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Welcome to the website of the Hidden Lakes Gas Lease Committee.
The Hidden Lakes Gas Lease Committee is an independent group of residents working on behalf of the community and does
not officially represent the HOA or Board.
Our goal is to provide a recommendation to the residents
of Hidden Lakes regarding leasing the mineral rights of their property.
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BREAKING NEWS!!!! HL Gas Group reaches agreement
with XTO. Signings begin Monday June 23. See below for more information.
The Contract has been removed from the website
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Latest News and Updates
The blog entries are archived monthly, to see the entries from a particular
month, select the month below.
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Friday, June 27, 2008
Last minute Q&A/ Reminders
Last Minute Q&A / Reminders
1. HAVEN'T RECEIVED A PACKET YET?
If you haven't received a packet yet from Colt Exploration, landman for XTO, and:
- you don't live in a mineral rights
reservation
- you haven't already signed a contract
- you recently bought your HL home and the seller did NOT retain
the mineral rights
PLEASE
CALL THE LANDMAN ASSIGNED TO YOUR VILLAGE:
-Ashbrook / Preserve - Carlos Aguilar, 817-986-3830
-Woodlands / Creekwood - Michael Smith, 682-553-5110
-Idlewood (all 3 villages) - Shane Jones, 469-744-4251
-Retreat / Enclave - Vivian Smith, 817-870-0026
2. DISAGREE WITH THE ACREAGE ON YOUR CONTRACT?
Click on this link to see what Tarrant County has listed
for your home's acreage:
http://taxoffice.tarrantcounty.com/AccountSearch.asp
As we are to be paid to the middle of the street, the acreage percentage on your
contract should be a little
larger than what is on that website.
If it is not, please call the landman FOR YOUR VILLAGE listed above for
a correction.
Print out the Tarrant County page as proof!
3. ALREADY SIGNED A CONTRACT?
Colt Exploration provided us in early May with a list of HL residents
who had already signed a contract.
It turns out that number (28) will be higher, as Petrocasa/Harding/DDJET
did not file the contracts until just recently.
Even if you received a packet in the mail, you will not be paid!!
They will do another title search before cutting the checks.
Save yourself time and frustration and don't go
to the signing parties.
Tena Fox, our attorney, has gotten dozens of calls from those who have already signed, wanting
to get out of the contract. In her opinion, there is no way to get out of a prematurely-signed contract.
XTO
tells us that, in regards to those contracts, they will either trade land elsewhere to get ownership of them and/or make the
other gas company a partner in the drilling process. The terms of YOUR signed contract will rule in regards to royalty
percentages and such.
We have heard shameful testimonies on how high-pressure the other gas company landmen were, even
making promises that were false. Sorry, but we cannot do anything about their tactics.
Kudos to the Gas Lease CommitteeCredits for Our Windfall Money
Purpose:
This email is to pay tribute to members of the Hidden Lakes Gas Lease Committee (HLGLC) who alone are responsible for the
deal negotiated with XTO for mineral rights.
Bottom Line Results: Recalling
that the first offers were about $500, the HLGLC efforts resulted in a order of magnitude increase. It is estimated
that over $10,000,000 (that's millions) in bonuses will be paid to Hidden
Lakes Residents; over $20,000,000 total to the Hidden Lakes coalition (including HL). Isn't Hidden Lakes a great place to
live! We owe a real debt of gratitude to this dedicated team who achieved so much for Hidden Lakes residents.
Clarification: The Hidden Lakes HOA Developer Board of Directors chose not be involved with
the gas lease activities. The Hidden Lakes Gas Lease Committee operated as an independent group of residents working on behalf
of the community, not officially representing the HOA or Board.
Goal:
The committee's goal was to provide a recommendation to the residents of Hidden Lakes regarding leasing the mineral rights
of their property. HLGLC was made up of all volunteers who are HL residents.
Communications:
Since early January when it formed, the HLGLC has had over 7100 hits on the HLGLC website and also over 3350 emails received
to date. Each email was answered - sometimes multiple times from different HLGLC members. When email was sent to gaslease@HLhoa.com, it was redirected to all 14 members of the committee.
