More than three-fourths of voters who voted early favored a 2013 Denton school bond proposition for $312 million, according to early election returns posted by the Denton County Elections Administration.
According to early voting returns, nearly a fourth of voters opposed the proposition, which could fund a fourth comprehensive high school slated for construction along the U.S. Highway 380 corridor; the district’s 23rd and 24th elementary schools; an eighth middle school; a ninth-grade addition at Guyer High School; renovations at 17 campuses; energy conservation improvements; and land acquisition.
A total of 4,095 people cast ballots early for the Denton school bond proposition, according to the elections office.

With EagleRidge in the headlines again, I took a minute to follow-up with the Texas Railroad Commission and the final report on the April 19 blow-out that the commission staff said would be released sometime in September.

Commission spokeswoman Ramona Nye said that when the final soil samples came back clean, the commission decided to take no additional action against EagleRidge. The report is below.

A local environmental firm, KJ Environmental, took the soil samples as crews cleaned up the area around the well head. At the time clean-up began, a commission inspector noted that the damaged area was to the southeast of the wellhead, and included damage to tree foliage and native grasses.

“Can see salt crystals on foliage,” the inspector wrote.

Similar problems with chlorides showed up in soil samples near the wellhead. Sampling for BTEX chemicals did not show levels of concern. But the salt-soaked soil still had to be hauled away and replaced.

Here’s the report: 2696_001 (1)

If you want to know more about the long-term scars to the land from salt damage, here’s a short video about the Texon Scar.

After about a 90-minute closed session, the Denton City Council moved quickly Tuesday afternoon to clarify the city’s new gas drilling ordinance to specify the sequencing of its permitting requirements.

From now on, operators must start their permits with the gas well inspection division. The move came after the city had to step back from a lawsuit it filed against EagleRidge Energy about two weeks ago. When the city sought a temporary injunction, the judge denied it, in part because EagleRidge produced a permit it received from the fire department.

Fire Marshal Laura Behrens told the council that the fire department inspects a property before it issues a permit to make sure that it meets the requirements of the current fire code.

Council member Dalton Gregory told the rest of the council that it made sense to him that a project would have to be platted before a fire inspection could occur. Council member Kevin Roden said he didn’t consider the move a change to the city’s ordinance, since he believed it clarified what the council had intended all along.

City Attorney Anita Burgess also said the city did not consider the move to be substantial change to the ordinance, but a clarification of the sequencing required.

UPDATE: Here’s the substituted ordinance. The language was changed from the original draft in the council’s agenda packet. SubstitutedOrdinance

Those closely following the city’s legal battle with EagleRidge Energy will note that Tuesday’s City Council meeting shows the fire code will be amended. At issue seems to be the “operating” permits currently issued by the fire department to show compliance with the international fire code. It looks like the city will be moving that authority over to the gas well inspections division.

I got a copy of the fire department permit that was issued to EagleRidge prior to the beginning of operations on Bonnie Brae St. Here it is: Eagleridge Fire Dept Permit

Although no one has said this to me on the record, it’s a good guess that this may be what caused the city to retreat earlier this week.

I have a full story coming in this Sunday’s paper.

The City Council just approved a resolution authorizing the staff to spray in areas where human cases of West Nile virus are found. The move came this afternoon, after a second human case of the disease was reported in a neighborhood just east of Wiggly Field, near Teasley Lane and Hickory Creek Road. A city crew is expected to spray the area overnight in the next few days.

We received copies of court documents related to the city’s lawsuit against EagleRidge Operating. The city is claiming that the company is violating city rules with its drilling of new wells at Bonnie Brae Street and Vintage Road. We’re working on the story. Eagleridge Energy

The Aubrey school board intends to appoint an individual to an unexpired trustee seat by year’s end.
Discussions regarding the vacant seat on the Aubrey school board are expected to get underway within the next few weeks, President Ron Bullock said.
“We will need to have that seat filled by the 27th of December I believe, and we will, but we’re going to be approaching that, how we’re going to do it and working through that here in the next 30 to 45 days but we will have someone appointed to that place by the 27th,” Bullock said.
Mike Sessions resigned for the Place 2 seat June 30, citing personal and health reasons. The unfinished term expires May 2015.
According to school board policy, trustees in the event of a vacancy on the board may appoint someone to the seat until the next school board election or it may order a special election to fill the seat. If the seat left vacant has more than a year remaining in the term, the seat must be filled no later than 180 days after the vacancy occurs, according to the board policy and the Texas Education Code.

The Denton County Health Department alerted the city of Denton today that a second person living within the city limits has been diagnosed with West Nile virus. The city raised its public health alert to Risk Level 5 and announced a special call meeting of the Denton City Council to consider whether to order ground spray in the affected area.

The council will meet Tuesday at 1 p.m.

The first human case was diagnosed earlier this summer, but no positive mosquito pools showed up in the city until this month.

More information can be found on the city website, www.cityofdenton.com

The website Livability.com ranks small and mid-sized cities in monthly top 10 lists and in annual rankings.

Denton was one of two Texas cities that made the website’s Top 100 for the year, coming in at 55 overall and far outranking Plano, which came in at 86.

Here’s what the editors thought made Denton livable (although the blog at Livability regularly explores other issues, such as walkability, culture, transportation, urban planning, and sustainability):

• Mostly Younger
• Smaller City
• Growing City
• Mostly Renters
• Mostly Singles
• Hot Summer
• Green City
• Nearby College/University
• Close to Major Sports Team

Michael Becker presents his science project “Different Temperatures, Different Pitch,” at the National Geographic Museum in Washington D.C. at the Broadcom MASTERS competition. (Courtesy photo: David Becker)

Michael Becker didn’t win the $25,000 top prize at the Broadcom MASTERS (Math, Applied Science, Technology and Engineering for Rising Stars), but the Liberty Christian School freshman returned home Wednesday with a medal of achievement, $750 in awards, an asteroid named after him and memories to last a lifetime in tow.

Becker was one of 30 finalists from six states invited to Washington D.C., for the Broadcom MASTERS, a science, technology, engineering and mathematics competition for middle school students that tests competitors’ abilities in the related subject, teamwork and collaboration.

“It was a great experience, just an honor to be out there,” Becker said. “I got to meet a ton of new people and a lot of new friends that hopefully I’ll keep those relationships forever.”

In his time as a finalist, Becker presented a science project on how air temperature can impact the pitch of a musical instrument. For three hours the public was able to view Becker’s project and discuss it with him as well as do so with the other finalists in the National Geographic Museum. Becker also had opportunities to tour sites of the nation’s capital and surrounding areas and he participated in team competitions that included researching for more efficient solar technology, setting up a structure that could withstand a leaf blower and challenges relating to water cycles, circuits and fuses, Mayan math, wind turbines and rockets.

Becker said that among the highlights of his five-day trip was working with a team in building a roller coaster out of foam pipe, shaking the hand of President Barack Obama on the steps of the Rose Garden and receiving a personal tour of the Oval Office from the president himself.  He calls the experience one of the best he’s ever had.

School officials at Liberty Christian say Becker was the first student from the school to advance to the Broadcom MASTERS finals.

Michael’s father, David Becker who traveled with him to Washington, D.C., said the finalists selected for the competition were “definitely an elite group of kids.”

“It was great to see [Michael] work with the kids and interact with them,” David Becker said. “It makes us extremely proud.”

For more information on Michael Becker, check out our story from earlier this week.