County: Hamilton Pool cleanup will cost $2.3 million

The county hopes to win that much in a lawsuit against developer.

By Marty Toohey
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Cleaning Hamilton Pool and the silt-covered, four-mile stretch of creek feeding it will cost about $2.3 million, a consultant hired by Travis County said Tuesday.

The consultant echoed county officials' previous claim that chalky gunk coating the bottom of the iconic swimming hole in the western corner of the county came from a housing development along the Hays-Travis county line. If the silt is not removed from the creek, it will eventually wash into the publicly owned pool, consultant Victoria Harkins told county commissioners.

Harkins was hired to investigate a situation that started a year ago, when county officials noticed that a huge amount of sediment had washed into the creek shortly after heavy rains that caused flooding through the Hill Country. County officials blamed the Ranches at Hamilton Pool, a project that will put 29 homes on about 1,221 acres.

Harkins' conclusions stand in stark contrast to those of Coldwater Development, the developer of the Ranches.

"Our experts have concluded there is no remaining sediment in the creek bed or the pool, except the normal background sediment," said David Chamberlain, Coldwater's attorney. "We dispute there is any permanent damage to the pool and the creek."

Travis County, Hays County, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and a handful of landowners have sued several companies associated with the Ranches, including Coldwater, which is owned by Austinite J. Kelly Gray. The builders agreed in November to halt construction during the lawsuit.

Sherine Thomas, director of litigation for the Travis County attorney's office, said a trial is scheduled for February. The county is seeking cleanup costs, attorney fees and reimbursement for silt disposal, a total that would probably exceed $3 million.

County commissioners said they want the cleanup but did not officially give the go-ahead Tuesday.

County Judge Sam Biscoe, chairman of the Commissioners Court, said members "need to talk to our partners, and" — referring to Coldwater — "those who should be our partners."

Harkins said silt that wasn't in the creek before the heavy rains has filled in all its swimming holes. She said the sediment is diminishing the amount of oxygen in the creek, endangering plants and animals.

"Is that to say it's choking the creek?" Commissioner Sarah Eckhardt asked.

"Absolutely," Harkins replied. "It changes the ecological outlook of the creek."

Her company would probably perform the cleanup, as it did recently at Dead Man's Hole, a Hays County pool that cyclist and nearby property owner Lance Armstrong paid to restore after neighbors said construction from his upstream dam had polluted it.

Harkins said Hamilton Pool would be cleaned using giant hoses that would suck the sediment into truck-size tanks. Along the creek, the silt would be removed by workers using shovels or small construction machines. In areas too deep or too tricky, they would use a high-pressure hose to wash the sediment to shoveling points downstream.

mtoohey@statesman.com; 445-3673