While Bee Cave officials sympathize with Lake Travis Fire Rescue, they aren’t going to amend an ordinance that makes it difficult for the organization to modify station 603 so it can house a ladder truck.

That was the decision made at Bee Cave’s council meeting Aug. 24.
NPS pollution is caused by water runoff collecting natural and human-made pollutants as it moves over or through ground to deposit them in bodies of water such as creeks and lakes.
LTFR, also known as Emergency Services District No. 6, leases Station 603 from the city at 1333 Texas 71 in Bee Cave, which serves Bee Cave, Lake Pointe, Uplands, Deer Creek and Hamilton Pool developments
Fire Chief Jim Linardos explained that the district wants to house a ladder unit in the southern section of its service area because the nearest LTFR ladder unit to Bee Cave is at Station 605 in Steiner Ranch and the closest non-LTFR ladder unit is in the Oak Hill area.
Linardos noted that some of the larger commercial buildings in the district are in Bee Cave. LTFR response strategies call for two engines and a ladder truck to fires at larger buildings to prevent them from escalating.
“We are trying to grow up a community,” Linardos told council members. “What we are asking is for the government to work with us to help us move this project forward as soon as possible.”
LTFR is working to meet a bond package deadline as it seeks variances to the project including exemption from the city’s NPS and landscaping ordinances, all applicable city fees for the project and an exemption from posting fiscal.
LTFR officials contended that because the station does not face a public street, it is not subject to the city’s landscaping ordinance.
Because they already meet NPS impervious cover and water management requirements, LTFR officials said they did not want to build a retention pond to remove pollutants from runoff at the site, City Administrator Frank Salvato said.
Danny Martin, civil engineer at Malone-Weaver, said his firm has kept city ordinances in mind when designing the improvements.
“We’ve made that bay as small as we can make it,” Martin said.
Council member Mike Murphy harkened back to the divisive origins of the city’s nonpoint source ordinance amended in 2000.
“I don’t think there’s been one single development since then approved that exempted them from the NPS ordinance. I think you better plan on the most inexpensive way you can to comply with the NPS ordinance,” Murphy said, acknowledging that Station 603 is the most logical location for the ladder truck. “I do think the NPS ordinance is kind of sacrosanct and everything else is probably negotiable.”
Council member Chad Bockius said the city should keep LTFR’s budgetary concerns in mind.
“I know everybody is having challenges with their budgets. If we can find a way to make this work, it’s $11,000. It doesn’t seem like much, but I’m sure it means a lot to you, and I’m sensitive to that,” Bockius said.
Because the station is on city property, some council members were amenable to the idea of assisting the fire department with the costs of landscaping required by city ordinance.
However, if the council elects not to subsidize the station’s landscaping and LTFR still states that the station is not subject to the city’s landscaping ordinance it would have to appear before Bee Cave’s Zoning Board of Adjustments because the regulations fall under the city’s zoning ordinances.
City Attorney Patty Akers is reviewing these ordinances, and City Council members will revisit LTFR’s variance requests at their next regular meeting Sept. 7.
As it nears a vote on its final budget for fiscal year 2010-11, more stable tax revenues in recent months prompted city officials to adopt a third projection of $5.57 million in tax revenues for the upcoming fiscal year to give council members an alternative to its two proposed budgets based on sales tax collections of plus-3 percent [$5.34 million in revenues] and plus-4 percent [$5.39 million in revenues].
The third option is based on the city’s sales tax revenues from 2008, which were collected before the U.S. economy began its downward spiral.
If adopted, that budget would allot $450,000 for Bee Cave’s legal expense appropriation to $450,000, compared with $300,000 under the plus-3 percent model and $350,000 in the plus-4 percent model.
The city’s legal expenses thus far for this fiscal year total $559,118. The city is engaged in mediation over water intrusion issues at Bee Cave City Hall, litigation filed by former Municipal Court clerk Jennifer Curry against the city and its former judge Jack Stick and a water rate case trial with Lower Colorado River Authority.
Council members walked down a more pleasant path as they debated the merits of the city or the city’s Economic Development Board taking ownership of 145 acres of preserve land west of Falconhead West to use for a primitive park. The subdivision’s developer, Don Walden, had offered to transfer the land to the city.
Amber Rothwell, vice president of Lee & Associates of Austin, presented the firm’s design for a 3.4-mile system of trails that could be used for walking, jogging and mountain biking.
Mayor Pro Tem Jack McCool said he was ready to explore the possibility of the ED Board owning the land.
“I’d like to know what the path is so we can get it done. It seems like we have been talking about it for several months and keep coming around to the same conclusion that it’s a good idea,” McCool said.
The council voted to authorize Akers to draft an agreement between the city and its ED Board and separate agreement between the ED Board and Walden.
In other action, council members:
3 Approved an ordinance calling for a special election Nov. 2 to reduce a portion of the city’s 4A road maintenance sales tax by one-eighth of 1 percent and increase its Type B economic development sales tax by one-eighth of 1 percent;
3 Recognized Bee Cave police officers Tim Taylor and John Meiners for their life-saving efforts with plaques. Taylor and Meiners performed CPR and administered automatic external defibrillator shocks to revive Paul Dowdy, who had crashed the van he was driving July 27;
3 Approved interlocal agreement with the City of Lakeway for police dispatching services at $143,597 from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, 2011;
3 Renewed contract with Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Employee Benefits Pool for employee health insurance and benefits for fiscal year 2010-11.