Musical rocks at Seminole Canyon

Recently I took an iPhone video of my mother-in-law "playing" the bell-like rocks at a special place in Seminole Canyon State Park (about 40 miles west of Del Rio, TX). Each rock seems to have a different pitch.

Fall colors in Woodway

The evergreen live oak trees contrast nicely with what I believe are red oaks.

Waco Tribune Herald writes about our new Council member, Barbara Grandy

A nice story about our newest Council member, Barbara Grandy, has appeared in the Waco newspaper here.

Results of the December 12th meeting

Mayor Don Baker opened the meeting at 5:34 pm, and Reverend James Menke of Trinity Lutheran Church at Badger Ranch gave the invocation.

Next was administration of the oath of office to new Council member Barbara Grandy. Barbara was appointed by the Council last week from a field of 15 applicants.

Then volunteer Ray Dobbs and Assistant Police Chief Robert Smith presented a check for $8,000 toward a new rescue truck. This was from funds raised in last summer's barbeque, the 38th annual one.

Then was an excellent presentation by Jed Walker proposing a new apartment development adjacent to the Hollywood theaters. The design was well-planned and very impressive. But the proposal required a dramatic deviation from Woodway zoning ordinances. The plan was for 272 one-to-three bedroom units located on 15.8 acres, which corresponds to about 17 units per acre, generating $137K in property taxes annually for Woodway. However, Woodway ordinance limits developments to no more than 6 units per acre. The developers said this was not financially feasible for apartment developments. Mayor Baker, in particular, voiced serious opposition to apartments especially if special zoning was required. He rightly stated that individual ownership protects property values much better than do rental properties. The developers, I believe, will consider condominiums that have individual ownership rather than rental status. I hope something acceptable can be developed in this location.

Next was a time to hear from visitors, but no one present elected to speak.

Then came discussion of a problem with water accumulation as a result of a resident innocently building up the outflow of a pond. The water had covered a City manhole and also had invaded a couple of backyards. Interestingly enough, while a State-issued permit was supposed to be required before making the modification, a permit also appears to be necessary to undo it! The City is investigating how to proceed.

Next was a discussion of how Woodway's votes for the McLennan County Appraisal District's Board of Commissioner candidates should be cast. The Council voted to support John Embry, who has been helpful in the past.

Then came the consent agenda, mainly purchase of new glass for the Woodway Family Center.

The meeting adjourned about 7 pm. HEB had provided a holiday cake, which City Secretary Jennifer Canady had divided up for everyone to take some.

Agenda for the December 12th meeting

The agenda for the upcoming meeting has been posted at the City's website here. This will be the first meeting with new Council member Barbara Grandy.

Results of the December 5th meeting

Mayor Baker opened the meeting at 5:33 pm. The invocation was scheduled to be delivered by a pastor from Central Presbyterian Church but there must have been a mistake somewhere. Mayor Baker gave the invocation himself.

The next item was to hear from visitors, but though there were several visitors, none elected to speak.

Item 3 was first a public hearing followed by a discussion on the taxation of "goods in transit", which basically refers to products warehoused in or passing through the City. This was a minor tax adopted in 2007, but recent Texas Senate Bill 1 required that taxing entities reaffirm their desire to continue this tax. It generates maybe a few thousand dollars a year in Woodway. The Council voted to adopt this tax, though I abstained since I'm not sure I agree with the idea behind such a tax.

Item 4 was to approve the minutes of the last meeting (November 28th).

Item 5 was an application to develop in a planned district, for a single story retail/medical building near the Hollywood theaters. There was perhaps a 15 minute discussion with a representative of the developer concerning some aesthetic aspects of the plan. The Council voted unanimously to send this to the Planning and Zoning Commission for further consideration.

The next item (#6) was a discussion of options to deal with the infrastructure surrounding the Business Acres well. This is the well that is producing rather warm (116°F) water that needs to be cooled before being pumped through PVC pipes (otherwise the heat weakens the plastic pipe). There were a few options presented, some cheaper and some more expensive. But the bottom line is that you get what you pay for, and the Council decided to choose the long-term cheaper option rather than the short-term one. This will involve, among other things, a 1 million gallon concrete holding tank, said to be maintenance-free by well-consultant Bob Wallace. The City already has one such tank that has given very good service. In contrast, the cheaper steel tanks (as on Bosque) have to be sand-blasted and painted at intervals at a cost of about $100k each time. I think this was a good decision for the long-term stability of the Woodway water system.

Item 7 concerned "pod" type storage containers within the City. The Council had previously expressed a strong sentiment against having such storage containers in residential areas on any sort of permanent basis, but commercial situations had not been seriously addressed. The Council was shown photos of three commercial sites in Woodway with pod-type storage, at least one of which was unsightly. There was sentiment expressed that the City should not burden businesses with fees for long-term pod storage. City staff are investigating how to proceed.

Item 8A was an Executive Session to discuss possible replacements for General Bill Weber's at-large Council position. Afterwards, in open session, item 8B was discussion and to consider action on choosing a replacement for the open Council position. There were several highly qualified applicants, and the Council voted unanimously to appoint Barbara Grandy to the open Council position. Ms. Grandy has served the City of Woodway in several capacities through the years including service on the Woodway Beautiful Commission, the Carleen Bright Arboretum Board, and the Parks and Recreation Commission. Her dedicated efforts led to the City receiving a $10,000 beautification award from the State of Texas. In addition, she was instrumental in the organization of the very first "Trash-Off Day" in Woodway, and she served on both the original master plan committee and the master plan expansion committee for the Carleen Bright Arboretum. Ms. Grandy has also volunteered in many other ways throughout the Woodway community such as serving as chair of the Woodway Foundation.

The meeting adjourned at 7:59 pm. Contrary to my expectation, this was a long meeting (2.5 hours). Another meeting next Monday!

Agenda for the December 5th meeting

The agenda has been posted at the City website here. It looks to be one of the shorter meetings.