Travis County Commissioners Court
July 3, 2007
Item 12
Number 12-a, consider and take appropriate action on a plat for recording in precinct 3, the vistas of pedernales canyon trail, a revised plat of lot 13, pedernales canyon ranch phase 2, which is a total of 11 lots. Acknowledge 12-b, approve subdivision construction agreement with vistas at pedernales canyon trail subdivision.
>> good morning.
>> hi, anna bolin, Travis County t.n.r. Since this item was at Commissioners court the last time, we've had a couple of meetings with the owners and the neighbors and we have come up with some plat notes with the help of our county attorney's office to allow this to be a rain water harvesting subdivision. There are nine plat notes. These notes will be put -- are on the plat, if they are not already, I have a sharpy, I値l write some on myself, and we're also repping these be in the deed restrictions. But the purpose of those notes is to make sure that all future owners that buy into this subdivision understand that this is rain water harvesting, that they won't be doing an individual well, and we want to be sure everyone has fair notice of that. Also these notes indemnify the county. Some of staff's concern was rain water harvesting, there's not set guidelines associated with it, and these notes serve the purpose of letting everyone know that that's the case. That there are guidelines and we don't have something to fall back on and say hey, you didn't meet these guidelines. These notes do give us, I think, some cover there and appreciate all the hard work everyone has done to get us there.
>> judge?
>> yes, sir.
>> I think the last meeting that we had before this group -- I was out of town last Thursday, but I understand that tinley and anna were there with the applicants and neighbors, and let me just say that I知 really proud of the process that's taken place both from the applicants and the neighbors. This has clearly been one of those things that I actually think is going to come out of western Travis County where we might have -- if not 100%, I guess there may be somebody that's not happy wit, but I think 99%, which is exactly what we're trying to find and people put a lot of time and effort into this thing. I know that some of us had discussed a bit of uneasiness with regards to what step are we taking with the county with regards to is this something that is going to be precedent setting. I think it obviously will be precedent setting. Now, from a legal standpoint, I mean I know that there still are issues with is this going to be something that you are going to be able to force, you know, people from now forward, you know, to use as a primary source of water. That is, of course, unless they can get surface water delivered to them. I think that tinley is comfortable with where we have plat lines and the cover, so to speak, with regards to the county not building themselves into a corner.
>> that's correct. The --
>> [inaudible] to address one point you made, specifically state as anna alluded to that the county doesn't have in place currently regulations addressing this type of alternative water supply system and can't be really relied upon for that purpose. And these plat notes and deed restriction will serve notice to potential property owners of that. In addition to which it also states it's not intended to be, these plat notes and this approval of this plat under these circumstances is based on this voluntary agreement by the developer and adjacent landowners which the county has decided to honor, but that it is not intended to be precedent setting. So that's specifically a separate plat note. In addition the plat notes address the fact that in the future if the county does want to go down that road with the final rules and adopt regulations once it's educated itself, staff is comfortable with what type of water -- alternative water supply systems are available, what the standards should be, how they will function, how they will be operated and maintained, et cetera, et cetera, then the property owners are also put on notice that they will be obligated to upgrade or retrofit their systems in accordance with standards that will later possibly be adopted by the county when the county is ready to go down that road.
>> judge, are you going to have any sort of legal question that you want to take in executive session because I知 certainly willing and ready to recommend approval of both a and b.
>> and I知 ready to second.
>> I think if there are others who come today, give them an opportunity. Do recognize the motion and second. Last week we thought we were close to reaching basically a compromise between residents who had concerns and the developer who was trying to work with residents and had the need to get the project down the road. And basically the water collection system is working in this area for a whole lot of residents based on the e-mails I have received. By the way, I知 becoming more of an expert on water collection systems myself thanks to you all and this project. But I guess I was left with the impression that if there is basically spirit of compromise and we can work out the details especially to the satisfaction of t.n.r., then the court should bless that and that's my position today. The e-mails I have received pretty much have been supportive, but if there are those who wish to give a short statement, now is the tie. And if whether you are for or against, we would like to hear you if you would like to express an opinion. I assume when you put one of these systems in, you will get a list of dos and don'ts sort of like a vacuum cleaner.
>> [laughter]
>> you receive an operating manual.
>> right. Good morning.
>> good morning. Pepper morris speaking on behalf of property owners in pedernales trail as well as hill country alliance. We held a meeting September 17th. Karen and I were able at that meeting to enlighten those that were present about this project. And without doubt everybody just gave us two thumbs up. So we are very, very happy that you all are thinking outside the box. Thanks to our developer, and we really appreciate this. And on behalf of h.c.a., we feel the same way.
>> you just said September 17th.
>> I知 sorry. Sorry. June. June 17th. Thank you.
>> I知 here representing the hill country alliance and I have been part of this process, and it was just real positive. The developer suggested great things. The community went along with it. And county staff really pulled it all together. And hopfully this is going to be reflective of future subdivision applications.
>> thanks for working hard and to the developer as well.
>> when I -- what I found out looking at the material regarding rain water collection, I do some but not to this extent, but it was good. It was all very positive and so I think, yeah, it was --
>> and these folks have experience doing rain water collection in other
>> [inaudible].
>> and the other interesting thing was there are already people doing the rain water collection without any guidance from anybody but themselves. And literature that's available on it. So this is a very exciting --.
>> congratulations. I think this is wonderful.
>> I also would like to step away from characterizing it as a compromise and maybe move toward a characterization of this as a -- as a -- words escape me. I didn't talk much more two weeks and that's probably a good thing. It's an innovation and a partnership in innovation and I知 glad we could be a part of it.
>> it's almost like it's the first win-win that western Travis County has experienced and it feels really good.
>> thank you all for that. You all set the wheels in motion, both the concerned residents and the developer. I really appreciate both of you for that. We just rode your coat tails.
>> we appreciate it.
>> thank you.
>> anybody else? Last opportunity. There's a motion and a second to approve 12-a and b. Right? Discussion? All in favor? Show a unanimous court with Commissioner Davis temporarily off the dais. Thank you all very much.
>> judge, item number 12, the previous.
>> show Commissioner Davis voted for that.
>> item 1.
>> instead of being off the dias.
>> thank you very much.
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Last Modified:
Friday, July 6, 2007 9:55 AM