The City of Boerne is updating its Major Thoroughfare Plan in 2023.  Hundreds of private properties and acres would be affected by this Plan.  The routes would cumulatively add up to more than the Kendall Gateway (26 miles) and rights-of-way (ROWs) would be up to 120 feet wide in designated preservation areas.  Established subdivisions as well as major geological and hydrological features would be impacted.  And there has been much deception and dishonesty built into this plan such as:

o Telling the public that this is a future, local mobility plan when it is really a roadmap for future, regional TxDOT-funded bypass routes;

o Not admitting that dotted lines on properties decrease marketability;

o Ignoring Chapter 8 of the Boerne Unified Development Code (UDC) which recognizes environmental sensitivities in Kendall County (aquifers, etcetera);

o Falsely attributing routes to the KCBFOTC which were based on assumptions made by the City, not explicit recommendations by the Committee;

o Presenting non-detailed maps to the public;

o There are breaks in dotted lines on these route maps where the KCBFOTC explicitly rejected a controversial route but these "broken routes" are surely connected on internal City maps;

o Property owners have not received notification from the City that their properties are being targeted by this Plan;

o The City hasn't done any environmental impact studies at or site visits to the properties affected;

o The City cancelled a second hearing on April 11th in an attempt to limit public input (the 2nd hearing was later reinstated due to public pressure);

o Making false statements that "properties won't be affected unless they are developed."  But according to the UDC Appendix, "development is any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate."  Also, Mayor Handren -- and some of his surrogates -- have publicly said numerous times that they will "find the money for new roads" while Council member Woolard stated at a September 28, 2021 meeting that "people's land will have to be taken").

This is the latest attempt by the City of Boerne to push greenfield roads around Boerne that takes advantage of farms and ranches in the ETJ.  The citizens and the County killed off these schemes at least twice before in 2005 (The Boerne “Relief Route”) and 2018 (“The Kendall Gateway Study”) yet the City continues to push this outdated agenda.  The Boerne Thoroughfare Plan dates back to 1974 when the City of Boerne had just 3,000 citizens and issued its first Plan, presumably with involvement from the Texas Municipal League (TML).  But this plan wasn’t a mobility plan.  It was an “economic development” plan and still is today.  Essentially, it is a multi-mile, 120+ foot wide “land grab” designed to increase City property tax revenues and utility connections to maintain the “Ponzi Scheme” of growth that the City has stubbornly pursued (the City can’t even afford to adequately maintain its current infrastructure).  Kendall County and Texas citizens are fed up with these municipal urbanization schemes that recklessly destroy environmental, historical and landscape features not to mention undermine private property rights for the sake of short-term financial objectives.  Governor Abbott took away forced annexation power from home rule cities like Boerne in 2019 because it was abused.  The City of Boerne now wants to abuse eminent domain powers to seize private property for its myopic agenda.  It’s time for this governor or next one to rein in these powers.   

·        ENVIRONMENTAL

o   Biological, Geological and Hydrological Features: The primary water source for Kendall County and the Texas Hill Country is the Middle Trinity Aquifer.   Kendall County also has more than 350 documented caves (sixth highest county concentration in Texas).  Connections between the Trinity and Edwards Aquifers have been proven (see the USGS Study) as have connections between caves in Kendall County (see the TSS Alzafar Water Cave – CWAN Study). The Cibolo Creek has been degraded by contaminated wastewater and mismanaged urbanization (there are multiple UTSA studies describing the effects of the City dumping up to 2.6 million gallons daily of chlorinated, estrogenous and nitrogenous effluent into Cibolo Creek from their Esser & OSAR wastewater treatment plants).  There are more than 80 rare, endangered or threatened (RET) species in Kendall County (see TPWD website). 

o   SE Quadrant: This quadrant contains the largest aquifer recharge zone in the county which involves the intersection of five major hydrological features (Balcones Creek, Cibolo Creek, Edwards Aquifer Contributing Zone, Lower Glenrose Karst Formation, Trinity Aquifer) and more than 100 documented caves.  The City continues to press for a road through this zone even though two local GCDs and Texas’ top hydrogeologist are against it.

o   Water Scarcity: The Colorado & Rio Grande Rivers are going dry.  And El Paso is running out of water.  Kendall County lies within a Priority Groundwater Management Area (PGMA) meaning serious water availability risk by 2040.

