Kerrville
Folk Festival Facilities Plan
This plan is being developed to give engineers
pertinent information to develop a drainage plan for Quiet
Valley Ranch. In
addition, this plan will serve as a Facilities Master Plan for
the festival to be used for infrastructure development. We
can do a lot better job planning water, electrical, etc. if we
know what and where we are going to build.
A complete master plan would have much more detail that
what we are going to create here.
The results of this project could become part of a
master plan later. There
have been preliminary discussions with Texas A&M about
creation of a master plan as class project, but nothing
specific.
Facility plans are always subject to change and do
change periodically. But
at least we have something to work from as we do future
planning. A
facility plan is conceptual.
There is no need to work out the details of specific
projects now if those projects are many years from fruition.
It has been suggested that this plan should be
Kerrville
50 what we want the festival to look like on its 50th
anniversary 15 years from now.
Anyone with suggestions to include on the facility plan
should submit their ideas below.
Those suggestions will be forwarded to the facility
plan committee. We
believe that we will be able to create a bulletin board that
is accessible form the festival web page.
On about July 15th they will be compiled
into a report that will be posted.
From July 15th until August 15th
we will ask the facility plan committee to prepare a plan that
will be submitted to appropriate boards for consideration.
We will ask the boards to approve or amend the plan by
the end of the Wine and Music Festival.
Since 2003, a Permaculture plan has been under
development by participants and teachers of several design
certification courses using Quiet Valley Ranch as a model.
Permaculture, permanent (agri) culture, uses
broadminded concepts to integrate the best land management
practices and system design for a sustainable, harmonious
living festival campground and ranch.
PC provides a solid, community-centered approach
to install beauty, care, thought and spirit on the ranch
through sponsor, volunteer and staff contributions of time and
resources. We have
posted the current draft of the outline here as an overview
for informational purposes and additional input by anyone
interested in planning and carrying out the work.
This file is 424 kb, so if your download speeds are
limited, be prepared.
To get the process moving, below is a list of projects
that have been discussed at this time which we expect would be
included in a facility plan:
1.
Build new staff showers.
2.
Build a handicap bathroom near Threagill.
3.
Build RV spaces adjacent to Forest Lawn.
These spaces would be for staff use.
It is hoped that staffers would elect to use these
spaces to free up a little backstage room, and to free up some
spaces in the RV park that staffers presently use.
We would probably make these spaces available for
something less than what staffers pay for RV sites presently.
4.
Foottrail improvements we sorely (maybe a
bad choice of words) need better walking conditions on the
ranch. Drainage
must be done first, so that trails arent washed away, but
then we need trails topped with crushed granite or mulch and
we will need to decide (at some point) if all trails should be
wheel chair accessible, and if not, which ones.
5.
New office has been mentioned a time or two,
and is sorely needed. We
assume it would be near the same location is the present one,
but no details exist at this time.
6.
Electricity and water for campground this is
an ongoing project that we add to a little at a time.
This project is producing about $1000 per year in
income at present, which has paid for past projects and will
fund future projects. We
have constructed outlets along tickets road that are more
widely used each year. Presently
we are adding outlets around Threadgill, with one run being
the beginning of a loop around the upper meadow.
We are also putting water taps along with outlets.
7.
Flush toilets we know that we do not have
sewer capacity to provide toilets for all campground and
theater use. We
have built toilets in the Pavilion, but have been advised that
we dont have septic capacity to permit them to be
continuously used when the RV park is full.
We will be asking our engineers to assist us with
development of a concept that would provide more sanitary and
odor free toilets flush toilets, we presume.
No details exist now, except that we have been told
that to provide flush toilets for the campground and theater,
we need about 4 acres of drainfield and about $250,000 for
construction of the drain fields.
Research is being done to see if there are composting
toilets that can handle the volume of waste that we generate.
8.
Additional parking not really something that
impacts the QV ranch, but does mean we need to purchase more
adjoining land if and when we can.
9.
Permanent housing probably constructed on
the hillside above Rods house.
This would be housing for entertainers during the
festival, and usable for other special events at other times.
There has also been discussion of constructing a
bunkhouse primarily for occupancy during work weekends.
10.
Rebuild
Main
stage the back portion of the main stage is deteriorated
and needs rebuilding. A
larger recording room, a hospitality area and Greenroom (warm
up room) are also needed.
It has been suggested that the stage front may be
rebuilt also, but we are a long wa off fr9m doing that.
11.
Main theater improvements:
a.
