by WES FERGUSON
A Kyle dentist is fighting the dismissal of his lawsuit against Austin Community College’s planned expansion into the Kyle-Buda area.
Ray Wolbrecht is trying to stop Austin Community College's North Hays campus in Kyle. Submitted photo.
The “town hall”-style meeting will be held in the council chambers of Kyle’s City Hall.
Last November, voters in Hays CISD voted by a comfortable margin to join the ACC taxing district. But Wolbrecht filed his challenge a month after the election, frustrating plans for ACC’s first campus in Hays County.
When Wolbrecht could not pay a $3 million bond to continue the lawsuit, his case was dismissed. He appealed the dismissal, but on July 27, a three-judge panel rejected the appeal.
On Aug. 11, Wolbrecht applied for a rehearing. No hearing has been scheduled.
ACC’s Hays Campus is planned for 96 acres on Kyle Parkway near Kohler’s Crossing in the commercial portion of the Plum Creek development.
The college had originally proposed a $45.8 million, 72,000-square-foot campus, with a target opening date of August 2013. Following the successful Hays CISD annexation election‚ and the defeat in nearby San Marcos‚ ACC announced plans to expand the Kyle campus to a $55.8 million, 100,000-square-foot facility.
However, as a result of the legal challenge, ACC was unable to participate in the federal Build America Bonds subsidy program, which would have funded 35 percent of the interest costs for the campus.
The higher borrowing costs will result in a smaller campus for Hays County to the tune of about $10 million, college officials said.
