{"id":135084,"date":"2026-01-23T14:05:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T14:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/135084\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T14:05:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T14:05:22","slug":"san-antonio-city-council-signal-opposition-to-guajolote-ranch-mud-recommendation-as-february-vote-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/135084\/","title":{"rendered":"San Antonio City Council signal opposition to Guajolote Ranch MUD recommendation as February vote looms"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2013 City of San Antonio officials have less than two weeks to decide whether to approve a key piece of a planned housing project in northwest Bexar County, which has long drawn community opposition.<\/p>\n

Guajolote Ranch is the proposed development, and it would create approximately 3,000 homes on 1,100 acres of land, located north of Grey Forest. <\/p>\n

The project cleared one of several hurdles last October, after the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) approved<\/a> a wastewater discharge permit for the development. <\/p>\n

For months, opponents fought against the permit because the wastewater treatment facility will be built directly over the Helotes Creek watershed, which supplies San Antonio with its drinking water.<\/p>\n

Opponents, with the help of some state lawmakers<\/a>, called for a rehearing on the permit, but TCEQ denied it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, city council held two special sessions, one discussing Guajolote Ranch and the other a lengthy hearing<\/a> regarding when San Antonio police cooperate with federal immigration authorities.<\/p>\n

As for the Guajolote Ranch discussion, it centered on the council\u2019s forthcoming Feb. 5 vote to approve the creation of a Municipal Utility District (MUD), a financing and governing structure for the development. <\/p>\n

The Thursday meeting followed San Antonio\u2019s Planning Commission \u2014 after more than three hours of mostly opposed public comments \u2014 voting down<\/a> the financing model 5-4.<\/p>\n

What is a MUD?<\/p>\n

A MUD is a different type of financing and governance structure that, if approved, would shape how the project\u2019s infrastructure is built and paid for.<\/p>\n

A MUD is a separate political entity that can issue bonds and levy taxes to fund utility infrastructure \u2014 commonly water, wastewater and drainage \u2014 particularly in areas not served by a city\u2019s utility system.<\/p>\n

In this case, Guajolote Ranch is located in San Antonio\u2019s extraterritorial jurisdiction, meaning it is outside city limits but within an area where San Antonio has limited authority.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the city must formally consent to the creation of a MUD within its boundaries.<\/p>\n

While no actual vote took place during Thursday\u2019s briefing, at least six council members signaled opposition to the development, and comments from Lennar reps saying the project \u201cwould go forward with or without\u201d the MUD\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n

Should council vote against creating the MUD, city staff said the developer could return to TCEQ for reconsideration of the MUD\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n

A graph detailing the Municipal Utility District process for the Guajolote Ranch development in northwest Bexar County. (City of San Antonio)<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/p>\n

More coverage of the Guajolote Ranch project:<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 City of San Antonio officials have less than two weeks to decide whether to approve…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[698,4519,3084,2327,12836,3222,82,84,83,4701,51314],"class_list":{"0":"post-135084","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-bexar-county","9":"tag-city-council","10":"tag-city-hall","11":"tag-environment","12":"tag-guajolote-ranch","13":"tag-housing","14":"tag-san-antonio","15":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","16":"tag-san-antonio-news","17":"tag-tceq","18":"tag-we-follow-through"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}