CITY OF SAN MARCOS & HAYS COUNTY
The city of San Marcos and Hays County met Monday afternoon to discuss Cape’s Pond Park and the surrounding neighborhood Barrio Del Pescado. This served as a chance for residents of the neighborhood to weigh in on any future changes.
“Today, the focus is [that] we want to make sure that we’re providing as much helpful information to you, and above all, we really want to listen,” San Marcos City Manager Stephanie Reyes said. “We want to listen and understand a little bit more about what’s important to you and what are the things that either you’re concerned about or things you have questions about, so that we can work through those things and make sure that we provide as much information as we possibly can.”
Shaun Condor, San Marcos Engineering and CIP director, said his office’s main concern is addressing the current drainage issues to reduce flooding in the area. One of those projects that is currently in the works is the Wallace Addition Offsite Drainage Improvements project, which involves the off-site drainage or “the foundation of the drainage,” is estimated to cost $16 million and construction should begin in 2027. The city will then begin the Wallace Subdivision Improvements, which addresses issues within the neighborhood itself, is estimated to cost $13 million and construction should begin in 2029," Condor said. The initial design of these projects occurred in 2020 but were slowed when the county decided to do the Cape’s Pond Park project as they needed to ensure the two would not interfere with one another.
“When you think about drainage, it’s like building a house. You always start with the downstream elevation and work your way up,” Condor said. “You always gotta do the downstream first, which is the off-site. Let’s get that drainage around the neighborhood, and then we’ll connect the neighborhoods to those outfalls.”
Sabas Avila, San Marcos Public Works director, explained how that department differs from CIP and ways that residents can utilize them for area improvements.
“The Public Works department is the operations and maintenance division of the city. So Shaun builds all the big projects,” Avila said. “Once the projects are done, it gets handed over to Public Works, and Public Works maintains that infrastructure. In Public Works, we oversee streets, traffic, storm water, transit, fleet facilities and parking management.”
Avila explained that Public Works can assist with a sidewalk in disrepair or if there is a gap in the sidewalk.
“We can handle that as long as there’s not any significant design or easements or environmental assessment that needs to be completed,” he said.
See the Public Works Five-Year Sidewalk Maintenance and Infill Plan and the Five-Year Street Maintenance Plan as well as contact information to request repairs at this link sanmarcostx. gov/306/StreetsSidewalks.
Aaron Cooper, a representative for Halff Associates whom Hays County hired to design the Capes Pond Park project, walked everyone through the extensive outreach involved with the creation of the design over the 28-acre park, with a 5.8acre pond, and the final design. He said the project was initially identified as part of the Prop A bond, which totaled $75 million with $2.5 million dedicated to Capes Pond Park. The county held two rounds of community engagement to receive feedback, starting with an open house in May of 2024. The engineers came up with two designs, one of which was more natural and one of which was more manmade. The county issued a survey asking what it was that residents liked about either design, and key themes that were desired by 50% or more of the participants were identified. The key themes were to preserve and enhance the natural environment, include water recreation activities, provide adequate shade and seating options, include trails with connections to surrounding trails, provide educational features and include adequate parking. Cooper said the parking should fit 80 cars but will be built incrementally using permeable pavers.
“We’ve provided a wide concrete sidewalk. Oftentimes it’s called a shared use path, so it’s meant for both pedestrians and cyclists, and we’ve spaced it away from that road,” Cooper said, adding that there will also be a restroom that will function as a storage unit. “We’ve got a playground with picnic tables, which is right here [out of the floodplain and near the entrance and parking], so it’s very convenient for the neighborhood.”
Cooper said there will be a practice field. There will also be two types of boardwalks to provide access to the pond – one that spans across the edge and a t-shaped one that juts outward into the pond.
“We’ve also got river access. So coming down here, it’s just a 16-foot wide concrete path that’s going to take you down to the river,” Cooper said. “There will be some sort of platform that gets you down to the water, something that you’ve frequently seen in San Marcos; It’s going to be those limestone blocks.”
The city and county representatives stayed after the meeting concluded to gather more input from residents and to answer questions.
