San Antonio planning commission recommends denial of consent for Guadalupe Ranch MUD after hours of public opposition

The City of San Antonio Planning Commission on Jan. 16 voted to recommend that City Council deny the city's consent to creation of a municipal utility district (MUD) for the proposed Guadalupe Ranch subdivision, a roughly 1,160-acre master-planned community that the developer says would include about 3,000 single-family homes served by an on-site wastewater treatment plant.

Commissioners heard a three-hour staff and applicant presentation and more than four hours of public comment, much of it from residents, neighborhood associations and environmental groups who warned the proposed MUD and its wastewater treatment plant could put the Edwards and Trinity‑Glen‑Rose aquifers at risk. Priscilla Rosales Piña, planning manager for the city, told the commission the item before the body was whether to recommend that the city give its consent — a statutory step that can shape a later development agreement and the city's role in imposing conditions.

Kevin Deanda, the applicant's representative, said Lennar Homes and its partners have secured three major entitlements for the site, including a TCEQ discharge permit (granted after a multi-year…