals were withheld and because they're withheld we can't vote on it," Wilson said. "They're withholding them, and I'm going to even insinuate that it's in order to induce the board to vote in a fashion without the proper information and the proper knowledge."

Wilson said he was permitted to look at the appraisals last week, but was given just an hour and a half to inspect more than 500 pages. He said he was not allowed to take notes or pictures of the documents and the college has refused to provide him with copies.

In order to see the documents, Wilson had to sign a form promising not to talk about the appraisals. The form said the documents contained information that's confidential under attorney-client privilege.

HCC is partnering with Missouri City and Fort Bend County on the planned campus move. The college wants to close its campus in Sienna Plantation to open a new campus on the land in question, which is owned by Missouri City Venture #19 and KSA Industries Inc..

Wilson said the appraisals contained information that made him question the purchase of the new land and the sale of the old property. He said the college is violating its own bylaws, which require the chancellor to provide trustees with "important information in a timely manner" and to have "background information and research compiled on issues of particular importance to the Board, with sufficient time for study by Trustees before a vote."

Charles Smith, HCC's chief facilities officer, said in an email Tuesday that the board has been fully briefed on the purchase.

"Additionally, the college administration has provided each Trustee with a detailed transaction report which explains the land acquisition and sale related to the Missouri City campus relocation," Smith said.

The board book, provided to trustees and available online, says that the college's existing campus in Missouri City is located in a quiet bedroom community well away from primary traffic corridors and has never developed to capacity.

The college has determined that the existing student population mainly comes from neighborhoods closer to the Texas Parkway site, as well as from South Houston and Stafford. The new campus will be less than a third of the distance from the college's Stafford campus, which has a robust enrollment of about 8,000. The existing Sienna campus had just 1,200 students last semester.

"There have always been issues with enrollment at the Sienna campus and we've wanted to make sure students and community has better access to our campus," said Neeta Sane, the HCC trustee whose district includes Missouri City. "That's been the driving force -- to make sure our campus is accessible to the community and students and taxpayers."

Sane said she trusts the administration to do its due diligence.

"Of course it has to be a financially wise decision," she said. "I don't have expertise in any real estate matters, so the administration has to be the guider in that process. I'm really, really counting on HCC's administration and the chancellor to tell us tomorrow they have done their due dilligence, this is the best puchase and I'm ready to support that."