County commissioners unanimously approved for the $440 million bond program to go to the ballot boxes this November that same day.
The project is for the design and expansion of Fitzhugh Road—a two-lane road with multiple low-water crossings and no shoulders—located in Dripping Springs. Residents and local environmental groups had asked the court to postpone calling the bond election or remove the Fitzhugh project from the bond package completely.
Those opposed
Hays County resident Crystal Doughtery said she believes the Fitzhugh Road/County Road 101 Project would not serve the needs of local residents and business owners, but the interests of outside developers, including the proposed Fitzhugh concert venue.
The proposed venue would be located near the Crumley Ranch and Trautwein Road intersection and serve up to 5,000 people a day, three times a week, with space for 2,000 parked cars, according to previous reporting by Community Impact. Residents in that area have been voicing their environmental and safety concerns since 2022.
A joint letter written on behalf of the San Marcos River Foundation, Save Our Springs Alliance, Save Barton Creek Association, Fitzhugh Neighbors, Sustainable Dripping Springs and Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance was submitted to commissioners Aug. 9.
Community Impact obtained a copy of the letter which requested the court to not place the road bond on the November ballot, and develop a road bond package for a future election through a citizen bond advisory committee. In the instance that the court would not postpone, the organizations requested the court remove the following projects:
- Bunton Lane
- Dairy Road
- Yarrington Road segments 1 and 2
- Dripping Springs Southwest Connection segments 1 and 2
- Darden Hill Road
- RM 150
- Fitzhugh Road
- SH 45 Southwest Extension
Organization leaders also noted that roadway expansion is environmentally destructive activity.
“As Hays County residents and other environmental leaders, we are concerned about rubber-stamping the construction of these projects through the passage of a bond, because many of the projects listed would encroach upon Hays County’s limited natural resources,” the letter states.
Advocacy Director Brian Zabcik, with SBCA, also submitted additional comments on behalf of Hays County residents, stating that Fitzhugh Road does not need to be turned into a four-lane divided highway to ease existing traffic.
“The only reason that we can see expanding Fitzhugh to this size would be to accommodate traffic caused by Hirschman’s venue; however, the venue’s future is far from certain. Hirschman has not received all of the approvals needed to begin construction, including an on-site wastewater permit,” Zabcik states.
What commissioners are saying
Hays County Precinct 4 Commissioner Walt Smith told residents that if they completely removed the Fitzhugh Road project from the bond program, then—if and when major development does happen—residents will have to deal with the impacts.
“When you’ve got 850 cars a night on that roadway and y'all come back here—or those neighbors come back here in two years and say ‘What can you do to help us?’—the answer [is] nothing,” Smith said.
He also noted that he has been very public with stating he does not want the proposed venue on Fitzhugh Road.
“I think it’d be great in a different part of the county with a lot more access and those kinds of things—I think the location is horrendous. It’s on a county roadway that’s not wide enough for me to legally put a center stripe in. So to sit here and say, ‘Don’t do the planning to address if it does happen,’ 'Don’t do the planning to help us,’ ‘Don’t do the planning’—that is hard to stomach,” Smith said.
