Item 10: LIHTC Housing (LIHTC = Low Income Housing Tax Credits)
Back in May, we approved this LIHTC Complex:
It’s for senior citizens. Right around the corner from Target.
How affordable will these units be? The developer agreed to set aside a certain number of affordable units:
AMI means the Austin Area Median Income. So 30% AMI means your family’s yearly income is 30% of the median Austin income. But the Austin median income is $86K, whereas the San Marcos median household income is $47K.
So the categories are a little weird. Those 188 units at 51-60% AMI? That’s low income for Austin, but pretty normal for San Marcos.
….
The developer is back, and wants permission to change some things. First, they want to loosen the ranges of incomes:
So he wants to take the 188 units for families earning $63-$75K, and spread them out for incomes earning $63K-$100K.
Side note: You can live in an apartment intended for a higher income than yours. However, you would not get a fully reduced rent:
The guy also changed his mind on BBQ grills and picnic tables, due to space concerns. He wants to swap them out for two horseshoe pits.
Jane, Alyssa, and Amanda are all not happy about this.
The developer says he’s got a market study. There’s just not demand for the under 60% AMI group! If he can extend to the 80% range, he’ll be able to find more residents.
Jane is open to this, but she doesn’t like the unspecified numbers. She proposes this:
0-30% AMI: 34 units
51-60% AMI: 86 units
61-80 % AMI: 102 units
Her reasoning goes like this: Seniors get a yearly 3% cost of living increase on Social Security. If you were earning 60% AMI and you get that bump, you could get priced out. Suddenly you’re making 61% of the AMI. You don’t qualify for your apartment anymore. If there’s not a tier above you, you have to pay market rate, or move.
Alyssa and Amanda call bullshit on the whole market study. (ME TOO.) It just doesn’t pass the sniff test that San Marcos has run out of families earning less than $75K, and you have to subsidize families earning up to $100K. Our median household income is $47K, for pete’s sake!
The developer does not have the actual market study on hand, to show council.
Amanda calls him out on this: Does this market study even reflect the people we’re trying to help? We don’t know, because we haven’t seen it.
The vote on Jane’s amendment: (86 units under 60%, 102 units under 80%)
Yes: Jane Hughson, Saul Gonzales, Mark Gleason
No: Alyssa Garza, Amanda Rodriguez
But!! It takes four votes to pass. Since Matthew and Shane are absent, this fails.
The developer pleads that it’s not a complete blank check! The subsidized apartments still have to average out to 60%!
The final vote:
Should the developer get to split up the Under 60% category however he wants?
Sorry, dude!
…
Item 7: We’re down to the final dregs of Covid money.
Last time, we discussed this funding:
Alyssa Garza basically chewed everyone out for never, ever prioritizing rental assistance. I mean, she was nice about it. But she has said this one million times.
And lo! They made it work! New funding plan:
Staff thinks we can give this rental assistance out with fewer strings attached than CDBG money. This is very good, too.
…
Item 12: Getting ticketed at the Lion’s Club.
Paid Parking is coming next summer to the City Park parking lot. (Ie the Lions Club parking lot.) Instead of paying someone to write tickets, they want to use cameras and mail the tickets out.
Some extra details:
- The lot will free for San Marcos residents, but you have to go online and sign up somehow.
- If you pay within 14 days, you get a discount.
Council asks good questions:
Amanda: How does the 14 days work? From the day of the ticket? What if they’ve got some situation and their mail isn’t coming promptly?
Answer: We could change that. What about if it’s 14 days from when the ticket arrives at the house?
Amanda: ?? How would you know? Let’s just make it 30 days.
Saul: Is there a warrant if this isn’t paid?
Answer: San Marcos parking tickets are a civil offense, so no. Hays County, though: those are criminal offenses. They’ll getcha.
Amanda: What happens if someone’s car breaks down?
Answer: There is an appeals process.
Amanda: What’s the resident registry process like?
Answer: It’s online. We are also going to do some library outreach to help people sign up.
Alyssa: I can’t actually find the appeals process online.
