Utility districts taking root in rural areas
Web Posted: 10/15/2007 02:26 AM CDT
Zeke MacCormack
Express-News
BOERNE — After dealing with all manner of utility districts in largely urban Harris County Kendall County
Only one such district operates here, the Kendall County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1, which formed in 1946 and provides water and sewer services to about 850 customers around Comfort.
As Harris County Anderson Houston
But as Kendall County land prices have soared and water has become available in areas long haunted by groundwater concerns, utility districts have come into favor here as a development vehicle.
Some Hill Country residents fear that their rural lifestyle is threatened by the influx of districts that can make the building of thousands of homes possible. Others see them as the key to an orderly growth that's preferable, and more affordable, than large-lot rural subdivisions.
Two new districts taking shape in Kendall County Comal County
All are buying Canyon Lake
County rules let developers who provide central water and sewer services shrink lot sizes, he said, noting that "small lots bring in a lot more money per unit."
Though there's no minimum lot size for homes on central water and sewers, Kendall County
Developers favor forming the districts from a cash-flow standpoint because the districts allow them to avoid paying for the infrastructure out of their pocket. Newly approved districts sell bonds to fund infrastructure, then tax the new residents to pay off the bonds.
Johnson Ranch developer David Hill won approval for the Comal County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1 in February from county commissioners there after the Bulverde City Council opposed it.
"The only reason why we turned them down is we didn't want to set precedents," said Bulverde Mayor Sarah Stevick. "And they had other avenues to get approved."
Kendall County Judge Gaylon Schroeder said many locals oppose seeing the countryside consumed by utility districts, which essentially are new towns with taxing authority, run by a board of directors elected by district residents.
Concerns about the districts range from clogged roads and schools to pollution fears and the strain that new populations place on government services.
There also is anger at the GBRA for fostering denser subdivisions by piping in water. But Schroeder called growth inevitable and said, "If they're going to develop the land here, we want them to bring their own water with them if they can."
He said he fears taxpayers may be left to pick up the pieces if a district fails after residents arrive.
But Hill said, "Counties and cities have no liability for any of the bonds that are issued" unless the district has been annexed by a city.
GBRA Business Manager Randy Worden said the agency legally is obliged to provide water in a nondiscriminatory manner, on a first-come, first-served basis.
"Has it encouraged development? I would say 'Yes,'" Worden said, but he added, "I think development is going to occur regardless of whether we brought water there or not."
Developers defend the districts, noting that the new residents pay taxes to the counties they're in while also funding infrastructure such as roads and donating school sites and parks.
"The benefit of a planned multi-use development like Esperanza is that you don't have 500 septic fields and 500 wells — you've got an orderly community with a central water and wastewater system," said Howard Falkenberg of Marlin Atlantis, the company behind Esperanza.
Besides paying a district tax of about 95 cents per $100 in property value, Esperanza residents will be charged a 1 percent surcharge on lots to fund a community betterment account — estimated to hit $10 million — that Falkenberg said will be used for public projects in Kendall County
A pact now being negotiated with Boerne leaders likely will include payments by Marlin Atlantis to help upgrade the city sewer system in exchange for receiving sewer service.
The Dallas
Lacking a bill sponsor, Lerin Hills developer Abel Godines went through the TCEQ's lengthier process, which includes provisions for public input.
The Lerin Hills Municipal Utility District was approved last November, but Godines is still waiting for a state agency permit for his wastewater plant's discharge.
Randy Nelson, in the TCEQ utilities and districts section, said there's been an upturn in the creation of new districts in the past two years, especially in rural areas.
The agency approved about 60 special districts each of the past two years, nearly as many as the Legislature created.
"Development is reaching farther out than it was," Nelson said. "Around the bigger cities, most of the land has been developed, or people want to feel like they're out in the country."
Comment: SAWS makes land grab, and guess who will pay?
Web Posted: 10/13/2007 12:00 PM CDT
Picture it: The San Antonio Water System is your water provider, and one day you notice that your monthly "Surcharge for Development of New Water Resources," a fee that has always annoyed you, has skyrocketed.
So you phone SAWS and ask why the trip to the moon. And SAWS says, "We've decided to pump
And you say, "Why don't you wait until developers and others come along and demand the water, then give them the bill?"
"Well, you see, we want to be prepared in advance."
