A massive community development plan from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints will move forward in Texas after a settlement agreement puts an end to a six-year lawsuit.
The Kyle City Council voted to approve a settlement agreement that will put an end to a six-year-long lawsuit filed in 2020 by Austin’s Save Our Springs Alliance (SOSA) over the development of the Nance-Bradshaw Ranch property located in the Austin-San Antonio corridor. The city council voted to remove the Blanco River bridge, a major point of environmental arguments against the development. The bridge’s removal has paved the way for resolution, clearing a major hurdle for the massive development plan.
A set schedule for new construction plans has not yet been established. Property Reserve, the Mormon Church’s real estate arm, intends to negotiate a new or modified development agreement with local officials.
The LDS Church bought approximately 3,000 acres of land outside of Kyle on Jan. 6, 2025. Previous plans for the development envisioned the area as one of Central Texas’ biggest master-planned communities, with up to 7,300 residences and hundreds of acres of commercial space.
The purchase came after years of legal back-and-forth as a result of the 2020 lawsuit SOSA filed against the city of Kyle over alleged breach of the Texas Open Meetings Act. The organization claimed the city did not publicly disclose the development agreement.
The other major concern for SOSA and Kyle residents who joined the lawsuit was the proposed use of the land, which would bring an enormous amount of multi-unit residential and mixed-use commercial space for LDS Church members. The concerns were that the amount of development would discard the area’s rural history and environment for the sake of unmitigated urban sprawl.
The development plan cleared a significant hurdle but may still be subject to legal action, depending on whether the changes around the development’s environmental impact are addressed sufficiently. The plaintiffs will be informed of any modifications to the site’s development plans, according to the city, and they will have the option to bring a new case if environmental concerns are not met.
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This article originally published at Massive 3,000-acre LDS development in Texas Hill Country is back on track.