Comal County commissioners approved an amended memorandum of understanding with Great Springs Project on Oct. 22 by a 4-1 vote.
The action is recorded as item 16 in the county’s Oct. 22 minutes, which were approved Nov. 9. The approved agreement concerns a proposed land transaction; the vote does not itself establish that the land has been purchased.
From the source record
Comal County approves agreement with Great Springs Project, advances Morton Preserve expansionEdwards Aquifer Authority ↗
The plan concerns about 300 acres west of the Morton tract and a conservation easement on 174 acres to the east. For residents following the proposed Morton Preserve expansion, those are two different forms of land protection: an acquisition on one side of the tract and an easement on the other. Both remain proposed under the agreement.
The funding question changed
The earlier plan was described in court as having no county cost. During consideration of the amendment, a commissioner asked whether that had changed, and county engineer Robert Boyd answered yes. The exchange makes the county’s financial role a central question for the next record of this project; it does not establish a dollar amount.
Boyd told commissioners the project had been selected for $5.51 million in federal funding. Selection is a funding milestone, but the minutes do not establish that the money has been disbursed or that it equals the full cost of the proposed land transaction. The approved agreement, the proposed land interests and the federal funding therefore describe related steps, rather than a completed purchase.
What happens next
The acquisition and conservation easement were proposed under the approved agreement. A signed amended memorandum, any county funding authorization and the eventual land instruments are the records that can establish the county’s commitment and whether either transaction closes. Readers can inspect item 16 in the county minutes for the recorded vote and the exchange about the changed no-cost plan.