On Nov. 3 voters in San Marcos and Buda will elect city council representatives, decide on amendments to Texas’ constitution, and approve or deny local propositions. But if historical voting trends play out, fewer than 20 percent of registered voters will do their civic duty.

Some San Marcos residents, however, are taking steps to ensure more citizens’ voices are heard at City Hall. 

“A lot of people feel like this town doesn’t care about them,” said Adam DeLeon, a resident of the Blanco Gardens neighborhood and neighborhood commissioner for Sector 6 in San Marcos. “If things are happening in our neighborhood because someone [outside of Blanco Gardens] voted for them to happen in our neighborhood, well then we need to get involved so these things don’t happen in our neighborhood.”

DeLeon and fellow Sector 6 Commissioner Blanca Loya said the 2013 decision to allow construction of The Woods, an apartment complex geared toward college students, near their neighborhood discouraged many voters.

From Sept. 1-Oct. 1, police were called to the complex 41 times. Most of the calls were related to noise and occurred between midnight and 4 a.m., according to City of San Marcos data.

Loya said many residents are unaware when issues affecting the neighborhood will be discussed at council meetings.

The city has stepped up police presence in the area to deter disruptive behavior, officials said.

In response, DeLeon and Loya have created a “block captain” system in which one person from each block in the neighborhood is the designated contact for their neighbors’ concerns. The captains then take the concerns to DeLeon and Loya, who can take them to the commission or City Council.

“We can divide and conquer, take the information out like, ‘Hey you need to be at the next City Council meeting,’” Loya said. “When this issue with the parking on River Road came up, nobody was there to speak on it because I don’t think anybody really knew.”

Loya said the neighborhood group doubled in size from its first meeting in August to its second meeting Sept. 19, growing from five members to 10.

Candidates’ stances

Frank Arredondo, a candidate for Place 5 on San Marcos City Council, is a former resident of Blanco Gardens. He agreed with residents, saying they have been overlooked in recent decision-making processes. [polldaddy poll=9126811]

Arredondo referenced a recent controversial development proposal near Sessom Drive, which received pushback from nearby neighborhoods and was ultimately denied. The Woods was still approved despite similar outcry from Blanco Gardens and the rest of the city, he said.

Arredondo’s opponent in the race for the Place 5 seat, Scott Gregson, took a similar tone on the issue of The Woods, Capstone Cottages and The Retreat, multifamily developments he said were built too close to single-family neighborhoods.

“Shame on us,” Gregson said. “We’ve got to help [Blanco Gardens], and we’ve got to resolve that problem that exists and will exist for some time.”

Place 6 candidate Melissa Derrick said City Council’s approval of The Woods in 2013 helped convince her to run for office. The city needs to re-examine how it plans for developments near neighborhoods and in flood plains, she said.

Shane Scott, the Place 6 incumbent, said he believes in neighborhood preservation, but concerns about the effects The Woods is having on Blanco Gardens have been overstated.

The Woods’ development agreement—which stipulates that the complex must provide shuttle service to students going to Texas State University—and the city’s efforts to add parking in the area address the issues residents are concerned about, he said.

Voter turnout trends

Loya said she is unsure if recent developments near her neighborhood will actually translate to higher voter turnout than in past elections.

“I hope the voter turnout will be larger in our neighborhood so the city officials start to recognize the voice of Blanco Gardens,” Loya said.

In the 2012 election cycle, which included a presidential election, voter turnout in San Marcos was higher than other years. Citywide turnout was 47.03 percent, according to the Hays County Elections Office. In the next year, which did not include a presidential or gubernatorial election, voter turnout fell to 8.17 percent.

In areas where residents’ average age is above 40, according to data from Nielsen, an information company, about 41.74 percent of registered voters cast ballots between 2012 and 2014. In areas where the average age of residents is below 25, voter turnout was about 21.94 percent during that same period.

In areas where owner-occupied housing—meaning the person living on a property also owns the property—was above 75 percent, 51 percent of registered voters cast ballots. About 23.12 percent of registered voters cast ballots in areas where owner-occupied housing was below 25 percent.

“Do I expect large voter turnout in this election?” Hays County Elections Administrator Joyce Cowan said. “No, I really don’t. [It will be] stronger in some areas, and I put that to the effect of people coming out to vote for people.”