Click here to see our original story, “Are Kyle and Buda a helthy eating desert?”.

By Moses Leos III

Kyle and Buda citizens want healthier options when it comes to eating establishments. 

That was the consensus from over 100 comments on the Hays Free Press Facebook page after we posted the story, “Are Buda and Kyle a healthy eating desert?”  

Comments on citizens not clamoring for healthier options struck a chord with many. 

Amanda Simon Rickman wrote on Facebook that city officials are “out of touch with the city.” 

“Everytime [sic] something is being built, it’s a taco bell [sic] or some other unhealthy chain,” Rickman wrote. She added she “would love to see” a Juiceland, Thundercloud Subs, Chipoltle or Kerbey Lane. 

Buda resident Pauly Littrell wrote that she “rarely” dines out in Buda or Kyle due to the lack of healthy options. 

“Every time we see a new restaurant opening in the Buda/Kyle area, it is a fast food restaurant that we will never visit,” Barbara DeaKyne wrote on Facebook. “So we drive to San Marcos, New Braunfels, or Austin for healthier choices.

If you HAVE to stay local, you can get healthy choices from Longhorn’s, Cracker Barrel, Chic-Fil-A [sic], or Casa Garcia’s.”  

Buda resident Kay Bailey addressed the difficulty to find healthy options on local menus. 

“There are a lot of fried foods, high carbohydrate foods, and foods loaded with fat,” she wrote. “People with diet restrictions have to piece together a meal or eat another salad.” 

On the opposite end, Jayme Waggoner “didn’t think it would be worth a business time or money to invest in Kyle/Buda for this type restaurant [sic] at this time.” 

“Yes, lots of people on here are saying they would like it, but I bet 75% that aren’t even reading this are the ones spending money on fast food, Garcias, and other places,” Waggoner wrote. “You have a lot of families with more than one child. It’s not affordable. The healthy places cost more.” 

Keith Kelso wrote that both fast food, grocers and healthy eating establishments conduct market research prior to opening. He also said they don’t “throw a new location up” and that the city isn’t turning healthy options away. 

While he wrote that a Jason’s Deli would work well, a Sprouts or Whole Foods doesn’t has the demographics to support it. 

“Kyle has a large population now and when they talk about what people really want, it’s not the 100, 2 [sic] or even 300 people that want healthy options. It’s the other 35,000 plus they are referring to,” Kelso wrote. 

But can cities actually say no to a restaurant or store?

Kyle Mayor Todd Webster wrote that city councils could only say “no” in cases where businesses ask for “exemptions or something different than what is permitted in our ordinances.” 

He wrote that Federal law allows property owners to develop as they see fit, which includes developing a business. He said property rights “can be infringed upon by government, but within limits.” 

“In our case, we can pass land use and zoning ordinances but cannot pick and choose between restaurants,” he wrote. “We could probably pass an ordinance that somehow prohibits ‘restaurants’ but I believe that most would find this to be very offensive and is even Constitutionally questionable.” 

As comments continue to pour in, has that changed the way those who recruit businesses think? 

Next week, we’ll ask both the Kyle and Buda Chambers of Commerce, Buda Economic Development Corporation and Kyle Economic Development to gauge their reaction.