City adopting master plansWater, wastewater both are on the agenda

The Odessa City Council will consider adopting master plans for the city’s water and wastewater during their Tuesday meeting, providing the city with plans to pursue future city water projects.

Council members will meet to consider the plans and other agenda items during their meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday on the fifth floor of City Hall, 411 W. Eighth St.

Assistant City Manager Phillip Urrutia said these master plans would be identifying projects, which could be undertaken immediately, or in the near future, for greater development of the city.

“It could be rehab of sewer lines, or it could be additional water storage, water capacity, things of that nature,” Urrutia said. “This adopting will allow the City Council to have a game plan from this point on and decided and prioritize which projects should be pursued.”

The city is already considering a number of needed improvements to their water treatment plant, and is also considering a potential new reverse osmosis facility that could significantly improve the quality of the city’s water. Current improvements needed include upgrading processing and electrical equipment, and the instrumentation and control systems.

Improvements to just the existing facility have an estimated cost of about $65 million, which would be paid for through the sale of treated wastewater to Pioneer Natural Resources. A potential RO facility would cost about $80 million.

Both of these improvements are still in the engineering phase, and Utilities Director Tom Kerr said the City Council would consider approving funding for either just the improvements or the improvements and the RO facility sometime this summer.

The city will also look at approving a request by the Odessa Housing Finance Corporation to rezone some of their lots from general residential to special dwelling districts. Zoning Director Randy Brinlee said OHFC would be converting these lots into 12 lots, which he said would maximize their redevelopment there for affordable housing.

“We figured that’s probably the best way to go because if it stayed general housing, they could put housing there but not as many lots,” Brinlee said.

Under the rezoning, Brinlee said it would be converted into a small cul-de-sac with six lots on each side. Each lot would be about 40 feet in width, 10 feet shorter than the required 50 feet width for general residential lots.

“You have a lot more options to maximize use of property with a special dwelling district,” Brinlee said. “It fits their needs a lot better to be able to go that route.”

The rezoning request will have to be approved one final time at the next City Council meeting before it is finalized.

 

IN OTHER BUSINESS, THE CITY COUNCIL WILL

  • Consider approval of City Council minutes, May 28, 2019.
  • Consider approval of City Council workshop minutes, May 28, 2019.
  • Consider approval of City Council work session minutes, June 4, 2019.
  • Consider approval of the request of Nestor M. Quinonez, owner, for original zoning of Light Industrial (LI) on an approximately 0.3 acre tract in Section 32, Block 42, T-2-S, T&P Ry. Co. Survey, Ector County, Texas (southwest of the intersection of Maurice Rd. and S. County Rd. West) (Ordinance – Second and Final Approval).
  • Consider approval of the annexation of 4521 W. 42nd St., 12012 W. Westland Dr., and 3510 W. 14th St., into the Ector County Utility District (Resolution).
  • Consider rejection of bids for overflow basin liner.
  • Consider authorizing the abandonment of a portion of 20’ alley right of way upon receipt of payment in the amount of valuation to be set by Ector County Appraisal District.
  • Consider renewal of contract for auctioneering services.
  • Open a public hearing to consider approval of the request by Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, owner, for rezoning from Single Family-Three (SF-3) to Neighborhood Services (NS) on Lots 10-14, Block 62, Harrisdale Subdivision (at the northwest corner of University Blvd. and Ventura Ave.) (Ordinance — First Approval).
  • Open a public hearing to consider approval of the request by XTX Associates, LLC, owner, Newton Engineering, agent, for rezoning from Planned Development-Retail (PD-R) to Light Commercial (LC) on Lots 12-13, Block 41, Harrisdale Addition, 6th Filing (on the northeast corner of Troy Ave. and University Blvd.) (Ordinance — First Approval).
  • Open a public hearing to consider amending the boundary lines of the five Single Member Districts (SMDs) to include the lands annexed pursuant to Ordinance 2018-46, adopted on November 27, 2018 (Ordinance — First Approval).