Uvalde County Attorney John Dodson was absent from the Monday, August 10th U.C. Commisioners Court prompting Commissioner Garza to ask if the County Attorney had reviewed it.
by Micharl Robinson | Uvalde Hesperian
Top photo is from a previous Uvalde County Commissioners Court Meeting
(The following news report was made utilizing the Uvalde County Commissioners Court livestream.)
03/10/26
Ken Dirksen spoke at Monday’s August 10th Uvalde County Commissioners Court seeking approval for the final plat for the The Bella View Subdivision. However the question raised on the availability of well water caused the Court to table the decision until the issue of available well water was clarified.
On the agenda item, Uvalde County Commissioner Ronnie Garza brought up a recent Texas Law passed in 2023 which requires developers to obtain a statement prepared by a licensed engineer or geoscientist to certify adequate groundwater availability for subdivisions relying on it. This is in Local Government Code Sections 212.0101 and 232.0032.
Commissioner Ronnie Garza asked Dirksen, “Ken there was a Senate bill that was passed and ratified in the legislature a couple years ago that required a hydrologist to do a study on the availability of water. Are you familiar with that?”
“I’m not familiar with that one,” Dirksen said.
“They wanted to know that there was water there and we weren’t or the developers were not selling, I mean, lots of adequate water,” Garza said.
Derksen stated the subdivision consists of 14 acres subdivided into one-acre lots, The proposed subdivision is located on FM 2369 on the east side of the drive into The View Subdivision.
“I’m not at all comfortable with this until we find out for sure if that Senate Bill is still in effect and if we’re following the rules.” Garza said,Commiss
Uvalde County Commissioner, Precinct 1 John Yeackle asked Uvalde County Acting Judge Jerry Bates, ” Judge has John reviewed this? Just to check the things of that nature: John Dodson?
The motion to table the decision was seconded and the final vote to table passed 4 votes to one with Yeackle voting Nay.
Bates gave a brief answer that could not be heard clearly on the Court’s Official livestream.
Trackbiil.com stated the following in reference to the author’s intent of the Texas State Senate Bill:
“AUTHOR’S / SPONSOR’S STATEMENT OF INTENT
There have been many instances around the state where new housing developments are being built and groundwater is stated as an available resource. There is no guarantee that groundwater is actually there and many people who are buying their retirement home or their first home are
stuck without water.
This has also been happening in other states, where developers state there is available groundwater when there is not.
(Original Author’s/Sponsor’s Statement of Intent)”
