[0:00] to order. Determine there's a quorum
present. We have Commissioner Sanchez,
[0:03] Commissioner Vasquez, Commissioner
Fagan. We do have a quorum. Uh I'll
[0:08] approval of previous minutes.
>> Make a motion to approve this.
[0:11] » A motion. Commissioner Vasquez.
>> Second.
[0:13] » Second. Commissioner Sanchez. Uh all
those in favor.
[0:18] » I. Anybody against? 30 votes. Uh we're
going to swear in Mr. Franklin Harrow.
[0:25] Mr. Argo,
>> if you want to stand up
[0:29] and I'll go through this with you.
Please look at me.
[0:45] » Raise your right hand.
I
[0:48] » I
>> Franklin Hargo.
[0:50] » Franklin Harrow. Do solemnly swear or
affirm
[0:52] » Do solemnly swear or affirm
>> that I will faithfully execute the
[0:56] duties
>> that I will faithfully execute the
[0:58] duties
>> of the office of
[1:00] » the office of
>> land use land use
[1:03] » and zone commissioner
>> and zone commissioner
[1:05] » for county
>> for county
[1:07] » state of Texas
>> state of Texas
[1:10] » and that I have not
>> and that I have not
[1:12] » directly
>> directly
[1:14] » or indirectly paid
>> or indirectly paid
[1:16] » offered
>> offered
[1:18] » promised to pay contributed
>> contributed
[1:21] » or promised to contribute
>> or promised to contribute
[1:24] » any money
>> any money
[1:26] » or thing of value
>> or thing of value
[1:28] » promised any public office
>> promised any public office
[1:32] » or employment
>> or employment
[1:33] » as a reward
>> as a reward
[1:35] » to secure my appointment
>> to secure my appointment
[1:38] » or confirmation
>> or confirmation
[1:40] » so help me God
>> so help me God
[1:42] » congratulations thank Here we [snorts]
go. [applause]
[1:53] That's a lot to swear to
that you will sign right there.
[2:00] Nice bot.
And we will get you copies of this as
[2:05] soon as the meeting is over.
[2:11] By the way, that's an I owe you for
$50,000 that [laughter] you owe the
[2:15] county.
>> They didn't read the bottom line.
[2:18] [laughter]
>> I wasn't allowed to read.
[2:22] » Okay. [snorts]
[2:27] » Okay. Uh we're going to draw for spots
uh on the
[2:35] on the board. We have term limits. So,
we're going to drop for what right now
[2:39] and who's going to be here for 2 years,
4 years, whatever. You want to come on
[2:42] up.
[2:48] Everybody, the number that's in here is
the precinct. How'd you do
[2:53] » here? 1 2 3.
>> Okay. So, every commissioner, every
[2:56] member of the court uh appoints somebody
uh a voting somebody, a voting person.
[3:04] So, she's going to draw from here.
Depending on the number, uh, it'll it'll
[3:08] go back to that individual who's here
today. And then we'll figure out the
[3:12] number. You good? There you go. The
first one is for how many years?
[3:20] » Four.
>> Okay.
[3:23] » What?
>> What number? Number four.
[3:25] » Uhhuh.
>> Who was appointed by number four?
[3:29] » Um, okay. We're doing we're doing the
years.
[3:32] » The years. So, are we going by precinct
1 2 3 and four?
[3:35] » That's the way you want to do it.
>> So, precinct one um appointed
[3:41] Franklin Heartrove
Warriors.
[3:45] [laughter]
[3:50] » Precinct two appointed
one year.
[3:55] » Okay. Congratulations.
Precinct three appointed Michelle Ban
[4:04] two years.
>> Okay. And last
[4:09] » um reasoning for appointed
um commissioner of three years.
[4:16] » Okay. At work
and in doing this when your years up the
[4:22] commissioner also has an opportunity to
reappoint. Okay. So,
[4:28] all right.
We [snorts] have some time. Uh, I don't
[4:33] want to get into the items until we get
into the public hearing. So, if y'all
[4:38] don't mind, I'm going to recess right
now because we've got about 10 minutes,
[4:40] 11 minutes. So, I'm going to go ahead
and recess right now. And at uh 9:15,
[4:45] we'll open up the public hearing because
I do not want to go into the items until
[4:49] we have the public hearing first. Uh, I
don't want to have discussion on it
[4:52] until we hear from y'all. Okay. So,
>> do we need to sign up for public comment
[4:57] or
>> No.
[4:58] » No. Because it's a public hearing.
>> All right. I'll entertain a motion to
[5:02] recess.
>> Motion to recess. Judge.
[5:04] » Commissioner Vasquez.
>> Second. Second. Commissioner Sanchez.
[5:07] All those in favor?
>> I. Anybody against? Motion carries. 4 Z.
[5:11] If y'all will just give us about 11
minutes because our public hearing was
[5:14] scheduled for 9:15. So, I want to give
people an opportunity to show up. Uh,
[5:18] there is some waters back here. If y'all
want a water, it's probably going to be
[5:22] an awkward silence, but y'all can go
ahead and visit, talk, whatever. Uh, for
[5:26] about 11 minutes. All right.
[5:37] [laughter]
[5:43] » All right.
[5:49] We do have a form from the previous uh
session that we recessed at. I'm trying
[5:55] to kill time.
[5:58] All right, it's 9:15. We're going to
open up a public hearing of Llama Land
[6:04] Use and Zone Commission.
Uh the purpose of this hearing is to
[6:08] allow the public to comment either for
or against zoning request to reszone the
[6:13] following addresses below from
residential to commercial for the use of
[6:17] a battery storage facility. We have one
that is at 645 Lasas. We have another
[6:24] 6,770
Lasas.
[6:28] Uh another one that is uh 5,900
5,982
[6:34] US highway 90 waist west at Lake Ridge
and another one is 229 holdup pass.
[6:41] [clears throat] We can um
save a little bit of time.
[6:47] If you want to speak on one or speak on
all of them, you just come up and talk.
[6:50] Okay? So anybody that wants you're going
to have to be real careful.
[6:54] » Okay?
>> You were a quorum.
[6:55] » Okay?
>> I would rather you didn't. Okay.
