Thursday, September 19, 2024
After three years of stringent building restrictions, the city of Granbury has officially declared the city-wide moratorium will continue for at least another year.
During a regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday, the Granbury City Council voted unanimously to extend the city’s current moratorium within the central, western and eastern corporate city limits and extraterritorial jurisdiction through Oct. 4, 2025.
A moratorium — meaning a temporary ban — was first enacted for new development in the eastern part of the city in December 2020, when there was a delay in building the second wastewater treatment plant caused by protests of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality permit application.
In September 2022, TCEQ commissioners sent the dispute to the State Office of Administrative Hearings for a contested case hearing, according to a previous article in the Hood County News. TCEQ unanimously approved the city's wastewater permit request Oct. 5, 2022.
In October 2021, city officials made the moratorium city-wide due to growth in other parts of the city and because the current wastewater treatment plant was reaching capacity. Although upgrades were made to that facility, city officials say that its’ capacity cannot be expanded.
The project includes upgrades to the existing treatment plant and various improvements to the wastewater collection system. While the south plant upgrades have been completed, the new East WWTP has now officially started construction.
“We're all aware that our city is under a moratorium,” City Manager Chris Coffman explained during the meeting. "This was initially passed back in 2020, and our current moratorium will expire on Oct. 4, 2024, so we're asking to renew this for another year through this ordinance ... I will tell you that the construction of the new plant is coming along, and they're doing a great job.”
According to the agenda report, even though the city is moving forward as quickly as possible to implement the project improvements, city officials believe it’s necessary to extend the moratorium through next year in order to meet TCEQ requirements on maintaining plant capacities. Once the East WWTP is constructed and operational, city officials state that system issues should be resolved.
During the meeting Tuesday, Sept. 18, Place 2 Councilman Eddie Rodriquez stated he hoped this is the last moratorium that the city will extend. He asked the city’s Director of Public Works Chester Nolen how the progress was going with the East WWTP.
"The east plant right now is approximately a month ahead of schedule,” Nolen said. “The project manager and the inspector that's on the job, I speak with them two to three times a week. Everything is on track, and they're projecting that we may finish as early as two months ahead of schedule, which will put it early 2026, late 2025, so everything out there right now is just going great.”
Nolen explained that construction is moving forward, adding that construction crews have poured over 4,000 yards of concrete, completed most of the structures, and are currently installing the piping and electrical systems.
“Thank you for the update,” Rodriquez said. “I was there when they first started, and I couldn't believe how deep they went into the ground. It was just amazing how they've come along so far, so thank you ...”
Coffman explained that development projects are not “grandfathered” or vested under current legal conditions, meaning the city cannot accept new plats or proceed with new developments until the moratorium is lifted.
The moratorium is not a total halt to all development in the city, however. According to the city website, projects that meet certain timetables and/or conditions are allowed to proceed.
This is the fifth time Granbury’s moratorium has been extended from its original enaction in December 2020. It was also extended April 6, 2021, Oct. 4, 2021, Sept. 20, 2022, and Oct. 3, 2023.
Both motions — to extend the city’s moratorium within the central, western and eastern corporate city limits and extraterritorial jurisdiction through Oct. 4, 2025 — were approved unanimously, 4-0. Place 3 Councilman Bruce Wadley and Mayor Pro Tem Steven Vale were both absent during Tuesday’s meeting.
