About this meeting
- Government Body
- City Council
- Meeting Type
- City Council
- Location
- Horseshoe Bay, TX
- Meeting Date
- October 14, 2025
Transcript
59 sections
long it takes to get from 2:59 to 3 o'clock, but we finally made it. So, um it is three o'clock. I'm going to call the meeting to order. Um we have a full um presence of our council. So, we have a quorum and we appreciate all of you being here today. As we do with every meeting, we're going to start this meeting with an invocation and follow that with our pledges to the American and the Texas flag. So, I'm going to call on Pastor John Duncan of the Church of Horay to lead us in prayer. Thank you, John. Before I pray, I'd like to express uh my appreciation for your service as mayor to our community, and we appreciate all that you've done and pray the Lord's blessing on your life in future days. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, we thank you for Christ, our hope, salvation, and strength. And Lord, we thank you for our wonderful community that we live in. We thank you, Lord, that you bless us and guide us and lead us. And Lord, we really need that every day. We need your care. We need Lord your guidance and Lord we need uh your ministry in our lives. Lord in this room probably there are people who have needs and concerns and burdens and we lift those up to you knowing that we can cast our cares on you because you care for us. And Lord today we pray for this meeting. We pray for the leaders of our community and we pray again your guidance and blessing in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. United States of America standy for all. Well, thank you all so much for being here. These chairs in in the front here are available. They're
designated handicapped, but that's uh that doesn't mean anything if handicapped people aren't here. We'd love for you to sit there. Um we have a full agenda today, but I'd just like to take a moment uh personally to thank um all of you for being here. This is my last council meeting that I'll preside over as mayor. It's been an honor to to serve this city for the last six years in one capacity or another. It's been an honor to serve with um Cynthia Kleinmith there who was my mentor as mayor and um with all of the people up here. You've been wonderful colleagues, wonderful support, the staff. Um the city would not be what we are without the people who um sit in this office and and make it run every day. I'm so grateful to every one of you. I'm so happy that you're all still going to be here. Um, I could not feel better about the handoff to uh Jeff Jones and we're continuing u great um custom of leadership in the city and I'm just so proud that I was able to be a part of it. So, thank you all for being here. I know some of my friends are here to today to help me celebrate and it's very special to me that you're here. Thank you. So, um, the first item on our agenda is a proclamation declaring September 28th through October 4th as Source Water Protection Week. I hope we did a good job, September the 28th through October the 4th of protecting our water, but we're going to proclaim that week now anyway. The Laura Colorado River Basin is one of the most vital resources for our region. in this pro proclamation is intended to bring awareness to residents and res visitors of that fact. So I'm just going to read a few few of the uh the things that are said in the in the proclamation. Whereas the health, prosperity, and quality of life of the city of Horseshoe Bay, citizens and community depend
on a reliable safe source of highquality drinking water. Protecting our drinking water is essential to preserve our own health and economy and that of future generations. And all Horseshoe Bay residents are encouraged to recognize this precious resource and help conserve the watersheds that are the source of our water. September 28th through 4th shall be hereafter known as was source water protection week in the city of Horseshoe Bay. And this will be filed by the city secretary. And I just want to thank Ray Garcia and where's Ray? and his staff for the great work that they do um in in providing us with with clean water. So, thank you Ray very much. Um item number two is a proclamation declaring the month of October as code enforcement appreci officer appreciation month. Um, code enforcement officers provide for the safety and welfare of citizens throughout the United States through the administration of local codes or ordinances addressing various issues related to building construction, zoning, housing, animal control, environmental stewardship, and public health. Code enforcement officers are off are often have challenging and demanding obligations and often do not receive adequate recognition for the job that they do. improving living and working conditions for the res residents and businesses of a local community. They are dedicated and highly qualified professionals. The city of Horseshoe Bay recognizes the outstanding service provided by the city's code enforcement staff uh which consists are they here of Chad Mercer, code enforcement officer and supervisor M. Monte Montano. M um yeah Mac Mononttoya. matory here and uh code enforcement officer Jeremy Jacob. I didn't see him there. So, thank you all very much. Um they do have a hard job.
They are code enforcement officers are rarely welcomed when they show up somewhere. Um but what the work that they do is very important and we appreciate what you all do. So, thank you so much. And the last proclamation is um declaring November 3rd through 7th municipal court week. And I know that we have our municipal court um Beth Coun is here and also Molly is involved with it. Yeah. Okay. So the proclamation says municipal courts play a significant role in preserving public safety and promoting quality of life in Texas. More people come in contact with the mun municipal courts than all other Texas courts combined and the public impression of the Texas judicial system is largely dependent on the public's experience in municipal court. The horseshoe body municipal judge is not a policy maker for the city of Horseshoe Bay but is bound by the laws and the cannons of judicial conduct and is required to make decisions independent of the governing body of the city council, city officials and employees. and court administrator Beth Coons is entrusted with the responsibility of coordinating municipal court activities for the city of Horseshoe Bay. We hereby recognize the vital services they perform in their dedication to our community. Um November 3rd through 7th shall hereafter be known as Municipal Court Week in Horseshoe Bay. Beth, thank you so much and um also to Judge Madison for the outstanding work that you all do on our behalf. And it's true. More people see the municipal the court system through the municipal courts than any other court. And they certainly see a smiling face when you're there. So, thank you so much. Announcements. Okay. Jeff Costa. Well, this one took a long time to get here. So, today we are gathered to honorable honor
the the remarkable milestone of Jason, Chief Jason Graham. 25 years of service that he's dedicated to the city of Horseshoe Bay. In October 2000, Jason joined the police department as a fresh graduate from the police academy. What began in the first step of his law enforcement career grown into a quarter century of unwavering commitment to our community. Over the 25 years Jason has just served, he has excelled. Um he's worked his way through nearly every rank and role of a department of the police department. Uh from police officer, sergeant, criminal investigator, captain. In 2018, he was uh named the assistant city uh chief. Each position brought new challenges and each time Jason rose to meet the profession's dedication. His commitment to excellence extended beyond the city limits. 2018, Jason earned the prestigious Trilogy Award from the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Association, a distinction given only to those who successfully completed all three of the FBI LEDA institutes, the Supervisor Loser Leadership Institute, the Command Leadership Institute, and the Executive Leadership Institute. This journey which bring began in 2016 demonstrates his dedication uh to continuous improvements of professional development. In 2024, Jason's year of service, leadership, and deep understanding of our community led to his selection of the Horseshy Bay's third police chief. Both the city manager and uh the police chief Rocky Warlow recognized what we all knew that Jason has the best he was the best candidate for the position. He is constantly demonstrating understand
our community's expectation is perform exceptional service to our city. Beyond his badge and uniform, Jason is a devoted father to his daughters Aya and Aspen. when he's where he whether he's kayaking on the lake, fishing, camping with his girls, or spending time with family, Jason embodies the value of our community. Family dedication, love for a special place that we call home. I would also recognize that the Reese Association of Alisa Norman has also helped Jason smile more and added to his happiness and his mustache, too. Chief Graham, on behalf of the city of Horseshoe Bay and all the residents have served for the last 25 years, we thank you. Thank you for your sacrifice, your leadership, your integrity, and your unwavering commitment to keep our community safe. Please join me in celebrating Chief Graham's 25 years. Oh, it's gonna be a nice picture. Congratulations, Jason. But more than that, thank you. Thank you for
uh 25 very dedicated years and for the great hands that our city is in. We really appreciate everything that you do and the professional kind way you do it. So, thank you very much. The next item on the agenda is Ray Garcia. There you are with another recognition. Mayor, council, on October 2025. Uh, this marks 10 years of service to the city of Horseshoe Bay and its residents for Aaron Watson. Aaron, come on up, please. Aaron's position as a grinder, pump, and motor technician. Aaron Watson began his work 10 years ago in the utilities department field division as a field operator and then moved into the current role as a grinder, pump, and motor technician. Aaron has repaired thousands I say thousands of grinder pumps and motors for our residents and has assisted in many other roles supporting field operation division during his time with the field utilities department. Aaron has become the leading expert in grinder pump repair for the city of Horseshoe Bay and possesses a wealth of field operation knowledge that has made him an integral and valuable team member and mentor to field team members. Aaron has he he has wastewater collection class two license and his water distribution class C license. Aaron has become known not only for his vast knowledge and experience in field operations and pump repair skills, but also known for his generosity
providing great barbecue and other delicious barbecue lunch specials uh for uh volunteering his time to cook for his team members there in field and as well as the entire department. Aaron loves spending time with his family, fishing, and devotes his time to missionary work both local and overseas in various countries. Please joining join me in recognizing Aaron Watson for his exemplary 10 years of service and dedication to the city of Horseshoe Bay and its residents. George. George. That's not the easiest job in the world. and we want to see you back here with a few more stacks on your on your recognition because we don't want you to go anywhere. Thank you very much, Erin. Thank you. Um, so we've come to the part of the agenda for public comment and before we go there,
um, is there a way that we could get three more chairs set up? We just almost We almost made it, but we if we could get three more back there. We've got Thank you very much. I'm Oh, I know. Okay. You know where I've skipped you, Carrie. Um before I We're not g We're not going to do public comments right now because when we go back to when we get to the area in the agenda where that comment is about, I'll call you on you then. Um, at this time I want to Carrie uh Craig, our administrative services director and city secretary is in charge of of solicitate soliciting members for new committee. So tell us what we've got for that. We're recruiting for planning and zoning commission and the board of adjustment this time. Those are the two groups and um we have I believe three vacancies on P&Z and three regular positions on BOA and three alternate positions on BOA. So the deadline for applying is November 1st. the application's available on the city's website. It's just a one pager, very simple. Um you can call my office and um you could come by and fill one out whichever way you want to do it, but we encourage everyone to apply and be part of one of our groups and help let us know how you want to see the community handled. Thank you. Yeah. Um it's it's wonderful when people volunteer to be on these committees and we couldn't do our work without the planning and zoning committee commission or the board of adjustments. Thanks, Carrie. Okay. Um we're going to have a public hearing now. I'm going to open the public hearing at 3:16. The sub public hearing is application for approval of a replat of lot um of a lot at Mitchell Point at Skywater which um includes approximately 1.73 acres of land. And I'll let you explain what this is. Uh Rick. Yes, ma'am. Of course. Uh thank you, Mayor Council. Uh I'm sorry. I was looking for the clicker, but Oh, I'm so sorry. No, no, no, that's fine.
