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Brazos County approves preparing solid-waste ordinance, orders takings impact assessment
Summary
Commissioners voted Jan. 14 to prepare a proposed solid-waste ordinance and to commission a takings impact assessment so the county can designate acceptable landfill locations and have a say if a commercial landfill is proposed.
Brazos County Commissioners Court voted Jan. 14 to prepare a proposed solid-waste ordinance and to carry out a takings impact assessment under Chapter 2007 of the Texas Government Code.
The court’s action will allow Brazos County to formally designate where a municipal or commercial landfill may be located within the county. County leaders said the designation would give the commissioner's court a formal role if a company later sought to place a landfill outside the designated site — the developer would then have to request a variance, bringing the decision before elected local officials rather than leaving siting solely to state permitting under the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).
Judge Dwight Peters and court staff said the move is precautionary: if a waste company were to buy property and file for a TCEQ permit, local input is limited under current procedures. “By doing what we’re doing, when we declare that this is the only place in Brazos County that a landfill can be located, then the only way that a company could locate it somewhere else in Brazos County, they’ve gotta ask for a variance,” Peters said.
County counsel said the law firm under contract, Allison Bass McGee, will perform the takings impact assessment and draft ordinance language. Because one county-owned parcel (the Kathy Fleming site) was identified as a potential designated location, counsel said the assessment will be “pretty minimal” in this instance because it does not require acquisition of privately owned land.
Members of the public asked about cost and whether the county intended to bar landfills entirely; court members said the ordinance process would preserve the court’s authority while a takings analysis is completed. The court approved the motion to proceed; staff said attorneys will prepare the ordinance and assessment, and the court will consider the draft before any final action.
No roll-call vote with named tallies was recorded in the meeting transcript; the court’s spoken motion carried.
