[Publisher’s Note: The meeting begins at 5 PM, as shown on the agenda, and not 7 PM, as it appeared in the text of the original article. To repeat, the meeting begins at 5 PM on Sunday, September 22 at the Coupland Fire Station.] 

Last night the City Council held a workshop to review and revise a draft of a subdivision ordinance. One citizen attended the meeting. Jim Huntington signed up for the citizen communication portion of the meeting. He expressed his concern and hope that the City Council would find a good balance between individual property rights and the legitimate concerns of the general community, whether that be in a subdivision ordinance or in a future zoning ordinance.

The City Council spent the rest of the meeting discussion various elements of the draft ordinance, which is based on the City of Bertram’s subdivision ordinance. The draft was the work of the Concerned Citizen’s Committee, a group of citizens that met several times earlier in the year, before the City Council was formally established, to look at subdivision ordinances and regulations from Williamson County, Weir, and Bertram. The group settled on the comprehensive Bertram Ordinance and worked to refine it to reflect local concerns. They then passed it on for consideration by the City Council.

At last night’s meeting, the City Council discussed various elements of the draft ordinance and made revisions. The Council was satisfied that the revised ordinance was appropriate to protect all parties who might be affected by future commercial and residential development, both within Coupland city limits and its extra-territorial jurisdiction. Due to their concern that developers may already be considering property in the Coupland area, the Council set a special meeting for this Sunday (5 PM at the Coupland Fire Station) to consider and potentially adopt this ordinance.

The preamble of the ordinance explains the rationale behind it:

. . . to better provide an attractive living environment, maintain a rural way of life, and to protect the health, safety and welfare of the present and future citizens;

You may review the proposed ordinance by clicking on this link: Coupland Subdivision Ordinance