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The Eagle Lake city council are hoping to put an end to hotrod racing and tire spinning with the amending of an ordinance that would see an up to $500 penalty handed out among other consequences.
The ordinance amending comes after complaints of mainly adolescents “spinning tires” and racing hot-rods on Main St. in Downtown Eagle Lake.
State law was previously much clearer on the issue but according to City Manager Charles Jackson, the law has been amended so much that the city had to clarify the language in their own ordinance to address it.
“It’s illegal,” said Jackson. “Spinning tires was in a couple places in the statute, but what they did to state law was take out and change certain elements. There was only one spot where it clarified that you have to be spinning tires with two cars in order for it to be a violation. I don’t think anyone in Austin figured that out, so what most cities are doing is going in and putting this “digging out, filling out” statute that makes it simpler to address.”
Before the clarification and amendment of the ordinance, Jackson says law enforcement were unable to act on the racing and spinning conducted by drivers due to the lack of clarity within the statute, but with the recent ordinance changes, the police department now have a way to address the “dangerous driving behavior.”
The city are also in the midst of conducting a water rate study following discussions of potentially establishing a Senior Citizens Water Discount Program.
Despite the item being tabled, discussions were held regarding the potential of implementing such a program, but would have to be put aside until the city conducts a water rate study, which hasn’t been done in “well over a decade.” The city was able to acquire a grant that would allow the water rate study to be done for free, normally costing between $15,000 and $20,000. Jackson says the water rate study is vital and would have to be conducted before any official conversation is held regarding changing water rates, which hasn’t been done “in years.”
“Before they look at any discounts or changes to anything, we want to see that water rate study,” said Jackson. “A water rate study looks at your total, for your utility system and cost, looks at upgrades and infrastructure, and based on the state of the water supply system and number of accounts, based on everything, ‘this is how much we should be charging per month’ for water and sewer. As a city you don’t have to jump right into those rates, but you have to have that rate study in place if you have a major issue of some kind, and you have to go and make a huge repair that could cost a million bucks, which most cities don’t have in reserve to do.”
The city would acquire the money to do so, if need be, through a loan or grant loan provided by the State Water Trust Board. To be eligible for the loan, a current water rate study is needed on file, which is why the city is getting the new water rate study conducted.
Discussions were also held regarding the Nature Trail at Veterans Memorial Park, regarding a name change and work to be done on the trail via the $300,000 grant awarded to the city by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Despite the work having not started due to the impending release on an environmental study on the trail, the city has worked on cleaning up the trail and revitalizing it as a means of attracting tourism in a different form, highlighting the trail as a marquee attraction for bird enthusiasts looking to catch the over 400 species of bird that reside there.
“It looks completely different than it did before,” said Jackson. “It looks really nice. The crew did a great job of cleaning everything up and fixing it. I think we took 13 or 14 truckloads of dead trees and stuff down there from 80 years ago. We put a new sign up for the trail and have plans on promoting the trail in the May issue of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine with an ad, but then there is going to be an ad every month in the magazine for the trail.”
Jackson says the trail has been called various names over the year, and the main action taken during the item discussion was the official naming of the trail, which now sees the trail go by the name, “The Eagle Lake Nature Birding Trail.”
The next Eagle Lake city council meeting will take place on Tuesday, May 13.
