by BRAD ROLLINS
The Hays County Commissioners Court is expected to consider a two-month moratorium on re-subdividing lots while its staff reviews what some consider a loophole that benefits developers.
New county regulations for residential subdivisions adopted in August of last year generally require lots to be at least 6 acres in the western portion of the county. But a provision commissioners said was intended to benefit smaller landowners exempts properties with fewer than five lots and an average lot size of two acres or more.
On Feb. 23, the developer of the Mustang Valley subdivision near Wimberley used the rule to add a couple of lots to his development which was originally platted in November 2008.
“It’s a significant unintended consequence of the ways the rules were written and it’s made it easier for developers to subdivide,” said Andrew Backus, a Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District board member.
County Judge Elizabeth Sumter sponsored an item on the agenda Tuesday that would have imposed a 60-day moratorium on re-subdivisions in the Hill Country Priority Groundwater Management Area and instructed Development Services staff not to accept re-subdivision applications.
After hearing public comments, she pulled the item from discussion this week but indicated she would bring it back to the table later after resident Jimmy Skipton, a frequent critic of the county’s new standards, suggested changes to the re-subdivision provision would require the county to conduct another Takings Impact Analysis, a lengthy process required for new or modified development codes.
“These rules are only seven months old and we discussed it over and over and over again… If you’re going to change the law, I know you have to do another Takings Impact Analysis because you’re going to be taking from landowners,” Skipton said.
Replacing rules last updated in 1997, the regulations establish a minimum lot size of six acres for much of the county and set standards for subdivision and platting, site development, water and wastewater availability, septic systems, roads, manufactured housing and flood damage prevention.
