HUTTO — When it comes to finding solutions for the growing outer edges of town, City Council is considering whether development agreements should be written in stone.
Property owners for three 10-acre plots at 400, 420 and 460 Hyview Lane on the far northeast corner of the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction have asked the city to be released from development agreements they say limit their growth.
During its Jan. 23 session, the council directed the city’s legal team to discuss with the developer the options for releasing the properties from the current development agreements with agreed-upon utility restrictions and bring it back for future consideration.
“These properties entered into a non-annexation development agreements in March 2019. At that time the surrounding area was primarily farmland. However, times have changed,” said Philip Graves, a representative of the property owners. “Today, the subject properties are surround by growth and development, transforming the area into a thriving part of the region primarily driven by the availability of city of Round Rock sewer services.”
Graves said when the owners made the decision to sell, they discovered the development agreement imposed restrictions which have subsequently deterred multiple potential buyers.
“Unfortunately, these opportunities could not move forward due to the constraint of these agreements. We believe these agreements no longer align with the current realities of the area or the city’s broader growth strategy,” he added.
At the Oct. 12 council meeting, the city denied the developer’s request to release these properties from the city’s ETJ. But at this week’s meeting, they were willing to consider revamping the development agreement to allow developers to apply to Round Rock for sewer service.
A caveat would be the property would be required to use a municipal sewer service.
Some subdivisions surrounding the Hyview properties are serviced by Round Rock sewer, while other ETJ developments have applied to build on-site wastewater treatment plants, or package plants — a move the city has been fighting.
“With our (Capital Improvements Plan) it could be years before we get up there. I don’t want to hurt them, but I also don’t want to spend $10 million or $20 million so that 100 homes can hook up to a sewer,” said Mayor Mike Snyder. “If they’d agree to deed restrict it, if it was legally possible, then they would be forced to use a municipal service and that way we’d be sure that if the prop did deannex or we did develop it, it wouldn’t be on septic and wouldn’t be a package plant.”
City Manager James Earp voiced concerns Round Rock would not agree to provide sewer services unless the property was ceded to their jurisdiction.
“There’s lots of good reasons to consider releasing it, but I do think it’s super important that anything we do in that regard is papered up very strongly on what the council and the community is comfortable with, and I would not expect Round Rock to be willing to serve it unless we release the ETJ to Round Rock for them to accept,” Earp said.
