Item 10: McCoy’s new headquarters:
This has come up before. They’re building a fancy new campus here:
Those two red highlighter marks are future roads, according to the Transportation Master Plan.
But if McCoy’s wants their campus, the roads are in the way.
So the hypothetical roads must go. DONE!
(The vote was unanimous and this really isn’t a very big deal.)
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Item 11: 67 acres here:
They want to turn it into apartments that feel like houses. It will be a complex, with the clubhouse and pool and all of that kind of stuff, but each apartment is a standalone house. I went hunting on the company’s website but I couldn’t find a sample photo.
The part I found mildly delusional was that they expect wealthy renters. Their typical renter has an $85K annual salary and wants a multi-year lease. That sounds like a pleasant fantasy version of San Marcos.
Shall we play The Six Criteria For Housing Developments game? YES!
Price Tag to the City: Will it bring in taxes that pay for itself, over the lifespan of the infrastructure and future repair? How much will it cost to extend roads, utilities, on fire and police coverage, on water and wastewater?
Good location. This is infill.
Housing stock: How long will it take to build? How much housing will it provide? What is the forecasted housing deficit at that point? Is it targeting a price-point that serves what San Marcos needs?
We need an ongoing housing needs assessment. We need to know this.
Environment: Is it on the aquifer? Is it in a flood zone? Will it create run off into the river?Are we looking at sprawl? Is it uniformly single-family homes?
Not on the aquifer. Environmentally reasonable.
While I haven’t seen photos, I get the picture that the units have smaller yards than a house. So denser than single family housing, but less dense than apartments. Not the worst.
Social: Is it meaningfully mixed income? Is it near existing SMCISD schools and amenities?
I can’t imagine their target clientele is going to materialize. They’re imagining something wealthy-ish, though, which is not mixed income. It’s sort of near Hernandez and Rodriguez elementary school, and sort of near Miller middle school. (The developer is imagining adults without kids, though.)
The San Marxist Special: Is it a mixed-income blend of single family houses, four-plexes, and eight-plexes, all mixed together? With schools, shops, restaurants, and public community space sprinkled throughout?
Not really. I suppose you have the outlet mall right there, but they’re not exactly a charming little public gathering space.
(Remember when you used to be able to ride a gondola back and forth for about 100 yards? Good times.
I never actually got to ride the silly thing.)
My overall opinion: This is a reasonably good use of space. It’s hard to put housing in between I-35 and some railroad tracks.
The vote:
Yes: everyone except Matthew Mendoza
No: Matthew Mendoza
I am not sure what he was opposed to!
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Item 12: 169 acres at the end of the airport:
It’s got a weird cut out due to an airport runway easement, and there are some FAA height restrictions also because of the runway. The developer wants it zoned Light Industrial.
Max Baker spoke during the public hearing, and raised issues of pollution. He kept mentioning the future airport expansion. I don’t think this particular item is the airport expansion? But maybe it’s in the pipeline?
Anyway, apparently it’s easy to measure pollution, but hard to determine the source, and usually it’s vehicle traffic. (Maybe we should reconsider all this sprawl!)
The vote:
Yes: Matthew Mendoza, Jude Prather, Shane Scott, Mark Gleason, Jane Hughson
No: Alyssa Garza, Saul Gonzales
One last thing:
You can speak during the public hearing, but not during council discussion, unless a council member specifically calls you up to the podium to answer a question.
Which brings me to my favorite moment of the night: Alyssa Garza saying – very deadpan but not mean – “Is it possible for Mr. Baker to tell us what he has ants in his pants about?” I’ve been laughing about that ever since.
(Max was glad to comply, and went to the podium to talk further about CAPCOG and purple machines and air quality.)
The San Marxist 