[6:58] » Yeah. Uh
for the record, uh
[7:04] Commissioner Garcia, and I referred to
him as commissioner. He's a county
[7:07] commissioner for precinct 3. Uh and he
was fixing to to make a statement. As of
[7:15] right now, uh I am the county judge for
county and we have another commissioner,
[7:19] Commissioner Vosquez, which is uh
precinct 2. We are a quorum right now
[7:26] and we can be but we can't have a
conversation amongst ourselves three of
[7:31] us and definitely cannot conduct any
business. So that is the reason that
[7:36] I've asked Mr. Garcia not to not to
speak. I do believe though that his
[7:40] comments would be that he's uh probably
against all four sites to the three that
[7:46] would be reszoned but all four sites for
battery storage facility. But I'd rather
[7:50] that we don't get in an issue with a
quorum being here and we've actually
[7:56] made a decision. Uh which would be
worse. Okay. So, anybody else? Sorry.
[8:02] » If [clears throat] anybody else would
like to come speak, please uh stand up,
[8:06] state your name and um your comments.
>> Good morning. Uh my name is John Grace.
[8:13] I live on um Holdup Pass and Lasus. So
this this is uh going to affect uh
[8:19] myself and [clears throat] um my
residents. I'm against all four of them
[8:23] basically. Um
the uh first reason is because of the
[8:28] hazard that they um can produce if
there's a fire. Um if one of these
[8:34] things decides to uh catch on fire,
there's going to be toxic smoke in a
[8:38] residential area. the um there's going
to be groundwater contamination when
[8:43] they try to put this fire out because um
the runoff is going to have be full of
[8:48] uh heavy metals and things like that.
it's going to get into the groundwater
[8:52] there where a lot of us we have wells in
our um on our land and um the if we get
[9:00] heavy metals in our well then we're I
mean we got to move you know there
[9:05] there's no uh there's uh going to be
very difficult to to uh live on that
[9:10] property
and the other thing about fires is that
[9:14] [clears throat] they're very hard to
extinguish with these um battery storage
[9:17] units because they don't my
understanding thing is they don't really
[9:20] need oxygen to burn. They somehow
provide their own oxygen. So it is um a
[9:26] bear to put these put out these fires.
And um also I just wanted to
[9:32] [clears throat] mention that since we
are fighting this whole second bridge
[9:35] debacle, we are very or at least I am
very hyper sensitive about any uh
[9:41] section of residentially zone property
being changed to commercial because um
[9:49] like I say, we still don't we still
don't know where this uh connector route
[9:52] to this bridge is going. If it's going
down Loses or not, we don't know. So, um
[9:57] I'm just uh uh against uh all of them,
even the one um that's going to be that
[10:04] they want to build on Highway 90 because
it is uh currently a commercial zone,
[10:09] but is just too close to other
residential areas for uh such a
[10:14] hazardous uh project. And that's it.
>> Thank you, sir. Thank anybody else.
[10:23] And we got time, folks. So,
>> hi guys.
[10:29] My name is Ramul Ranel. I own a
residential property neighboring one of
[10:32] these uh uh properties on Lisa's
Boulevard. I'm opposed to reszoning
[10:39] uh for the residential to from
residential to commercial for battery
[10:43] storage. I person I purchased my
property not too long ago like two three
[10:47] months ago. uh with thinking of more
private privacy uh about acreage uh came
[10:53] from Buav Vista
and uh the application they're asking
[10:58] for isn't asking for permission to
improve like an existing uh an existing
[11:04] uh commercial lot already. Uh they're
asking to change the residential to
[11:09] commercial. Right.
[11:16] So
before approving this, I would like to
[11:20] the commission to explain at least uh
what protection exists for adjacent
[11:24] homeowners. Um mine would be exactly
like right next to it. Um what the
[11:29] property lines would look like, stuff
like that. Maybe the plans uh uh uh for
[11:35] the fires uh any plans for fires uh for
the water like uh he said as well. their
[11:42] emergency evacuation. Um, I have a
3-year-old and a one-year-old. Uh, I
[11:47] really don't want anything like that to
happen, right? Or to leave my comfort of
[11:51] my home.
Uh, I looked at the one behind the jail.
[11:57] Uh, it makes some noise. So, I the noise
at least right at night. I do work
[12:03] midnight sometimes and uh during the day
or something. It doesn't matter, right?
[12:08] uh just anything that would be making
noise for people around residents,
[12:13] right? [clears throat]
Um
[12:18] the effects it could have also on our
property values. I don't know if
[12:21] anybody's done like a a study if it
would or would it, but if it were to
[12:26] happen, uh uh the people that are
actually trying to put this u in place,
[12:31] would they guarantee anything uh that it
wouldn't? And if and if they can
[12:35] guarantee it, uh would they put that uh
maybe let's say it drops a certain
[12:40] amount of money, would they be willing
to give me that or they want me to take
[12:44] the burden for the financial loss as
well? Um
[12:48] even after all the stuff that could
happen, right? Cuz hopefully it doesn't
[12:52] happen. Um let's say they they do go
through with it. Uh nobody's hoping for
[12:57] a fire hazard, but let's say it does,
right? Um nobody's ever ready for it.
[13:02] And and if we are, I would like to know
at least what what what plans we have.
[13:10] If the application maintains that this
project would negatively affect
[13:14] neighboring property values, will the
applicant provide adjacent homeowners
[13:18] with a property value gu guarantee like
I said? And if not, uh like I said
[13:24] again, uh why would the residents have
to bear the financial risk created by
[13:28] commercial reszoning that we did not
request?
[13:32] » [snorts]
>> and uh I'm against it. So that's it.
[13:36] » Thank you.
>> Anybody else?
[13:42] » Morning. My name is Chris Vandicar. I
live in Holdup Pass. Uh I'm against the
[13:48] zoning, not so much the battery thing.
That's I'm just against zoning the
[13:52] residential area for commercial. I've
been blessed with the opportunities over
[13:57] my life to travel around the world. been
a lot of places where they don't have
[14:01] any laws. They're not any places you
want to live. You know, we want to raise
[14:05] a family there. We want to live there.
I've moved out there for peace and
[14:09] quiet. And we start just doing
willy-nilly resilient stuff. Next thing
[14:13] you know, you got you got a Smith plant
next to an elementary school. You got a
[14:18] dump next to a church. These are not the
things why we have zoning laws. So, I I
[14:23] just there's plenty of places in this
county for commercial operations. 30
[14:27] zone commercial. We don't need to be
going into people's neighborhoods and
[14:31] going, "Oh, we're going to put
[clears throat] this here, put this
[14:34] there."