·        EXISTING BYPASS / RELIEF ROUTES

o   Herff Bypass / Extension: Boerne already has a relief route inside its city limits which bypasses Downtown and connects SH-46 to IH-10.

o   Ralph Fair Road (FM-3351): This is another local road on the southern edge of Kendall County that connects SH-46 to IH-10.

·        LAND USE / PLANNING

o   Induced Demand: More roads equals more development (“Build it and they will come”).  This is the mantra of San Antonio and certain local, government officials and special interests.  It is not the mantra of most Kendall County citizens.

o   Past COB Mistakes: City government has a poor track record managing growth.  The list since 2012 is very long: 17 Herff/Legacy at Cibolo, Boerne Lake/Shoreline Park, Boerne West / Corley Farms (WCID #3), Buc-ee’s, Esperanza (WCID #2), Georges Ranch (WCID #4), Herff Bypass/SOBO Urbanization, PFC Projects, Regent Park/Southglen, Sharon Drive Forced Annexation, etc.

o   Ponzi Scheme: Rapid, mis-managed growth is a “Ponzi Scheme.”  Infrastructure can’t keep up with new construction which leads to frequent power outages (e.g. ERCOT), public water system boil notices, stormwater runoff, traffic accidents, etcetera.  In Kendall County, most of the cost falls on taxpayers, not developers.

o   Stormwater Runoff: In the past ten years (2012-2022), there have been over 50 documented TCEQ stormwater investigations in the Greater Boerne area.  During this time period, the City has granted over 25 stormwater control waivers.  One of the worst situations in Boerne is the stormwater situation along Cascade Caverns Road which was sponsored by the City.  The Regent Park and Southglen subdivisions have more than doubled the stormwater volume in this neighborhood.  TxDOT has complicated the situation further by diverting stormwater from Regent Park to Old San Antonio Road at IH-10 Exit 543.

·        PAST STUDIES

o Thoroughfare Planning Citizens Committee (TPCC) was created by the Kendall County Commissioners Court in late 2005.  Its goal was to identify existing & future mobility needs and propose solutions.  Another stated goal was to preserve the rural nature of Kendall County.  The Committee submitted its final report in May 2007.  This report became the benchmark for the next 13 years until the KCBFOTC was convened in 2020.

o   Gateway 1.0: The Kendall Gateway Study (2018) contained flawed and stale data.  TxDOT’s Bluetooth-based tracking technology made questionable conclusions about pass-through trips and traffic volumes through Boerne.   ROW sizes were also misrepresented (300-foot express versus 500-foot implied) and environmentally sensitive features were severely discounted (amazingly, no geologic or recharge features were even listed in the SE Quadrant).  Also, data collected for Main Street traffic was stale because it preceded the opening of the Herff Bypass Road in 2017.  Incidentally, about 40 local organizations were purportedly invited to two “Stakeholder Working Group” meetings in late 2016 and early 2017 but only a handful showed up because many weren’t actually notified.  Consequently, community input was limited.  And as of March 2023, the Kendall Gateway Study still appears on the TxDOT website: https://www.txdot.gov/projects/projects-studies/san-antonio/kendall-gateway-study.html .

o    The Kendall County Boerne Fair Oaks Transportation Committee (KCBFOTC) is not behind the City’s plan, either.  Their mandate was to find traffic solutions using existing infrastructure or incremental additions.  The KCBFOTC Purpose Statement states, “the suggested goal of the Committee is to establish a countywide transportation plan to mitigate current and future traffic congestion in Kendall County in a way that preserves cultural and environmental resources and promotes appropriate economic development.”  Their final report was issued in late 2022 and it can be viewed at www.KCBFOTC.com