This past week I shared the State of the City presentation to the Greater Boerne Chamber of Commerce. In preparing for this annual event, it’s a time to reflect briefly on what’s been accomplished, but more importantly to look forward and discuss what’s coming.
In looking back, I’ve had a consistent top 5 priority list since entering this office and, with the support of all City Council, we’ve made some great strides on those priorities, and more. Those top 5 items have been: 1) Ensure transparent communication 2) Update Boerne’s master plan annually 3) Implement updated UDC to address balance between growth and protecting Boerne 4) Work collaboratively to define mobility solutions for traffic congestion and 5) Define a conservation and consumption plan for water in Boerne. The newest updates for this list are for Mobility and Water. The Transportation Committee is wrapping up their final recommendations this month and will be handing them off to the three bodies that will need to act: Kendall County, City of Boerne and City of Fair Oaks. I’m very grateful to the co-chairs of that committee, Don Durden and Bob Manning, as well as the 20 members of that committee that have met over 100 times to consider the mobility needs of our community. With that final report, I consider this priority essentially complete, and we now focus on key road projects.
Also, the Water Committee, chaired by Patrick Cohoon, has made great strides in recommending key conservation tactics. This month we received an engineering report from HDR that looks out a few decades and predicts the future of our water supply in Boerne, given this growth that has occurred over the past decade. There is good news, but still a need to plan for 20+ years from now. The good news is that our current water sources fair quite good over the next 15-20 years. However, if our personal water consumption stays the same or rises, we will have challenges in that time frame. The emphasis on personal conservation will continue to be a key factor for the future success of Boerne’s water plan.
