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The dispute between San Marcos and Martindale concerning overlapping extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) boundaries remains unresolved.
The two cities have been in negotiations over the ETJ issue, which involves land the city of San Marcos had initially planned to annex as part of the SMART (San Marcos Air, Rail and Truck) Terminal industrial rail park. In an executive session at its meeting Tuesday night, the Martindale City Council discussed a counteroffer the city of San Marcos has made. After executive session, Mayor Rob Deviney said that no action was taken.
The executive session also included a discussion of developers interested in doing business in Martindale.
“All we did is we had a discussion of some potential development going on,” Deviney said. “... We also had a discussion on the status of our ETJ issue with San Marcos and where that’s at. Again, no action was taken on those items.”
Mike Schroeder, the developer of the SMART Terminal, spoke to the Martindale council during public comments and urged the council to come to an agreement with San Marcos.
“There’s an opportunity here, and it’s contingent on Martindale being able to work with the city of San Marcos,” Schroeder said.
The developer said resolving the ETJ issue to allow the terminal to move forward could be the “long-term answer” to issues that Martindale has, such as the repair of potholes throughout the town and funding for the Martindale Public Library.
“This is how things like that happen,” he said, describing the SMART Terminal as an “economic engine” that can benefit the area.
“We’ve got 550 jobs on the line here,” he said. “... There’s plenty of benefit to go around. So I hope we can come to some kind of agreement with San Marcos. I’m in the middle of this.”
The SMART Terminal is intended to take up a 934-acre parcel of land. The San Marcos City Council voted in March to annex 734 acres for the project, leaving out the area in dispute between San Marcos and Martindale.
San Marcos also voted to approve a Chapter 380 economic development agreement with the developers and rezone the annexed property to Heavy Industrial to accommodate the park. The Chapter 380 agreement puts limitations on land use and nuisances like noise once the park is developed.
