Commissioners set conditions for subdivision plat approval
By DAVID LOWE Staff Writer

The Lampasas County Commissioners Court has presented the developers of Cactus Creek subdivision a list of conditions to meet in order to obtain approval of a final plat.

Developer Bar 7 Partners -- which is selling 53 homes on one-acre lots in the subdivision off Farm-to- Market Road 2657 -- must meet 12 road and drainage specifications by Sept. 21. The conditions, written by Precinct 1 Commissioner Robert Vincent and Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack B. Cox, include adding road base to eliminate dropoffs at the edges of pavement, replacing or straightening bent culverts, and installing guard rails along roads with dropoffs of four feet or more to ditches.

Developers also must give the Commissioners Court a copy of their Texas Commission on Environmental Quality storm water runoff application. The application requires a water retention pond.

The Commissioners Court will reject the subdivision plat, Vincent said, if developers do not meet the commissioners' conditions and follow the county's subdivision rules and regulations.

After discussion of another subdivision, the court voted unanimously to table a request for a replat of two lots in Lampasas River Place, Phase One.

Vincent said the lots in question were marked in the original plat as community park space open to all Lampasas River Place residents.

"If you want to take that park and develop it into housing, I'm definitely going to say `no,' " he said.

At the court's recent meeting, commissioners grappled with increasing fuel costs as they considered aggregate bids for road surface treatment and asphalt and emulsion. The court voted 4-0, with County Judge Wayne Boultinghouse abstaining, to accept Knife River's bid for surface treatment materials.

The Waco company will supply the county with 17,250 tons of grade 4 material at $16.25 per ton and $8.50 per ton for non-spec grade 4 material. Knife River will furnish 6,750 tons of grade 5 material, including nonspec, for $7.75 per ton.

As part of the vote, the Commissioners Court also agreed to use both Knife River and Alexander Trucking to haul the freight. Knife River will transport material zero to nine miles for $3.30 per ton and will charge increasing rates for mileage categories as high as 55 to 59 miles -- which costs $10.94 per ton.

Alexander offers lower base rates for every mileage category -- $2.19 for zero to nine miles and $7.41 for 55 to 59 miles, its highest mileage classification -- but, as of June 9, the company attaches a 36 percent diesel fuel surcharge. The company calculates its surcharge percentage weekly based on the "average diesel price" for the Gulf Coast Region, as determined by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Knife River does not apply a diesel fuel surcharge.

The court took no action on its asphalt and emulsion contract, as commissioners said they would like to continue negotiations with SemMaterials, LP, which in May bid $1.86 per gallon of emulsion delivered.

The company now has raised its rate to more than $2.50 per gallon. Commissioners said if SemMaterials will not charge the amount it originally bid, the county can consider working with Wacobased Ergon Asphalt & Emulsion Inc., which supplies emulsion for the city of Lampasas.

In other business, the court unanimously approved the reappointment of Martin Hoover and Bruce Owens to the Sick Pool Committee. Their two-year terms will end June 1, 2010.

The Commissioners Court also OK'd a proclamation designating July as "Watch Your Car Awareness Month."

Sgt. Gregg Bewley of the Heart of Texas Auto Theft Task Force, which serves Lampasas County, said Texas' annual automobile theft rate has dropped by about 100,000 since the formation of task forces around the state in the early 1990s.

Along with investigating vehicle theft and burglaries, the Heart of Texas Auto Theft Task Force encourages prevention, Bewley said, by urging motorists to lock their vehicles, take their keys and hide belongings left in automobiles.