Erath Commissioners Court
In a meeting lasting more than two hours, Erath County Commissioners moved through an agenda with 41 items Aug. 22, including setting election locations for the November ballot.
For early voting, voters can cast ballots 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 25-Oct. 27 and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 24 and Oct. 28. Voting will also take place from noon to 4 p.m. Oct. 29, all at the Erath County Courthouse, in Stephenville, 100 W. Washington Street.
In Dublin, voters can early vote from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 31 – Nov. 4 at Patrick Street Church of Christ, 630 N. Patrick Street.
On Election Day, Nov. 8, voters can cast their ballots anywhere in Erath County since they utilize vote centers.
Voting is 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the following locations: Erath County Courthouse, Patrick Street Church of Christ in Dublin, Bluff Dale Community Center, United Cooperative Services, Huckabay Communi-ty Center, Lingleville Baptist Church, Morgan Mill Community Center, Selden Community Center, Texas A&M Agrilife Research and Extension Center and Texas Bank.
This year, the voting location has changed for Lingleville and voting will take place at Lingleville Baptist Church instead of the school.
Rita Freels land variance After many discussions about a property owned by Rita Freels off of County Road 300, under contract by Black Mountain Energy Storage for a potential energy battery storage site, a variance for road frontage for the property was approved.
Freels was asking the commission for a variance to reduce the road frontage requirement from 200 feet down to 130 feet on a 24.73 acre piece of property.
County Judge Alfonso Campos asked if the item was a preliminary plat and Freels explained there was no plat since she was not dividing the land.
“As of now you’re not dividing it,”Commissioner Albert Ray said.
“Correct, it’s my property, I’m not selling anything but this right now,” Freels said.
Ray asked her in six months if she wasn’t going to divide off more property.
“Well if I was going to do a subdivision, I would follow the rules but you haven’t said to do that,” Freels said. “But this piece would not be part of that; it’s under a big transmission line. It wouldn’t be a part of anything if I did do that. This year, six months from now, or five years from now … I don’t know. I wasn’t planning on doing a subdivision on this piece of property.”
Freels explained the only way to get to the property is to put in a road that goes back to the piece of land.
“There wouldn’t be any reason to have 200 feet off of the road for a piece that goes back as far as that one goes,” she said. “That’s what the variance request is for.”
Campos said that state guide-lines are 200 feet of frontage for a public roadway.
“Do you see what 200 feet would do to the rest of my property if I did want to divide it?” Freels asked. “As a real estate person that is what I buy the property for, to keep and hold and sale later. But not in small little tracts but large tracts.”
Freels was asked if she knew where Black Mountain would be putting a gate and she responded that she did not.
“When you sell a piece of property it’s not yours any-more, it’s theirs,” she said. Ray said the property must be sold with access.
“The point of this variance is just to make them not have 200 feet of frontage in a part of the road that they just don’t need,” she said. “You’re making him buy land that he doesn’t want and that I don’t want to sell to get back to a lot that is 800 feet away.”
Freels explained that Black Mountain Energy had already agreed to do everything the county asked in terms of building a road.
“If that sale doesn’t go through then the next person is just going to want to put a driveway in,” she said. “The point is it’s keeping me from being able to sell that piece of property.”
Ray asked if there is a reason she surveyed it off as 24.73 acres and didn’t make it bigger. She said that was the most they wanted to buy and actually wanted to go 15 acres but she wouldn’t let them.
“Looking into the future, like I always do, I’m going to look at how many 200 foot sections, once I found out that what I had to have,” she said.
“So basically what you are saying is you are going to divide this up into 10 acres or more,” Ray asked.
“Eventually, yes. It’s my retirement,” she said. “It’s no business of yours. It’s absolutely no business of yours but that is my retirement.”
The commissioners expressed concern over the property becoming land locked without access.
“We know what the request is and what the issues are,” Campos said. “I mean if you sold them 200 feet of frontage, we aren’t even in the picture.”
“I’m not taking into consideration that there is any contract or anything on that 24 acres but I would think 130 feet is wide enough,” Commissioner Joe Brown said and made a motion to approve the variance.
The variance was approved in a 4-to-1 vote with Ray voting in opposition.
Road abandonment The court approved the abandonment of a portion of County Road 813 since no one knew it was a county road.
“It can go back to property owner if the county hasn’t used it for a period of 20 years,” Campos explained.
Subdivision items Several items regarding subdivisions were discussed and approved.
A pre-application meeting for Stillwater Subdivision in Precinct 4 was brought before the court with confusion over a cul-de-sac not being at the end of a roadway at the request of one of the property owners.
After discussion with the commission, no action was taken and the item is to be brought back at a later date.
A variance request for Oak View subdivision along with a preliminary plat was approved and a final plat for Trinity Ridge subdivision was approved.
Other business In other business the county commissioners:
■ Approved the payroll distribution and overtime register
■ Approved invoices for regular and reoccurring payments
■ Approved the Republican Party election judge appointments for a twoyear term
■ Approved a lease agreement for the County Clerk to lease a large format scanner/ printer using records management funds
■ Approved the purchase of a used Alamo boom mower at the cost of $19,500 and gave permission to Commissioner Dee Stephens to go to Waynesboro, Tennessee to check out the piece of equipment and bring it home.
■ Renewed Erath County’s LexisNexis agreement
■ Recognized September as Prostate Cancer Awareness month
■ Approved the optional road and bridge fee for the same as last year The county will be paving the parking lot of the Morgan Mill Community Center since they are already repaving nearby roadways and the center is for the community and the citizens.