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The
Blackland Prairie is just a sliver in northeast Travis County,
but the economic impact is enormous.
Major crops are cotton, sorghum, small grain, corn,
and hay. It is important
to recognize agribusiness as vital to the continued efficiency
and economic growth in Travis County. The value generated from producing, processing and marketing food
and fiber continues to play a dramatic role in the economic
viability of Travis County.
Information provided by the Texas Agricultural Extension
Service indicates that agribusiness represents a $4.26 billion
impact on Travis County.
The annual value of agricultural commodities and the
annual payroll of agribusiness firms reached $55.6 million
and $652.8 million, respectively. Some 15% of working individuals in Travis County
are involved in agribusiness.
And 11% of all business establishments in Travis County
are agribusiness related.
Urban
residents not involved in production agriculture may not grasp
the impact of agribusiness on their daily lives nor see agribusiness
as the diverse and growing field that it is.
The public benefits from the value of small farms through
diversity of land ownership, environmental benefits through
management of the natural resources (soil, water, wildlife),
and through economic opportunity. The public also benefits from farming and ranching by impact on
increased social capital, self-empowerment and community responsibility,
nurturing places for families, and vehicles such as farmers’
markets and direct marketing strategies.
And
from a government impact perspective, agricultural lands and
open space generate three times more in revenues for the county
than they require in public service costs.
We as citizens of Travis County, the State of Texas,
and the United States of America look to our elected and appointed
officials to lead us as well as support us in our efforts
to save the Blacklands of northeast Travis County. This includes firm support through enforcement of all current laws,
rules, ordinances, regulations, and help with development
of further protection we need through any new or changed laws,
rules, ordinances and regulations to protect us.
Despite
encroaching suburban sprawl, undesirable waste management
sites, and difficult economic times, the northeast
Travis County Blackland farmers and ranchers are
committed to the family farms and ranches.
The community is determined to shepherd any future
development of our area, not to let outside entities decide
our fate.
We have been successful in nearly all
our endeavors and are currently working on several projects. We are not
against growth per se, but we do insist on good growth. We serve on the “Siting Ordinances Committee”
with the Travis County Commissioners Court. These ordinances, if passed and enforced, should
help control waste materials facilities in Travis County.
The
following list is a snapshot of the undesirable developments
in northeast Travis County and surrounding areas.
Contact information is provided within each specific
area so readers may request additional information. PLEASE
REMEMBER: we want ALL of these actions either reversed or
stopped in their tracks.
BFI Three State Regional Office, Trucking Facility,
and Possible Future Landfill.
Together with the Rose Hill neighborhood and the Park Springs
Neighborhood Association (PSNA), we confronted BFI about property
they purchased on Bois D’Arc. BFI wrote a letter stating they would NOT locate
their trucking facility, recycling center or landfill there. Only a short time later, we discover that BFI has leased land from BIFFIE, LLC on Old Kimbro Road and plan to develop
operations to move a
three State Regional Office & trucking facility with cleanup
operations and plans to keep empty storage containers, such
as port-o-cans. – Contact BPCCA for more details.
Development
of a Sludge Farm/compost operation in the Lund community, on Skog Road. The registration application for Mr. Juby is
still with the Executive Director at TNRCC for review. We
have caused this to be delayed, however we are still actively
at work. Contact BPCCA for more details.
Used trailer park subdivision – called the “Parke of
Hawk Hollow” between Johnson Road and Tower Road off FM973. The developers propose to move in and rent
860 used mobile homes. We
are watching this. We
have stopped progress on this development now; however, we
must persevere to ensure no substandard development is put
in place. – Contact
BPCCA or the Rose Hill neighborhood.
Colonia style trailer park at Manda/Carlson. The Joseph
development was approved as “flag lots” the day before the
law became effective that would have protected us from the
colonia style living. The buyers of these parcels have to purchase
their own water meters, septic tanks, electricity, driveways
and such. – Contact BPCCA for more details.
And we also share the following concerns of our neighbors surrounding the northeast Travis
County Blackland area. They
too are fighting for to improve and preserve their surroundings. GUARD,
an association at the Bastrop/Travis County Line at FM
969, has been successful in stopping undesirable developments
in their respective rural area.
- Auto salvage yard on
Blake-Manor Road. The Park Springs Neighborhood Association
(PSNA) was born in 1998 when an Austin developer bought
a 199 acre tract of land in an increasingly residential
area and planned to create a high density mobile home subdivision. He proposed septic tanks on one (1) acre lots on a very steep
grade. The association invited the developer to meet the
neighborhood’s objections to the proposed development.
Subsequently, he advised PSNA he was changing the
proposal from manufactured housing to site built homes costing
$120,000 and up. PSNA is another neighborhood association
in eastern Travis County, to monitor growth and to discourage
substandard developments.
The association also supports installation of fire
hydrants, improvement of emergency services, upgrading county
roadways, and the use of neighborhood watch program to fight
crime. The association
is also urging the Manor Volunteer Fire Department to build
a new fire station on Hogeye Road. Park Springs is bounded
by US Highway 290 on the north, FM973 on the West, FM969
on the south, and the Travis County Line on the east.
Contacts for the association include: President James
Brazell at 475-1179; vice president David McCumber at 278-1708;
secretary Sunny Williams at 272-8737; and Mecca Kirkman
at 272-5338.
- Alcoa strip mining expansion in Bastrop and Lee
Counties – contact Neighbors for Neighbors, Billie Woods
at 281-3420 or Michelle Gangiss at 281-5352.
- Last but not least,
the landfills between Highway 290 and
Blue Goose Road. There
are several neighborhood associations that have joined to
fight the landfills. You
may contact the Northeast Action Group by email at NAG290@aol.com. The stench that permeates the area is
making residents ill, and even local businesses are being
impacted. Even though the area along Highway 290
is sometimes clear of “blowing trash”, much of it picked
up by Texas Department of Public Safety employees, it only
takes a short drive down Blue Goose Road to see the poor
maintenance of the area. There may be potential environmental impact
to the flood plain in the area and industrial waste is buried
under 10 acres in the center of one of the landfills. This horrible blight on northeast Travis County must be stopped
and areas residents must be protected by our elected officials. We do not want other areas of northeast
Travis County to face the same crisis day-to-day, and we
support the efforts to see that the disasters at these landfills
are stopped and corrected.
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All landfills do not have to be a menace to society. Anyone can visit the Texas Disposal
Systems Landfill near Creedmoor for proof. This landfill was highlighted recently (Winter 2002) in the
Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission
quarterly magazine as an exemplary operation
facility. After
visiting the facility, we agree with that assessment.
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