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Ellis County court approves Legendary Hills preliminary plat, sets 21 conditions
Summary
Ellis County Commissioners unanimously approved the resubmitted preliminary plat for Legendary Hills (about 296 acres, up to 198 lots) subject to 21 technical conditions, while residents raised concerns about water reliability, drainage and preserving farmland.
The Ellis County Commissioners Court unanimously approved a resubmitted preliminary plat for the Legendary Hills subdivision — a roughly 296‑acre project in the Italy extraterritorial jurisdiction — subject to 21 staff‑recommended technical conditions. The approval came during the court's regular session after planning staff said the resubmittal meets the countyminimum lot size requirements.
The approval matters because the project would convert agricultural land to residential lots and may affect drainage and local water systems. Alberto Maras, the county's director of development, told the court the resubmitted plat reduced lot counts from 224 to 198 and "meets all the minimum requirements" while flagging two major outstanding conditions: proposed street names must be reviewed and approved by GIS before final printing of the plat, and a south‑side area may require street realignment around Phyllis Street, McKinnon Way and Del Acres. He said other outstanding items are chiefly technical (notary language, missing easements, setback lines).
Resident commenter Carrie Janek urged the court to weigh long‑term impacts on working farmland and local infrastructure, saying converting agricultural land could "compromise these benefits" and stressed concerns about drainage and water reliability. Janek said that since March residents served by the area's water system "have received approximately 12 boil water notices and six water shutoff notices," arguing added density could worsen repeated outages.
Maras responded that the identified water provider — recorded in the discussion as the South Ellis County Water Supply Corporation (noting some inconsistency in how it was referenced during the meeting) — reported capacity and plans to extend a 12‑inch water line into the property. He added that civil plans including drainage will be required before final plat approval and that those plans could slightly reduce the maximum number of lots from the 198 figure if drainage constraints require it.
The court's action leaves specific technical items to be completed in the civil‑plan review phase; commissioners approved the plat by voice vote with no recorded opposition. The next procedural step is submission and county review of civil plans and final platting requirements.