Okay. So, what we have is a as as you said, Mayor replat of uh one lot into three at Sorry, let me find my place here. Approximately 1.739 acres of land from one single family residential lot to three single family residential lots located at the termination of Spice Lily in zone 10 of Sienna Creek. And so, as it is platted now, this is the uh this is the lot in question. This is what they are proposing to do. Subdivided into three lots. The three lots will range from 0.524 to 6 acres each consistent with neighboring properties on Spice Liy. Uh the lot in question fronts on the culde-sac at the termination of Spice Lily. Uh identical frontages of two have an identical frontage of 48 ft and one has 46. That's the abupment to the culde-sac. uh no variances or public improvements are required for this. This uh application qualifies for the streamline process without a separate preliminary and final plat. So that's the part where we'll approve both at the same time or council has the authorization to do that. That's part of the uh subdivision regulations found in chapter 10. There were some concerns in the P&Z about lot frontage and potential loss of Heritage Oaks on one of the lots. The commission noted that uh there's no authority to deny the plat based on that. We do have ordinances that address those and so they will be subject to our tree ordinance and drainage etc. Uh so as such the planning and zoning commission unanimously recommended approval following the public hearing conducted on September 23rd. Okay. Thank you Rick. Is there anyone here from the applicant who would like to speak? No. Um council do you have any questions on this application? Nobody will have a shared use uh of a Will they? No, sir. Nope. They'll all have individual. And there was some issue about the the frontage to the creek. Is that's that's the creek right behind it,
right? Yes. Right here. Doing this a little bit. I'm I'm a little out of my element without Sandra, but yes, ma'am. That's the creek back there. So, I did have it. Now, there will only be understanding it's just this lot. So, okay. There's somebody from PMZ here. So, if I say something wrong, just let me know. So, council members, do you rest of you have any questions? Um, is there anyone here from the public who would like to speak to this issue? No. Okay. Staff received no known opposition via email or letter as well. And I'm going to close this public hearing at 3:20. And council, if someone would like to make a motion, we can move forward. I move to approve the proposed replant as presented. I have a motion from council member Morgan. Is there a second? Second from council member um um um Wadell. All in favor? Is there further discussion? Did you you u all in favor say I? Opposed. Motion passes. Okay. Okay. So now we move on to business and um all of you signed up to discuss this. So we have a a request for a variance um from subdivision for well I'm going to let you tell this is the Rick Ranch issue. So Rick, I'm gonna let you This is a long description. I'm let you tell us what Okay. Uh and I'm assuming you don't want me to read it word for word, so I'll paraphrase that. So, uh, yes, mayor, council, residents, this is, uh, to hear a variance to the subdivision regulations found in 10.03.462 of subdivision regulations. It's relief from general design standards related to cut and fill. So, a brief overview of that is uh, for cut and fill of a general lot, anything over 4 foot requires a variance for public rideaways and infrastructure,
anything over eight feet. And so, that is what you're here today to hear. Uh this proposed subdivision uh known as RTOR's Ranch 1.0 is uh just shy of 55 acres 54 and a half. It includes approximately 123 single family residential lots and seven commonly owned lots located the uh sorted at the intersection of Mountain Dew and Rocky Ridge zone 4A at Portion Bay proper. So, uh, as you recall, this preliminary subdivision plat was denied by the council in November of 2024 due to non-compliance with the cut and fill. U, since then, the applicant and their engineers have been working on uh a couple different proposals to to bring forth to council to get that approval. It is a requirement prior to the preliminary plat that if they have that request, it be approved prior to adoption or prior to consideration of that. Uh in my staff report, you'll see so the applicant uh wants to use what is a paper lot approach. Uh we did run it through the attorney. That is an approach that is allowed, but it essentially what they're asking to do is they're asking for a variance to the cut and fill now for the public infrastructure. They're asking to defer the cut and fill uh on the lots to the future residents. Uh they have some reason. They do have a presentation prepared too if you'd like them to give that or if you have questions ahead of time for that. But that's essentially today what we're here. They're asking for a variance to that. Okay. Um I'm sure we will have questions, but I think it would be a good idea if we saw your presentation first. Absolutely. I'm with K's permission gonna hand her the question. It's up to you. Yep. So, I'll move to the opposite side. And your name,
please. Erin Sandaval with WGI. Got it. Thank you. Um, oh, sorry, that's backwards. Okay. Uh, like Rick mentioned, this is the variance for cut and fill. Um, mainly what we're going to be looking at, uh, did that that skip. Uh, so this was, sorry, there's going to be a lot of back and forth. Um, so this was the previous one that you guys have pre saw last year. Um, and this one is going to be the new one that you're going to be looking at today. I also have a few printouts if the presentation's a little bit too small for y'all to see. Um uh okay so with this uh the variance is very similar to the previous one in regards to that we are asking going back I don't I don't know yeah she went to get jewels oh so I think it's I'm trying I'm sorry it's not your fault it's clearly um so we are going to be requesting a variance for I'm gonna just leave this here until she comes back Um, I do have these if you guys want to look. It has a little bit more. Thank you. So, this variance is for uh cut and fill. I'm just not going to touch that. Okay. Thank you. uh for a ride ofway that is off of Mountain Dew where there are existing residents off of there as long along with our two open
space lots that are providing uh detention and water quality for this future subdivision. Um those are needing because they are exceeding that 4 foot within a habitable not habitable uh open lot and not contained within the street right ofway as typical public improvements are. So with that, we are requesting the variance. Sorry, I'm trying to remember to memorize uh the presentation. Um the reason for the road off of Mountain Dew of why we need the variance, we did go through a couple of iterations with city staff on just maintaining that road as is and existing conditions and not touching it. Um but after some discussions back and forth, if we improve that rideway and provide a culde-sac, as you see in that top uh right hand corner, um that is going to provide an updated street section for those future residents and existing and provide adequate fire safety for those potential lots. um if they were if that road was to be left um unimproved and kept as is, uh future fire trucks would kind of come to a dead end there and then have to back out on Mountain Dew versus that culde-sac would provide them that turnaround uh capacity should should something be needed there. Um we also need the variance in that ride of way because we are proposing to tie into that slope just south of that street and provide a maybe um and provide adequate 3 to one slope for our tie-in so it has more soil stability. I know in the past presentation we had some concerns from council and uh citizens in regards to trees and in regards to the horseshoe bay trail that's just south of our site. Um I think on that second
page you can see that we imported an image to show the relationship of what our overall uh awesome what our overall development is in relationship to that trail. So perfect. Okay. Uh so just to this is the street I was talking about up here. We are proposing that male kiosk as well. um that requires a variance. In these next few slides, there'll be a closer up image of that. Um so the variance request, just to kind of bring light, is this street right here and these two detention and water quality ponds. Uh previously mentioned, this overall drainage plan with those ponds were approved back in March of 2024 by LC. They are allowing us to stack detention and water quality. So they wouldn't have to be two separate basins. We would capture water and we would treat water before discharging it into the Horseshoe Bay Creek. Um along with Grassy Null, the proposed rideway, it is existing right away, but again, we are going to propose to update it, upgrade it, uh and improve that right away for future residents and those existing residents that take access off of it. As we know, this area is very steep with topography. um have to get a little bit creative. As Rick previously mentioned, we are trying to plat paper lots and only keep improvements within the ride ofway to avoid mass cutting and filling of this overall site to keep that natural topography. Um some lots, you know, are a little bit more creative than the other, but we think that, you know, future home buyers looking at the terrain in Horseshoe Bay existing residents are capable of doing so. um and it helps the overall development keep its preservation of its natural beauty.
