Commercial Roofing Contractors in Lavon, TX

Some school staff members and students were hospitalized Wednesday after a gas leak outside of an elementary school in Lavon.

Firefighters responded to a call a little before noon about a gas leak outside Phyliss NeSmith Elementary School, the Lavon Fire Department said. The leak was related to a construction project on the campus. Lavon is about 35 miles northeast of downtown Dallas.

A Community ISD spokeswoman told KXAS-TV (NBC5) the gas leak occurred at an area outside the main building of the school, where a gas line was being added to a tornado shelter and classrooms are being built.

The leak was contained within 15 minutes, and no gas readings were found within the school by the Fire Department or Atmos Energy.

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Atmos Energy and Lavon Fire Department tested multiple sites inside the school and did not detect any gas inside, said Cooper Welch, a Community ISD spokesperson.

Welch said the school district consulted with medical experts and first responders examined a few staff members. Some staff members then asked to be transported to a hospital.

A few students later reported effects from the gas leak, Welch added.

The Fire Department said some school staff members and students were transported to hospitals for further evaluation. KDFW-TV (Fox) reported nine staff members and two students were affected.

Welch could not confirm that number, but four people who told the district they were going to the hospital were released Wednesday night, he said.

The district told parents all students and staff are safe and they could pick up their children early from the school if they would like. Bus routes for the school operated at normal times Wednesday.

The gas is still turned off at the elementary school, said Community ISD Superintendent Tonya Knowlton in a letter Wednesday evening. She said the gas will not be turned back on until all gas-powered equipment and all lines are checked and an inspection is completed by city officials.

Knowlton said the district canceled classes the rest of the week for NeSmith Elementary School.

“With the gas turned off, our HVAC systems and kitchen appliances do not work,” Knowlton wrote. “Due to this constriction and to allow professionals to properly check the facilities, we are canceling school at NeSmith Elementary for Thursday and Friday.”

DALLAS, Feb. 7, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- UnionMain Homes at Lake Breeze is a new master-planned community in Lavon, Texas set to open on February 6, 2023. Lake Breeze offers spacious, modern floor plans on oversized lots with close access to Lake Lavon in the Community ISD. With a wide range of floorplans and lot sizes, there's something for everyone.

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UnionMain Homes offers 40-foot and 50-foot homesites each with distinct floorplans. The 40-foot floor plans come equipped with numerous upgrades, including signature design package finishes. Choose between 3-floor plan options with 4+ bedrooms and 2.5-4 baths, ranging from 2,728 -3,272 square feet to fit the needs of your family. There are 6 front entry 50-foot floor plan options to choose from, offering 3+ bedrooms and 2.5-4 baths ranging from 2,224 – 3,448 square feet equipped with design package finishes.

"This neighborhood truly exemplifies the UnionMain Homes brand and lifestyle for which we are known," said Tim Gehan, UnionMain Homes CEO. "With our most popular features already included and personalization options available through our preselected design packages, we continue to offer our residents the best in luxury living in the most desirable locations in the Dallas area."

In Lake Breeze, you'll enjoy a small-town, family-friendly identity with a relaxed rural setting in one of the fastest-growing cities in Texas. This lakeside community is within mere minutes of some of Colin County's best shopping, dining, and entertainment venues. With easy access to Interstate 30 and Highway 78 enjoy access to all that Dallas – Fort Worth has to offer.

As a Lake Breeze homeowner, you'll join a community where your children's education is a top priority. Community ISD has received numerous accolades due to the hard work of students, teachers, curriculum staff, and campus leadership. The school district believes in providing every student with every opportunity to succeed and offers a variety of competitive sports and provides a high-quality fine arts education.

About UnionMain HomesCombining over 75 years of homebuilding experience, our commitment to creating better living environments remains unwavering. We build with the latest energy-efficient construction materials and use cutting-edge approaches to deliver comfortable, eco-friendly homes that ensure long-lasting enjoyment and higher resale values. But we don't just focus on life inside the home- we believe in building community through each sought-after location we carefully select to build in, to truly enhance the lives of our customers.

To learn more about UnionMain Homes in Lake Breeze, visit our website here or visit our model at 711 Oak Street Lavon, Texas 75166.

Contact:Brandie Gehanbgehan@jtgholdings.com

SOURCE UnionMain Homes

The short answer? Yes -- for now. But as North Texas continues to expand in population and sprawl, that could quickly change.

COLLIN COUNTY, Texas — Woody Woodruff of Greenville lives by the phrase, "Do something you love, and you'll never work a day," he said. Woodruff owns Woody's on the Lake in Lake Lavon. It's a boat rental business and floating restaurant he has owned for more than five years now.

"This is my office, couldn't be any better!" said Woodruff. "You gotta have water to rent boats. It's essential to what we're doing."

Lake Lavon is also essential to the area. The lake is the primary supplier to the North Texas Municipal Water District, a water wholesale provider. The water that originates from the lake is treated and delivered to many homes in the North Texas area.

NTMWD has 13 member cities and serves 2 million people daily. And as the population grows, so does demand. The district forecasts an additional 55,000 users every year.

"As they say, no one is bringing water with them, so our efforts are in conservation and reuse and trying to stretch our existing supplies as much as possible," said Galen Roberts, the assistant deputy of water resources at NTMWD.

But the million-gallon question: Is there enough? The short answer is yes -- for now.