In
addition, over 150 new email addresses were garnered from door-to-door deliveries! Other coalitions / HOAs are in awe
of the fact we can quickly communicate with over 94% of our residents.
The committee met 20+ times, some with
other gas lease coalitions.
Coalition: Word got out and surrounding HOAs
and large landowners emailed, asking to join the HLGLC coalition. Hidden Lakes is 700 acres, but the coalition grew
to 4500+ acres! Unfortunately, XTO did not want to drill north of 1709 at this time, so the size of the current coalition
is approximately 1500 acres.
The Team: There were several "experts" on
the committee who work in the oil and gas industry and patiently explained the complicated issues to the rest. Some
wish to remain anonymous as they have business dealings with all the major gas companies and do not wish to get any flak from
any company not the winning the HL coalition business.
-Deb Gatzke (Retreat)
was the catalyst and lynchpin who organized and invigorated the committee, essentially making it her full time quest since
January to achieve the best possible deal for HL residents. Deb again demonstrated why she was Hidden Lakes' very first Volunteer
of the Year in 2003. She set up all the meetings with the various gas companies and kept the HL residents informed with
regular updates. Her persistence led the team through various difficulties. She spent much time on the phone with residents,
neighboring HOAs and coalition leaders in other cities. She responded to every email received, over 3350 of
them.
-John Mitchell (Bloomfield) was the committee's moral compass and
most consistent contributor, attending EVERY meeting held. John may be a man of few words, but when he spoke, the rest
listened!
-Jeff Kurtz (Bloomfield), a landman, spent many, many hours, researching
the HL common areas' mineral rights ownership. He and Dianne Knodel (Woodlands),
who is also one of the HL Association Managers, worked together to make sure Hidden Lakes rights were documented properly.
-Pete Novak (Ashbrook) took it upon himself a few weeks into the HLGLC's formation to create
a website and keep it current with the many updates and other helpful information for HL residents. The website has
had more than 7000 hits!
-St. Clair Newbern (Creekwood), Troy Hoefer (Bloomfield) and Ken DePriest (Creekwood) all work
in the O&G industry and provided valuable guidance in so many complex areas. The rest of the committee reported
they would have been lost without them!
-Tena Fox (Preserve), attorney
(www.leachlaw.com), provided, at no charge, her legal expertise in negotiating the final contract to make sure Hidden Lakes' interests in ALL
areas were protected. Tena was fantastic so consider her if you need legal work done (wills, estate planning, probate
work - click on her website for more info).
-Bill Bradley (Idlewood Estates
and also Co-chair of Long Range Planning) and Bill Stoner (Idlewood Estates and also
Co-chair of Safety) could always be counted on for insightful thoughts in discussions. Both made calls to expand the
contacts and increase the coalition size through networking. Both Bills could always be relied on when needed!
-Todd Almand (Ashbrook, also a previous Volunteer of the Year), when he was not flying, attended
meetings, but was always a contributor when brainstorming ideas and options via email. His often wacky insights added
welcomed levity to all.
-Jim Niewald (Enclave), when
he wasn't able to attend meetings, could always be counted on to deliver updates to those HL residents who did not provide
their email address. In fact, most HLGLC members were recruited for that duty in their respective villages (and sometimes
elsewhere).
-Don Boyer (Idlewood Oaks), sent out all the
HLGLC bulletins to residents.
Thanks, too, to Stewart Grounds (Preserve)
and Dale Bankhead (Ashbrook) for delivering updates door to door and their opinions
at meetings.
Lastly, a big thanks to those who wish to remain anonymous. The committee is extremely grateful
for your guidance!
Hats off to this team of volunteers who worked tirelessly on behalf of HL residents!
If you are fortunate enough to receive some of this windfall money, don't forget to join with your neighbors to let the individual
members of this committee who made it happen realize how much you appreciate their efforts.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
June 21 Update: Reminders and answers to recent questionsThe following info contains important reminders and answers in response to recent
questions and comments
(1) Packets from Colt Exploration, landman for XTO Energy, started arriving USPS today (Saturday, June 21st), they weren't mailed
out until Friday.
