BURTON CITY COUNCIL CREATES SUBDIVISION ORDINANCE COMMITTEE

  

The Burton City Council on Tuesday approved the creation of a committee that will be tasked with making recommendations for an ordinance regulating the subdivision of land and plats within the city.

The subdivision ordinance committee will be led by Councilmember Paul McLaughlin and consist of local residents Sheila Ripple, Chuck Johnson and Joan Rogers. 

City Secretary Angela Harrington said the members of the committee will review the subdivision ordinances in towns similar to Burton, like Carmine, Fayetteville and Round Top, to see what Burton should focus on in an ordinance of its own.

The committee will have up to 90 days to read through the neighboring city ordinances, as well as the proposed ordinance rejected twice by the Burton City Council earlier this year.  After that, they will gather to share their opinions on what would be best for Burton, and those recommendations will go to the rest of the council for review.  If the council decides to proceed with creating an ordinance, it will direct the city secretary or contact an attorney about drafting a document.

McLaughlin said the creation of this committee allows for more information to go out to residents and gives them an opportunity to provide their input.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the council discussed a matter involving a water line under FM 2780, which is currently undergoing work with TxDOT as it installs a new culvert and widens the road.  Construction crews found the water line running through the culvert, so they have halted their project until the city can deal with the situation, as it affects private water lines in the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction. 

The council heard from two residents who are directly impacted and discussed options available to pursue.  Mayor Karen Buck said one of those options would be for TxDOT to put in a bore under the roadway.  The bore would allow those residents to continue receiving city water, but Buck said the cost to put in the bore, estimated at roughly $40,000, would need to be reimbursed to the city by those residents since the city cannot use taxpayer money to fund private lines.  The other option would be for them to drill water wells on their own properties. 

The item was tabled in order to allow the residents to decide which path they want to take.  Buck reassured them that the city is not doing anything preemptively and that no lines will be cut until the residents say it is okay to do so.

In other business, the council agreed to hire Southern Roots Fencing and Supply for $2,350 to put in a gate and new gate posts in the fencing for the water well.  It also approved a tree and limb removal contract with J. Mendoza Tree Services.  The contract is for two years, with the cost dependent on the size of the trees and limbs being removed.