The overview
The VFW Post, currently located at 107 Veterans Drive in Kyle, provides various community and veteran resources, including a clothing closet, free breakfast for veterans every Friday and job assistance. The VFW also sponsors Boy Scout troops.
The VFW proposed that the building the City Council is in the process of acquiring at 105 Veterans Drive be given to the VFW to support its expansion efforts, according to city agenda documents. The organization hopes to enlarge its clothing closet and provide additional space for the American Red Cross, with which it is partnering.
According to a presentation, the VFW is seeking grant funding from the American Red Cross to support this initiative. The additional space would also serve as storage for the Red Cross in case of a major catastrophe. A Community Emergency Response Team radio tower was also proposed for the site.
“Obviously, if we were to obtain the property at [105 Veterans Drive], we would be able to basically double in size and you probably wouldn’t hear from us for another 20 years, maybe,” Stamps said. “It would make a sizable footprint for this community.”
The context
The council voted 5-2 to approve the acquisition of the property at 103 and 105 Veterans Drive for a “fair and reasonable price” at their Jan. 21 meeting, according to previous reporting by Community Impact. The previously passed item only allowed them to start negotiations.
“We haven’t had a chance to fully digest the property acquisition,” Mayor Travis Mitchell said. “I would consider this moment to be premature because we haven’t even closed. We are in a contract situation, that deal could still fall through.”
Previously discussed potential uses for the property, according to Assistant City Manager Amber Schmeits and Council Member Mark McKinney, included:
- Expand Gregg-Clarke Park
- Expand the Kyle Parks, Grounds and Facility Maintenance building located at 225 Veterans Drive
- Use the land for economic development
- Repurpose it as a water facility
The land is planned to be further discussed at the council’s Visioning Workshop, which is set to start March 14 in San Antonio.
“We’re going to be having a workshop in the next month and plans for what we want to do this upcoming year for the city and I want to be able to evaluate all our options and like you say, exhaust all our options,” Council Member Michael Tobias said.
The verdict
Mitchell said he wasn’t sure that moving the VFW from one residence to two residences is the best long-term solution, though cultivating a good VFW-based project makes sense.
“We need some time to analyze the value of the properties that we’re currently looking at, as well as what is the actual long-term solution,” Mitchell said. “We have to have the time and the space to go through that process, and that includes closing on these lots.”
Mitchell added that the city isn’t looking to repurpose the building for someone else but is instead considering whether the site is suitable for a building or better suited for a larger project.
Council Member Robert Rizo agreed, stating that constantly relocating people as they outgrow spaces is not ideal and that veterans deserve a space designed specifically for them.
“Building the right building and championing something that would serve all the veterans in Hays County would be great or at least in our city...” Rizo said. “It’s like going from one shack to another shack to another shack—that’s not what we need to do. Our veterans deserve a lot more than that.”
