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It has been seven months since voters approved a venue tax that would generate $192 million for a makeover of the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo grounds with the departure of the Spurs to a new downtown arena in a few years.
But a development agreement has yet to be reached among the parties involved.
Bexar County, the coliseum advisory board, and rodeo officials are still talking about what should be in the agreement well after the election.
The rodeo wants a complex of renovated and new facilities, which includes the Frost Center and Freeman Coliseum, and plenty of room around them, to operate year-round rodeo events and western-themed events once the Spurs move out in a few years.
The grounds are already home to San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo events in February.
But there have also been master plan proposals to roll the Willow Springs Golf Course, hotel and retail space, dining, and affordable housing into the mix.
Precinct 3 County Commissioner Grant Moody brought some of the talk from behind closed doors in executive session and into the open during the commissioners meeting this week.
He said there are conflicting visions for the grounds, when there should be just the one sold to voters in November of 2025.
"As we get into negotiations with our partners at the rodeo ... this is a rodeo first plan and a rodeo first commitment," Moody said.
He said it's the rodeo events that will be the main economic driver for the grounds in the future. While he allowed some room for economically self-sustaining and compatible development, he said there should be no development that would compete against the rodeo interests.
After Moody's remarks, Precinct 4 Commissioner Tommy Calvert said it's clear many still do not believe in investing in the East Side, looking at a repeat of economic promises that never came about after the Spurs moved to the grounds in 2002.
"If we don't put community first, then the community will continue to suffer and will continue to have development as an island. No one really wants that," he said.
Calvert, who represents the East Side, said there's an opportunity for everyone to "win beyond their wildest dreams."
The development agreement talks will continue.
County Judge Peter Sakai directed County Manager David Smith to continue to negotiate on behalf of the county to get a development agreement done.
Precinct 1 County Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores said a sense of urgency needed to be included in the negotiations.
