News

WAG Rescue is Wimberley’s own Dog Rescue.  They take in abandoned, neglected, unclaimed and surrendered dogs and puppies in and around the Wimberley Area, and they need help.

Summer is typically the slowest time of the year for dog adoptions.  Families are on summer break, taking vacations, and traveling - not a time when they are looking to add a dog or puppy to their family.  Unfortunately, it’s also the time when more dogs are found, abandoned, or turned in to shelters and rescues.

WAG Rescue is full.  Until their existing dogs are adopted or placed in Foster Homes, they are not able to take in more dogs.  So they are asking for your help.

To hastened recovery of the Blanco River and its tributaries, Texas Parks and Wildlife has given away close to 15,000 riparian plants.  Like much else in town, efforts were hampered by our wettest spring on record.  Most vexing  - the last batch of plants, about 3600 in all, were cut off from the community by the swollen Blanco River - stranded at Montessino Ranch.  Recently, Hays County Master Naturalists retrieved the remaining plants by driving most of the way to San Marcos and back to Wimberley via Fulton Ranch Road.  Two additional public giveaways made a big dent in what was left.  Homes for the “orphans” were then found at Jacob’s Well and local community river parks.  Now all the plants are where they need to be - in the ground protecting and beautifying our beloved waterways.  Special thanks to all of the many area Master Naturalist who assisted with the many events held betw

Hays County home values rose by 9.27 percent last year and the county’s overall preliminary market value for 2016 shot up to $21.69 billion, an increase of 12.79 percent compared to $19.23 billion in 2015, figures released by the Hays County Appraisal District (HCAD) indicate.

The appraisal district will begin mailing appraisal notices to some 86,300 property owners Monday. The deadline to protest the appraisal is July 6.

Chief Appraiser David Valle said the biggest increase came in multi-family housing, which jumped by 28.21 percent, from $1.17 billion in 2015 to $1.50 billion this year. “This increase was due to new construction, completion of new apartment projects and a strong demand for multi-family housing,” he said.

Commercial and industrial property grew in value by 14.3 percent, from $1.84 billion last year to $2.10 billion this year.

The Merritt Senior Housing project that has been proposed to go in behind Brookshire Brothers may have hit a snag – although it is still too early to tell for sure.

The project is built around a specific type of federal funding that allots tax credits which can be sold to help finance the project. In return for the tax credits, the facility agrees to certain quantities and levels of affordable housing in this case for seniors.

Only one senior facility will receive the funding boost in this region this year, and the proposal in Wimberley has stiff competition.

It appears that the applications for the projects in Wimberley and Hutto have accumulated the same amount of points, which go a long ways towards determining which facility will get the funding.

The Barton Springs Edward Aquifer Conservation District finished redistricting to finalize which board member will represent the Wimberley area. 

In short, three districts expanded to incorporate the areas BSEACD annexed under House Bill 3405, which was passed by the Texas Legislature to clarify regulations for the Trinity Aquifer east of Wimberley. 

One precinct will group San Marcos, Kyle and Buda together as an “urban corridor.”

Another will group together the Niederwald area as the Edwards Aquifer rural area. 

Precinct 1 will be the rural area east of Wimberley that largely uses the Trinity Aquifer.  The precinct will stretch north to Manchaca and east to San Marcos. 

It’s summertime and school is out. WISD’s school year had triumphs and tribulations. There are many things to be proud of, most of all the achievement of the students. 

“The One Act play went to Regionals, the UIL Social Science Academic team participated at the state level, and band won sweepstakes…(and) the band had no facility and were homeless for a while. They had a lot of obstacles to overcome,” said Superintendent Dwain York.

“The football team had to overcome injuries and challenges (like the floods), and went deep in the playoffs after losing their first six games.” He continued, “54 percent of graduating seniors had a Grade Point Average of 3.0 or better, 15 percent had a 3.5 to 4.0 and 15 percent had 4.0 or better.” Two of the graduates will be attending Harvard and Stanford, while 10 graduates committed to the armed forces.

Count on music, tasty light refreshments, a new garden to admire, fresh paint and carpet in the lobby and some dramatic surprises at the Wimberley Playhouse sure to create an appreciative buzz. 

The theater improvements will be celebrated on Friday June 10 from 6:00 – 7:30 at the Playhouse, 450 Old Kyle Road.  The project was made possible by a matching grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts, and the enthusiastic response of donors to make the match. Jim Bob McMillan, deputy director of the Texas Commission on the Arts, will be a special guest at the grand open house event.

“Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything,” said the Greek philosopher Plato centuries ago. It is still very true. 

Learning music and enjoying it at an early age is what Hill Country Music Together is all about. Petra Soltis is the accredited music instructor of the international organization Music Together. Music Together is an internationally recognized, research-based and developmentally appropriate early childhood music program. By emphasizing actual music experiences rather than concepts about music, Music Together introduces children to the pleasures of making music instead of passively receiving it from CDs or TV. 

The Wimberley City Council and three local businesses have been threatened with a lawsuit over the handling of the proposed wastewater treatment facility and the contamination of Cypress Creek.

Peter Way sent a “Notice of Intent to Sue” to each councilmember and three businesses on the Wimberley Square stating that coliform concentrations, and E. Coli “increase substantially near to and downstream of the RR12 crossing (over Cypress Creek) in Central Wimberley” that “far exceeds the standard for primary contact recreation.”

“It is unacceptable that this collection of antiquated cesspools and partially operable septic systems continues to put the health of recreational users at risk,” the letter continues. “And it violates federal law.”

The Ad Hoc Wastewater Review Committee was appointed by Wimberley Mayor Mac McCullough last week. The committee met for the first time last Thursday evening and will have 30 days to review the plan for the proposed wastewater treatment facility.

Committee members are Chris Oddo, Gail Pigg, Grady Burnette, Mike Stevens, David Glenn and John Urban.

McCullough said that he tried to select a new group of citizens as opposed to recreating the previous stakeholder committee for wastewater. He also wanted to give them autonomy.