1/30/2008
Dear Greater Volente Residents ;

 As you are all aware, the BCRUA appeared before the Texas Water Development Board this Tuesday, Jan. 28th,  requesting a loan of $309M in order to complete Phases I and II of their plan to secure long term water from Lake Travis.  The Volente area had a very strong turnout of interested and concerned citizens at the meeting. According to meeting officials there were 36 people who signed up to speak and, I believe, only two spoke in support of approving the request for funds.  Trail's End Road had a strong turnout of speakers. Also making major presentations were Connie Ripley of DELTA, Mattie Adams who waited until the end in order to summarize and strongly present her case, Judy and Al Graci and their son Scott who were wonderfully articulate about the issues not addressed by the BCRUA, and I spoke on behalf of the Volente Neighborhood Association - all of us in opposition to the approval of this fund request. There were many others who made wonderful presentations of positions, and I want to thank each and every one of them.

The results - a mixed bag.  In listening to the discussion of the board once public input was over it was apparent that we had raised a number of good points in our presentations and had caused a level of concern to be raised amongst the board members.   The funding request was to pay for two phases of a three phase project. Phase I is to acquire land along Trail's End Road in order to install a new pipeline for raw water, to upgrade the existing floating intake in order to increase capacity, and to build the new Water Treatment Plant.  Funding for this phase was approved by the board with the caveats that appropriate permits and certificates must be secured before construction can start.  This approval was a disappointment to all of us.  The board added a new twist to the approval for funding of Phase II, a phase where the deep water intake and pumping station will be constructed.  Before the BCRUA can start this phase they will have to come back to the TWDB board and address the uncertainties that all of us brought up - to final proposed location of the intake, the relationship with the Village of Volente, the rights of eminent domain, the possibility of partnering with the City of Austin, etc. 

This means that it was not a clear cut approval of this overall project. It also showed that the residents of Volente are informed and are passionate about protecting our rights through this project.  A next major review meeting will take on Feb. 26th before the Travis County Commissioners Court. This will be a meeting expressly to address the planned path of the BCRUA pipeline and what, if any, obligations Travis County has to approve the request to route the pipeline through or under Sandy Creek Park.  As we get more details on this we will make them aware to all of you.

Finally, Sen. Kirk Watson has sent an email to those of us who met with him a week or so ago complimenting all of those who attended the TWDB Board meeting and who presented there.  He felt that we all demonstrated an awareness of the issues and presented them extremely well. He felt that we had really accomplished something by the delay in approval of funding for Phase II.

Regards,  

Ken Beck

President, Volente Neighborhood Association

 

 

 

 

MEETING NOTICE
MONDAY, JANUARY 28th, 2008

BCRUA APPLYING FOR STATE LOAN TO BUILD WATER PROJECT

 Dear residents of greater Volente, 

As most of you are aware, the three cities of Round Rock, Leander and Cedar Park have formed the Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority (BCRUA) in order to build a deep water intake and pumping station in Lake Travis, and to build a water treatment plant to support the long range water needs of these three cities.  Since discovering early last year their intent to put the deep water intake and the pumping station in the middle of Volente, several organizations, including the Volente Neighborhood Association, have worked hard to communicate all that we can about this project to our members, and to proactively attempt to get this project moved to some other location than in a residential neighborhood or within the Village of Volente.  These efforts continue as Mattie Adams from DELTA, Justine Blackmore-Hlista from the Village council, and myself representing the VNA, met with Rep. Donna Howard and Sen. Kirk Watson on this issue.

 It is very important that all of you are aware that the BCRUA has put themselves on the Texas Water Development Board meeting agenda for this coming Monday with a request to borrow from state $309,775,000 to build phases I and II of this project.  There are many, many issues that remain open and unresolved on this project, not the least of which is a final location for the deep water intake and pumping station.  The VNA would like to suggest that anyone that is able to attend this meeting join us at the meeting for public comments on this request. The meeting details are:

 Texas Water Development Board
Stephen F. Austin Building
1700 No. Congress, Room 170*
Starting time is 11:00 am
Monday, Jan. 28, 2008

I would suggest the following comments be made: 

1. 1.     As the final location for a deep water intake and pumping station has not been made, there is still a lot of uncertainty in the project and its forecasted cost.
2. 2.     The BCRUA's earlier analysis of the cost/benefits of sharing a common intake and pumping station with the City of Austin is very questionable and should be re-evaluated. Costs were overstated, benefits were not properly allocated, and the City of Austin has made numerous changes in their plans that would facilitate this sharing.
3. 3.     There are significant legal issues that are very unresolved as to the BCRUA's ability to take land and/or use land in another civil entities jurisdiction.
4. 4.     Their behavior has not been forthright in dealing with the citizens of Volente.

 Thanks for interest in the workings of Volente.

 Ken Beck

President, Volente Neighborhood Association

 

* Across the street from the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum