HAYS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — Tucked away off U.S. Hwy. 290 in Dripping Springs is Patriots’ Hall, a 10-acre veterans retreat and resource facility under development. The vision behind the campus was to create a centralized location where veterans and their families could connect with education and employment resources, workshops and classes, benefits assistance as well as meet and commune with others who have served.
At the heart of the facility is its planned outdoor recreation space, comprising the majority of the campus’ acreage and the future home of Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant hiking trails, equine therapy, obstacle courses, campgrounds and other amenities. But that outdoor space could be in limbo as the Texas Department of Transportation conducts a feasibility study on U.S. Hwy. 290 from Oak Hill to Dripping Springs.
“We surveyed hundreds and hundreds of veterans [asking] what do they need — they need outdoor spaces for mental stability and those sorts of things, and need outdoor spaces so that the families can come to and be a part of what the magic is that’s happening here at the Patriots Hall,” said Jeff Wells, a Patriots’ Hall board member and veteran. “And these buildings don’t work without the outdoor spaces.”
Patriots’ Hall is set to debut its entire veterans campus to the public this summer. Currently, the site is home to the meeting hall for the American Legion and VFW posts of Dripping Springs, which was completed in January 2021.
Its upcoming opening comes amid widespread community support for the project. Hays County voters approved allocating $1.5 million to the site’s outdoor space via the county’s 2020 parks bond.
Both Wells and Patriots’ Hall’s president Kathryn Chandler stressed this project isn’t just in benefit of Hays County residents; Texas is home to the most veterans in the country, and the strip between Fort Hood and San Antonio is a critical concentration of veterans.
“[The region] is just really dense with veterans and we’re right in the middle, which is really cool,” Chandler said. “This community has been amazing. We started fundraising during COVID, and you know, supply chains and this and that, and we’re just getting there. Thanks to this community, they made this happen.”
Patriots’ Hall is one of nearly 100 properties that could potentially be impacted if the proposal moves ahead as presented. For the veterans site, it could lose its six-to-seven acres of green space if current ideas move forward.
TxDOT will host a public hearing Tuesday evening from 6 to 8 p.m., held at the Dripping Springs Ranch Event Center at 1042 Event Center Drive in Dripping Springs. The department is accepting public feedback through Feb. 6. online, via email at US290W@gmail.com or by sending a letter to the following address:
TxDOT Austin District Office
Attn: Solomon Bekele, P.E., PMP
P.O. Box 15426
Austin, TX 787861
Chandler said she hopes proposed designs change so the facility can continue to aid Central Texas veterans and inspire the creation of similar campuses elsewhere.
“Patriots’ Hall as a vision, we’re hoping it’s a flagship,” she said.
Wells added his wish is that presenting alternative solutions to TxDOT will help Patriots’ Hall to remain intact for generations to come.
“They always told us in the military, ‘Don’t ever bring a problem without a solution,'” he said. “And so that’s what we’re trying to work through now are possible solutions rather than complain about it. We just want to figure out something that works where we can still preserve this space for the veterans.”
In an email to KXAN, a TxDOT spokesperson said the department is continuing to gather feedback on the proposal to assist in project development.
“Nothing has been decided and nothing is final yet,” the spokesperson said, adding additional meetings are planned in the future.
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