New Braunfels council backs shorter construction hours and $500,000 for housing

Council adopted a resolution approving the Northwest Park Master Plan. It directed staff to do a traffic impact study before final engineering, look at traffic calming on Ulster and Pater, keep holding public meetings, and prioritize screening, berms, buffers and dark-sky lighting next to the neighborhoods. Residents along those streets have a specific next record to watch: the traffic study before final engineering.

Data centers and other ordinances

Council approved the first reading of an ordinance amending Chapter 144 to regulate data centers. Data centers would need a special use permit in heavy industrial zoning. The motion added a 100-acre minimum, a one-story/15-foot height limit, and the Planning Commission's added setback from residences. Those proposed requirements await the ordinance's later reading before they can be treated as final.

Council approved the first reading of an ordinance adding parking exceptions in the downtown river recreation parking zones for vehicles with Purple Heart and Congressional Medal of Honor license plates. That first-reading approval was unanimous; a later ordinance action remains the next point to check.

Consent business and appointments

Council approved consent items A, B, D, F, G, H and I. These included the final reading of a limited-purpose annexation of about 10 acres, letting the construction board of appeals hear fire code appeals, rezoning about 2.6 acres at 1283 State Highway 46, and short-term rental permits at 242 East Austin Street and 1064 Comal Avenue. The recorded roll-call vote on that block was 7-0; it was one consent-block approval, not separate recorded votes on each permit or ordinance.

Council pulled consent item C from tonight's agenda at the city legal staff's request so staff could do more work on it. Staff will bring it back at a later date. The pulled proposal therefore was not part of the approved consent block.

Council selected Christopher Willis and Ronald Reeves as two additional full members of the Charter Review Commission, bringing it to nine members. Each received four votes in the selection; the other candidates received three each.

After executive session, council selected Amy Alcorn-Reed as the preferred candidate for city attorney. It authorized staff and the recruitment firm to extend a conditional offer, with the formal appointment to come at a future meeting. Council took that public action unanimously; the preferred-candidate selection is not the formal appointment.

Citizen comments

The posted agenda invites people to speak on individual items. The retained reviewed outcome summaries establish council actions but do not give a reliable account of general public comment, item-specific testimony, residents' requests or council responses. They cannot establish whether anyone spoke. A fuller recording review or minutes with a comment summary is needed before attributing any such remarks.

What to watch

The Nov. 9 meeting was scheduled for 6 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers, 550 Landa Street. Readers can inspect the posted agenda's file numbers for each proposal and the official meeting recording for the reviewed actions. The next council records should show any final ordinance readings, the returned consent proposal, the park traffic study and a formal city-attorney appointment.