Mineral Wells Area News

At the regularly scheduled Mineral Wells City Council meeting on March 19th, Community Christian School had some special honorees in attendance.

Fourth Grader Rowan Isham, daughter of Cale and Alyssa, represented CCS as the Honorary City Council Member at the meeting.

Also in attendance from CCS was this year’s boys basketball team. They won the TCAF State Championship title for the second year in a row and were led by Senior Price Horton who is ranked 20th in leading steals out of all Texas high school basketball players. Principal Doug Jefferson also mentioned that one of their stars this season was a 6’5 8th grader indicating they have a good future ahead for the team.

Inking History

In business news, the Council unanimously approved a permit for the first ever tattoo shop to be opened up in town. 1st Revelation Tattoo will open their doors at 1704 SE 1st Street. Council changed the city ordinance a couple years ago to allow tattoo shops to conduct business in the city. Tod and Nicole Bain have had a shop for several years in Weatherford and are soon expanding to Mineral Wells.

Councilman Doyle Light said he got some “not so nice” messages about the proposed business, but after a recommendation by the Planning and Zoning Committee, and comments to the Council from Mr. Bain, the City voted 6-0 for the special use permit to allow the business.

The Wells Redesigned

Remington Wheat of Bannister Engineering representing Diane Kessler of The Wells Development presented the Council with an amendment to the planned development of a 115 acre tract of land off Garrett Morris Parkway. Wheat told the Council that new neighborhood project was approved over two years ago but had sat idle since then. With the turn of the economy and rise in interest rates, the project had just become uneconomical for investors.

The biggest change in the new plans included an addition of a community pavilion and a swimming pool, more green spaces, as well as trimming the lot sizes and reducing structure square footage minimums. Remington said they expected the homes to average between 1600 and 2000 square feet but took the parameters down to 1200 square feet just in case interest rates continue to rise in Phase 2 and 3. Remington said the planned development is designed for “workforce housing” and the average home price will start in the “$250,000 range.”

Green Spaces

Parks and Recreation Director Carrie Stevenson spoke to the council about utilizing grant money to beautify areas of the City. She presented a grant opportunity thru the TxDoT Green Ribbon program that could award $400,000 for landscaping and beautification improvements around the City. The projects would be located at North and South entry points into the community as well as at an existing landscaped space on Highway 180. If awarded, the projects will cost the City just over $50k for the grant awards.

District’s Water Projects Moving Forward

Howard Huffman, General Manager for the Palo Pinto Municipal Water District #1 presented Council with an update on various water projects they are managing. City Council approved a budget amendment for the District’s 2024 budget that will move these projects forward.

Turkey Peak

The final review and design for the project is in the hands of the Texas Water Development Board according to the District’s General Manager. Huffman said this is a standard procedure the board follows to make sure all the procedures were followed and that funding was spent properly during the design phase. He anticipates no problems in this final review. He stated land acquisitions and conservation easements are in the final stages and should be completed by June. Contractor interviews will take place this summer and construction is still on target for Spring 2025.

Brazos Pump Station/Raw Water Pipe/Water Treatment Plant

The pump station and raw water pipe projects have been combined and engineering has begun. Completion of engineering is expected this Fall and will be paid through an amendment to the District’s 2024 budget. The new Water Treatment Plant has also begun the preliminary engineering phase and should be designed by the Fall of 2025. The City has submitted a preliminary funding evaluation report for 2025 Drinking Water State Revolving Funds to possibly help with financing.

Reverse Osmosis/Desalinization

The District is in the final phase with multiple Reverse Osmosis equipment vendors for the supply of the necessary filtering equipment should we move to Stage 3 in the Drought Contingency Plan. Huffman said Climatologist’s are not anticipating the situation to change anytime soon to fill up Lake Palo Pint. The District’s staff are preparing to move to a Reverse Osmosis procedure of Brazos River Water this summer to fulfill the water needs of its customers. The District has secured enough Brazos River water rights from the City of Abilene and Manvel to RO enough supply to meet its contractual needs of the community. When the lake falls below 855 feet or 25%, the RO procedure will be necessary. Currently the lake level is 35%.