***(Anyone going door-to-door or calling is NOT Colt/XTO, beware!)
(2) The
contract that HLGLC negotiated has been posted online, so you can review with your
attorney (or have more time to review if you live in one of the villages closing first). For some reason, that only
XTO knows, the contract you will receive (and the one online) have crossed-out lines. Signing parties start Monday, June 23rd,
with Ashbrook (at Sky Creek Ranch from 4 to 9 pm). Full signing schedule in previous update sent out. Go to www.HLhoa.com and click on link for gas lease committee updates to view contract, schedule (and previous updates).
(3)
Page 1 of the packet give the total acreage for your
village; go to the back of the packet to "Order of Payment" to see your designated amount of bonus and "individual"
acreage.
(4) Royalties: Just posted online, in addition to the contract,
is an article from Powell Barnett Shale Newsletter about royalties, how they are calculated and how much to expect.
Remember, it's just a good-faith guess at production levels, actual numbers won't be known until they get down there.
Price levels of natural gas fluctuate as well.
(5) Two more files were just posted also: XTO
Energy's brochure and XTO's presentation, showing the various steps of natural gas drilling.
(6) Going on vacation? Heard from dozens of you going on vacation and not able to attend
signing parties. A return envelope will be in the packet coming in the mail. You can get your signatures (both
if both are on the title) notarized at your local bank (or other places) and just mail the contract back (by August 1st).
(7)
Yes, you can get a Power of Attorney for a missing spouse and/or the one going-to-be-out-of-town
spouse can get their signature notarized and the other spouse can bring it all to signing party to sign theirs in person there.
(8)
IMPORTANT:
(a) You can only come on the night assigned for YOUR village's signing party (or to makeup date on July 1st).
(b) Only come to signing party WITH A PACKET. If you do not receive a packet (3 major reasons why listed in previous
update) by June 27th, contact deb@HLhoa.com. DO NOT COME TO YOUR SIGNING PARTY WITHOUT A PACKET.
(9) QUESTIONS ABOUT IF YOU OWN YOUR MINERAL RIGHTS?
If you receive a packet from Colt Exploration/XTO Energy, then you do. If you do not receive a packet, odds are you (a) live
in a mineral rights reservation, (b) already signed a contract, or (c) purchased your home and the seller retained the mineral
rights. The HLGLC cannot do mineral rights searches!
If you do not receive a packet and are not in those three groups, we will forward your request to Colt Exploration for determination,
but NOT until after June 27th. They are at full workload capacity trying to get through all our signing parties (as
well as finish up the title searches for Bloomfield neighbors!).
6:45 pm | link
Friday, June 20, 2008
Informational Files Added
9:08 pm | link
XTO Signing Information
Fellow Hidden Lakes Neighbors!
The HLGLC stimulus package is on its way!
In fact, things are moving faster than we expected. Packets are being mailed out today and tomorrow (Thursday and Friday)
initially to all villages except Bloomfield. You should be receiving them on Friday or Saturday. The signing parties start
NEXT MONDAY (June 23rd)!! The signing schedule is below.
You can ONLY come on the day your village is assigned. If you cannot make that date, you can
come on the Makeup Date on July 1st. There are two signing venues - Sky Creek Ranch and Southlake Boulevard Church (west of
Davis, on south side of 1709). Make sure you turn up on the correct day and at the right location, anytime
during the hours indicated!
If you will be out of town and not able to attend a signing party, you can use the return envelope
in the packet you receive to return the signed contract. YOU MUST SIGN THE CONTRACT IN THE PRESENCE OF A NOTARY and
get their signature/seal.
Bloomfield neighbors: The title work on your homes has not yet been fully completed. You will
be receiving your packets and having your own signing party sometime shortly after the 4th of July holiday.
At the signings, you will receive an "order for payment" which will have your name(s), legal description and the amount
of the bonus check. The "cashable" check will arrive in your mailbox in less than 30 days. You might
have read in the newspaper of small groups getting a cashable check at signing, but that is not possible with such a large
group as ours.
WARNING: Other coalition leaders tell me that once they make an endorsement, competing gas companies
have been known to go door-to-door, telling neighbors that they are the "endorsed" company and getting them to sign on the
spot. Don't be fooled! Your packet/contract will come via mail from Colt Exploration, landman for
XTO Energy.
