Public hearing on controversial San Antonio housing development set for January

Advocates worry a new Lennar residential development could harm the Helotes Creek Watershed, pictured above. Credit: Scenic Loop-Helotes Creek Alliance

The San Antonio Planning Commission will hold a public hearing next month on the Guajolote Ranch housing development, which opponents warn would harm the Edwards Aquifer while increasing taxes.

The commission agreed to arrange the hearing after members of the Scenic Loop-Helotes Creek Alliance protested a closed meeting it held Wednesday to discuss proposed financing for the development in far Northwest Bexar County, members of the alliance told the Current.

Initially, some 20 members of the Scenic Loop-Helotes Creek Alliance descended on the Cliff Morton Development and Business Center to protest the meeting, which didn’t include an agenda item that allowed opponents of the project to speak.

However, due to the volume of people interested in speaking, city staff agreed to holds a special public hearing at 9 a.m. Jan. 16 to discuss the financing mechanism.

The financing mechanism in question is a Municipal Utility District (MUD), which will help finance infrastructure, including a wastewater treatment plant, for a 2,600-home project being developed by Florida-based Lennar.

A MUD is a special government-like entity created to provide essential services in developing areas outside city limits where cities can’t extend services. They’re used to finance infrastructure through bonds repaid by property taxes.

Members of the Scenic Loop-Helotes Creek Alliance told the Current a MUD would not only increase taxes for those living inside the development but also for nearby residents.

“Cities have been strained to provide added police protection or added roads [for these developments], and they got to recoup these costs somehow,” alliance representative Steve Lee said. “So, in turn, MUD’s have resulted in higher taxes, even for people living outside the development.”

The battle over the MUD is just the latest twist in the battle over Guajolote Ranch.

In October, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) approved a permit for Lennar to construct a plant to discharge treated wastewater into Helotes Creek. That approval came despite a 2020 study by Southwest Research Institute raising concerns the discharge could “significantly degrade the watershed and the quality of water recharging the Edwards Aquifer.”

Lee said the Scenic Loop-Helotes Creek Alliance has since filed a motion for TCEQ rehearing. If the commission doesn’t respond to that motion by the Dec. 22 deadline, then Lee and his organization plan to file an appeal in Travis County District Court.

“We feel pretty good about that,” Lee said about the potential lawsuit.

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Public hearing on controversial San Antonio housing development set for January

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