Kyle: We just give you the lines, whether you ever have water is not our problem

Back on May 26 I wrote about the Planning and Zoning Commission’s consideration of the final plat for two planned subdivisions, the Meadows of Kyle phases five and six, a total of 90 single family lots on more than 22 acres on Windy Hill Road in northeast Kyle. The city was going to supply a lot of the infrastructure for the area, of course, but the subdivision had contracted with Goforth Water Supply to provide its water. Trouble is Goforth Water Supply is one of three entities that is seeking to obtain water from wells that a Houston company planned to drill near Wimberley until the Texas Legislature moved to quash those plans. (The well-killing bill passed by the legislature is awaiting the signature of Gov. Greg Abbott, but I have learned from capitol observers that he will likely allow it to become law without his signature.)

So the question was raised at its last meeting as to whether Planning and Zoning commissioners should approve the final plat of a subdivision that may have some concerns about getting any water. Turns out, that’s none of Kyle’s business. As Community Development Director Howard Koontz told commissioners Tuesday:

"These items were tabled until this evening so we could do a little bit more research on community development and City of Kyle procedure on approval of these plats. The question specifically was ‘Do we examine projects for adequate public facilities if the city is not the provider of the infrastructure or some of the utilities.’ I spoke with the city engineer, I spoke with the public works director and the answer to that is ‘no’. We do not check to find out whether or not the utilities themselves are adequate. We look from the standpoint of residential code or commercial code, depending on the type of project that it is, and make sure that the infrastructure is installed properly. So you make sure they have the correct size water lines or the correct size gas line and that there’s back flows and meters and whatnot. But as far as the idea of them receiving the actual commodity through that infrastructure at this point is a civil agreement with whoever the utility provider is."

With that, the commissioners unanimously approved the final plat.