These are the three areas um we are requesting variances for. Uh if you can see it's mainly the blue and pink that we are looking for that exceed that four feet or this yellow. Everything that's green and red are within that 4 foot. Um so like I said us tying into providing this street we are able to keep the street within that 8t cut infill. It is whenever we start tying back into those uh natural grades that we need to grade a little bit more to provide soil stability as well as providing ADA spacing and male kiosks uh accessibility for future residents. the detention ponds. Um, they are pretty big, but that's just because I'm going to go back two slides maybe. Um, so this site, as you know, is uh adjacent to Horseshoe Bay Creek. Um, a lot of this water from this nearby uh neighborhood is coming onto our site. So, we do have to detain and treat uh that water a little bit excessively per LCA standard. So with this grade and cut and detention ponds, um this one is a little shallow because we're not taking as much water, but this this big old boy is taking on a lot from neighboring area and treating it and it's at the lowest point of our site to Horseshoe Bay. So, we're keeping it in this area, not adjacent to uh a ride ofway as we could in intentionally do um but would require more of a variance into those rightways over 8 ft. Uh we coordinated with city staff quite a bit um heard citizen concerns and we wanted to make sure that we not only heard but we addressed everything that was previously discussed. Uh
we did provide city staff global stability from our geotechnical engineer and our wall designer um since there are a little bit more excessive uh cuts for those ponds as well as we did an environmental assessment with Pepe Dawson engineers. Uh city staff has that report of their findings. Although they did see uh one bird they did make mention into it. It's not It's more of a traveler bird. They couldn't find a nest. They couldn't find a tree. They couldn't find what the environmental engineers distinguish as a habit or habitable uh area for these birds. Um they did recommend to ensure that we are not removing anything that we should not be removing in far as as far as trees for these birds is to stay within um clearing again only within the ride ofway, not the lots. clearing uh that's not occurring during breeding season. Um after that, regular construction can occur. It's just the clearing of trees should happen within a specific time frame. Um and then we did meet with the Hill Country truckers um to talk about that proposed trail uh to let them know how far we actually are staying away from that trail system and we're not putting houses right next to it. Um, there is that open space lot. Uh, you can kind of see it right here. So, all these trees, you see it a little bit better on y'all's printout. All of these trees are going to remain um will never be touched with this development. And even future home builders, they're not going to be able to touch this because this is a 900 series lot. So, no homes, no habitable structure. And we actually had a lot of coordination with the truckers on how we can incorporate, you can kind of see this little open space right there um for this development and how we can propose a trail connection to the Horseshoe Bay Trail. And
I'll add it on at the last of these slides, but we were in some coordination with them uh and getting their input since they, you know, walk it weekly and every time what they look to see. Uh the additional coordination that we will need to do as far as engineers is when we reopen our review with LCR. LC does not allow for any pvious uh pavement with imperous pavement within their buffer. So no concrete sidewalk. It would all have to be low impact development trails and it would all have to be done by hand. Uh which our development is on board with doing and providing that for an amenity for not just the city but for this subdivision. Um, but there would be some additional coordination that needs to be had to make sure that we're abiding by LC rules. And then this is the printout that you guys have. So this is the trail system. So this black dash line is our overall boundary line. Um, but our home property line isn't going to be up uh won't be up until up here. Uh, the city does require a 15oot building setback line. So, we have that shown there. So, really what you're looking at is uh 210 ft between a potential back of home. Um we don't anticipate home builders going all the way to that property line, but that's in theory what they could do. Um we also have been working with city staff of providing u open space on top of that building setback line just to ensure that there's not going to be an accessory building placed back there as well. Um, so this is where those homes are fronting that trail system. And as we kind of go a little bit north, this is that detention pond. Um, and we're actually about 300 a little bit over 300 feet away from the trail that starts tearing off over this way.
Um, if we were to adhere to city's current 4 foot and 8 foot variance, uh, 4 foot and 8 foot cut fill requirements, um, we would have to severely probably alter the terrain for this site. We would have to do a little bit more of mass grading just to make sure that we have more workability um, to get the detention ponds. Those would be a way bigger footprint. um as long as well with uh getting ride ofways to adhere to what the existing topography is out there. So to avoid all of that uh that's why we're coming once more to request this variance. And then to give a little uh what we've talked about with the truckers, this is what we're anticipating that trail connection to be. That's going to be that proposed uh culdeac down there. where there is a separation between these two residential homes and we would cross around maintaining to avoid these trees to keep them um and then tie into that trail system down here where there's uh less elevation difference. Um I have a question. Who did is this packet is this information? Did you all provide it or did they? I'm looking at page 23 where it's got a map and it's got all this red and green on it. Page 23 if it's in your packet that was provided by us. Their slideshows. Okay. Because um what what is the I can't read the I can't read the legend on page 23. What is the red and what is I I see the blue of the detention pond, but what is the red and the green? That's wrong. So, you might not have it. Yeah, this is going to be and we can I should have printed that out as well. So, the red and green are under four feet. Um, everything that's cut and fill uh not exceeding that doesn't require very correct. Got it. Okay. Yes. Hey, council,
do you have any questions for either Erin or Rick? You've already got a significant amount of that's coming into that first area on the left which is going to be a retention pond. Correct. Uh yes. Okay. And that's without any development whatsoever on this track. So this these ponds are designed for maximum uh development. So they are accounting for future homes that are going on and everything. So for LCR to not get into too much of the weeds, you have to tr you have to analyze your site as existing and propose and propose being the ultimate. So homes are there that impervious cover. Um you know water's going to be flowing a little bit faster on driveways versus natural land. Uh so this pond is designed uh for ultimate development with those homes. I'm really interested in what what how much how many lots and where are they are going are going to require cut and fill in in excess of the four four foot. Um, we did not go too deep into that analysis just because these are going to be custom homes. And after touring a little bit more of Horseshoe Bay and seeing the uniqueness that some homes have with stilts and, you know, a little bit more exposed foundations, home builders can get creative and avoid that cut and fill. So, this would require new home builders then to come to us for a variance if they wanted a variance. if they cannot get creative. Yes. And I will let the homebuilders is a little bit more out of what my realm. Um I'm one of the owners on the project. I can speak a little bit more to that. Um the challenge with this is we're not homebuilders. We're only looking to plat the site and do the public improvements.
So, it's difficult for us to say what a potential custom home builder who purchases a lot from us would want to do specifically with the site that it's hard to coordinate, you know, potentially a hundred different lots and say, okay, you know, what size is the home going to be? How is the foundation going to look? What's it going to look like prior to even having a site plan that we can show to them? So, um, yes, if the home builders did need a variance, they would need to come to you for that. Um, however, there are ways that you can design a home and a foundation so that you don't necessarily need a variance. Um, and I believe as well, and Lacy, you can correct me if I'm wrong, um, a home foundation is exempt from, uh, the cut and fill requirements in the first place. So provided they're doing everything on that foundation, that would negate the need for a separate variance approach, which could require a foundation that it's extremely tall on some of these lots. Correct. That is a potential. Yes. But that would ultimately be up to the home builder and how they wanted to design that home. So then you don't have really much of an idea on how many lots we potentially could be looking at in terms of uh cut and fill variances in the future because our concern is whether we're going to be faced with multiple people wanting cut and fill once once you guys are out of it. Yeah. and it's going to take up a lot of time and effort and then we're gonna be hardpressed to deny someone if we've accepted somebody else's variance request. So yeah, uh I'd I'd love to see which ones uh are more likely to be faced with cut
and fill over four feet. I know you say it's you can get creative, but that that doesn't define it much for me. Yeah. and and I understand that and that's definitely a valid point. The challenge is there are, you know, probably a dozen different types of home that you could put on any individual site. So to go through, you know, each lot and map out all of the potential different variations is an incredible amount of um I mean we would have to be essentially mind readading a future buyer and unnecessarily restricting the lots then if we were you know to say like and I don't even know if this would be legal to say something like oh like well no variances or something like that. It's, you know, it's it's finding a way to strike that balance between allowing somebody to, you know, build a nice home, not unnecessarily restricting them, but of course not unnecessarily uh burdening you guys with um, you know, additional work. Rick, oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Has your staff done any analysis of that? We can if I have the pointer. So roughly to answer kind of what I think uh Councilman Jones is asking. So he is correct. It is difficult on a on a custom construction to really know exactly where they may place the house or not. Roughly you can see you can see a little bit from their grading lines. As they get darker and closer that's typically means you have a steeper grade of some type. So there is a ridge that goes through there. You can vaguely see it. You can or I mean you can kind of see it through here. So the lots that have the highest risk of that are going to be the ones where the gradient lines are closer together. So it's it's this section here. If you've driven out there, that section drops off quite a bit going back to the creek. Those are the ones that'll be more challenging in the very
least. You've got a little bit here, but these these are they're at least spaced apart. They don't have a lot of change in them. So it's It's probably these lots here plus or minus 30 I would say that are gonna pose the risk to council that you're referring to. What's the average lot size? Uh I want to say it's around 10 12,000 square feet something approximately like that. Say it's 54 acres and 120 lots which I should be able to do that but it's about a quarter acre give or take a little bit. All right. So the what's what are you anticipating the housing size to be here? Um, again, that would be up to the the builder, but we were we're anticipating probably 3 4,000 square feet. You know, they would be nice large um custom homes. That'd be have to be multilevel, though. I think, and I'm going to wing this without Sandre. I think the zone requires at least 1,800. This could be 2400. There's a couple things on a golf course. I think it's 18. 1,800 square foot minimum. So, but obviously, you know, custom homes may be larger. All right. How many of the roads, the existing roads are having to be redone? Uh, essentially all of them. Uh, so all of them will have to because they do not meet current code, not just uh slip. No, I understand the code. Okay. I'm talking about cut and fill issues. Uh the roads themselves are not requesting they're maintained within the eight feet that's allowed. All right. Then the next question would have you guys looked at this I mean this proposal is for 123 lots. If you reduce the number of lots does that change cut and fill issues? No it does not. um the topography is still going to be the same and it's just either you put that bad topography