Crafts booths have largely been rebuilt.
The only project that is left is to eliminate the
booths on the hill and replace them with a row of booths
joining the row of booths from the stage to the newest booths
on the back fence. This
would cost us a few booths, but the ones on the hill have
never worked they are too small and very few people go up
there. Wed
replace them with fewer, but much more usable, booths.
b.
It has also been suggested that there should be
another row of crafts booths behind the booths at stage right,
and/or that the existing booths there could be made deeper,
perhaps 20 feet.
c.
Moving and upgrading the T shirts booth to a
festival store It has been suggested that the T shirt
booth should be expanded so that it could carry a much larger
variety of festival merchandize.
It has also been suggested that the T shirt booth
should be moved to the East about 50 feet so tha tit does not
block the site line between the stage and Pavilion.
d.
Rebuild restrooms and hand wash area.
12.
Further Threadgill improvements Threadgill
is such a success that it is obvious that it will be used much
more than main stage. Main
stage will still be used for big performances, but smaller
ones will be at Threadgill.
Presently, there are plans to construct a green
(performer warm up) room on stage right, a recording room on
stage right, expanded decking to the East and rear, a
hospitality area and restrooms (see item 2 above) near the
septic tanks.
13.
Rebuild Kerrstore & Cafι the present
structure is cobbled together and in poor condition.
A larger space is needed to allow sales of festival
merchandize, more food and camping items, and to allow storage
or more beer and other drinks.
The present cafι area is in pretty bad condition, and
is also very cramped for any serious food service.
In addition, the outdoor prep sink leaves a lot to be
desired.
14.
Rebuild meadow restrooms some of these
structures are old and in poor condition.
Whether they will last until we get flush toilets, or
not, is a huge question. The
lower meadow toilets are the worst, and the upper meadow
toilets are not far behind.
15.
Improving camp sites Many of our patrons and
staffers have become accustomed to camping on steep hillsides.
Some of our campers have attempted to move dirt to
level their camp site. In
some cases the leveling has done some damage to the ranch,
because it has not considered the impact on drainage and
nearby trees. Once
we have implemented a drainage plan, we may be able to work
with campers to allow or assist in dirt leveling to make the
ranch more campable. These
efforts would have to be carefully co-ordinated to see that
they are consistent with good conservation methods and that
camps are enhanced, not disrupted.
16.
There have been proposals of improvements to the
Staff kitchen, including improvements to the eating area:
a.
Better floor
b.
Screens to keep flies out
c.
Build a good retaining wall
d.
Dishwasher
17.
Enlarge the backstage recording room from its
present 8 x 10 to approximately 10 x 20 with a careful design
to create a quiet environment suitable for recording, editing
and reproduction of festival recordings.
18.
New water main The ranch water main
infrastructure is a kluge of pipes that have evolved over
time. We believe
that our backbone system consists of a 2 inch main from the
Whiskey Barrel to the kitchen, a 1 ½ inch line to the
pavilion, and a 3 inch line into the campground.
It has been suggested that we should construct a new
water main from the Whiskey Barrel to the Pavilion, and it has
been suggested that this main should be a 3 inch main, giving
us a loop in the theater which allows quick for repair of
breaks or maintenance work, gives us much better water flow to
the camground and Kerr Store area (right now when we open the
valve to fill the water trailer we cause most of the ranch to
lose water pressure). This
project would likely be coupled with addition of more water
storage tanks on the Whiskey Barrel, or installation of
rainwater collection tanks that can be refilled from the well
during mid week when dry weather occurs.
However, establishment of our water connection with
Aqua Texas has eliminated the water crisis for the time being,
and this project will likely sit dormant until there is a
need.
19.
Terracing and channelization of Sudden Creek
This project will be studied and designed as a part of the
drainage project. The
concept is that water in the upper meadow should be channeled
into Sudden Creek to keep it from running down the roads and
across the septic system drain field.
In the lower part of Sudden Creek, the channel should
be deepened so that run off stays in the creek, and camping
areas rebuilt do drain into the creek.
Presently, Sudden Creek spreads across (and floods)
many camping areas instead of staying in a creek channel.
If possible, there should be siltation ponds near the
highway so that water slows down, and we are able to trap much
of the soil that has run off upstream.
20.
It has been suggested that the Festival should
construct and lease out storage rooms for patrons to store
their camping equipment in off season.
This would be a profit potential for us.
Any who have suggestions to
add to this list or to modify it are encouraged to post their
suggestions by July 15, 2006 to:
