Weekly hillcountryweekly.com
SPECIAL MEETING
BPFC
Thursday, February 11
BPFC gives green light to Estraya Boerne development
Christina Ryrholm Hill Country Weekly
Last week the city’s Boerne Public Facility Corporation (BPFC) held their second meeting in ten days to approve or deny a request from Waypoint Real Estate Investments to build Estraya Boerne. This development will be on fifteen and a half acres in the SoBo (South Boerne) area and consist of 288 high quality apartments. Fifty percent or 144 units will be (more) affordable or about 15 percent below market value. The BPFC Board consists of the mayor and five city council members - Tim Handren (President), Ty Wolosin (Member), Nina Woolard (Vice President), Quinten Scott (Member), Bryce Boddie (Member) and Joe Macaluso (Secretary/Treasurer) and two city staff that are assistants to the secretary - Jeff Thompson and Lori Carroll. At the first meeting on January 26 the item was tabled in order for Nina and Bryce to follow up on legal questions and concerns about the response from Boerne ISD (See article in The Weekly’s February 4 issue). This special called meeting began at 5 p.m. last Thursday via zoom. All board members were online as well as Jim Plummer, legal council for BPFC, and Eric Hade, Chief Development Officer for Waypoint. Additionally several school board members, commissioners, Waypoint officers, the current property owner and other interested residents listened to the meeting. The first 45 minutes were about ways for the BPFC to better communicate and collaborate with BISD, the county and community. To that end ex officio positions on the BPFC board will be offered to both the school
board and county. The mayor said, “It is the right thing to do in the spirit of communication”. There was also a discussion about what type of community projects would benefit everyone. Although it was agreed that each project should stand on its own and even though it is way too soon to be making those decisions - transportation and connectivity, such as sidewalks, were high on the wish list as was a parking garage downtown. Only two individuals spoke during public comments. First was BISD board president Maritza GonzalesCooper who stressed the point that what the city does effects the school district and that moving forward there would be better communication. She concluded with “We look forward to continuing to have a partnership with the city, as well as to continue to build on our strong and positive working relationship”. She was followed by Kevin Thompson who commented on “good governance and community cohesion” and that while developing the SoBo area was a good idea, Boerne did not need more apartments. After forty-five minutes the BPFC retired into an executive discussion for thirty minutes. When they returned at 6:19 p.m. Jeff Thompson gave a quick recap of the history of the SoBo plan. Then Waypoint’s representative Eric Hade stated, “in the spirit of creative problem solving Waypoint offered to increase their payment to BPFC from 20% to 27.5%”. He calculated this would mean an additional revenue of $100,000 per year for the first seven years. Before a motion was made each member made comments reflecting their perspective. Tim thought it was a “great opportunity for the SoBo vision targeting renters that earn $45-55,000 per year with one half of the units
priced at 15% below market value. Nina spoke of her struggle with the use of the term ‘affordable housing’ and that “employers say their employees could not afford the affordable” and the project “doesn’t fit the spirit of the PFC”. Quinten stated that it was “a good project and good for Boerne” and that it meets the needs of a “higher quality class A project” for the SoBo area. Bryce commented that he communication and collaboration was a good thing and learning about school finances was helpful. However he “was not comfortable doing a housing development”. Ty believes that Estraya Boerne will be a catalyst for more taxes with the growth of other businesses in the area and people should look at the “grander picture” with the project that will be “more affordable for some”. Joe pointed out that the best the city can do is “manage growth with the tools [allowed] to achieve certain outcomes”. He added, “A tsunami of growth is coming and it is naive to think that things will stay the same”. When the mayor felt they had “talked enough” he asked if someone would like to make a motion. There were several seconds of silence before Quinten made the motion for approval as presented with the caveat that the percentage of revenue to the city be changed from 20% to 27.5%. Ty seconded the motion. The vote was four to approve - Tim, Ty, Quentin and Joe - and two to deny - Nina and Bryce. In his final comments Tim wanted to promise that he intended to absolutely follow through with establishing “project parameters for targeted projects” that included a process for community engagement. The meeting adjourned at 6:58 p.m.
