by White Rock Rowing <\/a>includes the 26,500-square-foot boathouse, a smaller boathouse colloquially called the \u201cBoomerang,\u201d and the Filter Building, which serves as an event venue that WRR manages and profits from. In 2000, the Filter Building and the smaller boathouse sat crumbling after years of graffiti-filled neglect, while a section of the boathouse currently sits on land that was occupied by sedimentation tanks.\u00a0<\/p>\nSign up for the This Week\u2019s Top Stories newsletter to get the latest stories delivered to your inbox<\/p>\n
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That changed after WRR agreed to put up $2.7 million to build the boathouse and renovate the Boomerang and Filter Building. In turn, the city gave the nonprofit control of all three buildings in 2006 via a pair of long-term operating contracts \u2014 agreements the city no longer appears content with. Some say it\u2019s overdue given the boathouse\u2019s turbulent history with rowers, while WRR argues it\u2019s a plain takeover attempt spurred by disgruntled actors.<\/p>\n
In June, the city of Dallas sent a breach-of-contract notice after White Rock Boathouse Inc. adopted a new code of conduct, and WRBI rejected it. Now facing default on its main contract, the nonprofit is already suing the city for its decision not to renew a separate lease for the Boomerang. In April, the park department sent a letter to the operator demanding it stop construction of an unapproved, halfway-built fence marking the perimeter of the property inside White Rock Lake Park, amid signs warning \u201cProperty of White Rock Rowing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
For the former WRR rowers, parents and local residents organizing under the banner of White Rock Lake Accountability, a nonprofit advocacy group registered with the state in August, the partially-completed fence represented an actual hurdle; yet another barrier to access on public land. A few weeks after the cease-and-desist letter, White Rock Lake Accountability launched a website and social media accounts attacking WRR. Its members say the organization\u2019s code of conduct and long-tenured board are shutting residents out, and the city isn\u2019t doing enough to stop it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe city council and city parks: are they going to allow themselves to get pushed around like this and throw the citizens under the bus?\u201d Tamber Johnson, one of the main organizers with White Rock Lake Accountability and a former adult rower at the boathouse whose daughter rowed under WRR, said. \u201cIt\u2019s not that hard to do the right thing, but for whatever reason, it\u2019s not being done.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Hoarding a city asset\u2019<\/p>\n
Boathouse feuds and rower complaints have haunted WRR for years. In 2025, a former youth rower told D Magazine that she was forced to leave rowing temporarily after the politics dogging the organization became too much and coaches instituted a rule prohibiting female athletes from wearing sports bras around the facility. She worried that \u201call boathouses must act the way White Rock does,\u201d but soon found it different at her college facility, she told the magazine.<\/p>\n
While the boathouse sits on public land, the agreement signed when it opened in 2006 gives WRR significant autonomy in its day-to-day operations. Residents can\u2019t just access the facility or rent a boat on a whim, much like access is restricted at the sailing clubs on the lake. Instead, as Corinthian Sailing Club also requires, residents must become members to use the facility.<\/p>\n
The most visible early sign of discord between rowers and the nonprofit came in 2018. After signing a petition calling for term limits and elections for the long-tenured board, a group of more than a dozen adult rowers, also known as \u201cmasters,\u201d had the board revoke their memberships. The city ultimately forced WRR to rescind the decision, in part because it believed a public facility should \u201cremain open and accessible for public use.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re hoarding a city asset that should be shared with the public,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThey are speaking as if they\u2019re a community rowing endeavor and a community organization, but they are acting as if they are a private members-only organization.<\/p>\n
Johnson says the problems stem from the attitude of the people running WRR. For years, the board operated without the term limits or elections one might expect from a nonprofit billing itself as a club. The small group has pushed its own vision for the facility, one that sometimes butts up against members\u2019 expectations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey sort of think they\u2019re above the law,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThey\u2019re not an honest broker in their partnership as a parks partner, because again, it\u2019s this whole \u2018Well, we\u2019re private and we do what we want,\u2019 and I\u2019ve watched several examples of that over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n
