By Amira Van Leeuwen
KYLE– Kyle City Council voted 5-1 on Oct. 18 to create the Limestone Creek Public Improvement District.
Council member Yvonne Flores-Cale was the dissenting vote.
According to the Vice President of Land Acquisition of Meritage Homes Justin Belmore, stormwater flows and is collected at the Limestone Creek property’s southeast corner. Developers are planning on detaining and improving the detention of the area to reduce the water flow off of their site below existing conditions.
The project has been designed and is in phase one of construction. Brandon Hammond, vice president of the development, said they don’t anticipate drainage issues within their development because that’s what they have control of.
But Rick Coleman, who is a general partner of FM 158 Land, LTD, which owns 600 acres that adjoin the developer’s property, said he recently discovered the City formed two agreements with Sandera Land Development Company, LLC and LaSalle Mud No. 1, which deals with roadway and drainage improvements from Dec. 15, 2020, but he didn’t agree to take the water.
“In that agreement, the city and the developer agreed to build berms that divert and channelize onto FM 158’s property,” he said. “I did not agree to take this water.”
And, according to Sec. 11.086 of the Texas Water Code, Coleman shouldn’t have to. The code states: (a) No person may divert or impound the natural flow of surface waters in this state, or permit a diversion or impounding by him to continue, in a manner that damages the property of another by the overflow of the water diverted or impounded. (b) A person whose property is injured by an overflow of water caused by an unlawful diversion or impounding has remedies at law and in equity and may recover damages occasioned by the overflow.
Coleman noted that no one came to speak to him about this when the agreements were being drafted. He only learned about the agreements because he noticed construction near his property.
“What they’re not telling you is once it comes off of their property, and they’re right, it belongs to the next guy over, but that is LaSalle. And what they have done is they have an agreement with the city to build diversion dikes,” Coleman continued. “And it’s an illegal move.”
Coleman also said that the millions of gallons of water being diverted to the FM 158 property will eventually cause massive flooding and damage.
“I will not let FM 158 Land’s property rights be diminished so that the city, Meritage, Lennar, LaSalle, Waterstone and TACK Development can benefit with more homes in their developments from this illegal diversion of water,” Coleman said. “We are not the regional detention pond for the area. And that seems to be the plan for everybody.”
“They’re engineers for LaSalle; all the LaSalle projects are the engineers for Lennar too. So I feel like Rocky Balboa in a fight here, but I’m gonna fight it,” Coleman concluded.
Flores-Cale said she had concerns for Coleman, who is a landowner in her district, and flash flooding. Flores-Cale requested a meeting with the developers, which all parties are currently trying to set up.
Council member Daniela Parsley asked if there would be any water retention issues if the retention pond was inside the property.
“We’re designing to Atlas 14 Standards, hundred-year flood events, and so we’re reducing that flow below existing conditions. Once it leaves our property, that’s another developer, and they will be accepting our conveyance, our discharge of stormwater, and reconveying it elsewhere,” Belmore said.
If the city moves forward with the design phase of the process, Mayor Pro Tem Robert Rizo wanted to ensure that the city has conversations with Coleman and other involved groups with city staff when analyzing the drainage issues, so they are “transparent” as a city.
“There is a state statute that says you cannot add more water onto somebody’s property; it’s illegal in the state of Texas. So let’s just keep that in mind, and let’s make sure as a city we adhere to that,” Rizo said.
