The Villas at Timberwood Homeowners Association board member Tom Marty looks at the lift station for the subdivision’s septic system on Aug. 31, 2026. The 75-home community is serviced by a failing septic system and the HOA is asking San Antonio City Council to waive the $415,575 fee to connect to the San Antonio Water System.
Katina Zentz/San Antonio Express-News
The City Council could be asked to grant another favor to a North Bexar County subdivision that has already received $2 million from the county to fix a failing septic system that’s plagued the community for more than a decade.
Councilwoman Misty Spears was instrumental in helping Villas at Timberwood homeowners land the county funding. She worked on their septic problem when she served as County Commissioner Grant Moody’s constituent services director before she won the District 9 council seat in June 2025.
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Spears now wants the City Council to let the Villas at Timberwood Homeowners Association off the hook for the $415,575 impact fee that San Antonio Water System says the HOA must pay to connect to its sewer system.
The North Side councilwoman’s proposal would require going against city policy, which limits such waivers to projects within San Antonio city limits.
It also would be a financial hit for SAWS as it’s trying to pay for costly improvements to its water and sewer systems — and is asking the council to let it raise rates to do so. The city-owned utility would absorb the cost of the waived fees, which would require covering them with ratepayers’ money.
SAWS charges impact fees for connecting to its water and sewer lines and other infrastructure. For new developments, the expense is typically passed on to home buyers, but they’re also charged for existing developments to connect to the system.
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Council was scheduled twice in August to vote on whether to waive the Villas at Timberwood impact fee, but the item was pulled from the agenda both times. Withdrawing an agenda item is often a sign it doesn’t have enough support to pass, but Spears says that wasn’t the case with the impact fee.
She said her office pulled the item because City Council members want to consider the issue more broadly, possibly creating a policy for waiver requests that are “public health and safety-related.”
The delay has left the HOA’s three-member board in limbo as construction costs rise and unforeseen repairs to the current system eat up some of the county money.
“We don’t have any leverage other than common sense and morality,” said HOA President Roy Block.
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Failing system
The Villas at Timberwood, a 75-home subdivision north of Loop 1604 and west of U.S. 281, has a communal septic system instead of the more common one septic tank for each house. The system wasn’t built to accommodate so many households and was poorly maintained by the developer, Block said.
Residents are sometimes asked not to shower, flush toilets or run washing machines to prevent the system from backing up. Their annual HOA fees have climbed to $2,600 to maintain the system and cover legal costs.
The HOA sued Timberwood Development Company and homebuilder Chesmar Homes in 2019 for fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, deceptive trade practices and negligence. The lawsuit alleged that developer Jason Gale was aware of the septic system’s problems but did not disclose them when he transferred control of the HOA to residents in 2012.
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“We’ve been running this utility with no training, no finances, nothing,” said HOA board member Paul Colliander. “We just started from scratch and we’re exhausted.”
The parties settled in May 2024 — a few months after Bexar County Commissioners Court voted to approve $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to reimburse the HOA for building a wastewater main to connect the neighborhood to SAWS’ sewer infrastructure. The association is abandoning its beleaguered septic system altogether.
Connecting to SAWS is “a last resort” for the community, Commissioner Moody said in an interview.
The settlement amount is confidential, but Block said it was not enough to pay for the entire project, which has increased in price as a result of difficulty securing easements for sewer lines outside the subdivision boundaries.
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The project’s estimated cost is $2.8 million, according to city staff.
Block said the HOA did not factor the impact fee into its calculations because SAWS had previously said the fee would not apply to the subdivision since it is not a new development, which the utility denies.
All new connections — not just new development — are subject to the SAWS fees.
“SAWS has consistently informed ALL parties who have contacted us regarding the Villas of Timberwood that impact fees apply when new or existing infrastructure connects to the SAWS water and wastewater systems, regardless if it is an existing development,” utility spokesman Gavino Ramos said in a statement.
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Moody said he didn’t think the waiver would require City Council action because he thought SAWS could, and would, handle it internally. He said his “expectation” was that “SAWS would do the right thing and waive these fees so we could accomplish this for our residents and protect the aquifer.”
But only the City Council can waive a SAWS impact fee, a policy that has been in effect since 2019.
Spears and the HOA board say connecting to SAWS would prevent sewage overflows into Mustang Creek, which contributes to the Edwards Aquifer, the city’s largest water source.
The Bexar County Environmental Services Department determined “that for the safety of the residents of Timberwood and the public, it is critical that this system be discontinued, and residents be connected to City sewer,” according to a July 2023 memo from director Javier Flores.
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But Ramos said the utility “is not aware of any immediate threat” from the community septic system contaminating the creek.
Waiver policy, waived
Villas at Timberwood’s impact fee is $415,575, or $5,541 each for the 75 homes.
Residents can’t afford it, Block said, adding that 18 households were past due on their HOA fees as of August.
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Block said it’s a “misnomer” to refer to Villas at Timberwood as “a wealthy North Side neighborhood.” It is an enclave within well-to-do Timberwood Park, but Block said the subdivision is home to young families, retirees and retired military members.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality fined the HOA $17,625 in September as part of a settlement agreement for alleged septic facility violations dating back to 2020. The infractions included failure to comply with requirements for treated effluent, failure to submit quarterly progress reports and operating with an expired permit.
But the state agency agreed to defer more than $14,000 of the fine because it determined the HOA was unable to pay. Instead, it’s charging the association $100 a month for the next 35 months.
The city’s waiver program is intended to support affordable housing, small business development and the rehabilitation of owner-occupied homes and of historic structures within San Antonio city limits. Waivers are capped at $250,000 per project.
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SAWS said it doesn’t maintain records of how often its impact fees are waived because those are council decisions.
A review of City Council meetings shows the most recent impact-fee vote was in December when council unanimously approved a waiver for the Legacy Senior Residences and agreed to buck the $250,000 cap, waiving $787,750.
Cornerstone Housing Group, the developer of the 18-unit affordable senior housing project in the Southeast Side’s council District 3, sought the bigger waiver because it faced “a funding shortfall due to unforeseen expenses for offsite utility improvements,” according to a city staff presentation. The Neighborhood and Housing Services Department recommended council approval.
City staff made no recommendation for Villas at Timberwood’s waiver request, which is going to City Council at an awkward time.
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Council members will discuss it Wednesday — in the same meeting where they’ll once again take up the utility’s request to raise its rates up to 30% over the next four years to pay for billions of dollars in capital projects.
Many council members have openly criticized SAWS in recent months. In June, a split council voted 6-5 to delay consideration of the rate increase request until October. Council members are seeking more information about SAWS operations and waiting for the utility’s responses to policy changes they’re pushing for.
Spears has been a leading critic of a SAWS rate hike. In January, she and council members Marina Alderete Gavito and Marc Whyte demanded an outside audit of the utility before considering a rate hike.
Other members have criticized SAWS’ impact fee structure, demanding changes that they say would make it more affordable for developers. The utility has stood by its policy, which it says ensures that “growth pays for growth” and that existing customers don’t foot the bill for new connections.
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The fees were last updated in 2024, with an increase unanimously approved by City Council.
Spears said council should override the waiver program requirements for the Villas at Timberwood HOA because of the environmental risks the septic system poses. “We have to protect the aquifer at all costs,” she said.
Connecting 75 homes to the SAWS system will generate revenue for the utility because the residents will pay its wastewater rates, she added.
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The councilwoman said the city intends to annex the Villas at Timberwood in 2032, at which point it will become part of her council district.