Oct. 10, 2024 – The State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) has set Nov. 21, 10 a.m., for a preliminary contested-case hearing via Zoom videoconference (attached) on a wastewater permit for the controversial Guajolote Ranch project in northwest Bexar County.
Florida-based Lennar Corp. wants to build 2,900 homes on about 1,100 acres, owned by a Terrell Hills family, that would dump an average of 1 million gallons a day of treated sewage into Helotes Creek, threatening San Antonio’s water quality. Guajolote Ranch is west of the intersection of Scenic Loop and Babcock roads, north of Grey Forest.
The San Antonio Metropolitan Health District, Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance and landowner Ann Toepperwein were granted standing for a contested-case hearing by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in August, with the case referred to the SOAH.
Because GEAA was granted a hearing, it will represent all of its members as affected parties in an administrative proceeding that resembles a civil trial, and its attorney could call various witnesses – even those not granted a hearing of their own, including for the cities of Grey Forest and Helotes, and individual landowners.
The preliminary hearing next month will set a timeline for the case to proceed to the contested-case hearing at a later date, as the SOAH judge will ask attorneys on both sides to confer on a schedule.
The judge will hear from parties that previously were denied standing for a hearing, including the city of Grey Forest, which once again will request standing. New requests for standing, then, will be approved or denied at the preliminary hearing. It won’t be necessary for individual landowners to request standing again since GEAA already will be representing them.
The opponents are reaffirming their resolve to press forward.
“We are staying in this fight with the aim of conserving the Guajolote Ranch property and preventing high-density development in our neighborhood,” said Randy Neumann, with the Scenic Loop Helotes Creek Alliance, which is partnering with GEAA and represents residents in a wide corridor along Scenic Loop from Bandera Road to north of Babcock. “Our way of life, meaning safe water drawn from local wells and the recreational use of our creeks that we’ve used for more than a century, comprises a life in harmony with nature that we are unwilling to compromise.
“We believe, as do eminent scientists, that development can only degrade the water recharging the Edwards Aquifer,” he said.
The San Antonio Metropolitan Health District opposes the permit for Municipal Operations LLC, Lennar’s proposed wastewater operator for Guajolote Ranch, on grounds that the city of San Antonio has statutory authority to “prohibit the potential pollution or degradation of streams that may constitute or recharge the source of San Antonio’s water supply.”
“The San Antonio Water System does not pretreat its Edwards Aquifer water supplies prior to distribution within its service area,” said Annalisa Peace, executive director of GEAA. “Should pretreatment become necessary to meet water quality standards, it would cost SAWS customers billions of dollars to remediate pollution of this water supply.”
A study by the Southwest Research Institute funded through the city of San Antonio’s Edwards Aquifer Protection Plan found that any type of wastewater system pumping treated effluent into Helotes Creek could “significantly degrade the watershed and the quality of water recharging the Edwards Aquifer.” The creek directly recharges the Trinity Glen Rose Aquifer, the primary water source in the immediate area, and flows across the contributing zone and enters the recharge zone of the Edwards Aquifer, the principal source of drinking water for about 2 million people across the region.
About 80 neighbors and other individuals and entities filed to contest the permit application, fearing illness or high costs of retrofits to safeguard their wells or water systems. Pollutants such as E. coli and toxins like harmful “forever chemicals” entering the aquifer would seriously threaten the health, safety and welfare of those living in and around San Antonio.
Among the opposition, in addition to Metro Health, GEAA and Toepperwein, are San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg, the San Antonio Water System, the cities of Helotes and Grey Forest, State Rep. Mark Dorazio and State Sen. Roland Gutierrez. They believe that if the project goes forward, it could open the door for other unsustainable high-density developments across the most sensitive parts of northern Bexar County and the Hill Country that have been at the heart of conservation efforts for more than 40 years.
“More than 50 million in taxpayer dollars have been spent to preserve environmentally sensitive land in this area – land vital to the preservation of the purity of the Edwards Aquifer, San Antonio’s principal drinking water source,” Neumann said. “It would be foolish to allow all that money and effort to be ruined by allowing high-density development in the middle of this critical area risking the degradation of the water supply of 2 million Texans.
“As we move ahead, it is our fervent hope that TCEQ will keep mindful its stated mission ‘to protect our state’s public health and natural resources consistent with sustainable economic development,’ ” he said. “TCEQ is there to protect us, not developers or permit applicants.”
More than a residential development?
The Huntress family of Terrell Hills owns Guajolote Ranch, as for-profit Guajolote Ranch Inc., with Lennar holding an option to purchase the property. The owners made a public filing in March 2023 (attached), petitioning Bexar County Commissioners Court to create a Public Improvement District (PID) to be named the Guajolote Ranch Special Improvement District. It provides a glimpse of a vision for an overall mixed-use, mini-city residential and commercial development.
