Commissioners amend subdivision, land development regulations
County commissioners considered change recommendations to the Bandera County Subdivision and Land Development Regulations by County Engineer, Dieter Werner, ultimately voting in favor for all proposed changes.
Werner proposed five changes to current regulations originally adopted in 2005. Under Article 3.1, General Rules for Platting Land to be Subdivided, he suggested adding an additional Article 3.1.4 which states: Submittal review of the preliminary plan, preliminary plat, and final plat should be consecutive and not concurrent, shall be considered by Commissioner’s Court during separate meetings and not more than one of the required stages shall be considered at the same meeting of the Commissioner’s Court.
The other proposed changes are as follows: Article 4.2.4 Applicants that submit a plat for the subdivision of a tract of land for which the source of the water supply intended for the subdivision is ground water under that land, the final plat application (change to preliminary plat application) shall have attached to it a form with all attachments and statements prepared by a Texas licensed engineer or Texas licensed geoscientist and that they certify that adequate groundwater is available for the subdivision.
Article 8.1 The county has established certain minimum standard for lot size and street frontage. Werner proposes to add a disclaimer to this statement: These minimum acreage requirements do not apply to the combining of two or more lots that are part of an existing platted subdivision that has been approved by Commissioner’s Court and recorded with the County Clerk.
Article 8.1.1 A subdivision lot served by an individual water supply well and an individual on-site sewage system (OSSF) shall have a minimum lot size of five acres (change to 10 acres).
Article 8.1.2 Lots served by a public water supply and having an individual on-site sewage facility (OSSF) shall have a minimum lot size of two acres (change to 5 acres).
The Court voted all in favor for the proposed changes. Per Judge Evans, all applications processed on August 25 and thereafter will fall under the new rule changes. Any applications that were processed before August 25 will be grandfathered in under the previous regulations.
Werner emphasized to the court that water availability regulation and land regulation were two still two separate issues.