RMR is at a high risk for WILDFIRES. Please follow these critical safety precautions:
To Get Real-Time Notifications of Emergencies, Sign Up to Warn Texas: Register for reverse 911 calls for emergencies at: https://warncentraltexas.org/ You will be able to get emergency notifications on your phones. (Cell Phones may require an app to complete the application).
The RMR POA thanks Assistant Fire Chief, Christopher Robbins, who spoke to property owners at our semi-annual meeting in July. Some of the most important take home information was:
- 90% of wildfires are started by humans. Activities such as mower blades sparking on rocks, idling vehicles while parked on tall grass, illegal fireworks, and unsupervised burning are a few of the culprits.
- If the BURN BAN is ON, there is to be no outdoor burning of any kind.
- If the BURN BAN is OFF, do not leave fires unattended until completely extinguished and do not burn outside if the wind speed is 15mph or greater
- Keep a water source or heavy equipment that can douse the fire with dirt near all burn piles
- Keep a 100′ garden hose min. attached to your faucets or near your home at all times so that you are able to protect your home if we have a wildfire in the area.
- Make sure your house is well marked, and your address is visible at night for emergency crews. These may be obtained for $3 from Hays County at this URL: https://hayscountytx.com/download/commissioners_court/precinct_1/911-address-form.pdf
- Keep a 30′ clearance around all of your structures to have the best chance to defend your home from wildfire
- Flames are typically 1.5 times the height of the tree being burned, this makes it easy to jump to your home if trees are near your house
- Cut back limbs 10 feet off of your house to prevent a fire from jumping from the tree to your home structure
- Smoke detectors have a 10 year life, but need to have the batteries changed twice a year (recommended at time change semi-annually)
River Mountain Ranchettes
River Mountain Ranch is fortunate to have an active, welcoming, enthusiastic neighborhood social group – The River Mountain Ranchettes. They meet once a month September – May, typically the 2nd Tuesday of the month. They also host RMR couples and family social events. Evites go out every month announcing the time and location of the meeting. To get the latest information, please contact: RMRanchettes@outlook.com or Leigh Peterson leighp7@icloud.com , Kathleen Rush kmcrush@hotmail.com, Laura Dalton laura.dalton.austin@gmail.com
RMR Runners & Walkers
It is awesome to see so many runners and walkers in River Mountain Ranch. Please follow rules of the road by walking against traffic (not in the center of the road) and bike with the flow of traffic. Please note that River Mountain Road is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS for running or walking, especially between the first and second cattle guards. There is very little visibility, no shoulder and residents tend to travel faster on that road than the interior roads. If you want a mega workout and good hills to climb, Bluffview and Water Park South are just for you! Drivers please keep runners, walkers and our latest batch of baby calves in mind as you travel our roads. We have a 25 mile an hour speed limit. Stay safe everyone!
FIREWORKS IMPORTANT !!!!!
All fireworks are banned in River Mountain Ranch at any time of year. You will find this in our RMR Covenants & Restrictions document, Section A. Land Use, 5. No hunting shall be permitted on any lot of less than seventy-five (75) acres and no fireworks shall be permitted on any lot. Please observe this restriction so that our lives, homes and property can all stay safe here in the thickly wooded and often dry hill country.
RMR Roads now Hays County Roads – FAQs
Here are some of the more common questions we’ve been getting from RMR residents, along with answers that have been verified with our county commissioner and/or county attorneys.
RMR interior road maintenance transfer to Hays County FAQs:
1. Will the transfer of our roads to the county affect our Ag Exemptions?
No. Our county commissioner has documented other neighborhoods with free range livestock on county roads, which has had no effect on their Ag Exemptions. There is no issue with livestock wandering on the roads, and there is no issue with our Ag Exemptions.
2. Will we still be able to drive our ATVs and golf carts around the neighborhood?
Yes. For the purposes of ATV/golf cart enforcement on county roads within RMR, we are all considered “ranchers” by the sheriff’s department. Which means we are allowed to operate them within RMR, since that is well within the 25 mile ATV operating exemption for ranchers. Also, there are other neighborhoods in Hays County with county roads that have freely operated ATVs and golf carts for years with no issues.
