COUNTY COMMISSIONERS TO CONSIDER MASS GATHERING PERMIT

  

Washington County Commissioners will be considering a Mass Gathering Permit for a Spartan Race at their meeting next Tuesday.  A Mass Gathering Permit is required when an event is planned that will have over 2500 people for 5 hours or more.  Applicants for the permit have to provide details of how they will accommodate and insure the security of those attending.  The Spartan Race is an obstacle course race and is planned for Saturday, March 24th at the Eberly Ranch on FM 1371, south of Chappell Hill.

Also on Tuesday’s agenda, commissioners will consider consolidating the polling places for the May 5th Special Election for the District 13 State Representative.  Commissioners are looking to consolidate the polling locations to 4 to reduce the cost of the election.

Commissioners will also consider the purchase of Emergency Vehicle Equipment for the Sheriff’s Office.  They will also consider the Re-Plat of two tracts in the South Berlin Subdivision.

Commissioner are also scheduled to receive a number of monthly reports from several county agencies including the Sheriff’s Office, EMS, and the County IT Department.

Washington County Commissioners meet next Tuesday at 9:00 AM at the County Courthouse.

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8 Comments

  1. Who will provide EMS and security/police control? Does Washington County benefit in any way since Eberly Ranch is addressed in Austin County? Why would all this be scheduled and advertised without County approval? Did Eberly cut a deal without regard to the country life that they espouse for financial gain? We already have to listen to the gun shots on their bird shoot. What does Eberly give back to the community so we can thank them or not?
    What else will the County allow in to pollute our quiet, peaceful lifestyles that we want out here?

    1. Not sure what else the county will “allow in” that you don’t like, but apparently you’re looking for government to solve your problems? Why is this something ‘the county’ should resolve? And really, what is the issue that you would like resolved?

      1. Many residents such as my family in this area have spent a good deal of money on acreage and luxury country homes, we would like the county to step in at times and offer the regulations needed to maintain a peaceful quiet existence for our retirement. This means overseeing any incoming development. The recent county election was a good start and these regulations for mass gatherings is also encouraging. Our Sheriff needs help to enforce these things.

        We all love the Chappell Hill area and appreciate that with good leadership in the courthouse we might have the needed protections without incorporating.

        1. I wonder if you’d be so quick to see my taxes go up if you were paying full taxes on your “acreage and luxury country home?” My experience tells me that you most certainly are not, but perhaps you are more civic-minded than most of Washington County’s ‘gentleman farmers,’ and you have chosen to disavow any exemptions. In all likelihood, however, you are paying approximately 1/10 or less once all the exemptions are stacked. Or have you not applied a conservation easement yet?
          I grind my teeth at work, listening to recent retirees complaining about living in their new luxury homes ‘in the country.’ You move here because you love the “peaceful quiet existence,” then complain when you realize your property is not actually peaceful or quiet, and hasn’t been since Europeans developed the area. I can hear traffic noise, gas compressors, or other motor noise from every single tract in this county, and I’ve been on most of them. This is not ‘country.’ This is unimproved suburbia. You buy property on a dirt road, build a home, then start complaining that the road’s not paved. Pave the road, more taxes. Road paved, now you complain about people driving fast and the road is too narrow. Widen the road, more taxes. It rains hard, the creeks flood, you complain about our county road & bridge. Build engineered, maintenance-intensive bridges, more taxes. Complain all you want, demand all the improved services you want, so long as you pay your share of the tax bill, but stop asking me to pay a full share of that bill when you only pay a tenth or less.

          1. Solo, it’s clear you have a beef with anyone that uses an ag or wildlife exemption for their land. But I’m not sure that it’s clear that those same property owners pay the same rates on property taxes for any improvement made to the place as you would. I wish land could be used indefinitely to support livestock or crops, but it can’t. Unimproved suburbia or not, we enjoy our wildlife, even those in the city limits, thanks to the practices of those same landowners you berate. At the end of the day, the county, college, and ISD enjoy the same taxes collected from a like structure in the city or county, no difference. A state/county consumption tax (to replace the property tax) would end this entire argument as well as several others.

          2. I do not have a problem with anyone that legitimately uses an ag exemption, but that exemption is widely abused. The wildlife exemption is a joke; if you don’t believe me, then you haven’t checked the requirements. And I fully support conservation easements. What I do not like are folks paying less than a tenth the taxes of their neighbors while demanding improved government services. It seems clear that you, Christopher, have a “beef” with me, because given the the theme of your comments, if you looked into this tax situation you would agree wuth me here. But instead you just knee-jerk disagree with me. Try looking at the numbers.

          3. Yall dont enjoy your wildlife in the city you run it over. There are deer raccoons, snakes, possums, and snapping turtles in the city and that has nothinv to do with any tax exemptions.

      2. Not looking for government to solve any issues for me. Local government needs to set up guidelines before events like this occur. This vote was a rubber stamp since national advertisement had already occurred. For future events, anyone wanting an event in any size or venue should be aware of their responsibility in hosting such an event. Whether that concerns medical, crowd or noise control, traffic flow, litter pickup, or food/drinks permits the county needs to be consistent in its application process. This is my county, my place of choice to live. If I feel my officials are not protecting my environment, then I will speak out. More than once they have not protected public rights and several times they have been most responsive to our needs. All of us need to be accountable for our actions and be proactive not just responsive. County/government officials work for all the people not just business entities.

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