Mayor Webster: “People of action don’t write resolutions”

Kyle Mayor Todd Webster said today the furor surrounding development at I-35 and Yarrington Road possibly could have been averted had San Marcos Mayor Daniel Guerrero accepted Webster’s repeated invitations to negotiate "an innovative, groundbreaking" development zone encompassing all the properties surrounding that intersection. He also said the citizens of San Marcos, especially the residents of the Blanco Vista subdivision, should be pressuring their own representatives to join Kyle in arriving at solutions for that area..

"I’ve reached out to Daniel a number of times hoping we could work together to develop a regional strategy for development in this area," Webster said. "And each time I got blown off."

Webster said on most of the occasions, Guerrero simply never replied to his entreaties to sit down and negotiate. He said after one face-to-face meeting in front of a number of other persons, Guerrero agreed to meet "and then he cancelled the appointment."

"This was extremely frustrating for me because I knew we could make this a win-win for both of us," Webster said.

The mayor’s statements came in reaction to a last-minute letter Guerrero drafted last week threatening retaliation in the form of a condemnation resolution to be passed unanimously by the San Marcos City Council if Kyle’s Planning & Zoning Commission approved a zoning change requested by property owners who wanted to construct a truck stop on the property.

"People of action don’t write resolutions," Webster said.

Guerrero has yet to respond to my request for a reaction to Webster’s statements.

Webster said what he hoped to achieve by sitting down with Guerrero was the creation of a sort of enterprise zone encompassing all the properties around I-35 and Yarrington that could be administered by both cities.

"We could set joint development standards and share both the sales tax revenues and the development costs," Webster said. "This could have been something groundbreaking, something innovative, a model for other communities to emulate."

He said it’s still not too late to negotiate some sort of similar agreement but the residents of San Marcos need to start applying pressure to their representatives to sit down and talk. "They should demand that their elected officials represent their best interests and not waste time threatening us," Webster said. "The people who have a real stake in this (the neighboring residents) should force their elected officials to care about the future of this property. They need to convince their representatives to work with Kyle to come up with the best possible solution.

"Those who care about politics pass resolutions," the Kyle mayor reiterated. "Those who care about solutions try to get together to resolve issues. I find it ironic they (San Marcos officials) object to what we’re doing when they refuse to negotiate with us about it."

Webster said the only caveat now is that PGI, the investment firm that owns the property where the truck stop was (and possibly still is) planned, would need to have a seat at the negotiating table.

"We need to get together to form a joint agreement between the two cities that allows both cities to share in the results of such an agreement," Webster said. "Personally, I like Daniel, but the fact that he has ignored my repeated requests to reach a solution everyone can live with has been extremely frustrating for me. I want to work with him."

Webster credited council member Shane Arabie as "the real hero" in initiating the events that led to the temporary truce resulting from PGI’s decision to withdraw its zoning request from Tuesday’s council agenda. Webster said the next steps for him in this process include "more conversations with the owners of the property. We need to understand their thinking. If we fail to work out something with San Marcos, there would be five solid votes on the City Council for warehouse zoning on that property."