AUSTIN CO. COMMISSIONERS TAKE ON LANDFILL OPTIONS

  

Austin County commissioners, this week, voted to exclude the entire county from landfills with the exception of a small area in the Raccoon Bend area.

The commissioners had been considering two potential sites, one southwest of Cat Spring and the other in the old oilfields of Raccoon Bend.

A large delegation of residents from Cat Spring, showed up Monday, with about a dozen speaking in opposition to their area being left unprotected.

With Commissioner Randy Reichardt absent, Commissioner Mark Lamp took the lead on the ordinance discussion.

According to attorney Eric Magee, who specializes in landfill issues, counties in Texas cannot exclude themselves entirely from potential landfills. At least a small portion of each county must be left unprotected from exclusions.

The commissioners court had indicated they wanted to act to prevent landfills from coming to the county, and did so earlier in a workshop where they identified the two areas as being too remote to be desirable for landfill companies to consider.

After more than an hour of debate, the motion passed unanimously.

The next steps are to draft the proposed ordinance and also draft a takings assessment. Once the commissioners approve the draft ordinance, the county judge will need to set a public hearing date and publish the draft as a legal notice.