If you do NOT receive a packet in the mail, these are the likely reasons:
(1) You already signed a contract with some gas company.
(2) You live in one
of the mineral rights reservations (Texas A&M or Lumbermen's).
(3) Seller you
purchased your home from retained the mineral rights.
Some living IN the reservations have asked for "proof" of this fact. I am trying to get something from XTO that I can email
to you.
If you do not receive a packet by end of next week (except for Bloomfield residents) and are not affected by the 3 reasons
stated above, please email me and I will check on it.
Deb Gatzke
HLGLC Secretary
deb@HLhoa.com
Download a PDF copy of the signing schedule.
Signing Meeting Schedule
** For your convenience, please attend only to the meeting designated to your area**
** All the people listed on
the lease (Schedule I) must be present to execute the lease **
** You must bring your Driver's License to execute
your lease **
** Bring all paperwork that will help us establish ownership such as: Death Certificate, (if you are
a widow/widower), Probate information (if that applies), Marriage License (if your name is different from the lease), Power
of Attorney (if you are leasing for someone else), and Corporate resolution (if you are signing on behalf of an entity). |
| Ashbrook at Hidden Lakes |
Monday, June 23rd
Sky Creek Ranch Clubhouse
600 Promontory Dr
Keller, TX 76248
4 - 9 P.M. |
| The Woodlands at Hidden Lakes |
Tuesday, June 24th
Sky Creek Ranch Clubhouse
600 Promontory Dr
Keller, TX 76248
4 - 9 P.M. |
| The Preserve & Creekwood at Hidden Lakes |
Thursday, June 26th
Southlake Boulevard Church
2501 W. Southlake Blvd.
Southlake, TX
76092
4 - 9 P.M. |
| Idlewood Estates, Oaks and Green |
Friday, June 27th
Southlake Boulevard Church
2501 W. Southlake Blvd.
Southlake, TX 76092
4 - 9 P.M. |
| The Enclave/Retreat at Hidden Lakes |
Monday, June 30th
Sky Creek Ranch Clubhouse
600 Promontory Dr
Keller, TX 76248
4 - 9 P.M. |
| Make up date |
Tuesday, July 1st
Sky Creek Ranch Clubhouse
600 Promontory Dr
Keller, TX 76248
4 - 9 P.M. |
| Bloomfield at Hidden Lakes |
Meeting Date to Be Determined |
| Additional meeting schedules will be posted on the Hidden Lakes Website or will be emailed to you. |
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
HL Gas Group Reaches Agreement with XTO
To: Hidden Lakes homeowners and HL Coalition Members
From: Hidden Lakes Gas Lease Committee
Re: HLGLC Strikes a very good deal with XTO !!!
Dear Fellow HL Neighbors
and Coalition Members:
As you know, the Hidden
Lakes Gas Lease Committee (HLGLC) has been engaged in gathering information from, and meeting with, the various oil and gas
companies that are interested in leasing in our area. We are pleased to announce
that we have negotiated a deal with XTO Energy, Inc. (“XTO”), which is represented
by Colt Exploration. The terms of the deal are:
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$20,000 per net mineral acre upfront Signing Bonus
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25% royalty percentage (only non affiliated 3rd party expenses deducted)
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3-year primary term lease with an option for XTO to extend the lease for two years, paying an additional $20,000
per net mineral acre
It took some time to negotiate
all the various terms of the contract (and we appreciate your patience!), but we feel we have finalized an excellent contract
that will protect Hidden Lakes (and its surrounding coalition
members). Very soon you will be mailed packets from XTO (Colt Exploration) with
a personalized lease. Complete instructions on how to accept it, including the
dates and locations of “signing parties”, will be forthcoming within the next week via email from us. We will try to coordinate the signing process by Hidden
Lakes villages and other HOAs being assigned particular dates/locations.
The HLGLC has worked long
and hard to get to this point, weighed all community concerns in the lease. Many
factors influenced this decision, including drillsite locations, environmental considerations, well production levels (equals
higher royalties), community involvement and, most importantly, reputation of gas company.
