A vote Monday by Kendall County Commissioners solidified efforts to gain more control over the rampant expansion and development that’s become commonplace throughout the county.
Commissioners voted unanimously to support an interlocal agreement with Boerne regarding the city’s thoroughfare plan. Boerne City Council received a copy of the arrangement for review during its Jan. 23 executive session.
“I wanted to see some common-sense solutions for property owners who are in the ETJ and fall under city regulations, but can't vote for city officials,” Precinct 1 Commissioner Andra Wisian said. “County residents have asked for this. They’ve been waiting for a year, and I’m in agreement to step up and sign this today.”
At the heart of the matter is the Boerne Major Thoroughfare Plan, a formal planning document developed by the city to provide for an efficient and appropriate thoroughfare system if an undeveloped piece of land is proposed for development.
The city of Boerne created its first MTP in 1974 and has updated it several times since. Many of the lines from the 1974 MTP have not become roads because the land was not developed.
Because the city has the MTP in place, when a property has changed owners or uses, the city has been able to require the developers to either set aside right-of-way or build roads and sidewalks that are part of the overall thoroughfare plan.
County residents swarmed commission meetings, voicing objection to the MTP. They saw development, or roadway, lines that crossed their properties, land they feared would be lost as the city and county growth continues.
A key element of the city-county agreement states, “The lines shown for potential future connectivity outside city limits will not be applicable in the ETJ.”
“What they are doing,” Wisian said, “is putting arbitrary lines on maps that may or may not come to fruition. And that scares property owners.
“The new agreement will really curb that development,” she added, “because we won’t have land speculators looking at proposed roads and maps, trying to buy a property and planning dense development.”
Sec. 3.1 of the agreement says the city shall not enforce its subdivision regulations, including the regulation of subdivision plats, within the city’s ETJ unless the property is subject to or has applied for a development agreement or special district.
That language, County Judge Shane Stolarczyk said, “protects the residents living there, to eliminate the concerns that have been voiced.” Stolarczyk earlier had said the agreement “specifically addresses the Boerne thoroughfare plan and whether those lines on the map have any enforceability.”
Wisian spoke to the city’s attempts to handle the oncoming growth with the transportation plan.
“Rather than using the city thoroughfare plan, which is arbitrary, the county's thoroughfare plan uses existing roads,” she said. “We’ve got Highway 46. We’ve got FM 3351. We’ve got 1356. We have major state highways and farm-to-market roads. There’s funding there to develop those roads, and that makes more sense.”
Wisian spoke to another section, 3.4, which allows the county to have a say in any future developments and assess impact costs.
“What that means is the county ... can acquire funding from the developer for county services that will be needed, such as roads, firefighting, the sheriff’s office, and the like,” she said.
But Stolarczyk said the vote was “part of the process” toward the county’s goals, as Boerne City Council still had to consider the agreement, and a late addition, section 3.5 -- “If a development will have a city of Boerne utility, water and wastewater service, then the development will fall under the city’s regulations.”
“Although we’ve been in negotiation with the city for many months, their council still has to approve this,” Stolarczyk said. Monday. “If they don’t, we’re back to square one.
“Just because this court may adopt this today doesn’t mean we’re across the finish line,” he added.
“This is not the perfect agreement. It accomplishes a lot of what this court has sought to do to protect residents in the ETJ, but it can be better,” the judge added.
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