PRESENTER: Presenter
Ryan Kelso - Chief Executive Officer, New Braunfels Utilities
Bruce Haby - Real Estate Services Manager, New Braunfels Utilities
Body
SUBJECT: Title
Discuss and consider approval of a resolution authorizing any legal action necessary to remove the cemetery dedication by MP New Braunfels, LLC encumbering a 40.37 acre tract situated in the A.M. Esnaurizar Survey, Abstract Number 1, Comal County, Texas
Header
DEPARTMENT: City Attorney/New Braunfels Utilities
Body
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: District 4
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The McKenzie Interceptor Project will construct, utilize, and maintain approximately 9 miles of new 36-inch wastewater main to replace existing 21-inch and 24-inch interceptors conveying flow to the McKenzie Water Reclamation Facility. The Project and acquisition of the Easements is necessary to locate, construct, utilize, and maintain a wastewater pipeline to advance and achieve the public use of expanding the NBU sanitary sewer system to meet existing needs and to serve future growth and ensure reliability.
After unsuccessfully attempting to negotiate with MP New Braunfels, LLC, the Board of Trustees of NBU adopted a resolution on August 29, 2024, recommending that the City institute legal action as necessary to challenge and dissolve the Certificate of Perpetual Care Cemetery Dedication that MP New Braunfels, LLC recorded in the Real Property Records of Comal County, Texas presumably to impede NBU from using its eminent domain powers to expand an existing easement on the property.
ISSUE:
The dedication, which appears to have been recorded without obtaining the necessary permits or permission from the City, is in violation of Section 711 of the Texas Health and Safety Code and City of New Braunfels Ordinance No. 2011-71 and is obstructing NBU’s ability to acquire necessary property interests to complete the McKenzie Interceptor Upgrade Project, which is necessary to provide sewer services to the residents of New Braunfels. In order to remove the dedication, legal action must be initiated between the City and MP New Braunfels, LLC.
STRATEGIC PLAN REFERENCE:
☐Economic Mobility ☐Enhanced Connectivity ☐Community Identity
☐Organizational Excellence ☐Community Well-Being ☒N/A
[Enter Objectives/Performance Measures Supported]
FISCAL IMPACT:
All costs associated with this legal action shall be the responsibility of NBU.
Recommendation
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends approval.