Link to the full TCEQ hearing on Guajolote Ranch here.
AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 22, 2025 – The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality today rejected science and reason by approving a wastewater permit for Municipal Operations LLC, contractor for Florida-based Lennar Corp.’s controversial Guajolote Ranch development in northwest Bexar County.
However, the attorney for the project’s opponents plans to file for a rehearing, which would trigger a new process that potentially could push a final verdict another 55 days past the date of official notice of today’s decision. If that decision holds, then the opponents have another 30 days after that to appeal in district court in Travis County.
Also, Bexar County commissioners, San Antonio City Council and the state still could potentially scuttle the project by rejecting a Public Improvement District (PID) for the development, which Lennar is counting on to pay for the wastewater plant and other infrastructure.
“We are of course extremely disappointed in the commissioners’ decision, as we’d hoped that under new leadership they would chart a new course that truly abides by their own stated mission ‘to protect our state’s public health and natural resources consistent with sustainable economic development,’ ” said Randy Neumann, chair of the steering committee of the Scenic Loop-Helotes Creek Alliance. “This decision does nothing of the sort.”
“But this by no means is the end of our fight, and in fact is actually just beginning anew,” he said. “We hope TCEQ will grant a rehearing or that the PID will be rejected by local leaders. And if the 2.5 million residents across Central Texas who depend on the Edwards Aquifer ultimately don’t get the remedy they deserve, our message will be, ‘See you in court.’ ”
Lennar wants to build 2,900 homes on about 1,160 acres in Guajolote Ranch that would release an average of 1 million gallons – and as much as 4 million gallons – per day of treated sewage into the Helotes Creek watershed, which recharges up to 15% of the Edwards Aquifer. The developer holds an option to purchase the property, west of the intersection of Scenic Loop and Babcock roads, north of Grey Forest.
The Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, city of Grey Forest and landowner Ann Toepperwein were granted a contested case hearing to challenge the permit for Municipal Operations. Even though TCEQ’s own Office of Public Interest Counsel recommended rejection of the permit, the State Office of Administrative Hearings presiding in the case recommended on May 19 that TCEQ approve it. The challengers filed exceptions to the recommendation, leading to today’s commission decision.
The Scenic Loop-Helotes Creek Alliance chartered a bus to Austin with about 50 residents who jammed the TCEQ hearing room, some holding signs like, “Lennar ignored TCEQ before: Why trust now?” – a reference to the company’s questionable compliance record. They had hoped to appeal to the commission’s new chair, Brooke Paup, a self-described “water warrior” and former chair of the Texas Water Development Board.
However, in voting to approve the permit, Paup said, “In my evaluation, I find that the evidence and record supports the ALJ’s determination that the applicant met its burden to establish that the draft permit is protective and meets all applicable requirements.”
The alliance accused TCEQ of applying outdated “cookie-cutter” rules that might apply elsewhere in the state but not to the sensitive Helotes Creek watershed, where faults, sinkholes, caves and other porous karst features allow rapid recharge, making pollution on the surface an immediate threat to groundwater.
“The TCEQ actually admits on its website that the Texas Hill Country and the Edwards Aquifer are a unique situation in its Edwards Aquifer Protection Plan,” Neumann said, “but the protections the plan offers are simply window dressing, offering little to no protection for groundwater.”
Once the permit for a Texas Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (TPDES) was approved, authorizing discharge into Helotes Creek, Municipal Operations said it would file to apply at least a portion of the effluent to land, under a previous agreement reached in secret with the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District.
However, a definitive study by the highly respected Southwest Research Institute funded through the city of San Antonio’s Edwards Aquifer Protection Plan found that any type of wastewater system – including land application – from new large-scale residential developments that release treated effluent in the Helotes Creek watershed would “significantly degrade the watershed and the quality of water recharging the Edwards Aquifer.”
The watershed directly recharges the Trinity Glen Rose Aquifer, the primary water source in the immediate area, and sits atop the contributing zone leading to the recharge zone of the Edwards Aquifer, the principal source of drinking water for as many as 2.5 million people across multiple counties.
Aside from rejecting the only accepted science of this specific watershed, the commissioners also disregarded the entire bipartisan state House delegation from Bexar County – all 10 representatives – as well as three state senators representing the bulk of San Antonio and Austin who all signed letters urging them to reject the permit. State Rep. Mark Dorazio, R-San Antonio, whose district would include the new development, spoke at the hearing in opposition to the permit. And more than 1,400 area residents contacted commissioners urging them to oppose.
After a recent tour of the area, Bexar County Precinct 2 Commissioner Justin Rodriguez stressed the importance of local control of the Guajolote Ranch project, regardless of what TCEQ does. His is one of the votes on commissioners’ court that could reject the PID and Lennar’s preferred path to pay for the plant.
“I think we’re going to have to look independently at what’s best for Bexar County, right?” Rodriguez said. “Nothing against the State of Texas and TCEQ, but I think they have a prism in which they look at things. And I think we have to make sure that we are taking into consideration (that) these are our neighbors.”
Lennar turned down an opportunity to tie into the San Antonio Water System’s sewer lines for a payment of $20 million to $40 million to SAWS, opting instead for a least costly option – building a plant and dumping into Helotes Creek – as disclosed during an Oct. 1 San Antonio City Council B Session.
The PID filing by Guajolote’s owners, now before county commissioners, reveals what that cost to Lennar would be: zero. The PID would issue bonds totaling $138 million for the plant and infrastructure, to be paid back from taxes on new homebuyers in Guajolote Ranch that would be higher than what other county residents pay. If approved by the county, the City of San Antonio would have 30 days to object.
“What kind of corporate citizen does this to its neighbors – and customers – and to 2.5 million people across our region who depend upon the Edwards Aquifer?” asked Steve Lee, a member of the Scenic Loop-Helotes Creek Alliance steering committee who gets his water from a well in the Trinity Glen Rose Aquifer.
While Lennar maintains its wastewater treatment plant would be advanced, even the most advanced plants are vulnerable to mechanical failures, power outages, operator errors, poor maintenance and extreme weather.
Three out of the four most advanced plants currently operating in the area Edwards Aquifer contributing zone treating for drinking-water status have been out of compliance during the past three years, with one of them fined for non-compliance, EPA ECHO reports reveal. And half of 14 plants in the contributing zone had non-compliance quarters over the last three reporting years, with two of them fined a total of $52,672. The non-compliant findings included pollutants such as E. coli, ammonia, nitrogen, phosphorus and total suspended solids.
And according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Geological Survey, Lennar’s wastewater plant would not be able to fully remove persistent and dangerous compounds such as PFOS and PFAS “forever” chemicals, pharmaceuticals, illicit drugs, over-the-counter medications, cosmetics, microplastics and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
The Scenic Loop-Helotes Creek Alliance is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) group representing 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.
Scenic Loop-Helotes Creek Alliance contacts:
Steve Lee, 210-415-2402, text; slee_78023@yahoo.com
Randy Neumann, SL-HCA steering committee chair, 210-867-2826, uhit@aol.com