Bastrop, Texas Events, News & Stories

Bastrop, Tx–Public comments were restrained Tuesday when a design advisory group working with architect Mervin Fatter revealed the latest design ideas for a new Bastrop City Hall on Chestnut Street and a new convention center immediately across the street on the east side of the Union Pacific Railroad.

Officials declined to discuss the likely cost of either project. Mayor Terry Orr said other aspects of the proposed buildings will be discussed when the city council meets June 23.

The design panel includes Orr, City Manager Mike Talbot, Gary Schiff, former mayor Tom Scott, Dan Hays-Clark and Deborah Rogers. City hall plans were little changed from earlier iterations with features calculated to be reminiscent of railroad depot designs from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The convention center plan reflects a more contemporary commercial style with the addition of a round stone tower topped with a metal section, possibly reminiscent of an elevated galvanize water tank. The depot and water tank elements are perhaps meant to suggest an earlier era when the intersection of Chestnut Street and the railroad became the hub of vital activities including cotton gins, warehousing, grain storage and shipping to distant regional and national markets. A rail line first reached Bastrop in 1886 and sparked a surge in economic activities of many kinds, many centered near the railroad.

Redeveloping the Chestnut Street corridor, including the convention center, can boost visitor and tourist traffic in Bastrop and provide a new stimulus to the historic business district centered on Main Street, proponents argue.

One wag at the Tuesday unveiling in the Kerr Community Center said the proposed convention center design reminded him of one of the new commercial buildings going up in the Burleson Crossing shopping center–with the addition of a tin water tank on top. The building exteriors will feature glass, stucco, native stone and brick, according to Fatter. Similar materials are planned to decorate the new city hall, he said.

Bastrop, Tx–At 9 a.m. Tuesday Bastrop County commissioners will hear some ideas from County Judge Ronnie McDonald about creating a unified rural road administration, a sharp departure from the historic practice of having each of four commissioners oversee separate precinct road maintenance and construction activities.

The June 16 session will take place in the Courthouse Annex at 804 Pecan St.

Later the same day the Bastrop City Council is expected to be present at the Kerr Community Center on Walnut Street to hear–with city residents–the latest report from a design advisory panel which has been working on the future appearance of a new City Hall on Chestnut Street and a companion structure across the street, the proposed Civic/Convention Center.

Project architect Mervin Fatter will be on hand to lead the presentation, and public input will be encouraged, according to Mayor Terry Orr and City Manager Mike Talbot.

In an interview this week, Talbot said he hopes work on the new city hall can begin by year’s end. Improvements aimed to complement the projects along Chestnut Street are also set to begin later this year. The street work will be paid for by the Bastrop Economic Development Corp. City bond funds will pay for the new city hall, and the convention center will be funded, according to present plans, by taxes levied on city hotel room rentals.

Bastrop, Tx–When the board of the Bastrop Economic Development Corp. meets Monday at 7 p.m. it will take up a proposal from developers of a 550-acre residential development immediately south of the BEDC Industrial and Business Park.

The Colorado Bend project lies in a bend of the Colorado River between Tahitian Village and Texas 304. When the city council agreed to begin talks aimed at bringing the project to Bastrop, it made clear that one condition would be including at two major entrance/exit routes to the project.

Developers said the chief gateway should be off Texas 304 and across a proposed new river bridge. At the time, council members said provision must also be made for a second route along what is presently Lovers Lane which skirts the western edge of Tahitian Village.

Now, however, developers are suggesting an alternate route which would avoid Lovers Lane and tie into Industrial Drive through the industrial park and onto Jackson Street before it intersects with Texas 71 at Texas 95, according to BEDC President Joe Newman. That’s the idea the BEDC board will discuss, said Newman in a Friday interview.

One worry is that creating a traffic artery from Texas 304 through the proposed subdivision and the industrial park could attract an unwelcome volume of traffic through both projects, said Newman. An engineering traffic impact analysis (TIA) to evaluate the likely consequences is already in the works, he added.

Bastrop, Tx–State and local officials appeared no closer at week’s end than at the beginning to understanding how and where a fire broke out June 5 in a house under construction in the heart of the city’s historic Church Street residential district.

The structure immediately south of 1508 Church St. was fully involved in flames when firefighters arrived minutes after the blaze was first reported at 8:01 p.m. The building, nearing completion, was gutted before the flames were extinguished.

When investigators from the state fire marshall’s office launched their probe on Monday, they said the structure must be shored up before it will be safe for them go inside looking for clues to the cause and origin of the conflagration. In interviews Friday, local officials said negotiations continue on who will pay for making the site safe for further investigation.

So far there is no evidence suggesting foul play in the incident, according to officials.

Bastrop, Tx–An officer employed by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission was jailed in Bastrop on Tuesday and faces charges of sexual assault and official oppression.

Joe Chavez Jr., 40, was assigned to policing alcohol sales in Bastrop, Lee and Fayette County, said an agency spokeswoman. Chavez was arrested by Texas Rangers following an investigation by Rangers and the Bastrop County Sheriff’s Department. He was ordered held under $225,000 bail, and TABC officials placed him on leave without pay, the agency said.

The investigation began last month into allegations arising from a sting operation in Bastrop County involving minors attempting to buy alcoholic beverages from retailers.

Sting operations using minors to attempt buying alcohol have been suspended across the state pending a review of policies and procedures followed by the agency, announced TABC Administrator Alan Steen.

Chavez went to work for TABC in January 2004 and was assigned to the Bastrop office in August 2006, according to agency officials. Chaves is charged with two counts of sexual assault, second degree felonies, and a separate charge of official oppression, a Class A Misdemeanor.

The sexual assault charges are punishable by two to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The oppression charge carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.

Chavez has no prior record of disciplinary actions or complaints against him while working for TABC, according to the agency.

Bastrop, Tx–At a meeting Monday Bastrop County Judge Ronnie McDonald reminded county commissioners he has scheduled a June 16 session to explore with them the feasibility and possible benefits of establishing a unitary road maintenance and improvement organization to oversee the county’s rural roadways.

Williamson County, Travis County and some other Central Texas counties have moved to a unitary road organization in recent decades, as permitted by state law. In those areas the rural public roads are essentially operated as a separate county department, typically headed by a civil engineer. In Bastrop County each county commissioner oversees an independent road maintenance operation, though cooperation on specific projects among the four is common, and they frequently lend and borrow some specialized equipment among themselves.

A county wide road department has been touted in the past as a more efficient use of tax dollars and related resources. But the issue has not been discussed seriously in Bastrop County for almost two decades. About 1990 county judge Randy Fritz backed a petition drive which forced a voter referendum on a unitary road system. The move won little backing from commissioners, however, and the measure failed at the polls.

State law also allows commissioners to institute a unified road system without seeking voter approval.

Some commissioners remain doubtful of benefit from such a change. Pct. 4 Commissioner Lee Dildy , the senior commissioner on the court, said in a Monday interview he fears added professional and support staff under a unitary road operation would consume most potential savings.

But Dildy said he remains open to persuasion. On June 16 he expects to hear a presentation by Heijl, Lee and Associates, an engineering consulting firm the county has used for many years, on the topic. The commissioner described his attitude this way: “I’m going to sit back and say ‘I’m all ears.’”