Letter To The Editor: Last Chance To Contribute! San Marcos Makes Landmark Decision On January 7th

Whether you are a frequent river-goer or not, the San Marcos river plays a critical role in your everyday life. For centuries now, we have reaped the economic, recreational, and aesthetic benefits of a river in our town. To many, our river is an anchor to center our busy lives; a way to escape. To others, it may be nature’s playground that helps to occupy the kids for a few hours.  Needless to say, wherever our background lies; we love the San Marcos River.

I have been lucky enough to have had a voice in the decisions made about our river. As a High School student here in San Marcos, I have been able to morph my schedule to study what I enjoyed. I was taught how to find out when and where the city council meetings were taking place, how to form an opinion, and how to publish my opinion on paper. I have been able to study the significance of Capes Dam since my 8th-grade year at miller middle school, where both the schools voted to restore the dam to its natural and historical beauty.

What I’ve seen throughout the last four years, though, is that many of us are left out of this decision-making process. I fear that there are very few of us who have been gifted the opportunity to be involved.

I’m here to tell you that this may be your last chance to contribute.

Hays County has offered a generous proposal to beautify the natural spaces around Capes Dam. On January 7th at 3pm the city of San Marcos will be voting on a partnership with the County that could transform the way our river looks on the east side of I-35. After hearing our concerns for the safety, environmental, and recreational use of this area, the county has offered to pay for the creation of three new green spaces along the river. This would add thirty more acres to our river city park.

Reserving these spaces saves them from future development such as apartment complexes or commercial infrastructure. The funding addresses concerns such as the safety of our river, finding parking spaces away from the river, and providing alternative recreational activities such as swimming and nature trails  for our growing San Marcos population. The proposal will fund the renovation of Capes Dam, which keeps the water level high enough for the aquatic habitat to live peacefully. It also addresses the problem of bank stabilization as we face erosion in the left channel, but also provides limited entry points to the river while stabilizing the bank from erosion.

Originally one of the reasons for the removal of Capes Dam was that the city didn’t have the funds to repair or develop the river into a beautiful park. This truly is a possibility today with help from Hays County. I believe it is a decision that you wouldn’t want to miss if the proposal does not get accepted.

We need your support at our January 7th meeting at city Hall at 3pm and by sending a letter of support to our elected officials.

If you were interested in seeing this become a possibility, please email councilmembers@sanmarcostx.gov and voice your support the river park & Capes Dam renovation.

If you are interested in viewing primary documentation on the proposal, please visit https://capespark.com/ or watch the October 15th workshop video here: http://san-marcos-tx.granicus.com/player/clip/1410?view_id=9.

Dava M Flowers
San Marcos