San Marcos City Council gets final FY2026 CIP update; failing Cape Road bridge may need environmental mitigation

Sean Condor, the city’s engineering and capital improvements director, told the San Marcos City Council on Sept. 2 that the proposed fiscal year 2026 Capital Improvements Program (CIP) is largely unchanged since it was delivered to council in May and will be adopted with the FY2026 budget at the council’s next meeting.

Condor laid out the CIP schedule for council members, saying staff prepared the draft in the fall, took it to the neighborhood commission and Planning & Zoning in the spring and returned a final draft to council in May. "We'll formally adopt it with the budget at the next meeting," Condor said.

The presentation included a project-by-project funding summary. Condor reported the FY26 CIP dollar totals as presented to council: General Fund $11,200,000; Stormwater $6.8 million; Water/Wastewater about $86,000,000 (the transcript notes much of that is being funded through a developer agreement for a second wastewater treatment facility identified in the presentation as the FM 1978 water reclamation facility); and Electric about $10,000,000. Condor cautioned these are high-level figures and some amounts may change.

Condor also highlighted a safety and environmental concern on Cape Road where two bridge spans are joined and one span is failing. He said the road is operating in a one-way traffic configuration and "I do expect it to stay in that one-way configuration for at least a year." He warned the project’s critical path is environmental review because the mill race adjacent to the structure contains fountain darter habitat and any required mitigation could affect design and cost. "At a bare minimum, you're looking at $500,000 to $1,000,000," Condor said, while stressing many details remain unknown and further study could increase costs and extend timelines.

Staff told the council the city is using operating funds to cover initial design work and plans to include the project in the 2027 CIP; if funding is needed sooner staff would consider a reimbursement resolution and reallocation from approved but not-yet-started projects. Condor said typical design times would be six to 12 months with construction expected to follow in three to six months once a design is selected.

The presentation also previewed long-range bond planning. Condor presented planning targets and a conceptual schedule that would involve design work in 2027, final direction from council in early 2028, formation of a bond committee in 2028 and a possible bond election in November 2029 with construction starting in 2030. He described that timeline as best-case and high-level; some dollar figures discussed in the presentation were stated conversationally and were not specified precisely in the transcript.

A council member asked whether the Thorpe Lane improvements listed in next year’s CIP include a previously discussed $200,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds. Condor confirmed the $200,000 is CDBG money for the sidewalk portion of the Thorpe Lane project and explained the intersection work at Springtown and Thorpe is funded through a TxDOT grant; the city pays 100% of design and any construction match beyond the grant.

Condor said digital and hard copies of the CIP are available at the city office and library and linked via a QR code, and he paused for questions. Council members praised the clarity of the presentation and noted it is easier administratively when mid-cycle adjustments are limited.

What happens next: The council will consider the CIP for adoption alongside the FY2026 budget at the next council meeting; staff indicated some projects could be shifted into later CIPs depending on bond timing and revenue forecasts.