The case of the Bartonville Water Tower took a surprising turn at Tuesday’s Town Council meeting.
Council members voted to approve a conditional use permit for an elevated water tank and related facilities on a 4.7-acre tract of land known as Lot 1, Block A of the Bartonville Water Supply Addition and a zoning change from residential to public/semi-public.
The meeting was nearly standing-room-only at the Fellowship Church of the Nazarene, with several residents speaking out against the water tower, which sits half-completed on the site. One resident spoke in favor of its construction.
“To a large extent, this is about commitment,” said Dick Armey, one of the many residents opposing the water tower. He said a representative from the water supply company promised it would not construct an elevated water tower when Armey and his wife decided to purchase their ranch.
The Bartonville water tower has been a sore subject for some residents for almost four years, leading Armey, a former congressman and U.S. House majority leader, and Rex Tillerson, CEO and chairman of Exxon Mobil Corp., to file a lawsuit to halt construction of the 160-foot water tower adjacent to Armey’s 78-acre ranch.
Armey had previously said that he purchased the land with the understanding that the town would be building a low-rise water tower, not a 750,000-gallon water tank that would tower over his property.
“The construction of the water tower will create a constant and unbearable nuisance for those that live next to it,” the lawsuit stated.
The lawsuit seeks damages of $40 million and a halt to the completion of the water tower.
In March 2013, Tillerson and other parties dropped out of the initial lawsuit, but Armey is continuing the fight against the water supply company, now known as Cross Timbers Water Supply, in Denton County courts. The case will go to trial in April.
At Tuesday night’s meeting, only one council member, Betty Medlock, voiced concern over approving the conditional use permit for the elevated water tank.
“I need a reason to vote for [conditional use permit],” Medlock said. “I’ve not heard the fact that if we don’t build this, our homes are at risk.”
The rest of the council disagreed and felt that enough evidence had been presented to warrant an elevated tower.
CHRISTIAN McPHATE can be reached at 940-566-6878 and on Twitter at @writerontheedge.
