Harlingen commissioners table vote on Horseshoe Point subdivision access variance after residents raise safety, notice concerns

Harlingen City Commissioners on Oct. 6 tabled consideration of a variance request that would have allowed the proposed Horseshoe Point subdivision in the city's 3.5-mile extraterritorial jurisdiction to use a single access point rather than the two entrances required by the subdivision ordinance.

The proposal, presented after an executive-session pause, would have allowed two proposed entrances along Morris Road spaced about 160 feet apart instead of the roughly 1,500 feet the ordinance calls for. Planning and Development Director Anna Hernandez told the commission the site constraints and surrounding properties limit access options and that staff was recommending approval of the variance.

The discussion focused on public-safety and transparency concerns. Commissioner [first reference] asked whether emergency services could access the development if a neighboring parcel tied to a future connector remained in probate court and therefore unavailable. Anna Hernandez and Edgar Garcia, land development director for Milton Hunt (the developer representative), said the developer had worked to identify a future connection to the northeast but that the parcel was in probate and could not be guaranteed. Garcia said preliminary outreach indicated the probate owner was "open to allowing us to connect," but stressed that timing and ownership were uncertain.

Multiple residents who signed up for public comment told the commission they had not been adequately notified about the plan. Diana García Padilla said neighbors had not been told the ditch behind their properties would be expanded and said she feared favoritism toward well-known property owners. Ricardo Rubiano, who said he owns land adjacent to the proposed subdivision, told the commission he received no notice and said a public street labeled "New Hampshire" appeared on map drawings but was absent from the development layout.

Commissioners pressed the developer on safety measures inside the subdivision. The developer said internal streets would be 32 feet wide, with one stretch widened to 47 feet (and a 65-foot right of way) at a proposed choke point to accommodate emergency vehicles if needed. The developer said the first phase would include about 107 lots and that a later adjacent parcel could accommodate roughly 200 more homes if developed.

After questions from commissioners and calls for more outreach to neighboring property owners, Commissioner [first reference] moved to table the item to give staff and the developer time to approach other landowners and obtain a written opinion from the Harlingen Fire Department about whether the access plan meets emergency-response needs. The motion to table carried unanimously.

No final decision was made on the variance; commissioners said they wanted clearer documentation of outreach to neighboring owners, written fire-department input about circulation and egress, and confirmation about the probate parcel before acting further.