BOERNE – City Council is looking to amend its Unified Development Code to quell concerns from residents about roadway developments and the effect on property values in the town’s extraterritorial jurisdiction.
Over several meetings, residents of both the city and Kendall County rallied together in opposition to the city’s major thoroughfare-plan update.
The protests led to a packed council meeting late last month at City Hall which left even the overflow room at capacity.
“So, what exactly can these folks do on their property that have a thoroughfare line that is going to keep them from triggering right-of-way designation?” resident Denise Deaver asked as she read from the current UDC.
A concern among residents is tied to how the thor- oughfare lines affect property values and the ability to improve their own parcels.
While city officials have repeatedly stressed they are willing to work with property owners, critics of the plan say there is no clear language for the thoroughfare roads or a clear definition of “development.”
So, city staff has gone back to the drawing board.
“City staff has been working for several months now to appropriately include modifications to the United Development Code for residents in the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction to ensure the code is working to the best of its ability, while not overly burdening residents who are looking to complete smaller projects on their property,” Communications Director Chris Shadrock said in a statement.
He added, “On Tuesday, City Council will be presented with proposed language that will better define when a building project would trigger the platting process and the requirements established in the thoroughfare plan.”
The current UDC and city code require any “unsubstantial structure” request go through a platting process if a proposed thoroughfare ran through a property.
This meant any building, regardless of size or significance, triggered the platting process and would require the property owner to designate right of way for the thoroughfare project.
This proposed change to the UDC and city code sets a series of exemptions for platting in the city’s ETJ if a project is on 5 acres of land or less and it results in impervious cover of 25% of the property area or less.
There are several more exemptions identified in the drafted amendment, but this seems to most clearly answer the concerns voiced by hundreds of residents.
The outcries come at a time of growing friction between city and county residents over how Boerne is continuing to expand, but District 1 Councilman Ty Wolosin reminded the audience of the pressures municipal officials are under.
“We do have a private utility in our ETJ. That is a boogie man that people should be aware of,” Wolosin said, acting as mayor pro-tem. “By state law, if you can get private water and private sewer and there’s private electricity out there, density becomes obsolete. So, remember that when you hear rumors about us doing stuff out there, we did that because that was the only way for us to do any sort of protection by using our utility.”
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