Stone Oak POA approves apartments for environmentally sensitive canyon (San Antonio: apartment complexes, city hall)

[sxrckr]

I have learned from experience, apartment developers could care less if the complex is appropriate for the area, how it will affect residents living in single-family homes nearby, let alone how it will affect the environment or anything else. They are just out to make a buck... it is a money-making deal for them. You just have to find ways you can fight it, and know you might be going it alone (without help from the city gov or anyone else sometimes). I know, it sucks.

[traficdogn]

Originally Posted by SAAggiemom

128 acres of single family residential homes on .20 acre lots = 640 homes.
Not a pretty sight either.
Wish I had the $$ to buy the entire 128 acres and donate it for a park and name if after me!

Please take a look at the terrain. Most of the 128 acres cannot be built on. This is why the developer is trying to rezone it.

[SAAggiemom]

I totally agree with you but never say never. For the right amount of money anything can be done,
Example:
Drive through the Pulte neighborhood @ 281 & Stone Oak and see how they cut most of the lots into the side of the hill. (hideous!)
The new 330 unit apartment complex between Bush Middle school and Knights Cross is some pretty interesting construction on the side of the hill too.
Lastly, the land along the north side of Evans Road just below the Hills at Big Springs is now being cleared for a development. I would have thought that was undesirable land that would not have been developed.
I was wrong. I hope you are right!
On a related subject: I called Canyon Rim over a year ago and asked when some of the grade levels would be UN capped. I was told not until we hold another bond election and vote to allocate the money to build a new school. Does anyone have any news on that issue?

[713 to 210]

From https://www.stoneoakinfo.com/blog/1329

This Saturday be sure to stop by Walgreens on Stone Oak & Canyon Golf Rd. to sign our Stone Oak Residents petition to stop the building of the 350+ proposed apartment complex on Canyon Golf Rd. It is designated to be built in the heavily wooded canyon right across the street from Champions Estates. The petition signing will be from 9:00 am until noon and your signature is desperately needed.

[SnappyBob]

Originally Posted by 713 to 210

For those not living in adjacent neighborhoods, take note of what your Stone Oak Property Owners Association (POA) is up to. The Stone Oak POA has approved a 300+ unit apartment to be built off Canyon Golf Road just north of Stone Oak Parkway. This environmentally sensitive canyon sits between the Canyon Rim and Champions Ridge subdivisions.

This tract is (and has been) currently zoned to Residential but the owner has asked the Stone Oak POA to rezone it to multi family. This appears to be more than acceptable to the Stone Oak POA which includes 5 developers among its 9 member board.

Please notify your neighbors and neighborhood reps if you are against this plan. This will bring down property values, increase traffic, possibly increase crime, further crowd schools, etc. etc. etc.

The Stone Oak POA is not announcing these discussions to the residents of Stone Oak, this is probably the only time you'll hear about this controversy. If you are against new apartments in Stone Oak, if you are against polluting an environmentall sensitive Aquifer recharge zone, if you are against traffic, if you are against rezoning or falling property values, please stand up against the Stone Oak POA who aren't willing to listen to their residents.

More info here ==> Canyon Rim in Stone Oak TX

Thanks for reading.

Polluting the aquifer??? Nobody really cares about the aquifer anymore. The existance of Stone Oak and the surrounding developments sit in testomony to that fact. If any of the people complaining about this apartment complex really cared about the aquifer they would not be living over the recharge zone. If there is money to be made on apartments they will be built one way or another. Protection of the aquifer is no barrior to making money. I just read a piece in todays paper about a sewage treatment plant that they are trying to stop 10 miles northwest of Helotes. They want to build this so that they can build another sprawling housing development. I'm afraid that the aquifer was doomed long ago by the fact that money trumpt a natural fact that the San Antonio area had a limit on population placed on it by the amount of and type of water supply that we have. Usually the people initiating the aquifer damaging development don't care and city leaders can't see beyond the quick cash and the goal to make SA like Houston or Dallas. Let's be honest, the real issue here is the people in this area just don't want an icky apartment complex near their homes. It's not good for property values and who wants the stigma of having apartments in their neighborhood. Stone Oak is not immune to unwanted development. It was the leader of the pack.

[dendox]

I disagree that it is the stigma of the apartment - at least for me. I don't want more traffic concerns and or have to fight to get my kids into a school that is already capped. These apartments seem to fly in the face of my ability to avoid those issues - which is why I am against it.

To be sure - modern construction techniques and knwoledge of how the aquifer works can also allow for "smart building" to do as little damage to the aquifer as possible. Not saying that it will be done, but that it could be done.

[flourpower]

Not only are there environmental concerns that are at stake, but the REAL ISSUE here is that the Stone Oak POA is basically changing the rules in the middle of the game. This property was zoned as SINGLE FAMILY and now they are bowing down to the developer and pushing the MULTI FAMILY zoning. As Stone Oak residents, we have been faithfully paying our HOA dues and now they have essentially turned their backs on us. To me this equates to TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION!!!

[713 to 210]

More news on this controversy...

Residents want canyon free of development
A fight to stop plans for a 350-unit apartment complex off of Canyon Golf Road is intensifying among Stone Oak residents who are already fed up with this community’s outlandish growth and increasingly congested roadways. The proposed 28-acre development would also dig into a pristine canyon which, according to surrounding homeowners, lies atop the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone and is home to at least 82 species, a limestone dam built in 1940 and an unknown number of caves filled with mosquito-eating bats.

More here ==> https://www.stoneoakinfo.com/node/41142

[chipsndip]

I find it really humorous that the environmental card is being played on this one - the land is already approved for development of single family homes -- it's not like it's going to stay pristine and unpolluted. It's just a lever to use against the developer of the "unwanted" apartment buildings. As they used to say back where I'm from, call a spade a spade.

[dendox]

as all of you probably know - environmental issues, aquifer, etc. are buzzwords thrown around by folks here in an effort to stop development and usually are only used to get what they want - then abandoned.

See Terri Hall and the 291 folks. AQUIFER - ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT AGHGHGHGHGH - oh, toll road is dead, well lets build over passes. Wait, what? You mean I need environmental approval for that too?

If you are against it - be against it and give your real reasons for being against it.