3. Will we still be able to put up an entrance gate to RMR, turning this into a gated community?
Partially. We would be able to restrict access from late at night to early morning, but not during the day. Mountain Crest off of RM12 is an example of this.
4. Are we still able to restrict parking at the cul de sac in front of the water park gate?
Yes. It is common for neighborhoods with county roads to restrict parking in some areas. Our commissioner has offered to recommend to the commissioners’ court any no-parking areas within RMR that we would like. Once the court approves, those areas would be posted as no-parking, enforced by the Sheriff’s office.
5. Would this open up RMR to solicitation?
No. Currently there are two No Solicitation signs on River Mountain Ranch road leading up to our entrance. Those would not change, nor would the designation of RMR as a No Solicitation neighborhood. Any resident is also free to post “No Trespassing” signs on their property, which are more restrictive than No Solicitation. Religious groups, for example, are not considered solicitors, but would be restricted from entering a No Trespassing posted property. There are many examples of neighborhoods with county roads and No Solicitation ordinances.
6. What if this doesn’t get approved? Can’t we just maintain the roads ourselves?
The issue we have is that we have not been assessing the property owners for long term road maintenance, such as resurfacing or road base repair. We have only been assessing for spot road patches here and there on an annual basis. The result of that is what you see today – a road system of patchwork repairs. To maintain our roads properly, and for the long term, we would need to pass a special assessment, which would require a 2/3 vote of the property owners, and would most likely be about $4000-5000 per property. And we would need to do this about every 10-15 years. It is unlikely this would be supported by our membership, and its even less likely that everyone would pay it.
So our realistic choice is between 1) do nothing and let our roads deteriorate further, or 2) transfer maintenance to the county.
7. When would the county assessment start?
The assessment would start when all of the repairs to RMR roads are complete. This is estimated to be about 24 months from now, but we would have a schedule from the Hays County transportation department once the ballot measure passes.
8. Will this affect our mailboxes?
No. The county has determined during their survey that all of our mailboxes are fine where they are. There were no mailboxes that were determined to be in the road right of way.
9. Will our HOA dues go down?
Maybe, but not materially. Currently our dues are less than $14 a month, and while its true that the biggest line item in our annual budget is road repair, we also have some other capital improvement projects we’d like to get to, like cameras at the entrance, water park maintenance and upgrades, no parking zones, etc. So we’re probably going to be around the same level for the next couple of years. Also, keep in mind the road repair from the county won’t start for a couple of years, so we’ll need to keep a reserve for any road repairs we need to do until then.
10. What exactly will the county do to our roads? New asphalt? Even the steep hill going down to the river park?
That is their plan, and that’s what they estimated for the total job cost. If this passes, we will have someone from the county road commission come out to spell out their timeline and construction plan.
I’ll add to this as more questions are raised. (from Joe Dalton, RMRPOA Roads)
NOTE: The POA membership has voted in favor of the County taking over our interior roads and the election has been validated by the Hays County Commissioners Court.
Where to Find the Agendas & Minutes for Board Meetings Plus Financial Reports
On your computer, just go to the DOCUMENTS page and find the MEETINGS ARCHIVE. All of the associated agendas and minutes can be found and downloaded in PDF format. Additionally, links to FINANCIAL REPORTS may also be found there just under the MEETINGS ARCHIVE.
On a mobile device, you should see a MENU button on the WELCOME page. Just hit that button and a drop-down menu will show MEETINGS ARCHIVE. All of the associated agendas and minutes can be found and downloaded in PDF format. Additionally, links to FINANCIAL REPORTS may also be found just under the MEETINGS ARCHIVE.
We look forward to seeing you soon!
TESPA Updates
For continued updates to TESPA & its fight to “Save Our Water” please go to the TESPA’s website: https://tespatexas.org/
Letter from RMRPOA Board to BSEACD
The RMRPOA Board of Directors sent the letter linked below to the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District. It may be viewed by clicking this link: Letter to BSEACD
