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Agenda No. 16.

CITY COUNCIL MEMORANDUM

City Council Meeting:

February 4, 2025

Department:

City Secretary

Subject:

Workshop Discussion on the Integration of Space Force into Veterans Memorial Plaza (S.Gonzalez/L.Shrum)

BACKGROUND

The Schertz Veterans Memorial Plaza was officially dedicated to the city on November 11, 2014 after an extensive fundraising effort by a citizens' committee. At the time, there were only 5 branches of the military and the traditional pentagon shape was chosen for the plaza design. In 2019, the Space Force Branch was created and thus there is a need to incorporate the new branch permanently into the plaza. Currently, a temporary freestanding flag pole for the Space Force is brought into the plaza for the Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies, respectively.

City staff began working with the landscape architect firm, LUCK Design Group, to facilitate incorporating the Space Force Branch into the plaza in a meaningful and appropriate way. The design challenge of incorporating 6 branches into a pentagon shape and maintaining a balanced plaza that is pleasing to the eye, was difficult, and various iterations were discussed. City staff did not want to eliminate the work that was done by the citizen committee with the 5-point pentagon and 5-point star design in the pavers, so it was ultimately decided the best course of action was to add an equivalent break on each side of the pentagon to match the two sides that already had a break with a sidewalk entrance. This way, all sides of the pentagon would have an equidistant break in the middle of the side and two additional monuments would be added instead of just 1 monument for Space Force, so there will now be 8 granite monuments with 8 flags immediately behind each monument.

City staff discussed the design proposal with two different citizen groups to gather feedback - The Chamber Military Affairs Committee (MAC) at their meeting on November 6, 2024 and the Parks & Recreation Advisory Board at their meeting on November 18, 2024. Both groups had positive feedback on the proposed design and the MAC Committee assisted city staff with appropriate order and wording of monuments.
The original order discussed was:
1. POW/MIA
2. Army
3. Navy
4. Marine Corps
5. Air Force
6. Space Force
7. Coast Guard
8. Gold Star

After having these discussions with the MAC Committee, staff realized that the POW/MIA flag was already in the center of the plaza and moving that flag out of the center, would then cause an imbalance in the centered flags in the middle of the pentagon. Thus, city staff is proposing that we incorporate a monument and flag for Purple Heart recipients.
The new proposed order is:
1. Army
2. Navy
3. Marine Corps
4. Air Force
5. Space Force
6. Coast Guard
7. Purple Heart
8. Gold Star

GOAL

Incorporate the Space Force Branch into the Veterans Memorial Plaza in a way that makes sense for the design of the plaza.

COMMUNITY BENEFIT

The Schertz Veterans Memorial Plaza honors the men and women who serve or have served in the Armed Forces of the United States of America - past, present, and future. The community regards veterans in high esteem and hosts Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies at the plaza, respectively, as well as occasional JROTC activities.

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDED ACTION

Approval of the proposed design to incorporate the Space Force branch into the Schertz Veterans Memorial Plaza.

RECOMMENDATION

Approval of the proposed design to incorporate the Space Force branch into the Schertz Veterans Memorial Plaza.

Attachments

Veterans Plaza Space Force Addition presentation