Letter To The Editor: Why The Push To Remove Capes Dam With Little San Marcos Community Support?

Capes Dam: I wanted to publicly let the community know that I sent a letter to San Marcos City Council.

Why the Push to Remove Capes Dam with Little Community Support?

Dear Mayor and City Council,

Hope this message finds you well.

So, we voted to remove Capes Dam and I believe that to be a mistake.

As evidence mounts for support in either direction this decision needs to be looked at again. No one who cares about our river wants to make a wrong move and I am afraid that is exactly what we are doing. We need to figure this out.

My name is Josh Paselk and I am a resident of San Marcos Texas. I am hereby requesting that City Council re-consider their decision to remove Capes Dam and at the very least, would like council to take an in depth look at this issue again.

This is a very dynamic situation and it needs more attention, time and care given to it.

As someone who is educated, involved and has seen management issues for our said river from both sides I can understand why this decision would be a tough one, but at the end of the day we don’t need to lose any of our navigable waterways.

Moreover, any navigable waterways that carry historical significance. There are historic areas in town that you can’t build on due to historic restrictions because things of that type need to be maintained. The mill race is one of those areas.

We are talking about removing an entire river bank and having it back-filled, and for what?

What argument constitutes in any way shape or form that this area would be deserving of being that drastically changed. There is no science I have read thus far that would positively impact us in the other direction to make this change be appropriate. In fact, after being presented with reports, dam measurements etc., it seems as if something just isn’t right here.

Case and point, why haven’t we had a NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) review done as of yet to ensure that we aren’t making the wrong decision? I know it’s been proposed, however we have circumvented a review due to a categorical exclusion? Why did we do that?

Save the Mill Race

It is clearly an important area to residents of our city and that has been proven over the last year.

Use this as an opportunity to gain general river awareness for our community. If there are things miss-understood here, then make them understood.

There are several “authorities” here when it comes to the river representing both sides, and frankly it’s exhausting to try to even discuss this topic with anyone because it has been so polarizing.

I would like to see my representatives stand up here and mediate. Let’s make decisions together. Let’s unite, have meaningful respectful conversations and let’s get this monkey off of our back and move on.

Last but not least, what a wonderful area Capes Dam and Thompson Island is. What an opportunity to preserve this area for generations moving forward to responsibly enjoy!

If we choose to re-build and take this situation into consideration, then I would ask that we do it in such a manner to keep a full bank of water going down the Mill Race.

Please let me know how I can be of help to you all.

Respectfully,

Josh Paselk

San Marcos, TX