The Hill Country Pregnancy Care Center has abandoned plans to place its facility at 507 Frey Street. Photo by Linda Byrne

The Hill Country Pregnancy Care Center has chosen to seek a permanent home at a less controversial site than the embattled location at 507 Frey St.

The controversy took center stage during the public comment session of a Boerne City Council meeting on Feb. 12, which featured a packed council chambers.

Council members heard comments from those in favor of and opposed to the proposed facility in a residential neighborhood. No one denied that HCPCC’s services are valuable to the community, but instead focused on the appropriateness of a 6,000-square-foot facility in a residential neighborhood and an alleged conflict of interest concerning Councilman Jacques DuBose’s position as a HCPCC board member.

The HCPCC has decided to abandon plans to build on Frey Street because the agency has been unable to reconcile its interests with those of their potential neighbors, a spokesman said.

“It was not our intent to disrupt the community,” said HCPCC board Chairman Richard Goertz. “The board has decided to put the property up for sale and seek a new location.”

Neighbor and outspoken opponent to the facility Ted Maxymof says “the neighbors are happy that the center made this decision,” but he still feels apprehensive about the lack of transparency surrounding the whole process.

Maxymof is particularly concerned about the silence of city attorneys concerning Dubose’s involvement with the organization while also serving as a councilman. He fears that, in light of the upcoming City Council elections, the decision may have more to do with politics than ethics.

Goertz says that the new location may have been a better choice that the board was not aware of when the agency first identified the Frey Street site. He hopes that the hindsight will prove that the facility was never meant to be there.

“God has a plan for us,” he said.

The nonprofit had planned to raze the house at 507 Frey St. and build a new structure with 15 parking places.

Maxymof called the facility “totally inappropriate for our neighborhood,” noting that most of the homes in the area are less than 2,000 square feet.

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. A spokesman said 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.

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.