on a different piece of land or keep it on the land that the lot that you're proposing. Um and those that area that Rick had previously shown um is very similar to the topography that's off of Mountain Dew right now. If you see those homes along, we had them in our last presentation where there are homes that have are on stilts. um their backyard is pretty well below what their house is. Uh but those homes were able to be constructed without that cut and fill requirement. So on this on page 23 of your packet though, it shows there is going to be either cutting or grading required on every single road you're putting in, not over the eight feet that's included within the ordinance. So correct, these that are red, there's probably going to be 8 ft of material either either brought in or taken away, right? Uh I would have to relook at the the legend, but yes. Uh almost all of it has red on it. Yes. I know we changed the colors last time. Um but if you go back to the overall one, Rick, sorry. So I guess what I want to know is what are you how much are you going to bring in? How much material is coming in? How much material is going out? Is there any going to chance you're going to ask us for a rock crushing permit? Um, I think just with the terrain that's out there, there's going to have to be some sort of pulling up rocks that's that are out there right now. Just even the asphaltish roads that are there are just contained full of rocks. Um, we would have to abide by that. I think we talked with city staff of what those hours would look like and duration and I know that we as the I think she's pardon me. So I think the question mayor's asking are y'all going to crush rocks on site for processing or you just hauling them off and not not including jackhammers but actual rock
crushing are you proposing to be honest we have not gotten that far. We're trying to get this variance. So we haven't gotten through like actual construction scheduling or thoughts and processes. Um but that is something we would consider. The reason I asked that is because we had a recent we have a recent experience and we didn't ask that question. Okay. And then we ended up with a big controversy because um we we ended up granting a conditional use permit for the rock crusher and everybody wished that we had asked that question at the beginning. So I would like to know the answer to that question. Um are you going to you are you going to need that? Um how much are you going to take out? How many dump trucks are going to come in and out of the neighboring property going down Mountain Dew? Those are those are questions that it's our responsibility to ask and I understand that you're just trying to get to a point and you haven't gotten that far, but for us it we would like to know the answers to those questions. Yeah, I think that it's exactly what you just said, mayor, is, you know, there's there's a process that we go through between, you know, planning and construction documents. And once we have that, then we can look at construction methods based on what's approved. And and we're so early in the process at this point. It's difficult for us to be able to go to, you know, a general contractor or, you know, infra infrastructure contractor and say, you know, hey, are you going to do use this method? Because they're going to say, I need to see the construction documents. I need to see the plan in the area. I need to see exactly what I'm working with. I can't tell you until I have actual plans. It's It's extremely difficult to give a concrete answer. We have um I'm gonna council. Does anybody else have a question? Oh, you mayor if you mind. Uh Lacy Aer's um legal counsel for the applicant. Um so we haven't gotten to the point with a proforma that we'd be able to give you the details exactly what you would what you're looking for as far as the number of trucks exactly the um most costeffective and timeefficient way to tackle the rocks. However, the applicant
is willing to work within the code and work with the city to make sure that it is something that is not disruptive to the city. Thank you, council. Anybody else have a question? Yes. Um, how deep is the east pond? That one is going to be about uh six or seven feet. Okay. And then the west pond is how deep? We're going over uh 10 10 11. All right. And the majority of the var variances is around the ponds, the lots around the ponds. Uh for this specific variance, we're only asking for the pond areas because we are not touching any of this dirt that's over here. We're only working within this open space lot, this drainage lot that we are uh essentially laying out for the subdivision. But but the variance around the ponds comes up to the lot though, right? Uh for future you're talking about the question back to potential home builders coming in for a variance could if they again don't get creative. Essentially those lots are steep. So yeah, the variance though is like she was saying they're not asking for anything on the lots at this time. It's just that so it is steep obviously coming off that road going down to the pond. But um we have eight people signed up to uh speak on this question. So I'm going to call on Vicki Adcock and um Carrie has a timer over here. I'd like for you all to uh keep your comments to three minutes and if you just want to say ditto to the person who spoke before you, that's fine, too. So Vicky Hawk, I'll probably take a minute. Um, good afternoon. I'm Vicki Adcock, 1307 Cats Eye. Uh, thanks first of all to the city council for listening to the Treker's concerns regarding the Richter Ranch project. Um, I'm here today
to provide an update on our experience with the developer and uh, working through our concerns regarding the preservation of trees. I'm happy to report that they've been they've assured us that they will not be clearing lots and trees will not be removed except if necessary in areas for roads and infrastructure. Uh the new trail if approved uh will navigate around the trees uh as was uh indicated earlier. Uh the developer has provided detailed plans as requested and made every effort to asssure all our questions and concerns uh were answered. Our next steps will be assurance that these custom builders uh that are going to be building on these uh lots will also respect the wishes of our community to pres preserve the beautiful landscape of trees that may involve education on the value of trees um that trees bring such as um monetary preventing erosion, slowing the rainfall runoff and um and then cleaning the air and water as I've mentioned. mentioned uh at previous meetings. In summary, we're happy with the commitment from the developer on uh preservation of trees. Thank you, Vicki. Ellen, is it Angquish? Hi, Ellen. Anguish and I live the corner the intersection of Mountain Dew and Grassy Null, which is right where she was pointing out where all that sure that renovation is going to be done. Um I too am concerned obviously with the amount of trucks coming in, the construction, the noise, the traffic, not only during the improvement that they are proposing, but the long-term
effect of 123 homes navigating through this area to build these roads. Right now they are dirt, gravel paths. They're not they're not wide enough for two cars. One car can go each way on those roads. I've driven it. I've blocked them. I've them. Um so, and they keep saying, "Oh, the water's not going to run off. It's not going to Well, they're saying now they don't know. They hope it won't, but just a lot of concerns about their lack of and they're saying we can't guarantee what these custom home builders are going to do." But if they're going to sell the lots, they need to put that in there. you're restricted to these rec these uh you know you know what I'm saying so anyway okay thank you we appreciate your concern Marilyn Campbell I've been before the council a little bit and I previously didn't want objected to this and I still have an objection um I've read the current proposal that you had online. And to me, you're just kicking the can down the road to the future developers to the the new every those areas are going to be expensive to build on if they don't cut and fill. Um, and you're going to have a lot of lots there. And is there any guarantee that they're going to be sold after you get all these? We have other lots all over the country, all over this area that they can build on. But if I and you're going to ruin that whole environmental Horseshoe Creek area, so I definitely object to it. Thank you. Appreciate that. And Jeff Simmons. Hi, my name is Jeff Simmons. My wife and I live at 1317 Mountain Dew. We also own the
two adjoined lots. Um I have also spoken in the past against this variance. You've heard all the arguments today to deny this variance. It is a very steep property. It's very environmentally sensitive. It is going to take a tremendous amount of rock coming out of that property to build that infrastructure. And as you pointed out, what they're asking is give us a variance today. You don't have to give the v the builders a variance tomorrow, but do you know how that's going to be? That's going to be impossible because you've already signal you will give in variances and I hope you deny this. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Jeff. Um well, I guess my concern is um and I don't get to vote, but I wish you would bring us something other than paper lots. Um, it's our responsibility to look at these developments, every development that comes to us, and make sure that it's going to be a successful development. We don't want developments in our city that aren't successful, that that the lots don't sell. And um, to hear that the lots are challenging, the building, it's going to be challenging. I I don't want to set someone up down the road to buy a lot and it's too challenging or not cost effective to build there. and that I wish you would have brought us um more of a of a a total picture of what this is going to look like. It it maybe it's too much for you to do it. Other developers have done it. Um we've we've seen that with other developers where they brought us that that we know there is a buildable building envelope on every lot. Maybe not the one that you would want, but it's possible. Is that unreasonable, Rick, to ask for? uh subjective, but it is other other developers have done that before. Uh it would
mean essentially you would have a cookie cutter home site plan and say this, you know, they're not custom, but you could do that on these lots. So, it is something that they could do. Council, does anyone else have any questions on this? I I want to state that uh I think you guys have done a good job of addressing the trail and the trees and that's off to that. I still think from my perspective there's too many lots. I think if you reduce the number of lots better better formulate how those lots would work in conjunction with the terrain then it would make less have less impact for the custom home builders. I understand your point and it's true. They can be creative, but a builder is going to want to have to be able to build a piece of property that he can sell at the cheapest price that he can do it. I mean, that's just common sense. And I think if you reooked at this and reduced the number of lots, you can you can charge more for the lot. So, it's not going to it's not going to have an impact to your negative, but at least with with reduced some of these lots there won't be nearly the cut and fill issues for the custom builders and I'd like to see you guys address that. That's my opinion. Um I just wanted to address what you had brought up mayor about the making sure that there's a building envelope on each lot. We didn't do that for this presentation but you know um last November when we had come to city council that was one of the things that we had done and presented to planning and zoning was we did a you know essentially a conceptual layout on each lot showing we have enough space to build essentially a building pad. I don't remember the exact size of the building pad but it would accommodate um I believe a 4,000 square foot either single or twostory home. So, you know, we we had done that
on previous iterations and so you can do it. Yes. The the challenge with that is it's essentially just a rectangle on the lot, right? It doesn't go into engineering an actual foundation for the home on each lot. But we can definitely, you know, show a concept plan that has, you know, a box that says you could put a rectangular home with this square footage of the foundation on this lot. So, you know what? I I guess one of my concerns is I don't I'm leaving, but I don't want to set this group of people up for 30 or 40 um different hearings to decide whether they need a cut and fill ordinate uh variance to build their home. Um I don't I don't think that's fair to the potential buyers and I don't think it's fair to the council. if it's possible for you to address that upfront. I think that's the way we should proceed so that you know what cutting what lots are going to require it and um upfront. That's just my thought on it. But um I don't I don't know if that's something the rest of you feel or not. Back to my point uh a reduction in the number of lots will minimize some of the cut and fill requirements for the builders. So I would like you to look this thing from the perspective you're you're recommending 123 lots 55 acres um if that was reduced 10 15 maybe 20 how much how how much would that reduce so we did look through we had many iterations with the city from last time we heard to now and we looked into getting rid of some lots but even if you were to combine these two lots right there you still have that fall. So, you're still going to have to deal with that cut fill challenge. Doesn't matter if it's two lots or if it's one lot. And even if you
