Asked why they moved to the greater San Marcos area, most folks respond along the lines of, “I came here to get away from the concrete … the pollution … the industry … the traffic … the hustle and bustle of the big city.” 

In Martindale, a small city that loves its community and river, there’s a movement to rebuild the downtown. People travel from all over the state and the world to enjoy the crisp, clean and healing waters of the San Marcos River. Nobody associates this area with heavy industry. Yet, since 2019, developers have been working to change that and put the humble San Marcos area on the map by fabricating “one of the largest master-planned industrial parks in the nation,” according to axislogisticspark.com. 

Encompassing close to 2,100 acres of land – think 15 Dallas Cowboys AT&T Stadiums – just east of I-35 and extending from the FM-110 loop down Highway 80 all the way to Highway 142, the AXIS Logistics Park acreage (formerly known as SMART Terminal) is owned by Dallas-based developer Scarborough Lane Development under their subsidiary company, Franklin Mountain San Marcos I, LP. 

The land area is roughly 50% larger than Martindale and 9% the size of San Marcos. On Aug. 5, the San Marcos City Council will vote on agenda item AN-24-03, a request from the developer to annex additional land into city limits. Their intention is to build a 120-foot right-of-way road that will serve as a spine road for heavy truck traffic the heavy industrial complex will attract.

In 2023, citizens of Caldwell County (Reedville, Maxwell, Martindale) and San Marcos united and rallied against the expansion of the AXIS Logistics Park from 735 acres to 2000+/-. The community felt uncertain about the massive amount of land being zoned to Heavy Industrial because the developer did not provide any buildout plans or potential investors.

The development agreement that the San Marcos City Council approved in January 2023 allows the developer to conduct an environmental impact analysis, traffic analysis, etc., during development rather than before.  Community concerns regarding light, air, noise, and environmental disturbance and pollution, flooding, heavy traffic, potential disturbance of buried military chemical waste, and contamination of the drinking water/the San Marcos River were not adequately addressed during eight months of meetings, community gatherings, and discussions with the developers, and both Martindale and San Marcos city councils.

On June 23, 2023, Scarborough Lane Development withdrew their annexation request for 589 acres into San Marcos City Limits. In their last-minute withdrawal, they stated “they were not interested in annexing any land at this time.” There are many arguments as to why the property should or should not be annexed, but the bottom line is that if any further annexation passes, the future of the greater San Marcos area will change. 

From I-35, drivers will see railcar shipping containers stacked over the trees. San Marcos taxpayers will be paying to maintain the developer’s internal roads, among additional infrastructure, and two fire stations costing up to $17.5 million each – one of which is located within the Martindale ETJ. All residents in the area paying water and electric bills will be funding infrastructure to connect the development to the grid. This development will generate property tax revenue for the San Marcos Independent School District, but those funds will have to be given back to the state due to the Robin Hood Plan (“recapture”).

Long-term residents and businesses in Reedville and Maxwell will be forced out due to noise nuisances related to construction and heavy industrial processes, heavy truck traffic, pollution, potential flooding, and other disturbances. Martindale’s Dark Skies ordinance, small-town environment, and river parks will face pollution from heavy industry. The developer is proposing annexation of the right of way because they cannot develop the road easily outside of city limits.  They are doing this to make it cheaper, and to also avoid any type of planning.

Join the community in telling the City Council of San Marcos that heavy industry is not right for the area and to vote no on agenda item AN-24-03 by calling or emailing the San Marcos City Council members. Please attend the Aug. 5 meeting at San Marcos City Hall, 630 E. Hopkins St., starting at 6 p.m. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t a resident of the City of San Marcos. This Heavy Industrial Development affects everyone from San Marcos to Martindale to Lockhart.

BY ANNIE DONOVAN AND NOAH BROCK 

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