The Yarrington Miracle

Mayor Todd Webster revealed early today he has secured a multi-party agreement to locate a 10,000-square-foot convenience store, restaurants, an upscale hotel and possibly even an office building at the northwest corner of Yarrington Road and I-35.

This announcement, for all practical purposes, takes off the table the notion that a large truck stop would be developed on that property.

I spoke with Mayor Webster extensively about the agreement, what it specifically entails and who was involved in reaching the agreement following last night’s late-running City Council meeting. I will write more about that conversation later today after I have taken the opportunity to steal a few hours sleep. But the bottom line is this: the notion of a truck stop that ignited a small, but extremely vocal backlash, especially around that Yarrington Road corridor, has vaporized and out of those vapors appears to be emerging a development that will be far more varied and unquestionably a far superior alternative in the hearts and minds of those who live in that area.

The agreement is the culmination of nearly two months worth of almost non-stop daily negotiations among Webster, San Marcos Mayor Daniel Guerrero, the Greater San Marcos Partnership, and Hays County commissioners. But Webster said a deal would have been impossible without the willingness of the property's owners to arrive at a solution that was quite different from what those owners originally envisioned.

Catalyst Commercial, an economic development consulting firm out of Dallas, will design the actual concept plan for the property and exactly how the property will be rezoned will depend on that plan, Webster said,

The agreement also calls for Kyle to spend approximately $900,000 to extend San Marcos’s wastewater lines to the property allowing wastewater to be fed by gravity to a San Marcos wastewater treatment plant. This will save Kyle the approximate $2 million cost to install the lift station that would have been needed to take the wastewater to Kyle’s plant. It also means the property will be receive wastewater utilities at least two years earlier than it would had Kyle been required to provide that infrastructure. The extension also means an additional 1,000 living unit equivalents (LUEs), a water term that refers to the typical flow that would be produced by a single family residence. For commercial developments such as this, wastewater LUEs usually match water LUEs.

Like I said, I will have many more details later today but the news right now is that land where many feared a truck stop would be located will actually be the site of a convenience store for sure and most likely restaurants, an upscale hotel and even an office building.