One such example, she said, comes from the boathouse\u2019s code of conduct. Members must adhere to a \u201cculture of rowing and paddling; loyalty, and commitment\u201d to the organization. They also aren\u2019t allowed to row with or compete alongside other rowing organizations, a clause cited to deny multiple residents access. In a 2025 email to a former rower who had left to compete with another club but wanted to use the facility recreationally, boathouse manager Kevin Jones told the resident that \u201cwe are moving away from having social members who do not affiliate with the boathouse\u201d for competition.<\/p>\n
The code of conduct was later amended in 2025 to include \u201cfitness program\u201d in the definition of organizations prospective members can not affiliate with to gain access. That change led Dallas Park and Recreation leadership to issue a breach-of-contract notice. A department official wrote to the park board that WRR failed to gain contractually mandated departmental approval for the clause, which he said was \u201cinconsistent with the purpose of the Development Agreement, which requires the premises to be maintained for the use and enjoyment of all segments of the Dallas community.\u201d<\/p>\n
The contract<\/p>\n
Previously, park board members have raised concerns about the length of the contract signed in 2006. The agreement allows for a 20-year initial lease term, which expires this year, with two ten-year extensions that WRR can automatically renew. Johnson called the original contract \u201cwild\u201d for the term Dallas granted the operator.<\/p>\n
So why did WRR get such a generous contract? It\u2019s pretty straightforward. At least, that\u2019s how board president Sue Ellen Chambers sees it. The organization came in and put up millions to restore a longstanding eyesore on the lake that the city likely could not have financed itself. Since then, WRR has used revenue from dues and the Filter Building to pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into maintenance and improvements, which is a pretty sweet deal, especially considering the 10% of revenue the city receives from the Filter Building, Chambers said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe built it,\u201d Chambers said. \u201cWe did all the renovation, did all that stuff. All those facilities belong to the city. The city doesn\u2019t have to maintain it, and they can\u2019t maintain anything. And that\u2019s been the biggest problem in Dallas: they own all this stuff, and it\u2019s crumbling down and in disrepair.\u201d<\/p>\n
That concern feels prescient right now, as city officials continue deliberating whether to leave Dallas City Hall after it was found that years of neglect left deferred maintenance totals soaring well into the hundreds, while over $44 million in deferred maintenance remains at the long-embattled Fair Park.<\/p>\n
The development agreement gives WRR the automatic option to renew its lease for the boathouse and Filter Building. Under the contract, Dallas receives about $1,000 in rent from the boathouse, plus 10% of Filter Building event revenue, which amounted to $23,482 in 2024. The lease for the Boomerang, which WRR uses for launch boats and rental space, is governed by a separate agreement which nets the city upward of $1,800 in revenue annually. That agreement requires approval from the park director for renewal, something which hasn\u2019t happened yet, leading WRR to sue the city in a court case set to be heard this November.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If city officials proceed with the breach notice over the code of conduct, which Chambers said she hasn\u2019t gotten updates on, Dallas could potentially default the first agreement over the boathouse, which would leave WRR completely out of the picture if a judge chooses not to side with the nonprofit on either contract. The city of Dallas did not return requests for comment, citing pending litigation.<\/p>\n
Chambers said the new fence, which has caused more concern, was needed to keep intruders out of a youth training area and added that the organization could take the remaining fence posts down. The code of conduct, she said, is necessary to keep outside clubs from poaching rowers. In her eyes, both issues are relatively minor and could have been addressed without lawyers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s being used as a weapon against us,\u201d Chambers said. \u201cAll you have to do is pick up the phone and have a conversation. You don\u2019t have to send out a big old nasty letter of default for things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Feat3-White-Rock-Boathouse-credit-Jason-Janik.jpg\")
Things get busy at the White Rock Boathouse on the weekends. (Jason Janik)
\n\u2018A positive thing\u2019<\/p>\n
Unsurprisingly, Chambers paints a different picture of operations at the boathouse. She highlighted the organization\u2019s adaptive rowing programs for disabled residents and extensive scholarship awards as evidence that the organization is living up to its contract to provide rowing opportunities for Dallas residents. In 2023, WRR disbursed over $50,000 in scholarships, more than double the $25,000 standard set forth in a contract addendum signed that year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She acknowledged past issues, such as board governance, and said they were addressed after the masters left in 2018 based on a consultant\u2019s recommendations, adding that her nearly 15-year reign on the board will likely end in 2027, as newly imposed term limits were not made retroactive. Still, you can\u2019t appease everyone, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re providing something that should be a positive thing, and it\u2019s turned into this negative thing, and for no real good reason other than it\u2019s my personal belief, [them] wanting to take the asset,\u201d Chambers said.<\/p>\n
