With all the buzz about a possible restaurant on White Rock Lake’s Boy Scout Hill, southwest of Mockingbird and Buckner, some local preservationists have unearthed this Texas Parks & Wildlife video featuring that very spot.
Uploaded to YouTube back in August 2010, the video highlights the area for its rare and resilient Blackland prairie. As neighborhood expert Becky Rader explains to viewers, the flatter areas around the lake historically were used by farmers as cotton fields and but being on a slope, Boy Scout Hill never was plowed for such purposes. That’s what has kept the prairie growing strong even though it has been mowed over the years, as far back as the 1930s. Now, the area holds more than 330 species of prairie grasses.
In 2005, the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department recognized White Rock Lake as a model of land stewardship. It became the first public park to receive a Lone Star Land Stewards Award, which previously had honored private landowners for accomplishments in habitat management and wildlife conservation.
If Lyle Burgin and Richard Kopf can win over enough neighborhood conservationists, Boy Scout Hill could be home to a destination restaurant with a lakeside view. Burgin has said he would like to protect as much of the prairie grass as possible and even plant new native grasses to decrease the potential impact, creating a scenario in which commerce and nature can coexist.
Neighbors have started a Facebook page, following the latest updates from the media and homeowners groups that have met with the two men.
You haven’t voted in our poll yet, here it is again below. As more readers vote, the results seem to be holding steady percentage-wise. Of the 713 votes, about 55 percent oppose the restaurant, 31 percent support it, and about 11 percent are unsure until more details emerge.
[polldaddy poll=7644483]
