Reno P&Z chair: city can’t promise water to proposed subdivision

In the extraterritorial jurisdiction, the Andy Ranch subdivision is expected to have 20 two-acre lots on the southwest corner of North Cardinal Road and Knob Hill Road.

During the Jan. 9 Reno Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, P&Z Chairperson Brian Schrader reported that the plat for Andy Ranch seemed to be in compliance with county standards, with the exception of one needed correction, and said the developers could proceed with applications to commissioner’s court and other agencies to move forward on the project.

The Andy Ranch subdivision is not expected to be discussed further by the Reno City Council.

The developers of Waterstone Estates, a subdivision related to Andy Ranch, want their potential subdivision to be annexed into Reno, Schrader said. This subdivision is expected to have one-acre lots located at the southeast corner of Ladybird Lane and Knob Hill Road.

Both of those developments previously came before the P&Z and initially, both intended to be annexed into Reno. The developments’ plans included center line plats, meaning the measurements of the lots would start in the middle of the road. At the time, those subdivisions did not receive approval from the P&Z. Now, Andy Ranch is expected to keep the center line platting, while Waterstone Estates has done away with that.

Andy Ranch will be supplied with water via wells, and Waterstone Estates would potentially use the city’s water service. However, Schrader said the city may not be able to extend water to Waterstone Estates. The city is expected to meet with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to find out if any water-related violations need to be fixed before water is extended to a new development.

“We're telling Waterstone Estates that until we meet with TCEQ, and we find out what our liabilities and possible expenditures are, we don't have the budget and are not in a position to promise them water,” he said.

In 2021, the developers of Andy Ranch and Waterstone Estates made an agreement with the city stating that both developments would be annexed into the city and use city water, Schrader said. The terms of this agreement included the developers supplying well site land to support water infrastructure in the area. 

“They wanted water. They were going to annex two additions. They were going to provide the land in both additions for future well sites, and they were going to come in with concrete streets,” Mayor Sam White said. “Since then, they've changed everything, and one addition is not even coming in at all. The other one is not going to give us land. Then we're left with trying to come up with a booster pump. We're going to have to get an evaluation from an engineering firm, which is going to cost us, before we can proceed forward.”

Because Andy Ranch has decided not to be annexed into the city, that agreement is no longer valid, meaning there wouldn’t be another well site to support Waterstone Estates, Schrader said.

“Now that Andy Ranch withdrew from the deal, the lot acreage for the well has been withdrawn, and the number of houses that would be brought into the tax base is reduced,” he said. “What Waterstone Estates wants us to do is run a water line off the existing well and storage capacity, and we don't have it without supplementing it with another well, which has disappeared. And we don't have enough tax base to bring in enough revenue; we’d have to go out and take out a loan or something to do the work.”

Schrader said during the P&Z meeting that extending water lines to Waterstone Estates without studying the impact could “potentially jeopardize the water supply to the entire Reno water system.”

“This is why I wanted the Water Task Force,” White said. “We want to preserve what we have today. We do not want to oversell for the future.”

The Epigraph tried to reach the developers of Andy Ranch and Waterstone Estates for comment before press time but was unsuccessful.

Schrader said the city will meet with Waterstone Estates after Feb. 6 to see how the city can provide water to the potential subdivision. At the P&Z meeting, he encouraged the developers of the two subdivisions to “discuss a cooperative plan that's in the spirit of the (agreement).”