SAN MARCOS, Texas — Neighbors in San Marcos are fighting the city over a a stretch of sidewalk.
Two residents who live on Blevin Street don't want the city to complete it because they said it would kill several heritage live oak trees on Lisa Marie Coppoletta's property.
Two stretches of sidewalk are complete on Blevin Street. The part that isn't finished is the area in front of Coppoletta's house where there are signs, yellow tape, political comments and five heritage live oaks.
"The city wants to come into my yard and place a sidewalk that nobody in our community wants that will result in my trees dying, my heritage live oaks," she told KVUE.
Mary Renteria also lives on Belvin Street. She's the other neighbor the city has heard from who is against the sidewalk.
"I've been here a long time and there was no sidewalk and I never heard anybody complain wanting a sidewalk," Renteria said.
In July, city crews started building a sidewalk the first time.
But Sabas Avila, the assistant director of Public Services for San Marcos, said calls started coming in.
"We did have numerous complaints," he said.
In mid-September, crews ripped it out and started building another sidewalk.
Avila said the point is to make San Marcos a more walkable city.
As for Coppoletta's live oaks, Avila says the city is working with an arborist and has ways around them.
"We will take considerable care through that area. There are numerous mitigation measures we are putting in place, one being that we are going to reduce the width of the sidewalk," he said.
That's not good enough for Coppoletta.
"It's very frustrating because these are heritage live oaks that have been here before our nation was founded," she said.
Coppoletta said she doesn't want construction on her property because she has Native American artifacts that have been discovered on her land. She's also concerned about potential flooding that a sidewalk could cause for her and her neighbors.
But as of right now, Avila said construction to finish that sidewalk in front of Coppoletta's house is still scheduled for November.
For more information about sidewalk projects in San Marcos, click on the links below.
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