On April 7, 2026, the City Secretary's office received a Notice of Petition for Removal of Property from the City of Schertz Extraterritorial Jurisdiction "ETJ" for approximately 5.115 acres located within Comal County, more specifically identified as Comal County Property Identification Number 455975. The subject property is currently undeveloped and does not have a Development Agreement, or Delayed Annexation Development Agreement and is not subject to annexation at this time. The subject property is owned by Jeffrey D. Gieg and Heather R. Gieg. 

Senate Bill 2038, which took effect on September 1, 2023 and House Bill 2512 effective September 1, 2025, changed the Texas Local Government Code in relation to property owners ability to petition a City to be released from the Extraterritorial Jurisdiction or ETJ. Per Texas Local Government Code Chapter 42 Section 42.101 a property owner can request to be released from a municipalities ETJ, unless one of the following applies to the subject properties:

1. the property is within 5 miles of the boundary of a military base, as defined by Section 43.0117, at which an active training program is conducted;
2. in an area that was voluntarily annexed into the extraterritorial jurisdiction that is located in a county: (A) in which the population grew by more than 50 percent from the previous federal decennial census in the federal decennial census conducted in 2020; and (B) that has a population greater than 240,000
3. within the portion of the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality with a population of more than 1.4 million that is: (A) within 15 miles of the boundary of a military base, as defined by Section 43.0117, at which an active training program is conducted; and (B) in a county with a population of more than two million;
4. in an area designated as an industrial district under Section 42.044; or
5. in an area subject to a strategic partnership agreement entered into under Section 43.0751; or
6. for the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality located in four or more counties, one of which has a population of 2.1 million or more and is adjacent to a county with a population of 2.6 million or more: (A)  in an area subject to an active development agreement entered into under Section 212.172 with the municipality; (B)  in a platted or unplatted lot of less than 12 acres unless included with the other land in a petition for release under Section 42.102; or (C)  within a platted subdivision of 25 or more lots if the area is a single lot.

None of the above six criteria apply to the subject property. So, per Texas Local Government Code Chapter 42 Extraterritorial Jurisdiction of Municipalities, Section 42.102 Authority to File Petition for Release which states: The owner or owners of the majority in value of an area consisting of one or more parcels of land in a municipality's extraterritorial jurisdiction may file a petition with the municipality in accordance with this subchapter for the area to be released from the extraterritorial jurisdiction, the property owners of the subject property were able to submit a petition for ETJ release.

The petition submitted to the City Secretary's office was such petition, filed by the owner of the property in question, and meeting all of the requirements outlined in the Local Government Code for ETJ release.

Based on state law, if a municipality fails to take action to release the area by the later of the 45th day after the date the municipality receives the petition or the next meeting of the municipality's governing body that occurs after the 30th day after the date the municipality receives the petition, the area is released by operation of law.

Attached to this written update includes a map showing the tract / acreage that will be removed from the City of Schertz ETJ based on the submitted petition, along with the Notice of Petition from the property owners.