By JIM HARDIN
CNHI
HEATH — Heath City Council members haven’t abandoned plans to build a water tower on city-owned property behind The Fulton School, but they are open to considering alternate sites.
That was the consensus opinion after city council members heard from16 speakers, mostly parents of Fulton students, during a 2 1/2-hour “public input” session at the beginning of the council’s regular meeting Tuesday night.
There also was agreement that better communication involving the water tower issue could be helpful. Representatives from the city and school will keep communication lines open. City Manager Ed Thatcher will represent the city. The Fulton School will name two representatives.
During the public hearing, speakers urged the city council to pursue an alternate site for the water tower. Most of the speakers expressed concern for the safety of children who attend the school.
“The people here are great people,” Mayor John Ratcliffe said near the end of the public hearing. “You’re great parents and you’ve got great kids. We all see how important this issue is. I hope you can see some appreciation for the issues that we’ve undertaken and have to deal with. There aren’t real easy answers, but we have a fair summary of all comments.”
He stressed that there are public safety concerns about the city’s water supply system. He added that the city needs to act quickly and that’s why the city has moved forward with engineering and construction plans for the water tower.
“But if there were a proposal that provided an alternative site that was feasible and available in a relatively short period of time. ... Would we look at that? Absolutely, especially if it saves the city money,” the mayor added.
The elevated water storage facility — which would be the city’s second — is necessary to meet the demands made upon the water supply by a growing population.
The site selected for the new water tower has been a site for water storage since 1961 and was designated as “best suited” for the city’s planned elevated storage tank in 1998 by Freeman-Millican Engineering. Elevation of the property is one reason it is a preferred site.
In December 2009, the City of Rockwall formalized in writing its directive that the City of Heath build additional water storage. The City of Heath is currently “borrowing” space in the City of Rockwall’s storage facility and is exceeding its allotted amount of water to meet demands.
“If you really admit it, I think many people really would prefer another site,” said Susie Nash of The Fulton School.
Later, she suggested that Fulton parents would be effective in finding a new water tower site.
“I am very pleased and impressed with our parents,” Nash said. “We’ve got some sharp parents. We can mobilize them to find this land.”
Rebecca Moore noted that the property behind the school became a designated water tower site in 2001.
“If that has already been eight or nine years, what will a few more weeks or months matter?” she asked.
“I’m going to go ahead and answer on behalf of everyone and speak for them,” Ratcliffe said. “If we’re talking about weeks and months here in that time frame and there was an opportunity and there was a reasonable option out there, I’m going to go ahead and speak for everyone and say we’d absolutely, we’d absolutely consider it. We absolutely would.”
