Leander City Council is considering rezoning 183 acres for a residential community next to Garey Park in Georgetown, and several Georgetown homeowners in nearby neighborhoods expressed concern over the development during an Aug. 4 meeting. The property is located at 500 Bradley Ranch Road near Ronald Reagan Boulevard and Hwy. 29, and the owner, Development Solutions Bradley, requested a rezoning and approval of a concept plan for the project known as Bluffview. The land is currently zoned single-family rural, and the owner asked for a planned unit development, or PUD, with single-family suburban, single-family urban and single-family compact zoning. “The applicant is requesting a [PUD] in order to allow for the development of a mixed residential product with multiple lot sizes,” said Assistant City Manager Tom Yantis. Garey Park, which could be completed in late 2017 or early 2018, lies south of the property. Yantis said the PUD would not allow single-family lots to back up to the park, so a road would be constructed along the boundary with houses facing Garey Park. The owner also proposed a trail system connecting the Rancho Sienna subdivision to Garey Park through Bluffview in the concept plan, as well as an additional park in Bluffview. According to city documents, two neighborhoods in Georgetown’s extra-territorial jurisdiction, the Rancho Sienna and Gabriel’s Overlook subdivisions, sit to the north and to the east of the property. A handful of residents from the two neighborhoods spoke at the council meeting and raised concerns over flooding issues the development could cause. Gabriel’s Overlook resident Lawann Tull said she lives five lots from the boundary of Bluffview, and she told council members about a creek that runs in front of her home. She said the area floods during heavy rainfall and drains into the San Gabriel River. Tull said she worried a proposed 5-acre recreational pond in the PUD could add to flooding in the area during wetter months and take water away from the river during drier months. She and others requested the city conduct more studies on the area before taking action on the rezoning. “If they put a 5-acre pond there, that’s water that’s not going into the river,” she said to council members. “Those trails and parks are wonderful, but if the river’s gone, what is it worth?” Yantis said the water flow would be accounted for in engineering plans that will be prepared for the development during a future phase. City Council approved the plan with conditions pertaining to landscaping and the ingress and egress of the PUD recommended by city staff. A second reading on the zoning change is slated to take place at an upcoming council meeting.