Not against development. People that own
[14:38] those property have a right to develop
their property, but in the residential
[14:41] zoning area under those rules.
So, I'm against that. Thank you.
[14:47] » Thank you.
Come on up. You already started moving.
[14:53] [clears throat]
[14:58] Hello, my name is Orlando. I live on
6644 Lresas. Uh my property's uh also
[15:03] adjacent to one of these uh properties
going in place. Uh and I'm here to
[15:07] oppose all four. Um
uh a little bit about my background. You
[15:13] may or may not care. I'm an industrial
engineer by trade. Uh work in everything
[15:17] from renewable energy, solar projects,
wind to oil and gas. Uh, I could go into
[15:22] heavy details about the environmental
aspects of this, but I'm not going to
[15:25] bore you with a bunch of, you know, uh,
nerd talk about environmental. I think
[15:29] you guys, everybody kind of well aware
of the environmental hazards, but I will
[15:34] talk to you about something you guys are
probably even more familiar, which is
[15:37] business. You guys are all here
obviously because you guys are I think
[15:40] it's fair to assume that you guys are
all pretty good at business, right? Or
[15:44] very well knowledgeable. So, I'll put
I'll take that approach, right? Um, so
[15:51] as uh my uh neighbor here put it, you
know, it's going to there's no guarantee
[15:56] that that our uh nobody's going to
guarantee us our property values, right?
[16:02] So
I want everybody to just [snorts]
[16:07] think critically, right? The average
home price in Las Vistas is is about
[16:12] $380,000 on the very very cheap side to
well over half a million dollars. Right.
[16:19] Every year I have to go to the uh uh
>> appraisal
[16:24] » appraisal district because they keep
raising my values, my property values,
[16:28] right? Uh, I've actually had a
commissioner, not one of you guys, but
[16:32] one of the previous ones tell me at one
of those uh appraisal hearings that, you
[16:36] know, because obviously I contested it.
They're like, "Hey, if you can't afford
[16:39] to live here, then you need to move out,
right?" So, one one of you guys, not you
[16:44] specifically, not one of you five, but
somebody passed that was in one of
[16:48] those.
[snorts] Um, so you can't have it both
[16:52] ways. You can't tell me that. You can't
keep raising my values every year and
[16:56] then not back me up when my values could
potentially go down. Now, why do I bring
[17:01] up the the home price? Like I said,
Lakeage is probably the priciest
[17:05] neighborhood in Valbury County or Del
Rio, right? You guys love talking the
[17:10] out of us. Pardon my French.
>> Um,
[17:14] we appreciate what you pay.
>> Yeah, I'm sure you do. I'm [laughter]
[17:17] sure you do. Everybody Everybody gets a
lot of stuff fixed.
[17:22] But uh the point I'm trying to make is
uh when you have a half a million dollar
[17:26] home as I do, right? And I'm not trying
to freaking brag. I work my ass off to
[17:31] get to that point, right? I come from
nothing. Uh you might know my family,
[17:34] judge. My my mother lived right across
from your father on Galberry Park State,
[17:38] right? I come from very humble
beginnings. I worked my ass off to get
[17:42] to where I am.
>> [snorts]
[17:44] » Um, and where I'm going with this is
if you let this happen,
[17:51] when I try to sell my house at some
point in the future, cuz let's be
[17:54] honest, most of our kids are not going
to stay and live here. Our kids are
[17:57] going to go on to college. They're going
to move out. We're going to die. Our
[18:00] house is there is like generational
wealth, especially for those of us that
[18:03] come from households that didn't have a
lot of income, right? So, that's how you
[18:06] build generational wealth. Whenever we
try to sell that and you have a half a
[18:10] million dollar home at that point by
that's time they try to sell it will be
[18:13] worth more potentially and you have
people in the market looking for a half
[18:17] a million million dollar home and they
have choices right you as you as a
[18:22] business people you have a choice.
You're going to spend half a million
[18:24] dollars on a house. Are you going to
pick a house next to a monstrosity of of
[18:29] battery storage or are you going to pick
somewhere that's nice you don't have to
[18:33] worry about the environmental hazards
and you don't have to worry about, you
[18:37] know, the eyesore that's going to be
next to you? Where would you choose to
[18:41] spend your hardearned money? Definitely
not my house, right? So, this is allowed
[18:47] to happen. Our houses that are in that
vicinity will never sell. Not
[18:51] residential, right? That's pretty fair.
Um, you could try to bank on the
[18:58] commercial aspect. You don't know if
somebody else is going to offer you know
[19:01] commercial business going to offer you.
Are they going to want to pay a million
[19:03] dollar half a million million dollars
for a property that they're just going
[19:05] to demolish to build a business? Chances
are no, right? That's I just ask
[19:11] everybody to think critically. Now, if
furthermore, if you allow this to
[19:15] happen, you set a precedent.
This meeting is kind of uh like it's
[19:21] kind of messed up for me because I have
friends and family here that also live
[19:24] on
Lake Bridge. Some of them who are for
[19:28] it, right? Because they want to build
businesses, right? And I I feel for
[19:33] them. I honestly do. My heart goes out
to them because I think everybody
[19:37] everybody in this world is their goal is
to better yourselves, right? And better
[19:43] your family. However,
I can't I have to do what's best for me
[19:47] and my family. And although I feel for
them, their interest is not in my best
[19:51] interest. Right? I think there's also
has to be accountability. Each and every
[19:56] one of us when we purchase a land out of
Lakeidge, we got a a list of the deed
[20:00] restrictions. In our deed restrictions,
it says you cannot commercialize. You
[20:04] cannot subdivide your property. So, what
is the point of a deed restriction?
[20:08] buying property in a deep restricted
area. Basically, it's like the poor
[20:12] man's HOA
where those are not going to be
[20:16] enforced,
right? So, are we going to set here
[20:21] where we're not going to enforce these
restrictions and then everybody can do
[20:23] whatever the hell they want? So, if I
want to put a junkyard, I can do it,
[20:27] right? If I want to do it, I love You
know what? I'm a gun enthusiast. I have
[20:30] probably more guns than most people in
this room. Hey, I don't mean that in a
[20:35] in a threatening way. I just mean like
it's my hobby, right? I love, you know,
[20:39] I'm a poor Marine. Uh, it's a hobby. I
love shooting guns. I'd love to be able
[20:44] to just go in my backyard and shoot my
gun. I would love that, right? But
[20:49] there's restrictions against that,
right? I have to be a law-abiding
[20:52] assistant, a law-abiding neighbor. I
don't want to put anybody at risk,
[20:56] right? I'd love to just go out my
backyard and shoot deer and and and
[21:00] [clears throat]
flink stuff all day long. That's not
[21:03] possible, right? Cuz I have to follow
the rules. So should everybody else.
