Bulverde planning commission recommends denial of McCarty Ranch PDD after hours of technical briefings and public comment

The Bulverde Planning & Zoning Commission on Tuesday voted to recommend denial of a proposed Planned Development District known as McCarty Ranch, a large residential proposal near U.S. Highway 281 that would have allowed roughly 230 single‑family lots and numerous modifications to city standards.

The developer asked the commission to approve a PDD that would set a base of R‑2 residential zoning while authorizing broad code modifications on lot dimensions, street geometry, tree mitigation, riparian buffer crossings and steep‑slope disturbance. The applicant also presented engineering studies and a drainage strategy that its consultants said would reduce downstream peak flows and treat runoff.

Why it mattered: residents and some commissioners said the application raised serious unresolved technical and policy questions — chiefly whether the drainage and detention design would actually protect downstream neighborhoods, how many mature trees would be removed and whether the city could enforce developer commitments on water infrastructure and tree…