Council approves of city’s Master Transportation Plan

The San Marcos City Council unanimously voted to approve the city’s Master Transportation Plan along with the Planning and Zoning Commission’s recommended amendments during its regular meeting on Tuesday. 

The approval of the Master Transportation Plan also entails the approval of the Thoroughfare Plan and Bicycle Plan. Prior to voting, councilmembers received a presentation by Assistant Director of Planning and Development Services Amanda Hernandez. The presentation given contained similar information from the last presentation that was delivered to the council, detailing the changes to road alignments and bicycle facility classification changes. 

“I will stop and spend some time so we can talk about Planning and Zoning Commission’s recommendations. We kind of breezed by those last time so I want to make sure that the council is aware of the discussions we’ve had with planning commission,” Hernandez said. “But really the overall purpose of these bicycle facility changes are to increase safety, increase connectivity and also work with an existing right-of-way where staff doesn’t find right-of-way acquisition will be feasible based on existing development.” 

Hernandez went on to explain the definition of a bike facility and detailed the various types including the protected bicycle lane, buffered bicycle lane, shared-use path and sharrows. 

The recommendations from the Planning and Zoning Commission include a protected bike lane on Old Ranch Road 12 and buffered bike lanes on Barnes Drive and Monterrey Oak. The commission also recommended extending the limits of the Post Road buffered bike lanes to Old Stagecoach and maintaining the protected bike lane as a long-term solution on Craddock Avenue. 

Following the presentation, a final public hearing regarding the item was held where several individuals voiced their opinions on the plans. 

“Nobody’s showing up but me saying this is too expensive, you have no data and city staff have not answered your request for data, we don’t know that people even need it, we don’t know how much it costs and it’s clear that they’re creating a more dangerous situation to the problem that doesn’t exist,” said Lisa Marie Coppoletta, San Marcos resident. 

Coppoletta emphasized the need for bicycle data and maps from the city and suggested opening up a public forum to further discuss the plan. Others who spoke showed support for the plan and how it would benefit avid cyclists. 

“I think the inclusion of a bike lane in some of the spots here, especially the Craddock corridor makes a lot of really good sense. San Marcos has three major green spaces,” said Benny Rice, San Marcos resident. “That bike lane on Craddock connects both Purgatory Creek trail and Ringtail Ridge, very large spots for people to go mountain biking or just casual cycling on the gravel paths that have been put in.” 

Council then had the chance to comment and ask questions to city staff about the plan. Councilmember Maxfield Baker further pushed the issue of not receiving data from the city as requested during their previous meeting. 

“All of the information that you find is a perceived safety, you know, you’re going to feel more safe when you have a protected lane more so than a sharrow more so with the buffered bike lane,” said Richard Reynosa, Assistant Director of Engineering. “And again, if you have a protected barrier that’s just a higher, increased safety that you’re perceived in there, that’s a lot of the statistics that we’re finding. It's, you know, increased safety along those lines but we haven’t found that data specifically.” 

The centered turn lanes on Barnes Drive and Monterrey Oak would be removed to add buffered bike lanes. Mayor Jane Hughson requested a list of traffic lane losses that would occur if all of the changes were made within the plan for the council’s second reading of the item. 

Councilmember Jude Prather also questioned if more green cones seen throughout San Marcos would be used on protected bike lanes in accordance with the plan. According to Reynosa, implementing the cones is a possibility but the city must first evaluate what would work best. 

Before voting, councilmember Mark Gleason made a request to consider making Craddock Avenue a shared-use path. The suggestion will be added and re-addressed during the second reading of the item. 

Council went on to approve the Animal Advisory Committee’s recommendation to expand their powers and duties at an advisory capacity. 

According to the ordinance, “The committee may make recommendations to the city council regarding the San Marcos Regional Animal Shelter and its operation. Specifically, the committee may serve in an advisory capacity to make recommendations relating to the following matters and activities.” 

During the meeting, the council unanimously voted to approve the terms and conditions of an interlocal agreement between the City of San Marcos and the San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District (SMCISD). 

The agreement related to the City’s provision of officers to serve as School Resource Officers. Council previously sent four amendments back to the school board. The board went on to modify points 5.4 and 12.1.

To view the full agenda and meeting, visit san-marcos-tx.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=9.