Construction strewn across San Marcos is expected to keep popping up, mostly as a way to match the city’s growth.
According to Laurie Moyer, director of engineering and capital improvement for the city of San Marcos, the city is increasing construction in San Marcos to better fortify infrastructure for the city’s growth. Moyer said there are nearly 41 projects currently underway that deal with roadway development.
“I think that one of the council’s strategic initiatives is maintaining and providing additional, affordable housing so that folks who move here that are workforce can purchase a house and have those options available,” Moyer said. “I think that you have to be mindful as you grow that things don’t get too expensive for people to live here.”
Moyer also said some of the private construction is in response to the population growth. Since 2010, the city’s population has grown by an estimated 17,826, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“One of the sources of development is private development coming into the city responding to growth. That’s a lot of the building and construction you see with new apartment complexes,” said Moyer “That is just anticipated growth because of the projected growth over the next 20 years.”
<iframe width=”400″ height=”325″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ src=”https://www.google.com/publicdata/embed?ds=kf7tgg1uo9ude_&amp;ctype=l&amp;strail=false&amp;bcs=d&amp;nselm=h&amp;met_y=population&amp;scale_y=lin&amp;ind_y=false&amp;rdim=country&amp;idim=place:4865600&amp;ifdim=country&amp;hl=en_US&amp;dl=en&amp;ind=false”></iframe> 
Resident John Forssell said the growth is needed and a good thing for the city.
“I think it’s a good thing because of the growth,” Forssell said. “Otherwise, without it, the city would be congested with the traffic and that would be a negative effect on my life as a native to San Marcos.”
Some San Marcos residents have a different view on construction projects taking place in the city. San Marcos resident and environmental activist Lisa Marie Coppolleta said the city’s new developments are detrimental to historic neighborhoods and could result in gentrification.
“All these developments planned around Dunbar, Victory Gardens area and Guadalupe Street… those developments are going to flood out those neighborhoods,” Coppolleta said.
Coppolleta said she is currently experiencing personal problems with the Bishop Sidewalks Improvement project. According to the city of San Marcos the scope of work for this Project includes construction of various improvements to enhance pedestrian and bicycle mobility along the North Bishop Street corridor from Prospect Street to Belvin Street.
Improvements include a proposed five foot permeable paver sidewalk, re-striping of North Bishop Street to include a five foot bicycle lane, and a concrete pad to accommodate a future bus stop.
“During the Bishop’s project my street becomes hostage because it’s one block away. So I’m smelling the fumes, I’m hearing the sounds and all these new people are going down my road and people are used to it being quiet,” Coppolleta said. “Well now they’re about to kill multiple old Oak Heritage trees in my yard.”
Texas State students are also concerned about the growth and construction in San Marcos. Autumn Dunam, a sophomore at Texas State, said the construction on campus is not bad but it can be a problem when in the city.
“I don’t think it’s too much of a hassle on campus, but I do recognize it has led to a lot of traffic, especially where I live,” Dunam said.
Information regarding current and upcoming development projects in San Marcos can be found at sanmarcostx.gov under the Engineering and Capital Improvements tab.