June 9, 2026 – The city/county Southern Edwards Plateau-Habitat Conservation Plan Coordinating Committee voted to allow Lennar Homes of Texas Inc. to destroy another 134.5 acres of endangered species habitat on Guajolote Ranch for a payment of $612,458 – on top of $2.7 million accepted previously on 229.7 acres of the controversial development in northwest Bexar County.
The vote originally was scheduled for May 12, but opposition from the Scenic Loop-Helotes Creek Alliance successfully tabled the matter for a month. This time, however, the committee approved the latest plan, with no discussion, and despite several members of the alliance speaking in opposition.
In their public and written comments, the alliance charged the committee with “multiple serious procedural, factual and compliance defects” and sought corrective action. The defects range from invalid biological surveys and misrepresentation of cave and karst features to a lack of standing by Lennar and possible unauthorized taking of habitat.
See the alliance’s latest full written public comments, here: https://www.scenicloop.org/wp-content/uploads/June-9-comments_PDF.pdf
“The outcome was the usual hubris we’ve come to expect,” said Randy Neumann, chair of the steering committee of the Scenic Loop-Helotes Creek Alliance. “The irony is that the city and county personnel who serve on the committee are so out of step with the will of the people, the 2.5 million people whose water depends upon this area being conserved. And that we pay their salaries and then they serve the will of the developers and not the taxpayers.”
The committee consists entirely of city or county staff, and no community stakeholders. Its effort is billed as a joint effort by the city of San Antonio and Bexar County to “balance the conservation needs of rare plants and animals with the demand for economic growth and development.”
It collects fees from developers that are directed to conservation efforts elsewhere in exchange for allowing for “incidental taking” of otherwise federally protected endangered species. While accepted as a form of mitigation, the net effect is that Lennar is being allowed to disturb, harm or even kill off habitat and endangered species while engaging in development deemed “lawful.”
Just hours after the first SEP-HCP application was final on Feb. 3, heavy earth-movers began clear-cutting vast portions of Guajolote Ranch, destroying heritage oaks and other sensitive features, and on the eve of breeding season for the federally protected golden-cheeked warbler. And yet, Lennar is considered in compliance with the Endangered Species Act, even though it’s violating its intent.
“I believe this committee was created with a positive objective, but it no longer seems to be fitting that mission,” Lynette Munson, a member of the alliance whose property borders Guajolote Ranch, told the committee on May 12. She said she saw bats swarming in the aftermath of heavy equipment clearing land on Guajolote Ranch, indicating the presence of caves.
The committee relied upon on-site habitat determinations conducted by “permitted biologist” Pape Dawson Consulting Engineers, LLC, whose directors include top executives of Pape-Dawson Engineers Inc. – Lennar’s paid engineer for the development. Bruna Spengler, the development’s lead engineer for Pape-Dawson, presented in favor of the plan before the committee.
And notably, the committee consists of representatives from the city’s development services and planning departments, the county’s public works and environmental services departments, and parks departments of the city and county. The chair is Logan Sparrow, assistant director of the city’s Development Services Department, who calls the effort “an insurance policy.”
Despite media reports to the contrary, the committee did not authorize Lennar to develop additional acreage beyond the 1,160 acres of Guajolote Ranch, but rather additional acreage within the development to destroy endangered species habitat.
Lennar plans to build 2,900 homes in the development west of the intersection of Scenic Loop and Babcock roads, and release an average of 1 million gallons a day of treated sewage – up to 4 million gallons daily – into the Helotes Creek watershed, which recharges up to 15% of the Edwards Aquifer.
And despite the SEP-HCP committee’s decision, the development continues to face considerable hurdles, including a district court review challenging the wastewater permit that could extend indefinitely. See: https://www.scenicloop.org/post/2029/between-a-karst-rock-and-a-hard-place-lennar-facing-headwinds-in-advance-of-guajolote-ranch/
Also, Lennar still does not own the land it wants to develop.
Bexar County deed records still show 1,097 acres owned by for-profit Guajolote Ranch Inc. of Terrell Hills, controlled by treasurer Richard H. “Rick” LePere, and the remaining 63 acres by retired Valero Energy Corp. executive Sidney E. “Gene” Edwards Jr. and wife Marcie, now of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
An open question is whether those landowners essentially are staying on as co-developers until Lennar takes “just-in-time” ownership to pour the first slab – if it gets that far – possibly keeping them on the hook for potential environmental damages or other claims, even if that’s not Lennar’s intention.
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.
CONTACTS:
Steve Lee, 210-415-2402, text; media@scenicloop.org
Randy Neumann, 210-867-2826; uhit@aol.com