City leaders sign ETJ agreement

With the flick of a pen, San Marcos Mayor Jane Hughson and Martindale Mayor Rob Deviney signed an extra-territorial jurisdiction agreement on Monday. 

The agreement, which allows specific areas to be released by each city from its previously claimed ETJ and establishes payments to be made by San Marcos, was approved by the Martindale City Council on Jan. 21, while the San Marcos City Council approved it on Feb. 4. 

The agreement clears up ETJ matters regarding disagreements between the two cities in a 1983 and 2007 dispute.

Front row: Hughson and San Marcos City Attorney Michael Cosentino Back row: Mike Schroeder, SMART Terminal developer; Jared Anable, Martindale city administrator; Deviney; Bert Lumbreras, San Marcos city manager; and Michael Ostrowski, San Marcos assistant director of Planning and Development Services.

Martindale expanded its ETJ to include an Ohnheiser Property In 1983. The City of San Marcos disputed that Martindale’s ETJ shouldn’t include the Ohnheiser Property, while Martindale disputed San Marcos’ assertions. The agreement says that “San Marcos states, represents, and agrees that the 1983 resolution is valid, and that San Marcos has no legitimate basis to challenge the same.” 

The City of San Marcos declared it had at least 50,000 inhabitants and purportedly established a 3.5-mile ETJ beyond its municipal boundaries in a passed ordinance — 2007-132R (“R132”) — in the 2007 ETJ dispute. Martindale disputed the validity of San Marcos’ ETJ, while San Marcos disputed the assertion. “Martindale would agree that R132 is valid and that Martindale has no legitimate basis to challenge the same,” according to the agreement.

The ETJ agreement also establishes that the City of San Marcos will begin making payments to Martindale of 30% of the annual tax revenue derived from 161 acres of land within the SMART Terminal project that Martindale is releasing from its ETJ under this agreement to allow annexation by San Marcos, beginning in 2021 and ending in 2051.