Buda City Council approves Persimmon petition

BUDA — At its Oct. 11 meeting, Buda City Council voted 7-0 to allow Bailey Land Investments, LP to remove approximately 459 acres of land from the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ).

Bailey Land Investments owns one of two tracts, the other being the Armbruster tract, that is set to be a part of the Persimmon project.

This deannexation request comes after the newly passed Senate Bill 2038 that went into effect Sept. 1. The bill states that “if a resident or landowner obtains the number of signatures on the petition required under Section 42.103 to release the area from the municipality's extraterritorial jurisdiction, the municipality shall immediately release the area from its extraterritorial jurisdiction.”

The property owners submitted a petition, which the city staff and attorney reviewed. Upon reviewing, they found defects and notified the owners, who then resubmitted the petition and met the requirements by state law, according to Alan Bojorquez, city attorney.

“You have no discretion in whether it’s going to be released from the ETJ. The way the Senate and the Texas House passed this bill, you have no choice. If the property owner wants to be released, they shall be released,” said Borjoquez.

The annexation of the land leaves no control to the city over potential future development, including previous requests in the development term sheet, unless both parties agree to a development agreement that would grant the city regulatory authority over the project.

“MileStone developers will not do what is right for the current and the future residents of Buda,” said concerned resident Martha Terrel during public comments. “Concern for our natural resources will be ignored in favor of profit.”

“Methodically, the legislature has first taken away our ability to annex and now taken  away the concept of ETJ altogether, so it begs the question who is looking out for not just use, but streets drainage, water, sewer — the answer is nobody. Counties do not have that authority … So, this is significant,” said Bojorquez. “What you’re feeling is legit and I would say that anyone that’s concerned about this sort of thing, I would hope that when they wake up in the morning and have their cup of coffee, the next thing they’d do is call their state senator and state representative and start asking questions.”

When asked whether the property petitioned should be removed from other ETJs, director of development services Melissa McCollum was unaware of additional requests.

The full meeting is available online at https://bit.ly/3RYqvY7.