"Our recommendation really is that communities in Texas really need to look at efficiency, water conservation, and repairing leaky infrastructure," said Jennifer Walker, who is with the National Wildlife Federation and a member of the Water Conservation Advisory Council.

This may be no surprise, but the largest water user in Texas has always been agriculture. Experts forecast that, by 2050, municipal water will take over.

"The agriculture trend is going down and municipal water trend is going up and those lines will actually intersect," said Walker.

"That's where my restaurant was sitting," said Woodruff, who remembers a time the entire marina had to be moved to deeper water. The drought almost forced it to happen again last year.

Right now, Lake Lavon is at 100% capacity. Other parts of the state, especially south and central, have not been so lucky.

"We plan for the worst-case scenario. It's amazing what rain will do in the right spot and at the right time," said Roberts.

Timing is everything in Woodruff's business. He's still reeling from the heavy winds and possible tornado that tore through his docks in March.

"Mother Nature, you don't mess with Mother Nature," Woodruff said.

And when Mother Nature gifts you a full lake, don't take that for granted.

A Dallas-based developer has acquired land in Collin County for a $2 billion residential and commercial project.

MA Partners LLC plans more than 1,000 single-family homes in the first phase of its Elevon community on State Highway 78 in the town of Lavon, which is east of Plano.

When completed, the entire Elevon development is designed for more than 4,500 homes, about 1,000 multifamily residences, an 80-acre business park and more than 100 acres of mixed-use construction.

The first 300-acre phase will start construction in early 2021. Homes will sell at prices starting in the mid-$200,000s.

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Arlington-based D.R. Horton will be one of the builders in the community, county records show. It’s been the nation’s largest homebuilder by volume since 2002.

“Elevon is three years in the making from site selection and entitlement to the engineering of the first phase of development,” said John Marlin, partner and CEO of the development firm. “The Wylie/Lavon submarket is an area of strong growth and we are excited to be part of shaping the growth in this area.”

The Elevon plan includes a number of pocket parks, an extensive trail system, multiple amenity centers and public school sites. The entire development will be more than 1,500 acres.

Dallas-based PMB Capital Investments provided some of the debt for the project, Collin County records show. JBI Partners of Carrollton provided engineering, planning and architectural services.

MA Partners has developed multiple projects in Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin and Houston. It currently has almost 3,000 acres under development, with projects underway in Dallas, Fort Worth and Melissa.

Its new project is in a suburban area that’s seeing increased residential development.

“Wylie has been the most active market area and is now nearing build-out,” said Ted Wilson, principal with Dallas-based housing analyst Residential Strategies. “As a result, builders and developers are now pushing out Highway 78 into the Lavon area. Lavon’s annual start rate has recently surged to over 100 units and likely will continue to grow in coming quarters.”

Wilson said the area will see more big housing communities.

“MA Partners’ new community, Elevon, is well located in the path of growth and will become a top performer in the area,” he said. “MA Partners has consistently produced master-planned communities that have an aesthetically pleasing design, have excellent amenities and are well executed.”

Rumor has it that there are piranhas lurking in Lavon Lake and other North Texas waters.

Is this chatter in a Princeton community Facebook group fact or fiction? The Dallas Morning News went fishing for answers.

Piranhas fall into the myth more than reality category. According to experts, there is not an established population of piranhas in Lavon Lake. In fact, the United States Geological Survey only shows two documented piranha sightings in Texas with one taking place near Houston and the other near San Antonio.

So how did the piranhas get there? Irresponsible pet owners likely dumped their aquarium in public waters, according to Monica McGarrity, senior scientist for Aquatic Invasive Species at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

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Even if they were introduced, it’s unlikely that piranhas could form an established population in a North Texas lake in the future, she said. Aquarium dumpers usually only dispose of one fish, which needs a counterpart with which to mate.

“These are tropical fish and so temperatures may get too cold and they may not survive the winter,” she added.

But if piranhas have never been documented in North Texas, what did residents see in Lavon Lake?

Park ranger Stephen Perrin of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it was likely a pacu — a relative of the piranha.

Like piranhas, pacus are originally from the Amazon river basin in South America and the two fish look similar when they are young.

When the fish age, they can look quite different. Some subspecies of pacu can live for around two decades and weigh more than 60 pounds upon reaching maturity, according to the Smithsonian National Zoo and Biological Institute.

The folklore about the scary, razor-toothed piranha doesn’t accurately describe a pacu. Pacus have duller teeth that resemble those of humans more than piranhas.

There have been 27 reports of pacu sightings in Texas since the 1980s, according to the USGS database. Similar to piranhas, these pacus were likely dumped into the lake by former pet fish owners, Perrin said.

Pacus have been sighted and documented a few times in North Texas waters: Lavon Lake in 1987, Lake Texoma in Grayson County in 2003, Eagle Mountain Lake near Fort Worth in 2000 and Ray Perry Lake in Tarrant County in 2007, according to USGS data.

These sightings are infrequent and don’t indicate a widespread threat to human or environmental health at this time, McGarrity said. Perrin said he’s only seen one in his ten years with the corps.

Pacus generally do not harm people, McGarrity said, but swimmers and boaters who encounter the fish should still be cautious.

“They can deliver a nasty bite. … Handling those fish could pose something of a risk to humans,” she said.

But if you see a pacu, or piranha, make sure to report it because if it was able to establish itself in Texas it could become the state’s next invasive species, according to Texasinvasives.org, a partnership between state and federal agencies, conservation organizations, academia and other private and public stakeholders who work to protect Texas from invasive species.