A quick note
City Manager Stephanie Reyes said the city will not be calling a bond election for this project and is looking at alternative funding mechanisms.
San Marcos City Council is looking to allocate $6.8 million in funding for capital outlay in the city's general fund in fiscal year 2024-25, $4 million of which will be set aside to fund the city hall project, according to agenda documents.
How we got here
The council received a presentation on a new city hall—which has since been renamed the Hopkins Redevelopment project—during a July work session, according to agenda documents. The project consists of a new city hall through a potential public-private partnership for the redevelopment of the land the city hall complex is currently on, along with improvements to Hopkins Street and the civic corridor on the north side of Hopkins Street.
During that work session, council decided they wanted to create a temporary steering committee to provide guidance and support to staff during the redevelopment process. The Hopkins Gateway Steering Committee will be a temporary committee providing guidance and feedback.
On Aug. 5, council approved a comprehensive space planning study with Lopez Salas Architects for the preliminary space planning on the new city hall—which will allow architects to determine the future and current needs of city hall, City Hall Project Director Katherine Caffrey said. Caffrey said the planning study should be completed within the next four to six months.
The details
The dais is looking to include San Marcos residents, council members, the mayor and other community partners like Texas State University, the Downtown Association and the San Marcos River Foundation on the committee.
The council also discussed having two nominees per council member, creating a list with an additional six to eight organizations for the committee and appointing subject-matter experts to the committee.
What's next
City staff will bring back committee composition recommendations to council on Sept. 17, Reyes said.