[21:08] Everybody got a copy of the fee
restrictions. You should you should hold
[21:11] yourself accountable for not reading
those and you weren't informed or you
[21:14] didn't think you could make a business,
right? And if now you want to change it,
[21:18] then hey, that's that's not what this
neighborhood's about. We want to keep it
[21:23] uh familyfriendly, we want to keep it
quiet,
[21:26] the reason a lot of us left there is we
wanted to escape the city, right? We
[21:30] wanted peace and quiet. We wanted a
little bit more of nature. So now you're
[21:35] going to put all these you know,
monstrosity business out there and not
[21:39] to mention the fact that like my
neighbors already brought up. Uh there's
[21:44] always that scare about the the whether
the bridge is going to happen, right? On
[21:48] a personal level, I think the bridge is
good. I mean, that's another another
[21:52] subject. I'm not against the bridge
project. I just don't want it going
[21:55] through my neighborhood, right? I think
it's it's good economically, but none of
[21:59] us want money going through our
neighborhood, right?
[22:03] Uh, [snorts]
so anyways, uh, I could go on and on and
[22:10] tell you so many more things, like I
said, but I'm not going to sit here and
[22:13] and bore y'all. I think it's pretty
pretty obvious that most of us are
[22:17] against it. And and my heart goes out to
you guys that want to build businesses
[22:20] out there, but you should hold you
should hold yourself accountable for any
[22:23] of the restrictions, right? And if and
if I lose friends and family along the
[22:27] way, then so be it. the I have to do
what's in the best interest of my kids,
[22:32] my family, just like they're trying to
do what's in the best interest of
[22:34] theirs. That's that's all I got to say.
>> So, you're against it?
[22:37] » I am definitely against it.
>> Anybody else?
[22:48] » I want to make a comment. I sure hope
that this does not divide people or
[22:51] families to where I mean, it's all it's
just opinions.
[22:55] » Yeah, just opinions. All right. Good
morning, all one and all. Thank you.
[22:58] uh LVES I live on Pike Road which is not
too far away from one of these
[23:02] locations. I am categorically against
all four projects. Uh main reason of
[23:09] course has been brought up safety and
everything else. At this point
[23:12] [clears throat] I know the capabilities
of the county fire department and the
[23:15] city fire department. They are not
capable of handling any kind of fire at
[23:19] any location. I'll give you an example
right now. 2024 May Ot Mesa California.
[23:27] A smaller one and I believe this one
over here is set for 400 megawatts. A
[23:31] smaller 250 megawatt fire in O Mesa,
California battery storage facility
[23:37] consumed an estimated 8 million gallons
of water and took 16 days to completely
[23:42] burn out. The county and city do not
have the resources and manpower to fight
[23:48] that kind of fire at all. Even with help
from Kenny County or the base, it's not
[23:54] going to happen. If the county thinks
that they have 8 million gallons of
[23:58] water as an estimate to spare, please
show me the plans on how something can
[24:02] be fought as far as a disaster. There's
nothing here that the county can do
[24:08] should something go up in flames. These
are man-made objects. Man-made objects
[24:12] will fail, okay? They are not perfect.
Now, we're not hoping for a fire, but
[24:18] should something really bad happen,
disastrous fire, that's it. County fire
[24:23] resources will be stretched to the
limit. And also, your other fires that
[24:27] may happen, other emergencies that could
happen, they'll be put on hold. It took
[24:32] 16 days for fire crews to put out or
wait for this one to burn out or burn
[24:36] out completely in Mesa, California. The
county or city don't doesn't have those
[24:41] kind of resources. So, I am against all
four projects. Thank you.
[24:46] Thank you. Anybody else?
[24:52] [clears throat]
[24:57] » Uh good morning. My name is Abraham
Kadinas. I also live at Lakeidge. Uh I'm
[25:02] against the the reszoning of these
properties to be commercialized. Uh
[25:06] mainly because of that reason. It's it's
a residential area. Um and we've all
[25:10] agreed before we purchased these
properties that we weren't going to
[25:13] commercialize them. for residential use.
So, that's that's uh pretty much where I
[25:18] draw the line. Uh as far as the safety
aspects, those are all important as
[25:22] well. I'm not against uh battery
storagees, just not in my neighborhood.
[25:26] Uh and Mr. Grace said, they are
dangerous fires. Uh they fall under
[25:30] class D. I was in the Navy and we we
[clears throat] uh trained heavily on
[25:34] firefighting because a fire on board a
ship is very very dangerous. And uh
[25:39] assuming I haven't seen what type of
batteries these are. I'm assuming
[25:42] lithiums. uh it's going to fall under a
class D fire and you can't put those out
[25:46] with water. That's why the gentleman was
talking about the millions of gallons of
[25:48] water. It's because you can't put them
out with water. It's they they they just
[25:53] continues to burn. Some of them produce
their own oxygen. So on the ship, we had
[25:57] to jettison this stuff over over the
side of the boat and put it into the
[26:01] ocean. That's the only way you get rid
of it. It's going to continue to burn
[26:04] underwater and do its thing. So it it is
a danger. Um they mentioned about the
[26:09] hazards of the se uh leakage into the
the groundwater. That's also a danger as
[26:15] well. And I'm also opposed to the whole
it feels like the whole area is starting
[26:19] to wanting to go industrialized from the
bridge that they want to add uh could
[26:25] potentially put a commercial lane right
through our neighborhood. Now these
[26:28] storage facilities I have to deal with
the uh Camp Alpha flood lights uh
[26:33] shining into my backyard. That's a whole
other thing. But it it just doesn't feel
[26:37] like it it did when I first moved out
there where we wanted the the peace and
[26:42] quiet. Um enjoy our neighbors. You know,
I love my neighbors and um to see it
[26:47] starting to slowly industrialize. I'd
like to put a stop to that. So, I'm
[26:51] against uh the reform.
>> Thank you.
[26:55] » It seems like everybody in here is
against it. I mean, every one for
[27:02] » Good morning.