were to combine one, two, and three, maybe you're not using that space and you're putting it here, but you're still, if you wanted to fully develop that lot, you would still run into that cut. So, you don't see a Let me see if I say it a different way. If there was a reduction in number of lots, it would give the builder more options on how to build on that lot. You understand what I'm saying? So, if you've got an 8 foot drop, you know, you've dedicated a lot that clearly they would have to get some kind of variance or to your point, you know, be creative on how building a stilt type of home. I'm just suggesting that if the lot was bigger, then how that builder builds on that lot gives him more options. It becomes easier and less less of an issue. I just don't want the point that was made. I don't want to be going over this thing every other month with a new builder who wants to put a 10- foot side up in order to have a buildable, you know, to build a lot. when when all we'd have to do is expand the lots because I think you could still make the same income. I just like to see you guys look at the potential of of expanding some of these lot sizes that will give the builder more options without having as much cut and fill. Yeah, and we definitely understand that. And to Erin's point, we did work on multiple concept site plans with city staff to look at different variations and what would happen if we, you know, did remove 10 or 15 or 20 lots. One of the things that we have to do as developers is balance, you know, what we can realistically do while staying within code or a reasonable variation from code and the
economic viability of the project. And so there I mean and and you're you're definitely right. there is a way to reduce the number of lots and then get rid of cut and fill. To take a very extreme example, we could just subdivide the property into two lots and then we wouldn't need to do it. But, you know, so it's kind of at what point in lot reduction do we actually achieve what's needed or what you know you're proposing. And what we looked at with city staff is kind of trying to find that line between at what point does the product or does the um project just not become viable? And in those lot reductions, you know, we kind of hit this point where it's like, you know, we would have to, you know, cut down so many lots that it just doesn't even make sense. You know, I I think we need to recognize that what that they have some requirements in terms of our our ordinances that they need to follow and it's really not our place to um to tell them how to design the project the project. So, uh, if if they I mean, we may say we'd like to have 30 lots in there, but if if this viably can have 121 lots, I don't think it's our place as a council to to go in and say that's that's that's for not what you can do. Um, I don't think that the density is something that we can really um that that we can really address as a council. Um, and I have a feeling that Lacy's about to tell us that. Oh, well, I was actually trying to hope to find some solutions because I think we're sympathetic to the the city's concern about what the lots are and the success of the project. And so, the thought that we the problem that we run into not being the homebuilders, which it is very common for developers to to um have a divide between what is who the developer who does the paper lot and then that's actually what goes to market. And so, we're not in a position to be able to request the variances for the homes individual lots at this point because we don't have the engineering on it. Understood. So
we would not be able to satisfy the application requirements to even bring forth the request without having a home builder on board which we can't get the home builder on board without having the paper lot. So it becomes this chicken egg. So what I was suggesting to Rick is maybe finding a middle ground. Maybe there is a plat that could be suggested that eliminates coming back to you for 30 different lots. Maybe it comes as a single application for a set of lots that we have now engineered and we know that they're going to need the variance. So before they can move forward on maybe a certain set of lots, we have engineered those lots. The home builder has and they come to you with one request instead of having multiple crests. And then you can look at it as a whole. We would want Doy to weigh in obviously on that. Well, just as I would say from your own letter, you say that it just reduces if you follow strictly follow the cut and fill regulations, it just reduces the amount of developable lots. And then you also say that um it doesn't meet LC's water quality standards, but I don't see anything in the information that justifies that. So, I think you ought to start with if you strictly followed the city's regulations for cut and fill, what would that look like? And then look at reasonable variances on certain lots like the other developers have done. Is that is that reasonable? So, so if I'm following looking at the individual lots and seeing if we can follow code, you say in your letter that the um strict adherence to the 8oot cut and fill and the 4-foot cut and fill would limit the number of lots that are ultimately developable. What I'm saying is what does that look like? The council hasn't seen that. Well, I don't think we're and then the other developers have done that
and then shown what lots within the development actually need a variance instead of um instead of developing the lots as much as possible in order to make a good rate of return. So, we actually went over that with Roy when he was here and why we say it would limit us to developable lots because kind of the exaggerated but very truthful statement from Andrew is we would subdivide this into two lots and that would be two two residential lots. Uh we probably wouldn't need a detention pond anymore just because of the amount of impervious cover. We would get rid of roads. Um, if we were to adhere and not do cut and fill, again, this life safety, uh, updated road would not be a thing. Uh, those residents would have to maintain existing access from that dirt path. Uh, this pond would now take up even more of a footprint space. Um, and not be as deep, but I feel would be a little bit more of an eyesore. Uh, and then as well as this one, you would now have this pond probably wrapping around this LC buffer getting closer to that trail. Um, so we really tried to hone in and hide and place these things that match existing topography and nature and drainage. Um, to kind of go back and want to hear, you know, the citizens concern of runoff and not capturing water. We are actually capturing all water. um the street designs that we have have coverts capturing it and all have to convey it into that pond. So, we're not just letting water just loosely off our property. We have to capture it and treat it uh before discharging it off of our property. Um but to uh Doy's point, you know, we kind of went over what that would look like if we didn't come if we didn't need a variance. Uh we would probably
end with two lots. Um probably a little bit more. You know, we could probably get six. Um but all of those roads would have to be gone. There would no be I don't understand what you just said. Uh if we were if we were to develop this property and not need a variance, we could go through the city, get it platted. Um these streets would no longer be there. Um this path, these streets that people use as walking paths would not be there. they would be somebody's uh private property. Um so this connection, all of that, this would look different. It would be like six homes. Um again, that's being a little dramatic, but it wouldn't be as open with mobility traffic-wise and walking wise. So, your development, you're saying under our under the ordinance that is in place would go from 121 homes to six. Did I misunderstand what you said? Well, just I think the the greater point is that we worked through this exercise in at length with Roy for you know many many months in exploring all of you know the different questions that have come up and I'm sure that you know the planning and zoning department has the notes of all of those meetings and all of the iterations that we already did. So it I mean and you know we're happy to put I guess another um we can put another presentation together. Um I think part of the the challenge and where we're a little confused is that we feel like we've been asked these exact same questions. We went through multiple you know revisions with city staff to find an acceptable alternative uh or what we believe would be an acceptable alternative that addresses the concerns as best we can. and that's what we're presenting and then being asked like the same questions you know can you do this can you do this and I'm kind of I'm stuck on how you know how we can actually get the answers
um there or or to assure you that we have run through those exercises and and looked at these various alternatives. Well, you got to admit that we've we haven't surprised you with regard to the fact that we've always been interested in where the cut and fill is going to be. Yes, definitely. So, we haven't changed that much. That's true. And we've and we've reduced um you know a significant amount if we Oops. Yeah. Sorry, I'm going the wrong way. It's counterintuitive. Uh so, you know, in the top left here, this was the original plan that we had presented that was defined and you can see there is a lot more cut and fill that is outside of the ride ofways there and we've you know worked extensively to revise that to now what we're currently proposing which is in the bottom right which does still require a variance but the cut and fill is very very minimal and it's you know basically almost exclusively within the detention ponds and then this small culdesac to um you to the north uh on the northeast. I don't know why I'm thinking this, but did Roy ever present you with an iteration of about 80 lots if you if you reduced it to 80 lots that you would not need cut and fill. So, we didn't look at the cut fill, but I think the one that you're talking about 80, if I'm not if I'm remembering correctly, was what this development originally came to city staff and did like a pre-development meeting and said, "Hey, here are acre halfacre lots. There are 80, but they're all going to be served off septic." Um, but city proposed, no, we want to extend our infrastructure. we want to do that. Um, in order to make that viable to provide that amount of uh utilities and infrastructure, they had to uh downsize the lots ever so slightly
and add more lots to make sure that those utilities could be installed. You have anything to add, Rick? Uh so I guess with with both attorneys uh to to weigh in on I think I think the the biggest concern of council at this point is if if y'all grant this variance is it is as one of the residents said it kind of kicks the can for some of the variances to future home builders etc. Would it be something just kind of spraying on would I don't want to speak outside of expertise zone as far as a face plat etc. but you know in the gist of a plat note etc. could they carve a section out would they be willing to carve a section out and say we'll either phase it or we can phase construction etc and then go back and do the engineering on that section to show what the variance would look like. And I'm talking specifically to these areas we've outlined that are likely to have either cut and fill or you it'll take a a higher tier home builder to navigate those. U is that something council would be interested in or so you're saying u cordon off a piece of it to do a prototype? Uh uh no that's a good idea too though. know, potentially phasing the actual plat, the construction to say if y'all were to grant this, you know, one of the things you could do is the lots you're concerned about. You could carve those out for now and do a phased approach and say, "All right, we're going to ask the owner and engineer to go back to take a better look at this to actually engineer what would it take to build on these lots. We can assume a average home size or whatever is appropriate and say to build on that lot, it would take this." And so we'll ask again, they would have to come back. It would be another cut and fill variance, but instead of punting it to we're gonna say 3030 individuals,
it would be the applicant coming back and saying, "Okay, we'll ask for it in this phase, we'll ask for a variance for these sections." And then, you know, the protection of council is if hypothetically, if you were to do that and agree to that, if a home builder comes later and wants to do something different, they can do that. But it would give council I think it would give you better leg to stand on to say well we already approved a variance for this and so if you want to do something different we may or may not agree to that. I don't think you have enough information that be able to um make a motion on that recommendation. I really think that this matter deserves postponement to explore the questions that council has raised. Um, with with all due respect, our request is only for the road and the two ponds. We're happy to figure out a way that we can come back to the city and address the lots, but we're not in a position to be able to apply for those applications or give you the engineering for them. So, within the bounds of what is is being requested today, we cannot apply for a variance for the lots. That is why that information has not been provided. Our request is for the road and the two drainage ponds. The road being the top right. That one and and the reason that we have we requested that road and and Rick can back me up on this one. It is an emergency request because of the fire truck. So that one is while we could try to angle the road to avoid it, it would not be ideal for fire safety. I still don't think you have enough information to be able to grant the variance with some of the questions that have been asked. Um I would recommend postponing, you know, we we could we could postpone this um we could just postpone this issue until the November meeting and get make sure that we I don't want I I don't want to put you in a position that this gets denied.
