Megan Navarro
WIMBERLEY — Wimberley City Council approved two applications for temporary structure permits, along with the submission of an application for a grant with the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), at its Thursday, May 7, meeting.
The first permit is for a food service trailer, located in the parking lot of Blanco Brew, at 14200 Ranch Road 12, Wimberley, for a term of one year. Previously, the food truck was operated as Saucy Bros, but will now be Hays Co Burgers Y Mas.
“Their permit expired a few weeks ago and they want to get a new truck in there,” explained Nathan Glaiser, director of development services.
The truck is permitted by the Hays County Health Department and is compliant with the city’s temporary structure regulations, which includes parking and access to restrooms. The owner of the Blanco Brew property is also aware of the change, Glaiser said.
This also follows a presentation given at the April 16 meeting regarding new legislative changes — House Bill 2844 and Chapter 437B being added to the Health and Safety Code — that would impact the regulation of these types of establishments and vendors. Knowing that the city’s current section on temporary structures in its code of ordinances would not be consistent with state law, when it goes into effect July 1, council member Chris Sheffield asked if this permit would be one of the first with the new policy.
“No, this is still operating under our current permitting structure, where it’s a one-off temporary structure permit and it comes to you all for approval,” Glaiser responded. “In the future, they would not need a permit for this; they would just need to register following the regulations I showed you all last month. They would just need to register with the city and we would check and make sure that they have their food permit from the state.”
The permit was unanimously approved by council.
Next, council unanimously approved another one-year temporary structure permit for a mobile food truck at 14306 Ranch Road 12, Wimberley, which is in the parking lot of the Wash Day Laundry - Wimberley laundromat. Currently, Kelly’s Hill Country BBQ and Rositas food trucks are operating at the site; however, this would occupy the space that is currently utilized by Rosita’s, as they will move further down the parking lot.
“They have restroom access at the laundromat. They share hours there. They are open quite a bit and they have over 100 parking spaces there, so they have more than enough room for parking,” Glaiser said.
Council member Rebecca Minnick asked if the city is still looking at doing some zoning changes in order for food trucks to not be in various different places, but rather in a more concentrated area.
Referencing back to the new legislation, Glaiser said that staff will propose to council in June a conditional use permit for food courts. So, for a property that has more than one food truck would come through the process “where it goes through [the] Planning & Zoning [Commission] and then, you all have the site plan and approve it as part of the zoning code,” he explained.
Also during the meeting, council authorized the submission of an application to the TWDB under the Water Supply and Infrastructure Grant Program.
The request would be for up to $10 million in 100% grant funding to support land acquisition for alternative well sites, as well as related planning activities, to improve long-term water supply reliability. According to the city, the project is also based on prior engineering studies identifying a viable alternative water source — as the Trinity Aquifer is currently under severe stress — and will address ongoing drought vulnerability and infrastructure limitations.
“It’s to help conserve property around here to where it wouldn’t be developed and help conserve water and those types of things,” explained city administrator Tim Patek.
The Wimberley Watershed Association, Hill Country Conservancy, Nature Conservancy and other groups “are doing everything — they are applying for the grants, they are writing the grants,” Minnick noted.
The properties that will be pursued are unknown at this time, but the first step is needing a city partner for applying for the grant, Minnick said.
Council unanimously approved the authorization for the city to apply for the grant.
To view the full meetings and agendas, visit www.wimberleytx.portal.civicclerk.com.
