It’s all about the buffer, ‘bout the buffer, not the water

There’s a rather large subdivision called Anthem planned for an area along RR 150 northwest of Kyle and directly west from Mountain City. It will contain homes ranging from 6,000 to 13,000 square feet. Looking at these plans makes me think Anthem will make Plum Creek seem like a dwarf. The average size of a house in Plum Creek is 2,184 square feet. Anthem is not located within the municipal limits of any city, but is in Mountain City’s extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ).

Originally, Anthem planned to get water from Electro Purification, which proposed to pump five million gallons of water per day from an unregulated portion of the Trinity Aquifer. Most of that five million gallons was contracted to a water reseller, Goforth Special Utility District. The city of Buda also contracted to get some of the water from the EP wells.

However, the Texas Legislature passed a bill that would expand the boundaries of the Barton Springs-Edwards Aquifer Conservation District to cover that portion of western Hays County where the EP wells are planned, thus reducing the amount of water EP could pump on a daily basis to a level where it could possibly provide only the amount contracted by the Goforth SUD.

So various entities went to work to solve the problem of how to replace that water EP was supposed to provide to Buda and Anthem. Buda proved not to be a problem, but the plan for Anthem has run into steep opposition from the residents of Mountain City.

Acting as a third-party mediator, Hays County got together with the city leaders of Kyle and Mountain City and negotiated the framework for a deal, called an Interlocal Agreement (ILA), in which, among other things, Kyle would agree to provide water and wastewater services to Anthem. However, those "other things" has the citizenry of Mountain City in an uproar.

According to the deal, Kyle would provide the water and wastewater services only if Mountain City surrendered jurisdiction to the territory where Anthem would be located to Kyle. There are other provisions. One, Hays County would provide the labor to rebuild roads in Mountain City (Mountain City would have to pay for the materials). Kyle would also provide water and wastewater services to a section of Mountain City it wants to convert into a commercial corridor. Such a corridor would provide Mountain City with sales tax revenues. However, at the present, that area is served by wells and septic tanks and thus can’t be developed commercially. In addition, Kyle would "make available water and wastewater master meters to Mountain City, billable at the out-of-city rates as defined in Kyle’s Code of Ordinances, which will allow Mountain City to develop its own water and/or wastewater utilities to service its citizenry." Kyle, of course, would make Anthem part of its ETJ (and perhaps even officially annex the area) and receive the resulting property tax revenues. (Mountain City would not receive property tax revenues from Anthem if it kept the ETJ; those moneys would go to the Municipal Utility District created for the subdivision.)

Last night I attended a meeting at the Plum Creek Golf Course building hosted by Mountain City to discuss the proposed ILA. Also present were Kyle Mayor Todd Webster; Hays County Commissioners Will Conley, whose district covers the proposed EP wells, and Mark Jones, whose district incorporates Kyle and Mountain City; and about 40 or so residents of Mountain City, which may not seem like that many but is actually the equivalent of about 1,800 Kyle residents coming to a city council meeting and we all know that’s not likely to happen in the history of this planet. The feeling I got was that all 40 of those residents were against the ILA because they did not, for one reason or another. want to give up the city’s ETJ. Some of those folks didn’t want to give up the ETJ under the terms proposed in the ILA – they felt Mountain City should be able to negotiate "a better deal" – but the most prominent reason given for this recalcitrance was they wanted to maintain the ETJ as a "buffer."

I got to thinking about that following the meeting, even consulting my trusted Webster’s II for a definition of "buffer" other than "a device used for shining or polishing." The definitions that apply are 1. "One that protects by intercepting or moderating adverse pressures or influences" and/or 2. "Something that separates the entities, as a neutral area between two conflicting powers."

I thought about that a lot and the more I thought about it, the more I kicked myself for not asking one of those citizens exactly what they wanted this buffer to protect them from. It certainly can’t be from encroaching development because Anthem is going to be developed adjacent to Mountain City regardless of whose ETJ it is located in. So what is it that these folks felt the need to have Anthem serve as a buffer for them? What did they fear?

I plan on attending Mountain City’s next City Council meeting, which is scheduled for Monday, June 22, to see if I can learn the answers to these questions. I would also like to ask those who say they want "a better deal," exactly what, in their estimation, would provide "a better deal." In fact, I was somewhat surprised no one running the meeting posed that question last night.

But, between now and then, I can let my imagine run wild. Back in the late 1950s, when I was still in my mid-teenage years, my family moved from Houston to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. And although I was always told things were quite friendly between the United States and Canada, I quickly learned Canadians, in general, hated Americans. I searched for the answer as to why and learned that it stemmed to the post World War II era. A significant portion of Canada’s economy back then (this was before they discovered oil in the tar sands out west) depended on its sale and exporting of wheat. As part of the Marshall and other plans instituted after World War II, America gave away wheat to countries needing it. Canada had a tough time selling its wheat while America was giving it away and, as a result, its economy suffered. Canadians never forgave America for this.

That got me to thinking if there could be a similar type of grudge between Mountain City and Kyle and what the folks really wanted was a buffer that protected them from "those evil Kyle land-grabbers." There was a time when Mountain City was the most vibrant municipality in this part of Texas. It was the principle transportation hub of its day, meaning it was on the primary stagecoach line. All that changed in the 1940s when the railroad came to the area. Mountain City felt the train should run though its town and that a depot should be located there; however, state Senator Fergus Kyle used his political connections to get the tracks laid further east, completely bypassing Mountain City. That, in effect, ended Mountain City’s days as a regional center of commerce. So, I’m wondering, is Mountain City still bitter about that all these years later? I don’t know, but I hope to find out next week.

I did have the opportunity to ask Mayor Pro Tem Diane Hervol, who also attended last night’s meeting, what she thought about it all.

"There’s a lot to be determined," she said. "I think we’re farther apart and perhaps some more negotiations, more discussion is needed between the two cities."

She said she was optimistic some kind of an agreement will be worked out and she was "hopeful" it would involve the ETJ coming under Kyle’s control. "I just need to understand what the terms for those cities will be."

Incidentally, there’s a standing item on tonight’s Kyle City Council agenda to "Consider and take possible action to amend, extend or rescind the ILA with Mountain City and Hays County."

Michael Rubsam, chairman of Kyle’s Planning and Zoning Commission, also attended the meeting and said afterwards "I think the Interlocal Agreement can be in the best interests of the people of Mountain City once they work out the details. I believe there’s quite a few people in there that don’t understand about the MUD." He said he was disappointed that those points weren’t clarified for the Mountain City residents who attended the meeting.