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Thursday, October 1
BERGHEIM • BOERNE • COMFORT • FAIR OAKS • KENDALIA • SISTERDALE • WARING • WELFARE
SPECIAL MEETING
FOR city council approves budget and property tax rate Connie McFall Clark Hill Country Weekly In a special meeting held on September 24, Fair Oaks Ranch (FOR) City Council members met via teleconference to discuss and vote on items to start the next fiscal year of 2021-22 beginning on October 1. During the Citizens To Be Heard section of the Agenda, Wes Pieper asked about comments made by City Council member(s) on social media regarding the 47 identified
determined due and delindrainage projects. He’d like quent dates clarification as to which are caused by runoff problems • Resolution ratifying the property tax increase in genoutside the City or draineral fund and debt service age issues from new housing fund budgets developments. Council members approved • Resolution authorizing the creation of an employee all of the following agenda benefits trust and designatitems: ing all City Council Members •B udget for fiscal year as Trustees 2020–21 •O rdinance levying a property • City Manager to sign a Professional Services tax rate of $.3735 per $100 Agreement for City Planning taxable valuation on propConsultant Services erty for tax year 2020 and
• City Manager to sign a Professional Services Agreement for General Engineering Consultant Services An Executive Session convened to discuss the following with no actions reported in the Open Meeting: • Claims made on behalf of a real property owner against the City’s operation of the K-3 Trinity Glen Rose Water Well. • Cause No. 2018-CI-00202;
the City of FOR, Texas vs. Edward I. Hill, Robert E. Heckendorn, Craig M. Kuitjen, Roger Fuentes, Wesley A. Pieper, Esther W. Hicks, William A. McDowell, Yolanda D. Ayala, PG Pfeiffer Ranches LLC, Maureen Pfeiffer Stevenson Family Trust. Full documentation may be found at: fairoaksranchtx.org/ AgendaCenter/ViewFile/ Agenda/.
Help on the way U P D AT E
Commissioners
Court
Development dominates discussion during Commissioners Court Christina Ryrholm Hill Country Weekly The commissioners met, via zoom, on Monday morning with over 50 participants listening in. The most time consuming items involved land development issues – with very different outcomes. The two developments were the Lily Ranch proposed subdivision at 22 Old Fredericksburg Road and The Summit at Miralomas at 21 Monarca Blvd. off of Highway 46 West. Both entities were requesting relief from various items of the Kendall County Development Rules and Regulations. Before permitting the public comments County Judge Darrel Lux stated that he, along with Bill Ballard (County Counsel) and Mary Ellen Schulle (Development Engineer), had met with State Representative Kyle Biedermann and his chief of staff Karin Dyer to adamantly state that counties “had a lack of help at the state level” in regards to county control over subdivision development. The meeting concluded with a request for the county to send Biedermann a letter requesting what was needed and he would attempt to help. Lux said that he would resubmit the request as they (he and Biedermann) had already had this conversation before. While the county has no control over density in a subdivision, they do have the right to regulate such things as road width, grade and setbacks. The Miralomas Development was grandfathered in under the Rules and Regulations of 1997 whereas the Lily Ranch proposal is under the guidelines of the updated Rules and Regulations of 2010. Lux said that he and the commissioners had received letters and emails about Lily Ranch that would not be read into the record but were noted and would be part of the file. All but one of the public comments dealt with the proposed Lily Ranch subdivision on Old Fredericksburg Road, many of them long time homeowners on the same road. Among the main themes that were mentioned had to do with increased traffic, storm water and drainage, the water supply and setting a precedent. Everyone that spoke requested that the commissioners deny the requests. The requested relief was for four variances - minimum frontage, setbacks, density and dead end streets. In the written requests for variances it is stated “This tract is unique given that it is one of the few tracts in Kendall County that is located within the City of San Antonio ETJ and within a utility company’s water (Kendall West Utilities or SAWS) and See COMMISSIONERS, page 9
from local Firefighters Two Boerne Firefighters en route to fight California wildfires On Tuesday, September 29, 2020, two Boerne Firefighters left on a twoweek mission to assist their fellow firefighters in California as they work around the clock to gain control over numerous wildfires burning across the state. Chad Leeper and Will Stripling left unsure of which fires they would be assisting with, but their resolve to help remains strong. “We are fortunate to be in a position to help,” Fire Chief Ray Hacker said. “Our wildfire threat has diminished in recent weeks thanks to beneficial rains. However, our brothers
and sisters in California have no end in sight as they work tirelessly to protect their communities.” The men’s deployment is part of the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System (TIFMAS) which was activated by Gov. Greg Abbott on Sept. 11, 2020. Southwest Airlines is providing free flights to firefighters responding to or returning from California. According to Cal Fire, since the beginning of the year, wildfires have burned over 3.1 million acres in California. This year’s acres burned is 26 times higher than the acres burned in 2019 for the same time period.
Service Awards
At the beginning of this week’s 85 years of employment. Almost everyone Commissioners Court the courtroom was had various members of their departments full of women who were scheduled to be who came to cheer them on. recognized for their years of employment with the county. Between them they totaled See SERVICE AWARDS, page 5
Stephanie Rust, Sheriff’s Office/LEC, Five years
Nicole Bishop, Criminal District Attorney, Ten years
Index Sample Ballot............................................................................. 2 Hill Country Women................................................................ 8 This and That.............................................................................. 3 Frontier Tales............................................................................10 Obit................................................................................................ 7 Dogs to the Park.....................................................................11
Sylvia Zapata, Human Resources Office, Fifteen years
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