Central Texas Business Journal: January 30, 2009 - Austin Business Journal:

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The new contract would more than double the royaltiee the county receives from operations atthe landfill, including moneyu designated for community recreation and master site The revised version also sets limite on how much tonnage can be put into the landfilkl based on the waste created in the That measure is designed to restrict the operatofr from bringing in waste from othe areas. “This contract spells out ways that the county has control and makesw it easier for us to move forwarf and develop recycling and other programs to benefit citizens and extenf the life ofthe contract,” Williamson County Judge Dan Gattis said.
The countg owns the 200-acre landfill on FM 1660 northu of Hutto and has a contract signee in 2003 with Waste Managemenft to operatethe site. The Texas Commission on Environmentap Quality is scheduled to consider an application in Februaryy to expand the landfill to nearly three times its But some inWilliamson County, including city leaders in have expressed concern that the existingh contract favors Waste Management and doesn’t contaij enough oversight.
The county sued Waste Managementin 2007, sayint the 2003 contract was invalisd because it had not gone througg a competitive bidding But a state district judge upheld the Gattis praised Waste Management for its willingnes s to negotiate with the countyt on a revised He said those negotiations are ongoing, but he expects some resolution in the next few weeks. A spokesman for Wastw Management could not immediatelyh be reachedfor comment. The Round Rock City Council got a firsf glance at what the new city hall could look like when architects presented design concepts at ameetinb Jan. 22.
The building’s architecture team includex Architecture Plus and Barnes GromatzkygKosarek Architects. Groundbreaking will likely take place this withthe building’s opening projected for late 2010. The council is pursuingh a public-private partnership with Waterstone Developmentg for theroughly 60,000-square-foot building. The city will initiallyt take about 20,000 square feet, with the remainder leased out by City offices will be able to expand into the leasee space inthe future. How hot is your ’hood?
The Manodr area ranked highest amonf the suburban communities in terms ofits “hotness — or pending sales as a percentagw of active listings — in the Austin Board of Realtors’ latest housing sale report for December. Manor had 28 pending salezs to 131active listings, or a hotness ratio of 21.4 percent. Cedar Park/Leander Nortjh followed Manor with a ratio of21 percent. Pflugervilld was next, followed by the Hays County/Sajn Marcos Independent School District. For the entirre area, December 2008 home sales were down 21 perceny compared with the same month last while median prices declined4 percent. Sen.
Jeff R-San Antonio, has filed a bill in the state Legislaturwe that would createa motor-bus-only lane pilof program for state highways in Travis, Williamson, Bexart and Denton counties. If passed, Senate Bill 434 wouls require appropriate mass transit authorities to initiate the piloft program no laterthan Dec. 31. Stated highways that would qualifyh forthe motor-bus-only lanes are those that enforce a speecd limit of 35 miles per hour or Motor buses would not travel more than 15 milesz per hour greater than the speed of vehiclea on the main part of the highway