Water tower nixed in Timber Oaks North

The Bexar Metropolitan Water District board voted 7-0 Monday to suspend placing a water tower in a neighborhood between Stone Oak and Timberwood Park.

Affected Timber Oaks North residents in unincorporated Bexar County applauded the move after weeks of protests.

Residents had feared the tower would cut property values. They said the 1.35-acre parcel of land on Flagstone Drive was unsuitable for the structure, adding that the agency did not adequately communicate about its plans.

“I appreciate each and every one of you for doing the right thing,” resident Scott Ross told trustees.

BexarMet has spent months seeking land to accommodate a 2.5-million-gallon storage tank to upgrade its Hill Country service area as required by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The utility previously identified land in Stone Oak proper.

“The property will be added to the property inventory of real estate that is owned by the water district," said BexarMet spokesman Mike Lopez.

BexarMet bought the parcel of land for $190,000, a purchase price that included the utility’s cost of relocating an existing transmitter tower.

The water district previously identified land further inside Stone Oak. In a few instances, some residents expressed concern about a water tower being built in their vicinity.

According to Lopez in a prepared statement, BexarMet's Hill Country service area is required by TCEQ to have additional elevated storage in pressure zone 1395 pressure zone, indicating a general area and its height above sea level in feet.

“This requirement has been recognized for several years,” Lopez said in the statement.

“This (tower) is to relieve health issues by increasing water pressures and to relieve safety issues by increasing fire flow potential through out the zone. The (BexarMet) board is the final approval authority for the site where the elevated storage tank will reside,” board President Guadalupe Lopez had said.

In the case of Timber Oaks North, residents said they had no prior knowledge about either the Flagstone property acquisition or the plan to build a water tower there. Residents argued the land does not have the proper elevation or infrastructure to bring in what BexarMet had proposed to build. They also questioned the current zoning of the land in question.

In spite of the trustees’ decision to suspend the tower project in Timber Oaks North, residents have voiced worry over the future use of the Flagstone land as BexarMet currently has no plans to sell it.

Lopez said BexarMet is continuing engineering on an in-house site-adaptable design of an elevated storage tank for pressure zone 1395. He added the utility would be ready to start construction in three to five months. Construction of an elevated tank is estimated
to take 12 months.