Council approves preliminary plat for Schlather Ranch; questions on lot width, public access and PIA were addressed

The Cibolo City Council voted 7-0 to approve the preliminary plat for the Schlather Ranch subdivision on Tuesday after staff and the developer answered council questions about lot dimensions, public access and maintenance responsibilities.

The developer presented a preliminary plat showing 116 lots on half-acre parcels and noted proposed private streets to be maintained by the homeowners association. Council members asked whether streets would be gated and whether city-maintained greenbelts and pedestrian connections would be inside or outside gated areas. The developer and staff said the plan calls for private streets with an HOA maintaining them, and that staff's goal in the public-improvement agreement (PIA) negotiations is to secure a publicly accessible multipurpose pedestrian path connecting Schlather Park to a nature center on the east side of the development. Final maintenance obligations for greenbelts and drainage easements will be spelled out in the PIA, which will return to council for review.

Council members also raised a UDC (Unified Development Code) question about minimum lot width for SF-2 zoning. Staff explained that lot-width measurement for cul-de-sac and irregular-shaped lots is taken at the building frontage line; the lots in question meet the 60-foot measured-at-building requirement in the city's UDC and the building-frontline widths are compliant, staff said. A traffic-impact analysis supplied by the developer predicted only negligible traffic change at the impacted intersections; staff said the developer would dedicate additional right-of-way and widen two road segments as part of the project.

Ending: Council approved the preliminary plat 7-0. Staff said the PIA and final engineering and construction documents would be negotiated and brought back to council for approval and that more detailed traffic and supporting documents would be provided for council review.