The city of Leander is planning to annex five sections of land totaling more than 1,200 acres in the southeastern and northwestern portions of the city, including the last available sections of land that can be annexed along Ronald Reagan Boulevard.
Leander City Council held the first public hearing for the annexation of two sections that total about 1,130 acres during a Jan. 5 meeting. One section falls along RM 2243 and CR 175, and another is located just north of the Palmera Ridge subdivision off Ronald Reagan. The annexations would be involuntary, meaning the property owners did not request to be annexed.
The council also held a public hearing for the annexations of three areas of land totaling about 75 acres north of San Gabriel Parkway and by the San Gabriel River. Those annexations would be voluntary, meaning the property owners did make a request for annexation.
No residents spoke during the public hearings for either round of annexations during the Jan. 5 meeting.
The next public hearing was scheduled for Jan. 19, after Community Impact Newspaper’s press time. The first and final reading of the ordinances will be Feb. 9 and 16, respectively, Assistant City Manager Tom Yantis said.
There are 21-23 residential properties and one commercial property in the five areas being annexed, according to the city. Yantis said all of the affected parties were mailed notices about the annexations after the council initiated the process in December.
City staff has also been in discussions with residents who qualify for agriculture, timber or wildlife exceptions. If any of the residents choose to enter into exemption agreements, the city cannot annex the tracts for five years—unless the owners develop the land.
“All those who choose to enter into those agreements, their property will be left in the [extraterritorial jurisdiction] status subject to those agreements, as long as they continue their [agriculture] or wildlife or timber use,” Yantis said.
The 1,130 acres along RM 2243 and Ronald Reagan is the last area in Leander’s extraterritorial jurisdiction, or ETJ, on the southeast and central portion of the city that can currently be annexed, Yantis told council members. He said the annexations would bring areas that are ready for development into the city limits.
Yantis said the city begins to consider annexation in its ETJ when infrastructure could be extended into those regions, when developers approach the city with development plans that fall within those areas or when development starts to occur in those areas not subject to the city’s land-use regulations.
He said that was a concern in the past when an RV and boat storage business was developed in the portion of land set to be annexed around CR 175.
“They don’t have to follow any of the city’s land-use regulations or standards, so we just don’t want to see areas start to develop that way in our ETJ,” he said. “When those pressures start to happen, that’s when we start looking at annexation.”
Yantis said RV and boat storage and similar businesses are allowed in the city limits within certain zoning districts, but those operations would have to follow city ordinances for items such as building materials and landscaping.
Per the city’s future land-use map, the majority of the five parcels scheduled for annexation are designated for residential development, with a few small portions designated as mixed-use corridors by CR 175 and Ronald Reagan. Yantis said the city’s plan is for residential, some higher-density residential and possibly some limited commercial uses to be developed in those areas.