We have to live with this decision for 25+ years. Fort Worth-based XTO
Energy offers the “best” in all those areas! We are excited to partner with such
an excellent company.
XTO has one drillsite on
acreage west of Davis, just north of where Precinct Line meets Davis. There are two other “soon-to-be-declared”
drillsites that will serve Hidden Lakes
and the surrounding communities. We will report their exact locations when they
are finalized, which is expected very soon. One drillsite is predicted to be
near Hidden Lakes,
but assurances are that it will be “at least 600 feet” from the nearest home.
As we have told you all
along, the HLGLC’s endorsement of this deal in no way binds or obligates any resident to the deal, and should in no way be
construed as the provision of personal or legal advice concerning your mineral rights.
The decision to sign or not sign a lease rests solely with the mineral owners (most of whom are the HL property owners). Once final lease packets are received, we recommend that every resident consult with
their own attorney if they so desire.
Respectfully Submitted,
Deborah Gatzke, Secretary
of the HLGLC
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
June 2, 2008 HLGLC Update
The committee's secretary/coordinator was on vacation for 11 days in May,
followed by our XTO landman going on vacation for 10 days. Now our committee's attorney is on vacation this week.
Therefore, the final stages of contract negotiations with XTO has been slowed
somewhat. We predict this could all be finalized the second week in June. You will all be emailed the moment it
has been finalized!
Delays can sometimes be good, as market changes occur.
Last week Chesapeake made an "11th hour" pitch for Hidden Lakes and its coalition of 30+ surrounding HOAs and landowners.
Up until last week, they only wanted the portion of HL reached by their proposed drillsite at Union Church and Davis, on the
property behind our Hidden Lakes tower at our main entrance. This would only have included 1/4 to 1/3 of all of Hidden
Lakes (basically, Ashbrook, Retreat, Preserve, Enclave). Chesapeake said they would match XTO's offer and would be seeking
another drillsite west of the Ashbrook drillsite (what they call it), one that would reach the rest of HL.
We will all have to live with the final contract for 25+ years; therefore,
it is very important that it covers ALL aspects that will affect us living happily in Hidden Lakes.
XTO tells us that several HL residents have called asking to sign a contract
NOW for the offered $18,500 (per mineral acre). They report that several have indeed signed contracts. They
have signed XTO's basic contracts that do NOT contain language to fully protect HL's environment. In early May,
XTO reported to us that only 28 people (of our nearly 1800 homeowners) had signed a contract, six who have moved away
and, sadly, some for whom we do not have an email address (so they never got the news on HLGLC).
As we have stated before, you may negotiate and sign a gas lease contract
at any time. This committee's mission is to negotiate a contract that is the best for all HL residents AND the HL
environs. We don't want to allow any activity that would hurt our property values and/or quality of life.
Over 10% of HL residents will not be receiving any benefits from this Barnett
Shale exploration, as they live in "mineral rights reservations" (were retained by the developer and/or were deeded long ago
to Texas A&M) or have recently purchased a home in Hidden Lakes and the seller retained them. In most states,
the surface rights cannot be separated from the mineral rights, but in Texas you can retain the mineral rights when
you sell your home. The 158 residents within the two known large reservations were emailed 10 days ago. If you
purchased your home within the last year, you should check your closing documents to see if the mineral rights were retained
by the seller (we don't have this list).
Combine that statistic with the fact that the developers retained the
mineral rights to over 90% of our 43 acres of common areas, this committee has decided to negotiate an incentive for the
HL HOA versus ask for a higher gas lease bonus (which we might not get anyway). This incentive will benefit ALL
HL residents. Hidden Lakes has developed a large coalition of surrounding HOAs and landowners, giving us the power to
negotiate harder for this incentive, for pulling this whole area together for an "appreciative" gas company.
Again, we expect this to all come to fruition in the next two weeks.
We will email all of you immediately at that point. Contracts will then be
mailed to each of you, with information on signing party dates/locations.
That's all I have to report at this time. Thanks for your patience.
Deb Gatzke
Hidden Lakes Gas Lease Committee Secretary
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