The PID calls for the county to authorize the district for more than $138 million in public “improvements” paid for in part by new taxes and issuance of bonds, saying it is “necessary” for economic development. It would support “residential and commercial activity” and “business and commercial activity,” and impose sales and use taxes in addition to ad valorem taxes. It is still before county commissioners, and very much a live issue.
“Ironically, the people who oppose poisoning the drinking water of 2 million people in and around San Antonio are the very people who would be forced by Bexar County Commissioners Court to help pay for the Guajolote development,” said Michael Wm. Schick, also a member of the Scenic Loop Helotes Creek Alliance. “Elected and appointed government officials are supposed to protect the health, safety and welfare of people, not put them in harm’s way – medically or economically. This would add insult to injury, and voters should never tolerate such blatant abuse of power.”
Anyone patronizing businesses there (retail, services, restaurants, hotels, etc.) would pay the new sales and use taxes authorized by the county. And homeowners there would pay new property taxes. Plus, county taxpayers would be on the hook to repay bonds if the development fails.
The PID was filed by Richard “Rick” LePere, treasurer of Guajolote Ranch Inc., and president of LePere Commercial Real Estate Services LLC. He is a son-in-law of Diana Huntress, registered agent and director of Guajolote Ranch Inc. (attached), and grandson-in-law of late family patriarch Frank G. Huntress Jr., who filed the original deed for the ranch in 1969 (attached).
“While we were thinking the development would add 6,000 cars to two-lane Scenic Loop, the possibility of restaurants, hotels, shopping centers and offices would mean even more cars, and more wastewater,” Neumann said. “And there also would be an issue with stormwater runoff from the development. The pesticides, herbicides, automotive waste, household chemicals, pet waste, lawn waste and other pollution that will wash down Helotes Creek will add to well pollution, flooding and the ruination of our recreational facilities.”
Moving forward
The opponents urge TCEQ to remain responsive to citizens’ concerns, and note that permit-holders can’t always be counted upon to act responsibly.
They point to a comprehensive 2020 report on KVUE-TV in Austin showing that despite more than 50 permit violations cited by the TCEQ, it allowed the city of Liberty Hill to increase its daily wastewater discharge from 1.2 million gallons – roughly the amount Guajolote Ranch would dump – to 4 million gallons, directly into the San Gabriel River in Central Texas.
Meanwhile, excessive chemical levels and massive algae blooms rendered vast stretches of the river unusable and threatened groundwater. The San Gabriel, like Helotes Creek, recharges the Edwards and Trinity aquifers. The story also documented concerns of the city of Blanco dumping into Blanco River.
“Based on our review of Lennar’s permit application and pertinent scientific studies, we do not believe approval of this wastewater permit would adequately protect our local water resources,” Peace said. “We plan to present evidence that will result in a recommendation to deny the permit.”
To join the Nov. 21 videoconference by computer: https://soah-texas.zoomgov.com/. Meeting ID: 160 557 5364. Password: TCEQ5822. To join by phone: (669) 254-5252, or (646) 828-7666. Meeting ID: 160 557 5364. Password: 91377005. Visit the SOAH website for registration at: http://www.soah.texas.gov/, or call SOAH at (512) 475-4993.
About the Scenic Loop Helotes Creek Alliance
The Scenic Loop Helotes Creek Alliance represents the largest neighborhood by square mile recognized by the San Antonio Neighborhood & Housing Services Department, a wide corridor along Scenic Loop Road from Bandera Road to north of Babcock Road. Go to https://www.scenicloop.org/
CONTACTS:Scenic Loop Helotes Creek Alliance
Randy Neumann, 210-867-2826
uhit@aol.com
Stuart Birnbaum, 210-355-9974
stuart.birnbaum@sbcglobal.net
Michael Wm. Schick, (571) 296-9601
mschick@aol.com
E Bluhm, president
emory@scenicloop.org
Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance
Annalisa Peace, 210-320-6294
annalisa@aquiferalliance.org
Sams Ranch Road residents
Lynette Munson (daughter of Ann Toepperwein)
210-317-8415
aniton2000@aol.com
Property at ground zero where wastewater would leave Guajolote Ranch and flow down Helotes Creek
Guajolote PID Application.pdf
2024.10.08 Notice of Preliminary Hearing.pdf
Guajolote Ranch Inc – Texas Secretary of Status.pdf
Guajolote Ranch Inc – Bexar County Deed Records.pdf
Frank Huntress Obituary.jpg
