Kyle City Council denies sportsplex bond for November ballot

KYLE — Kyle City Council voted to not bring a bond for the indoor sportsplex at its Aug. 6 meeting, following a discussion on potential phasing and funding.

Assistant city manager Jesse Elizondo announced at the beginning of his presentation that city staff wanted to give a more detailed and in-depth look at the conceptual design of the Kyle Sportsplex project. Despite presenting the design at the previous council meeting on July 16,  this presentation was aimed at discussing phases, potential funding plans and the probable construction costs.

The amenities that the city categorized in the potential phase one were the full championship field, youth multi-use field, tennis and pickleball courts, shuffleboard courts, volleyball courts, a parking lot, plaza, splash pad, the indoor recreation center and adjacent facilities and Cromwell Street. These facilities would be funded through several bonds and other funding. The first being the $65 million 2024 general obligation bond, if approved by voters, and the existing $14 million from the 2020 general obligation bond. A Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone and $19 million in additional existing funding would fill in the remaining amount, bringing the total funding to $98 million for phase one.

Stantec Consulting Services, which has been aiding the city on this project, gave an opinion of probable construction cost, which included “a high-level overview of the anticipated costs,” of $99,378,378.

The second potential phase consisted of another full multi-use field, full soccer and baseball hybrid field, full multi-use combination fields, youth multi-use field, covered basketball courts, a playground, exercise station, a parking lot, plaza, detention pond, Vybe Trail and a pedestrian tunnel under FM 1626.

“The idea of having an indoor sportsplex is a project that I very much believe in from a fiscal responsibility standpoint given that we need to build a recreation facility for our residents. But as time has gone on, I have started to poke holes in our process and my thought process and have come to the conclusion that now is not the right time to be going to bond for an indoor sportsplex,” said council member Bear Heiser.

Council member Robert Rizo agreed with this sentiment, stating that the process has felt rushed and that the city has failed to properly communicate with the residents on the project.

On the opposite side was Mayor Travis Mitchell, who believes that the need for sports infrastructure is “the most pressing need” in the city: “[If we wait], that’s a whole other generation of kids that misses the chance to compete here, locally, in a sports facility using that infrastructure … I very much would like to see us not give up on the sportsplex, which is the way it feels.”

“We have to come down back to earth, to the reality of the financial situations our residents are facing. We are going through an inflation issue. We have $3.20 gallon of gas [and] prices are going up. There’s numerous events going around town where people are needing shoes and backpacks for our kids. So, families are struggling and people are having a hard time. Sometimes you have to really look at this and evaluate … and [ask], ‘is this the right time for something like this,’” council member Michael Tobias emphasized.

In response to council member Daniela Parsley’s request to receive community feedback at an upcoming council meeting, city manager Bryan Langley said that they could begin public outreach and present the results at a future council meeting in a few months.

According to Elizondo, due to a contract with Stantec Consulting Services, the master planning of the sportsplex site will still continue, but they can combine it with the Parks Master Plan and look at public outreach. Afterwards, the council will be presented with results of what staff has identified and potential plans for projects that could be done with the existing $33 million in funding.

Both Tobias and council member Miguel Zuniga noted that there are parks within the city that have a lack of upkeep that have the potential to be revitalized, with the use of the funding, instead of building a complex.

“What I’m hearing is let us do some of this master planning work, come back with a schedule and some options of how to proceed and we’ll be glad to do that with the public input … And that will give [Parks and Recreation Director David] Lopez a little time to give you his plan for the park system,” said Langley.

Council elected to take no action except to confirm that no bond will be called for the November election.

To listen to the discussion, visit bit.ly/3yyTD0Y.