"Who gave you permission to dabble in real estate and water speculation? Don't you have to ask us, your SAWS ratepayers and
"We're just trying to make sure no smaller, inexperienced water companies come along and lay 2-inch lines for a project that needs much larger ones."
"I see. Then what you're creating is a secure, comfortable monopoly for yourselves. And who gives you permission to do that?"
"We're applying to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for Certificates of Convenience and Necessity, which, if granted, will give us the right to be the only water provider in those areas forever."
"Whose 'convenience and necessity'? Yours? Sounds like a massive land grab to me. And we current
This, of course, is just a theoretical conversation, but it's right on the money. And wouldn't you know? There's already a potential developer in the wings. Baruch Properties Real Estate Investments Ltd., or BP, of
Bandera Road and Park Road 37 and call it Hills of Castle Rock. However, BP hasn't even filed a preliminary plat, much less received permission from anyone to do anything. Will BP be charged upfront impact fees by SAWS, or anyone else, to pay for the infrastructure its development would need?
There are serious concerns that water from the Edwards and Trinity aquifers may be polluted from a sewage plant BP wants to build that would empty its "treated" wastewater into San Geronimo Creek.
Raw sewage could flow into the creek and aquifers if the plant malfunctioned. Storm-water runoff containing herbicides, pesticides, detergents, oil and other vehicle pollutants would flood the creek, as would contaminants proven to harm fish and children.
I am not anti-growth. I do feel developments should be done responsibly, with the type of density and design that blends into the existing environment, doesn't pollute, doesn't draw down other people's water, mess up the environment and traffic patterns and doesn't create infrastructure crises.
SAWS wants to expand to the outer limits of other San Antonio ETJs, to a total of 60,000 acres. Residents of all ETJs can look forward to droves of developers swooping into their areas as soon as water is guaranteed. Urban sprawl will swallow up country living.
If being charged for construction of pipeline systems pumping water to far-flung areas offends your sensibilities, demand SAWS require developers to pay up front.
Give them water, and they will come.
Camille White is coordinator for San Geronimo Valley Alliance Inc. Write her at P.O. Box 8, Helotes, 78023.
SAWS planning sewer line to promote South Side growth
Web Posted: 11/07/2007 10:32 AM CST
Jerry Needham
Express-News
After years of city leaders trying to push developers away from the North Side's sensitive Edwards Aquifer recharge zone, San Antonio Water System trustees decided Tuesday to put up money for a sewer project that will promote residential development on the South Side.
Trustees also approved a $400.3 million budget for 2008 that includes no rate increases on residential or business water bills despite a projected 9.8 percent rise in operating and maintenance expenses.
A separate capital improvements budget proposes $233.9 million for replacing, improving or adding infrastructure to the system.
To make way for the major 29-mile-long sewer collection line from the far West Side to the Dos Rios Water Recycling Center on the South Side, trustees amended the utility's wastewater master plan. The so-called outfall would generally follow the Medina River basin Loop 410.
The gravity-fed, large-diameter pipe would lie beyond recent or planned development that includes the Toyota Texas A&M University San Antonio
"I think this is a chance to shape development and promote development in desirable parts of town," said Trustee Michael Lackey, a registered engineer.
Eight developers who want to build 13,000 homes have agreed to immediately fund the $10 million design cost of the line, with payment coming from fees they will owe to SAWS. The utility expects to buy easements and begin construction late next year and complete the project in 2011. The $90 million estimated cost eventually would be paid by fees from developers.
Other developers wanting to build 8,000 homes also have indicated interest in connecting to the line, SAWS officials said.
Water service generally is not a problem in the area, which is crossed by mains from SAWS or Bexar Metropolitan Water District. Sewer service has been the problem.
Usually, SAWS extends major lines in segments with accumulated developer funds as development proceeds outward from a sewage treatment plant. In this case, the developers wanting service lie far from Dos Rios, the logical plant to provide service, said Kelley Neumann, SAWS vice president of facilities engineering and construction.
Neumann said SAWS has about $21 million in development fees paid toward infrastructure improvements that can be used for the project but the utility runs the risk that it could be some time before growth pays for the outfall. But she added that planners project that the area will have a population of 195,000 in 10 years and 303,000 in 20 years.
"This is something that we can't afford not to do," Board Chairman Alex Briseño said. "The community has made a decision to invest in an underserved part of our community. And with city policies regarding development over the recharge zone, development has been deflected southward. You can't have that development without water and sewer service."
