• BY DAVID TEWES - DTEWES@VICAD.COM
• Originally published November 16, 2009 at 3:45 p.m., updated November 16, 2009 at 10:55 p.m.

• The city council will also consider awarding a $6.17 million contract to Total Site Inc. of Houston for the second phase of the Laurent Street reconstruction project.

  The work will be between Airline Road and Sam Houston Drive and the ...

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The city council will also consider awarding a $6.17 million contract to Total Site Inc. of Houston for the second phase of the Laurent Street reconstruction project.

The work will be between Airline Road and Sam Houston Drive and the contractor has 14 months to complete the work.

Rose McNary said she's not being selfish, but she doesn't like the city's idea to build a sewer plant near her home in south Victoria.

"I'm not real happy about it," she said. "There's not anything good about it for this community."

Mayor Will Armstrong disagreed.

"Nobody wants a sewer plant next to them," Armstrong said. "But today's sewer plants are a lot different than old sewer plants."

There are ways to deal with the odor and the plant will have a large buffer of city property around it, he said.

The property is near Hopkins Magnet School, the Boys and Girls Club of Victoria, a convent and residential areas. The odor and lower property values will affect all neighbors, McNary said.

Now, she is alerting her neighbors and hopes many people attend the city council meeting on Tuesday to protest. The meeting begins at 5 p.m. in the Council Chamber at 107 W. Juan Linn St.

The council considered buying the property earlier this year, but changed course after receiving complaints from the current owner. The owner thought the city tried to work behind his back to buy the land from the Texas Zoo.

Then a split council voted two weeks ago to buy the 76 acres along Southwest Ben Jordan Street between Laurent Street and Hand Road. The owners had converted it to a recreation area for all-terrain vehicles and dirt bikes.

The council is scheduled Tuesday to make a $375,000 budget amendment to pay for the property, to cover the closing costs and for permits.

The property was recommended by a consultant as the best site for a new sewer plant, Armstrong said. It is out of the floodplain and has city property on two sides.

It's also near the existing sewer plant on U.S. 59, which will allow the new plant to use the same effluent outlet to the Guadalupe River. That also means it will be convenient because city crews will be operating both plants, Armstrong said.

The city will need a new sewer plant by 2015 and this location is significantly less costly than other nearby sites, he said. It was also available without the city having to use condemnation proceedings to acquire it, he said.

There aren't many residential neighborhoods nearby and the prevailing wind will help with issues such as odor, Armstrong said.

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