CITY OF SAN MARCOS
The city of San Marcos formally began the process of annexing the 176.5 acre property commonly known as Quail Creek, which it already owns, into the city limits. The city originally purchased the property, which is along Highway 21 near the Blanco River, in October 2022 with city and county funds. The Hays County Parks and Open Space bond provided $6.6 million, which was the majority of the funding needed.
Jamie Lee Case, Director of Parks and Recreation for the city of San Marcos, said that when the facilities are complete, it will be the largest contiguous park for the city of San Marcos. A park is different from a natural area, such as the Purgatory Creek Natural Area.
“It will be our largest park with park amenities,” Case said. “The largest part of our park system is our natural areas. We have over 2,500 acres of parks and open space. That includes both our neighborhood parks and other regional parks like our riverfront parks, but this will be the largest contiguous parcel that we’ll have [with park amenities]. It will be awesome for our community.”
The purpose of the purchase of land is to provide a regional park on the eastside of San Marcos. The land is just outside of city limits, which causes a few difficulties.
“A lot of the parkland that we have been acquiring for conservation purposes, mainly out on the west side [of San Marcos], they're actually in the ETJ,” Case said. “They have to be brought into the city limits so that our first responders are able to service them, and this one is no different. It is currently in the ETJ. If we have a need for service to be called out, whether it be fire or police, we need it to be in our city limits. So, they need to be able to respond within the jurisdiction. That is primarily the reason. Of course, since it's going to be a city park, we need it to be within the city limits, so that our parks crews can service it once it comes online.”
The first of two public hearings on the proposed annexation will be held during the March 19 city council meeting. The next step would be for the city to begin planning what amenities will be included at the park.
“We will begin master planning that property likely after the first of next year,” Case said. “It'll likely be a 12 to 18 month process where we get community feedback and hold multiple open houses and community surveys to see what amenities city residents of San Marcos are interested in seeing out at Quail Creek.”
