By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press
A proposed voluntary annexation agreement for a little more than 310 acres was not approved by the Copperas Cove city council on Tuesday evening.
In a 5-2 vote, the council said no to the agreement in its current form.
Councilmembers John Hale and Jack Smith voted in favor of the agreement, while council members Christina Strohfus, Rita Hogan, Howard Hawk, Dale Treadway, and Vonya Hart voted against it.
Church Mountain, a master-planned community with more than 1,000 homes, has been more than five years in the works. Back in August, the city council had a lengthy workshop discussion with city administration and the developer.
The property is located west of Summers Road and along Lutheran Church Road, and is located just outside the Copperas Cove city limits. The developers want to voluntarily annex that property into the city. The plans for the subdivision include a build-out in phases over 10-12 years.
WBW Single Development Group LLC and WBW Investment Solutions, LLC, the developers, had more than 31 meetings with the city since March 31, 2020, as the developers and the City of Copperas Cove worked on the annexation and development agreement which was presented for a vote on Tuesday.
As it did in August, the majority of Tuesday’s discussion surrounded the fact that the agreement drafted by city administration and the developer had included a 50 percent reimbursement by the City of Copperas Cove to WBW for the water rights for the land, known as Certificate of Convenience & Necessity, or CCNs, which must be purchased.
Presently, the water rights in that area are with Kempner Water Supply (KWS). The WBW developers would like the water supply to be with Copperas Cove for the future homeowners. To do so, the CCN must be purchased from Kempner.
On Tuesday, City Manager Ryan Haverlah said that in order for the developer to receive that 50 percent reimbursement for the cost of CCN purchase, the city would still have to prepare a chapter 380 agreement, which is basically a development incentive agreement.
“It would be based on the number of certificate of occupancies or the completion of a house. In order for somebody to actually move into that house, for that CO to be issued, and they would have to submit a request documenting and we’d verify it before we made payments. So, a lot of the citizen comments that we received at the beginning of the meeting addressed CCN, and I wanted to make sure it was very clear to council what you directed.
‘You directed the 50 percent reimbursement for the cost of that CCN, what we negotiated with the developer in regard to making sure that we comply with council’s directives on that.
However, several of the councilmembers who opposed the agreement spoke on Tuesday regarding the decision.
Place 5 councilmember Dale Treadway read from a prepared statement.
“The City of Copperas Cove should not pay for the developer’s water infrastructure and other service requirements, including the cost of CCN rights. If existing taxpayers or rate payers subsidize the cost of new residential development rather than the new residential development paid for itself,” he said. “This type of practice can lead to a range of consequences for the City of Copperas Cove.”
He said that when the city covers the cost of a new infrastructure, the expense is passed on to all utility customers or taxpayers through increased rates or fees. However, in the case of this proposal, it means that existing residents are essentially paying for the infrastructure needed to support growth they didn’t request.
“The city must ensure that the costs are proportional to the impact created by the new project being developed and constructed, promoting responsible development, making development responsible for their utility impact. Encourage them to conduct thorough due diligence and plan projects in areas where infrastructure is feasible and cost effective, rather than expecting public funds to cover expense extensions into undeveloped or rural areas where the land is cheaper to developers.”
Councilmember Jack Smith said he looked at it another way.
“The developer can’t even buy it from Kempner Water Supply. The City of Copperas Cove has to buy it. So, I’m looking at it as the developer is reimbursing us 50 percent of the cost of the CCN. I’m looking at it the other way,” he said. “Everyone one of (the new homeowners) are going to be paying taxes, water bills, sewer bills, solid waste and every other fee that we charge and that helps the infrastructure that is old and breaking down. The money that the new residential growth brings in and the new Copperas Cove residents help support the entire city as a whole. The police need raises every year. The city manager deserves a raise every year. And if we don’t have that spread out over a larger area, then the people here are going to pay more every year. Trust me, we need the growth. And this is a great development that’s been worked on for years between the city staff and WBW Development. They have brought several great subdivisions to town, and a lot of new residents are moving here because of it. I am not one that says, ‘I’m already here. Let’s lock the door and not let anybody else in.’”
Councilmember John Hale looked at the cost this would be to the city.
“Let me make sure that I’m understanding what I’m hearing, the people that voted no are doing this over $149,180, over five to 10 years?” Hale asked.
However, Treadway said there were “other issues too” regarding the annexation.
The council did concur that another proposal should come back to the council in the future.
Several representatives of WBW were at the meeting and told Haverlah that they would bring this back to the staff to discuss.
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