Industrial park plans spark new concerns
New concerns emerged during a public hearing on the proposed annexation of 934 acres of land east of town at a special council meeting Wednesday night.
The San Marcos City Council held the second of two public hearings on the voluntary annexation of the acreage, which consists of six tracts of land along State Highway 80 and Farm to Market Road 1984. City planning chief Shannon Mattingly gave a presentation on the property and the proposed developments that would be built there, including the Katerra manufacturing facility. The property is also currently destined for a heavy industrial park called the SMART Terminal, which stands for “San Marcos Air, Rail and Truck.”
Mattingly’s presentation included an updated map showing an overlap of the San Marcos and Martindale extraterritorial jurisdictions, or ETJs. Previously, city staff had said the entirety of the 934 acres was within the San Marcos ETJ, based on research. However, the latest map shows an overlap of what Mattingly said was about 170 acres. Part of the 66-acre Katerra development lies within the overlap area.
“Mr. Parker (Assistant City Manager Steve Parker) has reached out to the mayor of Martindale to talk with them and get with them on their records and ours,” Mattingly said.
ʻThink about where your food comes fromʼ
Several members of the public raised concerns about the proposed annexation. Marybeth Harper, who lives between San Marcos and Martindale and has spoken to council before, said she still opposes San Marcos annexing the property.
“I appreciate the fact that the ETJ map has been changed a little bit,” she said. “There’s still a whole lot more of Martindale ETJ that San Marcos is claiming.”
Harper also mentioned problems with both rail traffic and road traffic.
“There’s going to be increased rail traffic,” she said. “Folks, if you think you have to sit through trains now, just wait until that develops.”
As for the trucks that will be coming in and out of the proposed development, Harper said truck traffic is already a problem on the roads in that area, and response times for Caldwell County sheriff’s deputies can be long because of the size of the county and the lack of staff.
“You might have to wait 30 to 40 minutes for their one deputy that’s on duty,” she said. “Things are slow in Martindale.”
Harper also asked for a timeline on the development compared to the construction of Farm to Market Road 110, which is meant to help alleviate traffic. FM 110 will run alongside the development.
However, Harper said, if the development is brought online before FM 110 is built, “That’s kind of bass ackwards.”
She also urged the city to consider the ramifications of developing land that has agricultural use.
“Think about where your food comes from,” she said. “Your food comes from that area.”
San Marcos resident Lisa Marie Coppoletta also spoke against the annexation, calling the project a “Death Star of development” and asking council to delay the annexation.
“I wish you guys had formed a subcommittee for this so we could have an extra layer of time,” she said, noting that council had formed subcommittees for the proposed H-E-B on Hunter Road and the Lindsey Hill development.
She also raised concerns about lights, fumes, noise and other quality of life issues.
“Y’all are about to make development quick, fast and cheap and ruin the quality of life for all those people in Caldwell County,” she said.
Another San Marcos resident, Sara Lee Underwood Myers, also urged council to delay any decision on annexation and give residents more information on the project.
“There’s so much about this I know nothing about,” she said.
ʻTheyʼre the jobs of the futureʼ
Mike Schroeder, SMART Terminal developer, highlighted the benefits of the proposed development.
“We’ll have a mix of different companies,” he said. “We’ll have a variety of different opportunities for employment for San Marcos.”
Schroeder said that he does not plan to develop anything in the floodplain or create anything that would worsen flooding. He also noted the eventual taxable value of the development.
“We have a small footprint,” he said. We’re only 900-and-some-odd acres, even though we’re going to nearly double the taxable property value for San Marcos.”
Another rail park developer, Alan Simon of Colorado’s Omnitracs, supported Schroeder. Simon said a project similar to SMART Terminal in Colorado created about 4,000 jobs.
“From what I know about this project, with respect to Katerra, those types of jobs are modern, advanced manufacturing jobs,” Simon said. “They’re the jobs of the future.”
Caldwell County Precinct 4 Commissioner Ed Theriot also spoke in favor of the development and the annexation, noting that if San Marcos annexes the property, “We believe it will be better regulated and better codes will apply to the area.”
Council member Lisa Prewitt expressed concerns about annexation, particularly if no deal can be worked out with Martindale. Parker said that San Marcos and Martindale could work out an ETJ swap for the land in question. Mattingly said the area would be removed from the proposed annexation if no resolution is reached.
Council member Melissa Derrick wanted to know what kind of information 2D modeling could provide about drainage requirements for the proposed development. She and council member Ed Mihalkanin encouraged city staff to actually walk the property in addition to doing 2D modeling.
