Evolving Boerne A planning team envisions big opportunities in small-town environment
June 5, 2008
By Linda Byrne, Editor

There was one hot spot of intensity on Boerne's Main Street on Sunday night as a quiet Hill Country evening slipped into night.

A group of architects, UTSA architecture students and city facilitators bustled like busy bees around the detritus of four days of visioning a "regenerative" Boerne.

In a room strewn with drafting paper, watercolors, photocopies, architectural renderings, comment boards and other symbols of their craft, the planners put the finishing touches on their work. They hustled to produce a rough draft of their findings and recommendations for a livable Boerne that should serve the city in the 21st century.

The team focused on the three Cs—the central business district, Cibolo Creek and the new city campus on North Main.

"More than 700 people have voiced their opinion," said Ben Adam, co-chair of the Regional/Urban Design Assistance Team steering committee, as weeks of dialogue came to a close. "We have enlarged the circle to include more participants."

Architects and landscape architects from Tempe, Ariz., Salt Lake City, Utah; Albuquerque, New Mexico, Little Rock, Ark., and Baltimore, Md., descended on Boerne over the weekend to lend their expertise in the RUDAT process.

A Friday night town hall meeting drew more than 100 people, about 30 of whom offered their comments to the RUDAT panel.

Guy Chipman, who said he's spent 50 years selling real estate in the Boerne area, said he was excited to see a planning process that reaches out to the residents.

"We need a balance of professional people and ordinary citizens in the planning process. Builders and developers have an agenda, but we need ordinary people who have to live with what they come up with on all these (governing) boards," he said.

"Let's keep the old German atmosphere that we started with and build on it and keep (Boerne) desirable."

Judy Musgrove recommended planners maintain Texas aesthetics, saying she wanted the out-of-state visionaries to understand that "Texans are serious about being a Texan."

One of the qualities Musgrove values is preserving open space and Hill Country vistas.

"I have seen the mistakes that selling out to business and growth cause," she said. "It's real important that this be done right, with the right spirit."

Sharon Benedict called for an emphasis on the arts and parks and said the city could benefit from being an arts destination.

"Your challenge is to translate this to our city officials. Give us a beautifully wrapped package to present to them," she said.

Andrea Wood said she lives in a historic house in a transition area that's "not going to be residential in 10 years. What are the incentives for the next person to keep it the way it is?" Craig "Griz" Adams said Boerne is divided over the issue of growth and there's a fear of what will be lost. "This town is split and we're at each others' throats. The rate of growth and high gas prices are going to reshape Boerne. Future generations will live differently than we do, but that's not entirely bad," he said.

Tom Dashiell, who owns property on North Main, cautioned that a vibrant city must include more than just the heart of Boerne's commercial area.

"Nobody pays attention to the area north and south; it's not just four blocks downtown," he said. RUDAT head architect James Abell earlier laid the framework for the team's challenge, saying the excessive consumption of the 20th century must give way to a sustainable approach. "If the entire world lived like Americans, we would need the resources of six Planet Earths," he told the town hall attendees.

Late Sunday night, as he looked back on a weekend at the drawing board, Abell was optimistic that Boerne will embrace the team's recommendations.

"Doesn't the Bible say that to be fishers of men, you need really good bait?" he quipped. He suggested Boerne residents are intelligent and savvy enough to take the team's ideas and implement them, much as the residents of another RUDAT effort have done in Lake Havasu City, Ariz.

There, where a McCulloch chain saw tycoon built a city around the old London Bridge, the RUDAT team vision for a "Freedom Bridge" to complement the ancient, crumbling structure took root.

"They didn't buy the whole enchilada, but they've been snacking on it ever since. They've made so much progress," Abell said.

He said a RUDAT "wellness visit" in about six months will help team leaders gauge the effectiveness of what was surely a labor of love for a city poised to experience a new chapter in its colorful history.

"Sometimes, it's good to aim high and challenge people," Abell said.

END

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