There may be hope for clean water yet.

Though the Pulaski Quorum Court fell just short of rounding up the extraordinary vote needed to extend a moratorium on Lake Maumelle watershed development last night, the proposal still drew nine votes of the 15-member county governing body. You have to believe nine votes for a development moratorium are also nine voters favorably inclined toward protecting the lake from damaging development in the watershed.

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Better yet, the ethically challenged developers’ friend, JP Doug Reed, mustered only three votes for his resolution that development in the watershed was not the county’s business. Reed opposes land use regulation in the watershed. Were Reed’s view to prevail, I’d favor installing a PCB factory and hog feeder operation next door to his house.

The big pending question is whether the watershed will be covered by a protection plan crafted by the water company, clean water advocates and property owners or a proposed county ordinance that differs in several respects.

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County Judge Buddy Villines likes the ordinance. For your information, here’s a comparison he’s drawn between the protection plan and the ordinance.

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