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The city established [Purgatory Creek Park] after local residents came together in 2001 opposing a plan to build more than 600 apartment units in the area. San Marcos Greenbelt Alliance President Todd Derkacz said his organization was forged in the crucible of a struggle to preserve that open space in the city. However, the group backed the Wonder World Drive Extension Project when the city acquired most of the land and agreed to use it for park space...

Purgatory Creek Park and Prospect Park lie in an area where the Edwards Aquifer is replenished through surface water seepage... Consequently, public officials say, any construction plans for the area must include optimal drainage arrangements... “We have to go above and beyond what you’d see on a typical roadway,” said Sabas Avila, interim director of the City of San Marcos Capital Improvement’s Department. “We’ll actually have sedimentation and filtration ponds that filter and clean the runoff from the roadway before discharging into the creek.”

With the construction, Prospect Park no longer is quite the green space retreat to which people have grown accustomed. But there are those who will say it still beats 600 apartments, roadway or not. “We understood that part of the possibility of having Purgatory Creek Park...was that we would also see part of it segmented by the elevated flyway for Wonder World Drive,” Derkacz said. “So there was a trade-off there. But we think, in the end, it’s the kind of trade-off that helps us move forward.”

More Trail Updates

Speaking of Wayfinding
Trail crew volunteer Kathleen Seal will soon be applying her extensive knowledge and experience with trails to propose a wayfinding plan for the trails in Purgatory, where folks still seem to get disoriented. She will propose signage options that are easy to create and install, durable, and effective.

Purgatory Creek Park Trail Map
Thanks to Clint King for developing a map of the trails in Purgatory Creek Park shown below. We hope to have a high quality, printable version posted to our web site soon.

ESC on the Job at Ringtail Ridge
A creek crossing sustained some washout late last year at Ringtail Ridge. Environmental Survey Consultants, the contractor that created the accessible gravel trail, is on it: They are in process of switching from a culvert crossing to a bridge.

Conservation Crime Stoppers Earlier this month, Lance Jones forwarded the photos show here, taken at the upper entrance to Purgatory Creek Park, to park ranger Hector “JR” Rangel. JR quickly responded by looking through the trash for a lead and making an arrest. The whole process took a couple days; not bad. Gratitude to Lance and JR for taking action! It is surprising and not surprising that someone could actually believe that the best way to handle their trash is to drive over to the park and offload it a short distance from the entrance. We know it happens, but the lack of even a modicum of respect for the park is tough to understand.

New Look for SMGA

You may have noticed SMGA’s updated logo developed by local artist Kate Shayler kate1370@centurytel.net in our email newsletter. You’ll soon see the fresh new colors of the logo along with user interface improvements on our web site.

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Updates from SMRF

Lime Kiln Road Wasterwater Line
Last month’s newsletter noted that the San Marcos River Foundation submitted photos to the Texas Commission on Environment Quality (TCEQ) of the repeatedly sinking holes in areas being excavated for a wastewater pipe along Lime Kiln Road. TCEQ also discovered that a weaker gauge of pipe was installed than the engineering plans called for. The SMRF board will recommend to the city council that this project be stopped due to concerns that the wastewater line is expensive to taxpayers and promotes dense development in the recharge zone on Lime Kiln Rd. This area is like the neck of a funnel pointed straight at Spring Lake at the head of the San Marcos River. Dense development in the Sink Creek watershed will damage the river even more than it has already been damaged by building on Post Rd, which funnels sediment into Sink Creek and Spring Lake. (The University and Sessom Creek buildings also contribute lots of sediment.) The Lime Kiln Road area is full of places where springs come to the surface and is definitely not the kind of place where we should be building huge wastewater lines.

If you have opinions about using taxpayer funds to extend wastewater lines into the Sink Creek Canyon that leads to Spring Lake, please let city council members know. Mail your concerns to City Hall, 630 E. Hopkins or email cityhall@ci.san-marcos.tx.us (start with "Dear Mayor and Council" so they will all get a copy). Please appreciate that our council member work hard at public service, so keep it short and sweet. It is the numbers of letters that makes an impression; please ask your friends and neighbors to assist.

Water Conversation
Dangerously low water levels in the San Marcos River are threatening the wild rice, the endangered species responsible for protecting river flows, and will likely require mandatory water-conservation measures in the very near future. You can help by conserving water now. Here are a couple of tips:

• Spread sifted compost at the rate of 1 cubic yard per 1,000 sq. ft. directly on your lawn to help the roots conserve moisture. Places like Gardenville sell this sifted compost that you sprinkle on about a half inch deep to feed and hold moisture in the soil during the hot months to come.
  
• Scrape food into a compost bowl or the trash instead of rinsing your dishes. If your dishwasher can’t handle that, put a little water in a bowl or pot that you also plan to wash and use a brush or sponge to remove food from dishes and silverware, dipping the brush in the bowl of water repeatedly. Don’t let your faucet run as you work. Use ideas like this anytime you need to use water to wash vegetables, etc., to save water and money on your utility bill.

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Bike Bits: Age- Specific Riding Position
Here’s the third in Gordon Sabin’s series of tips for bicyclists. Contact Gordon at gpsabin@grandecom.net for bicycle advice and training.

Unless riding very long distances as quickly as possible is your objective in riding a bike, you should consider sitting nearly upright while riding. The bent over position associated with bike racing is useful if speed is more important than comfort and a healthy back, but most of us aspire to walking upright without pain for as long as possible. Raising the handlebars so they are even with or a bit higher than the seat will do wonders for our riding comfort by relieving lower back stress and numbness in the hands.

In the News

University to give most of Spring Lake back to nature (12/20/08)
The University will partner with the US Army Corps of Engineers to transform the Spring Lake peninsula to a more natural state. “Basically the project will restore the aquatic and terrestrial habitats throughout Spring Lake which have been degraded over the years by the construction and operations of the Aquarena Center,” Full story here.

Carma comes to San Marcos council with new development (1/8/09)
The San Marcos City Council addressed issues ranging from water lines and park construction to the use of federal funds for demolishing residents’ homes at its first meeting of the year. But the highlight of Tuesday’s session consisted in a presentation by Carma Texas, Inc., General Manager Shaun Cranston, who introduced the council to his company’s plans for a 1,338.5-acre development on the west side of Interstate-35. Full story here.

Click a date below to view past News & Events:

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