New City Hall! (Discussed Oct ’25, April ’25, Nov ’24, Feb ’24, and Nov ’22)
Our city hall is located here:
and it looks like this:
It was built in the early 1970s, when San Marcos had 18K people. So cute! Little baby San Marcos. Now we have about 80K people.
There are some problems with it:
- It’s way too small. Whenever there’s a hot topic, the seats fill up immediately, and everyone crowds into the lobby and out onto the lawn.
- It’s falling apart.
Apparently they have to evacuate for water and gas leaks. There’s a window that just shatters whenever it gets cold. The foundation is a mess. The roof leaks.
Spontaneous window combustion! They said that it’s because the frame has warped over time.
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So we definitely need something new.
We’d like to make it bigger and better:
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The main debate right now is where to put the new city hall.
There are three options:
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Option A: the current location.
Pros: We already own the land.
Cons: In a floodplain.
– Not a big splashy location.
– Council would need temporary space during reconstruction.
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Option B:
Pros: I hate this location and refuse to list any pros.
Cons: In a floodplain
– It’s park land! Don’t use up your park land!
– Do you really want your skate park to be pressed up against your new city hall, like Big Brother looming over you?
– Lots of people showed up to protest against this option.
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Option C:
Pros: It’s a really great location! Probably the best of the three.
– Revitalizes a stagnant part of downtown and supports downtown businesses.
– San Marcos River Foundation prefers it, because it’s not in a floodplain
Cons: Not owned by San Marcos.
– Would have to work with a private developer
– We might get hosed.
This is the developer:
We could get hosed, or maybe we’re able to make a good deal. It’s hard to know.
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$$ Price tag $$
No matter what, the big problem is the price tag.
Big projects cost big money:
- Reclamation Water Facility will cost $120 million
- the Library expansion cost $14.5 million
- More bond projects here
The problem is that we fund big projects by taking out bonds. Texas has a law that cities can’t fund their own city halls by taking out a bond. You have to get voter approval for city hall bond money.
(The problem with San Marcos is Texas. Always.)
Here’s what they’re projecting for the city hall:
That’s really expensive!
We’ve saved about $13 million. We have a few ways that we could fund the rest of this:
I kind of hate all of these! We do not have good options here.
But still:
- Red, orange, purple, and blue are all about equal. They’re different ways of shifting taxpayer money around.
- Teal is a wildcard. It could be okay, or it could be terrible.
- Green is two options. Leasing our land is another wildcard, but selling it is the worst option.
Don’t sell off public land. Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever. You don’t get land back.
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My $0.02: We need to have a cheaper version in mind as a back-up option, on par with renovating the library.
Either convince San Marcos that the downtown location is worth the price tag, or walk away from the price tag.
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For what it’s worth, we haven’t spent that much money yet:
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A LOT of people showed up at Citizen Comment!
We love the Downtown option! (5 people)
- Downtown business association supports it, but don’t raise taxes
- San Marcos River Foundation supports it, but has some extra recommendations to protect the water table.
- Yes, but I’m nervous about the developer
- Steering Committee recommends downtown location.
We have concerns: (8 speakers)
- This whole thing is really expensive, and we can’t afford it.
- We want more public engagement and town halls
- Stick with options A and B.
Miscellaneous:
- Please consider a dedicated performing arts space. Groups like Broke Thespians contribute to the richness of San Marcos, but there are very few venues for them to perform in. (I agree!)
- Encourage the community that there are low cost rain guages, which can be life saving in a flood.
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What does Council say?
First they discuss the steering committee. Amanda, Lorenzo, and Josh never got to appoint anybody to it. (In fact, they were intentionally excluded.) This got dealt with at the 6 pm meeting – they’re each going to pick two members and the committee will get six new people.
Everyone wants lots of town halls for the community. Everyone wants all three locations – A, B, and C – to be presented at these town halls, too. Town halls should be held all over town.
Bottom line: Town Halls will be coming to a neighborhood near you. Hopefully.
Side note: There was actually a lot more covered during the presentation – details of funding, what the different possibilities for Option C might look like, etc. But that is all getting kicked down the road, while the town halls play out. If you’re curious, go here.
The San Marxist 