Volente furious over pipeline plans

Residents vow to fight plans of three Williamson County cities.

By Marty Toohey
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Copyright Austin American-Statesman

VOLENTE — Here on Lake Travis' northern shore, residents are furious that three Williamson County cities are planning to solve a water crunch by running an 8-foot-wide underground pipeline through the middle of town.

The pipeline would pump 106 million gallons of lake water a day to Cedar Park, Leander and Round Rock. But Volente residents say the pipeline and a two-story pumping station shouldn't go in a residential neighborhood, and they accuse the Williamson County cities of operating deceitfully.

"I feel like they've decided, 'Volente is small, and we can just run over them,' " said Jan Yenawine, mayor of the 400-resident village.

That is not the case, according to the cities. They have pledged to consider alternatives but have also said this is the best place to tap into needed water.

The dispute, which will probably end up in the courts, is littered with questions about how much power one city can exert within the boundaries of another, and under what circumstances.

Cities, for example, can use the right of eminent domain to take land — even land owned by another city — for public purposes, such as a pipeline. But the law is silent on whether the other city must agree. And it remains unclear whether Volente officials could deny the project based on their own city rules.

Disagreements like this are probably going to happen more frequently as cities grow larger and thirstier, according to water experts. A planning group created by the Texas Water Development Board predicted last year that the region's water use will double by 2050.

Under those pressures, "you're bound to have communities bumping up against one another," said John Burke, the planning group's chairman.

The dispute has its roots in the late 1990s, when Cedar Park, Leander and Round Rock saw looming water crunches and began talking about a regional system drawing from Lake Travis.

It's an unusual alliance in a state that often follows the Western adage of "whiskey's for drinkin', water's for fightin'."

A study they conducted in 1998 concluded that the best place to pull that water was Booth Circle, a neighborhood in Volente, which did not incorporate as a village until 2003.

Just before it did, Volente developer John Shipley offered Cedar Park a lot it wanted in Booth Circle. In exchange, Cedar Park agreed to sell him water for a new subdivision in Volente called Volente Peaks, said Kenneth Wheeler, Cedar Park's director of public works. Volente knew that the subdivision planned to buy water from Cedar Park, but the law did not require the village to be notified of the swap, Yenawine said.

The cities firmed up plans for a $330 million pipeline. The Lower Colorado River Authority had been involved but dropped out last year because the cities wanted to control the decision-making, spokeswoman Krista Umscheid said.

Volente says it didn't discover the plans until February, when neighbors saw a crew of Cedar Park employees collecting soil samples. There had been no written correspondence between the two sides before then because none was required by law.

Other options?

From here, stories differ.

"They may not like our answers, but we have been talking to them," Cedar Park Mayor Bob Lemon said. "This is in the preliminary stages, and we have no intention of hurting anybody."

Volente says communication happened only when residents started filing open-records requestsfor project details.

Jason Collins, a lawyer hired by several residents to fight the project, said the Williamson County cities have ignored alternatives, including:

•Building the station in Volente's nearby commercial area.

•Buying water from Williamson County water utilities.

•Partnering with Austin's planned pumping station near the Oasis restaurant on Lake Travis, near FM 620.

"What's unusual about this situation is three cities telling another, 'we're going to put an industrial facility in your town whether you like it or not,' " Collins said, adding, "their use of the word 'preliminary' is a smokescreen." Chris Lippe, the project managerhired by the three cities, said other nearby sites are possible but would add tens of millions to the cost. A pumping station in Booth Circle is also attractive, he said, because it would sit along one of the lake's deepest sections and be unaffected by drought.

Lippe, the Austin Water Utility's former director, said the three cities did not partner with Austin because doing so would have added between $100 million and $235 million to their cost.

Although the pump station would produce little noise, he said, "there's no doubt there will be the typical amount of noise and dust and truck traffic" during construction.

"The communication could also have been a lot better earlier," he said. "That's understood."

An uphill battle

At a recent open house in Volente hosted by the Williamson County cities, angry residents packed the firehouse. Outside the fire station's front entrance, residents passed out sky-blue T-shirts that read, "Draining LakeTravis.org/When will we draw the line?"

A pair of residents thanked Leander City Council Member Dave Siebold for coming and then lambasted the plan as Siebold emphasized that its details were not settled.

"I understand your concerns," Siebold said after 10 minutes' worth of back-and-forth, "but I've also got to do what's best for the people of Leander."

Later, siblings Mollie and Chris Long shared schematics given to their Volente parents. A service road is shown running down the middle of the Longs' property, requiring condemnation if they won't sell. A lakefront house the family plans to build would be cut in half.

"They're just now telling us this?" Mollie Long asked.

What can happen to their property is in dispute. The cities' officials insist that they can condemn land in Volente.

Texas law allows that for a variety of purposes, including water systems.

Round Rock City Attorney Steve Sheets said it's common, pointing to a water pipe the city is laying in Georgetown as an example.

Georgetown raised no objection, though. The law does not address what happens when two cities disagree.

Collins, the residents' lawyer, said there has never been such a disagreement, and he contends that it should not be legal, although the Texas Department of Transportation has occasionally condemned land against a local government's wishes.

Volente has other arguments, such as local zoning rules that do not allow a pump station in Booth Circle. But zoning and other local rules could be trumped by other arguments, said Monty Akers, an Austin lawyer who once counseled the Texas Municipal League.

The law "isn't designed to give one political subdivision a trump card over another," he said. In such a conflict, local interests would be weighed against the need for the water system, and "it is almost certainly is something a court would have to rule on," Akers said.

At first blush, though, Volente "faces an uphill battle," he said.

Some of Volente's residents may have enough money for a protracted legal battle, but Yenawine worries that the village would be limited by its $100,000 annual budget.

Several other points are in contention, "and we'll probably have to sort these things out in court," Yenawine said.

mtoohey@statesman.com; 445-3673