During its Dec. 13 meeting, the Magnolia City Council took no action on the temporary development moratorium. A special meeting is scheduled Dec. 21 for the council to consider the ordinance during its second reading.
“By law, the temporary moratorium does not take effect until Dec. 16 based on when we published notice of this public hearing,” Magnolia City Attorney Leonard Schneider said. “But the law also requires that the City Council have two separate readings of the ordinance, so that’s why we’re having a reading tonight and no action, and then on [Dec. 21], they have to take action.”
Scheider said if the council approves the ordinance during its Dec. 21 meeting, it will go into effect for 120 days.
In the interim, the moratorium temporarily takes effect from Dec. 16-25, according to Schneider; if council members again take no action Dec. 21, it will not be extended.
During the public hearing for the moratorium, Scheider and Engineer Mike Kurzy presented a slideshow about the moratorium and answered questions from the public. Several developers present also spoke at the public hearing.
“If there’s major delays in when we need water, it’s going to cost us a lot of money,” McLain Properties owner Bryan McLain said. “I know sometimes things get away from you, but the only thing I’m asking is whoever went to sleep at the wheel and got behind on promising a lot more connections than they actually have the capacity to fulfill, those have to be caught up.”
The temporary moratorium ordinance asserts the city’s water facilities are at capacity and have "bottlenecks that threaten the proper operation of the city’s regional wastewater system,” Community Impact previously reported.
If enacted, the moratorium would not affect developments that do not impact the city’s water capacity or developments that are in progress and have city permits that are not expired as of Dec. 16, according to the ordinance. It also does not apply to completed applications or plans for development for a permit, plat, verification, rezoning, site plan, approved wastewater plan or certificate of occupancy filed before Dec. 16.
The consideration of a temporary moratorium comes after the city put Stage 2 water restrictions in place and approved a temporary water system for the east side of Magnolia.
The second reading of the ordinance will take place during a special meeting Dec. 21.
Other council actions to note
Also at the Dec. 13 meeting, Magnolia City Council members accepted the resignation of City Secretary Kandice Garrett and appointed City Administrator Don Doering to be the interim city secretary.
Council members also approved a resolution to file an application to the Texas Water Development Board seeking no more than $12 million in financial assistance to pay for the planning, design, construction, improvement, repair and rehabilitation of the city’s water system, according to the resolution in the agenda packet.
