Suppose the leader of the firing squad said “Aw, forget about it, we’ll shoot you later”

A couple dozen folks, most of them residents of the Blanco Vista subdivision and all of whom are going to be flattened sooner or later by fleets of 18-wheelers, came to last night’s Kyle Planning & Zoning Commission to protest plans to locate a Godzilla truck stop across the street from their homes only to hear the developer tell the Commission, without explanation, he was withdrawing his request, at least temporarily, to have the proposed site rezoned.

Bless their hearts, these folks foolishly believe that the pro-development government in Kyle is going to pay any attention to their heartfelt pleas to protect the integrity of their neighborhood. They are still under the false impression that democracy rules, when they should know, in the words of one of my favorite songwriters, Randy Newman, "It’s money that matters." As I’ve said before in situations like this: the fix is in. When the item to rezone the 47.74 acres on the northwest corner of I-35 and Yarrington from Agriculture to Retail Service comes back before the Commission, the members will probably pass it unanimously and then send it to the City Council where it will pass by a vote of 5-2. It’s preordained.

There are two, possibly three, things the residents of Blanco Vista can do that might — just might — prevent this from happening, but both of them are going to cost big bucks and I doubt these folks have pockets deep enough to do what is necessary. But the steps they can take are (1) Hire an expert zoning attorney to fight the truck stop, but not necessarily the rezoning, from the inside out and (2) Form a political action committee that will recruit and fund City Council candidates willing to take on the pro-developer council incumbents. The ironic twist to all this is that Blanco Vista is located in San Marcos so the residents aren’t even eligible to make their voices heard at the Kyle polling places. (A third thing they might try is to see if pressure can be applied to the Greater San Marcos Partnership to use its influence to kill the project. The City of San Marcos has already gone on record as saying it opposes the proposed development.)

To give you just an inkling how anxious P&Z commissioners are to get this deal done, moments before the truck stop item came up for discussion, the commissioners voted 6-1 (with Timothy Kay dissenting) to recommend the City Council approve a request to rezone 16.24 acres along I-35, just north of the Yarrington Road site, from Agriculture to Retail Service even though there are no wastewater lines servicing the area. Thus, anyone who wants to develop that site for retail within the next year or two or three is going to have to bury a septic tank on the property which means that the development in question is going to be some ramshackle deal along the city’s premier artery that can subsist with a septic tank.

Now the commissioners are throwing the dice and praying the developer will wait for at least two years, by which time a wastewater line will reach the property, before starting to develop it. But not a single one of them went so far as to solicit any kind of guarantee from the owner, Doug Duwe, who appeared before P&Z last night, that he will wait. Duwe claimed he wants to locate three hotels and at least a pair of restaurants on the site. Sure. Fine. Whatever. But, again, not one commissioner dared to ask the fellow if he had any commitments from a hotelier or a restauranteur to locate a facility there. But if the council follows P&Z’s recommendation, Duwe can throw up a slapdash shack right there on I-35 just south of Center Street selling hog jowls and pickled pig knuckles and there’s nothing anyone can do to prevent it.

(In a moment of supreme irony, one citizen spoke at the public hearing on this issue against the rezoning saying it would drastically increase the incidences of crime on the property that’s located right across the highway from the prison.)

In other action last night, the Planning & Zoning Commission:

• Presented a certificate of recognition to outgoing commissioner Dan Ryan, who may be leaving P&Z but, from all appearances, is going to be a fixture and a spokesperson advocating for developers at future meetings.
• Recommended unanimously the City Council approve a request to rezone 1.54 acres of land on Old Highway 51 south of downtown from Heavy Industrial to Construction Manufacturing. This is actually a compromise reached between the owner of the land and the city, which tried unsuccessfully to rezone his property at least once before because under the current zoning ordinances there is no such thing as Heavy Industrial. However, that ordinance did not strip that zoning ordinance from properties with that designation and the Board of Adjustments earlier this year sided with the applicant on the issue. The owner of the land hopes to lease the property to those who would want to revive the concrete manufacturing processes that once took place there, but which might have been labeled "non-conforming" with the changed zoning. So the deal allows the city to change the zoning but to refrain from interfering in what takes place on the property for at least 20 years.
• Recommended 6-1 (newly installed commissioner Dex Ellison voted no) that another patch of land, .697 acres, located on North Old Highway 81 right where it splits from the I-35 frontage road, be rezoned from Single Family Residential to Retail Services. A Laundromat is already located on the property and now the owners, Lupe and Paula Torres, would like to put a food truck on the site to service those folks hanging around while their clothes are washing/drying.