07.08.06
Frankie Limmer’s Legacy
This from yesterday’s AAS, Hutto sewage plant controversy centers around Limmer, or what’s the point of being a county commissioner if you can’t set yourself up for the future. This shouldn’t be a shock for anyone who’s lived in Williamson County for a while. Mr. Limmer’s been involved in a few shady deals in his day.
Limmer and his partners, including his wife, Judy, plan to develop the 548-acre water district property; a concept development plan shows the potential for 1,800 residential lots as well as retail. Limmer has said his land would benefit if a wastewater plant is built nearby; he also says he may pursue his own wastewater plant in the future.
If my family received a letter like this from the LCRA I wouldn’t be very comfortable with their excuse:
But the LCRA, after telling the Walther family their land was no longer considered, is now recommending the property for the wastewater treatment plant, counting it among its three preferred locations. No decision has been made, LCRA officials say.
“We feel that a public official, through this water district, pointed our property out, and this public official will benefit from this plant being on our property,” said Clayton Walther, one of three adult Walther family children. The family thinks their land should be removed from the process, he said.
An LCRA official sent the Walthers a letter May 17 saying the agency “has informed you of the need to acquire a portion of your property . . . for the construction, operation and maintenance of the referenced Lower Brushy Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.”
The letter was a mistake, said Vic Ramirez, the LCRA’s associate general counsel.
“Obviously, no decision has been made” about sites, he said. “I’m aware of that letter, and it’s unfortunate because it’s a form, and they simply used the wrong form. It wasn’t the right letter to go out.”
LCRA senior real estate representative Connie Real, who sent the letter, said it was simply meant to get the family’s agreement to let LCRA officials onto the land to do further assessment and the property acquisition portion should have been removed.
“I failed to correct that, and that was my error,” Real said. “It was a very innocent, simple error. And it wasn’t meant in any way that it’s been taken.”
Another reason we need Democrats on the Commissioner’s Court.
Eye on Williamson » More Growing Pains In Williamson County said,
July 19, 2006 at 3:10 pm
[…] As Williamson County moves from a rural county to a more urban and suburban county there will be growing pains. Whether it has to do with the location of a sewer plant, the location of power lines, or county officials abiding by the law when deputies kill someone, they will occur. In the case of the deputies it’s probably just that the county officials involved have been doing things a certain way, not intentionally disobeying the law, and now that someone is making them, they’re trying to justify their actions instead of doing what’s right. […]
Eye on Williamson » AusChron On The Walther/Limmer Fued said,
August 10, 2006 at 10:44 am
[…] Hutto Wastewater: Is Limmer at it again? It would appear so. The story has been reported on here before - here and here. Here’s the gist of the AusChron story: The April LCRA report stunned many locals, and especially the Walthers. According to the LCRA, the merits of sites A and D had mysteriously equalized. Among the report’s fascinating – or perhaps absurd – conclusions were that the sites have comparable vegetative barriers and that the Walther property will somehow cost less to condemn than Site A will cost to buy. Walther family spokesman, attorney Jason Collins, says that according to the LCRA’s stated needs, Site D, at just 64 acres, isn’t even large enough to contain the plant and provide the planned 500-foot buffer between it and any adjoining land – which would mean the agency would have to initiate additional condemnation proceedings just to acquire sufficient land for the plant. […]
Eye on Williamson » Hutto Growth Is Causing Problems, But They Can Be Worked Out said,
August 25, 2006 at 8:58 am
[…] The reality is, and most people know it, that new power lines and sewer systems have to go somewhere. But unfortunately when there appears to be a conflict of interest with who gets to determine where a sewer line goes, and the placement is to the benefit of an elected official, alliances form. […]