The need for additional county land use authority continues to surface in legislative hearings. The present authority over sexually oriented business and subdivision plats fails to address the needs of county citizens and taxpayers.
This point was uniquely emphasized at a joint hearing of the Senate Committee on Veteran Affairs and Military Installations and the House Committee on Defense Affairs and State-Federal Relations in San Antonio on Sept. 9. The committees heard five hours of testimony on the effects of unregulated development around military installations. Local officials testified that nearby encroachment is threatening the medic-training mission at Camp Bullis, a 28,000-acre base. Unless the county gains the authority to control development, the Bexar County area may lose the economic benefit of this installation.
“We are asking very specifically for planning and zoning powers for counties. I don’t think we can defer on this another two years, or another four years,” said Bexar County Commissioner Lyle Larson. His testimony was joined by other commissioners court members from Kendall County and Comal County.
Please remind your legislators that local option county land use authority will enable each county to address the specific problems of its citizens.
For more information, please call me at 1-800-733-0699.
Jim Allison