City map is first since 1961, attorney says

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“We cannot forcibly annex anybody…”

Cotulla councilors have received the first of what they hope will be a series of maps outlining boundaries, commercial zones and prospective areas for annexation.

The preliminary draft and its prospective successors will be the first official delineation of the city’s outline in more than six decades, according to the city attorney at a council meeting last month.

Presented by Jorge Martinez of the TopSite Civil engineering group under contract with the city, the map shown to councilors at their March 26 meeting included streets and city limits but fell short of indicating where residential neighborhoods give way to commercial districts.

“This is the latest map, based on a 2024 update,” Martinez said. “There have been no annexations since then. This is based on records available at City Hall.”

City Administrator David Wright said he believes Cotulla is taking the initiative in drafting a series of maps that will be useful to all government entities, including La Salle County, the appraisal district, schools, elections offices, law enforcement and emergency responders.

A number of local government offices have been at odds for decades over which map they believe correctly outlines properties, districts and boundaries, reaches of the extra-territorial jurisdiction (ETJ), and city voting rights, Wright indicated.

“What I found, going to the appraisal district, the school and the county, was that we were all working with different maps,” the city administrator said. “This is a map we can all use.”

City Attorney Steve Pena said he believes future versions of the map will indicate areas of the city in which businesses may open shop.

“We need to show zoning districts too,” Pena said, “Which will be a challenge.”

The city attorney noted that the map offered last month by TopSite Civil does not show the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Cotulla Unit as lying within city limits, which had been discussed by councilors in a recent debate over the number of people living in Cotulla and whether that number exceeded a tally recorded in the 2020 US Census.

Debate continues over whether City Hall should count in its population tally only its residents in family homes or whether it should include all those who reside in the city both long- and short-term, use city services, generate waste for collection, rely on street paving, lighting and emergency services, and generate sales tax revenues. Those may include occupants of hotels and motels, mobile home parks and multi-family apartment complexes, and detention center inmates.

“I know there was some discussion about the prison being in the city,” Pena said, “and I see that it is not. They are contiguous. They just have to request it, and it can be done.”

Councilors also examined properties beyond the city’s northern and northwestern boundary, an area they have described as prime real estate for commercial development.

“If you annex the Rodriguez Loop, that will make you contiguous to all that land out there,” the city attorney said of the truck bypass route between Hwy 97 and the IH-35 access road. “All of that is un-platted. That’s your natural growth area right there. You’re looking right at it.”

“I have been asked by several residents about whether they are in the city,” Mayor Sandra Luna said of ongoing disputes over actual boundary lines, some of which lie along residential streets.

Those who live beyond city limits are barred from voting in municipal elections.

“If they want to annex into the city, they can come to City Hall,” Wright said of families who find that their homes are outside the municipal boundary but adjacent to those that are within city limits. “We cannot forcibly annex anybody.”

“Why would they?” Atty. Pena asked. “They don’t want to pay taxes.”

“They are paying higher utility rates,” the city administrator said. “We will have a more detailed map showing the lots. Somebody should be able to walk into City Hall and say ‘Is this in city limits?’ and you type in the coordinates and can tell them that yes, it is.”

“Who knows what map the census people were relying on when they did the census,” Atty. Pena said. “We believe there are more people here than what the census said. We haven’t had a city map since 1961.”

Councilors voted unanimously on a motion by Manuel Rodriguez to approve the TopSite Civil map and ask for further, more detailed versions.

“This will make sure that the city is collecting the taxes that you are supposed to be collecting,” the city attorney said. “That’s why we need these things.”