Um, I'd rather make sure that the the questions that are of concern to council are answered. Um, and that we work it out. That that's that's a thought. I don't know if um if if council would like to do that or if you guys want to vote, somebody can make a motion. you know, we're still going to be faced with down the road revisiting this at some point. And so I think if it is going to be down the road, if you guys want a full engineered plot of land, we're going to have some upset citizens because we're going to masquerade this site. We're going to have to remove a lot of trees. There will be tree wells. We're not going to remove all of them because we'll have to go by a city ordinance. But if you guys want to see the true engineering of all lots right now with what we have without the home builder and stuff, you are going to be looking at a mass grading of this entire site. Um, we can make it to where we are not we're still within the limits of eight feet within rideway and four feet within the lots. Um, but that natural beauty out there is going to be destroyed. How does that change? We wouldn't have to come for a variance. We would be able to engineer the site to be within the constraints. It's just going to be real ugly. Well, I understand what you're what you're proposing is preparing the whole development as opposed to peace meal. Right. The reality of this because of the densities of the trees and some of the cut and fill issues you guys are going to have at time somebody's going to come in here and say, "I got to take out these three trees and we got to have this cut and filled." Now, what you're saying, I understand your point, and your point's well taken. If we if we look at
this as a total development to get the down to the specific engineering, you got to you got to blast through the whole area. All right. But you're missing I think a key point for us. The bottom line is this is beautiful area has been and will be. I I go back to my original comment that if there was a relook at this thing with smaller with less density, then the tree issues and the cut and fill becomes minimal because now you're giving the the the custom builder instead of having a a.5 acre lot or whatever it is, maybe it's a 6 or 7, he has that many more variables of where he can do that without impacting the tree, the foliage, as well as the cut and fill. I I my my whole issue with this, I think you guys, like I said, you did a great job on identifying the trees and the and the and the the trail. I think you've done a wonderful job. the fact that you've done the retention ponds. I think that the only issue I have is I don't think you've looked at this from this perspective of, you know, and I know you're having to look at the economics of how many the more the more lots you have, obviously the more potential sale revenue is when you present it to a builder, but I still think a smaller number of homes gives the builders more options. Uh, so I I just have a quick question for Rick or either attorney. Um, with this variance that's being heard for these ponds in the street, we're not locked in to the lots that are shown on this. Correct. Uh, no. And they can weigh them. No. So, the variance would be for the sections. The variance would apply as you've asked for those sections of the rideway. You could
before preliminary plan. As long as it doesn't trigger an issue to require another variance, you could alter the Okay. Yeah. So we are because we're we're before prelim. Okay. That's that's except Okay. So I understand you got to have a variance for the ponds. Yes. And I I understand that and I understand the variance for the street. Yeah. But I don't like the whole plan. It would roughly and I say this loosely because you can always ask for another variance. Sorry council, but they could they could come back. So, it kind of locks you in for the rideway and the ponds for that section, but the lot layout could change as long as it doesn't trigger. Okay. So, unless any of the other council members have any questions, I think uh we've talked this thing to death. Uh the options are we're either going to approve it, we're going to deny it, it's going to die for lack of a motion, or we're going to uh continue it. So, I'd like for someone to uh make a motion as to what they would like to do. I'd like to continue it until next council meeting so that I can consider the additional information that we have. Okay. And what what additional information are you requesting that they provide us? I would like to see the uh the calculations that you came up with when you said it's not viable for us to do this without variances unless we go down to or two two lots or whatever you said. And you might have been exaggerating on that, but you obviously had some type of calculation in mind that you did that. You said, "Oh, that's not viable for us. I'd love to see what that was." So, when you went when they went from putting septic in to putting the the sewer, you're saying you Well, no, no, it's it's that's part of it, too. Yeah, that that's part of it,
but it's not the whole thing. No. No. Okay. Well, um I think we will continue it. Um I don't know that you've got the votes right now. So, let's continue it until the November meeting. And um I'm going to ask Rick to meet with the council members individually that have expressed concerns so that we're certain what the questions are. And I want to I want to be clear to these developers on what we're asking so that um we're we're clear. And by the way, I also appreciate how hard you work with and mayor neighboring community. I'm sorry to interrupt, but you need to ask for a motion to postpone to the next meeting. Okay, then I think I just got one. I'd like to make a motion that we postpone it until the November meeting. Is there a second? Second from uh Council Member Wadell. All in favor of postponement. Can we have one bit of discussion before we vote? Sure. I just sense a lot of frustration on their side. I just sense a lot of frustration on their side and I mean it's not fair to either side. This thing gets gets batted back and forth and back and forth and you know we tell them to do something they come back and then we tell them to do something else and they come back. We gota we gota find the 20 point peace plan that you know that comes up with what we need what does the city want and tell them what they need to do to make it right for the city and we'll be we'll be we'll be batting this thing back and forth until the mayor after Jeff. So, I'd just like to see us that's that's a very good point, Buck. And uh I think that's well spoken. Better. You said it better than I was trying to in a nutshell. What we're feeling right now, we definitely want to work with y'all. I think that we've demonstrated that. Yes. Um but yeah, having some specific information
about what we need to do would be extreme. So, we have a motion and a second. All in favor of postponing this until the November meeting. All opposed. Okay. Thank you. And uh Rick is here to stay. Uh you've got someone to that to that to that to that to that to that to that to that to that to that to that you can talk to and work with and um and I'd like to be the first one. I want to see where I want to understand the pond. I want to see physically walk that area. Okay. Yeah. If council members if y'all reach out to me and let me know who wants to. So let's move on to item 8B on the agenda. Thank you very much. Appreciate you being here. Um, a request for relief from either or both the amount or form of fiscal security otherwise required for the trails phase 4 final plaque. Um, Rick, I didn't see anyone from the trails here. Oh, yes, I did. Yes, I did see someone from the trails. Yeah. Sorry. Let me move back over to this podium. You have a you have a something to show us. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. No, there's no slides. So, uh, not for that. I'm sorry. This is I mean, do you have slides for this? Oh, I don't think so. Okay. I was going really just tell us what it is. Yeah. Just don't look at the screen. I don't know what
I did. Yeah. Uh, sorry, Mayor Council. So this is a this request by the developer for trail space 4 uh for I'm going to say alternative fiscal security. They asked to either uh reduce the security required or change the type that's required. So our our ordinance requires fiscal security. It it mentions a bond but it says fiscal security that's acceptable to the city. Our interpretation of that is the city council when they say city. So um this is found in chapter 10 of our code of ordinances. also subdivision. Uh the requirement is for a construction bond in the amount of 120% of the approved engineer's opinion of probable cost for public improvements. Uh the purpose of this requirement is to provide the city with means to complete or remediate a project if the developer does not complete it such as if they were to stop in the middle of it and leave open ditches. Obviously that poses a safety risk. The city would want to remediate that and then recede etc. Uh if council entertains the request, uh what staff is recommending on advice from legal counsel is a hybrid approach. Uh we'd suggest requiring a bond for a portion of the cost, roughly 33%, an additional letter of credit with collateral for property to satisfy the remaining 67%. U I'm gonna leave it to DY though. I didn't I don't want to speak for her, but she she has thoughts typically on what she advises us to do. The um letter of credit, if you choose to go with that portion of the staff report, should be from an accredited financial institution and also have the uh city attorney approve as to form to make it so that we can have it payable and on demand and not have to um go through some of the standard letters of credit. You don't um easily collect on. What do you mean by an
accredited financial institution, Doy? So, it's a um they the bank meets specific regulatory quality standards to operate. So, they whatever bank they ch whatever bank they chose, we would make sure it's accredited. Oh, okay. So, I think uh Robin, you're you're talking I mean I got a letter from the Bank of the West. Is that who you all are? Yeah, that's who's going to be um our lender. And first of all, thank you. uh my dad would be here. He was very ill last night. We think he has the flu, so he could not show up today. So, um I apologize. He wanted me to apologize for him, but um hopefully I can convey everything as he would. So, um for those of you that don't know my dad, Michael Walsh, he developed the first three phases of the trails. He also developed um the Horseshoe Base Center, which involves the grocery store and the Ace Hardware. And I'll just read this letter that I had uh written to you guys along with the letter from the bank. Um, on behalf of Michael Walls, general partner of trails phase 4, I'm respectfully request that the city wave the performance bond requirement for phase four of the trails of Horseshoe Bay. Over the past 25 years, Mr. Walsh has su successfully completed all three phases of the Trails of Horseshoe Bay, creating a residential neighborhood that reflects the city's values of quality, lowdensity living, a preservation of natural surroundings. He has also developed two of Horseshoe Bay's most prominent commercial centers anchored by local operated businesses and supported by highquality tenants. Each of these projects was completed to a high standard as and has become a valued part of our community. Importantly, this developer has a consistent record of completing every project even in difficult economic times. Conditions have always um and he has always delivered what has been promised. Phase four is a continuation of an established neighborhood which further reduces risk and its scope is primarily