>> Morning. I got out of work so I can come
[27:06] talk to you guys and I am against this
whole battery deal thing. My name is
[27:13] Berta Huarees. I live on Las Brisas. It
is myself, my husband and my dad. And we
[27:19] are totally against all of this. The
noise it would make, the property value,
[27:24] what everybody else has said here. This
is my retirement home.
[27:30] This is my husband's retirement home.
This is my dad's retirement home. We
[27:35] don't want the noise. We want nature to
be nature. We still see the blooms of
[27:41] the [snorts] senos out there. It's just
so beautiful. It's quiet. Michelle,
[27:46] you're not too far from there. You're
not too far from there. I don't know
[27:49] where everybody else lives, but we're
not far from there. I mean, we're right
[27:53] on Las Vegas. So, we are totally against
this, and I hope and pray that this
[27:59] doesn't go through. Thank you. Thank
you.
[28:06] How you doing? My name is Marcela. I
live right there on uh on Las Visas and
[28:12] uh um
where is it?
[28:16] » Lena.
>> Lena Weed right there in the corner. I
[28:18] already sold you guys a piece of my
property so you can guys can build that
[28:23] loop. And I'm moved out there so I can
be in peace and quiet. And now I got all
[28:28] this stuff going on. Nama against those
batteries going on there.
[28:34] » Uh, you've moved twice. Are you gonna
get up? [laughter]
[28:39] » Yeah.
[28:44] » I just wanted to make sure everybody
else got chickens. Uh, thank you for
[28:47] giving us the opportunity to come out
here and talk. We appreciate it. Um, I'm
[28:51] just here to find out more information
and see what's going on uh with it
[28:55] because I live in the neighborhood out
there. How did y'all decide on those
[28:59] plots of land and what?
>> We don't decide. Uh there's individuals
[29:04] that came to us. That's where they
wanted to put them and that's how we're
[29:07] here.
>> So, is it like a corporation that came
[29:09] and said they want
>> to do it? There was a
[29:13] » What's the name of the group?
>> It's a business that is trying to um put
[29:18] those battery charges on your
properties.
[29:20] » A lot of these also, it isn't
[clears throat] the company that will
[29:24] come out and say, "I'm the company. I'm
going to put them out." Mhm.
[29:27] » Most of the time you'll have a group,
but that's what they do. They go out and
[29:29] look for batteries for places to put
them. Then they try to secure the site
[29:33] in order to be able to sell the site to
uh to the company.
[29:37] » Gotcha.
>> Okay. It's like the data centers. Most
[29:39] time the data center won't come in.
It'll be a [clears throat] group come in
[29:42] and that's what they do. They try to
develop an area and say, "I've already
[29:46] I've already got the permits. I've
already got this. I've already got that.
[29:49] Here's a package. Do you want to buy?"
>> Sure.
[29:51] » Okay. Okay. I'm not saying that that's
what happens here, but I would assume
[29:54] that with all four of them coming in,
they're hope hope hoping one of them
[29:58] will hit.
>> Gotcha. So, this isn't y'all as the
[30:01] county saying we want to [clears throat]
go and put this battery storage.
[30:04] » No, I don't. We wouldn't bring it up.
>> Okay.
[30:07] » I will give you a little bit of history.
The battery storage facility that is out
[30:10] at uh on Old Hamilton behind the jail,
>> they came and asked for incentives and
[30:15] indictments. County said no. We had no
zoning authority over there and could
[30:19] not tell them. uh not filled.
>> Gotcha.
[30:23] » Uh but they didn't build within with any
incentives from the county or any
[30:27] absence. As a matter of fact, we were
against it couldn't stop it.
[30:32] » Gotcha. The concerns that that all of
y'all had uh every one of the concerns
[30:38] that y'all spoke about, Commissioner's
Court, uh when that other battery
[30:43] facility came had all the concerns. We
don't have uh
[30:49] we don't have uh the capability to put
it out if it goes boom. Okay. Uh just
[30:56] don't uh they you know their assurance
was that uh it's not going to go boom or
[31:02] hell [laughter] you know and and and and
then when we looked at it right we were
[31:08] right next to a prison.
>> Mhm.
[31:11] » Uh I've got 1,400 people there. What am
I going to do with them? 1,400 people
[31:17] basically just throwing throw away.
>> Yeah.
[31:19] » Right. And now with these,
we've got people uh just as close.
[31:28] » Yeah.
>> Not uh not as many people in such a
[31:31] confined environment, but again, what
are y'all going to go do? So, uh what
[31:37] the way this works is we have people
that come in, want to put something
[31:41] there, change the zoning, we have to
bring it here. the Thomas zoning because
[31:45] that is one of the few places.
[clears throat] Well, we have some
[31:49] authority around the base, but this is
probably the place the only place that
[31:55] the county actually has zoning
authorities around around the lake. So,
[31:59] if you want to change it, needs to come
to come to this uh group here. This
[32:04] group here will make a recommendation
yes or no. And then it'll be put uh Did
[32:09] y'all put it in the month?
>> It's going well today. So it'll be put
[32:14] whatever recommendation from this uh
board whatever that recommendation is
[32:19] these agenda items will be put on
September 9th next Wednesday for the
[32:23] commissioner's court to vote. Okay.
[clears throat]
[32:25] I don't know how the rest of
commissioner is going to vote but I will
[32:29] tell you that the last one that came uh
we didn't have the authority to stop it.
[32:34] These right here the court has the
authority to stop it because it's within
[32:38] our stock zone. stop it or or or let it
continue
[32:42] » based on what the constituents the
feedback
[32:45] » it be the feedback and the opinion of
the commissioners and the members of the
[32:48] court.
>> I I I don't want to to say something
[32:51] that I'm shutting that I'm I'm talking
for the other members of the court.
[32:55] » Sure.
>> Okay.
[32:56] » Uh but I will tell you that in the past
there was no insinus no abatements and
[33:00] if we could have uh stopped it that
court would not have allowed it the one
[33:05] that came in uh behind the jail. Okay.
>> Uh that is a strong u [clears throat]
[33:13] strong message. Uh but again uh it this
board will make recommendations
[33:21] for or against today.
>> Mhm.
[33:23] » It'll go September 9th next Wednesday to
commissioner's court. The items will be
[33:27] on commissioner's court and then the
court will vote uh for or against. Okay.
