The following letter was written by a Comanche Rancherias property owner to neighboring property owners who have entered into an agreement with a company which plans to dredge Lake LBJ. It was sent to the Burnet Bulletin for publication:
My name is Taylor Delz, and I am writing to discuss the sand plant that Collier Materials plans to put in on CR 309.
I live in Comanche Rancherias and was born and raised in Kingsland. My family has been in the area for generations, just as yours has. My grandparents Mike and Gay Delz have lived in Comanche Rancherias for over 30 years.
I grew up admiring all your property along Lake LBJ, and in my younger years I enjoyed the rope swing in the cove across from Lookout Mountain.
I grew up on this lake and always had such respect for you and your family never giving in to the many attempts to buy your beautiful land. Y’all did like any good ranching family would and just kept ranching. I have great admiration for folks like you.
The day an opportunity presented itself to buy a lot adjoining your hayfield on 309, I took it. I closed on the first piece of real estate I’ve ever owned shortly after.
I was so proud of the view off my back porch. I took pictures of sunsets over Packsaddle Mountain almost daily. I sent them to my friends and family regularly. When people come to my house,
When people come to my house, they enter through my back porch, and Packsaddle Mountain is always what they see first.
I actually designed the whole layout of my property to maximize the view of Packsaddle.
It may not be much to others, but it is everything to me. My Dad and I are putting the finishing touches on a chicken coop as I write this letter.
I have put all my energy into making a home here along your hayfield. I knew the view wouldn’t last my whole life, but I thought I would get more than two years of it. I have always dreaded the year
I have always dreaded the year that one of your properties was sold. I have only had the pleasure of this view for a little over two years. I could imagine the resorts, golf courses, subdivisions that would go in.
Never in a million years would I have thought the Miles/Moss ranch would fall into the hand of a mining operation. You have guarded and watched over this land your entire life just as your family before you did. I could live with a golf course
I could live with a golf course or resort or something that would benefit the whole area. A sand plant located on one of the most beautiful stretches of land in Llano County is just unacceptable.
Obviously, I along with other Comanche Rancherias residents have the most to lose but it is not good for anyone except Collier, you the landowners, and maybe the county.
They can say what they will about helping clean the lake out, but it is just going to fill back up after the next flood. That’s the nature of the beast.
When you dam up two rivers, you get sediment build-up. You can say it’s only five years, but we all know the Llano River will produce sand for as long as Collier is willing to dig it out.
They can say it is the most state-of-the-art sand plant in America, but at the end of the day, it is still a sand plant less than 600 yards from my back porch.
The list of challenges goes on and on … the noise, dust, air and water pollution, the decrease to our property values. All this so Collier can make millions off our public resource.
That sand belongs to the river, not Collier. I will fight this with all I have got, alongside the many property owners this will negatively affect.
I’m likely too small to make a difference, but you never know when David will come a calling.
Taylor Delz
Kingsland
