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New Braunfels City Council denied an appeal made on behalf of Lennar, a homebuilder, for partial reimbursement of park development fees during a regular meeting Aug. 10.
The appeal request was made for Navarro Ranch, a single-family subdivision in the Guadalupe County extraterritorial jurisdiction.
The context
As part of the city’s parkland dedication and development ordinance, the developer was required to either:
New Braunfels Deputy City Manager Jordan Matney said Lennar initially indicated that they would set aside acreage for a private park. In 2019, the private park—which was 3.78 acres at the time—did not meet the ordinance requirements to receive reimbursement.
Between 2019 and 2023, Lennar submitted several plat applications proposing to set aside land for a private park in future subdivision phases. However, the applications did not comply with the city’s subdivision platting ordinance. Lennar also did not receive design approval before platting the first unit and developed the 3.78-acre park in 2023 before receiving city approval, according to the meeting presentation.
Lennar later built a recreational trail to increase the park’s acreage. However, the homebuilder determined in May that the trail must be used for drainage and therefore cannot be formally designated as parkland, Matney said.
Lennar is required to provide 7.85 acres to qualify for reimbursement but has developed only 5.93 acres that comply with city requirements, according to the meeting presentation. The developer has no other land-use options that would bring the property into compliance. The remaining area is also considered drainage.
Developers can include drainage in a park, but the park cannot be entirely constituted by drainage, said Jeff Bransford, the city’s assistant director of parks and recreation.
“When exceptions are made outside the ordinance, it can create a precedent that other developers will want to follow, and it erodes the strength of the ordinance," Bransford said.
The discussion
Nick Reynolds, an engineer with Colliers Engineering & Design working on the project, said they have been working in good faith with the city’s parks and recreation department to come up with a resolution. He also said they were unaware that the item would be brought to the park and advisory board.
“We never asked this to go to the park advisory board to find out if we were gonna get denied on [the] reimbursement fee. Not sure how it got to that point but when the developer found out he also found out that we had 10 days to appeal it so that’s why we made the appeal,” Reynolds said.
Reynolds said the question at hand was consideration for other options the developer could do to meet the parkland dedication requirements—not the reimbursement fee.
District 2 Council Member Michael Capizzi said development began before any approval was granted.
"That's a poor decision," Capizzi said. "The fact of the matter is, for $2 million plus reimbursement, you haven't met the requirements, so I mean this is literally the deal that is made with the city. You provide 'X' we give you 'X'. You have not provided 'X'. You haven't even given a good plan for how to provide 'X'. That's not my fault," Capizzi told Ortiz.
How we got here
The item was presented to the park and recreation advisory board on July 14. Members of that board unanimously voted to deny Lennar any fee reimbursement due to persistent noncompliance, according to the meeting presentation. Following the board’s denial, Lennar representatives requested an appeal, which brought the issue to the City Council.
Bransford emailed Lennar Representative John Ortiz to notify him that the parks board would be meeting. No one showed up to represent Lennar, Matney said.
Lennar representatives requested that the item be postponed for discussion at a later date, but the council denied the request.
One more thing
The $2 million reimbursement will instead fund additional amenities or parkland acquisition in that area, per the city's parkland development ordinance, Matney said.
