Staff Report
The ten-acre septic rule buyers bring to Hays County does not apply here
Many rural land buyers arrive in Hays County carrying a rule they heard somewhere: build a single family home on ten or more acres and you can skip the septic permit. The rule is real. It sits in the state septic regulations, 30 TAC 285.3(f)(2), and it comes up constantly when people price land around Kyle, Buda, Dripping Springs, and Wimberley.
It does not apply in Hays County. The county's own On-Site Sewage Facilities page says so directly: "A permit will be required for all On-Site Sewage Facilities, regardless of the size of the lot or acreage onto which it is installed." State law lets a county adopt rules stricter than the state baseline, and Hays has done exactly that.
Even where the state exemption does operate, it is narrower than the version buyers repeat. Four conditions all have to hold: the system causes no nuisance and pollutes no groundwater, every part of it sits at least 100 feet from the property line, all effluent stays on the property, and the home is the only dwelling on the tract. Add a second house or a rental and the exemption ends.
The practical advice for a buyer is simple: call the county septic office before closing, not after. The permit and the site evaluation shape where a house can even sit on a lot, and a surprise here after closing is expensive.
I run Hill Country Barn Builders, an information resource that publishes Texas Hill Country building and septic permitting details for rural landowners and connects them with independent local builders. Every rule quoted above was read at its source, and I am glad to point your newsroom to the underlying pages.
Anthony Gordon
Hill Country Barn Builders
hillcountrybarnbuilders.com
WHAT'S WITH ALL THE KILLING?
Is it REALLY necessary?
Thousands of Pallistineans - to say nothing about Lebanon. Men, women and children - all dead from Israeli bombs, many purchased from America.
What about Iran? With so many bombs dropped, America's stockpile has been depleted.
And what about Ukraine, a war started how many years ago? So many killed on both sides and Ukrainian boys taken from their families to be resettled in Russia. Resettled to become good Russian soldiers so they can help Russia take back Ukraine?
And what about the continual fighting in Africa where horrific genocide is often a daily occurrence?
Who knows where that ammo comes from?
Thousands of survivors from these hellish events are languishing in refugee camps - those who have not been lucky enough to find refuge in countries kind enough to take them in.
Question: is there not another way to resolve quarrels than by killing each other?
Answer: we DO have a way. The United Nations stationed in NYC. Obviously it needs more support from those who wish to stop these worldwide autocracies.
We also have The World Court --The Permanent Court of International Justice - established by the League of Nations in 1920 and the International Court of Justice founded in 1945 by the United Nations, also referred to as "The World Cart".
Those responsible for genocide have been brought to justice under this system. It's about time we enforce justice once more to the culprits of dysfunction.
Comments Welcome
Victoria Taylor
Dripping Springs
