BUDA — At its March 5 meeting, Buda City Council approved several items, including the potential site design for the Buda Train Depot and the selection of the 2024 Buda Local Legend.
At the regularly scheduled Nov. 8 meeting, council gave direction for city staff to work with the current owner who is donating the structure to the city and proposed locating the Buda Train Depot in the "Greenbelt" near the gazebo. Since then, staff prepared two concepts as potential options for council to consider and the primary difference between the two concepts is the separation between the depot and the railroad easement.
The Buda Train Depot was closed in 1961 and was sold several times. The current location of the train depot is between New Braunfels and San Antonio, according to Assistant Director of Development Services Will Parrish.
“The property owner has offered to provide the building to the city [of Buda] free of charge,” Parrish said. “According to the book ‘People and Places In and Around Historic Buda,’ the depot used to be located in the Greenbelt, or what’s referred to as the ‘Reservation,’ just there where the old library and the current Destination Services Building are located.”
While the building itself has been offered, the city does have to pay for the relocation of the building, construction of a new foundation and the site development process, Parrish explained. The city is in discussions with several contractors to move the building, and is in process of determining the cost of relocation and a new foundation.
“The building does look like it’s in very good shape both inside and out … It retains a lot of the architectural details and original siding materials. Its most recent use was as a vacation rental, but it did operate as a home for quite some time,” Parrish said.
City staff developed two concepts for the proposed Greenbelt location and following discussion on the dais, the city council decided to go with Concept A.
Concept A shows the depot generally backed up as close to the railroad easement as possible, while in Concept B, the depot is pushed approximately 30 feet away from the easement and is located closer to Main Street. Concept A provides more room for a plaza in front of the depot, but limits the ability to construct any improvements at the rear of the depot; Concept B limits the amount of space for a future plaza, but provides more space at the rear of the depot for any future desired improvements.
“Concept A really envisions the space in front of the building being a plaza where there could be small festival events, holiday-related events [and] all kinds of [things] where people could gather,” Parrish said. “This concept does include the idea of on-street parking on Main Street. The negative here is that there’s a lot less space behind the building for any future improvements.”
“I think for the foreseeable future, preserving what we are referring to as the plaza space is more useful for the public when we have parades, gatherings and celebrations,” said council member Matt Smith. “That area catches quite a bit of foot traffic with folks enjoying the grass and the space there. I think for the more immediate future, 10 to 20 years, having it closer to the railroad tracks kind of brings in that old railroad station feel, too … Preserving that front space seems to be most logical to me.”
Council member Paul Daugereau said that he prefers the concept with the plaza idea because the city uses that space, “We get the best of both worlds if we bring this in, have the aesthetic and still have some plaza in front.”
Mayor Lee Urbanovsky questioned if there would be any future reason for the public to need to walk around or back-of-house deliveries at the Buda Train Depot.
Parrish responded that there are not more doors on the railroad side compared to the Main Street side, adding that “staff does understand that there will need to be service access in some way to the building and we contemplated how we would do that in either scenario. Neither scenario would prohibit access to the building for what you are talking about, but one would provide more just general circulation at the rear, and the other would provide more space in the front.”
Mayor Urbanovsky also questioned how the city is going to be able to afford this project.
City Manager Micah Grau said that the preservation of the Buda Train Depot is eligible for the use of Hotel Occupancy Tax funds, which has a healthy fund balance, and the Economic Development Corporation expressed interest in supporting the operation.
“Until we get a better idea on the cost related to the moving and reconstruction, we don’t know until we get finalized costs,” Grau explained. “We’ve had a lot of conversations with potential movers and specialists and the costs are varying dramatically depending on who we talk to and who we get to respond and continue to talk to us, that’s been a problem as well.”
Local Legend
Council also approved the selection of the 2024 Buda Local Legend as Chaplain Donald Muchow, affectionately known as Chaps, who is a retired Rear Admiral — the highest rank held in the Navy. His military service took him from the Vietnam War to the Pentagon. He began his ministry serving as an inner-city missionary in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1964, he was commissioned in the naval reserve and ordered to active duty in 1967; his assignments range from serving on warships to providing combat support to marines, naval hospitals and shore bases, according to agenda documents.
Chaps’ ministry carried him all over the world. He was eventually appointed as the 20th Chief of Chaplains for the U.S. Navy and he served as the Chairman of the Armed Forces Chaplains Board on the staff of the secretary of defense from 1994-1997. Following his military career, he settled in the city of Buda and in 2010, he volunteered to serve as the chaplain at the Buda Police Department when it was first formed and still serves to this day — even though he claimed to have stepped down in 2023.
“I’ve personally known him for a while and I have to just say how excited I am that he is our Buda Local Legend this year. In his prayers, just in the opening of our council meetings when he is doing the invocation and at the prayer breakfast, I think he does an amazing job of just writing beautiful prayers that are also very accommodating for people coming from all different places. It just sets an amazing tone,” said council member Evan Ture. “I think he sets an amazing tone as a person, I’ve seen that over the years, of being very accommodating [and] accepting.”
He also founded, and chaired for many years, the Buda Ministerial Alliance, which is a group of local pastors working collectively together.
The Buda's Local Legend Award recognizes a Buda resident (current or former) who has made an impact on Buda and beyond. This person is selected by the Buda City Council and then celebrated at Buda's Birthday Celebration, which serves as the city’s founder’s day celebration.
“This is something that we started doing in 2022 when we launched the annual Buda’s Birthday, which is a founder’s day celebration, so what better time to celebrate the people of past or present that are making or have made an impact on Buda,” said Director of Destination Services Lysa Gonzales.
The nominations form for the Buda Local Legends was launched on January 26, 2024, and closed on February 28, 2024, and there were a total of 14 nominees:
• Master Sergeant Arturo Ybarra
• Coach Bob Shelton
• David Mariano
• David Patterson
• Debbie Condel
• Dodi Ellis
• Don "Chaps" Muchow
• Guy Forsyth
• Jeska Forsyth
• Lucinda Doyle
• Mark Jones
• Council member Monica Davidson
• Dr. Robert (Bob) Rosebrock
• Judge Sandra Bryant
The first Buda Local Legend was Jim Hollis in 2022. He moved to Buda 42 years ago when the population was less than 500 people. He served as the mayor in the 1980s, has served as the president of the Emergency Services District Board for more than 20 years, is an active member of the Buda Masonic Lodge and has given endless hours of service to his community in numerous organizations and government capacities. He is still living in Buda and remains active on his ranch here in Buda.
The 2023 Buda Local Legend was WC Clark, known as the Godfather of Austin Blues, who toured relentlessly for years, including performances at the Chicago Blues Festival, European Blues Festivals, Ottawa and Toronto Blues Festivals — along with playing at Buda venues regularly. Along the way, he met up with old fans and friends and undoubtedly gained new ones everywhere he plays. He was inducted in the Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2023.
Leaving the hearts of many music lovers and Buda locals empty, Clark died on Saturday, March 2.
“We have a lot of wonderful people that are here in the city of Buda and have made a very wonderful impact and have made Buda a better place because they are in it,” Gonzales said.
Chaps will be recognized as the 2024 Buda Local Legend at the upcoming Buda’s Birthday, scheduled for 3-10 p.m. on Saturday, April 6. For more information, visit www.budaamphitheater.com/budasbday.
