A rural intersection in Helotes serves as a gateway to the Hill Country from the development to the south that turned once wide-open spaces into suburbia.
Perhaps no more.
The Helotes City Council on Oct. 13 unanimously approved a blueprint and zoning rule change that will outline the vision for a commercial and residential project near the intersection of Bandera and Scenic Loop roads. The project, dubbed Bandera Ranch, is located at 15030 E. Bandera Rd.
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Colegas Ventures, LLC's vision would replace the 31 acres of rural landscape, the largest tract of undeveloped land within city limits, with a retail complex facing Bandera Road. The plans include 220 “high-end” rental homes behind the commercial property.
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Additionally, there will be 12 acres of open green space and 45 percent impervious coverage. That green space would include yards, courtyards, parks, buffer zones and common areas.
The project, which is still in its early planning stages and will need to go before the city council again for further approval, is across the street from the contentious QT gas station and convenience store approved by elected officials earlier this year.
For Mayor Rich Whitehead, and many on the city council, the decision to OK the project was a compromise between previous and unpopular iterations of the development, which called for 31 acres of big box stores.
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“Large scale, big parking lots, big lights and big signs is one common thing that the citizens of Helotes don’t want,” Whitehead said before casting his vote. “Sometimes the point of government is to choose the lesser of two evils. What’s best, if we don’t approve this, is what comes in its place? Then we will say, 'why couldn’t we do what we could to stop what comes in its place?'”
A growing Helotes has come with the tug and pull of developing or not developing the land at the Bandera and Scenic Loop roads intersection for a decade.
Zoned for commercial development, there were previous discussions among city and Economic Development Corporation officials to bring a primary employer, such as a corporate headquarters, to the parcel.
A previous plan to build a Wal-Mart at the intersection was rejected in the early 2000s.
At the time, residents critical of the Wal-Mart development worried about the environmental consequences. Among them was the concern that high levels of impervious cover would exacerbate the threat of degraded flood water coming down Helotes Creek during big rain events.
That could be specifically concerning, critics said, as the site is on the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone, where storm water enters the aquifer.
This month, some residents who live nearby expressed concerns about drainage problems, traffic snarls and worries about the high density of the development.
“It needs to be clear to the citizens about how this will impact us and how Helotes is going to straddle the line between not becoming Leon Valley and trying to keep the rural and more peaceful existence that most of us grew up out here with,” said Lisa Pack, who spoke at the city council meeting and lives near Scenic Loop Road.
City officials say that issues such as traffic and drainage problems will be hashed out in later iterations of the project.
The property will be served by the San Antonio Water System and the development won’t impact well systems in the area, officials said. State environmental guidelines say that whatever percentage of storm water leaves the undeveloped property must remain the same after the area is developed.
Project plans show that much of the storm water will be captured in a retention basin and then discharged after it meets water quality standards. Larger rain events will require a larger retention basin.
The plan calls for two exits on Bandera Road and one exit onto Scenic Loop Road. The Texas Department of Transportation, which controls Bandera Road, is working on improvements to the road.
Among the ideas is to add a super intersection at the Scenic Loop Road intersection similar to the one near Bill Miller BBQ at the corner of Bandera and Leslie roads.
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Oct 26, 2022
Timothy Fanning writes about nostalgia, history and other oddities for the Express-News. He is a graduate of the University of South Florida and came to San Antonio in 2021 after a long stint at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and other publications in Florida. Reach him at [email protected]
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