Dear GEAA members and friends,
Yesterday Mayor Jones and the San Antonio City Council unanimously voted to deny the creation of a Municipal Utility District for Lennar’s Guajolote Ranch development. Big shout out to our partners, Scenic Loop Helotes Creek Alliance, who did an amazing job of presenting our case.
Honestly, I have never seen an instance where the Edwards Aquifer got so much love in one place. Many thanks to our partners, experts, and elected officials who have joined us in opposing this wildly inappropriate Lennar development. And, to all of you who continue to support our efforts! You can watch the council meeting here. I would urge all of our groups to watch the public comments for inspiration on how to fight a project. (Guajolote comes up around an hour into the meeting). We will continue to fight this development. To contribute to this effort, click here.
Meanwhile, we are working with our member group Fischer Neighbors to fight another Lennar development, Broken Cedar Ranch, that proposes to build 850 houses on 230 acres in Comal County.
Community members are urged to submit public comments to the TCEQ (find link and permit number at www.FischerNeighbors.com ) and attend a public meeting on Tuesday, February 10 at 7:00 p.m. at Canyon Lake High School Cafeteria, located at 8555 FM 32 in Fischer, Texas. Representatives from the TCEQ will be present to answer questions and hear public concerns. You can read more on that issue here. You can see GEAA’s comments here.
We have also had to expand our organizing efforts to address runaway growth in Williamson and Bell Counties that threatens to pollute Salado Creek, one of Texas’ designated pristine streams, and the habitat for the Salado Springs salamander. Stay tuned for more on this in the near future.
So, what’s up with all this new development in the Hill Country? A recent San Antonio Business Journal article sheds some light on the issue: “The residential appeal in these corridors stems primarily from builder incentives — such as mortgage rate buydowns to the low-to-mid 4% range — making new homes more competitive than resale properties facing 6 to 7% rates.”
“Buyer growth, it’s all towards new, because of the incentives,” she said. “If you go out that way, your commute may be a little longer, but your payment is less and your interest rate is way less.” Add to that potential costs of maintaining an older home and municipal property tax rates – well, you can see why folks are flocking to buy in these new developments.
The growth, however, mainly in unincorporated areas, exacerbates infrastructure issues and inhibits conservation of our water resources. GEAA and our member groups remain committed to imposing some civility and common sense both big picture legislatively and on a case by case basis.
Finally, some lovely news about how volunteers at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens are working to repopulate the trees lost in the July 4th flood. Cheers!
Wishing you all much enjoyment of the lovely weather promised for this weekend.