Here's how you know that the Guadalupe River tourist season in Comal County is just around the corner: the local powers-that-be are contemplating another series of inane (insane?) ordinances to combat those "rowdy tubers." First they took away your cooler. Then they took away your parking spot. Now they want to take away your toilet. Many summer tourists to New Braunfels like to rent vacation houses for the weekend.
Unfortunately, some of these folks vacation a little too loud for the homeowners residing nearby. But rather than simply calling the cops when the vacationers get too loud, or dealing with rental owners who allow their properties to become a nuisance, Comal County is considering flushing away the problem of loud vacation rentals by pulling the chain on their septic permits. Under one proposal being considered, homes used as vacation rentals would be required to have septic system capacity far in excess of what is usually required for a residence, even though there is absolutely no evidence that vacation rentals now have inadequate septic systems. Since expanding the size of the septic systems would be prohibitively expensive for many owners, they would no longer be able to afford to rent the houses to tourists.
Once again, instead of using statutes and ordinances that are already on the books, and that are specifically designed to solve the problem (such as the Disorderly Conduct statute, which prohibits unreasonable noise near a private residence), the County is now poised to go after perfectly innocent owners, whose rental houses aren't causing any problems, in the name of rooting out those "rowdy tubers" at the few houses that are. As expected, this proposal is not passing smoothly, being considered irregular by many. In fact, a spirited pissing match is expected at the next public hearing on the matter. Here's hoping that this bad idea becomes clogged as it tries to snake its way through the system. May the toilets in Comal County continue to flow as free as the rivers.