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Georgetown council approves annexation, zoning change for Payne’s Depot Road amid public concern over fire service and impact fees
Summary
The Georgetown City Council on May 12 voted 5-3 to annex roughly 182.44 acres at 1367 Payne’s Depot Road and rezone it for mixed commercial and residential development after public commenters urged postponement until impact fees and fire-service planning are completed.
The Georgetown City Council on May 12 voted 5-3 to annex roughly 182.44 acres at 1367 Payne’s Depot Road and approved a zoning change that would allow community commercial and medium-density residential uses after the property is added to city limits.
The votes followed public comment urging the council to delay action until the city finalizes impact fees, affordable-housing policy and public hearings. Jerry Bergenhagen, whose home backs up to the parcel, told the council the city’s fire department cannot meet a four-minute response time to that site and urged the council to require the developer to pay for any added fire infrastructure through an impact assessment before annexation. “As a taxpayer, why should I have to pay for a new fire station and a new fire truck?” Bergenhagen said during public comments.
The developer, represented in the meeting by Nick Newton of Ball Homes, described substantial private infrastructure already constructed by the company in the area and said the planned housing would be “affordable” in the market sense but not income-restricted housing that meets federal program definitions. “We have built substantial millions of dollars of infrastructure that has been dedicated to Georgetown, entirely at our expense,” Newton said.
Why this matters: Annexation and rezoning expand the city’s residential and commercial footprint and transfer long-term service responsibilities — police, fire, utilities and roads — from county to city, which can affect city capital planning and tax revenue expectations. Several speakers and council members said the council should finalize impact fee rules and affordable-housing measures before approving major annexations.
Council action and debate: After the second reading of the annexation ordinance and the zoning ordinance, the council took roll-call votes. The annexation ordinance passed 5-3 (yes: Wilkins Brent, Hambrick, Hampton, Minky, Leslie Mitchell; no: Crisp, Tingle Saenz, Stone). The zoning change ordinance passed on the same 5-3 margin. Council members who spoke during discussion asked whether impact fees could be applied retroactively; the city attorney’s office and outside counsel said legal research is underway and that retroactive assessment is generally difficult and must be evaluated against where the development is in the permitting process.
Public hearings and timing concerns: Residents, including Dan Holman and Steven Price, pressed the council on the speed of the process and said citizens lacked a comprehensive public hearing opportunity because of state timelines tied to planning commission approvals. Holman urged postponing annexation for a year to allow the city to finish work on impact fees, affordable housing and service-capacity analyses.
What the city said: Mayor Jenkins and staff said the city is drafting an impact-fee ordinance and that outside counsel is reviewing timing and legal defensibility for applying fees to projects already underway. The council did not adopt an impact-fee ordinance at the meeting.
Next steps: With annexation and rezoning approved, implementing details — plats, subdivision approvals, site plans and any developer agreements on infrastructure or contributions — will arrive in subsequent administrative and planning reviews.
