On Thursday, December 14, in Forney, TX, a public meeting was held concerning the proposal for the creation of Municipal Utility District (MUD) south of Forney. The meeting was requested by State Representative Keith Bell in a letter to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). A packed room for the meeting, those in attendance included Representative Bell, TCEQ officials, CoatsRose attorneys for the developers, the developer Bellagio 443, LLC, residents near the proposed development, Kaufman County sheriff’s office, Forney ISD, Kaufman County Judge Jakie Allen, County Commissioner Skeet Phillips. The proposed MUD, Kaufman County Municipal Utility District No. 15, would contain approximately 500 acres of land just south of Forney near the intersection of Markout Central and Quail Run. The land is in the City of Mesquite’s Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) and has requested to have eminent domain and road powers. The proposal includes 950 apartments and over 1,100 homes. It’s estimated that over 700,000 gallons of wastewater will be treated daily which led to concerns about a wastewater treatment plant and the disposition of the grey water, whether to a tributary to the Trinity River or sprayed on top of the floodplain.
One of the most critical areas of concerns is traffic, specifically, what to do about the additional population considering the twolane road infrastructure in the proposed region. Concerns were also expressed concerning the 950 multifamily (apartment) units.
“This unplanned development needs to be thoroughly examined as traffic, construction, and headaches are already at an all-time high,” commented Rep. Bell after hearing the developer admit they had not conducted a traffic impact analysis and had no apparent plans to do so until required by the governing authorities.
Additional questions were made regarding space in the existing Forney ISD infrastructure and what this additional growth means for an already rapidly growing region, with FISD Superintendent Dr. Justin Terry, preliminarily estimating approximately 1,170 additional students based upon the proposed density.
Representative Bell stated, “As State Representative, I’ve called for this informational meeting; by statute and rule, this is all I have the power to do. I will continue fighting to make sure that the concerns of our citizens are heard and acknowledged.”
Following the meeting, after the notice has been published, there is a 30-day window for written comments to be sent to the TCEQ for consideration. The TCEQ will create a draft technical memo and order, which will go to the commissioners and, at such time, will determine if there are any affected persons. If so, it will be forwarded to the State Office of Administrative Hearings for a contested case hearing, and upon final disposition, a proposal for decision will be issued and final.
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