HELOTES, Texas, Feb. 2, 2025 – About 300 concerned residents turned out for the Million Gallon March, a spirited rally and march to oppose a planned development by Florida-based Lennar Corp. that would threaten water quality throughout the San Antonio area.
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg headlined the event, joining mayors of two other area cities, and told a capacity audience at The View at Helotes Creek event center that the issue affects the entire region, and is now a state issue that challenges how unsustainable developments are regulated.
The event, hosted by the Scenic Loop Helotes Creek Alliance neighborhood group, was held to raise awareness and support in advance of a contested case hearing before the state Feb. 18-21 on a wastewater permit for the Lennar project.
The development calls for 2,900 homes on about 1,100 acres called Guajolote Ranch west of Scenic Loop and Babcock roads in northwest Bexar County, and would release an average of 1 million gallons a day of treated sewage into the Helotes Creek watershed. Nirenberg urged residents to get involved, and contact their elected leaders.
“This is going to be a mountain that we’re going to have to climb together,” Nirenberg said. “The first and most important thing that we do is recognize this is not a Democrat issue, this is not a Republican issue, this isn’t an environment versus the economy issue, this is an issue of the life and sustainability of this entire region.
“The central Texas region, which is roughly served by the Edwards Aquifer, is the engine of the Texas economy,” he said. “If you want to threaten that future, threaten our water supply.”
The Sunday afternoon event featured presentations from elected and community leaders, including also Helotes Mayor Rich Whitehead and Grey Forest Mayor Paul Garro, and former San Antonio city council member Bonnie Conner, also a former Edwards Aquifer Authority director.
Representatives of State Rep. Mark Dorazio, R-San Antonio, and State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio, read letters expressing opposition to the wastewater permit. Other featured guests included Annalisa Peace, executive director of the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance.
Kate Hall Feist, a veteran producer of primetime reality television shows and docu-series, debuted a 15-minute video at the event documenting the fight.
The overflow event concluded with a march down Marnoch Road to Scenic Loop Road, with participants carrying empty gallon containers bearing colorful stickers with messages like, “Stop Lennar Corp., Save Helotes Creek,” and carrying signs displaying, “Water Warriors for Safe Policy,” “Moms 4 Safe Water” and, more pointedly, “Lennar: It’s the Water, Stupid!”
The marchers included Nirenberg and other event speakers and community leaders, and a broad representation of area residents, young and older, with Boy and Girl Scouts, a high school drummer and even a pony. They chanted, “Save our Water” and other slogans, and waved to motorists passing on Scenic Loop.
The marchers paused briefly at Scenic Loop before turning and heading back up Marnoch, making for a steady procession both coming down Marnoch and heading back up at the same time.
The Helotes Creek 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 about 2 million people across the region.
Up to 15% of the entire recharge of the Edwards Aquifer comes from that watershed.
The Scenic Loop Helotes Creek Alliance is partnering with the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, the city of Grey Forest and landowner Ann Toepperwein, all who were granted the contested case hearing opposing the permit before the State Office of Administrative Hearings. That body is expected to send its decision to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for consideration by late May.
A landmark study by the Southwest Research Institute funded through the city of San Antonio’s Edwards Aquifer Protection Plan found that any type of wastewater system releasing treated effluent in the Helotes Creek watershed would “significantly degrade the watershed and the quality of water recharging the Edwards Aquifer.”
Pollutants such as E. coli and toxins like harmful “forever chemicals” from this unprecedented development would seriously threaten the health, safety and welfare of those living in and around San Antonio.
Notably, the San Antonio Water System does not pretreat its Edwards Aquifer water supplies prior to distribution within its service area.
The opponents maintain that if this project goes forward, it would open the door wide for other unsustainable high-density developments across the most sensitive parts of northern Bexar County and the Hill Country that have been at the heart of conservation efforts for more than 40 years.
“We now have 189,000 acres protected over the recharge zone,” said Conner, of those efforts, including those funded by a city sales tax. Of Guajolote Ranch, she said, “If you can protect that land, do so. (Land protection) is being done now by the city of San Antonio. The money has been put to good use. They have a very scientific way of selecting the land. Funding has been steady. And that will continue.”
She also urged area residents to contact County Commissioner Grant Moody and County Judge Peter Sakai to voice concern over a public filing with the county by Guajolote Ranch’s owners to create a Public Improvement District (PID) for the project – a prospect she called “frightening.” The PID would authorize more than $138 million in public improvements paid for in part by new taxes and issuance of bonds.
Other speakers criticized Lennar’s motives and approach.
“This seems to be short-sighted, this seems to be about profit, this seems to be neglect of the sensitive region they are developing,” said Garro, the Grey Forest mayor, “and not just Guajolote Ranch, but in Comfort and Fredericksburg and a number of other areas in our state of Texas.”
Helotes Mayor Whitehead called on TCEQ to take seriously protecting the environment, and to take into account the property rights of others.
“We join forces today to bring recognition to the need for state organizations such as TCEQ to act to protect our environment and not just give lip service,” he said. He acknowledged inherent rights to build and develop, but not “cause irreparable harm to someone else’s property.”
Nirenberg appealed to the event’s attendees to persist in the fight.
“I was told long ago that the single most existential issue that we will have to face in the future is the potential catastrophic contamination of the Edwards Aquifer,” Nirenberg said. “We have to do everything in our power as stewards of this water supply to protect it, for ourselves, for our economy and for future generations.
“It’s extremely important that we raise our voices when we’re in a situation where the matrix of laws and regulations doesn’t give the average resident a voice in the process,” he said. “We have to tell our neighbors and give our neighbors the phone numbers of the representatives who are going to be making these calls.
“And we have to make sure we show up at these hearings. Do not give up. Make sure that you tell the story to everyone who will listen. I will be with you in this fight. We will continue to carry on until we can ultimately ensure that our future is sustained by the Edwards Aquifer.”
Those interested in donating to support the fight can go to:
https://aquiferalliance.org/donate-to-geaa/guajolote-ranch-fund/.
The Scenic Loop Helotes Creek Alliance 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
Stuart Birnbaum, 210-355-9974, stuart.birnbaum@sbcglobal.net
Michael Wm. Schick, 571-296-9601, mschick@aol.com
Lynette Munson (daughter of Ann Toepperwein, with property abutting Guajolote Ranch), 210-317-8415, aniton2000@aol.com
Steve Lee, 210-415-2402, slee_78023@yahoo.com
Grey Forest
Mayor Paul Garro, 210-710-0742, mayor@greyforest-tx.gov
Councilman Michael Phillips, 301-910-9235, mphillips@greyforest-tx.gov