CITY & COUNTY
News from Comal County & New Braunfels
COMPILED BY SIERRA MARTIN
New Braunfels City Council Will meet Feb. 13, 27 at 6 p.m. at 550 Landa St., New Braunfels 830-221-4000 www.newbraunfels.gov Comal County Commissioners Court Will meet Feb. 16 and March 2, 9 at 8:30 a.m. at 100 Main Plaza, New Braunfels. 830-221-1100 www.co.comal.tx.us MEETINGS WE COVER HIGHLIGHTS NEW BRAUNFELS City Council considered the rst reading of an ordinance that will adjust certain procedures during City Council meetings with the intent to run them more e ciently. Proposed changes include requiring speakers to ll out a registration form, cutting down public speaking times from ve to three minutes and reducing public hearing times from one hour to 40 minutes. COMAL COUNTY The Comal County Clerk’s O ce has earned an Exemplary Five-Star Rating from the state for its work in vital statistics. Vital statistics include birth and death certi cates, marriage applications, and divorce records in the state, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
City Council reviews priorities in 2023 bond proposals NEW BRAUNFELS City Council has moved one step closer to calling for a May bond election by reviewing the potential projects that will be included in propositions on the ballot. being considered to be placed on the ballot for the May 2023 bond election. Proposition A would focus on over $99 million worth of transportation projects, including on Common Street, Barbarosa Road and Saur Lane, Solms Road, and Kohlenberg Road.
Homeless Coalition conducts annual countywide survey COMAL COUNTY The Texas Home- less Network and the Comal County Homeless Coalition worked alongside volunteers Jan. 26 to assist with the annual point-in-time count, which attempts to provide a snapshot of those experiencing homelessness in Comal County. Every year, local agencies conduct a count to determine the extent of homelessness in the community, according to the coalition. “Community support and aware- ness for this project are so important not only in terms of volunteer recruitment, but also to create aware- ness and understanding about this very vulnerable population in our area,” said Bethany Benson, a count committee member. The count helps nonpro t agencies and organizations understand how homelessness changes over time.
BOND BREAKDOWN
The New Braunfels City Council plans to call for a May bond election that will fund about $140 million worth of projects throughout the city.
The City Council recommended projects for the May bond election that includes nearly $140.05 million in funding with 71% of funding for trans- portation, 20% for the library and 9% for parks and recreation. The New Braunfels Economic Development Council plans to provide capital investment support and adopt a list of proposed 2023 bond projects to nancially support if funds are avail- able. The NBEDC will evaluate its funding capacity annually to determine what projects to support. “There was an overall consensus [for the NBEDC] to fund the next phase for essentially nine projects, and a number of those were priority projects from the Bond Advisory Committee,” said Garry Ford, New Braunfels transportation and capital improve- ments director. Some projects prioritized by the NBEDC include the nal design of the rst phase of drainage improvements on Castell Avenue, the construction of pedestrian improvements to Common Street and Kohlenberg Road from I-35 to FM 1101. The council reviewed three propositions that are
The New Braunfels City Council received a presentation on the One Water Initiative, a regional collaboration on long-term water planning and management in the region.
TRANSPORTATION $99.33 million
Funding toward parks and recreation to be used for land acquisition and renovating parks among other purposes, including completing the second phase of construction at Mission Hill Park, will be Proposition B, which totals around $12 million. Voters would have the opportunity to approve a new Southeast Library Branch costing nearly $29 million, which will go toward building the new library facility and land acquisition on the South- east side of I-35 in New Braunfels. “Not all cities include their priority projects within the proposition language. ... However, in the spirit of transparency and to be clear what those priority projects are we have been consistent since 2019 to include in the [propositions] speci c prod- ucts,” said Jared Werner, New Braunfels assistant city manager. City sta , council and committee members have been working on compiling the proposed 2023 bond program since July 2021. In the next steps, the City Council will consider approving a resolution calling for the bond election on Feb. 13 at 6 p.m. at city
New Braunfels plans for future water scarcity
LIBRARY $28.56 million
NEW BRAUNFELS City Council received a presentation on the One Water Initiative, a regional col- laboration on water planning and management, during the regular meeting Jan. 23. One Water is an integrated plan- ning and implementation approach to managing nite water resources for long-term resilience and reliabil- ity to meet the needs of the local community and ecosystem. “The approach, One Water New Braunfels, is a way to manage water resources and their uses together rather than in silos to leverage the outcomes,” said Christopher
Looney, planning and development services director for the city of New Braunfels. The One Water Roadmap was created to align well with the Envi- sion New Braunfels Plan, according to Looney. David Hubbard, chief administrative o cer for New Braunfels Utilities, discussed how important water is in New Braunfels and why water management is essential for the community. Goals highlighted include continuing to be a destination for tourism and resource conservation and environmental stewardship in public infrastructure.
PARKS AND RECREATION $12.16 million
SOURCE: CITY OF NEW BRAUNFELS COMMUNITY IMPACT
hall. More information on the bond can be found at www.newbraunfels.gov/bond. “We’ve been through a pretty extensive process, I would say a community driven process, to get to where we are now,” Ford said. “So it started back in July of 2021, and a year-and-a-half later, we have come to the city council to nalize that as a project and then next month to call for an election.”
CREEKSIDE TOWN CENTER 263 Creekside Crossing (830) 608-1969
NEW BRAUNFELS 1671 IH-35 S (830) 629-0434
LIVE OAK 14623 IH-35 N (210) 651-1911
Powered by FlippingBook