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City of San Marcos - Draft Dunbar & Heritage Neighborhood Area Plan

View comments received on the Draft Plan in September, 2023!

Welcome, and thank you for your interest in the future of the Dunbar & Heritage Neighborhoods! The below draft plan was developed by the community to create and achieve a vision for the future of these neighborhoods. Comments were received from the community throughout the month of September, 2023. Comemnting closed on Septmeber 17, however, if you have additional comments, please email planninginfo@sanmarcostx.gov or call 512.393.8230. Thank you to all who participated!
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 9:07PM on page 56

Comment
Many pictures of structures like this historic church (turned commercial) and historic homes are shown and are attractive, but these are exactly the structures which are being torn down and replaced with "cookie cutter" structures and apartments like the Local, Parlor, Pointe, Vie Lofts, Cheatham Street Flats, View on the Square, Aspire (all Rent By the Bed, as well), etc. These new builds are not in line with the existing neighborhoods.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 9:03PM on page 54

Comment
Six plexes are too large in existing neighborhoods. Texas has plenty of land to build on which is not over the Edwards Aquifer.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 9:00PM on page 53

Comment
This might work if we rehab older homes and specifically and keep the integrity of the neighborhoods by adding more neighbors, not commercial or mixed use.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:59PM on page 53

Comment
I absolutely agree that San Marcos needs to help homeowners stay in their homes and help them keep their homes in good condition.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:55PM on page 50

Comment
If tiny homes are built, we need to be able to hook them up to city water and sewage, etc. What plan is there for dumping waste?
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:54PM on page 49

Comment
The term "diverse housing" should not include the construction of more rentals. People have plenty of rental housing stock. 73% of San Marcans rent and this is not just because they choose to; it's because they don't have other affordable purchase options.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:51PM on page 49

Comment
73% of San Marcans rent. We need owner-occupied housing for sale.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:49PM on page 47

Comment
Code Compliance is doing a wonderful job with what they have. Expanding that office to include a tenants rights office and giving more teeth to getting landlords to comply with existing rules is imperative. We need to expand the regulations through City ordnances. For example at the State level (Texas Property Code), landlords do not have to provide air conditioning. City ordinances could offer more protection than State regulations and require functioning air conditioning for rentals.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:45PM on page 47

Comment
73% of San Marcans rent. If the apartments were for sale and owner-occupied, building them would be fine.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:44PM on page 47

Comment
If San Marcos were to stop approving the development of massive (and small) rental units, developers would propose more developments of homes for sale.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:42PM on page 45

Comment
In neighborhoods, the land uses should be for more housing, specifically for sale, not rent. When you put mixed use and commercial in a neighborhood, it drives up the price of land s high that neighbors are pushed out of their homes and made into tenants.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:40PM on page 45

Comment
Many of the houses pictured here in this presentation are historic, but these are the exact dwellings that are being torn down and replaced with multi-family units for rent. These homes should be preserved and more housing (albeit dense) should be built for owner-occupied sale, not rent.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:38PM on page 44

Comment
San Marcos does not have an accurate or widely known picture of the housing stock we currently have. For example, there are more than 48 Rent By the Bed ("student" apartment complexes with more than 28,000 beds available. How many more rental properties, including apartment complexes, is not widely known or accessible.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:35PM on page 44

Comment
Housing affordability cannot be found in the rental market. Homes must be built for owner-occupied housing. The most affordable housing is that which people own because once the property is paid off, they can invest.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:32PM on page 44

Comment
San Marcos does have control over the housing market. If P&Z does not approve multi-family for rent and votes no on rental projects such as "student housing", developers will put in applications to build housing for sale (even dense, multi-family housing, as long as it is for owner-occupied housing for sale).
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:29PM on page 194

Comment
Yes, tell the stories of under-represented communities.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:29PM on page 194

Comment
Yes to city-wide historic preservation and resources available for rehab and maintenance.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:28PM on page 193

Comment
Vacant commercial areas should be rezoned and turned into housing for owner-occupied homes.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:27PM on page 193

Comment
Businesses should not be in neighborhoods.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:26PM on page 193

Comment
Business districts are fine, maybe on Guadalupe and across the highway, but not in neighborhoods.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:25PM on page 193

Comment
Yes to more green spaces. Striving for walkable areas is good, but to do this we need mass transit that is affordable and comes by often. We also need to be realistic and build parking garages and at least two parking spaces for every dwelling with fewer than three bedrooms.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:22PM on page 192

Comment
History, especially in architecture is imperative. We need green spaces, more trees.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:20PM on page 192

Comment
Building townhomes and housing for sale should be the goal. Mixing commercial and residential is not what San Marcos should be focusing on. It causes gentrification. Build commercial elsewhere (maybe on Guadalupe and across the highway), not in neighborhoods.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:18PM on page 192

