Prior to December 2015, properties either completely or partially within the site of the potential Texas Hill Reservoir (Texas Hill Reservoir Take Line) were residentially-zoned. However, those residential zones had long been inconsistent with the County's Open Space (OS) General Plan Land Use Designation, which prohibits single-family residential structures (including accessory structures). The OS Land Use Designation for properties within the project site has been in effect for at least the past 30 years.
On June 17, 2008, the Board of Supervisors adopted Resolution No. 167-2008(PDF, 126KB), which amended existing General Plan Policy 2.2.5.20 (General Plan consistency requirements) to exempt most single-family residential development on existing legal lots from a finding of General Plan consistency. Based on this policy, a finding of General Plan consistency was only required for residential development greater than 4,000 square feet of living area, disturbing 20,000 square feet of land or where located within a General Plan Important Biological Corridor (-IBC) overlay. Since parcels within the reservoir site are not located within the IBC overlay, this amendment granted privately-owned parcels within the reservoir site the right to develop new residential uses when consistent with this policy.
Based on above amendments to Gen Plan Policy 2.2.5.20, all privately-owned parcels with appropriate zoning were therefore allowed single-family residences by right, even though inconsistent with the OS General Plan Land Use Designation.
On December 15, 2015, the Board adopted the Zoning Ordinance Update (ZOU) to make the Zoning Map consistent with the General Plan as mandated by state law. As part of the 2015 ZOU, all privately-owned lands within the Texas Hill Reservoir Take Line were rezoned to Recreational Facility, Low Intensity (RF-L) which prohibits residential uses. EID-owned lands within the Take Line remained zoned Open Space (OS). Therefore, effective January 2016, all property owners within the Take Line were prohibited from applying for any residential building permits (all types).
On March 17, 2020, after receiving confirmation from EID staff that their agency had no plans for the foreseeable future to construct the proposed Texas Hill Reservoir project and therefore EID would support a rezone and General Plan amendment project for lands within the Texas Hill Reservoir Take Line, the Board of Supervisors directed Long Range Planning staff to process the required General Plan Amendment, Rezones and associated environmental documents in order to allow residential uses on affected parcels consistent with other residentially-zoned parcels in the vicinity (File 20-0326, Attachment A). As proposed, the project would re-allow residential uses on affected parcels consistent with the uses that were previously allowed based on the zoning map before December 15, 2015.
On August 15, 2023, the Board of Supervisors approved a contract with environmental consultant ICF Jones and Stokes, Incorporated PE Agreement 7094(PDF, 1MB) to initiate work on the project Environmental Impact Report (EIR).