limited to roads and utilities that will be fully inspected and overseen by the city. In addition, the project is responsibly structured, financed by a local lender, which would be Bank of the West, um constructed by quality local contractor, which is approved by the city of course, and supported by investors who own property and live in the trails. So myself, my dad and many of more than um you know 75% of the investors all own property are anchored there. Uh given his history of reliability, strong community ties, and the limited scope of work, we respectfully submit that waving the performance bond is a fair and practical request. Approving this waiver will both recognize the developer past contributions and support the timely successful completion of phase 4, further enhancing the city of Horseshoe Bay in line with its vision. The performance bond, I just want to point out that all these projects that he has done in the past, the trails, the grocery store, anything he's done, he's never had a performance bond in the past and he's always been able to complete the project. And these are beautiful projects that are staples in our community. I think he's more than proven that he is responsible and doesn't leave projects open-ended. He's completed everything he's ever done with, you know, uh, high standards. Um, to do a performance one, kind of contrary to what we just heard, we have a property that's 165 acres and we're doing 39 lots. So, these are large acreage lots and as you can imagine, that's difficult financially, but we're making it work. And so to do a performance bond is very expensive and we kind of see it as an unnecessary expense. We know we can complete the project. We're going to have the loan. If there's any hiccups, we get another contractor, but the money is going to be there and our bank has written a letter saying that. Um the thing about Bank of the West and Sandy and Susan over there is they've been involved in all the projects
as well. So they know that he'll complete it. So they're willing to issue a um um a letter of credit to cover that. Well, the letter of credit could be a possibility, but that's expensive, too. I mean, they the banks charge you for a letter of credit. So, I mean, we're what we're asking for is a waiver of the bond. Um, if there's, like I said, on all the projects we've completed in the past, we haven't had to do those and we've completed them. I think it's important to note that the projects I'm talking about have been here in the city of Horseshoe Bay and we see them every day and the trails is um you know it's got it's a great development that's focused on nature. It's everything the city wants and we're just trying to continue that out. Thank you. There's no doubt that your dad has done you and your dad because I know you've been real involved mostly him for sure. But like he he has a proven track record and um I think that we could all safely say that he'll complete the work. I mean there's nothing that's going to stop us from finishing this and we're very rooted in the community and like I said the people um putting up the money the bank feel comfortable with us. Plus we have all of our investors are also in the community. Our our packet says that we're it's the request is to allow a letter of credit from a local bank in lie of a bond requirement. So that was not your request. No, I accidentally set we had talked about a few things and I had accidentally set the wrong letter um just from the bank. It's one Sandy had written ahead of time. They will provide us one if if we need to. But the request um I had asked them to switch that out. So, sorry that y'all got that, but um but the quest is the request that we're making is to wave it. We're trying to reduce, like we said, we're trying to reduce unnecessary expenses. It's already very expensive. Um one of
the things that we're adding to do over there is I'm sure y'all have been talking or the city has been talking to Blue Lake about how are we going to get the people in the trails off of the uh wastewater over there with the mud district. So right now there are 140 home sites over in the trails and um when my dad first did the trails there was not a city. So he was talking to the Lo Mud District and um he contracted for a 100 connections over there to do the wastewater. So right now there's 140 home sites. There's about 80 people over there that have connections with the mud district and um and we're going to run out of them. So, we're also finding a solution to that by putting in our own grinder pump, which will take all the people in the trails off of the um Loano County mud and onto just the city. And you're building a line directly to the wastewater treatment plant. Is that correct? No. No. No. No. It's going to connect on the other side on the downside stream of the uh lift station that is Blue Lakes lift station and tie into that line. And what we've talked about is that line where that connection if we had to do a trade-off because I would like to get all the people off of out of the trails and having to pay an additional fee that they pay to Blue Lake for that. And what we would do is trade off and take over that line from that point of that connection all the way back to the the plan itself. And then we would be responsible for maintenance of that line during that time which is which is better effect on us. you know, definitely make I know there's been some complaints from some of the people on the trails about having to pay that fee and also paying, you know, the city as well when So, it's a it's kind of getting in front of a problem that is going to happen eventually when when these at least just out of the 140 when they get to 100 connections, at least my conversations
um with them with Jessica over there is they're not interested in adding any more connections. So, this would take it all. else. Do you have any any question? I just have one question. It was all the stuff that Mike did was prior to the city and that's why there wasn't a performance bond. I'm just trying to understand why why the ordinance requires a performance bond or uh an acceptable form of credit. Isn't that right, Rick? That's that's exactly so why wouldn't Bayside didn't Why would That's the one I was going to ask. Why? I don't know. You help me with it. Bayside doesn't have public water lines, so they're they're actually private. So, it's only public infrastructure. It's not buildings that require it. Okay. All right. I understand. I understand. Okay. Thank you. How many of these waiverss have we given in the past? To my knowledge, we've not waved one. Uh council has allowed a letter of credit before. Uh not to speak for again, but she has an opinion on that. So, this isn't even a letter of credit, though. Uh yeah, this they're asking for a waiver. This is just a total waiver. Yeah. How do you feel about that, D? Well, the ordinance says uh financial assurance, so it doesn't say letter of credit or leaves it up to the council to make that determination. I don't know um what the council did in the past to not um in what they looked at as financial assurance. So that would be But you're you have a lot of leeway there on financial assurance. Yeah, on financial assurance, I mean, like I said, we know that we're going to have our development loan from Bank of the West. If something were to happen, can Bank of the West write a letter saying the city can use the funds? I don't know if like y'all want to use, you know, it's for you to use the funds. Maybe they can
provide a letter saying that, you know, we would allow the city to use the funds to complete the project. I don't really know what the financial assurance means either, but we have financing. The money will be there. Reason there's ever a project that has financial security. Yeah. Very successful phases and this is the fourth one, you know. Yeah. You've got a track record. No question. Thank you. The reason we have that is for if there is a developer come doesn't have financial resources and they stop and that happens. We've seen that happen with multiple projects uh that are developments and then then the city's left with infrastructure and different places that are just you know mess and we use the bond either to finish it or to clean it up and get it back to nature. Yeah. And it's important to note too though that with what we're talking about it's just roads and utilities basically which my understanding of that is the city watches that I mean it's basically your stuff right so you're going to be monitoring it and you're going to be inspecting it the whole way. So when the contractor comes in there and he you know puts something in the city the engineer and the bank are all going to go inspect it. They're going to make sure that it's perfect and then we're going to pay the guy and that's how it moves through. So there's very little room I think for anybody to default or for there to be go haywire. I don't see any risk at this at all. My question is are we setting a precedent? I just don't want to I just want to avoid a precedent that somebody can flip back on us. I have no issue with granting this, but I just want to make sure that this can't be used against us. Can we say this is tied into the previous and this was an continuation of what we've already agreed to or something to that effect for the first
three phases. Dy, is there something is there some way that you could say that we could word um something in agreement with the bank that would allow us to be in compliance with the ordinance? I think you could make a motion to accept financial assurance in the form of a letter from the bank uh verifying the loan. Uh that is going to um be the cost to complete the um road and the utility lines and um would that instrument cost you? I don't think a letter if as long as it's not a letter of credit those do cost which I did not know but I learned but a letter from the bank from Sandy and Susan a bank of the west that that should be fine. I don't see a problem as long as we don't have as long as we're not setting precedent. You know, we just got to make sure we covered ourselves on that and that this um developer has been in good standing with the city having completed. That's why I wanted to continuation of previous agreed upon because of phase one, two, and three. Frank, do you want to make a motion? I don't know how to do that. I mean, I'd love to uh make a motion that we approve uh phase four. It's page uh it's on page 26. Does it makes Does it say what we want? No, it you're going to have to add You're gonna have to You're going to have to add to it. I I move to approve the request for relief. The hell word is this? In your motion, you want to say um I move that the um applicant has shown uh financial assurance. Yes. For phase
