The property at 507 Frey has been purchased for the Hill Country Pregnancy Care Center, but neighbors say the facility would interfere with the character of their neighborhood. Photo by Jonathan Nolte

The Hill County Pregnancy Center has plans to build a new facility at 507 Frey St., but many neighbors say they do not want it in their back yard.

A Boerne City Council meeting on Feb. 12 became a hotbed of controversy as dozens of community members packed council chambers to discuss the construction of a new building for the local charity.

Neighbor Ted Maxymof called the 6,000 square-foot facility “totally inappropriate for our neighborhood,” noting that most of the homes in the area are less than 2,000 square feet. Maxymof is concerned that the building will not look like a house and will detract from the ambiance of the neighborhood.

The center is a faith-based, non-denominational affiliate of Care Net that offers free counseling, education, pregnancy tests, education, baby necessities and referrals to other services to Hill Country women who face a crisis pregnancy. HCPCC board Chairman Richard Goertz said that the organization has a track record of being a “good neighbor” wherever it has gone. Ed McClure of Ye Kendall Inn joined a chorus of Boerne community members speaking in favor of the center, noting that 701 women received its services last year.

The center opened in 1987 on South Main, later moved to North Main and now resides in a converted three-bedroom house on Pine View. Goertz said that the center has always rented space and recently purchased the affordable property on Frey Street it hopes to call home.

HCPCC is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit and therefore had to acquire permission from the Boerne Planning and Zoning Commission and then City Council before building on the Frey Street property because the area is zoned for residential development. P&Z recently voted 7-0 in favor of the center but neighbors have mobilized in opposition.

Goertz promised that the center would be discreet and quiet, keeping regular business hours and tucking a small parking lot in behind the building. He said the center sees about one client per hour, making its traffic impact on the area negligible.

Self-described old-timer Kim Maloy fears that allowing the center into his neighborhood will bring a domino effect of non-residential conversions. “If you open the door to one nonprofit in a neighborhood, it will be harder to close the door on others,” he said before council. Many neighbors, many of whom identified themselves as financial contributors to the HCPCC, joined Maloy’s opposition to the facility. The controversy centered on the appropriateness of such a facility in a residential area.

Goertz said that representatives knocked on neighbors’ doors in recent months and held a town hall meeting at the Assembly of God church down the street in January, but only one person attended. After hearing negative comments from the handful of neighbors who spoke up at last Tuesday’s council meetings, he said the center would do whatever it takes to “reconcile [the neighbors’] expectations with our needs.”

Many at the council meeting expressed feeling that the organization has not been entirely transparent in its dealings. Maxymof called the apparent lack of community involvement a “stealth strategy,” noting that the town hall meeting occurred close to New Year’s when many neighbors were out of town. Maxymof presented to council a petition containing the signatures of 81 neighborhood residents from 65 residences expressing opposition to use of a residential lot by a 501 (c)(3) organization. City communications coordinator Pam Bransford said that this petition means the decision must receive a super majority of at least four votes from council to pass.

Further controversy surfaced as Janice Maxymof announced that Councilman Jacques DuBose is a HCPCC board member. She asked that DuBose recuse himself from the vote, as his involvement in the organization may constitute a conflict of interest. City staff concluded that there is no conflict of interest, as DuBose does not derive any financial benefit from HCPCC.

Councilman Rob Ziegler raised concerns that, while DuBose’s involvement in the organization is not a legal concern, it may pose and ethical predicament.

The council tabled the topic for later discussion.