Assistant Parks Director William Ford said the majority of visitors to the city’s river parks are from out of town.
“Really it’s just because they’re overcrowded, and there’s no place to park,” Ford said.
Ford said the high usage rate for the city’s parks likely stems partly from San Marcos not charging any kind of usage fees for access to the parks.
The changes include:
- Move picnic sites away from the river in all river parks, and add 30 additional tables away from the river.
- Remove on-street parking on Cheatham Street at Rio Vista on weekends and holidays.
- Remove picnic tables and grills on Cheatham Street.
- Restrict use of shelters and tents to picnic areas.
- Ban the use of portable grills in city river parks.
The changes will likely take effect at the beginning of the city park's busy season, which Ford said typically begins around Memorial Day. The items related to parking, shelters and portable grills will be brought back in the form of formal ordinances at a future meeting.
Council members said they support the planned changes, and hope they provide relief to city residents who may have been discouraged from visiting parks due to crowding issues.
“I think the residents of San Marcos have been feeling this crunch for years,” Council Member Lisa Prewitt said. “We just kind of quit going to the parks on weekends a lot. I think it would be nice for residents here to start to have that opportunity again.”
Mayor John Thomaides referenced a downtown parking management plan that mentioned placing parking meters along Cheatham Street and charging out-of-town visitors for parking on weekends.
“You could create a significant amount of revenue from metering these spaces on the weekends and providing local San Marcos residents with a free pass,” Thomaides said.
The council directed parks staff to work with Kevin Burke, who is coordinating the city’s downtown parking management strategy, to create a complementary parking solution near city parks and downtown.
According to staff’s presentation, long-term parks solutions include:
- Banning charcoal grills
- Gates to entrances of city river parks to help enforce curfews
- Additional restroom facilities
- Park user fees
- Parking fees
- Additional parking areas
- Additional park rangers
