Harlingen approves conditional variance for Horseshoe Point subdivision; annexation and drainage work required first

Harlingen' The City Commission on workshop and regular meeting votes approved a variance to the city's subdivision ordinance that will let the proposed Horseshoe Point subdivision move forward with reduced spacing between two Morris Road access points, provided the developer annexes the property and completes required drainage and sewer infrastructure before platting home sites.

Planning staff told commissioners the proposed 90'acre master plan would include roughly 350'390 single'family lots in four phases, about 9.2 acres of parkland and two proposed access points on Morris Road spaced about 200 feet apart (the ordinance requires a spacing of roughly 494 feet for this site). Staff said the property has limited frontage, existing surrounding residential development on the east and south, and Horseshoe Lake on the west, and recommended conditional approval with mitigation measures including widening an internal street, and two stub connections to adjacent parcels.

City Engineer Roberto Fernandez described a drainage plan that would convert Horseshoe Lake (currently owned by Irrigation District No. 1) into a regional detention facility, add larger culverts beneath Morris Road and connect ditches to increase storage and reduce street flooding in White Oak. Fernandez said the linked basin would hold an estimated 480 acre'feet of storage once connected'"about eight times the size of Lozano Pond," and that early phases of the project would clear and regrade the lake and build the necessary crossings. He said many of those drainage improvements would be built by the developer as part…