 |
|
 |
If Commissioner Jeff Barton has his way, Hays County will soon adopt new rules to govern subdivision development -- rules that will help protect water resources and the county's unique character while allowing what he calls "fair use" of land.
Barton took office in 2007, but he has been an advocate of better development planning for more than 20 years.
Today he believes Hays County is poised to adopt regulations that will balance community rights and property rights.
He notes that counties in Texas have only limited authority to govern land use. But he hopes Hays County will set a landmark example of what can be done if you bring people together, build consensus - and then push the envelope.
The county commissioners are likely to vote on the proposed new rules in April (2009), perhaps as early as April 7.
When Barton says the rules could be a landmark for Texas counties, he should know. He teaches seminars across the state on the history of county subdivision authority and how to use what authority exists to the best advantage. During the 1990s and early 2000s, he was one of the most persistent voices in the state urging that laws be modernized to recognize changing circumstances in the rural and suburban parts of Texas.
Barton was a county commissioner once before. He made national news for championing better planning and taking on fly-by-night developers who were profiting off substandard subdivisions. Before that he wrote about colonias and shoddy development growing up east of Interstate 35 in Hays County, and worked on a series of investigations and essays that won a state award for community service.
Fifteen years ago he introduced a proposal to protect water resources across large parts of Hays County and to use market forces to preserve open space while guaranteeing farmers and ranchers income off their land. It was based on a successful innovation in another state but Hays County (and Texas) wasn't ready for it.
He's hoping to incorporate parts of that old idea into the new rules. Times have changed - and the pressures of growth are more apparent to more people now.
"It's not enough just to throw up your hands and say, 'There's nothing we can do,'" Barton said. "People expect more from leaders - and they should. We're going to grow. The question is how. Can we preserve something of what makes this a special place? Can we grow in a responsible way? I think we can. It won't be easy, but these new rules - they're far from perfect - but they're an important step in the right direction. I hope they'll light the way."
The proposed rules will provide additional incentives for rainwater harvesting, protect recharge areas, and require larger average lot sizes in drought-prone areas unless developers are able to provide reliable water supplies other than wells into the Trinity and Edwards aquifers. The rules also try to look forward to incorporate long-range transportation planning and to allow - even promote - innovative development. Barton is a fan of the "Rural By Design" and "Growing Greener" concepts championed by the planner Randall Arendt and others.
A former land planner himself, Barton likes being involved in the details of designing new regulations rather than leaving it all to staff and consulting engineers. "Rules ought to be based in science. They should also be tools of policy. And, perhaps most of all, they need to make sense and they need to create a level, predictable playing field," he says.
He hopes the rules will expand on a trend he helped develop - providing incentives for developers to create more parks and open space, minimizing "rules for a rules sake" requirement while toughening expectations for quality work and planning, including protections against pollution and easing barriers to creative design.
While members of the Commissioners Court still differ on small but important details in the rules, Barton said there is broad consensus on the Court around major features, including new provisions for more public notice that will ensure Hays County residents get more information about new development than almost anywhere in the state.
The proposed new regulations - including subdivision rules, water availability guidelines, and manufactured home regulations - are available for viewing on the Hays County website.
|
|
|
Digg this!
Email this page