AUSTIN - Landowners in the Hamilton Pool Road area plan to develop their property and have requested water service from LCRA through its West Travis County Regional Water Treatment System. The proposal, which would provide surface water and water-quality protections to an area where they do not now exist, has drawn considerable response from area residents, both for and against it.

As part of a public input process, LCRA's Board of Directors has set aside two hours at its meeting on April 21, beginning at 1 p.m., to hear from LCRA staff and the public on the issue. The meeting will be held at LCRA's headquarters, 3700 Lake Austin Blvd., in the Hancock Building.

The meeting will include these ground rules:

• Each person will get up to three minutes to speak.
• Speakers should try not to repeat information provided by previous speakers.
• Speakers will not be able to yield time to another person.

In addition, the Board has directed staff to hold a public meeting in western Travis County to solicit additional public comments, which will be presented to the Board later.

The Board anticipates taking action on the water-service proposal at its May 19 meeting, which will be held at LCRA's Canyon of the Eagles Nature Park in Burnet County. That meeting will be open to the public, but the Board will not take public testimony on this issue at that meeting.

LCRA staff has been discussing the proposal with Hamilton Pool Road landowners and environmental representatives for more than a year. Discussions with several landowners have intensified during the past two months. The landowners have agreed to develop in accordance with water quality protection measures prepared by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect endangered species in the area. The land is in western Travis County outside any city's extraterritorial jurisdiction and therefore is subject to little development regulation.

For more information contact LCRA at hamiltonpool@lcra.org or (512) 473-3200, Ext. 2386.

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