Students at Georgetown High School plan to install a mural on the downtown building at 101 E. Seventh St. Now home to Tejas Meat Supply, the building formerly housed Georgetown Municipal Court.

The Georgetown Arts and Culture Advisory Board selected sophomore Peyton Vega’s design from among 16 student designs submitted by art instructor Angela Morin. Morin selected this public art activity as an educational opportunity for her students as part of the Art 1 curriculum.

“The students are learning how they can use art to communicate and connect with others within their community,” Morin said. “They also spent the entire year extensively learning about art history and the legacy that people who came before us created through art. With the creation of the mural, the students will now feel even more connected to that history because they will be connected to a piece of Georgetown history.”

The mural will be painted first on ripstop mural fabric and adhered to the wall of the building. Vega and other students will paint the mural in the classroom in late May. Installation is scheduled for the first week of June.

The goal of this project is to continue to add to the mural every year. This first section of the mural, “Everyone Deserves Kindness,” will claim only a small portion of the wall, which continues the length of the long alleyway between Tejas Meat Supply and the Baked Bear. The art students and their instructor have worked with Brady Clark of Tejas Meat Supply on the placement and size of this first mural section. The Tejas Meat Supply team, as well as the property owner of the building, say they are excited about further collaboration with Georgetown ISD and student artists on the annual additions to the mural.

The mural is jointly sponsored by Georgetown ISD and the City’s Arts and Culture Board. For updates on the project, as well as information on other art and cultural events in the downtown Georgetown Cultural District, visit arts.georgetown.org.

Face coverings no longer required in City facilities, public meetings return to in-person

Effective Monday, May 17, visitors to City facilities will be encouraged, but not required, to wear face coverings, and all City Council meetings will return to in-person, per council direction at its May 11 meeting.

In the coming weeks, the City will develop plans to further open its facilities, boards and commissions meetings, programs, and services to the public as safely as possible.

The City will continue to use a number of safety protocols that have been put in place over the past year for the safety of employees and the public. Those continued protocols include physical distancing requirements for visitors and staff, additional cleaning, and keeping up plexiglass at reception areas. Temperature checks will no longer be required upon entry to City facilities, unless the staff or visitor indicates they aren’t feeling well.

All City employees, volunteers, and contractors are encouraged to wear a face mask while working, particularly when:

• Inside City facilities or vehicles and physical distancing of greater than six feet is not possible
• Whenever interacting with a member of the public who is wearing a mask

Members of the public will continue to be able to provide comments at City Council and boards and commissions meetings in-person as well as virtually, via Zoom or telephone. Written comments submitted prior to the meetings will be circulated to the elected and appointed officials but will not be read aloud.

Recreation Center

The Recreation Center will open back up to the public from noon to 6 p.m. Sundays starting June 6. Scheduled closures for cleanings will stop June 1, and staff will periodically clean throughout the day.

For updates on Parks and Recreation programs and facilities, check the COVID-19 parks and recreation page and sign up for the Parks and recreation newsletter.

Library

The Library has continued to reinstate services, including allowing 30-minute Chromebook computer use; copying, faxing, scanning, and wireless printing; and making the history room available by appointment. Patrons will be encouraged to limit visits to 30 minutes.

Curbside pickup remains available from two parking spots in the Ninth Street lot from 10 to 11 a.m. and 3 to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The Library is adding back programming and services in June, including additional seating, study and meeting rooms, Sunday hours, and summer programming. For updates on Library services, please continue to check its COVID-19 FAQ and sign up for the Library newsletter.

Private businesses

Per Gov. Greg Abbott’s Executive Order (GA-34), private businesses continue to have full discretion on which safety measures they require for visitors. If you are asked to wear a mask to enter a business, please respect that business owner’s wishes and choose kindness.

If a customer refuses to wear a face mask, the business can ask that person to leave. If the customer refuses, the business may escalate the issue to a criminal trespassing violation. The business can call the police department’s non-emergency number at 512-930-3510 and officers will respond.

For more information and updates, visit bit.ly/COVID19GTX.

Work starts this week on improvements to sidewalks in the downtown Square area to improve accessibility. Projects include street segments that currently do not have sidewalks or segments that do not meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards.

Sidewalk improvements on Rock Street that start this week include improvements to the intersection at Seventh Street with new ramps, crosswalks, and a new section of sidewalk on Seventh Street west of Rock Street. The Rock Street work also includes sidewalks and parallel parking places on the east side of the street from Seventh Street to one half block south of Eighth Street. This work should be completed in August.

Other work starting this week includes sidewalk accessibility improvements on Eighth Street just east of Martin Luther King Jr. Street and on Eighth Street at the alley between Main and Church streets. These two improvements should be competed in June.

In the month of July, the ADA ramps on Austin Avenue corners at the north side of the Seventh Street intersection and at the corners on the south side of the Eighth Street intersection will be improved.

Sidewalk improvements on the north and south sides of Seventh Street from Main to Church streets are scheduled to start in June and be completed in September. This segment includes new ADA-accessible sidewalks, ramps, crosswalks, drainage improvements, pedestrian railings, and a retaining wall.

The project schedule could change due to weather conditions and other factors.

The project cost is $964,975 funded by revenues from the 2015 Transportation Bond. The contractor is Choice Builders.

City of Georgetown residents and officials are raising concerns about a proposed concrete batch plant on Ronald Reagan Boulevard just south of Hwy. 195. According to the public hearing notice for the plant on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality website, the Five Star Concrete plant would be located about 1 mile from homes in the Sun City neighborhood.

Concerns about the concrete plant include dust and noise from plant operations that are not compatible with a large senior adult residential neighborhood. Increased traffic from concrete trucks on Ronald Reagan Boulevard and Hwy. 195 is another concern about the plant.

