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Anti-mining group rejects LBJ dredging

Contributed/Collier Materials. Planners of a sand dredging operation indicated the location of equipment for a sand plant after working on an agreement with a property owner on Lake LBJ.

Posted on July 19, 2020

Two sides square off as plans for a proposed Lake LBJ dredging operation takes shape in Kingsland.

Collier Materials has been meeting with county officials in June and July to offer more information about the mining operation which would extract sand from the water in the area of Comanche Rancheria to be filtered on private property and shipped via gravel trucks.

The operation would be located west of RM 2900 Bridge, adjacent to the subdivision. The proposed trucking route would travel off the property onto County Road 309, eventually leading to Texas 71, which has an existing left-turn lane as well as ingress and egress onto the major highway.

Resident Barbara Schmidt, grew up on a Llano County ranch, moved back to the community where she and her husband settled into a home near Comanche Rancheria – the subdivision adjacent to the proposed mining operation site.

“We don’t want it in our backyard period,” she said in an interview with The Highlander on July 10. “We don’t want an industrial operation impacting our cattle operation and hunting operation.”

After Collier initially unveiled his plans June 26, Schmidt and other Comanche Rancheria residents began mobilizing to protest the operation.

“(My property) and a few homeowners along the White Brush (Drive) are the most impacted by this,” Schmidt said. “The truck traffic up and down the entire cattle operation up and down that county road – at 120 trucks a day traveling 309, there’s not room.”

Collier – who entered into an agreement with a private property owner to to lease the land for the operation – offered to work with county officials to enhance the roadway.

“If they (the county) bring (CR 309) up to truck specs, I will reimburse the county for that money,” he said. “I will continue paying to maintain it.”

The overall plan involves using two barges to dredge sand from the Llano River about 2,500 feet either side of the site location and to pump the sand from the barges to land. Dredging is proposed to occur across the river and along the river banks.

The water will then go through a “dewatering wheel” and be passed through three ponds to clarify it for return to the lake. The material will go through a conveyor system to the southern end of the site, enter a processor to separate into different types for use.

The Llano River flows into the Colorado River nearby and converges into Lake LBJ.

Opponents also expressed concerns for the noise of the dredging equipment, impact of wildlife and the quality of the waterway.

Collier touted the need for the operation which involved laying the foundation for the construction industry.

“It’s very important for the concrete industry, for house slabs. We’ll also be making golf course sand and top dressing and bunker sand,” he said. “It’s essential for any new home slabs, any road construction; There’s no other resources of it around.”

He said dredging would assist with sand deposits which have decreased lake levels

“Homeowners have been asking for years to please come in there and do something,” Collier said. “They’re losing their lakefront property.

“It’s really restoration of the lake,” he added.

Collier welcomed property owners as well as county officials to tour a Georgetown plant on Thursday, July 16 to offer more insight into the proposed Kingsland operation.

“I think it will address a lot of concerns that they have about being able to hear the plant. They’re not going to be able to hear it from their homes,” he said. “I’ll have an opportunity to show them in person how it might work.”

Once permits are secured with the Lower Colorado River Authority, dredging is expected to begin in April 2021.

To reinforce their concerns, opponents launched a petition for their campaign Save Lake LBJ anti-sand mining campaign, which has posted several hundred signatures in just days.

“We are fighting it every step of the way. We do have an attorney,” Schmidt said.

Source: burnetbulletin

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