CITY & COUNTY
News from Buda, Hays County, Kyle & San Marcos
Buda City Council will meet Sept. 5 and 19 at 6 p.m. 405 E. Loop St., Buda 512-312-0084 • www.budatx.gov Kyle City Council will meet Sept. 5 and 19 at 7 p.m. 100 W. Center St., Kyle 512-262-1010 • www.cityo yle.com San Marcos City Council will meet Sept. 5 and 19 at 6 p.m. 630 E. Hopkins St., San Marcos 512-393-8000 www.sanmarcostx.gov Hays County Commissioners Court will meet Sept. 5, 12 and 19 at 9 a.m. 111 E. San Antonio St., San Marcos 512-393-2205 www.hayscountytx.com MEETINGS WE COVER voters passed Proposition A in the November 2020 bond election, which nanced the construction of the center. The bond costs property owners $0.0744 per $100 valuation for the 20-year life of the bond. Since October 2021, an average homeowner saw their property taxes increase about $13.50 per month. The 64,000-square-foot facility gives the Kyle Police Department the ability to house the department in a single location. NUMBER TO KNOW is the projected scal year 2023-24 budget for Buda Economic Development Corp., which is up 13.5% from the previous scal year. The majority of the revenue comes from general sales tax at around $3.6 million. $4.82M HIGHLIGHTS BUDA City o cials celebrated the completion of Green Meadows Pavilion No. 2 on July 28. The pavilion is the rst project to be completed from the city’s 2021 bond. A number of transportation projects, such as the expansion of the Main Street eastern extension, are part of the bond projects. That project is in the design phase and will connect I-35 to commercial areas along Main Street as well as the Sun eld community. BUDA City Council accepted a $144,284 grant from Capital Metro for the Seniors Taking a Ride program. The program oers free transportation services to those age 60 and older as well as individuals living with disabilities. The grant will go toward a second bus for the program, which is expected to go live by early 2025 at the latest. KYLE The city of Kyle held a ribbon-cutting ceremony July 20 to celebrate the completion of its Public Safety Center, located at 1700 Kohlers Crossing. Kyle
Fires scorch more than 415 acres in Hays County
HAYS COUNTY Around 400 acres, a home and numerous buildings were destroyed as of Aug. 10 following a wild re dubbed the Oak Grove re that began Aug. 5 at the 200 block of Oak Grove Road in San Marcos, according to the Hays County O ce of Emer- gency Management. Another re caught and burned 15.5 acres in the Aztec Village and Oak Hill mobile home park in Kyle on Aug. 8. That re was dubbed the Oak Hill re. The timeline: Twelve households had to evacuate the Oak Grove re area Aug. 5. O cials estimated the re had grown and destroyed 300 acres and was 10% contained that day. On Aug. 6, the Oak Grove re was 30% contained. Land reported lost was estimated up to 400 acres. The Hays County Fire Marshal’s O ce con rmed Aug. 6 that one residence and a number of outbuildings were destroyed by the re. On Aug. 7, the Texas A&M Forest Service reported the re was 50% contained. Two National Guard BY ZARA FLORES & AMIRA VAN LEEUWEN
Blackhawk helicopters provided bucket drops on hot spots. On Aug. 7, the county o ce of emergency management announced residents previously asked to leave their homes were allowed to return. By the afternoon of Aug. 9, the re was more than 95% contained, though crews were still dealing with signi - cant hotspots in the northern reaches of the re. That same afternoon, a call came in about a grass re that became the Oak Hill re, Kyle Fire Department representative Andy Womble said. As of Aug. 9, the Oak Hill re was at around 15.5 acres and 90% contained. Going forward: Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra addressed the res Aug. 8. “I feel bad saying it, but we will have another [ re]: Triple-digit [temperatures] aren’t stopping; they’re continuing down the path for as far as we can see,” Becerra said. “If there are lots of trees and bushes near your home, trim them down now because that is literally one of those items that will cause your house to go down.”
Fire crews worked to extinguish the Oak Hill re in Kyle on Aug. 8.
MULTIAGENCY EFFORT
• Texas A&M Forest Service • Texas Interstate Fire Mutual Aid System strike team • Hays County Wildland Task Force • Travis County Task Force • Texas Emergency Medical Task Force • One air attack platform • Two helicopters • Four single-engine air tankers • Two super scooper planes • One large air tanker A number of resources were used to extinguish the re from across Texas. Those include:
SOURCE: HAYS COUNTYCOMMUNITY IMPACT
$34M wastewater treatment plant expansion complete
New re station opens near Trace
BY AMIRA VAN LEEUWEN
SAN MARCOS The San Marcos Fire Department held a grand opening and engine push-in ceremony June 30 for the completion of its sixth re station, located at 5716 S. Old Bastrop Hwy. near the Trace development. Fire Chief Les Stephens said the community support has been “overwhelming.” “We had a lot of not just city employees and di erent depart- ments throughout the city, but a really strong attendance by the new Trace community,” Stephens said. Mayor Jane Hughson noted there was a lot of growth in that area with more coming. “It is a wonderful feeling knowing that we’ve got more protection for our residents in an area that is grow- ing very quickly,” Hughson said. Construction began in August 2021 and took nearly two years to
BY ZARA FLORES
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KYLE O cials and public works sta gathered July 13 to celebrate the completion of a $34 million wastewater facility expansion, located at 941 New Bridge Drive, Kyle. The facility began operations in Kyle in 2000 and was owned by Aqua Texas until the city bought and took it over in 2015. The plant’s capacity increased from 3 million gallons per day to 4.5 million.
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complete due to numerous delays, most of which were caused by supply chain issues, Stephens said. The new station was nanced through Trace, a master-planned housing community in San Marcos that gave the re department $500,000 to assist with the design, Stephens said. He explained homeowners were going to have to pay high home insurance rates because of the dis- tance to the nearest re station. The developer sought to prevent that. “They knew that would be an uphill battle to sell homes to people, knowing that they were going to be in such a high public protection classi cation,” he said.
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SAN MARCOS BUDA KYLE EDITION • AUGUST 2023
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