July 28, 2025 – If you thought only the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has to approve of a wastewater plant for the proposed controversial Guajolote Ranch development of Florida-based Lennar Corp. in northwest Bexar County, think again. It also needs a nod from both Bexar County Commissioners Court and San Antonio City Council.
And approvals from the county and city would be just as insidious, as they would allow Lennar to finance the wastewater plant and other infrastructure on the backs of homebuyers in the development to the tune of $138 million while poisoning the drinking water of 1.7 million people across 13 south and central Texas counties.
Essentially, they would be authorizing public dollars to finance the pollution, and for private profit.
They would be approving what’s called a Public Improvement District (PID) to be named the Guajolote Ranch Special Improvement District, and it is before Bexar County commissioners right now. If the county approved it, then the city could object within 30 days as the project is in its extra-territorial jurisdiction, according to Texas Local Government Code Section 372.003(d).
As of this writing, the 1,100-acre Guajolote Ranch is still owned by the Huntress family of Terrell Hills, with Lennar holding an option to buy it. On behalf of the family, Richard H. “Rick” LePere, treasurer of for-profit Guajolote Ranch Inc. and grandson-in-law of late family patriarch Frank G. Huntress Jr., filed for the PID with the county in March 2023. View it here: Guajolote-PID-Application-1.pdf.
The PID calls for the county to create the district and appoint a seven-member board of directors to govern it, assuming “all powers” of your elected government, the county. This would include the power to issue bonds – loans, essentially – to finance the wastewater plant and other infrastructure totaling $138 million, and impose property, sales and use taxes on those living and doing business in the development to pay it back.
The master development plan for Guajolote Ranch confirms that the wastewater treatment plant would be paid for by the PID (see item #5 in the “Notes”): 22-11100008_Guajolote_MDP_Signed.pdf. The PID petition contends that the district is “necessary” for economic development, and would support “residential” and “business and commercial activity.” Necessary? Along a pristine stretch of two-lane Scenic Loop Road and on top of the most environmentally vulnerable aquifer recharge zone in the state?
What it means
What it really means is that Lennar wouldn’t repay a cent for a wastewater plant that would release an average of 1 million gallons a day of treated sewage from 2,900 homes into the Helotes Creek watershed, which provides 15% of the annual recharge of the Edwards Aquifer, and would have none of the liability.
PIDs traditionally have been used to beautify or upgrade public thoroughfares, parks and other amenities – not to subsidize mega corporations. In this case, Lennar would raise money through promised property and sales taxes levied on the future residents to pay for its new neighborhood. By creating a PID, the developer can put all of the risk and liability of their project on the future homeowners and taxpayers, rather than risking their own capital.
This means local communities are left with the burden when the developer walks away from the project. It’s a win for developers and a new tax for local residents. Lennar would privatize the profit but socialize the risk.
Importantly, the county and city would relinquish all powers and duties of Chapter 382 (Improvement Projects) of the Texas Local Government Code, which would eliminate public oversight. Lennar would push your elected officials out of their way.
It’s about the water
Make no mistake: Effluent from the development wouldn’t be clean. While it ostensibly would be treated for E. coli, Lennar has an abysmal record of compliance, as detailed here. Notably, in 2019, it violated significant provisions of a settlement agreement as well as TCEQ-issued permits to meet Clean Water Act requirements for 4S Ranch in Bulverde. By then, it was too late to secure permanent protection of recharge features that were violated.
Moreover, 81% of the 48 Texas Hill Country municipal sewer plants that discharge to streams, creeks and rivers exceeded at least one pollutant limit from 2017 through the pandemic – with plants averaging 188 days of exceedances – according to publicly available data from TCEQ and accessed by the Save Barton Creek Association for its report, “Pristine to Polluted: Sewage Problems & Solutions in the Texas Hill Country.”
And Lennar’s wastewater plant would not be able to treat for PFAS “forever” chemicals, microplastics and pharmaceutical residues – serious pollutants that according to the U.S. Geological Survey and the EPA would be present in the effluent, and nearly impossible to remove once they enter the aquifer’s karst system.
Faults, sinkholes, caves and other porous karst features here allow rapid recharge, making pollution on the surface an immediate threat to groundwater. SAWS currently does not pretreat its Edwards Aquifer water supplies prior to distribution. Lower-income families would not be able to afford costs of filtration systems, or higher water rates should SAWS need to spend billions to remediate pollution.
In the end, this message would be sent: Developers can pollute critical water supplies with the public footing the bill.
“This is about whether the county and city allow Lennar to finance infrastructure that could poison the water supply for San Antonio and beyond,” said Randy Neumann, chair of the steering committee of the nonprofit Scenic Loop-Helotes Creek Alliance, a neighborhood group leading opposition to the development. “Bondholders fund the infrastructure, homeowners repay the debt and everyone downstream pays the price in water quality.
“We’re not anti-growth,” Neumann said. “We need more housing stock – what we don’t need is development in the wrong place that threatens our primary water source. We’re pro-water, pro-science and pro-accountability.”
The TCEQ is expected to decide on a permit application for the wastewater plant in August or September.
The Scenic Loop-Helotes Creek Alliance is a nonprofit that 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.
CONTACT:
Scenic Loop-Helotes Creek Alliance
Randy Neumann, 210-867-2826, uhit@aol.com