[33:33] » Okay. But uh I don't think we've ever
had uh the court go against what this
[33:40] board has said.
>> Okay.
[33:42] » Okay.
>> What you guys say?
[33:44] » Don't I will say uh
y'all showed up today. I think some of
[33:49] y'all need to show up on the 9th.
>> Okay.
[33:52] » Same place here.
>> What time?
[33:56] » All right.
>> Do you know what time it is on the
[33:57] night?
>> We It'll be at 9:00. And if we have as
[34:00] many people as we have here, his agenda
items are later on in the in the agenda.
[34:05] Carlos,
uh his agenda items are later on in
[34:09] commissioner's court. But if we have
this many people show up for an item,
[34:12] then we'll go through the pledge of
allegiance. Uh go through about three or
[34:16] four items that we needed just to just
to get started and then we'll move this
[34:19] item up front. Uh if we have people show
up, if there's not a whole lot of
[34:23] people, then we'll go through our
regular agenda items and when we get to
[34:25] the item, we'll get to it. Uh, but if we
have people show up that are concerned,
[34:30] we will push it up front
>> and get it over with.
[34:33] » Great.
>> Thank you very much. And thank you.
[34:36] » For the record, I'm against it.
[34:40] » Uh, are y'all okay if we go to the item?
>> She was about It was a young lady about
[34:46] to get up.
>> Okay.
[34:50] » Hello. My name is Joselyn Morales
Vardosio. Uh, I do represent the company
[34:56] that has put these items on the agenda.
Our name is MU Group. I do apologize if
[35:04] this is the first time that we're
meeting, but thank you so much for
[35:07] coming today. I do hear you and hear
your concerns. Um,
[35:14] just a basic overview, I suppose. Uh, I
am for the zoning of the four
[35:19] properties. I do see that there's
[clears throat] an overwhelming amount
[35:23] of people against it. Um, and I do
believe, um,
[35:30] we do like being transparent. So, I'm
sorry if maybe you didn't have all the
[35:34] information on hand since this is more
of the pre-permitting steps where we
[35:40] don't actually supply the entire
permitting package, but if you do want
[35:44] more information, we'd be happy to
supply it and everything.
[35:48] The project that we were looking to do
at the four locations are one megawatt
[35:52] each. So that is one of the smaller
projects that you'll come across with
[35:57] battery energy storage. They are
unmanned. So far we do have a clean
[36:02] safety record which I know with the news
it might not be the most
[36:07] uh forthcoming with all the other things
going on with the country and other bus
[36:12] systems.
This does look like a typical shipping
[36:16] container. So, it's only 40 ft by 10 ft.
Um, I do hear that people were concerned
[36:22] about the noise and the fire as well. We
do work closely with different fire
[36:26] departments, fire marshals, volunteer
fire departments as well. We do have an
[36:32] emergency operations plan that was
approved in February by the PUCT. So, we
[36:38] do renew that every single year with
them. We do have double containment
[36:43] within the system. So, there aren't any
leaks as such. people were mentioning
[36:47] where it would cause any type of
toxicity or contamination to water or to
[36:52] soil in the surrounding areas. We do
also have a fire suppression system with
[36:58] aerosol. And then there are several
triggers within the system itself that
[37:02] would stop anything before it were to
happen. For example, there's smoke, gas,
[37:08] heat detectors, and everything. And it
is monitored remotely by a Texas company
[37:14] 24/7 365.
>> Where are they at?
[37:18] » The where they at? You're saying they're
it's being uh monitored, but where are
[37:22] they at?
>> Uh it would be within Texas. Um they're
[37:25] usually had
>> 5 miles 10 miles 100 miles.
[37:28] » It's usually in Dallas or Houston. And
if there were something to happen where
[37:33] someone needs to come in person, someone
would be sent within a day or two just
[37:37] depending on who's the closest Awesome.
>> A day or two.
[37:41] » A day or two.
>> Yes. But if anything serious were to
[37:45] happen, they do shut off the system
before they would deploy someone.
[37:52] » Yes. And I do understand, you know, you
have to listen to your constituents.
[37:58] Whatever your recommendation or your
decision is, we do understand it. We
[38:02] respect it. Um, I do want to thank you
for your time. I know it maybe was a lot
[38:08] to come with four projects. We do have a
prospection team that looks at
[38:14] proposed sites that would be a good
selection for doing it. They
[38:18] unfortunately don't always look at the
permitting aspect of things. Um, so
[38:22] that's where I come in to do more of the
footwork and see what can be done or
[38:27] what the whole permitting process is. So
if you do find any information that you
[38:32] would want to learn more about um I do
have for you to contact me
[38:40] um and I can share other documentation
with you guys [clears throat]
[38:45] um
in case you'd like to learn more and it
[38:49] is unfortunately a lot of material like
paperwork to read through um
[38:57] and additionally I know it takes time. I
know you mentioned September 9th for the
[39:02] commissioner's court.
>> So from here to then whatever the
[39:06] » I have a question if you don't mind.
>> Can we ask questions as well?
[39:09] » Of course.
>> And you go first.
[39:11] » You can go first.
>> Uh why don't we build these things out
[39:15] further away from everybody?
>> Well,
[39:18] » and when we asked the company uh when
they came and built this one right next
[39:22] to prison or jail,
>> I mean, basically all you need is power
[39:27] line, right? you're hooking in uh to a
power line and and I'll give you my
[39:33] opinion and they might not like it, but
if you were to build it somewhere away
[39:36] from everything, pick a power line out
there in the middle of nowhere, if it
[39:39] goes boom and catches everything on the
fire, all I got to worry about is grass
[39:42] and then I can I can wait for the for
the facility to burn out. I just put the
[39:47] grass out around it. Uh it really
concerns me and and I'm not a voting
[39:52] member here, but I will be on Wednesday.
Uh it really concerns me where where
[39:58] where everybody's picking to put them.
Okay. Uh this the data center,
[40:03] everything else, you just
I don't understand why, right? If you if
[40:08] you were to put them out in the middle
of nowhere because they're not going to
[40:11] be manned. You don't need anything. Uh
they're just throwing power.
[40:16] » Why would you put them in the middle of
of a community? And again, I'm not
[40:20] throwing rocks. I'm just trying to get
it under that you you showed up. So, I'm
[40:25] trying to understand [laughter]
uh again, all you need is is the big
[40:30] power lines, right? Uh in order to hook
up to But but we're not doing that.
