Commission authorizes CCN transfer for tract at 730 West FM 1626

The Austin Water and Wastewater Commission voted unanimously to authorize negotiation and execution of an agreement to transfer part of Forest Oaks Mobile Homes LLC’s Water Certificate of Convenience and Necessity (CCN no. 12000And86) to the City of Austin (CCN no. 11300And22) for the tract overlapping 730 West FM 1626.

The transfer, staff said, carries no fiscal impact for Austin Water; the landowner would be responsible for infrastructure costs to extend service from the Austin Water system. “They have not filed any site plans for this project at this point in time, but did indicate that they were planning to develop this property with a commercial slash flex-industrial project,” said Virginia Collier of the key accounts team.

Katie Frazier, supervising engineer in Utility Development Services, told commissioners the utility is reviewing a wastewater service-construction review (SCR) for the parcel and that a water service request would follow once the CCN transfer is formalized. Frazier said the owner delayed submitting a water SCR because, while the tract is in the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ), a CCN transfer would remove the requirement for an annexation form that otherwise applies when a property is outside the city’s CCN.

Commissioner Wollstonecraft Ortiz asked whether the owner intends to develop the property and whether an environmental review would be necessary if the owner later sought to de-annex from the city after service is established. Staff said environmental standards that would apply after de-annexation would fall under Travis County and that some county standards overlap with the city’s; staff also said the parcel is not in the City’s Save Our Springs ordinance area.

The motion to approve the CCN transfer authorization was moved and seconded and carried unanimously. The commission did not identify any direct fiscal costs to Austin Water associated with the transfer; staff said any future requests for water service would return to the commission if oversized infrastructure and cost participation were proposed.

What happens next: staff will finalize the CCN transfer agreement as authorized, and property-level service requests (water SCR) are expected only after the transfer is formalized.