Homebuilder Lennar Homes plans to build a subdivision on the Guajolote Ranch tract on the city's Northwest Side. The plans call for 3000 homes on around 1100 acres, well outside current land use guidelines. Many area residents, along withThe Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, are opposing the plans. San Antonio Express-News Environment and Water reporter Elena Bruess recently wrote an article which in part looks at the Guajolote development and its potential impact on the environment.
Bruess spoke with TPR's Jerry Clayton about the development. The conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Clayton: 3000 homes on 1100 acres. The potential pollution of the Edwards aquifer, not to mention the increased traffic in the area. Why haven't there been more alarm bells going off regarding this particular subdivision?
Bruess: Yeah, that's a good question. It's very complicated. So the ETJ (extraterritorial jurisdiction) is rather under-regulated when it comes to who can develop and what kind of development is there. I will say that there are alarm bells ringing and there has been for a while when it came to this development. It's just that it's not so easy for the city to completely shut down a project when they really just don't have the control to do that.
Clayton: How has Lennar Homes been able to get around the regulations that do exist to be able to build this property?
Bruess: Originally that area was suggested by the city of San Antonio as a rural development. So that means I'm not entirely sure the exact rural justification, but it means that like, let's say there could be only one house per acre. So Lennar Holmes can just go to the Planning Commission in San Antonio and ask to sort of switch that designation from rural to something that's maybe more urban, so then they can put as many homes as they want in that property. And then the planning commission just says, "okay, well, we think this is fine."
And so they're going to just tell, approve or deny that to the city council. And then city council can decide whether or not they want to give Lennar homes that switch where they can do something that's more urban rather than rural. This happens a lot in San Antonio, where there's going to be like suggested development standards over in the northwestern side. And a lot of these developers can get past that by just kind of applying to change that designation.
Clayton: I'm assuming they have not gotten full approval for this, is that correct?
Bruess: Yes, that's correct. They still have to get approval by the TCEQ and they have to go to the city council again because they have to create their own wastewater treatment plant, which is also a massive, contentious issue that they were dealing with.
Clayton: The Edwards Aquifer Authority general manager Roland Ruiz, is quoted in your article as saying that they are moving in the right direction to protect the aquifer in the face of these types of developments. But are they really? I mean, have we opened a Pandora's box already?
Bruess: Yeah, that is a good question. I think that certain environmentalists and scientists that I've spoken to are very wary of a precedence that this sort of development can set. So one researcher that I spoke with at the Southwest Research Institute said that maybe Guajolote is not the one that pushes the Edwards aquifer over the edge, but it certainly sets this example for future development that you can start building these massive high density subdivisions and keep polluting the rivers in the sense that, you know, there could be a leak with the wastewater treatment plant or just general effluent that gets in there and that can impact and the Edwards aquifer itself.
So I think Roland had a had a great point where says development is going to happen no matter what. What we have to do is meet it and we have to make sure that these developers are using standards that are protective to the environment.