P&Z denial cues council ‘supermajority

An area east of town could still be zoned for Heavy Industrial development, but it will need a supermajority in City Council. 

The San Marcos Planning and Zoning Commission voted Tuesday night to deny a zoning change for 934 acres currently located in the San Marcos extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) that is slated for a voluntary annexation into San Marcos. The acreage is located near State Highway 80 and Farm to Market Road 1984 and would be developed into an industrial rail park and a manufacturing facility. 

“It doesn’t check any boxes other than the city council thinks it’s a good idea,” commissioner Angie Ramirez said of the proposal. 

Planner Tory Carpenter gave a presentation on the zoning change request. He noted that the property is near Gary Job Corps, the San Marcos Regional Airport and a railroad track. Carpenter also noted that in October, the city council approved a 380 economic incentive agreement for a portion of the site with Katerra, a manufacturing company that has agreed to build a facility on the property and provide more than 500 jobs paying at least $15 an hour. 

Carpenter pointed out that a portion of the property that was originally part of the request was removed from the request because it is in Martindale’s ETJ. He said that staff’s recommendation to P&Z was to approve the zoning change.

Area residents made comments both for and against the zoning change. Dianne Wassenich from the San Marcos River Foundation said that part of the acreage lies in a floodway or floodplain and expressed concern about runoff going into the river, which is not far across State Highway 80 from the 934 acres. However, Robert Peters, who said he owns 60 acres within 400 feet of the property, said that he has never experienced flooding.

“In 26 years, my property has never flooded,” he said, adding that he supports development that could help out the school district.

Marybeth Harper, who also lives near the acreage, argued that the area up for rezoning is not in the San Marcos ETJ.

“First of all, most of that property is in the Martindale ETJ, not San Marcos,” she said. “Last week I checked out the Caldwell County appraisal district map. It shows the current Martindale ETJ and that’s a big part of that yellow stuff (the 934 acres marked on Carpenter’s map). Also the city of Martindale includes that in their ETJ map.”

Harper also brought up concerns about the Katerra building, which is expected to be 600,000 square feet. She noted that the impervious cover could create problems on parts of the property that are already prone to flooding. 

Juan Cavazos, who also lives near the 934 acres, expressed concern about runoff and the potential for lower property values because of flooding.

“Where’s that water going to go now when it rains cats and dogs? It’s going to come down to my house,” he said.

The commissioners’ discussion

Most of the P&Z commissioners voiced similar concerns, particularly about two creeks that run through the property and the fact that High Industrial zoned areas can have as much as 80 percent impervious cover.

“I’m very nervous about taking this whole large piece of property and covering it in concrete,” commissioner Mark Gleason said.

Carpenter said that part of the property that is near a creekbed is considered floodplain.

Commissioner Lee Porterfield said that no piece of property is going to be absolutely perfect.

“I think it’s just a never-ending discussion I think on any piece of land,” he said, noting that development on the 934 acres would come under “plenty of scrutiny.”

Commission chair Jim Garber asked city planning chief Shannon Mattingly about the ETJ issue. Mattingly said that based on research, everything in the zoning change request is in the San Marcos ETJ.

“We have gone back and pulled every annexation ordinance that has ever been approved by the city of San Marcos,” she said, “and completely redone our city limits and ETJ. … Our ordinances show this area has been in our ETJ since 1984.”

“Although our records indicate it’s in ours, do we know, do Martindale’s records indicate it’s in theirs?” Garber asked.

“I can’t answer that,” Mattingly said. “... The way state law reads is, it bases off whatever your population is certified at how far out your ETJ goes. As we’re annexing, you push your ETJ boundary out as far as you can go without going into somebody else’s.”

Caldwell County Precinct 3 Commissioner Ed Theriot spoke to the commissioners about the proposed development and the economic incentive agreement Caldwell County struck with Katerra. As far as he knows, he said, the development would have a road coming off of SH 80 with feeder roads coming off it. The rail park, he said, would bring railroad spurs off the main track to provide multimodal transportation — rail and trucking —- for industrial facilities at the park. There are also talks with the airport about transporting freight by air, he said.

“It’s a pretty innovative concept for the development,” Theriot said.

He noted that Caldwell County had approved an agreement with Katerra.

Ramirez had questions about the city’s economic agreement with Katerra, including how much of the acreage was included. Mattingly said 66 acres are part of the pact with Katerra. 

Ramirez pointed out that P&Z did not see the agreement with Katerra that council approved.

“They clearly know more about this agreement than we do, so they can approve it (the zoning change). And it’s fully in their purview to do it,” she said. 

A motion to approve the zoning change failed, and Ramirez made a motion to deny the zoning change. Ramirez and Garber noted that denying the zoning change request would not kill it; it would just require a supermajority in council for it to pass.

“If it’s a good idea,” Garber said, “let the supermajority say so.”

The motion to deny passed 5-4, with Gleason, Porterfield, Mike Dillon and Kate McCarty voting against denial.