Frisco City Council members Laura Rummel and John Keating were two of several city officials who attended a trip to the State Capital in Austin to discuss Frisco’s priorities directly with members of the 89th Legislature. They shared their findings from the trip during a Feb. 18 Council meeting.
During the trip, the group was able to discuss the Exide Plant cleanup with both Frisco’s direct legislators and members of the Appropriations Committee, which is “a very promising start” to their funds request, Rummel said.
The Committee on Appropriations is made up of 27 members in the Texas House of Representatives and oversees budget operations.
“I'm very, very comfortable in echoing [Rummel’s] sentiments about Exide, to the tune of about $35 million that we may see in the support from a variety of state senators and state representatives who are very enthusiastic about everything going on in Frisco,” Keating said.
The setup
The Exide Plant is a former battery recycling center site just south of Frisco’s Main Street. Cleaning up the property—the plant recycled automotive and industrial batteries before being shut down in 2012 following environmental concerns—is a step the city needs to take as plans to build Grand Park ramp up.
Rummel last brought up the potential of state funding for the Exide Plant during a Jan. 7 council meeting, saying that city officials were being more proactive in asking help from the legislature than it was in previous years.
The 89th Legislature held its first meeting Jan. 14.
Keating said the representatives all understood how cleaning up the Exide Plant site would be a huge priority for the city.
“In all the many years I've been down to Austin for legislator sessions and for Frisco Day, or Denton County or Colin County Day, this is easily one of the best trips we've ever made,” he said.
More details
Jason Brodigan, Frisco's director of engineering services, during a late January winter work session discussion called the Exide Plant cleanup a "multiyear effort" for the city.
"We're talking five, six, seven years," Brodigan said.
Sometime this year—either late summer or early fall—the city should be finished building a flood wall around the plant, he said.
The wall will prevent water flow from the site. Cleaning up the Exide Plant includes removing contaminated soil, broken battery casings and "slag," which is waste formed when lead is recovered from used batteries.
Once the walls are done, the city will begin monitoring the groundwater coming from the site, Brodigan said.
"That process, probably a year to a year-and-a-half of monitoring the groundwater that's coming out of that area, lets us get started with creek cleanup," he said.
