City of San Antonio officials want more public input on a planned downtown sports and entertainment district, even as the full cost of the project and funding sources have yet to be determined.
On Thursday, City Manager Erik Walsh said the city has contracted with San Antonio-based planning and architecture firm Able City to come up with a community engagement plan to solicit feedback from San Antonio residents.
The input will be used to develop guiding principles for every phase of the sweeping overall project to transform Hemisfair and the surrounding area into a sports and entertainment district anchored by a $1 billion Spurs arena.
The city and county signed a memorandum of understanding with the Spurs organization in April that put the development wheels in motion.
Renderings released by the city at the time show the arena centering expansive public and private development to include a new hotel tower, a performing arts venue, a land bridge, an enlarged convention center and upgrades to the Alamodome.
District 1 Councilwoman Sukh Kaur said during a runoff debate hosted by the Report on Wednesday that a community engagement plan should have been started back in November. But she supports moving the Spurs downtown as long as other issues are addressed with the project, including infrastructure and affordable housing needs.
“We’ve been working throughout the spring to update that and come back to the council with a good final estimate of a potential cost that would be funded with the hotel occupancy tax,” Walsh said.
“So I know that there may be folks that think this is done — far from it,” he added. “There’s a lot of work that needs to be done.”
The two-phase communication engagement plan calls for public input sessions run similar to a design charrette, a collaborative planning process often used in the architecture world that involves stakeholders in coming up with a master plan for a project.
A two-day design charrette will be held in each of the 10 council districts.
The charrettes will be designed to gather opinions on design and fan experience but also to solicit concerns from various stakeholders on everything from affordable housing and infrastructure to public spaces, vehicle parking and how the project is funded.
In addition, a survey in English and Spanish will be posted to a city web page that provides documents and other information about the project. Sign up for updates here: saspeakup.com/sportsdistrict.
A second phase of the engagement plan would establish guiding principles in terms of the public spaces and expectations the public has around potential development in that area.
Meeting dates and more details will be provided to City Council and the public in June, along with an economic impact analysis of the potential project, Walsh said.
While several means for funding the project have been revealed in recent weeks, including a Public Financing Zone and a Spurs contribution, a full framework for exactly how the city plans to pay for it is expected in July.
Walsh said he’s already heard San Antonio residents asking at neighborhood meetings why a new Spurs arena is needed — or why it wasn’t built 10 years ago.
“It’s somewhere in the middle, and I think that’s why we’re going to go through this community engagement and get everyone’s [input] and report back to the council,” he said.
English (US) ·