County gives tentative OK for FM 2657 subdivision
By DAVID LOWE Staff Writer

The Lampasas County Commissioners Court gave conditional approval Monday for a final plat of Cactus Creek Subdivision, phase one.

The first phase of the subdivision, being developed by Bar 7 Partners off Farm-to-Market Road 2657, will include 53 homes, each on about a one-acre lot.

At the court's June 23 meeting, Precinct 1 Commissioner Robert Vincent will present a list of changes for developers to make. Developers must meet the conditions within 90 days in order to retain the Commissioners Court's approval of the subdivision plat.

Vincent said the subdivision plans must include a retention pond to catch runoff before it reaches County Road 4700 at the south end of the Cactus Creek development.

The property drops from a 1,040-foot elevation at the northeast corner to 1,000 feet in the southeast corner, County Judge Wayne Boultinghouse said.

"That's a 40-foot drop in a short amount of space," he said. "That would allow for pretty quick runoff."

Boultinghouse echoed Vincent's statement that the subdivision needs a retention pond to comply with Texas Commission on Environmental Quality regulations.

Developers told the court they would prefer to include the pond for runoff as part of the subdivision's second phase.

"If we approve this first phase, we better see phase two come in real quick," Vincent said. "We've had too many subdivisions where we've approved a plat and never seen phase two [built]."

Ditches in the subdivision -- which already has roads and utilities -- need to be redone, the commissioner added, as culverts are filling up with silt.

Vincent also expressed concerns about the number of culverts shown in plat documents. He said the contractor for the development did not contact him at each stage of construction as is required by the county's subdivision mandates.

"A lot of our subdivision rules and requirements were not followed," Vincent said. "With phase two, follow that this time."

Also on Monday, commissioners took no action on software programs for the district attorney, district clerk and county clerk offices. County Auditor Jack Clark has received two bids, but neither includes a complete hardware and software package. Software and hardware may total $200,000 or more, Clark said.

Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack B. Cox said that figure surprised him, as the Commissioners Court initially discussed spending $20,000 to $30,000 per office. The Commissioners Court has used those price estimates for more than a year, Cox said.

The county based the $20,000 to $30,000 per-office estimate, however, on just one software program the county clerk needed, Clark said. Since making that estimate, county officials have decided to purchase additional programs, and the auditor said he included them as part of an official request for proposal.

The county has budgeted $80,000 for new computer programs and may need to negotiate a lease-purchase agreement, Clark said. The county may be able to save money by buying hardware from a different supplier than the company that wins the software bid, he added.

Cox suggested taking no action to allow Clark an additional two weeks to consider bids. The commissioner cautioned against waiting much longer to purchase new equipment and software, though.

"Some of these offices are in dire need of updating in order to complete their mission," Cox said.

In other business, the court unanimously approved a 90-day ban on outdoor burning in unincorporated areas. The burn ban went into effect Monday at 6:01 p.m.

"It's going to be an inconvenience for some, but it's going to save a lot," Boultinghouse said.

Exceptions to the ban include barbecue pits, household trash burned in a barrel with a screen on top and burns for agricultural purposes with prior approval from the county fire marshal.

The order does not prohibit outdoor burning authorized by TCEQ for firefighter training, or the planting or harvesting of agricultural crops. Prescribed burns conducted by a burn manager certified under the Natural Resources Code may continue.

In a related 5-0 vote, the court approved an order allowing it to ban the use in unincorporated areas of fireworks classified as "skyrockets with sticks" and "missiles with fins."

In addition, the court voted 5-0 to select Tabor & Associates Inc. as the engineer and GrantWorks as the grant administrator for two Texas Community Development Block Grant Disaster Relief Fund contracts.

GrantWorks will administer grants totaling about $470,000 that Lampasas County received to pay for repairs to roads damaged by flooding in 2007. The company will receive 10 percent of the grant amount, or about $47,000.