San Marcos City Council Passes Temporary Ordinance Regarding Demolition Of Historic Structures

By, Terra Rivers, Managing Editor

On Thursday, June 27, the San Marcos City Council held a special meeting to discuss and consider an ordinance, on emergency, regarding the demolition of historic structures.

Council considered the approval of a temporary ordinance to create a brief time-delay in the demolition permitting process to allow for the potential relocation or preservation of the structure.

According to the agenda, while demolition requests are subject to review by City Staff, they are not reviewed for historic significance. Unless the structure is a designated landmark or within a historic district, there is currently no language in the San Marcos Development Code to allow for the review of demolition applications for non-designated resources.

Staff said without a demolition delay ordinance in place, the city cannot hold applications for demolitions, and the turnaround time for a permit is 5 to 10 business days.

Several amendments to the draft ordinance provided by staff were made by city council members to limit the impact on residential buildings.

Mayor Jane Hughson proposed an amendment to Section 12 of the ordinance, which identified an expiration date of 120 days from the adoption date.

Hughson said she hoped the Historic Preservation Commission and staff would have recommendations for a new ordinance to the council by that date, but if they didn’t, the council could amend the ordinance with an extension.

The amendment passed with a 7-0 vote.

Council member Melissa Derrick proposed an amendment to strike the words “or/and structure” from the document citing concerns that the ordinance would impact public safety hazards such as bridges at low water crossings and manmade structures in the city’s waterways.

Shannon Mattingly, Director of Planning and Development Services, said the city defined structures as anything built vertically such as a fence, garage, shed, bridges and dams.

“I’m uncomfortable with that language in there,” Derrick said, “Because we live in flash flood alley, and…I know of one dam, if we had heavy rain, could become even more of a threat than it already is. There may be historic bridges that we don’t know about; if we’re not allowed to touch them for however many days while this goes on, were there to be concrete and stuff spilling out and washing down the river…”

Michael Cosentino, City Attorney, said if the council were to strike structures from the ordinance, the waiting period for a demolition permit would not apply to anything that qualifies as a structure but not a building.

“I just wouldn’t want to tie our hands or anybody else’s hands if there is a water structure on our river systems that would need to be demolished in order to protect public safety,” Derrick said.

Mattingly said section 7 of the ordinance exempts structures or buildings from the waiting period if it is deemed a threat to public safety.

Mattingly also said that the city’s land development code defines building as “a manmade construction completely enclosed by a roof, window, doors, solid exterior walls and designed, built or occupied as a shelter or enclosure for persons, animals or property, and for the legal occupancy of which a certificate of occupancy approved is required or has been issued to the effective date hereof.”

The amendment to strike the word structure throughout the ordinance passed 7-0.

Other Amendments:

• SECTION 2: Clarifying that the historic survey refers to the draft My Historic SMTX Historic Resources Survey received by the city in June 2019. Passed 6-1 with Council Member Jocabed Marquez voting no.
• SECTION 4(e): Add sending written notice by email to the members of the city’s historic preservation and members of the Hays County Historical Preservation Commission and the president of the San Marcos Heritage Association. Passed 7-0.
• SECTION 5: Add the costs associated with providing such notices shall be waived for applications to demolish homestead property. Passed 7-0

After a break, staff returned with a recommendation for the following amendments to Section 2 regarding the criteria for review. The revised section 2 of the ordinance reads as follows:

“No building nor any part of or addition to a building that is identified as medium or high preservation priority properties within the boundaries of the draft My Historic SMTX historic resources survey received by the city June 2019 or, if located outside the boundaries of the historic survey, that is at least 80 years of age, may be demolished or removed unless a permit authorizing such demolition or removal has been issued by the city.

The full final “temporary” ordinance approved by city council regarding the demolition of historic structures or buildings passed with a 7-0 vote and can be read below in full.

The council voted 7-0 to pass the ordinance as amended, on emergency, which only one reading.