Best Practices for Developments and Landowners in Blanco County
Ground and Surface Water Conservation: Ground and surface water are limited and precious resources in Blanco County. Developments should strive to maintain healthy waterways, conserve water, and maintain good ground and surface water quality.
The Trinity and Ellenberger aquifers, which are the primary sources of groundwater in Blanco County, tend to be recharged from surface water seeping through stream beds, direct recharge through geologic features such as sink holes, fissures, and caves, and by rainfall seepage through the ground.
Include identification of seeps, caves, fissures, and other recharge features in property surveys. If development destroys or covers up natural recharge features this could have a significant negative impact on water recharge of the aquifers. Ground water questions can be directed to the Blanco Pedernales Groundwater Conservation District.
Rainwater harvesting can be an important source of high-quality water for home use. Developers should consider using rainwater harvesting to supplement or even replace ground water for most uses. Subdivisions should encourage homeowners to consider rainwater harvesting. It is most efficient to do this during initial home design prior to construction; however, post-construction rainwater harvesting systems can be designed and installed. The Blanco Pedernales Groundwater Conservation District (BPGCD) encourages consideration of rainwater harvesting in BPGCD Resolution #082523 -01 and rainwater harvesting is included in the Blanco County Subdivision guidelines.
Practical approaches have been developed for establishing and maintaining a sustainable landscape that promote water capture in our Hill Country environment. Xeriscape is a popular approach well suited to Blanco County. Examples applicable to new developments and existing ranchlands can be found at the Learn More link.
Large-scale discharge of treated wastewater into Blanco County waterways is not a sustainable approach and could have adverse impact on the quality of Blanco County surface and ground water. With limited water flows during dry seasons, the streams can become primarily treated waste, rather than spring water. The aquifers are also recharged in large part from seepage from the flowing waterways. This means the treated water ends up in the aquifers.
Developers should be required to identify alternative approaches for wastewater. The One Water Report, prepared by the Hill Country Alliance and National Wildlife Federation, provides a summary of water conservation approaches that are scalable from single structures up to subdivisions and ranches. The report provides practical examples of where One Water approaches have been implemented in the Hill Country.
Landscape and Wildlife Conservation: Protect the diverse landscape, native vegetation, and wildlife of Blanco County.
These areas bounding our streams and rivers are critical for maintaining healthy, clean waterways, reducing erosion from flooding, and maintaining diverse native wildlife, grasses, and plants. Developers and homeowners often desire a “clear view” of the river. Clear cutting the riparian areas to attain this view can have adverse impacts. Alternatives are to maintain the native plants and grasses in most of the near-river areas while providing smaller clear areas for access and views. Reports are available that provide helpful guidelines for maintaining healthy riparian environments along our Blanco County rivers and streams.
Maintaining diverse trees and grasses will help preserve native wildlife and can improve water retention.
Oak wilt is a fungus that infects damaged oak trees and can spread through roots, firewood and from insects. It rapidly kills oak trees and is spreading in the Hill Country. To help prevent oak wilt you should do the following:
· Do not prune oak trees from February through July.
· Sterilize all pruning equipment.
· Do not move firewood.
· Immediately paint all wounds on Oaks.
Recognizing the severity of oak wilt, Johnson City has passed an ordinance that prohibits pruning oak trees susceptible to oak wilt from the first day of February to the first day of July.
Fire is a major threat to Blanco County. Include planning for fire prevention and mitigation in development. Landscaping, brush, and grass management, ensuring available water, and maintaining awareness of county mandated Burn Bans can all help to reduce fire risk.
Government officials and agencies should consider conserving open spaces and providing greenways for any major infrastructure projects. Municipalities can adopt approaches that increase parkland. The city of Blanco makes use of cluster development. In this approach a parcel of land can be platted to consolidate green space. As an example, instead of creating 5, 1-acre lots and municipality can create smaller lots for buildings (say 5, 1/5 acre lots) and dedicate the remaining 4 acres to parkland.
One of the outstanding features of Blanco County is our dark night sky. It’s a great sight to get a glimpse of the Milky Way on a moonless night only an hour drive from Austin and San Antonio. The dark sky is also helpful to navigation for the many migrating birds and Monarch butterflies that pass through the county.
The Five Principals developed by Dark Sky International and the Illuminating Engineering Society for dark sky lighting are that lighting should be:
1. Useful (providing a specific function)
2. Targeted (illuminating the area of interest and nothing more)
3. Use the minimum necessary light level
4. Controlled (not intruding on neighboring properties)
5. Using warm colors
Many affordable lighting fixtures are available for this purpose. The Blanco County Friends of the Night Sky website and the Hill Country Alliance Issue Paper, “Preserving the Night Skies” are excellent sources for information on the benefits of preserving the dark night sky and practical examples of lighting fixtures.
Within Blanco County, the cities of Blanco and Johnson City have adopted lighting ordinances. Some subdivisions have also adopted night sky provisions into their deed restrictions and covenants. An example of wording for deed restrictions is provided below:
“Exterior lighting shall be limited to fully shielded path and doorway lighting, and low wattage landscape and accent lighting. “Fully shielded” means that no light emitted from a lighting fixture is emitted above the horizontal plane running through the lowest point on the fixture where light is emitted (light is directed downwards). Exterior lights shall be mounted at a height low enough to prevent casting light directly onto neighboring properties.”
Night Sky Preservation: The dark night sky is one of the outstanding features of Blanco County.
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Planning for new development should consider the impact on traffic and include provision of adequate, safe access to roadways.
Major infrastructure projects, such as highways, can be located to minimize impact to natural infrastructure and enhanced with natural landscaping of the medians and right of way. These projects offer the opportunity to consider other green space options such as land bridges, that will benefit wildlife and could provide hiking paths. Roadways and access points can be designed to cluster development and leave larger spaces open spaces.
Consider due diligence measures that include the identification of historic and archeological sites through archeological survey before planning and design. Development projects on land or easements owned by political subdivisions and projects involving federal permits or funding are subject to preservation law. Federal and state laws protecting historic properties or sites require consultation with the Texas Historical Commission (THC). Review by THC may be required depending on factors such as, the scope of the project, the federal or state agencies involved, and whether historic resources are (or may be) present. Even if consultation is not required by law, it is encouraged to contact the THC about historic and archeological resources that might be present near your project area. THC also provides free services to private landowners and private developers wishing to identify and record historic and archeological sites through their Landowner Assistance Program.
Municipalities should consider ordnances that maintain small town character as development increases. Clustering, setting aside green space and keeping towns walkable are some of the approaches that could help to achieve this goal.
Ensure development and signage are consistent with the rural character of the county and take the opportunity to highlight historical places when appropriate. This may be accomplished through design that incorporates elements of rural heritage or interpretive signage and materials. Avoidance and preservation of significant archeological and historical places can provide opportunities to bring public awareness to Blanco County heritage and can result in community-enhancing park or green space. Adaptive reuse of historical structures is encouraged and can further enhance the connection with Blanco County heritage.
Preservation of Agricultural Production and Protection of Rural Character and History:
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