San Marcos CISD Board Of Trustees Table New Administration Building Location

By, Terra Rivers, Managing Editor

On Monday, Feb. 18, the San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District Board of Trustees discussed building a new administration building for the district.

The board was given proposals for the location of the new Central Office; one is the property in which El Centro is currently located, South LBJ Drive.

The other is the district’s property located at Suttles and Hunter Roads, which has approximately 12 acres available for development next to other district projects, according to staff.

Staff has proposed a 29,000-sq. ft. building built over the course of three phases to accommodate the growth of the district in the future.

The district would focus on phase one, which would build a 14,000-sq. ft. building. The project would cost $4.5 million.

According to a site analysis, the district would have to remove several protected trees and replace them to expand the parking lot at the LBJ location.

Staff were not able to give the board an accurate estimate for how much it would cost to remove and replace the protected trees without further analysis but said the cost can be greater than $10,000 depending on the site. 

Staff also said they had provided the board with a full-build scenario, which showed significant constraints on what could be done. The analysis was intended to show the board the full potential for each site.

Phases two and three at the Suttles site would allow the district to ultimately move the Special Education Department and the student data department to the administration building as well as add a board room, a large teacher training room and additional support space.

Building the new office at LBJ is projected to cost 10 to 15 percent more due to mitigation of trees, retention pond impervious cover concerns. It would also raise concerns of intruding into the neighborhood with overflow parking.

The board was divided on which site the administration building should be built on. Three members of the board wanted to start with a clean slate, which would allow a future board to expand administration with phases two and three when necessary.

However, Trustee John McGlothlin said he wanted to build the administration building on the current site and sell the proposed site on Suttles and Hunter Road. The money from the sale of the property could be then put toward construction costs at the LBJ site.

McGlothlin said, the board may not be interested in selling the LBJ property today, but it didn’t mean that would change in the future. “We have a decreasing number of students in our district year over year, and a future board will need revenue…To me, the Suttles property is a very uncomplicated sale,” he said. “If we had to sell one of those and build on the other…that seems to be the most frugal use of taxpayer dollars.”

Trustee Anne Halsey voiced concerns for the LBJ site’s future and Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos if the district moved; El Centro is currently located on district property and is adjacent to the old administration office.

Halsey said for her vote to change, the board would need to determine the future of both sites and make commitments of what would be done with them.

During staff’s presentation, several ideas for the future of the LBJ site were proposed including the potential of the site being used for an early college high school or outdoor learning space.

Trustee Kathy Hansen said while she did not believe anyone on the board was willing to sell the property, in the event that the board did decide to sell one, the LBJ site is worth more than Suttles.    

Trustee Miguel Arredondo said that the only reason the board was able to discuss a new Central office without asking for another bond was because past administration had taken money from employees and taxpayer in order to shelter a fund balance.

Arredondo noted that the district will likely only get one additional elementary school on the west side of San Marcos, which will be located in the La Cima neighborhood; the rest of the district’s growth is taking place east of I-35.

Hansen made a motion to build a new central office at the Suttles location and keep the LBJ site for future use. The motion failed 3-4 with Trustee Clementine Cantu, Halsey, McGlothlin and Arredondo voting against.

A motion to table the decision was approved with a 4-3 vote with Hansen, Lupe Costilla and Margie Villalpando voting against.