Storm Water Training Update
The Temple Area Builders Association was privileged to be one of the first HBAs around the state to bring its member training on new storm water standards and information about municipal level involvement in storm water regulation.
Our event was very well attended and we were especially appreciative to have Temple City Engineer Michael Newman, Belton City Manager Sam Listi, and Belton Mayor Jim Covington on hand to review the training with about 30 of our builder members.
Prior to the training, Mr. Newman took an opportunity to update the attendees on the Temple Municipal Storm Water Program. We have written much about the process that the City of Temple has gone through to create a local program and we have appreciated the City including the building community as stakeholders in preparing the program.
Currently the City of Temple is internalizing the results of the meetings that were held to create the program and they are shoring up the performance goals that they intend to recommend to the City Council in the near future.
In case you’ve missed it in the news lately, the City of Belton is also working to create a program and TABA stands ready to participate in that endeavor at our earliest possible opportunity. Belton’s effort has been noted in the local paper on a couple of different occasions over the past month.
Belton is working to comply with the TCEQ February ‘08 deadline to have a plan in place. They’ve hired a consultant, whom they’ll pay $4,500 (from existing budgeted storm drainage funds) to develop their plan.
The Belton storm drainage fee will likely be based on a per unit charge of $3 per month for single and multi-family housing units. Non-residential businesses will pay a fee as well. Reportedly the staff is recommending the Council consider a $10 to $200 monthly flat rate for these types of uses.
TABA Code Council Update…
TABA Code Council continues to move forward. The Fire Code is the focus of our attention at this point. 'Council' members have been working with an engineer and local fire officials to come up with some interesting culdesac design proposals that could end up producing an industry wide benefit. We’ll keep you posted as this process continues to develop.
Representative Diane Delisi Ready For Other Challenges!
State Representative Diane Delisi will not run for office in 2008. She has been a great public servant and is deserving of much thanks for the time she has spent on behalf of District 55 in Austin. Please contact her and tell her how much you appreciate the work she has done on your behalf for the past 17 years.
There are many suitors lining up to take over her position. Officially, Sam Murphey (D) of Harker Heights and John Alaniz (R) of Temple, were the first to toss their hat into the candidate pool. Several others will likely become official candidates in the near future. In fact, Temple Mayor Pro-Tem Martha Tyroch is the latest to announce her intentions to run. This, of course, has implications for Temple City Council and it will be interesting to see how that situation plays out.
