Residents of the Town Creek subdivision told the New Braunfels City Council on Monday that delays in final inspections for the Brownwood apartment project have created prolonged construction impacts for neighboring homeowners and asked the council to help speed resolution.

Julie King, who said she is the Town Creek POA president, described a multi-year history of infrastructure negotiations tied to the neighborhood’s development and said the 153-unit Brownwood project’s first phase has been effectively complete since April but could not receive final inspections because New Braunfels Utilities (referred to in testimony as NBU/MBU) tied inspections to completion of a lift station across Dry Comal Creek that the developer had previously promised to fund.

“...they were met with some leverage that unless and until the lift station across the street across the creek was designed and improved that they would not advance any kind of inspections on this project,” King said. She said the lift station currently serves only a single-family house “and this is a $60,000,000 project.”

Hal Wolf, a Town Creek resident, urged council to accept the developer’s offered performance bond and expedite inspections so the Brownwood developer could finish landscaping and other site work and abate an ongoing construction nuisance. “Many residents in Town Creek have been adversely affected, and these ill effects will continue until inspections are performed and approved,” Wolf said.

Mayor Leonards responded that the council does not issue the inspection permits and reported receiving an email from Ryan Kelso, CEO of MBU, stating the developer had posted fiscal security and “everything's moving forward.” That message prompted applause from some residents.

Council members did not direct a formal action beyond asking staff to monitor progress; Mr. Leonards and staff said they would pass resident concerns to MBU and the developer. Residents asked specifically that any accepted fiscal security be documented and that inspections be expedited so the initial phase can be completed.

Speakers also raised related development accountability concerns and urged better communication from city departments and utilities. No formal council vote or ordinance change resulted from the public comments; the matter remains a developer–utility dispute with residents seeking expedited inspections and clearer timelines.

Speakers quoted above are from the citizens communication period; the council’s statement about the developer posting security was attributed to an email from Ryan Kelso (MBU CEO) as reported by the mayor.