Bulverde Denial Stops McCarty Ranch Code Exceptions

The application also proposed broader tree-removal exemptions inside defined grading areas, cash mitigation for three majestic trees and encroachment by as many as 10 lots into a riparian buffer. The buffer areas would have been placed in non-buildable drainage easements.

Council examined phased tree surveys, cash mitigation, and whether the PDD would make proposed water facilities permitted uses instead of requiring later special-use permits.

Questions before the vote

A council member identified drainage, traffic, tree, slope, site-plan, and water-infrastructure information she considered necessary before supporting the proposal. Those requests focused on details that would shape how the large tract connects to roads, manages runoff and receives water service.

A resident raised concerns about runoff, tree removal, and downstream flood risk and requested a complete drainage study before the application was considered. The reviewed recording establishes the substance of that testimony, not whether the predicted effects would occur.

The Planning and Zoning Commission had recommended approval 6-1 with seven conditions. They included preserving trees within the riparian buffer, removing a proposed $200,000 tree-mitigation cap, requiring tree surveys during individual plat phases and limiting the proposed water-treatment facility to multifamily or commercial areas.

How the proposal reached this point

Comal.News previously followed the plan’s return for a public hearing and a later tree-mitigation revision. Those earlier records show how the proposal changed before the Sept. 22 decision.

The reviewed city package does not establish a revised filing, appeal or other next step for the applicants. Readers can inspect the final agenda packet for the denied version’s staff report, conditions, exhibits and requested code changes; a later Bulverde filing or agenda would establish any renewed proposal.