The Kendall County commissioners are looking for ways to fund park land acquisition and other land protection efforts after a local nonprofit director urged county officials to match development with conservation.
Katherine Romans, executive director of the Hill Country Alliance, cited the State of the Hill Country Report – a report developed by a multi-organizational network across 18 counties in central Texas – saying that only 3 percent of land in Texas is protected while 4 percent has been permanently developed.
“That leaves about 93 percent as kind of the tossup,” Romans said to the commissioners. “That’s where there are surely great opportunities for conservation of, you know, some of the most important recharge or watershed protection lands. But also, we’re sure to see more development in the future.”
The HCA is a nonprofit organization which aims to “raise public awareness and build community support around the need to preserve the natural resources and heritage of the Central Texas Hill Country,” according to the origination’s website. The group has been heavily involved in conservation and resource protection throughout the Hill Country and state for nearly two decades.
Across the Hill Country, Romans said about 820,000 acres have been permanently developed with concrete, driveways, rooftops, sidewalks and other impermeable and relatively permanent infrastructure, which she said is sure to continue with the Hill Country’s rapid rate of development and population growth.
“While we’ve conserved through conservation easements, the creation of parks and other conservation tools about 546,000 acres, that means about 7 percent of the total land mass of the Hill Country that we’re looking at has been permanently developed while about 5 percent has been permanently protected,” Romans said.
Romans said the HCA would like to see money being put toward protecting natural infrastructure match the “explosive growth” in development and population hitting the Hill Country. She said it’s the ranch lands and open spaces in this slice of Texas that supplies the water, clean air and quality of life the booming population is after.
Romans said $1 approved in 1998 for conservation easement land would buy a third of that same land today, which she chalked up to the explosive growth in land values in the Hill Country. She said this price boom has played out in Hays, Kendall and Gillespie counties and all the way into the west of the HCA’s reach.
“We know that outside of cities, we have many fewer tools to manage and plan for growth,” she said. “To plan for the water resources that are needed to support that growth. And there’s no surprise here that Kendall County is tied for second in terms of the fastest growing county in the Hill Country at 176 percent growth between 1990 and 2020. An auspicious title for you all to have. You know firsthand what that growth means for changes in the very fabric of our communities in the Hill Country.”
The Kendall County commissioners sought legislative change this past state session to allow them more control over density and other development concerns with a focus on protecting valuable water resources. However, the legislation died after heavy pushback from development lobbyists. The charge was led by Precinct 2 Commissioner Richard Elkins, and he along with several other commissioners and public officials have suggested they will continue to seek legislative change in the future.
When it comes to funding land conservation, Romans said the most popular way to fund park land acquisition is through bond issuances, which she said can create funding pools to complete parks plans should the county choose to adopt one.
“As you all know, the county’s tax base is exploding,” Romans said. “So, that growth will really help offset the costs of the measure if you all were to decide to do that.”
Romans said the HCA worked with the Trust for Public Land, which she said a nonprofit organization works nationally to conduct feasibility studies, examining local conditions in any given city or county and seeking opportunities to fund park land acquisition, voluntary conservation and “the like.” She said having some kind of funding source for land conservation really incentivizes landowners who can’t donate resources to conservation to allow the purchase of land for parks or conservation, which she said could be funded through several “spruces” becoming available.
“There are a broad diversity of reasons for why a community decides to invest in conservation,” Romans said. “All of them are worthy and all of them in Texas in particular are really supported by the voters. We have some of the highest rates for support for conservation measures on the ballot than any other state in the country, and it’s really particularly in the Hill Country because people understand that’s where our water comes from. That’s where our quality of life comes from.”
Precinct 4 Commissioner Don Durden praised the HCA for its work in the community, noting this particular nonprofit gets done what a lot of others simply talk about.
“I hear from a lot of organizations that have a lot of ‘want to,’ but y’all put a lot of stuff behind the want to and are actually beginning to make a difference,” Durden said.
Brent Evans, co-founder of the Cibolo Center for Conservation with his wife Carolyn Chipman Evans, said 40 percent of land in the region is expected to change hands in the next 15 years, which he said will present some opportunities for the Hill Country leaders. He said most of the parks he’s looked at across 17 countries in the region were donated land.
“Unfortunately, that is the condition in some places,” County Judge Darrell Lux said, explaining that while many intend to preserve their family land, it isn’t always feasible. “You know, there’s nothing wrong with people making different decisions, but I think the biggest thing is – like y’all’s willingness to do – is help them make an educated decision on the impact. Because once it’s gone, it’s gone. And you’re not going to get it back. There’s just no way.
“There’s no way that the land I live on – there’s no way possible – that I could buy even a tenth of what we have at today’s prices. Maybe even 5 percent of what we have. So, we need to do it ourselves to protect our heritage. You know there’s people that are coming after us that will want to know what this place will look like, and we need to give them that opportunity.”
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