Florida-based developer Lennar Corp.’s plans for a 2,900-home-development in far Northwest Bexar County took a serious blow Thursday, when City Council unanimously rejected the company’s request to create a Municipal Utility District.
Council’s denial means that Lennar will have to seek another source to fund a wastewater plant for its proposed Guajolote Ranch masterplanned community. Lennar needed the MUD, a special government-like entity created to provide essential services in developing areas outside city limits, to finance the controversial plant’s construction.
Groups including the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance and the Scenic Loop-Helotes Creek Alliance are fighting the development, arguing it threatens local water sources. They point to a 2020 Southwest Research Institute study raising concerns that discharge from Lennar’s proposed wastewater plant could “significantly degrade the watershed and the quality of water recharging the Edwards Aquifer.”
The Edwards Aquifer provides drinking water for more than 1.7 million people in Central Texas, including a significant portion of San Antonio’s supply.
During Thursday’s discussion, some on council expressed concern the city could end up covering the cost of Lennar’s plant if economic factors led the MUD to default on its debt. Others, including District 10’s Marc Whyte and District 4’s Edward Mungia, said they worry the plant’s discharge could endanger the city’s water supply.
Mungia praised the groups fighting Lennar, noting their organizing efforts and continued outreach to elected officials.
“Nothing brings people out like water,” he said.
Randy Neuman, who chairs the steering committee of the Sceneic Loop-Helotes Creek Alliance, told the Current that without the MUD, Lennar is unlikely to secure private financing for the wastewater plant.
Funding sources are likely to shy away due to a lawsuit the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance filed against the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) last month. That 259-page filing in state district court alleges TCEQ made major errors in projecting the plant’s potential damage to the aquifer.
The suit could take years to work its way through the courts, possibly stalling the Guajolote Ranch development for the foreseeable future, Neuman added.
“The development could continue with aerobic septic systems, but that doesn’t meet [Lennar’s] development plans,” he said. “They can’t make their nut.”
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