Kyle city leaders earlier this month approved an update to the city’s Public Improvement District (PID) policy by a 6-1 vote.
The updated policy included additional text to clarify and tighten up certain language that may cause issues in the future, Kyle City Manager Scott Sellers said. Council member Daphne Tenorio cast the lone dissenting vote.
“Every policy should be a living document and the PID policy is no different,” Sellers said.
Financial advisors and other PID consultants examined the city’s current policy and recommended changes that would further protect the city’s interests for future developments, Sellers said.
Revisions include increasing the PID application fee from $15,000 to $25,000 and clarifying the disclosure agreement.
“We have negotiated agreements under the prior policy and it is our assumption that what is written in those development agreements is what those developments will move forward under.”
Scott Sellers, Kyle city manager
Daphne Tenorio, District 6 Council Member, voted against the PID policy update as she felt it could be too complicated.
“This whole package started out very simply, and it has become an extravagantly complicated piece of procedures,” Tenorio said.
Everything city staff added to the policy was vetted by legal counsel and professionals within the industry who recommended these changes to protect the city’s interests, Sellers said.
“Because of our lawsuit with the Bunton Creek PID, the city – to ultimately rectify the situation with the neighborhood – adopted a PID policy that would give us direction moving forward so that we didn’t encounter the same issues that got us into legal troubles to begin with,” Sellers said.
City council settled a lawsuit after a long process between the Bunton Creek Estates PID developers and the City of Kyle in December 2015.
Issues with the Bunton Creek Estates PID began in 2014 when homeowners learned the development, PID Holdings, Ltd., didn’t notify them of a PID assessment on their homes.
The city filed a lawsuit against PID Holdings and settled an agreement between the developers and homeowners.
The settlement included resetting the assessment for each platted lot in the PID and negotiating the $2,900 assessment to $1,800.
“The policy changes were simply to address those additional issues that were brought to our attention to further protect the city so that we don’t end up in another unforeseeable legal situation,” Sellers said.