four. Um and we'll provide a letter from the bank uh that uh details the loan that's sufficient for the roads and utilities and that um this is based the financial assurance is based on the developers um being in good standing and having completed three other phases. I'll I'll I'll second that. Did you write it down, Terry? That I can read it. I'm gonna listen to it later. I move to approve the request for relief regarding fiscal security of the trails phase 4 as provided by staff with the um with provided the um applicant provides uh financial assurance in the form of a letter from the bank verifying the presence of funds to complete the public utilities required. Okay. Perfect. I'm okay with that. And I think it also say on the uh the basis of their uh record. Yes. Okay. And on the basis of their um past performance in in previous projects. So, okay. You kind of have that Carrie. Okay. Um so, Frank made a motion. Yes. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Second from council member um Weatherby. Is there any further discussion? All in favor say I. I I thank you very much. Really appreciate it. Thank you. Okay. Um the next item on the agenda is resolution 2026-03 authorizing the transfer of the Summit Rock Pit assessments collected by Lano County um to the trustee pursuant to the Summit Rock Pit U P um deposit agreement. And Jeff, yes, ma'am. I'll make this quick. Um, this was a continuation of the work we
were doing last month on the Summit Rock Pit to be paid off for the the city infrastructure that the city uh had put up in view of a like impact fee. And so, um, what we determined is that, uh, once the city gets paid off of their $7.5 million that was vested in the interest of the Summit Rock Pit, um, with this payment of the $3 million that we're going to get, um, that we would direct the money to go straight to the resort from the, uh, Leno County mud. To do that, we have to have a resolution that directs the Atlanta County MUD to do that. So the resolution does that. It's going to a new entity created called the Summit Rock PID LLC. Yeah. That that's that's which happens to be um so it'll go from the L County MUD to the uh I mean Atlanta County CAD to the trustee and it'll be dispersed to the trustee. So that's the resolution part of this. There's also an agreement in here which is for the custodium uh which is region banks that will will uh disperse that money accordance with that resolution. Just just as a clarification uh Jeff Jones and I met this morning with Jordan Jaffy who's um the managing member of that LLC and they are they have not uh I don't think he's actually signed the documents yet but he said they're that their attorney has reviewed them. he's ready to sign them. And so we told him that um and this is my recommendation is that we pass this resolution, but that we direct staff not to send it to the Lano County MUD until the signed documents as well as the payment for the note payoff have been received by the city. Yes, ma'am. Um council, do you understand what we're discussing here? Does anybody have anything else to add to that? questions. And there's one other item, schedule B to the deposit agreement
was not provided by the bank, right? Okay. Yes. This this uh handout that you guys got, the additional one, it's exactly the same that was in your packet. However, we need to include um schedule B, which is just contact information. So, um, I'd like for someone to make a motion, um, on this, including my suggestion as well as the fact that we need to include schedule B in the in the document. I move to approve uh, resolution 2026-03. Is that the right number? Yeah. Okay. and Summit Rock public improvement district deposit agreement as developed by the city attorney and as presented by staff. Uh provided, however, that the city staff shall verify both the PID agreement has been signed by the managing member of the Summit Rock PID and the deposit funds have been received by the city prior to delivery of this agreement to the Lano County. um CAD I guess it is. No. Yeah. Yeah. CAD the resolution to the CAD the resolution. And uh I also uh would like to uh include the fact that schedule B is attached to this motion confirmation of contact information um in schedule B. Okay. Motion made by uh Mayor Pro Tim. Is there a second? Second. Okay. Is any further questions? All in favor say I. I. All right. Okay. Moving right along. Uh the next item on the agenda is a res is um resolution 2026-02 designating an official newspaper for fiscal year 2026. And Carrie, do you want to tell us about that?
I'll be very quick with this one. The state law simply requires the city to designate an official newspaper every year. And we do this in October each year. Um, these newspapers have to meet certain requirements by law. Um, the Beacon is the community newspaper, but it does not meet the state requirements to be considered a designated newspaper. So, we have to look elsewhere. Um, what I've done is collected information from other newspapers in the area and compared those. I've provided that in the staff report. Um, the Lo News has pricing that is the least expensive and um, their subscribers. They do have subscribers locally. Uh, staff is asking council to designate a newspaper. I'd like to point out that the Lano News price that you guys see on page 44, that price will include publication in the Lano News and in the Beacon for that same price. And we're going to we're going to put it in the beacon anyway because uh council has always voted to do that because that's who reads it. So um that one price of the example pricing that they give you is for publication in both of those. That's great. Are there any questions for Carrie? Uh, would someone like to make a motion? I move to approve resolution 2026-02 designating the land owns of or the Highlander as the official newspaper. No, you want to designate the Oh, okay. The land own as the official newspaper for the city of Paru Bay for fiscal year 2026. Thank you. I have a motion from council member Weatherbe. Is there a second? Second from Mayor Pro Tim. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Okay. Uh, regarding the consent agenda, is there anything anyone would like to see removed from the consent agenda? Okay. So, is there a motion to approve it? I move we can uh approve the consent agenda as presented. Is there uh a
second? I'll second. Um motion from Mayor Pro Tim, second from council member Hosia. All in favor say I. I. Okay. Any liaison reports? Yes. Possibly. Ray, are you still here? Yes, sir. Why don't you give an update on what happened? Mayor, councel, uh about uh 12:30 today, our contractor had hit our main water line coming off of uh our high storage and that supplies the summit and the lower area of the uh air park and airport area. Um it was immediately secured by our field department and uh the contractor. They both worked together. Uh the repair was about a six foot section of line. Um it's restored, repaired. Uh we're moving on, flushed in lines. Um it was unfortunate, but that section there kind of meandered. They thought they were online to keep digging and the line shot back out and by the time the guy realized that he had taken out a sixoot section of our main, but that's since been repaired and restored and we're back up and running. Thank you. So, the notice went out to the notice has been sent out by Jess. Thank you. Approval. Good job. Um, do you want to talk about the 20th anniversary? I would love to talk about the 20th anniversary. Don't forget the 20th anniversary of this city on the 25th of October at the new city center. If you don't know where it is, you've been under a rock. Um, and it's going to be fun. We got plenty of parking that's available right there on 2147. Signs will lead you there. Uh when
you park, you've got uh shuttles that'll take you right to the event. And there's a chance to get all kinds of swag from all the vendors as well as a chance to win prizes. So come stock up for the grandkids. 11 to four. Thank you. Excited reading about it in the beacon. On the committee. You're on the committee. That's right. Any Anybody else have a liaison report? Uh oh, somebody's having a bad day. Okay, Jeff, what have you got for us? Yes, ma'am. I just uh wanted Tim to report on the the completion of his uh road project. Good job, by the way. Yeah, Bay West Boulevard looks great. Thank you. So, as uh Jeff alluded to, we are finished finally with seal coating. We started August 5th and completed it October 8th. We only had one rain delay in that whole episode. So that that project's complete. We're going to be bidding out this year. Like working at night. It it was challenging. Uh I think it went very well uh to be honest, but uh it was a little bit challenging. It was less disruptive for the community. It was very very Yes. The impact on the residents was very low. uh to so to do it on Bay West Boulevard uh easily done. Doing it through the side streets possibly a little bit more of a challenge. Um not afraid of it at all, but uh you know if that's something we wanted to consider for next year, we can uh certainly investigate it. And did it cost us any more to do it at night? No, sir. Good. Okay. And I'm happy to report that the golf my golf cart will fit in the lane. Now, so we did we did widen the lane to six feet as requested. If
if you remember when we put it at five feet, it was more of, you know, to get a feeling for for everybody to see how uh everybody would react to it. But we did everybody seemed to like it. Uh they like the security of the paint line. So uh we did take it out to six feet with this new paint. Educate me. Why don't you seal coat over the bridge? Because the bridge is concrete, so that will disappear pretty quickly. Thank you, Tim. Thank you. You're welcome. Anything else, J? No, I don't believe Jason, you don't have anything, do you? Okay. Okay. Um I think that that covers the agenda. Uh so um we are going to um go into executive session at 453. We have uh two items on the executive session. It's relating to Michael coffee or coffee claim including but not limited to affidavit of prospected claim of lean and this is in cons consultation with city attorney under Texas government code 551.071 071. And we're another item is to amend the city code section 13.03.02 related to water service rates and conditions to add a provision to exclude properties outside the ETJ from receiving water services in consultation with city attorney Texas government code 551.071. So no action will be taken in the public uh in the executive session, but we will come out of exe executive session to take any action. So that's we're going into executive session, if I could say it, at 5 at 454. Thank you.
This transcript was automatically generated from the official public meeting video and is presented unedited. It reflects remarks made on the public record by elected officials, staff, and public commenters. Transcript accuracy may vary; view the original recording for reference.