Land Clearing in Bellville, TX

Land clearing in Bellville's yaupon and post oak

Austin County sits where the Post Oak Savannah meets the Coastal Prairie, and Bellville is in its wooded middle. County histories describe that middle as heavily wooded, on sandy loams and sands. A band of oak and hickory forest about five miles wide crosses it. The city's own Clark Park covers more than 28 acres of wooded, rolling hills.

The federal soil survey maps much of the ground here as loamy fine sand. On Tremona and Straber soils, that sand sits on a clay subsoil. After heavy rains, water can perch on the clay. Many creek bottoms map as Trinity clay, which floods and cracks deep as it dries.

Our mulching head grinds yaupon and small trees where they stand, and the mulch stays on the ground. A zero tail swing excavator works the tight spots between trees. Where material has to leave the site, we load it out, and the trucking is arranged.

Pastures and fence lines on Austin County acreage

Austin County is cattle and hay country. The 2022 USDA farm census counted 1,930 farms here, and about two thirds of the farmland is pasture. Cattle and calves made up about 61 percent of farm sales, and hay led all crops by acres. More than half of those farms are under 50 acres.

For fence line clearing, we take brush and trees off the old line and mulch a clean lane. Then we set pipe posts and H-braces for ranch fencing and stretch the wire. For an owner who strings their own wire, we can cut and drive the pipe. We also clear brushy ground to open pasture for cattle.

Who issues permits in Bellville and around Austin County?

Inside the city limits, permits go through the building inspector at City Hall. Bellville's building permit covers new construction and additions, plus garages, sheds, decks and concrete driveways. Any homeowner or contractor can pull one, and it counts once it is paid for and posted on site. If you are not sure a project needs one, the city asks you to call City Hall first.

Outside the city limits, Austin County's Planning and Development Department in Bellville issues permits. Its development permit comes first, before anything is built or moved onto the land. In a flood hazard area, the county wants an elevation certificate from a surveyor before that permit. Clearing that disturbs an acre or more of soil can also fall under the state's construction stormwater permit.

A driveway culvert on a county road needs the precinct commissioner's signature on the county's form. The owner marks the middle of the drive with a stake and ribbon that shows their name and 911 address. The county charges a penalty when work starts before the paperwork is in. On a state highway or a farm-to-market road, like SH 36 or FM 529, the county sends you to TxDOT.

The county's guidelines also want the entrance from the county road to the house clear 12 by 12 feet. That opening lets fire trucks and ambulances reach the house. On a wooded tract, the mulching head can open that path. For culvert installation, we set the pipe and shape the approach.

Older homes and wet yards inside the city limits

The railroad reached town in the winter of 1879 to 1880. In four months, the population rose from 300 to 522. The 2020 Census counted 4,206 people. By Census estimates, about half the homes in town predate 1970, and about 140 predate 1940.

On those older lots, we repair damaged sections of wood privacy fence. Our house demolition work takes down houses and barns up to about 5,300 square feet. We level the ground after. Inside the city, Bellville's forms list a demolition permit, so ask City Hall before a teardown.

FEMA's flood map puts about 4 percent of the city in its 1 percent annual chance flood zone. That land lies along Boggy Creek and its branches. NOAA's normals for two Bellville stations put rain at about 44 to 46 inches a year. Outside the flood zone, a yard can still hold water when rain perches on the clay subsoil.

French drain installation helps move that water out, and we run gutter downspout lines underground. State water law bars sending that water onto a neighbor's land in a way that damages it.