[40:37] We're got a room full of people. And I
guarantee you that if I was if I lived
[40:42] out there, uh I'd have been one of the
first ones to talk uh and probably he
[40:48] used some words that I use and I'd have
used some other ones. Uh but but it's
[40:53] really difficult. Uh you know I think we
all come from the same background that
[40:58] we all work for what we have and again
not throwing rocks but
[41:03] why would you pick a spot like this? Why
wouldn't we pick something out to where
[41:07] when you bring it for one I wouldn't
have zoning authority if it does go if
[41:10] it does catch fire there's nothing
around it. I can tell you that that we
[41:14] visited with people from the base. We we
visited with the city uh uh our our
[41:20] county fire department when this thing
came in.
[41:23] » What are we going to do, you know, if
something happens? And again, I mean,
[41:27] you're what you're doing and and the
areas, you know, you're going to set it
[41:31] down, you're going to do this, you can
do that, but we're going to plan for the
[41:33] worst case scenario.
We don't have the capability uh and and
[41:38] we'd be out there just trying to keep
the smoke down and and and keep
[41:43] everything else from from burning. Uh
but we had a we had a u
[41:51] train the other day that that hit and
and it wasn't leaking, but if it had
[41:57] just begun to leak, then you you put the
thing in the computer and it tells you
[42:02] you you put in the wind and everything.
I had to evacuate
[42:06] » Mhm.
>> a big part of town, right? And in a
[42:09] hurry. And that's my concern. And again,
I'm not I'm glad you showed up because
[42:15] it takes a lot to show up to something
like this and I appreciate it, but it is
[42:20] a concern for me. Again, we just went
through this thing with the train,
[42:24] » did not leak, went out there, saw it,
looked at it, they unloaded it and
[42:29] everything, but if it had been dripping,
it had caused a nightmare for us and for
[42:34] all the citizens in that area. depending
which way the wind was blowing then you
[42:38] know and we all have our little orange
books and our little yellow books that
[42:42] tells us what type of hazard is this is
what you're supposed to do put put it in
[42:45] the system then we're supposed to
evacuate I'd rather not be put in that
[42:49] position okay sir
>> so just say that everybody in here was
[42:54] for these projects who does it benefit
how are these benefiting our community
[43:01] how do your how does your company who
secures these sites what is the end goal
[43:05] of these storage facilities. Is it
getting put back into our grid or is it
[43:10] being bought cheap and then wholesaliled
later?
[43:14] » So, I'll combine kind of what both of
you were saying. Um, it really depends
[43:19] based on the company. Our company
specifically, we only work with the
[43:24] landowner and the local electrical
company. So, we don't work with other
[43:29] solar wind data centers and stuff. And
we're not an asset flipper either. So if
[43:34] we have that project, it will always be
owned by us. And one of the reasons a
[43:40] lot of people are very close to kind of
the towns and everything, depending on
[43:44] how many megawatts you have, you have to
be a certain range within the local
[43:49] substation or transmission lines that
you're connecting to. So we connect to
[43:54] the distribution lines, which are the
normal lines that you see on the road
[43:57] that are smaller than the transmission
ones. Um, so for us, the limit that we
[44:03] look at is 5 miles from the substation.
For larger projects, it may be further
[44:08] away or closer depending on what they
need. Um, so one of our main goals is to
[44:15] of course support the landowner cuz we
would be paying them a yearly amount for
[44:20] leasing that property. We're not really
looking to own property just because
[44:25] that's an added expense and we'd rather
support someone local. And then also one
[44:31] of the reasons we do look at these types
of projects is to release energy into
[44:36] the grid. So a lot of times the
substations that we choose maybe have
[44:41] some upgrades that they need or some
type of deficit of performance or they
[44:46] have energy left over that you know you
could connect into. So, for example,
[44:51] when we do a contract with the
electrical company, they'll usually come
[44:55] back with a list and it'll have all the
upgrades that a substation needs because
[45:00] maybe it hasn't been, you know, given
its halflife refit of electronics and
[45:07] all of that. So, we would pay for all of
that. Technically, your substation would
[45:12] be at a better performance level. And
then us being there would give the
[45:16] capacity to the substation to load and
unload the energy as you were saying.
[45:22] And then it does go back to there is a
profit in it of course. So when we have
[45:27] the energy it is stored in times of
need. It gets released and it's sold
[45:34] onto the grid essentially but just with
the electrical company that we work for.
[45:40] So, it does differ with different
companies, especially if they have 10 or
[45:47] 100 [clears throat] batteries. This is a
little more simpler because it's just
[45:51] one, so it's more straightforward. But I
do understand, you know, your concerns
[45:55] with safety and everything as well.
[46:00] » So, have you already paid the land down?
Uh we typically start with an agreement
[46:09] that's called a lease to option
agreement. So we have paid them but we
[46:13] haven't started the rental portion of
it. We start the rental portion when we
[46:17] actually start to make an improvement on
the property. So for example, I didn't
[46:23] mention this before but it does take
about 15 months from permitting to the
[46:28] actual like oh it's done kind of
situation. And so we are still in the
[46:33] beginning stages. It's not happening
tomorrow or anything. Um and then of
[46:38] course hearing all of you taking that
into account. We do want to respect our
[46:43] neighbors especially because if we do
jump into the rental agreement, we have
[46:49] an option to do 10, 20, 30 or 40 years.
So of course we want to be connected
[46:56] with the community, discuss it. We don't
want to make our neighbors upset, which
[47:00] I do see that there's a lot of
opposition, of course. Um, but it's
[47:05] mostly just having a connection. We want
to follow the rules. We, you know,
[47:10] aren't going to go against the will of
the constituents or the county or the
[47:13] city. So,
>> So, did you bring the date before
[47:17] commercial? Did you bother to bring
that?
[47:19] » We were given information from the owner
and the title company as well.
[47:25] Unfortunately, that falls into more of a
prospection side. So, someone in our
[47:30] company should have read it. I am just
curious if anything.
[47:36] » Uh, and how did you choose these
particular locations?
[47:41] » Uh, some of the things that we look at
are the electrical capacity. We do
[47:46] sometimes do the distance to housing
which I think in the situation we didn't
[47:51] realize the deed that everyone has
mentioned about residential and not
[47:56] doing the commercial. Uh we also look at
water being away from like water
[48:01] pipelines, gas pipelines. Uh we don't
connect to water or sewer. So just
[48:07] really looking for for that.
