Meadowlakes: City considers street tree overhang ordinance

By CHRIS PORTER • Daily Tribune Staff

MEADOWLAKES - City leaders say they’ll consider crafting a new ordinance that would give the Meadowlakes Property Owners’ Association the authority to enforce strict limits on low-hanging tree branches growing over residential streets.

The City Council discussed the issue at a Tuesday night meeting, where council members also signed off on a $31,000 dump truck purchase by the Public Works Department.

The branches have proved troublesome for large vehicles attempting to negotiate the neighborhood streets, officials said.

“The (Marble Falls Independent) school district has said they didn’t want to come into the city to run the bus lines until the trees were trimmed,” Mayor John Aaron told a large audience.

In fact, many large service vehicles - buses included - are forced to drive in the center of the streets to avoid the thick branches growing on either side, Aaron said.

The Meadowlakes POA owns all of the streets in the enclosed city, meaning that organization - made up of property owners - would bear the brunt of any liability connected to the low-hanging branches.

“Even though the streets are owned by the POA, I was concerned (the branches) could be a safety problem,” Aaron said.

POA presiding officer Don Williams said his group has tried to enforce branch limits several times in the past, but only with varying success.

“We can ask people to trim them, but if they choose not to, we don’t have any way to make them,” he said. “Most people were really nice and worked with us when we asked in the past.”

Aaron said the city does have the police authority to enforce limits on branch length, though any liability judgments would likely target the POA as street owners.

The council voted to table the issue for further discussion at next month’s meeting, where council members may choose to approve an ordinance that would give the POA legal authority to impose branch limits.

Measure approved

In other action, the council unanimously approved a measure allowing Public Works Director Johnnie Thompson to purchase a new dump truck for the Public Works Department.

The truck would be used for hauling loads and light towing, Thompson said.

“We have a three-quarter ton truck that we use now to tow our sewer cleaner, but it’s getting overstressed,” he said, adding the vehicle’s brakes aren’t rated to handle such a heavy load.

The new truck is a Ford F-550 that will be purchased from Philpott Motors out of Houston.

“We’re in a partnership with the Houston-Galveston Council of Governments that’s a cooperative purchasing partnership, so we didn’t have to go out for bids,” Thompson said.

The Ford truck was at least $8,400 cheaper than the next highest bidder, he said.

The council also heard from City Building Committee Chairman Herb Lewis, who urged the council to consider allowing city staff to take over some of the volunteer committee’s duties.

The committee is tasked with reviewing and approving building permits, along with issuing certificates of occupancy and some zoning responsibilities.

Lewis said he hoped the city would take on the permitting duties.

“I think the building committee has served the city well, but as the city of Meadowlakes has matured in recent years, there are a number of functions I think the city could assign to a staff member,” Lewis said.

The council agreed to discuss the issue further at a future meeting.

chris@thepicayune.com

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Meadowlakes: City considers street tree
overhang ordinance