Survey seeks input on possible Burnet County convention center

DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR

BURNET — As the Burnet County judge, Donna Klaeger heard a lot about what the county needed. Some ideas were, well, not quite right for the area. Other ideas, though, were worth thinking about.

One such concept revolved around making Burnet County not just a travel destination but a conference/convention spot. The only problem was neither the county nor any of its cities really had a facility that fit the bill.

“Everybody kept saying we needed our own convention or conference center,” Klaeger said. “Horseshoe Bay with the resort gets a lot of conferences, and we began to wonder what we may be missing out on if conferences looked at us but didn’t see a place they could hold their events.”

Earlier this year, representatives from Burnet County, the cities of Marble Falls and Burnet as well as their respective economic development corporations and chambers of commerce sat down to talk about the idea. Each entity added some funding into a pool, and they brought in PKF Consulting to help them possibly turn the idea into reality.

“PKF has been out here several times to talk to people and businesses to get an idea about what they are thinking and possible needs,” said Bill Rives, executive director of the Marble Falls/Lake LBJ Chamber of Commerce. “And now, we’re at the step that (PKF) is doing a survey.”

The Burnet and Marble Falls chambers sent out emails to all their members alerting them about the survey.

“We really hope people will take advantage of the survey and give some feedback,” said Kim Winkler, the Burnet Chamber of Commerce executive director. “The survey is to give the consulting group an idea of what businesses and others are looking for in a conference or convention center. Or if they think there is a need for one at all.”

And that’s where the project is at this point. Klaeger said before the communities sink a lot of money into a conference or convention center, they need to determine if there is a need and what type of need. She pointed out the Horseshoe Bay Resort can handle a fairly significant size of conference, but instead of necessarily competing with it, the Burnet County facility could be geared to a smaller size of 400-500 people.

“We would be finding our own niche,” she said.

According to the Convention Industry Council, 1.8 million corporate and business meetings, trade shows, conventions and other similar meetings take place each year across the United States. In its 2012 economic impact study regarding these events, the CIC leaned these conventions and conferences contributed $280 billion in direct spending to the local economies and employed about 1.78 million people.

These events could also serve as a way for Burnet County area hotels and motels to enjoy higher room occupancy midweek and during the offseason.

Christian Fletcher, the director of the Marble Falls Economic Development Corp., explained that from about April to Labor Day, local hotels and motels see good occupancy on weekends but don’t experience as much during the week and in the fall and winter.

“But during the week, traffic is kind of light because we’re not known as a destination for business travel. So if you look at the feasibility of a conference center, you would help bridge that gap,” Fletcher said.

Along with spending money in Burnet County and exploring the area after meetings, attendees returning at a later date with their families is also a possibility. But first, the county has to develop a conference/convention center if that’s what the community wants and needs.

Rives pointed out Marble Falls has Lakeside Pavilion, but its size limits it to smaller events. And besides, it stays pretty booked up. In Burnet, there is a community center, but again, he said, it’s fairly small compared to what conferences and conventions look for.

The survey would allow businesses, chamber members and others to offer input on the size and scope of a possible convention and conference center — even if it should include an attached hotel. But it all starts with taking the survey, officials said.

“We don’t get to see who answered and how they answered, that stays with PKF,” Klaeger said. “But through the survey, we learn if there’s a need and what type. We also get an idea of where to locate it. That’s one of the other questions. If we do decide this is feasible, where do we put it? We’re still early in the whole process, but the first step is getting input.”

daniel@thepicayune.com