In a barn/event center on Monday evening in Hays County, hundreds gathered in heated opposition to a proposed 5,000-seat concert venue at 14820 Fitzhugh Rd. Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra called the informational meeting in response to widespread community pushback on the planned development. “I have heard you loud and clear,” he began.
The neighbors’ central concern is road safety. The venue would be built in an area that already experiences delays in emergency response due to traffic on narrow roads like Fitzhugh, Crumley Ranch, and Trautwein. “Somebody throws a cigarette butt out, there’s a traffic jam, a fire starts. Imagine the casualties,” said Richard Sorenson with Fitzhugh Neighbors, a coalition fighting the project. Fitzhugh Road itself is two lanes, with no shoulders and multiple low-water crossings.
Attendees were upset to learn that there’s not much officials can do to stop it. Because the site lies outside both Austin’s and Dripping Springs’ jurisdictions, Hays County will be the entity eventually approving or denying the permit. They’re at an impasse for now, with critical permit applications not yet submitted. If the application meets all legal standards, they have a mandate to approve it.
“Somebody throws a cigarette butt out, there’s a traffic jam, a fire starts. Imagine the casualties.” – Richard Sorenson with Fitzhugh Neighbors
So far, the county’s transportation department has already accepted the developer’s traffic impact analysis, which describes how the project would affect county roads – though many advocates and Commissioner Walt Smith have serious qualms. The TIA “shows unacceptable delays in every nearby intersection analyzed, with no real mitigation proposed other than providing turn lanes on one intersection and traffic police at each concert event,” noted the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance‘s Mike Clifford. He also pointed out that the already slammed intersection of Fitzhugh Road and U.S. Hwy. 290 was not analyzed.
“Public safety is my greatest worry,” Smith wrote in a letter to constituents last week. “After discussions with our Emergency Service Districts and public safety officials, it’s clear they share my concerns over their ability to access or leave the proposed facility in an emergency.” Smith is requesting a third-party review of the TIA.
Because Travis County Commissioner Ann Howard is not voting on the project, she was able to speak more freely to address the crowd’s outrage: “It would be nice if you didn’t beat up the messenger so much, because I’m here because I don’t want this project. What my esteemed colleagues are sharing with you is the reality we live in as local county governments.” Once the crowd grasped that there was no application to approve or deny, and that it’s likely to be approved anyway, about half of them left.
This article appears in October 6 • 2023.