Council approves West Ridge development agreement in ETJ; developers and council discuss reclaimed irrigation and wholesale water

The Fulshear City Council voted April 21 to approve a development agreement with Deer Horton for the West Ridge project, a roughly 97‑acre tract in the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction.

Staff said the agreement anticipates future annexation into Municipal Utility District (MUD) 188, authorizes the city to perform building plan review and collect plan/permitting fees of $1,200 per single‑family home (the transcript compared that to a prior $960 per lot fee in another project), and preserves the city’s ability to regulate certain permitting functions in the ETJ by agreement. Staff also explained that if the developer fails to close on the property the agreement dissolves effective Jan. 1, 2027.

Developers and council members discussed irrigation strategies and the high local reliance on groundwater. Council members urged the developer to pursue reclaimed/reuse irrigation where feasible and asked whether irrigation could be separately metered or otherwise monitored. Developers and staff said engineering constraints can affect reuse feasibility but that Tamarind (nearby developments) uses pond and reclaimed irrigation in some instances and that the MUD/utility agreements will govern water delivery details.

Council moved and approved the development agreement; staff said the utility agreement and wholesale water purchase from the city will be addressed in a separate utility agreement and reimbursement arrangements with the MUD will handle costs for infrastructure.