The would-be usurpers Chambers speaks of are residents affiliated with Dallas United Crew, formerly Highland Park Crew. With a larger overall footprint but confined to a temporary structure many call a \u201ctent\u201d on the other side of the lake, DUC operated out of the boathouse until 2012, when disagreements over storage space led WRR to cancel its lease. The organizations have a long, tumultuous relationship that Chambers said has led them to want back in at the boathouse through an organized campaign complete with public affairs pushes and a well-put-together website.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Firmly entrenched, White Rock Rowing published a winding, 90-page-long defense of itself in July that mainly cast blame on reporters and DUC for the controversy surrounding the boathouse. But Paula Miltenberger, lead organizer of White Rock Lake Accountability and DUC\u2019s immediate past board president, said the effort isn\u2019t about control of real estate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat has deflected from all the records, and we\u2019re just not going to engage in that anymore because it\u2019s not about that,\u201d Miltenberger said.<\/p>\n
Her campaign\u2019s website features eight documents that Miltenberger said show the boathouse has been a poor partner to the city under WRR\u2019s management, including the original 2006 agreement and emails from park officials. One of the main hinge points is a 2019 audit that found, among other things, that WRR operated the Boomerang on an expired lease from 2013 to 2018, failed to implement a contractually mandated master plan for the facilities, and did not submit required annual financial statements for close to four years leading up to 2017. Even worse, the organization seemingly hadn\u2019t kept financial records before 2016.<\/p>\n
Chambers said the records existed, but were lost after a computer crash. The nonprofit also agreed to a supplemental agreement in 2022 that outlined strict financial reporting, scholarship funding requirements and performance metrics. She said WRR has since been compliant, but Miltenberger points to emails showing Dallas officials requesting months-late financial reports from 2025 as evidence that WRR still isn\u2019t being transparent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe issues are not back to the operator,\u201d Miltenberger said. \u201cNow, it\u2019s more the city.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Paddle politics<\/p>\n
If it wasn\u2019t already apparent, the issue at the lake has become political. And nobody knows that better than Maria Hasbany. She served as the park board representative for the White Rock Lake area until 2025, when a very public split with District 9 council member Paula Blackmon led to her resignation.<\/p>\n
She has been an outspoken ally of WRR and also pinned the renewed scrutiny of the boathouse on DUC\u2019s effort to regain its place there.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem that we appear to need to be solving is that Dallas United crew doesn\u2019t like operating out of a tent, and they would really prefer to be operating out of the boathouse,\u201d Hasbany said.<\/p>\n
According to emails shared with the Observer, Austin Brooks, the president of DUC, was copied on many emails sent by Miltenberger to a lawyer discussing potential campaign talking points and registration for White Rock Lake Accountability as an entity with the Texas Secretary of State \u2014 the website of which lists a Dallas County Judge running for reelection, LaDeitra Adkins, as one of its directors. Many of the advocates with the campaign also have ties to DUC.<\/p>\n
Hasbany said Blackmon has been in league with DUC for several years. In 2024, emails show Blackmon discussed a potential merger of the programs with Brooks before setting a meeting with Chambers and other WRR board members. Chambers ultimately declined to follow through with the merger, after which Hasbany and Blackmon\u2019s relationship deteriorated.<\/p>\n
Blackmon declined interview requests, citing pending litigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou hear anecdotes around the city, so I am asking questions,\u201d she told the Dallas Morning News after Hasbany\u2019s resignation.<\/p>\n
The 2019 audit, released before Blackmon took office, and subsequent scrutiny appeared motivated by more than proper oversight, Hasbany said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of like all roads lead back in one direction, and it\u2019s just interesting that those same people\u2019s names just keep coming up over and over again as the people that put these things into motion to try to get them into a position of default, so that the city is forced to pull the contract,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Oversight<\/p>\n
Both sides are intransigent. White Rock Lake Accountability has refocused attention on longstanding issues, especially access concerns on public land. Some in the accountability campaign are calling for a new board, or even a merger similar to the one first proposed in 2024 \u2014 a proposal Chambers and the board in its current composition are likely to reject again.<\/p>\n
