Kendall County Commissioners Court heard a request Tuesday to consider preventing development in and along the 100-year floodplain after last month’s devastating Guadalupe River flood.
Commissioners Court members listened as County Engineer Mary Ellen Schulle walked the Court through the most impactful points in the proposed adjustments to the flood plan.
“The most impactful change in the flood prevention order is adding language prohibiting manufactured home parks and similar type developments in the flood plain,” Schulle said.
“I would propose expanding the definition of a manufactured home park to includes RV parks, camps, tiny-home developments, anything that’s short-term rental,” she said, “where people are coming and staying overnight, and they are not familiar with how the flash flood area works.”
A section of the Texas Occupation Code, Schulle said, expands the definition of manufactured or mobile homes to includ “any other type of trailer, camper, tent or recreational vehicle designed for the use of overnight accommodations or lodging.”
Commissioners asked about grandfathered properties and about commercial ventures rebuilding what may have been damaged or destroyed by the flood.
“It also doesn't allow grandfathering,” Precinct 4 County Commissioner Chad Carpenter said.
“No, it does not,” Schulle said, adding, “There is no grandfathering in here. “The only things are historic structures that are flooded.
“Everything ... that’s in effect the day you come to get a permit, that’s the policy you would follow.” she added.
The revision would not apply to a property owner who decides to go camping or RV’ing on their own property.
“If somebody wants to have their tents out on their own property, not a problem — this is specifically commercial subdivisions, parks and development,” she said.
The proposed restrictions, she reiterated, are not for property owners “who want to go camping this weekend; ‘I want to take my RV out to our property, or to a neighbor’s property.’ That’s not what this us about,” Schulle said. “It’s targeted for those commercial developments of these units.”
Precinct 2 County Commissioner Andra Wisian summarized the commission’s purpose in one sentence: “We can’t change the weather but we can change how we plan to build.”
“As we saw on July 4, in just a few hours, water was rushing through the low-lying areas, the river basin, damaging homes, putting lives at risk, and taking lives,” Wisian said. “The amendments we’re going to look at today will help us raise safety standards and flood-prone areas.
“At the end of the day,” she said, “this is about saving lives and putting people first.”
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