Cibolo City Council on Dec. 14 discussed entering a building moratorium due to the rapid city growth and the state of city infrastructure.
According to a report during the meeting, from 2014-21, there have been 2,634 new homes and 262 commercial developments, based on permit applications.
The moratorium allows the city to pause new development that may be detrimental to the community while the city assesses its infrastructure and service needs.
According to the council, for the city to enter a moratorium, it must submit its findings for the need to prevent a shortage of essential public facilities, which is defined in the Texas Local Government Code as water, sewer, storm drainage facilities or street improvements provided by the city or a private utility.
Council Member Joel Hicks expressed concern with Green Valley Special Utility not being able to handle the capacity of additional homes and developments coming to the city.
“The roads are horrible,” Hicks said. “Santa Clara Road, the county has worked on it and has done a pretty good job at working on part of it. There’s a whole lot of it where these other homes are going, 780, 1,200, 200 homes all on Santa Clara Road.”
According to Hicks, part of the reason for considering a moratorium is to plan to fix roads and flooding issues that can prevent emergency responders from reaching an emergency promptly.
“The last rain we had, 5 inches, I mean it flooded, and our fire department would have to have gone to [FM] 1518, out to [I-]10 and then go back to get any response or gone all the way out to Seguin,” Hicks said.
Council Member Steve Quinn showed support in having a study done so City Council can have more information and evidence on issues and how they can be resolved.
“We have asked for this study already, so why it hasn’t been done yet is beyond me. I don’t know why,” Quinn said. “But I think it needs to be done. I think we need to take a look again at our services, what we are able to provide, looking at our roads, our infrastructure, everything we got, and see if a moratorium can be done.”
Discussion for a moratorium is still in the early stages with the council requesting a study of the city before moving forward with the discussion.
Before a moratorium can be put in place, two public hearings must be held along with the submission of a findings report that shows evidence of the need for a moratorium and a plan to address listed issues.