Comment
Yes to historic style design if new build is going in.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:18PM on page 192

Comment
Restoring and "historic development" should take the place of tearing down and replacing with rentals.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:17PM on page 192

Comment
Infill would be fine if it would not destroy what is already there. Adding would be better than tearing down and building new, especially new builds. San Marcos needs owner-occupied houses for sale.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:16PM on page 191

Comment
I agree, the architecture and style of housing in the historic Dunbar area (calling it heritage is not accurate) should mirror/ match the existing architecture. New housing should be for sale, not rent. Commercial should not be in the neighborhoods.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:14PM on page 191

Comment
Stores and commercial in neighborhoods should be kept to a minimum. The commercial that exists now is enough. Build more housing for sale.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:12PM on page 191

Comment
I agree with the tax exemption grant for older single-family homes. We should explore "historic development" and rehab the homes and buildings that exist, not tear them down.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:11PM on page 191

Comment
We do not need more apartments, we need more housing options for purchase. 73 % of San Marcans rent. There are plenty of multi-unit properties for rent. We need housing for purchase.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:10PM on page 191

Comment
ADUs should be smaller than the original property and have a maximum footprint of 1,000 square feet, whichever is smaller.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:09PM on page 191

Comment
If the Lamar School property is developed, it should be condos or homes s that people are able to purchase the property. It is not in the best interest of the people and residents of San Marcos to put recurring income into the pockets of developers/ investors/ landlords. It is best to give residents the option to purchase. San Marcos should build fewer rental properties and build more homes for sale (even if that takes the form of condos. duplexes, townhomes, even dense properties, but for purchase.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:06PM on page 191

Comment
Affordability means having the ability to purchase a home, not just rent. rent goes up every year, but mortgages stay the same (yes taxes go up) and as the home is paid off, home-owners have the opportunity to invest. Tenants do not have this opportunity.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:04PM on page 191

Comment
Families and home-owners should be able to stay in their homes, not be turned in to tenants whose hard-earned money builds wealth for the owner/ landlord/ investors and not for themselves.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:02PM on page 181

Comment
Yes, more parking is necessary. Parking garages would be a good solution. Mostly, we need mass transit and bus routes, etc.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 8:01PM on page 181

Comment
We need homes and dwellings for sale. Rent keeps going up every year, landlords are increasingly passing the cost of them owning property on to the tenants. For example, tenants used to basically pay rent, some utilities (or a cap of usage) and a few fees like for pets, for example. Now, landlords increasingly require tenants to pay all utilities, pest control, green service, trash take-out, administrative costs for each utiity collected, and landlords increasingly charge tenants, not for repair of damages when they move out, but for normal wear and tear. Adding more apartments and housing for rent, specifically in the Dunbar area, is detrimental to residents of San Marcos.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 7:56PM on page 181

Comment
There should be restriction put on investors renting out properties. We need more owner occupied dwellings, With 73% of San Marcans renting, that creates an imbalance of housing, wherein landlords and investors profit tremendously, and renters have few options and the inability to build personal investments for themselves and their families. We need more housing for sale, whether that be apartments (for sale), condos, townhomes, single family dwellings, etc., but we need homes for sale.
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Amy Meeks Sep 17 2023 at 6:59PM on page 13

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Honestly, this plan does not reflect all comments that were made and does seem selective in the comments it includes, which of course, means it is not an accurate reflection of the communities desires. Where do we go from here??? Please listen and include all comments going forward. If you are not sure how to do that, please ask. We are willing to still be part of the conversation.
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Amy Meeks Sep 17 2023 at 6:55PM on page 8

Comment
The most pressing need here is for the city to have and ENFORCE residential leasing,, i.e. short term rentals (STR,) and house occupancy numbers. Without enforcement, all residential areas will become havens for STR and overcrowded homes which are leased. This lack of resources from the city to enforce codes currently on the books needs to be Step #1 in helping our neighborhoods thrive. With out enforcement, all our neighborhoods will suffer.
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Amy Meeks Sep 17 2023 at 6:48PM on page 1

Comment
All of the Dunbar area needs to remain a residential neighborhood which strongly reflects the black culture which created this area decades ago. New development and/or renovation should reflect the people and culture who built and lived in this area. Modern design elements should be heavily monitored and brought in line with the current esthetics.
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Diana Baker Sep 17 2023 at 4:40PM on page 67

Comment
. How did we get to this from discussing putting art in the neighborhoods to this. This was never supposed to give the city the right to change everything. This is clearly not done to protect the neighborhood.
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Diana Baker Sep 17 2023 at 4:33PM on page 54

Comment
This seems like something for new developments. .
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 3:38PM on page 1

