By Laura Hardt
Anvil Herald Reporter
Castroville City Council tackled a long agenda at the regular meeting on Dec. 12. Mayor Darrin Schroeder reported that the Unified Development Ordinance meeting at the Landmark Inn State Historic Site on Nov. 28 received feedback from attendees. Some of the main concerns were no six-foot privacy fences, keep open spaces in the historic district and support interconnected walkways throughout (the city).
“Part of the feedback was definitely from historic districts and another was why are you focused on historic districts. Not everybody agrees on what ‘right’ looks like.
“What does Rural Castroville look like? Do you want agricultural farming/ranching, do you want back yard chickens, the ability to have horses, sheep, goats and community gardens?,” the mayor said.
“The trends are: Don’t allow changes that will impact the way that I live. Do something about this traffic. Don’t change Castroville into somewhere else. We prefer the country feel and we want something that’s safe for kids and families,” he continued.
Challenges were to create affordable housing, accessory dwelling units (such as mother-in-law suites) and keep one house per 1/3 acre. Agreeing on transition areas where retail is close to residential was another issue.
He reminded everyone that the current Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance (CZO) was not going to be rewritten per se, but would take community input to create clear language in the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO).
The next public meeting will be a workshop titled “Castroville Dreaming” to be held Jan. 16, 17 and 18 next year.
Council approved a resolution that transferred 31.35 acre-feet of Base Irrigation Groundwater (BIG) to unrestricted irrigation groundwater (UIG) on 31.3 acres of airport land through the Edwards Aquifer Authority. This action complies with FAA safety standards in the Runway Protection Zone (RPZ) around the north end of runway 16-34 and will only allow for dry land farming. The resultant 31.35-acre feet water rights would create lease revenue for sustaining airport operations.
District 1 Councilmember Sheena Martinez reported that the airport has become busier with golfers flying in to play at Briggs Ranch Golf Course. The airport is working on an emergency response plan and also is organizing landing requests for April’s eclipse.
Four applicants for an open alternate position on the Airport Advisory Board have submitted Public Service forms for consideration by city council. The applicants are Hunter Stuckey, Kirby Turner, Harrison Vaughn and Burton Carlo Wise. No action was taken.
Cathy Adams from Public Works Department gave an overview and demonstration on how to sign up on the Sensus Customer Portal being tested by the city.
The portal will allow utility customers to check the status of their accounts, see their usage and set alerts.
Adams said customers were notified in the Dec. 10 newsletter to update their contact information to be ready for the January launch of the portal. Call public works at 830-931-4090 for help in signing up on the portal and to get a portal security token.
City council members unanimously approved re-appointing Polly Edlund to the Medina County 9-1-1 Emergency Communications District. She is currently president of the Board of Managers and would like to continue to serve.