Hays Commons: A Catalyst for Sprawl and Aquifer Degradation
The Save Our Springs Alliance, Save Barton Creek Association, Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, and the Austin Chapter of the Sierra Club need your help preventing a proposed change to the Save Our Springs Initiative Ordinance (SOS Ordinance). The SOS Ordinance was created to protect the Edwards Aquifer and Barton Springs from overdevelopment and urban runoff. It establishes impervious cover limits and water-quality protections carefully balanced to protect the Edwards Aquifer and Barton Springs from urban runoff and development.
Milestone Development, a large-scale developer that specializes in suburban-style subdivisions, owns 500 acres of land over the Edwards Aquifer Recharge, along the border of Travis and Hays County. Milestone purchased the property in 2017, and it has been unsuccessful in getting access to water to support development on the site. Now, Milestone is using threats to bully the City of Austin into providing it water.
For decades, the City of Austin and environmental leaders have worked to prevent significant development in this area, because urban pollution and stormwater runoff entering the aquifer at this location contaminates Barton Springs within only 3-5 days. The City has invested millions in water quality protection lands and groundwater treatment, and it has rejected prior requests to extend water to this area.
Milestone is now threatening to leave the City's jurisdiction if the City doesn't provide it water. It is also threatening to inject wastewater into the aquifer through spray irrigation of treated sewage effluent or scrape the site for some horrific-sounding commercial or industrial development. But, here's the truth: Milestone can't develop the property significantly without water.
It doesn't have a groundwater permit to serve a large-scale development, and given the increasingly limited groundwater supply in the area, it is unlikely to get such a permit. Thus, access to water is the main limiting factor for the development of Milestone's property and the surrounding acres in the environmentally sensitive Onion Creek Watershed and Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone.
Thousands of residents in the area depend on this groundwater as their sole drinking water supply, which means that not only does there need to be enough water to share, it must remain clean.
We need the City leaders, including the Austin Planning Commission, to see past Milestone's threats.
On top of the demand for City water, Milestone also demands a site-specific amendment to the SOS Ordinance and a suite of environmental variances. A site-specific amendment is a property-specific change to the SOS Ordinance. These amendments are typically approved in extremely unique situations for projects that improve existing environmental conditions or accommodate public needs. They are not given simply because a developer wants to make more profit.
Milestone is demanding 32 more acres of impervious cover (from 15% NSA to 25% NSA), increasing the development potential for its property to a whopping 80 acres of pavement over the Recharge Zone. This 700-home subdivision, with shopping malls and office parks, is a sprawling, nightmare scenario, going against every goal the City of Austin has approved for sustainable growth and responsible planning.
Allowing the Hays Commons development to amend the SOS Ordinance would weaken these protections and endanger the Edwards Aquifer and Barton Springs. With the Austin City Council already rejecting Milestone’s request to initiate the amendment, it’s now up to the Planning Commission to stand firm and prevent further concessions.
Please help us by sending a letter to the Planning Commission encouraging them to vote NO on Milestone's requested SOS amendment and the environmental variances. Please also stay tuned for meeting announcements on when the meeting will occur.
Not a Good Area for Growth
The proposed development at Hays Commons would introduce hundreds of homes and commercial buildings into a highly sensitive recharge zone, an environmentally sensitive area without natural filtration to remove pollutants before entering the aquifer. This amendment to the SOS Ordinance would set a terrible precedent for thousands of acres within the Recharge Zone and upstream of Onion Creek, potentially leading to disastrous environmental consequences. Non-point source pollution from construction runoff, motor oil, fertilizers, pesticides, and possible sewage spills would quickly flow into the aquifer and local wells used as a. drinking water source for nearby residents. Studies have shown that pollutants could reach Barton Springs in only 3-5 days, threatening water quality. The City of Austin’s dye tracer studies clearly show this risk. The Planning Commission must prioritize the protection of Barton Springs and reject this unsustainable sprawl.
High Costs of Sprawl
If this SOS amendment is approved, it will make it easier for developers to build large suburban subdivisions over the Recharge Zone outside the city than within the city limits. This goes against every policy the City of Austin has ever passed to promote sustainable growth, including the comprehensive plan. Such sprawl increases infrastructure demands and harms the aquifer and Barton Springs. Expanding roads, water lines, and other public services will place a greater financial burden on taxpayers. Initiating this amendment would pave the way for more suburban sprawl over the recharge zone, setting a dangerous precedent for future developments on the hundreds of acres surrounding Hays Commons. Without the City of Austin maintaining a firm baseline of full environmental compliance, these properties will be developed in unsustainable and environmentally harmful ways, using the City's water.
