Council approves Martindale ETJ agreement
San Marcos and Martindale each approved an extra-territorial jurisdiction agreement, allowing specific areas to be released by each city from its previously claimed ETJ and establishes payments to be made by San Marcos.
The San Marcos City Council unanimously approved the agreement during Tuesday’s meeting, while the Martindale City Council approved it during its Jan. 21 meeting.
“I’m happy to report that we have approved our agreement with the City of Martindale regarding realigning their ETJ line, allowing us to annex all of the San Marcos Air, Rail and Truck SMART Terminal with a creative agreement that provides benefits for both sides,” San Marcos Mayor Jane Hughson said. “I’d like to thank (Martindale) Mayor Rob Deviney for his help in getting this done, the Martindale City Council, their administrator, their city attorney. I would also like to thank the staff in our legal department, planning department, our GIS people, our city manager, assistant city managers and everyone in the City of San Marcos, including our city council, for doing what was needed to make this agreement happen.”
The agreement cleared up ETJ matters regarding disagreements between the two cities in a 1983 and 2007 dispute.
In 1983, Martindale expanded its ETJ to include an Ohnheiser Property. The City of San Marcos disputed that Martindale’s ETJ shouldn’t include the Ohnheiser Property, while Martindale disputed San Marcos’ assertions. According to the agreement, “San Marcos states, represents, and agrees that the 1983 resolution is valid, and that San Marcos has no legitimate basis to challenge the same.”
In the 2007 ETJ dispute, 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”). Martindale disputed the validity of San Marcos’ ETJ, while San Marcos disputed the assertion. According to the agreement, “Martindale would agree that R132 is valid and that Martindale has no legitimate basis to challenge the same.”
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.
“I think it’s a fair agreement for both sides,” Deviney said. “I think it benefits the landowners, developers, Caldwell County, San Marcos and Martindale. It took a lot of time but I was happy with the process.”
In other business, the council approved an appointment to fill a vacancy of Board Position 8, on the Board of Directors of the Alliance Regional Water Authority. The city nominated and approved Heather Hurlbert, city director of finance, to fill the vacancy left by former assistant city manager Steve Parker.
The council also voted to form a Council Committee on Homelessness. Councilmember Joca Marquez, Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Mark Rockeymoore and Hughson were nominated and approved to be on the committee. Marquez volunteered to be the committee’s convener.
