A new development on Fitzhugh Road — outside of Dripping Springs’ city limits and extraterritorial jurisdiction — has recently caught the attention of many area residents.
The development is a proposed outdoor music and events venue to be located at 14820 Fitzhugh Road. The Fitzhugh Music Venue, as it is being called, is an effort by Blizexas LLC and parent company Lexor Investments to bring a highquality, 5,000-capacity venue to the area. However, some nearby residents — including those living in Shield Ranch and Cypress Creek Ranch — see this kind of development as “unwanted.” 'Plain and simple, this is just a bad idea,” said concerned neighbor Carrie Napiorkowski. “Nobody in this community wants this concert venue here. We just don't think it is a good idea to put thousands of cars on Fitzhugh Road for concerts multiple times a week.”
Napiorkowski, a member of the newly founded Stop Fitzhugh Concert Venue coalition, said she sees the effort as a serious safety issue. 'It's dark and winding, and when you add alcohol to the mix it can be dangerous,” she explained. “Not to mention the safety of people that live here, what if we need help? What are EMS or fire supposed to do if they're stuck in traffic because of one accident? The road gets clogged up already. That doesn't even begin to get into the noise and light pollution or the potential impact to Barton Creek or wildlife.”
On Nov. 29, a public hearing was held by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to discuss a municipal wastewater permit application proposed by Blizexas. If approved, the permit will provide the new commercial development with its own municipal wastewater service. The venue would serve up to 5,000 people per day up to three times a week for up to six hours, according to the permit.
Although the meeting was intended to allow residents and neighbors to voice their concerns, Napiorkowski said she was unsatisfied.
“Their history and their comments make it quite clear that they have no regard for their neighbors,” she said. “They are putting their own personal profit before people. This is going to disrupt our livelihoods, and they just do not care at all.'
The proposed wastewater disposal system is a subsurface drip dispersal system. This kind of system does not produce discharge and would not require wastewater to leave the site.
According to engineer Erin Banks, it is estimated the venue would use 12,000 gallons of water per day, averaged over a week, from a well installed on the site.
Because the proposed venue is not within the city of Dripping Springs’ purview, regulation and oversight of the facility is less strict than if it fell within the boundaries of a city, Hays County Commissioner Walt Smith (Pct. 4) explained.
“The county really only has regulating authority over five things: platting, floodplain analysis, connections to county roads, fire code and food service licenses,” Smith said. “Because the venue would produce more than 5,000 gallons per day, the wastewater aspect has really been taken out of our hands and given over to the state. Even with the plat — we don’t really have any choice but to accept it, as long as they meet the mandate of approval.”
“In Texas, it’s not ‘do these things, and we’ll consider,’ it’s ‘do and you’re approved,’” he added.
Smith expressed his own concerns with the project.
“They have done a traffic impact study, but there are so many issues and concerns we won’t really know the full scope of until they put on their first event,” he explained. “What will the traffic look like? We don’t really know, but there’s nothing that the county can do. The septic (wastewater) situation is really what will make or break the project at this point.”
For their part, Blizexas is confident they can produce a venue that not only takes residents' concerns into account but also provides an opportunity for even more events in the Dripping Springs area.
“Our development team has a proven track record designing, building, managing, and operating one of the premier outdoor concert facilities in the United States: The Mountain Winery,” said Bill LeClerc, Director of Real Estate Development and Investments at Lexor Investments. “We plan to develop a world class and well-run venue near Dripping Springs that is respectful of our neighbors, the land, and the Hill Country’s unique character.”
“Unlike anything in the Austin area today, this premiere destination will create opportunities for local businesses as well as artists with roots in the community,” he continued. “We continue to work closely with our experienced local project team and local officials to finalize our plans, and we look forward to sharing more details with the community in the coming months.”