>> So real quick, would you book one of
[48:11] these on your property?
Can we put a comics in your backyard?
[48:16] » No. Okay, [laughter]
let's let's wait. Okay. I I will tell
[48:20] y'all that I really do appreciate her
coming because it takes a lot to get up
[48:24] here and she knew she was going to have
questions. All right.
[48:27] » Uh if you don't mind, I have the
commissioners have some questions. I
[48:30] have one that has a question.
>> And then if y'all don't mind, we'll
[48:34] we'll get to the item as soon as she
gets done. If y'all are okay with that,
[48:37] that way we can we can move on. Are
y'all okay?
[48:41] » Yeah, I'm fine. I just wanted to be
transparent for one thing and for all my
[48:45] neighbors.
I said I'm an engineer, so I know a
[48:48] little bit. I'm not trying to like toot
my own horn, but I also need you to be
[48:51] transparent with everybody. You're not
putting power in the grid. You're you're
[48:55] storing excess power that's not being
utilized at any given point. You're
[49:00] going to store it in times of demand.
You're going to put it back in the grid
[49:03] to supplement and try to meet that
demand. But I also need you to be
[49:08] transparent with people because some
people might be thinking that, hey,
[49:12] well, this might be good because what if
we have another winter storm like we did
[49:15] a few years ago? They can they can keep
up with the demand when the power goes
[49:19] out. That's not how it happens. It's a
battery storage. They're only good for a
[49:23] few hours. They're not going to give you
power for days. They're there to
[49:27] supplement heat demands. That is it. So
if you guys are thinking that their
[49:32] storage system is going to supplement
when the brick goes out, you're
[49:36] mistaken. If if if the break goes down,
we go on this battery and everybody is
[49:41] putting demand, that thing's not even
going to last enough. Probably not even
[49:45] minutes. You cannot you cannot store
enough power to power our neighborhood.
[49:52] » And the size that she gave you,
>> it's so small.
[49:54] » Yes, we agree. If y'all don't mind, uh,
I have the commissioner to have a couple
[49:59] more questions and then we'll go
through. Are you good? Yes, sir.
[50:01] » I just wanted my name and
>> I get it. But again, I will say that I
[50:05] appreciate all of y'all coming. It means
a lot for y'all to come, but for her to
[50:10] come up here also, right? Uh, and I
understand they're going to make money,
[50:15] but it's still to come up here and and
face us takes a lot. Okay.
[50:20] » Well, the company [clears throat] needs
to know how we feel. Of course,
[50:23] » she needs to take that message back to
her company.
[50:26] » And I think during the [clears throat]
during the hearing part, during the
[50:28] hearing, she understood that and
whatever action we take here, she's
[50:32] going to understand how we feel.
>> Yeah, cuz I was offered and I had so
[50:36] many questions. This was maybe a year or
two ago. I was offered by a letter. I
[50:41] don't know how they got my address, but
they like Las
[50:45] uh and I had so many questions and then
they never bothered me again. and
[50:50] she will probably understand exactly how
we feel.
[50:57] If we can get to the questions that that
the members of the court have, we'll get
[51:01] to the items and then we can
[51:08] [clears throat]
>> uh yeah, judge, for transparent reasons,
[51:12] I'd like to find out who who are the
owners of the properties. Uh uh Mr.
[51:17] I can
>> who owns the properties that
[51:19] » so so we have four different
applications commissioner the 14645
[51:23] lasas it's under G url properties LLC
6770 las breezes underigo ranel and
[51:31] Maria 229 holder pass is under Samuel
Frank Jr. and the one next to highway 90
[51:39] 5982 highway 90 is under Orlando Kario
Jr.
[51:44] » Okay, you good? I'm good.
>> Commissioners, any other comments?
[51:49] We good? Are you good? All right. If
you'll wait a minute, you'll have our
[51:54] recommendation here.
>> All right.
[51:56] » We're going to move on to item six for
discussion, possible action to recommend
[52:00] approval or disapproval for the
commissioner to the commissioner's court
[52:04] on zoning request to reszone 645 Las
Boulevard, Lake Ridge Estate, phase 2,
[52:10] lot 27B to commercial for the use of the
battery storage facility. Do I have a
[52:14] motion? Judge, I'll make a motion uh to
deny uh recommendation to deny request
[52:20] uh uh for a commercial better.
>> Motion, Commissioner Voski. Second,
[52:24] Commissioner Fagan.
>> All in favor?
[52:28] » I
motion carries. 40 Z item 7 for
[52:32] discussion, possible action to recommend
approval or disapproval to the
[52:35] commissioner's court on zoning request
to reszone 6770
[52:40] Las.
>> I'll make a motion judge to deny request
[52:43] for item number seven. I second.
>> You second it. Yes. I have a motion,
[52:48] Commissioner Vosquez, Commissioner
Sanchez. All those in favor of denying
[52:52] I. And I I'm sorry I don't vote.
[laughter]
[52:56] You're so used to it. Uh all those
against. Motion carries to deny 4 Z.
[53:02] Item eight for discussion of possible
action to recommend approval or
[53:06] disprove.
>> Same motion, judge, to deny request for
[53:09] commercial.
[snorts]
[53:12] » Everybody. Yeah. Uh,
I have a motion, Commissioner Vosquez,
[53:17] and
>> second.
[53:18] » I will
let Franklin Mr. Hardro do it since
[53:22] y'all have already seconded the other
ones. Uh, [clears throat]
[53:26] Mr. Hardro gave the second. All those in
favor? I, anybody against? Motion
[53:32] carries 40, item nine for discussion,
interaction to recommend approval or
[53:37] » recommendation to deny J item number
nine.
[53:41] » And I'll second.
>> Okay. and Miss Fagen the second. Um,
[53:47] all those in favor I
>> I. Anybody against? Motion carries. 4 Z.
[53:52] Uh, commissioner's comments. I hear any
none. I'll entertain a motion to
[53:58] adjourn.
>> Motion.
[54:00] » Second.
>> Second. M. Commissioner Sanchez.
[54:04] Um, all in favor?
>> I. Anybody against? Motion carries. 4 Z.
[54:11] Thank y'all for coming, ma'am. Thank you
also for coming. Uh we'll have another
[54:15] meeting on September 9th in the same
building.