Bastrop City Council OKs police roof repairs, cemetery expansion

Keaton Peters
·3 min read
The Bastrop City Council voted to pay to have the roof repaired at the police station and to expand Fairview Cemetery.
The Bastrop City Council voted to pay to have the roof repaired at the police station and to expand Fairview Cemetery.

The Bastrop City Council on Tuesday approved several resolutions funding improvements to the roof of the Bastrop police station, expansion of the Fairview Cemetery and moving forward on the development of a new subdivision. Each of the votes was unanimous.

The council will allocate $121,657 to repair the roof of the police station and municipal courthouse at 104 Grady Tuck Lane. The contract will go to Horizon Roofing Specialists to install duro-last roofing, a series of protective layers in the seams and on top of the existing roof.

The building’s flat metal roof design frequently leaks and was installed more than 23 years ago, according to Curtis Hancock, director of public works.

“We’ll have a leak. We’ll repair one," Hancock said. "Guess what? Next rain there’s another somewhere else, and we’re just chasing it. It’s just problem after problem.”

The council also approved up to $112,299 for improvements to the Fairview Cemetery. Artiss Powell, the project manager, said the cemetery wants to develop more than 2 acres on the southeast end of the cemetery to offer more space for burials.

“Plot inventory is getting low,” Powell said.

The project is expected to add approximately 11,000 more plots for individual burials. The cemetery will work with Luck Design Team LLC and the project is expected to be complete in a year and a half.

A new subdivision planned off of Mesquite Street also came before the council, which approved a plan for the developer to do construction on streets, sidewalks, drainage and water infrastructure. The plan for the River Terrace subdivision must still be approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission at its meeting. The proposal will cost the developer, Culzean Enterprises LLC, about $ 1.5 million in construction and generate more than $52,000 in revenue for the city through permit fees.

If the project is approved by the commission and receives any subsequent permits necessary to complete construction, the subdivision will eventually be 11 acres and have about 62 lots, according to Assistant City Manager Trey Job.

Additionally, the council gave final approval to measures discussed at the previous meeting, including a contract for a natural gas service provider and the approval of Planned Development Districts, or PDDs. The PDDs will allow developers to work with city staff to have increased flexibility with city planning and zoning codes that often slow down construction, particularly for commercial development projects.

The council also heard presentations from nonprofits seeking funding through the city’s 2024 Community Support Funding grants. Each organization that applied for the grants had the opportunity to pitch itself in front of the council. No decisions were made, and final approval of the funding allocation is not expected until September.

In a closed-door executive session, the council decided to approve the sale of a 25-acre tract of land owned by the city. Visara Holdings LLC is interested in purchasing the property, according to the resolution. The company is registered to the Lanzola Corporation, an Austin-based company that builds affordable housing developments, but the resolution does not specify any purpose for the sale.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Bastrop City Council OKs police roof repairs, cemetery expansion