Commissioner’s deny plat variance request
Grimes County Commissioners denied a plat proposal from the Estates of Grimes County Subdivision at the regular meeting of Commissioner’s Court Wednesday, Aug. 7.
Grimes County Road and Bridge Engineer Harry Walker stated the plat proposal for the Estates of Grimes County Subdivision is a 14-acre tract on Park Road in Precinct 2. “There is a variance request to go along with the proposal because these lots don’t meet the counties length to depth ratio,” explained Walker.
According to the criteria, Walker said the lot depth shouldn’t be more than two and a half times the width of the lot. “If you look at these, they are closer to eight times more than the width of the lot,” he said. “The applicant has requested Commissioner’s Court wave that requirement.”
Walker said to his knowledge the county has never approved this drastic of a variance because of the potential problems it could cause later. “The general concept of the depth ratio is when lots are this long and deep, there is a temptation for people to come in and build a second house or a third house behind the front, which is fine when it is the mother-in-law’s house or grandma’s house. But, sometime in the future they may want to sell that to someone who is not a family member then the access could become problematic,” Walker explained.
When the lot is a more conventional size, Walker said there is not as much opportunity for additional homes to be built. “We have approved several of these variance requests in the past – there is certainly a precedence for it, but I don’t recall one being this severe as far as the depth to width ratio.”
Pct. 2 Commissioner David Dobyanski expressed concern in approving the variance, “I am kind of hesitant to do that because of the reason he [Walker] just said. If you build another house behind that, then you have issues with a right-of-way getting to the house.”
When asked if he had any concerns to the variance, Grimes County Attorney John C. Fultz said, “You put in place your rules in theory, whether it was you or a court before you, and anytime there is a request for a variance you are being asked to go outside of your rules and it ought to make sense. And if there are concerns about it, there is no requirement that you grant the variance.”
Commissioner Dobyanski made a motion to deny the request for variance and deny the plat. It was seconded by Pct. 1 Commissioner Chad Mallett and unanimously approved.
Additional Road and Bridge action
• Approved abandonment of portions of North 4th Street, Waller Avenue, and portions of the alleyway between Waller and Norvell in block 25 and 26 of the Stoneham plat (Vol. 54, Pg. 94 RPRGC).
• Approved abandonment of a portion of CR 208 and accepting the dedication of right-of-way for a cul-de-sac at the same location.
New software package
Commissioners approved communications with Granicus for a software package for Commissioner’s Court meeting agendas and minutes, and video services for the Commissioner’s Courtroom in the Grimes County Justice and Business Center. The open communication will allow Granicus to write a contract providing services to be approved at a later date.
Grimes County District Clerk Vanessa Burzynski said after extensive research, her opinion is Granicus is the best choice for the county for numerous reasons.
Burzynski said Granicus will be able to provide all services needed for the project whereas other vendors are only able to provide partial services and it would take multiple vendors to meet the full needs of the services needed for the Commissioner’s Courtroom. She also said Granicus is also the only company that is able to provide virtual and(or) onsite training.
Commissioners unanimously approved to allow Granicus to write a contract-proposal for possible approval later.
Grimes County Historical Commission
Commissioners approved the resignation of Al Peeler as Grimes County Historical Commission Chairman and appointed Mary Ann Waters to the position to complete the current term of 1-year.
Peeler cited personal reasons for stepping out of the role.
Emergency Management
The court approved the Memorandum of Understanding between Grimes County and Brazos County for Emergency Alerting to the Public, Granting Brazos County 911 permission to send Child Abduction Emergency (CAE) messages and Amber alerts through Grimes County’s emergency alert system and authorize the County Judge as signatory.
The next regular meeting of Commissioner’s Court is Wednesday, Aug. 18. View the full commissioners court video on the Grimes County Courthouse Facebook page.