BEXAR COUNTY, Texas – A northwest Bexar County neighborhood group claims the developer of the contentious Guajolote Ranch development is illegally cutting legacy live oak trees on private property.
The project has been at a legal standstill between the Lennar Corporation, a Florida-based construction company, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Scenic Loop-Helotes Creek Alliance. Now, the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office is getting involved.
Michael Phillips, a Scenic Loop resident, said construction crews don’t have the legal permits required to continue construction despite crews cutting down irreplaceable decades-old trees on private property.
“I’m not an expert, but these trees are maybe 60, 70 years old, maybe a little bit less?” Phillips said. “And they are not easy to grow back.”
Members of the Scenic Loop-Helotes Creek Alliance formed a protest on Wednesday as crews continued to mulch live oak trees.
“If you look, you can see there’s a purple stake right there, and that’s a universal sign for ‘no trespassing,’” Phillips said. “Now, we had a representative stake out this property with purple stakes going all down the line. These crews have gotten on this property and have ignored these purple stakes in violation of Texas law.”
Phillips said Lennar, the construction company behind the Guajolote Ranch development, is responsible for these crews.
“Now, what’s interesting is the Property Owners Association here at Altair, no individual homeowner can sell water easement rights,” Phillips said. “So, right now, Lennar has no water easement rights here. They cannot legally touch this land to put in water. Lennar is shoving this through in the hopes of getting it done and then asking for forgiveness later and paying the fine.”
For two days, residents have called on BCSO to have its deputies remove the crews at work.
The Guajolote Ranch project is expected to build approximately 3,000 homes near Helotes. Along with the development, approximately 1 million gallons of treated sewage will be pumped into the Helotes Creek watershed daily.
Helotes Creek recharges the Edwards Aquifer, which supplies drinking water to more than 1.7 million people across South and Central Texas, including San Antonio.
In May, the alliance was dealt a blow when state judges recommended that the TCEQ approve a wastewater permit for the development. That decision could bring further legal battles.
“We’ve had a number of meetings,” Susy Dickerson with the Altair Home Owners Association said. “We had a representative who’s kind of an expert on utility. He has met with Lennar. He’s met with Pape Dawson. He has met and communicated with the city officials and with SAWS (San Antonio Water System). And we thought that they understood that we were questioning this, but they showed up again.”
The sheriff’s office said it is working with all parties to figure out the legal parameters.
KSAT reached out to Lennar, who sent the following statement:
“Lennar is fully compliant as we extend a water main in the public right of way,” the statement said. “We have coordinated with all appropriate agencies and obtained the necessary permits and approvals to proceed – including access to the worksite, which was confirmed yesterday by the Sheriff. Upon conclusion of the work, the area will be restored to its natural condition.”
Residents like Lisa Muyres Pack said they will continue to fight to save city water from potential contamination.
“This directly contributes to the San Antonio water, which is 1.7 million people,” Muyres Pack said. “And if they contaminate the water, what is SAWS going to do to fix that?”
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