----- Original Message -----
From: Rick Lust
To: <Mayor@flower-mound.com>; <place1@flower-mound.com>;
<place2@flower-mound.com>; <place3@flower-mound.com>;
<place4@flower-mound.com>; <place5@flower-mound.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 10, 2006 4:20 PM
Subject: Sewer and the Master Plan
Dear Mayor and Members of the council,
I just read about the master plan steering committee and how they wandered off their charge of the original four tasks assigned to them. What I see here is the opening of Pandora's Box especially regarding the sewer issue. Having been involved at some level on every master plan the town has had since 1980 I feel I might offer a little background as to where we are today regarding sewer in the central portion of town. ( Wellington west to 377)
As you know, the goals of the master plan were derived from the democratic open meeting process. Once the goals were established the challenge was to design a plan that would effect those goals.
Given the reality that our southern border is lakefront, traffic circulation was a big concern. The fundamentals of every plan revolved around keeping the more dense areas around the primary arterioles ( i.e. 2499, Flower Mound Rd., and to some degree 1171.) To make this happen, higher densities were only called for in the areas that naturally drained to our septic plant. That is the area referred to as east of the ridgeline that runs diagonally through the town.
West of the ridgeline was to be low density as running sewer over the ridgeline required a large array of lift stations (that were costly and dangerous) and would bring in density that could not be accommodated by the road circulation system. Originally most folks thought 1 acre min. would do it. I n reality perk ability dictated 2 acre min. You will notice the low density areas of the master plan now correspond to the low perking land masses. This not only reduced density but preserved more trees, creek ways, vistas, etc. that citizens asked for.
To put it simply, sewer and lack of sewer are the underlying foundation of our master plan. Denying sewer west of the ridge line is the only real way to check the growth of density. There simply is no other realistic way. Keeping down the density pays dividends to the town by reducing traffic generation, reducing impact on our schools, and reducing demands (costs) on town services. At the same time, it generates significant tax revenues to the town from high value dwellings. By the way, estate housing was instrumental in keeping our bond rating higher than it would have been
in the mid to late-80's when most of Texas was "red lined" by financial institutions.
The Master Plan, to be a VIABLE plan for the future, should only be "tweaked" occasionally not redesigned.
In summary, the issue of sewering the entire town has been vetted in the democratic process many times before. Almost all of people raising this issue have a financial vested interest and "smelled blood" when the steering
committee got off task. The consultants who created the final plan WRT ( also did our 1980 plan) agreed on the sewer, and lack of sewer, as a foundation to our plan to bring about the articulated goals of the plan.
We don't need to spend additional time and money on "reinventing the wheel". The Master Plan is a good one. The steering committee needs to be steered back on course.
If I can be of any help, don't hesitate to contact me. Thanks for your time and efforts on the Town's behalf.
Respectfully,
Rick Lust, Mayor 1988-1990