Whitetail Crossing gains approval by City Council
By DAVID LOWE Staff Writer

The Lampasas City Council on Monday unanimously approved a final plat and planned development site plan for Whitetail Crossing, a six-acre subdivision near Sixth and Rice streets.

The council approved the plat subject to several conditions. The owner of Lot 13, for example, will not have access to the property from Rice Street or the Seventh Street right of way. The owners of Lots 10A through 12B will not be allowed access via the Rice Street right of way.

Sixth Street and the planned Whitetail Loop connect to those properties, however.

The council also voted to prohibit six lots -- 1A and 1B through 3A and 3B -- from building fences on the back property line. The plat calls for the back side of homes on those lots to be five feet from a 1.2- acre common area to be owned by the subdivision's homeowners association.

In addition, the City Council OK'd construction plans for Whitetail Crossing, subject to approval by city staff and consulting engineer John Buser of retaining wall designs.

The council also unanimously approved rate increases for solid waste collection. The city's contract with Waste Management, now in its final year, provides for an annual increase based on changes in the Consumer Price Index.

The base rate for residential garbage collection will rise from $13.12 to $13.68, and fuel charges could add an additional 6 percent.

In other business, City Manager Michael Stoldt updated the council on plans to build an animal-control facility. A committee of city and county employees has interviewed three architects and is trying to select one of two finalists to design the new facility.

One architect has extensive experience building veterinary clinics, and the other recently built a $360,000 animal-control facility in Aransas County.

The Lampasas County impoundment center might cost a little bit more than $360,000, but city and county employees are trying to design a "bare bones" facility, City Manager Mike Stoldt said.

The committee is working on a two-stage contract, he said. The city manager hopes the City Council can approve a budget and schematic designs by its first meeting in May, although the first part of the contract might be ready by the April 28 council meeting.

"Things are looking pretty good right now," Stoldt said. "We're making progress as fast as we can."

In another item, the council voted 6-0 -- with Councilman Les Gerhardt recusing himself -- to grant a waiver to the city's purchasing policy to allow the $3,079 purchase of a pad mount transformer.

The city requires a sealed, competitive bid process for purchases of $15,000 or more. The city has a $13,821 credit with Solomon Corp. Inc., which has quoted $16,900 for a 750 KVA pad mount transformer to replace an existing transformer in the Lampasas High School atrium.

The vote to waive the bid requirement allows the city to use up its credit, which it has had for three years, and buy the transformer for $3,079. The transformer will be delivered in four to five weeks.

The council also unanimously approved a $64,300 contract with HDR Inc. for engineering services as part of the city's Sulphur Creek bank stabilization project. The work is funded by a $350,000 Office of Rural Community Affairs grant, and will include debris removal and stabilization of the creek's south bank east of the Western Street bridge.

In her report to the City Council, Mayor Judy Hetherly said the Texas Department of Transportation's Key Avenue project, which had been scheduled to begin in 2009, will be delayed. Drainage improvements on Loop 257 (Fourth Street) might be funded along with the Key Avenue work, the mayor added.