Pursuit of Mount Edith Park purchase revived

The city of Wimberley is continuing its pursuit of a 288-acre property that is home to Mt. Edith, even after the property was recently sold.

The city had stated its interest in purchasing the property when it was originally for sale in 2019, but the property was sold to another party. However, the city approached the new owners, and last week passed a non-binding agreement stating the city’s intention to purchase the property.

“This letter is an Intent For Sell, which is a contract between the city of Wimberley and the seller of the property with Mt. Edith,” Richard Shaver, parks director for the city of Wimberley, said. “It is currently not for sale. This document would allow us to go out for public and private partnerships to raise funds to be able to purchase real property. This is a non-binding contract, which means both parties can leave the contract at any time.”

This is the first step necessary to continue negotiations for the property while also requesting funds from the recently passed Hays County Parks Bond.

“This project has been looked at for some while,” Hays County Commissioner Lon Shell said. “The city has some great ideas on that, and I’m expecting them to apply. It is obviously a really neat project that would be great for Wimberley.”

A price for the property has not been set, but the agreement allows the city to hire an appraiser to look at the property.

“When I first saw the letter of intent and the concept it is a little overwhelming, because we have so many things going on now,” Wimberley Mayor Gina Fulkerson said. “But it is that long term vision that I didn’t want to get lost or discouraged because this community as done some amazing things together. Just having the letter of intent allows that to be explored and allows this to potentially be saved for our community and green space. It hits on my points that our longterm vision entails… This allows us to open the door to those discussion and further exploration.”

The purchase of Mt. Edith is not on the current list of projects for the park’s bond, so it will have to go through the process to be added during a second round of funding.

Shell said that the county’s park’s bond committee is working on a time line for the projects already on the list and then will accept applications for additional projects. He expected those additional projects to be added to the list for potential funding by late spring or summer.