Title
Approving a resolution of the City Council of the City of Pflugerville, Texas authorizing a request for the voluntary expansion of the City's extraterritorial jurisdiction and the acceptance of non-annexation development agreement by and between the City of Pflugerville and RRE Austin Solar LLC, its successors and assigns, affecting real property in the City's existing and expanded extraterritorial jurisdiction.
Summary
RRE Austin Solar LLC is taking steps to reinitiate its efforts to establish the Pflugerville Solar Farm. The location is generally east of FM 973, along Manda Carlson Road at the eastern edge of the Pflugerville extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ). RRE anticipates acquiring additional property in support of the project that may extend beyond the current reach of the City's ETJ, and will request annexation of these parcels into the City's ETJ. Some of the parcels extend beyond the City's ETJ agreement with the City of Manor, in which unless Manor consented to amend the agreement, the tracts would eventually be subject to the Manor ETJ.
The essential terms of the agreement, if approved, include the following:
- City agrees to non annexation parcels for period of 25 years
- Phase 1 of the project consisting of the first 50 megawatts of AC capacity must commence construction by December 31, 2018
- Actual construction of Phase 1 must be completed within 9 months
- Phase 2 of the project consisting of the remaining 70 megawatts of AC capacity must be completed by December 31, 2019
- Allows the City to annex the tracts at the end of the term, or upon default
- Agreement defaults if the project fails to meet benchmark dealines or fails to maintain continuous operation for a period of six consecutive or non-consecutive months within a 12-month rolling period
- Allows the City to extend the ETJ to encompass any additional contiguous tracts acquired for the project, to the extent they are not impacted by the ETJ agreement with the city of Manor
- Allows the City to further extend the city limits/ETJ upon establishing contiguity of the city limits or Chapter 43 non-annexation development agreements to the project
- Limits the permissable uses of the tracts to a solar farm as shown in Exhibit B-1 to the Agreement
- Allows the City to apply additional regulations to the project as provided in Exhibit C.
Status
Travis County Commissioners Court acted on December 20, 2016 to approve an extension to the provisions of the RRE Solar Chapter 381 Agreement from 12/31/2016 to 3/31/2017, and other directives provided on the attached Certified Minutes Excerpt.
An Interconnection Agreement was approved by the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) Board on February 16, 2017.
Prior City Council Action
The City Council approved an incentive agreement on June 1, 2010 in support of the construction of a large solar array project proposed for the far eastern portion of the City's extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ). The developer breached the terms of the agreement, and the agreement terminated.
The City Council tabled this item on February 14, 2017.
Deadline for City Council Action
Action is requested on March 14, 2017.
Projected Future City Council Action
No additional action is anticipated with this item.
Fiscal Impact
There is no fiscal impact associated with the approval of this item.
Staff Recommendation
Staff recommends approval of this item.
Drafter
Trey Fletcher, AICP
Assistant City Manager