Commissioners approve 40‑foot access-easement variance but require plat note barring access from Cemetery Road

The court considered a variance request to allow a 40-foot-wide access easement to serve four lots on a little over 13 acres off Klaus Lane. A nearby resident, Joe Garcia, asked the court to delay action so the developer and adjoining property owners could address potential impacts on an historic cemetery and ensure cemetery ingress and egress would not be compromised.

"This development adjoins and borders a cemetery that is a historical cemetery in Waller County," Joe Garcia said, noting family burials and a Waller County district-court decision he referenced in public remarks. Garcia asked the court to delay the variance for 60 days to allow affected neighbors to confer with the landowner.

Ross, the county engineer, explained the access easement proposed for the plat does not tie into Cemetery Road and comes off an existing 40-foot county public road; the applicant, Burkh Archer, described the family ownership history and said the easement was created specifically to avoid using Cemetery Road for access. Archer said Lot 4 (the back lot) would not be further subdivided and that any future subdivision would require replating and Court approval.

Commissioners discussed practical safeguards. To address the neighbors’ concerns, a motion was made to grant the 40-foot variance and to conditionally approve the final plat with an added notation that "no access shall be maintained off of the Cemetery Road." The court approved the variance and the conditional plat approval.

The outcome preserves the requested access easement while explicitly restricting any recorded access from the development onto Cemetery Road; the final plat will be recorded only after the no-access notation is included.