New Braunfels Edition | October 2022

proposed MUDs Municipal utility districts have to seek approval and agreement from a city or county. The agreements create expectations over what responsibilities each has to the project and what standards will be adhered to. Acreage Status

THE

Comal County MUD No. 3

Lone Oak Farm MUD

RIVER CHASE DR.

BASICS The extraterritorial jurisdiction, or ETJ, is an unincorporated area around city limits that can stretch from 1.5-5 miles depending on population. MUNICIPAL UTILITY DISTRICT MUDs proposed in a city’s ETJ require a city to give its consent. If a city does not consent within 90 days, state statute allows the property owners 120 days to work directly with utility providers. If there is no resolution, the applicant can appeal to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

758

306

Approved

637.72

481.08

RIVER OAKS DR.

N/A

2,365

123

Comal County MUD No. 4

Flying W MUD

KRUEGER RANCH RD.

WATSON LN.

Approved

Tabled

349.7

362

1863

226

N/A

KRUEGER CANYON

Proposed housing units

provides research for the Texas Legisla- ture, ETJs were created in Texas in 1963 by the Texas Legislature to formal- ize the process by which cities would annex unincorporated areas near their border as they grow. “In 1963, the Legislature, for the first time, tried to put in place some really standard procedures on how annexation should take place as well as creating this concept of extraterri- torial jurisdiction for the first time,” said Trey Burke, an attorney with the Texas Legislative Council at a Sept. 13 Texas Senate committee hearing on local government. “When we talk about extraterritorial jurisdiction … it is this band of land that surrounds the corporate boundaries of a municipal- ity. Law is pretty clear that this has to be an unincorporated area so it’s not an area that’s part of another city. The law is clear that it has to be contiguous so that the band stretches out from the boundaries itself.” Burke said in his testimony that this effort was meant to establish some standards on how cities can regulate development within boundaries that they might eventually be compelled to annex, but with limitations. “In this external jurisdiction, it’s not the same as within the city where

cities of San Marcos and Denton. Some cities in Texas—such as College Sta- tion—charge over $30,000 for the appli- cation fee. The council began the process of considering the fees earlier in the sum- mer after two MUD applications—the Flying W MUD, a 362-acre develop- ment at the far northern end of the city’s ETJ near the corner of Hunter Road and Watson Lane, and Guadalupe County MUD No. 5, an almost 300-acre proposed development off FM 725 near the Bandit Golf Course—ended negoti- ations between the developers and city with no resolution and council denying the applications. “One of the things that we have addressed on a couple of these is the fact that we need to be compensated somehow by the developers to be able to have our staff come up with the right message and the right requirements to be able to provide developments that all of us in New Braunfels, Texas, want,” New Braunfels Mayor Rusty Brockman said. “A lot of the stuff that’s been presented to us is not something that New Braunfels needs or wants.” Creating the ETJ system According to the Texas Legislative Council, a nonpartisan agency that

CONTINUED FROM 1

SERVICES

system for new residents to pay for connectivity. They are one of many types of special-purpose districts, which are the most numerous units of government in Texas, according to the Texas Public Policy Foundation. “A MUD is just one of several differ- ent types of special districts allowed by state law that is a tool that a developer can use to help them finance the cost of roads and sewer lines and water lines,” said Christopher Looney, planning and development services director for the city of New Braunfels. “Once it’s created, the MUD is then managed by a board of directors. They’re elected from the people who live or own busi- nesses within that MUD. The MUD then levies their own taxes and fees on themselves to then repay the devel- oper for their costs,” he said. The amount of city of New Braunfels staff time and expenses associated with the applications led the council to begin the process of implementing fees for applications, settling on a fig- ure of around $18,000 per application, initially authorizing the fees at a July 25 meeting. That price point is within the range of the application fees required in the

Cities largely do not provide services in the ETJs, which are instead provided by creating the MUDs or other local districts such as water improvement districts and funded by bonds paid by future residents.

TAXES

While not taxed by the city, a MUD or other special-use district in the ETJ would become subject to taxes or fees to pay for the infrastructure of establishing the district.

Who serves what? Property within an ETJ is largely served by county and local utility districts. WATER/SEWAGE/DRAINAGE/SOLID WASTE:

City

County

Utility district

STREETS:

City

County

Utility district

LAW ENFORCEMENT

City

County

Utility district

DEVELOPMENT PLANNING:

City

County

Utility district

SOURCES: CITY OF NEW BRAUNFELS, TEXAS LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL/COMMUNITY IMPACT