During the regular May 24 meeting of New Braunfels City Council, the second and final reading of an ordinance to rezone 48 acres of land located in the 2200 block of FM 1102 to become a high intensity mixed-use district was postponed.
The first reading of an ordinance to rezone and apply a special use permit to 49.5 acres of land located at 614 and 720 W. Zipp Road to allow for a mix of residential and non-residential development was also postponed during the meeting.
HMT Engineering & Surveying represents both projects and requested to postpone the items after residents in neighboring communities voiced opposition to the projects, said Thor Thornhill, president and CEO of the engineering firm.
Both readings were postponed to the upcoming June 14 meeting. The reading of the 48-acre property rezoning was previously postponed during the May 10 meeting.
“The reason that it was postponed the first time was because we didn’t realize there was opposition,” Thornhill said at the meeting.
During the meeting, several residents voiced opposition to the postponement and to the developments themselves, citing the area's rapid growth as their primary concern.
“We are forming a coalition of citizens who are tired of this [growth]," resident Timothy Davis said.
Davis and several other residents voiced frustration with the growing number of mixed-use and multifamily housing developments in the city and the affect they have on roadways and infrastructure.
In preparation for the June 14 meeting, Thornhill said his team has made plans to speak with residents that will be most significantly affected by the developments.
“What happens at these community meetings is a give and take,” Thornhill said. “That’s the hope a lot of the time: ‘What’s give and what’s take, and how do we make it work.’”
After hearing that a meeting has been scheduled with the developer and residents of the Ridgemont neighborhood that borders the proposed project on Zipp Road, several citizens who spoke in opposition to the postponement of the reading reversed their position.
“We need to make sure we get a large group of citizens together,” Davis said. “We’d love to see some kind of site plan that would give us a little more insight into what’s going on.”
