Rio Bonito, Blue Hole hike n' bike trail on city's front burner

The city of Wimberley is preparing a letter to Hays County commissioners expressing the city council's strong concerns on the condition of the new Hays County-City of Wimberley multipurpose trail from Blue Hole Regional Park to the First Baptist Church along Winters Mill Parkway

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Note: We're a little late in posting Wimberley Mayor Bob Flocke's City Hall Briefs covering the last city council meeting of Thursday Feb. 4. Mr. Flocke recently began distributing the Briefs by e-mail to interested citizens. It is not an official publication of the city and Flocke notes that any views or opinions expressed are his alone. Some may not know that Flocke, a retired U. S. Army Lt. Colonel, has a Master's Degree in Journalism and served as a public information officer during his Army career. If you'd like to join the distribution list, email: rflocke@austin.rr.com. In the interest of brevity, we have edited out some of the items in the original report.

WPDD applications withdrawn

The Wimberley City Council voted Thursday evening to accept the property owners’ withdrawal of two applications to rezone their Blanco river front properties to Wimberley planned development districts (WPDD). The city-initiated zoning for Rio Bonito and the property immediately east of Rio Bonito would have made the properties WPDDs with base zoning of residential acreage and low impact commercial respectively.

Faced with neighborhood opposition to the rezoning, the city staff recommended that the city develop a master plan for the downtown area, including the two properties, and the property owners withdrew their applications.

In the council discussion over whether to accept the withdrawals, Councilman John White commented that he thought that the withdrawals had not been voluntary, and that the city was allowing a few highly-vocal neighbors to determine the economic futures of the property owners.

White was referring to a section of the Texas Local Government Code that says if land owners representing 20 percent or more of the land within 200 feet of the proposed rezoned property object to the rezoning, it will take a super majority of the city council to approve the action.

In the case of the Wimberley City Council, a super majority, or majority plus one vote, is four votes. If two council members vote against the action, it will fail to pass. The council vote to accept the withdrawals was three to one, with White voting against.

Action postponed on reimbursement of expenses for contested elections, recounts

The city council postponed discussion and action on a proposal by Place Two Councilman Mac McCullough that the city adopt an ordinance requiring the reimbursement of certain expenses incurred by the city in city election recounts and contested elections.

McCullough said that he had engaged Austin elections attorney Buck Wood to draft such an ordinance, and Wood had been delayed. The action was continued until the council’s March 3 meeting.

Council approves plan for Blue Hole soccer field irrigation

After considering five options for irrigating the soccer fields at Blue Hole Regional Park, the council directed the city staff to pursue negotiations with the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority on the option for drip irrigation for two soccer fields with treated effluent from the existing wastewater treatment plant located on park property.

The original soccer field irrigation plan called for the soccer fields to be irrigated with a subsurface drip irrigation system using Type 1 effluent from a new wastewater treatment plant to be built at the park. The existing treatment plant produces an untreated Type II effluent which cannot be used in its current state to irrigate public recreation areas.

With the setback in the city's efforts to secure funding for a new wastewater treatment plant, the city staff has been working with GBRA on alternative irrigation using effluent produced by the existing treatment plant at the park. Upgrading the existing treatment plant to produce Type I effluent would be at considerable cost. (The council voted unanimously to selected Number 4 of 5 options considered: Drip irrigate with treated Type II effluent from the existing wastewater treatment plant at an estimated cost of $388,746.)

Funding will come from existing Blue Hole funds and not from the city's general funds. The city staff met with representatives of the Wimberley Soccer Association to share the alternatives and gather input. The representatives indicated that they could support the use of Type II effluent to irrigate the fields using either a surface spray or subsurface drip irrigation system. Current public health rules prohibit spraying Type II effluent on areas used for contact recreation.

Council airs concerns about durability of new hike and bike trail

The city of Wimberley is preparing a letter to Hays County commissioners expressing the city council's strong concerns on the condition of the new Hays County-City of Wimberley multipurpose trail from Blue Hole Regional Park to the First Baptist Church along Winters Mill Parkway.

The communication will ask the county to take immediate action to stabilize erosion of the trail's surface. The city also will encourage the county to use remaining project funds to improve the durability of the trail surface by either adding an asphalt surface or by adding concrete curbs to control the spreading and erosion of the current crushed granite surface.

The action by the city council came on advice from the Wimberley Transportation Advisory Board. In its presentation to the council, the TAB recommended the use of large native stones and native landscaping along the trail or the installation of properly spaced bollards across the trail to discourage ATV use on the trail.

As part of its recommendations, the TAB urged the city and county to hold the trail designer and contractor responsible for repairing and correcting the causes of recent significant erosion and silting reported on the trail.

LWV to sponsor civility training workshop

The League of Women Voters-Wimberley Valley is sponsoring a Civility Training Workshop on Saturday, February 26, 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. The workshop will be held in the Katherine Anne Porter School cafeteria, located at 515 FM 2325, Wimberley. Registration is at 8:30 a.m.

Cassandra Dahnke and Tomas Spath, co-founders of the Institute for Civility in Government will lead the workshop. In their words, “Civility is claiming and caring for one’s identity, needs and beliefs without degrading someone else’s in the process.”

The Institute for Civility in Government is a national, grassroots, non-profit organization that works to reduce polarization in society. Through educational programs and membership, the Institute aims to build civility in a society that increasingly tilts towards uncivil speech and actions.

To pre-register, mail contact information (name, address, telephone number and email) along with a $25.00 deposit check payable to LWV-WV, to treasurer, Joy Moden, 1111 Thompson Ranch Rd., Wimberley, TX 78676, by February 18. Contact person: Cookie Hagemeier, cookiemon1@vownet.net; (512) 847-7177.

Wimberley Arts Fest ’11 plan OK’d by council

Wimberley Valley Art League plans to use city right-of-way and parts of the Square for its Wimberley Arts Fest ’11 were approved by the city council Thursday evening. The annual event will take place on Saturday, April 30 on the Wimberley Square from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Motor vehicle access to the west side of the Square will be prohibited during the event starting at approximately 7 a.m. and ending shortly after the event ends. The WVAL will provide on-site security and event insurance. In addition to the various artists, the event will feature food vendors. Directional signage associated with the event will be placed in the right-of-way in the area of the Square.