Mystery solved — How a portable building ended up left along a Hays County road

A Hays County resident says she's worried there's a jumbo-sized case of illegal dumping near her home. Not tires or old appliances, but an entire portable building she says has been sitting on the side of the road for weeks.

HAYS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — It didn't take a double take to catch a glimpse of a double-door portable building parked on the side of Hilliard Road, just outside of San Marcos.

"I just drove by and saw it and thought, 'huh, that's new,'" Elizabeth Yakubik said.

It's not the kind of "new" Yakubik likes to see in her neighborhood, and she added the oversize load had overstayed its welcome.

"It sets a bad precedent," she said. "It's just an eyesore."

She said the building was there for nearly three weeks "with no sign of being moved."

It's not exactly clear what the building is used for but looking inside, it appears, at one point, it could have been portable classrooms. There were books, papers and artwork littering the floors.

Outside, on one of the doors, was a sticker from the Hays County Sheriff's Office. It marked the structure as abandoned with the possibility of impoundment within 48 hours after the posted date of Oct. 28.

With the two days already passed, KXAN Investigator Mike Rush contacted the Hays County Sheriff's Office. A spokesman said the building was parked there because of construction on Interstate 35.

According to the sheriff's office spokesman, a contractor was moving the building to Austin but didn't take into account construction on Interstate 35, so he had to park it while waiting on permits to instead travel on county and state roads.

The spokesman told Rush the permits had just been approved and the building should be moved shortly.

"I hope that this building is out of here by the end of next week," Yakubik said. 

Even better — four days after Rush met with Yakubik, the building was gone.

Although Yakubik said she thinks the building came from a nearby property that was recently sold, the Hays County Sheriff's Office did not confirm that.