GEAA Opposes Crescent Hills Development

When: Wednesday, May 29th at 6:00 pm

Where: City Council Chambers, San Antonio Municipal Plaza Building, 114 W. Commerce

Citizens will join the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, Alamo Group of the Sierra Club, Bat Conservation International and others to address the Mayor and City Council at Citizens to Be Heard to protest the SAWS contract for water and sewer service to the Crescent Hills development in Comal County.

Once again, it seems that we need to remind City Council that we do not want to subsidize development on the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone. Not on Our Water, Not with Our Money!

To serve the Crescent Hills development, SAWS Rate payers will be called on to subsidize:

• the cost of providing water to 3,800 residential units. SAWS will have to provide a total of 1,089 acre feet of water per year at a cost of $992,079.00 per year. SAWS customers will face increased rates in the near future to cover the costs of securing additional water supplies.
• Fifty percent of the cost of running an oversized sewer main to the development. SAWS has determined that the oversized main is needed to serve other developments anticipated to be built in this area. The sewage infrastructure will be installed in creeks that recharge the Edwards Aquifer.
• the cost of inspections required by TCEQ for sewage infrastructure installed on the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone. TCEQ requires camera testing every five years for sewer lines on the Recharge Zone, at an estimated cost to SAWS customers of $37,000/mile. This cost does not apply to sewage infrastructure that is not on the Recharge Zone.

The impact of intensive development on the Galo property could endanger millions of Mexican Freetail Bats who make Bracken Bat Preserve the largest colony of mammals in the world and future residents of Crescent Hills. It would also compromise the utility of the Cibolo Canyon Preserve as protected habitat for the Golden Cheek Warbler and the value of the mitigation credits that the US Army has purchased from the Preserve.

We are asking:

• That City Council rescind the service contract approved by the SAWS Board for water and sewage service to Crescent Hills
• That SAWS amend their CCN permit so that they are not the sole provider of water and sewer service for a section of Comal County
• For a large buffer zone to protect the Bracken Bat Cave, similar to the buffer zone that protects the Toyota Plant, and for enforcement of San Antonio’s 15% Impervious Cover Limit as required on this site.

We have been informed by the City of San Antonio that they may not be enforcing our Water Quality and Tree Preservation ordinances in Comal County. If true, this is all the more reason that SAWS service should not be provided to the Crescent Hills Development in Comal County. We hope that hearing from citizens on this issue will prompt the Mayor, City Council, and the SAWS Board to actions that will protect our primary source of water and curtail high density development of the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone.