(Seguin) — There is a clearer pathway forward for those who want to restore Meadow Lake here in the Seguin area. Voters living along the hydroelectric lake on the Guadalupe River showed overwhelming support for three proposals on Tuesday’s ballot.
The propositions, placed on the ballot by the Meadow Lake Water Control Improvement District (WCID), are at the heart of efforts to replace the lake’s aging dam and protect it for generations to come. Propositions A, B, and C all easily passed during Tuesday’s election.
Proposition A, which would “authorize the WCID to issue bonds for the restoration of Meadow Lake, its dam and hydroelectric capacity with a tax levy for debt service,” passed with 135 votes in support of the measure and only 27 votes cast against it. The results were similar for the other two propositions.
Proposition B called for “the WCID to refinance bonds issued under Proposition A if costs can be reduced due to lower interest rates.” It passed with 136 votes for it, while 26 votes were cast against it.
Proposition C passed by a 133 to 30 margin, again showing voters desire to support the plan to ultimately restore the lake. Proposition C will set “an upper limit on any taxes related to the operations and maintenance of the WCID and to authorize the WCID to levy taxes up to that maximum tax rate.”
Celebrating the news is Jacy Robbins, the president of the Meadow Lake WCID. Robbins says the pathway for preserving the local lake is more defined thanks to the support of voters.
“It’s a lot of excitement that we’ve gotten to this point and of the vote and I think it was passed by an over 80 percent majority so I think the voters spoke loudly that they want to keep moving forward and so that’s what we are going to do and I think because we spent so much time planning, that the next steps are pretty well defined for us,” said Robbins.
This week’s victory started several years back when the aging dams along the Guadalupe River were deemed unsafe. Following the failure of the dam at Lake Dunlap, upstream in the New Braunfels area, lake residents and the GBRA eventually agreed to work together on solutions. This would lead to the formation of the water control improvement districts on lakes Dunlap, McQueeney, Placid and Meadow Lake.
Lake Dunlap has since been replaced and was just recently fully restored. Although restoration efforts are also underway on Lake McQueeney and Lake Placid. Robbins, says the situation at Meadow Lake is a bit different.
“Lake Dunlap has done an excellent job and we have consulted with a number of their people who have worked on that but I will say that our solution is different in that it is fully planned for us to own it and GBRA has been working close with our group on that and that’s one of the next big steps is the transfer agreement for ownership of the dam with GBRA. The WCID would own and we are bringing in a very experienced third party operator for the operation and maintenance of the dam and then I would say the technical solution is also different on our part as well. It’s a different gate type but it does have a difference in cost that gate type,” said Robbins.
Tuesday was also marked as a major victory for the Meadow Lake WCID because there are far fewer homes on the body of water compared to some of the other areas upstream. That means the approved tax levy will be spread out over a smaller number of taxpayers when compared to the other lakes. Since the city of Seguin and GBRA owns a significant portion of the land that borders the lake, city officials had already taken a public interest in restoring the lake by pledging $5 million to help with the effort should taxpayers vote yes on the three propositions.
Having a smaller pool of residents to generate those dollars is what Robbins says has kept the WCID in full planning mode since the very beginning.
“The combination of the lower cost plus the city’s contribution and we are looking at a DOE (Department of Energy) grant. It is by no means guaranteed but we do highly qualify for the program and so that could provide up to an additional $5 million. So, the combination of finding those additional funding sources and lowering the costs made it possible for us to move forward with a successful vote,” said Robbins.
Tuesday’s outcome is also a big win for the members of the Meadow Lake Nolte Dam Association (MLNDA), who, since the failure of Lake Dunlap four years ago, have remained focused by organizing and hosting regular fundraisers. Business and community members who don’t live or operate on the lake have also spoken in favor of the city’s support for restoring the dam. They say it’s unique because it flows through such a large part of the city of Seguin.