TCEQ calls for hearing on proposed Backbone MUD
AUSTIN — A Marble Falls-area property owners association contesting the proposed Backbone Municipal Utility District will get a hearing before the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
During their meeting earlier this week, TCEQ commissioners granted the hearing in response to a request by the Timber Ridge Property Owners Association.
“That is what we requested, and it was granted to us,” association Vice President Jim Gallagher said Friday.
Neighbors have several concerns if the MUD is created in the Fairland area north of Marble Falls, including worries that it could tax water resources.
No date was set for the hearing, according to Marble Falls lawyer Andy Carson, the attorney for applicants seeking approval of the proposed MUD
The applicants include Cactus Canyon Quarries Inc. and landowners Sandra L. Carl, Richard Hoepfner and Kathy McDonald.
“I don’t what the timing is, other than they (TCEQ officials) have said a hearing will be held nine months from now or less,” Carson said Friday.
He is also an “officer and director” of Cactus Canyon Quarries, Carson said.
The applicants have asked TCEQ to approve the district for about 103 acres on four tracts in Burnet County along the railroad tracks west of U.S. 281 and north of CR 120.
According to the applicants’ petition, the MUD will be used mainly for the production of non-potable water, including irrigation for agriculture.
TCEQ staff approved the MUD application before the commissioners met last Tuesday, Carson said.
However, the Timber Ridge POA filed a protest against the applicants, according to TCEQ records.
“The POA will have to show why it (the application) should not be granted,” Carson said.
Timber Ridge property owners want an engineering study to determine whether groundwater operations will affect the quantity or quality of groundwater in the Timber Ridge subdivision near the proposed district.
Also, the Burnet County Commissioners Court has indicated they want the MUD to undergo an environmental impact study before its creation.
The commissioners have also voiced concerns over possible groundwater depletion and economic exploitation of Timber Ridge residents living near the proposed district.
The commissioners plan to discuss the district during their Tuesday meeting.