At its meeting July 15, the San Marcos CISD board of trustees brought the district another step closer toward implementing various construction and renovation projects under two bond propositions worth $77 million that district voters approved on May 11.

In one of the beginning steps of the budget adoption process, the board approved a proposed 7 cent increase to the district's property tax rate for 2013–14 to allow for the payback of the bonds. This adjustment will increase the property tax rate from $1.35 to $1.42 per $100 valuation. The Hays CISD tax rate is $1.46.

The board also approved a proposed public meeting date for open comment, scheduled for Aug. 19, to discuss the proposed 2013–14 budget and tax rate. District 5 trustee John Crowley and District 3 trustee Lupe Costilla abstained from the vote.

The board unanimously approved a series of revised and updated design and development plans for four projects within the bond budget, including the Proposition 1 project for the construction of a new athletics stadium, and three of the projects under Proposition 2: a new student activity complex, a new prekindergarten campus and the new Phoenix campus.

Superintendent Mark Eads said the meeting led to the approval of the second level of plans for construction, an important step, but as with any construction plan, complications are anticipated.

"We have a whole lot more than these four projects, and they are all needed and they are all critical," Eads said. "Obviously the projects discussed tonight, with the renovations and upgrades, are going to be the most complicated because we're going into older facilities and things like that."

The district hired Huckabee & Associates, an architecture firm, to handle the design and development aspects of the bond projects. During the meeting, Kerri Ranney, co-director of Huckabee & Associates, presented layouts, schematics and details for the four major projects.

Plans for construction of the new athletic stadium at San Marcos High School along Hwy. 123 include seating for 8,000 people and a variety of amenities. The proposed stadium design includes three concession areas, a school store, designated locker rooms for teams, coaches and officials, a press box located on the second level of the stadium facility, a halftime building, new turf for a practice field and more.

"I think this is going to be a stellar stadium," Ranney said. "However, I don't think we're designing anything where the community will have the opinion that it's grandiose."

Eads said the stadium is meant to blend together, using materials to help the facility look cohesive with the already existing campus so people will not be able to say the stadium was built as an afterthought.

"I believe the community will share with me an enthusiasm for the stadium more than anything else," Eads said. "Besides the fact of the pride of having your own facility, to be able to walk out from your high school to your stadium for football, soccer or band competition speaks volumes."

Ranney then presented plans for the student activity center that will be located at San Marcos High School. The facility will have an auxiliary gym allowing for indoor practice, a large weight room, a 60-yard indoor practice field with running lanes and different storage spaces throughout the facility to accommodate students and groups who use the facility.

Ranney said her firm is wrapping up construction documents at the end of August, accepting bid offers from construction firms in September and finishing up the construction project in the summer of next year.

"The designers and developers will continue to meet each week with district personnel to make sure the last detail on everything is exactly what they're looking for," Ranney said.

The new prekindergarten campus, which is designed for 600 students, will be built at the site of the former Bowie Elementary School campus on Hwy. 123 after the existing components of the facility, except for the cafeteria, stage and kitchen, are demolished.

Ranney said the new prekindergarten school is designed to alleviate traffic congestion by removing as many cars as possible off Hwy. 123 by isolating the school's bus loops, staff parking and parent drop-off areas from each other. Construction of the campus is scheduled to begin in October and finish in time for the 2014–15 academic year.

Eads said in order to decrease the traffic issues, the district is going to make a diligent effort to ensure the schools along Hwy. 123 are "staggering all the time" in regard to when different schools begin and end each day and when and where school-related traffic occurs.

The new Phoenix campus, an alternative school which will hold 250 students, will be located off Hwy. 123 between the De Zavala Elementary School and Austin Community College campuses on a piece of land Ranney said is squeezed between a few easements. She said designers and developers want to take advantage of this property "that does have some challenges and limitations for development."

Board members discussed the possibility of converting the Phoenix campus from a school that serves previously prepared food into a prep-and-serve school. According to Ranney, transitioning from a service to a prep kitchen would cost the district about $175,000.

Ranney told board members that if the district purchased an additional 1,500 square feet of space now, at any point in the future if the district chose to convert the campus into a prep-and-serve campus, it would have the ability to do that.

"So you wouldn't be doing an addition," Ranney told board members. "You would be doing a food service equipment purchase."

Trustee Judy Allen said she believes purchasing the space necessary to convert the school into a serve-and-prep kitchen someday could be a worthwhile investment.

"I have no clue what the future holds, but I can bet it would be a lot less expensive if we ever thought we needed it to do it now," Allen said. "In five years, if we wanted it, it would cost us a lot more to do it. And I'm just talking space, not equipment."

The board decided to include this alternate bid, but will wait to make a decision about purchasing the additional space until bids from construction firms come in. If the alternative bid is within the district's budget, the board will approve the purchase of the additional space.