Kyle City Council received a visioning and feasibility study presentation from Stantec Consulting Services regarding the indoor and outdoor aspects of the city's sportsplex on July 16.
The background
Kyle residents voted for a $47 million bond package in November 2020—$10 million of which will go toward the land acquisition, planning, designing and improving land for parks throughout the city, according to previous reporting by Community Impact.
Kyle City Council and Hays County Commissioners signed an interlocal agreement for park and green space improvements as part of that bond on July 19, 2020. Under the agreement, the county will match the city’s pledged $10 million for three projects, which included an outdoor sportsplex park. The outdoor sportsplex park was estimated to cost about $7 million with an additional $7 million being funded by the county, per the agreement.
Project details
A 90-acre site—located along FM 1626, near Plum Creek Meadows Drive in Kyle—is being considered for the sportsplex, according to agenda documents.
Mark Maldonado, a senior principal with Stantec said there were a lot of great opportunities with the site, but also a lot of constraints.
“This is not just a blank canvas where we can just go crazy and just start plopping fields left and right. We’re dealing with a lot of challenges—drainage, accessibility, environmental concerns that we will definitely need to look at [closer] during the master planning phase,” Maldonado said.
The outdoor sportsplex projects identified in the presentation are as follows:
- Two miles of trails
- Four basketball courts and playgrounds
- Five youth turf fields, volleyball courts and shuffle board courts
- 10 full size turf fields
- 11 pickleball courts
- 17 bleachers
- 30 shade pavilions
The presentation also proposes a 175-foot long tunnel under FM 1626, which would improve connectivity and accessibility from the west and east side, Maldonado said.
The first phase of the indoor sportsplex project is anticipated to cost a total of $65 million dollars, according to preliminary estimates presented to council.
Funding the project
Funds for the outdoor sportsplex have already been allocated, but have yet to be spent, City Manager Bryan Langley told Community Impact.
Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone #2, city funds, 2020 bond monies and project phasing are some of the other funding mechanisms identified in the presentation.
The impact
If the council calls a bond for the indoor sportsplex in August and residents vote to approve the ballot item in the November election, residents could see a slight tax increase, according to preliminary estimates from the presentation.
The city's current tax rate is $0.4693 per $100. If the bond is passed, preliminary estimates indicate the tax rate for Kyle residents may increase to $0.0503 cents per $100, making $145.74 the tax bill for an average home value of $329,738, according to the presentation.
What happens next?
The item will come back for another discussion on Aug. 6.
