The City Council spent three hours Wednesday night listening to people opposed to the planned Crescent Hills subdivision next to the Bracken Bat Cave in southern Comal County.
More than 200 people packed the council chambers and frequently rose to their feet in support of the 34 speakers who criticized the 1,545-acre development south of the cave. The homes built there would be directly under the main flyway of the 10 million to 20 million Mexican free-tailed bats that call the cave home from spring to fall.
No one spoke for the development.
?We came to the council tonight because in many respects you are the court of last resort for us,? said Andy Walker, executive director of Bat Conservation International, which owns the cave.
The council cannot stop Galo Properties from moving forward with the subdivision, but Walker said BCI was there to see if there was a way to work together to find a solution.
Environmental attorney James Cannizzo, who handles legal issues for the Army's Camp Bullis, said that ?instead of exploring ways to develop this tract, we should all be looking at ways to add this tract into the chain of golden-cheeked warbler preserves in this area.?
The idea of raising money to buy the land or pay Galo to lower the density of the development drew wide support from the crowd.
The developer is open to the idea, according to Gene Dawson of Pape-Dawson Engineers, who is working with Galo on the development.
?Galo is a developer. He builds subdivisions for a living,? Dawson wrote in an email last week. ?BCI is welcome to buy this property and do whatever they want with it.?
The most frequent request to the council Wednesday night was to ask the San Antonio Water System board to reverse its decision to provide water service for 3,800 homes and sewer service for 3,500.
?I'm here to protest the ecologically and economically poor decision to run water and sewer lines to Comal County,? said Steve Hixon, a board member of the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance.
The concern of those who care about the bats is that the construction of the development or the risk of the bats spreading rabies to residents could lead to the bats being driven away or the cave being sealed.
Urban biologist Jessica Alderson with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department reminded the council that bats provide insect control to farmers in Central Texas, at an estimated annual value of $740,000.
The cave is home to the largest bat colony in the world, according to BCI, which also owns a 697-acre preserve that surrounds it.
The development is over the recharge zone of the Edwards Aquifer and will require SAWS to expanded its network of water and sewer pipes more than 5 miles beyond its current service area. The development also is seen as a threat to the integrity of the neighboring $7 million endangered golden-cheeked warbler preserve set up by Bexar County and the Army.
Mayor Juli?n Castro said it's too early in the process to comment on the issues surrounding the proposed development and that city staff is examining them.
Susan Hughes, director of the Green Spaces Alliance and vice chairwoman of the Edwards Aquifer Authority board, asked the council to protect the aquifer and the bat cave, warning that the subdivision, if built, is irreversible.
She then asked the council how many of them had been to the Bracken Bat Cave. None of them had. BCI offers public viewings of the bats departing the cave from spring until fall.
?I would propose that it is time for you to take a field trip,? she said.
cmcdonald@express-news.net Staff Writers Josh Baugh and Jordan Rubio contributed to this report.
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