A roadmap to San Marcos’ future

CODE SMTX

Good things come to those who wait. It’s been a slogan for many advertising campaigns, like Heinz Ketchup. But for the city of San Marcos, that anticipation has become a reality, and one worth celebrating.

Code SMTX sounds top secret, but it’s anything but. Just a few weeks ago the city celebrated its adoption, which was a long time in the making.

“It started a little more than six years ago with staff and consultants,” said Mayor John Thomaides. “Then a citizen’s committee was formed which aided in the creation of a Comprehensive Master Plan.”

It had been more than a dozen years since the city last updated its long range comprehensive plan.

“It had to be redone. We knew it was going to be a monumental effort,” Thomaides said. “A citizen steering committee was formed, a big group – about 30 people. They met for more than a year, every month, sometimes twice a month. From that came ‘Vision San Marcos, a River Runs Through it,’ which aided in the creation of a Comprehensive Master Plan - (Comp Plan).”

Thomaides said it was a vision for the city for the next 20-30 years. He also knew that vision would be rendered useless if not for the adoption of Code SMTX, the muscle behind the implementation of the vision.

“Everyone took it seriously. It dealt with issues like housing, employment opportunities, neighborhoods, environment and infrastructure,” Thomaides said. “We talked about intensity zones. We know we’re going to grow but where do we want to grow, where do we want to keep things stable? Once we decided on those issues and adopted the plan, Code SMTX began.”

After that another committee was then created, smaller in number, and referred to as the “think tank.” It was their job, along with staff and consultants, to dive into the Code SMTX and go through it, line-by-line, to ensure the new code implemented the vision of the Comp Plan.

“It dealt with issues like how to tell a property owner, or an outside developer, ‘this is what you can do; how you have to build it; what it’s to look like; and the materials you can use to accomplish your goal,’” Thomaides added. “So, they spent the next two years, meeting more than 34 times and completing Code SMTX in February 2017.”

But at the time the city didn’t have a City Manager and the group decided to postpone the adoption of Code SMTX until Bert Lumbreras was hired a short time later.

“We wanted (Bert) to study it and take ownership of the code before we approved it; and he did,” Thomaides said.

The final adoption of Code SMTX, a 434-page document, was finally approved this April.

“As an example, the way the code reads, determines what kind of housing we’ll have,” he said. “One of the big debates we had in the Comp Plan we laid out, dealt with intensity zones. The committee suggested there be multiple zones in our city, five intensity zones – where we encourage development.”

He said downtown should be dense with intense development. That was what the Comp Plan suggested, what the committee suggested, and what the council adopted.

“We also said we wanted the core of our city to be denser, to allow for more of the missing middle-income housing opportunities,” Thomaides said. “That was a huge debate on the council, so we came up with a compromise.”

Thomaides said that a sizeable portion of the population in San Marcos cannot afford a mortgage over $136,000.

“It’s important to find a way to allow those families to live the American dream, to own a home,” he said.

Other issues Code SMTX address deal with development standards and how it relates to storm water management.

“We are a water city,” he said. “We have two rivers, three creeks and five flood control dams. How do you grow in a constrained environment like that? The code lays out significant standards for not just development itself, but also advanced computer generated, two-dimensional analysis of stormwater and the impact it will have. That’s now required for all development.

In fact, just six weeks ago the city won an award for its floodplain management efforts.

Thomaides said you can’t wish away the growth coming to San Marcos.

“If you’re going to pander to a constituency that doesn’t want any growth you’re not serving the whole community,” Thomaides said. “I think you’re going to look back and regret it. I’m not saying we have all the answers. I’m not saying we’ve solved the problem. But we’ve definitely taken the step in the right direction.”

City Manager Bert Lumbreras agrees and said he too is excited about Code SMTX.

“One of the things I’m interested in focusing on immediately is downtown,” Lumbreras said. “I think we could quickly address some of the ascetics, like traffic light pole structures, wayfinding signage and branding.”

He said one of the things he learned on a recent trip to Greenville, SC was how different and distinctive downtown could become — a focal point — if improved.

“There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be focusing on downtown because growth is coming and it’s important we prepare,” he said. “We need to create a synergy. We really need to have a discussion around what is our city’s personality.”

Lumbreras said his initial task will be meeting with key members of his staff.

“I’d like them to understand what I experienced in Greenville and develop a vision,” he said.

Downtown paid parking he said is also an issue.

“We know this is a challenge for us,” Lumbreras said. “But there’s revenue there that can help us meet our goals downtown, both in the short and longterm.”

Lumbreras echoed Thomaides’ thoughts regarding housing issues.

“There’s a substantial amount of our population living in apartments,” he said. It’s safe to say not all of them are ‘family friendly.’ I’m a firm believer if we created the right level of housing there’s a huge market waiting. So, we’ll spend a considerable amount of time working on the workforce housing element. Code SMTX will certainly help.”