Since the proposed plant is in the City’s extra-territorial jurisdiction, or ETJ, the City has no significant ability to regulate its siting or permitting. Over the past several sessions of the Texas Legislature, there have been significant changes to annexation and development authority in the ETJ that has limited the ability of cities to regulate development. This proposed concrete plant is one of many examples of the challenges that cities will continue to face, leading to inconsistent development standards and uncoordinated growth.

The concrete plant near a residential development demonstrates the need for cities to have some regulatory control over development in the ETJ. City officials look forward to having more dialogue with elected legislative officials about this issue.

The City of Georgetown encourages residents to voice their concerns about the proposed concrete plant at the TCEQ public hearing at 6 p.m. Monday, May 10. Residents may submit written comments to TCEQ at or before the public hearing.

Click here for details about the air quality permit hearing for the plant, information on how to submit comments, and how to participate in the online hearing.

Utility grows by 5,000 new customers in past year from new residents

With water use for lawn irrigation increasing as the weather gets warmer, customers may see an increase in their water bills due to new water rates that went into effect on Jan. 1.

For the average water customer using 10,200 gallons per month, the monthly water bill will increase to $46.25 from $40.98. Customers using 7,000 gallons per month or less will see a modest increase of 10 cents per thousand gallons on their bill. An increase to the base rate or fixed monthly charge of $1.50 applies to all residential customers.

In the new water usage rate tier, the highest rate of $8.40 per thousand gallons now applies to monthly water use above 25,000 gallons. Under the previous rates, the highest rate of $8.50 per thousand gallons did not apply until 60,000 gallons. This means that, as an example, a customer using 50,000 gallons per month would see a water use cost of $292.95, up from $186.50 last year.

These are the water rates that went into effect on Jan. 1.

The new water rates were adopted by the City in October following a cost-of-service rate study that was completed last year. The study helped determine the rates and rate structure needed to equitably fund the water utility, including all costs associated with operating, maintaining, and expanding the utility. New development pays an impact fee in addition to the water rates to help cover the cost of new infrastructure.

Water treatment plant capacity

Since last summer, more than 5,000 new utility customers have been added to the Georgetown water utility service area due to continued population growth from new housing starts. While expansions of the Lake Water Treatment Plant and the Hoover Pump Station are currently underway, the City has contracted with the City of Leander to purchase an additional 3 million gallons of treatment capacity this year to help address the growth in customers.

“The addition of nearly 9 million gallons per day of treatment capacity at the Lake Water Treatment Plant is under construction to help us meet demand from the rapid population growth in our service territory,” says Chelsea Solomon, water utility director for the City of Georgetown. “However, that expansion is not expected to come online until the summer of 2023. Last year in August, we reached 97 percent of water plant capacity due to high irrigation demand and watering outside the two-day schedule. With 5,000 additional customers and a limited amount of additional treatment capacity, it is imperative that we use our resources responsibly, and follow our ordinances so that we can reduce the chances of further restrictions this summer.”

During the summer months, 75 percent of the drinking water treated each day in the city is used for irrigation of lawns and landscapes.

Watering schedule

City of Georgetown water utility customers should make sure they follow the two-day watering schedule for irrigation systems and hose-end sprinklers. The year-round, two-day per week irrigation schedule is based on the last digit of the street address.

Irrigation is not permitted on Mondays because they are a maintenance and recovery day for the water system. Watering with a hand-held hose or bucket or washing a vehicle can be done any day at any time.

Violations of the irrigation schedule may result in fines.

Watering times

The best time for watering your lawn and landscape is on your watering day in the early morning hours after midnight. This allows the water to soak into the soil and reach the roots of your grass and plants. Watering during the heat of the day, especially between noon and 7 p.m., should be avoided since much of the water sprayed from sprinklers will evaporate and is wasted.

Water rebates and conservation programs

The City offers customer rebates to encourage water conservation. A $75 rebate is available to customers to help offset the cost of having your irrigation controller inspected by a licensed irrigator and set to our recommended specifications. Irrigation efficiency rebates of up to $150 are available for spray-to-drip whole-zone conversion, multi-stream nozzle whole-zone conversion, and smart controller replacement to replace your existing controller with a Wi-Fi enabled, weather-based controller. Rebates are offered on a first-come, first-served basis while funding is available.

Customers also may sign up for AquaAlerts, which are emails that are sent when your water use hits pre-set levels each month. Or sign up for GUARD, which allows you to track your water and electric use daily.

For information on programming your irrigation controller, water rebates and programs, and more, visit water.georgetown.org.

The City is seeking feedback on the draft Hazard Mitigation Plan, which was updated using feedback from residents.

The plan, which is updated every five years, aims to minimize, or eliminate the long-term risk to human life and property from known hazards, such as droughts floods, tornadoes, wildfires, and other major disasters. Hazard mitigation efforts could include projects such as flood channel clearing, road and bridge design changes, property buy-outs, building code changes, or public alert systems.

The City is asking residents and business owners to provide feedback to make sure the reflects the priorities and concerns of the community and proposes action items to address those risks. The updated, draft plan includes feedback from a public survey this past winter. The City received 349 responses to its first survey. Of those who responded, 47 percent said they have been affected by a natural or manmade hazard in the past five years, the most common being hail.

Residents and business owners can provide feedback on the draft plan by submitting comments on our website through May 30 (comments now closed). Residents can also review the results of the City’s risk analysis, which was guided in part by the results from an earlier community survey and is included in the draft plan.

After the comment period closes May 19, results will be compiled, and included in the updated plan that will be submitted for review and approval by the Texas Division of Emergency Management and Federal Emergency Management Agency before being presented to City Council for adoption.