Answer: Yep. We’re going to put the link on the actual citation that you get in the mail.
The vote: 5-0
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Item 13: NEW FIRE TRUCK!
We’re getting an ERV010 Star Side Mount Pumper Truck with a 500-gallon tank and 1500 GPM pump.
I’m guessing that it looks something like this:
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Item 14: Five Mile Dam
If you know the youth soccer league, you know that it all happens at Five Mile Dam:
Which is located here:
The soccer fields opened in 2010. They’re owned by the county, but maintained by the city. So the city pays for the lighting, playground, sprinklers, etc.
This photo makes it look like maybe the sprinklers aren’t working? Idk.
Surge Soccer uses the fields for free. (Surge used to be called SMAYSO, changed their name, missed their opportunity to call themselves Smoccer.) This helps keep prices cheap for San Marcos families. Surge is good about this.
…
Hays County is selling us the Five Mile Dam parks. But Hays County doesn’t actually care about the soccer fields.
What Hays County cares about are these two other parks:
- Dudley Johnson Park:
2. Randall Wade Vetter Park:
Let’s zoom in on that sign:
Yep! That’s the right place!
Those are here:
At least, that’s my best guess.
So these three properties are a package deal. You want the soccer fields? You have to take Dudley Johnson and Randall Wade Vetter.
How much is Hays charging us?
Zero! It’s free! Wow, they must really want to get rid of those parks.
The last dam report was in 2016, and at that point, the dam was in good condition. And the county will help with maintenance on the parks for the next year.
Is this good for us?
Yes. We want those soccer fields, or else Surge Soccer won’t stay cheap for local kids.
The danger is that Kyle or some private company would buy the fields. They can make a lot of money renting them out. But it would end Surge soccer. Or at least, the affordable, community-focused version of Surge.
Soccer is the biggest youth sport in San Marcos, by far. It’s important to secure these fields.
Council votes unanimously for this deal.
….
Item 16: Blanco Vista Water Tower
Same neighborhood as Five Mile Dam! They’re getting a water tower, as part of all this ARWA stuff. There is $50K in the ARWA budget set aside to paint the water towers.
How would we like to paint it?
Here’s what our other towers look like:
Here’s what some neighbors do:
Here’s what some fancier cities do:
We could either keep it simple, or pay $100K+ to go all out.
Council: keep it simple.
…
Item 17: The Deer
Deer are a big problem. Mostly they cause a lot of car crashes, but they can also get impaled on your fences. (Ewwwwww.)
A speaker came from Texas Parks & Wildlife, and talked to the neighborhood commission. Basically, the first step is to get people to stop feeding the deer.
Should we ban feeding the deer?
- Pros: deer are a big problem.
- Cons: have you seen how cute they are, with their big eyes and fluffy tails???
The Neighborhood Commission decides on an education campaign, instead of an outright ban, because of all those people who love the big-eyed-fluffy-tailed-deer.
What does Council think?
MARK GLEASON HAS VERY STRONG FEELINGS!
- First, even if you ban feeding, it won’t help. Too much available food.
- Deer have no natural predators.
- You must hunt! Open up the parks to hunting!
- We could make a whole weekend of it! Have drawn hunts!
This is a thing – see here and here. And Texas does allow hunting at its state parks.
The problem is that Mark is bringing a huge energy here – It must be discussed! It works! Cutting people off. It’s the only thing that works! – and everyone is a little taken aback.
Jane: They’ve been hunting on my land for 20 years, and it doesn’t keep the deer away.
Mark: IT WORKS! You just need to hunt a few. After a few generations, the mothers keep their babies away!
Alyssa: I dunno, doesn’t work on my dad’s ranch either.
Eventually Jane shushes him, and everyone goes back to talking about corn.
Don’t feed the deer, everyone, but really don’t feed them corn.
…
Item 18: Animal Shelter Vacancy
We finally got it filled. The new person talks about how much they love animals, and how they’ve fostered and volunteered before.
(I still have a lingering weird feeling about the other person who was jerked around by Council for months, but this person seems fine.)
The San Marxist 