Kerrville Clears The Texan Truck Stop and Shelves Its Tivy Mountain Purchase

Kerrville's city council made two decisions Tuesday night, Oct. 13, that point the same way: spend where it brings a return, and stop spending where it doesn't. The council approved permits for a big truck stop off Interstate 10. It also agreed to back away from a years-long effort to acquire Tivy Mountain.

The Texan comes to Highway 16 and I-10

According to the city's agenda packet, "The Texan Store" plans a convenience store with auto fuel and a truck stop with truck fueling on 12.4315 acres at Highway 16 North and I-10. Most of the land is in the Whiskey Springs planned development district. A small piece is zoned general commercial, where an Exxon station once stood.

Under the city's code the project needed three conditional use permits. Two of them exist because the property sits about 325 feet from the 100-year floodplain. The code bans fuel sales within 100 feet of the floodplain and requires a permit within 500 feet. The council took up the requests as Resolutions 51-2026 and 52-2026.

The conditions in the packet say truck parking can't be expanded without city approval. Screening is required if validated noise complaints come in and continue. The packet notes that the site will have no shower, laundry or lounge, which should discourage overnight parking. It also says no homes are next to the site. Staff recommended approval, and the Planning & Zoning Commission had recommended it unanimously.

On the city's meeting video, a council member said elevation mattered more than distance from the floodplain. A representative for the project said about 30 feet of fill is being added (that figure comes from the video; the packet does not give one), and that stormwater will be piped to a central tank with a filter system before it reaches the Whiskey Springs stormwater system. Both resolutions passed, with no opposition heard on the video. MySA reported the vote as unanimous.

MySA also reported that at a Sept. 3 Planning & Zoning meeting, the developer, Brian Dlugosch, put the projected investment at $7 million to $10 million once the site is fully developed.

Tivy Mountain goes back on the shelf

The city's resolution list shows that in December 2025 the council adopted Resolution 40-2025 for the "Acquisition of Tivy Mountain and Joseph Tivy Cemetery." This week's agenda item came from Councilmember Kent McKinney. It called for continuing the acquisition of Tivy Mountain to keep a memorial cemetery and develop a park honoring Captain Joseph A. Tivy and his family. Staff simply asked council for direction.

Opening the discussion, a council member said on the video that the matter had been hanging for years, that time and money had been spent without getting anywhere, and that after two floods he did not think the city had money for it. He suggested tabling it indefinitely and spending no more money.

Another council member noted that the property appraised for a significant amount even though it is steep, can't be built on and has four graves on top.

Former council member George Baroody, the only citizen speaker on the item, urged the council to stop the work altogether. He said a park would need "at least a million dollar road" to reach the top, and that the school district still uses the hill as it always has.

The council was reminded that because the purchase had been authorized by resolution, the right step is to rescind that resolution. By consensus, members agreed to bring it back at a future meeting to do so.

Also on the agenda

The consent agenda included canceling the Nov. 24 and Dec. 22 meetings, the city's 2027 legislative priorities, and a $370,900 contract with BRZ Coatings for the Riverhill Elevated Storage Tank. The meeting opened with a proclamation naming October Fire Prevention Month and a certificate recognizing Jeffrey Brown of Playhouse 2000. During the citizens forum, residents spoke against the city's license plate reader cameras. That issue was not on the agenda, so the council took no action on it.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the truck stop's distance from the floodplain and its elevation. According to the city's agenda packet, the property is about 325 feet from the 100-year floodplain, not just under 500 feet. On the meeting video, a project representative said about 30 feet of fill is being added; the earlier version said the fuel station would sit nearly 50 feet above the floodplain.

Hero photo: Larry D. Moore / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (license).