CHIBOLO – Chibolo Old Town is a mixture of homes and businesses along the main street stretching from FM 78 north to FM 1103. Established over a decade ago, the mixed-use area was meant to recognize the “historical fabric” of Cibolo Old Town at a time when The city experienced a population boom.
While the Old Town Overlay District sought to preserve the character and architecture of the area surrounding Main Street, it did so in accordance with zoning that years later became more of a burden than a blessing.
An attempt has been made by Cibolo City Council to rezone the area where many homes fall under C-2 (commercial) zoning, leading to property overvaluation and consequent property taxes.
At a January 11 meeting, the City Council discussed the rezoning and the timeline, which will culminate in a council decision in late May on whether the area should be rezoned.
Councilman Joel Hicks, a homeowner living in a residential area of Old Town, first learned of the C-2 designation when he was refinancing a property.
“I would like to see how we bring them back to living quarters. If they want to stay commercial, pay high taxes, but have a higher valuation, they can do that,” Hicks said.
Hicks was required to pay an additional $500 for an additional property appraisal at the time of his refinancing attempt because he lives in the C-2 commercial area and not in SF-4 or SF-6, which are residential area codes.
“I have a huge problem with how they did it. It’s not fair to these people; the city did wrong. Period, end of story,” Hicks said. “I’m all about what’s right. And we all did wrong.”
City manager Wayne Reid told the council that he could spend an inordinate amount of time amending existing zoning, or spend time changing the zone properly.
The city has the authority to initiate rezoning of existing properties, Reed said, but they must establish a “community goal” to demonstrate that the rezoning is in line with existing plans as well as the City’s Uniform Development Code.
The city authorities are planning a large-scale work with the owners of all 185 sites in the Old City area, 134 residential, 41 non-residential and 10 vacant lots.
“I know that a hasty decision was made 10 years ago to reappoint everyone without proper notice,” council member and mayor-elect Mark Allen said. “I don’t want to make another hasty decision to fix this problem. I want to make sure we get through this methodically and deliberately.”
Reid outlined a timetable for completing the rezoning, including City Hall meetings in February, March, and April. Letters explaining the rezoning efforts will be sent to all affected landowners. Public information will be distributed through flyers, at board meetings, and will include newly hired public relations manager Jeanette Gonzalez. Individual meetings with residents will be available from next month.
Reid said the board will be updated throughout the process, with a final decision to be made by the board on May 23, following a third and final public hearing two weeks earlier.
Councilman T. G. Benson said he had problems with the method used to create the Old Town area.
“The overlay, I really don’t get it… how it was just zoned and moved,” Benson said. “But we have been doing this all this time. It is shown that this is not quite what we wanted.”
Benson then asked if the city council should be the authority on the issue that emerged from the UDC.
“I think the UDC commission or the master plan people should come from the main part of this discussion about amending the UDC,” he said. “Let them watch. There are eight of us (the mayor and seven deputies of the city council) at a couple of public hearings, that would be normal. But… we can get a group of people together who can actually talk about these issues in meetings, figure out what they want to do, and give us real answers.”
