| requirements
to obtain financial assurance in satisfaction of another state agency's
rules.
(g) Where applicable, in addition to the other factors
in this chapter the commission will consider the efforts of the applicant
to extend retail utility service to any economically distressed areas
located within the applicant's certificated service area. For purposes
of this subsection, "economically distressed area" has the meaning
assigned in TWC §15.001.
(h) For two or more retail public utilities that apply
for a CCN to provide retail water utility service to an unserved area
located in an economically distressed area as defined in TWC §15.001,
the commission will conduct an assessment of the applicants to determine
which applicant is more capable financially, managerially and technically
of providing continuous and adequate service. The assessment will
be conducted after the preliminary hearing and only if the parties
cannot agree among themselves regarding who will provide service.
The assessment will be conducted considering the following information:
(1) all criteria from subsections (a) - (g) of this
section;
(2) source-water adequacy;
(3) infrastructure adequacy;
(4) technical knowledge of the applicant;
(5) ownership accountability;
(6) staffing and organization;
(7) revenue sufficiency;
(8) creditworthiness;
(9) fiscal management and controls;
(10) compliance history; and
(11) planning reports or studies by the applicant to
serve the proposed area.
(i) Except as provided by subsection (j) of this section,
a landowner who owns a tract of land that is at least 25 acres and
that is wholly or partially located within the requested area may
elect to exclude some or all of the landowner's property from the
requested area by providing written notice to the commission before
the 30th day after the date the landowner receives notice of an application
for a CCN or for a CCN amendment. The landowner's election is effective
without a further hearing or other process by the commission. If a
landowner makes an election under this subsection, the requested area
must be modified to remove the electing landowner's property. An applicant
that has land removed from its requested area because of a landowner's
election under this subsection may not be required to provide retail
water or sewer utility service to the removed land for any reason,
including a violation of law or commission rules.
(1) The landowner's request to opt out of the requested
area must be filed with the commission and must include the following
information:
(A) the commission docket number and CCN number if
applicable;
(B) the total acreage of the tract of land subject
to the landowner's opt-out request; and
(C) a metes and bounds survey for the tract of land
subject to the landowner's opt-out request, that is sealed or embossed
by either a licensed state land surveyor or registered professional
land surveyor.
(2) The applicant must file the following mapping information
to address each landowner's opt-out request:
(A) a detailed map identifying the revised requested
area after removing the tract of land subject to each landowner's
opt-out request. The map must also identify the outer boundary of
each tract of land subject to each landowner's opt-out request, in
relation to the revised requested area. The map must identify the
tract of land and the requested area in reference to verifiable man-made
and natural landmarks such as roads, rivers, and railroads;
(B) digital mapping data in a shapefile (SHP) format
georeferenced in either NAD 83 Texas State Plane Coordinate System
(US Feet) or in NAD 83 Texas Statewide Mapping System (Meters) for
the revised requested area after removing each tract of land subject
to any landowner's opt-out request. The digital mapping data must
include a single, continuous polygon record; and
(C) the total acreage for the revised requested area
after removing each tract of land subject to the landowner's opt-out
requests. The total acreage for the revised requested area must correspond
to the total acreage included with the digital mapping data.
(j) If the requested area is located within the boundaries
or extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality with a population
of more than 500,000 and the municipality or a retail public utility
owned by the municipality is the applicant, a landowner is not entitled
to make an election under subsection (i) of this section but is entitled
to file a request to intervene in order to contest the inclusion of
the landowner's property in the requested area at a hearing regarding
the application.
|