Comment
We must have better mass transit options and more parking spaces available or build parking garages. If student housing is being planned for the Dunbar area, we need to take all of this into account. Consider parking needs relative to number of units being built. Take into consideration the number of people who do not have cars who need to get to work (sometimes people have 2 and three jobs), the grocery store, the vet, the doctor, school. With the current lack of transit option, we must have better mass transit, especially for students. Even in the housing options right next to campus, right now, students still need a place to park their cars. They go to their jobs, they go to their permanent addresses, they go to the grocery store, etc. They do bring their cars to school. Please note and speak to student government representatives. Recently, there was a TXST petition by TXST students signed by more than 4,000 students stating they want and need more parking, anywhere they live, including the Dunbar area, because street parking is not adequate and the apartments are not building adequate number of parking spaces.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 3:22PM on page 80

Comment
San Marcos is already overbuilt by roughly 6,308-12,309 beds of Rent By the Bed (RBB) student-oriented housing. 15,691 is the maximum number of “student housing” beds San Marcos needs to be able to house every Sophomore, Junior, Senior, PhD, Masters, Post Grad student, married, graduate, veteran, and people living in traditional/ joint lease housing. 21,999-ish RBB beds are available now. At least 28,000ish beds are available with double occupancy. 38,376 students are currently enrolled (2023) 22,685 students physically do not live in San Marcos and do not need RBBs: 6,853 students in residence halls, 1,456 in Round Rock, 10,814 commuters, 3,562 online only students, Unknown number of students living in traditional housing Please see TXST President Damphousse's "Aspirations on High" publication to note that the enrollment increase at Texas State University is specifically for the ROUND ROCK campus and for online students. And in TXST's "Run to R1" goals, this will increase the graduate student population. Also, Texas State University is increasing the number of dorms (first year students are required to live on campus). Hilltop dorm is adding 1,000 beds within 2 months and two more 1,000-bed dorms will be added within the next couple of years. Almost 7,000 RBB beds are already available within walking distance of campus. We need better transportation to apartments and housing that already exist.
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Judith Kama Davis Sep 17 2023 at 3:11PM on page 14

Comment
There should be absolutely no more "student housing" apartments built anywhere in San Marcos. We are already overbuilt. Texas State University will be growing but only for online classes and on the Round Rock campus, and the university will add over 3,000 dorm beds over the next couple of years. We already have almost 7,000 Rent By the Bed ("student housing" apartments) within walking distance of the campus. All first-year students are required to live on campus. And there are thousands of students who physically do not live in San Marcos and therefore do not need "student housing" options. See the statistics below: San Marcos is already overbuilt by roughly 6,308-12,309 beds of Rent By the Bed (RBB) student-oriented housing. 15,691 is the maximum number of “student housing” beds San Marcos needs to be able to house every Sophomore, Junior, Senior, PhD, Masters, Post Grad student, married, graduate, veteran, and people living in traditional/ joint lease housing. 21,999-ish RBB beds are available now. At least 28,000ish beds are available with double occupancy. 38,376 students are currently enrolled (2023) 22,685 students physically do not live in San Marcos and do not need RBBs: 6,853 students in residence halls, 1,456 in Round Rock, 10,814 commuters, 3,562 online only students, Unknown number of students living in traditional housing
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Jean Baggett Sep 16 2023 at 2:28PM on page 33

Traffic grids are needed in all cities. San Marcos does not have a large road grid to operate off of. More cross streets outside these 2 neighborhoods would help keep the area residential which is what most residents desire. To keep traffic from stalling and to keep it moving, there needs to be more options.
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Jean Baggett Sep 16 2023 at 2:24PM on page 34

Designated gateways are needed to let the driver know they are entering an area where families and children reside. Naming these gateway signs would be a beneficial way for the residents to show their pride in the place where they live. Introducing art to reflect the neighborhood would also be a good option.
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Jean Baggett Sep 16 2023 at 2:20PM on page 35

As the city grows, traffic will continue to increase in these areas. For pedestrians crossing one of these streets can prove to be a very time-consuming challenge. This city should incorporate pedestrian/yield signs at crossings that are in the middle of the road. Cars can then see that these crossings are specifically for pedestrians and yield to them. These signs are narrow and usually green or yellow and draw the vehicle driver's attention that they are coming up on an area where they need to watch and then yield for those attempting to cross the street.
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Jean Baggett Sep 16 2023 at 2:13PM on page 146

If there is 'new' commercial businesses introduced into the neighborhood, it would be good if they be operating ONLY in pre-existing buildings. An example is Jo's Coffee on St. Mary's. This coffee shop blends into the existing area where it operates.
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Jean Baggett Sep 16 2023 at 2:09PM on page 141

Build sidewalks and people will use them, creating a more cohesive neighborhood feel.
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