On Wednesday, TCEQ commissioners accepted the advice of two administrative regulation judges from the state Workplace of Administrative Hearings and voted unanimously to subject a allow to the Metropolis of Granbury for a second wastewater therapy plant that can , based on metropolis officers, is desperately wanted.
The approval from the Texas Fee on Environmental High quality comes three years after town filed its software.
The delay was because of space residents and enterprise homeowners who objected to the situation of 3121 Outdated Granbury Street, the place as much as two million gallons of handled home sewage per day might be discharged right into a tributary Rucker Creek, which feeds Lake Granbury.
The setback prompted a citywide moratorium on growth which Metropolis Supervisor Chris Coffman stated affected about $250 million in financial growth and elevated prices to town by tens of millions because of shortages. supplies and labor prices on account of COVID-19.
A few of STEP’s opponents, or Protestants because the TCEQ calls them, have been current on the Austin assembly.
Coffman was additionally current with Aaron McLain, town’s parks supervisor who was lately promoted to the newly created place of director of inside providers.
Legal professionals for each events have been allowed to talk for 5 minutes. Metropolis legal professional Jason Hill additionally had time to rebut.
Feedback have been additionally made by representatives of the Workplace of Public Curiosity Counsel (OPIC) and TCEQ chief government Toby Baker.
Panel commentary and voting took just below 20 minutes.
In his rebuttal simply earlier than the vote, Hill advised TCEQ commissioners Jon Niermann, Emily Lindley and Bobby Janecka: “It’s indeniable that this allow, this facility is important for important financial and social points within the Metropolis of Granbury and the area, and with out it, the financial penalties of not with the ability to have this extra processing capability are dramatic – to place it mildly.
Niermann, who serves because the chair, stated: “The arguments we heard this morning are very acquainted. I see no cause to query the ALJ’s evaluation of the proof. »
Lindley and Janecka agreed.
Lindsley moved a movement to go the order proposed by the ALJs with revisions instructed by the justices in a letter to the TCEQ dated July 26.
In response to metropolis officers, town has adhered to TCEQ guidelines by shifting towards constructing a second therapy plant as soon as its present plant on Water’s Edge Drive reaches a sure degree of capability.
The company issued a draft allow in 2019, however then halted the approval course of and prolonged the general public remark interval when opposition was raised. Opponents cited, amongst different issues, doable hurt to public well being and the setting.
In September 2021, TCEQ commissioners referred the matter to SOAH for a contested case listening to.
SOAH administrative regulation judges Sarah Starnes and Pratibha Shenoy heard three days of testimony in March, with each side presenting knowledge and testimony from professional witnesses.
Three months later, in June, the judges issued their advice to grant the allow.
Growth bans started in December 2020, when town council imposed a moratorium on building on the east facet of town and components of the extraterritorial jurisdiction.
In October 2021, the council imposed an identical ban for the western and central components of town and components of the ETJ as a result of the prevailing plant was approaching capability.
At its September 27 assembly, council members voted to increase each moratoria till October 2023.
The brand new wastewater therapy plant, which can work with membrane bioreactor know-how, will take 18 to 24 months to construct, based on town.