John Mullen, the founder of WRR rowing, is nearing 85 and has some trouble hearing while on a video call from New York, where he has spent summers since stepping down over a decade ago. He said he donated $100,000 to DUC for a boathouse in 2013, when the city agreed to let the club build a new facility if they raised $3 million. DUC only got to $250,000 then and was forced to settle for the temporary structure, but Mullen said a permanent facility could be the only palatable solution.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat needs to happen is DUC and the city should be committed to getting a site upon which they can build a proper boathouse,\u201d Mullen said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of bucks in that program, I think, though they didn\u2019t give it when it was time to build things.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, when surveyed, area residents have consistently opposed new development on the lake, as has Blackmon.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Neither side appears set to give ground; WRR\u2019s combative board isn\u2019t going anywhere and a definitive verdict may come only from a judge. But they do seem to agree on one thing: oversight has been lackluster at best in the past.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere just was not much going on with oversight that I know of,\u201d Chambers said. \u201cI really don\u2019t think that there was.\u201d<\/p>\n
For starters, the 2019 compliance issues were largely attributed to the park department\u2019s failure to properly oversee the contract. The audit found that parks staff largely failed to verify any income or financial reporting from 2016 to 2018, and that the city did not place revenue received in a specially designated multi-year fund for projects around the lake, as the contract required. None of those issues were apparent until the audit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re just desperate to find something, and so they\u2019ve used that against us. For most organizations I don\u2019t think Parks is treating anybody else like that,\u201d Chambers said. \u201cI think we are singled out.\u201d<\/p>\n
The concerns raised about oversight at the boathouse are made even more salient by the department\u2019s plans for the future, and its recent history with its partners. Amid consistent budget cuts and consecutive years of city budget shortfalls, department leadership has been outspoken in their desire to create more revenue. That revenue is expected to come by leaning more on public-private partnerships in the same vein as the WRR agreement.<\/p>\n
The city department has had well-publicized issues with its partners and oversight in the past. After years of neglect under Fair Park\u2019s former operator, a 2024 city audit found that one of its subcontractors had misplaced over $5 million in donor money. In 2018, an audit found that the department had \u201cfragmented\u201d oversight policies, including no standard system for disbursing the Dallas Zoo\u2019s partner stipend.<\/p>\n
Becky Rader, Hasbany\u2019s predecessor on the board, said she thought WRR was run in a \u201cvery disconcerting\u201d way during her tenure. Like Fair Park, she said the boathouse situation should force city officials to reconsider how they hold partners accountable.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe city needs to be on top of all the contracts that they have out there with nonprofits that are supposed to be managing the city facilities,\u201d Rader said. \u201cIt\u2019s a wake-up call, is what I\u2019d call it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since Rader left the board in 2019, the city has created its own contract compliance department to help oversee the hundreds of partnerships it maintains across departments. However, an audit released this year noted some strides, but found that parks and recreation has failed to sufficiently increase partner revenue to meet departmental goals. The audit also found oversight of financial reporting is still lacking, especially at city-owned golf courses.<\/p>\n
Chambers, still steadfast in her resolve to hold on to the boathouse, said the city is actually hurting the partnerships it\u2019s looking to lean on. Between the city\u2019s decision to completely cut off funding for Thanks-Giving Square this year, reduce major partner stipends and the trouble Klyde Warren Park had extending its own lease after park board members also raised concerns about its length, Chambers said her situation is part of a concerning trend.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one\u2019s gonna participate in working with a city that does that,\u201d Chambers said. \u201cThat\u2019s why everybody\u2019s going everywhere else but Dallas to do business because you can\u2019t treat your partners that way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the southwest shore of White Rock Lake, dozens of youth athletes take to the water daily, rowing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3084,18507,102,104,103],"class_list":["post-437771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-city-hall","tag-cover-story","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}