Letter to the Editor: Looking Into The Real Facts Of HEB

As someone that was on the fence about the proposed building of the additional HEB, I have gained a much better understanding of the real facts.

 

Facts make it clear that we could not ask for a better, more responsible business to be located on Hunter and Wonder World.

 

The three biggest misconceptions I have heard include:

 

• HEB will be built in the 100 year flood plain.
• The traffic will be too overwhelming.
• The drainage from the parking lot going into the river which would contaminate our river.
• Archaeological Significance

 

Let’s take a closer look at these misconceptions;

 

• The proposed HEB will NOT be built in the updated 100 – year FEMA flood plain established from the 2015 storm event.

 

From a bird’s eye view it will look as though it will be close, but from the perspective of the elevation view, you will learn there is a 5ft elevation difference from the natural landscape of the land. If the building were there during the 2015 floods, the water would not have even come close to touching the building.

 

• From a traffic point of view, HEB really has listened to our citizens.

 

The upgrades to our current infrastructure will be on HEB’s dime.

 

They will be installing a traffic signal on Hunter that will be in-line to the old Purgatory apartment entrance.

 

HEB plans to pay to have the traffic signal upgraded to make sure it’s in sequence with the current traffic signals.

 

In addition, they will be adding a new right-hand turn lane, as if you were coming from downtown to the HEB. 

 

They will pay to add a protected left-hand turn lane off Wonder World to eliminate people having to get on Hunter.

 

HEB will expect only 8 delivery trucks a day, which will only be allowed to come at specific times to avoid peak traffic times. This is something they do not regularly do.

 

HEB actually took it a step further by only allowing these delivery trucks to leave the HEB by a right hand turn onto Wonder World.

 

To accomplish this they have designed a new turn around before Craddick Street to allow them to safely head back to I35.

 

The above items will be fully paid for by HEB, not the citizens.

 

• It is important to keep our river pristine here.

 

HEB wants to work together to try to capture as much of the contaminants and trash as possible.

 

The presentation from HEB has an impressive state of the art water capturing system that will remove 85% of the total suspended solids. This is above and beyond the City of San Marcos requirements.

 

This method consists of very large pipes underground that will capture all the rain water and discharge it at a much slower rate to help control water runoff, these pipes will also consist of filtration system.

 

They will upgrade permeable pavers in the rear parking lot for the delivery area that will reduce the impervious surface by 20%. 

 

Another impressive gain from HEB, they will be donating 1.5 acres to the city insuring it would not be developed yet can be used for additional parking to our trail head.

 

Their plans also include putting in a 10ft wide sidewalk to connect the trail behind the old Purgatory Creek apartments that will connect to the Purgatory Park on the south side of Wonder World going under both bridges.

 

Bikers, Joggers, or nature lovers will no longer need to walk across the street to access the park from the HEB corner. 

 

The Edwards Aquifer Authority sign off on the fact that there are no aquifer-related development restrictions over this property, per HEB’s request.

 

 

• They have conducted pre-development shovel testing which confirms no evidence of archaeological significance.

 

Additionally, they offered to allow the city and an expert of the city’s choice to do additional shovel testing.

 

The above items will be fully paid for by HEB, not the citizens.

 

As Texas residents, we already know that HEB is NOT a fly by night operation, and they have always cared for the cities and communities where they are located.

 

HEB helped to feed San Marcos and the surrounding communities during the Memorial Day Floods and Halloween Flood…..they have demonstrated their commitment to our community.

 

Please feel free to read the facts and not rely on hearsay or rumors to determine your opinion.

 

Go to HEB.com/SANMARCOS to learn more.

 

Please show up on Tuesday Sept. 20th to show support and maybe wear some red!

 

Let’s not lose this opportunity to have a new grocery store that may possibly even help in reducing the congestion downtown.

 

Brian Olson

San Marcos Resident since 2001

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