Dripping Springs City Council voted to extend the city’s development moratorium for 90 days at its Feb. 15 meeting.
Limited wastewater capacity and the need to update land-use regulations in the city’s comprehensive plan drove the decision to institute the moratorium in November 2021.
The last comprehensive plan for Dripping Springs was released in 2016. The city experienced rapid population growth during the 2010s, increasing by 97.27% between 2014-2019 alone.
The extended moratorium will continue to be based on both land use and wastewater capacity. After the 90 days are up, only wastewater capacity will be considered in potential future extensions.
The 90-day extension will allow for time to gather data informing future land-use regulations, though the moratorium based on land-use will expire before the comprehensive plan is released in December 2022.
“In 90 days, we’d be in a better place to negotiate a development agreement based on the information we garnered in this first phase,” said Dripping Springs Mayor Bill Foulds. “Right now, we’d be going into it blind—into a development agreement—without any information from the comprehensive plan.”
The moratorium extension passed with 3 council members voting in its favor. Councilwoman Sherrie Parks voted against extending the moratorium and council member Geoffrey Tahuahua abstained from the vote.
