By Anna Herod

Although the Kyle Planning and Zoning Commission were split 4-2 in recommending the approval of the addition of a new section of Plum Creek, Kyle City Council members were unanimously in favor of the project. 

Council voted 6-0 at its last meeting to approve the preliminary plan of the development of 255 single family lots, 20 park lots and three landscape easement lots, some of which are located east of Sanders and north of Fairway. 

The remaining lots will be located within the 1500 block of Sanders. Altogether, the future Plum Creek addition will consist of 38.069 acres of land.

Howard Koontz, director of Planning and Community Development, said the commission was split on its recommendation of the project to city council because of the plat’s proximity to the flood plain. 

“This is a continuance of a new section within Plum Creek,” Koontz said. “The subdivision itself resembles most of the other sections in Plum Creek. The one thing about this that’s somewhat different is the proximity of the property to some land that is a flood plain.”

However, Koontz said the information used in Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM) is not necessarily representative of map amendments the developer has put forward to the federal government to show they are lifting the property out of the flood plain. 

“We’re very cautious,” Tony Spano, representative developer with Plum Creek, said. “Plum Creek is here to stay. I’ve got a lot of land to sell, I’ve got a lot of land to develop and I have a vested interest in making sure that what we build out there allows me to continue to market Plum Creek. So we’re very concerned, cautious and overly conservative when we design these areas.”

According to Spano, the area in question is “effectively a peninsula”. The development area, which is near, but elevated out of the flood plain, sticks out into a lake.  

“It’s going to be phenomenal sight,” Spano said. “It’s going to be a great asset to Plum Creek and to Kyle. That being said—yes it’s in close proximity to the lake, but it’s elevated to a point where we are extremely confident and our engineers are that it is well above the flood plain.” 

The split in opinions about the safety of the proposed addition to Plum Creek did not make its way from the Planning and Zoning Commission to the council.