Granbury may pause new developments for 4 months. Here’s the smelly reason why
Amid fierce disputes over the impact of a proposed wastewater treatment plant on nearby residents, Granbury’s City Council will gather Monday to vote on a 120-day moratorium on new development in the eastern part of the city.
When Granbury officials announced plans for a moratorium in late November, they drew a direct connection between the need to pause construction and Granbury’s aging infrastructure, particularly “not enough wastewater treatment capacity to keep up with growth,” according to a city press release.
At two public hearings this month, the vast majority of speakers, including those who oppose the city’s plans for a new sewage plant, expressed support for the moratorium. The ordinance would go into effect immediately and could be extended if necessary, said Rick Crownover, Granbury’s public works director. He added that construction on a new sewage plant would take 18 to 24 months before it was ready for use.
“We believe by temporary suspension to all new development, we hope to gain acceptance of our new permit for a new wastewater treatment plant from the state,” Crownover said.
Hood County, where the city of about 10,000 people is located, is one of the fastest growing counties in the country, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures. In the past 10 years, the bureau’s estimates show a population increase of 20.5%, from 51,000 people in 2010 to about 61,000 today.
That’s why Granbury has been pursuing a permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that would allow construction on a new sewage plant serving east Granbury, Crownover said. The commission issued a draft permit in May, finding that the plant would cause “no significant degradation” of Rucker Creek or Lake Granbury, but that conclusion can be modified if new information about the permit is received.
“We should get approval any day now,” Crownover said. “We should have already had it. But with everything backed up like it is and everyone working from home, I guess the short answer is COVID.”
Opposition supports moratorium vote
Another factor in the permit’s delay is local opposition, particularly from Hood County residents who live downstream from the proposed plant but are not technically Granbury constituents. The effort to discharge up to 2 million gallons of treated wastewater per day into a tributary of Rucker Creek, where homeowners dock their boats and fish for bass, has earned objections from more than 400 households who submitted comments on the permit to the TCEQ, said Victoria Calder, the leader of community group Granbury Fresh.
Granbury Fresh was born out of concern about the impact of odor issues on property values and businesses as well as the potential environmental consequences, such as large algae blooms and accidental discharges of raw sewage that can lead to widespread fish kills and health issues.
Calder, a clinical psychologist who lives along Rucker Creek, worked with neighbors to demand a public meeting with the TCEQ, which was granted in September after a request from state Rep. Mike Lang of Granbury.
“We can’t vote for city council, so we don’t have a voice,” Calder said. “You work hard for something all your life and a governmental body that’s not even yours can come in just with the flick of a pen and diminish it and take away much of the value of what you’ve worked hard for.”
Despite their disagreements with city officials, Calder and fellow organizer Anita Branch spoke in support of the development moratorium during the December public meetings.
“We do support it 100%, but probably not for the reason that the city does,” Branch, a retired engineer, said. “We think that it is great for a moratorium to be put into place so it gives them an opportunity to look at other alternatives and investigate those. But I’m sure it’s just a procedural thing for the city because they are stuck. They can’t do anything until they get a final permit from the TCEQ.”
Hood County residents are waiting on TCEQ commissioners to issue their formal response to public comments and decide whether or not to issue a final permit. If the commission gives Granbury the OK to discharge wastewater into Rucker Creek, Calder and other Granbury Fresh members plan to request a contested case hearing, which is similar to a civil trial in state district court.
“We’re hoping to avoid a contested case hearing, but if the city continues down this road, that’s something that would happen,” Calder said. “That would take a couple of years, probably, because the TCEQ is way behind on scheduling those as well. It’s not like the city is going to get this resolved in a timely way, and would almost have to look at an alternative, I would think, because they are over capacity.”
Granbury is not considering other options to build sewage treatment capacity, Crownover said, and is focused on upgrading the technology at its current wastewater facility.
Dialogue breakdowns between city, residents
Beyond speaking at public meetings, residents have pursued other means to convince the city to reconsider the sewage plant site. At an October Hood County commissioners meeting, Dave Eagle, who represents the precinct where Granbury Fresh members reside, said he introduced a resolution asking Granbury to “tap the brakes” on its sewage plant and consider other options, such as building a larger regional treatment plant in a less densely populated area.
The resolution failed, and prompted a heated exchange between Eagle and Granbury City Manager Chris Coffman. Eagle said he does not blame the city for struggling to handle the influx of people moving to North Texas, which has caused infrastructure problems for nearly all municipal leaders. But, Eagle said, there needs to be more productive dialogue between city leaders and those affected by their decisions.
“The people living downstream there, to hear them talk, their view is there’s going to be dead rats and all kinds of things rolling down the creek,” Eagle said. “I don’t think that’s going to happen. But the city’s stance that it’s going to be pure Rocky Mountain spring water, I don’t think it’s going to be that either. My hope would have been that the city would make more of an effort to listen to these people and reconsider. But I don’t know if that’s going to happen or not.”
After tense meetings with city leaders, Branch said she has not seen “any signs of hope” that Granbury is looking at alternatives.
“The logical thing to do would be to start the process to modify the permit for the existing sewage treatment plant, and then do an expansion at that plant, and that would give them enough capacity and buy them enough time to investigate the regional alternative,” Branch said. “I would have to say I’m not terribly optimistic.”
Eagle is supportive of the pause on new development, though he expressed concern that the city could later blame the moratorium on having “no other choice, because these ‘mean people’ have dared to question” the sewage plant proposal.
“It’s like two people in a relationship, and one of them just discounting what the other one thinks, instead of trying to explain it to them to get them to understand,” Eagle said. “So in four months, maybe they’ll get to a better understanding … But one of the things I find with government is that when they get a course of action started, it takes almost an act of Congress to change that.”
