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Lindsey Hill a creative way to boost tax base

Letter to the Editor
Sunday, September 2, 2018

Editor,

My husband and I moved to land with a San Marcos mailing address in 1976, built a house, raised two children and worked in downtown San Marcos. In 1999, we moved within the city limits and in 2007 we moved closer to downtown, close enough that we ride bikes to most of our activities. Our story exemplifies a current trend. While our grandparents and parents moved out of urban areas seeking more space and cleaner air, our generation and those following are relocating back to cities in search of convenience and community or, like us, hoping to demand less from Mother Nature.

In response to this expected growth at the city center, San Marcos developed Vision San Marcos, outlining our citizens’ concept of a larger yet livable city. Giving life to that vision requires not only the overhaul of our comprehensive code, which we’ve just completed, but enlightened developers willing to take the risk of building out that vision. The developers of Lindsey Hill, Mark Behrins and David Lerman, while technically using a PDD from the old code, are stepping up to the challenge of meeting the requirements of Code SMTX and providing much-needed, high-quality, downtown housing. By building residences close to jobs and the University, we decrease the traffic flowing through our neighborhoods from the outskirts while supporting downtown businesses. The concept is working very well in many communities already and these cities are attracting new residents and businesses.

There are, of course, risks. New residents mean more traffic and more cars that need parking spaces. New apartments mean the possibility of noise and rowdy behavior. The developers, after extensive input from the community, are very mindful of these dangers and have addressed them in their development documents and described them in the FAQs on their website.

Lindsey Hill is a creative way to replace a crumbling building with attractive residential and retail space while greatly increasing tax revenues for the city and the school district. It includes owner-occupied housing that will add to the stability of surrounding neighborhoods as well as public spaces and small businesses that will benefit nearby residents. If we as a community block good projects, creative developers will stop applying and we will be left with mediocre development or no development.

Please join me in voicing support to our public officials.

Thank you,

Betsy Robertson

 

San Marcos Record

(512) 392-2458
P.O. Box 1109, San Marcos, TX 78666