City takes major step to repair Cape's Dam

The San Marcos City Council voted to begin negotiations with Hays County to repair Cape’s Dam and The Mill Race on the San Marcos River during Tuesday's regular meeting. 

Councilmembers Melissa Derrick, Mark Rockeymoore and Maxfield Baker voted in opposition in support of the river’s health. 

At the suggestion of Baker, through negotiations, city staff will make efforts to ensure this endeavor does not “turn into another Rio Vista Dam” and will attempt to preserve the full 13,000 years of the river's history to include the region's indigenous inhabitants. 

In other business, the Development Code will come back to city council for a second reading after several amendments were made. 

They removed an amendment which was intended to add occupancy restrictions to Character District 3; removed a proposal that would require additional meetings for neighborhood density district requests in existing neighborhoods and only require the neighborhood presentation meeting as currently required in the development code; removed an item which would require a conditional use permit for ADU in certain coning districts; and removed an item which would allow an exemption for parking for small multifamily in CD-5D but keep the conditional use permit process for properties with up to five units. 

Related to COVID-19 relief, councilmembers unanimously amended their agreement with Community Action, Inc. of Central Texas to expand their eligibility criteria for utility customer assistance to include COVID-19 as a financial hardship. 

With consumer trends shifting more towards curbside pickup, they also supported emergency installation of 15 minute curbside pickup parking spaces for small businesses along North LBJ Drive from San Antonio St. to University Drive. 

There will be a two hour parking limit enforced and businesses can call the San Marcos Police Department’s non emergency line for assistance with enforcement. 

Councilmembers also modified the Hotel Occupancy Tax Policy creating a 5% late fee charge if paid after the due date instead of a sliding scale. 

They also updated the contract with Axon Enterprises Inc. for their Police Video Upgrade Project after hearing from City Attorney Michael Cosentino that the privacy and security concerns related to the company were not in the city’s contract. 

Councilmembers voted to use the power of eminent domain to acquire a simple title to .1454 acres of land to help mitigate flooding at the Southeast Corner of River Road and West Uhland Road.