Friday, April 19, 2024
The Granbury City Council voted unanimously to extend the City’s moratorium on new permitting and building on the City’s east side for another 180 days during the April 6 City Council meeting.
A development moratorium in the eastern part of town that was extended by the Granbury City Council this week could eventually envelop the entire municipality if the state does not issue a permit for a second wastewater treatment plant, officials said.
Even if the permit is granted after a delay that began last summer due to citizen opposition, city officials expect to face another hurdle: litigation.
“There will be a lawsuit involved,” City Manager Chris Coffman stated during a discussion of the moratorium at this week’s regular council meeting. “We’ve already been informed of that.”
The city wants to build a wastewater treatment plant with Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) technology at 3121 Old Granbury Road on the east side of town. The current, and aging, plant in Harbor Lakes is getting to where it cannot serve the entire city, which is growing rapidly.
With the new plant, up to 2 million gallons of treated domestic wastewater would be discharged daily into a shallow tributary of Rucker Creek, which flows into Lake Granbury and the Brazos River. Nearby subdivisions include Bentwater, Mallard Pointe and Ashley Oaks.
Treated water from the existing plant is used to water the Harbor Lakes golf course. In other words, it’s clean and safe, city officials say. Coffman and other city officials have said that treated water from the new plant would be even cleaner.
Nevertheless, several hundred citizens have expressed safety and environmental concerns as well as other worries, such as lowered property values.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) issued a draft permit for the new plant last summer, but then extended the public comment period after homeowners and business owners organized and protested.
The agency is still reviewing public comments, and its commissioners could suggest that the matter go before the Texas State Office of Administrative Hearings, which would be similar to a civil trial. If that were to happen, the project, even if ultimately permitted, would see even longer delays at a time when city officials say time is of the essence.
At Tuesday night’s council meeting, Victoria Calder, who has played a leading role in the plant’s opposition, spoke in favor of pumping the brakes on development, as did several others, including Precinct 4 Commissioner Dave Eagle. Calder and Eagle have been among some who have encouraged the city to seek a “regional solution.”
City officials have balked at this 11th-hour suggestion, saying that such projects are complicated, costly and take years to achieve. Coffman noted that county elected officials refused to consider such a plan when it was proposed 20 years ago.
At times during the council meeting discussion, there were terse exchanges between Coffman and Calder, with admonishments from Mayor Nin Hulett to stay focused on the agenda item.
Chris Hay, project manager for Enprotec/Hibbs & Todd, Inc., a company that frequently contracts with the city, stated that “if nothing changes” and the wastewater treatment plant at Harbor Lakes reaches 90% capacity, “it would probably trigger a city-wide (development) moratorium.”
Coffman said that the plant is currently operating at a daily average of 63%-65% capacity. He and Hay agreed that the “choke points” are on the eastern part of town.
That area, which includes the intersection where H-E-B and Kroger Marketplace are located, has seen significant development in recent years and developers have expressed interest in additional buildout there.
Coffman and Calder disagreed on whether the city can expand capacity at the current plant. The city manager insisted that expansion is not possible.
Developers Ike Thomas and Phil Hope asked that city staff be allowed to continue working with developers during the moratorium so that projects can move forward more quickly once the ban is lifted.
Coffman explained that due to recent actions by the Legislature, the city is limited on what it can do in that regard. City Attorney Jeremy SoRelle supported that claim.
Coffman and Thomas agreed that the matter warranted further discussion, and Coffman invited the developer to meet with him for further talks.
Councilwoman Trish Reiner made a motion to extend the development moratorium through Oct. 5. Her motion was seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Tony Mobly and passed with a unanimous vote.
