Bastrop, Texas Events, News & Stories

Bastrop, Tx–What is he thinking? That’s Jim Carpenter, the leading figure in Austin-based Carpenter & Associates, who is seeking Legislative aid to created a new general aviation facility west of Bastrop between the Colorado River and the intersection of FM 1704 and FM 969. Apparently the firm was pushing its agenda among state lawmakers before winning the essential backing of Bastrop county commissioners and the Bastrop city council.

Apparently no legislation has actually been introduced so far to ease the way for the project, which has already drawn heated public opposition.

County commissioners will convene a public hearing at 7 p.m. Monday on the second floor of the Courthouse Annex at 804 Pecan St. in Bastrop. The city council will conduct a similar session beginning at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 904 Main St. in Bastrop.

Carpenter is asking state lawmakers to authorize a special district which will include the borrowing powers of a municipal utility district, some features of a public improvement district and perhaps some powers of eminent domain (the right to condemn property for public uses). The city’s consent is essential for any such plan to move forward because the 2,000-acre site is in Bastrop’s extra-territorial jurisdiction, an area where the city must consent to the creation of such new districts with taxing and similar powers.

Across the Colorado River from the proposed airport site lie some residential subdivisions as well as the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa and is less than four miles from the new Cedar Creek High School now under construction at the intersection of Texas 71 and Pope Bend Road South.

The 2009 Texas Legislative session is already more than half over, and lawmakers who represent Bastrop County may be reluctant to push the airport measure without strong signals of support from both county and city officials.

Some local officials have hinted recently they still have far more questions than answers about the Carpenter project.

Bastrop, Tx–Less than a decade ago the Lower Colorado River Authority floated an ambitious plan to capture surplus (flood) water on the lower stretches of the river and pipe up to 150,000 acre feet per year to thirsty (and growing) San Antonio. Detailed studies over recent years, however, now suggest that the vision, first laid out by the late LCRA water engineer Quentin Martin and widely touted by then-LCRA general manager Joe Beal, may be mostly a pipe dream.

As a seven-year program of technical studies unfolded, the estimated yield for San Antonio has steadily fallen, first to 130,00 acres feet per year to 90,000. Then at a recent meeting the LCRA board of directors decided to hold back an additional 50,00 acre feet per year of stored water for “in basin emergency use.”

For anyone who’s forgotten, the lower river basin is in the midst of what could prove to be a historic drought period (beginning in 2007 and ongoing).

Those numbers suggest that as little as 40,000 acre feet could be available for export to San Antonio on a sustainable basis. At the same time cost estimates have soared from some $800 million to somewhere past $2 billion, and San Antonio may be losing interest in the deal, some reports suggest.

Environmental watchdogs in Bastrop County have long been suspicious of the LCRA/SAWS project, fearing it could leave too little water in the main stem of the river to protect and sustain other important functions.