In a combined meeting with members of the Karnes County Economic Development Corporation and the Kenedy 4B Corporation on March 25, the Kenedy City Council sought to come to an agreement on the best way to proceed with the purchase and development of approximately 152 acres located behind the new Wal-Mart store on Highway 181.

The price per acre is $2,750 with a total cost to be somewhere between $445,900 and $592,000.

"Everybody involved had approved the initial contract," said Kenedy City Attorney Craig McAda.

But one of the main topics under discussion at this meeting was the infrastructure and how it should be financed among the parties involved. That would be connecting the sewer lines, opening and paving the streets, water connections and all other basics needed in an infrastructure, on-site and off-site.

The developer of the property said there would be single unit housing, seventeen homes on one acre lots to be built first, multi-family housing and businesses like a day-care center and others. The seventeen homes would begin Phase 1, which has a two-part development plan - Phase 1A and 1B. But it was reported that the need for a master plan, particularly involving the sewer lines and water lines was of utmost importance. It was suggested that SARA (San Antonio River Authority) could help with the master plan at little or no cost to the city if asked.

Walter Hill, Jr., speaking for the Karnes County Economic Development Corporation, referred to reading back over previous meetings’ records beginning around the startup in 2003 and 2004 of the KCEDC and realizing that there had been a lot of discussion and oral decisions made, but that there had not been any formal agreement made or signed by the entities that are now involved in the present discussions.

The main concern is who will pay what and how the city of Kenedy will help finance the project. At the present, the 4B Corporation pays one third and because of tax benefits of the development to the City of Kenedy, it has been designated to pay two thirds. The KCEDC gets contributions from four cities - Falls City, Karnes City, Kenedy and Runge, and Karnes County as a whole also contributes.

Because the actual closing on the property has not happened, City Attorney Craig McAda said, "It is hard to figure total dollar amounts at this time that would obligate Kenedy now and in the future and this is my concern."

He said that there had been two agreements that had been "kicked around" but never signed at the time, but "one is a simple plan that all could more than likely agree to sign."

As for wording in the document, it was discussed to change percentage to proportion. A motion was made and seconded for the signing of a partnership draft document for Kenedy City Council, the KCEDC and 4B Corporation. The motion passed.

When the subject of paying the infrastructure costs came up, Councilman Ken Reiley said that he didn’t see how the council, in good faith and to be responsible to the citizens of Kenedy, could sign anything without having solid numbers as to what in the future the citizens and other future City Councils would be obligated to pay.

Again, there was an urgent plea to get something on paper for the developer to be able to go ahead and get started on the Phase 1 of the project.

Councilman Felipe Leal asked for and received a breakdown of what each city and the county had contributed so far to the Economic Development Corporation.

Councilman Bob Patton said he would like to see a bottom line as to the percentages for all involved in the project.

All of the council members expressed that they did not want the project to go sour or not go forward, but they want more concrete figures to work with at this time.

"This property development is our future," Mayor Randy Garza said.

With the advice from the city attorney and agreement among the council members, he then stated that he would designate a committee to be made up of members from each of the corporations present and the City Council, and have them meet to get a better idea of the bottom line of the project’s cost and percentages for each.

When this is done, the committee will report back to the council so they can take action for the project to go forward.

cpassmore@thecountywide.com