SAN MARCOS, Texas — Nearly six months after a deadly fire tore through part of the Iconic Village Apartments in San Marcos, crews have started knocking the damaged buildings down.
Neighbors told KVUE demolition began at the apartment complex on Ramsay Street and Clark Street earlier this month.
The fire on July 20, 2018 killed five people and displaced at least 200 residents.
Investigators believe someone set the fire intentionally.
Will Malley, who lives next door to the apartment complex, remembers that day like it was yesterday.
"We ran outside, only to see the Iconic Village Apartments actually on fire," he said. "It was honestly, probably, one of the scariest things I had seen in a while. A lot of people were just jumping out of windows...just really trying any way just to get away from the fire."
Earlier this month, the owner of the apartment complex, San Marcos Green Investors, LLC, submitted an application for the reinstatement of non-conforming rights to the city's zoning board.
If approved, it would give the owner the green light to rebuild all 60 of the units that were burned in the fire.
The rebuilt units would fully comply with the city's current building and fire safety codes and multi-family design standard codes. Additionally, existing buildings within the proposed construction plan will be refitted with interconnected smoke alarm systems, fire extinguishers in each apartment unit and building alterations to slow the spread of fire to improve fire safety and bring the structures into better compliance with current codes. New sidewalks and other pedestrian facilities will also be included, as well as storm water quality and control facilities.
Additionally, the owners are asking the city's zoning board to reinstate the following non-conforming aspects of the properties that were in effect before the 2018 fire:
- Permit the reconstruction of a project that exceeds the base zoning density of 24 units per acre.
- Permit the reconstruction and restriping of the non-conforming parking area.
- Permit the reconstruction of the units reflecting improved, but not full, compliance with the current multi-family design standards.
- Permit other minor areas of non-conformity to allow for the reconstruction indicated on the attached conceptual plan.
Malley thinks rebuilding on the site of so much loss is a bad idea.
"I mean, everyone's lives that were just ruined by that fire, to have just the thought of, 'Oh, we're going to rebuild it and people are going to want to live here again,' that's horrible," he said.
Instead, he hopes the owner turns the site into a memorial for the victims.
"I couldn't think of anything worse than to build on something that really should just be torn down and left as a memorial to what happened that day," he said.
The owner will face the city's zoning board on Jan. 17.
There is still a $10,000 reward from investigators for any information about who may have set the fire.
You can view the full agenda packet on the potential reconstruction below:
