SAN ANTONIO -- Within weeks of a long-awaited joint land use study over how to keep the military mission at Camp Bullis from being forced out by commercial development, a proposed gated community of more than 400 luxury homes on 335 acres has prompted a call for a moratorium on that and other projects until the study’s recommendations are enacted.

“The city will say we are not considering any new applications for any new development until after the laws are in effect,” said Annalisa Pease, executive director of the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance that also seeks a variety of support from veterans groups to the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce.

However, the Palmira subdivision along Scenic Loop Road and Cross Mountain Trail is up for vote at 2 p.m. Wednesday by the San Antonio Planning Commission. It will meet in the first floor boardroom of the Cliff Morton Development and Business Services Center at 1901 S. Alamo Street.

If Palmira is approved, the Ohio-based developer, Sam Petros, can beginning pulling permits and move full speed ahead, without city council action, said Patrick Howard, assistant director of comprehensive planning services. Pease said she wants the item pulled from the agenda.

He said both city and county staff have signed off on the Palmira project that is actually in Bexar County.

Howard also cited a Dec. 11, 2008, letter from the Camp Bullis Garrison Commander, U.S. Army Col. Mary E. Garr. The letter to Assistant City Manager T.C. Broadnax said their concerns will be addressed as long as the developer “commits to incorporate dark sky lighting ... recent surveys (not older than three years) and ... showing no endangered species are present.”

“It’s my understanding that the developer has agreed to comply with the dark sky ordinance although they’re not required by law to do so, “ said Michael R. Moore, the immediate past president of the San Antonio Homebuilders Association who served on the executive committee of the joint land use study.

However, Moore said compelling developers to provide the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service an endangered species survey can only be done if there is a problem, “and as such the city, nor the county, nor the state should be interfering with the requirements of federal law.”

Moore also said he doesn’t believe there is a basis for a moratorium under state law because there is no shortage of public facilities such as water. Palmira would be built over the Recharge and Contributing Zones of the Edwards Aquifer. Much of the area is under Stage 2 water conservation rules and is fast approaching Stage 3.

“If we get into such a drought condition that everybody gets additional restrictions, then that might be the case, but today I don’t believe it is,” said Moore.

“We’ll check into that with our attorneys," said Pease, who still urges San Antonio city leaders to adopt a moratorium around Camp Bullis. Otherwise, she said, she fears a land rush by developers, “and so then they all are grandfathered in. They don’t have to comply with the ordinances.”

“In other times, it might have happened, but in today’s times, financially,” said Moore, banks are cutting off credit lines for some developers even though they have always fulfilled their commitments. He points to 27-thousand vacant lots awaiting construction.

“That’s a four-and-a-half year supply," said Moore.

In 1992, a similar moratorium initiated by the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance helped protect San Antonio’s water quality, said Pease.

“It made everybody buckle down and get serious about writing those ordinances within a decent time line," she said.

Pease said city staff has told her some of the Joint Land Use Study recommendations may be enacted as early as next month, including one that would mandate developers to submit their wildlife surveys to the federal government.

“It would be a terrible shame if our community can’t rally together to protect the Army’s mission here, to protect our recharge zone, to protect the wildlife," Pease said, urging supporters to turn out for Wednesday’s hearing before the Planning Commission. “I mean there’s so many things at stake here.”