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Lennar Homes says it plans on building the Guajolote Ranch subdivision with its own water treatment plant with or without consent from the City of San Antonio.
More than 150 opponents of the controversial planned subdivision in northwest Bexar County showed up at a planning commission meeting on Friday.
During the almost five-hour meeting commissioners were presented with the plan for a Municipal Utility District, or MUD, that would help pay for the plant and other improvements. Opponents spoke against the project for several hours.
Near the end of the meeting Kevin DeAnda, an attorney representing Lennar, said “The wastewater treatment plant is coming. We have our discharge permit. We have other development approvals. The development is coming."
Ultimately, the planning commission voted not to give consent for the creation of the MUD. The City Council will hold a similar vote on February 4.
After the meeting, Randy Neumann with the Scenic Loop Helotes Creek Alliance, told TPR that "the fight is far from over, despite what Lennar says" and called the MUD a "financing scheme."
Lennar wants to build around 3,000 homes on 1,100 acres near the intersection of Scenic Loop and Babcock Roads and discharge as much as 1 million gallons of treated wastewater per day into Helotes Creek.
The TCEQ is responsible to set up the Municipal Utility District. Neumann says if the City of San Antonio also denies consent for the MUD, TCEQ could opt to not create the district, which Lennar hopes will pay for the water treatment plant and other improvements at the proposed subdivision.
