Some residents along Highway 281 oppose annexation plans

City of SA looking at possibly annexing three areas

The city of San Antonio is looking at potentially annexing three areas of the city this year, but some residents want none of it.

One of those areas falls along Highway 281 north of 1604. The neighborhoods affected include Summerglen, Canyon Springs, Mountain Lodge, The Mesas, The Ridge, Lookout Canyon, Sendero Ranch, Trinity Oaks and Bulverde Village.

Michael Soulek, who represents eight of the subdivisions along the 281 area, said residents do not wish to be annexed this year.

"We don't want to do that," Soulek said. "We want to know that there is a very specific plan with milestones along the way, otherwise our residents don't see that it makes sense to pay 20 to 22 percent more taxes for services we already have."

John Dugan, director of Planning and Community Development for the city of San Antonio, said the city is looking at a "limited purpose annexation" of the area and that residents will not pay taxes for at least the first three years. After that, an extension of city services would come with taxes.

"The county certainly tells us that they can't provide an urban level of service for these rapidly growing, sometimes higher density areas in the county," Dugan said. "(This includes) provisions of higher-level police services, fire rescue services, services potentially in the future for road improvements."

Soulek said residents believe they're fine by being managed by homeowner associations.

"When you look at a group like ours, who's already got all the infrastructure, all of the organization in place, the houses out here are all following electrical code and things like that," Soulek said. "The subdivisions have very extensive guidelines on how to build houses and things like that. It's fairly organized and there's not a lot to be developed."

Dugan said residents can have their say during an open house scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at Frank Tejeda Middle School at 2909 Evans Road.

"This is not anything etched in stone here," Dugan said. "This is a planning process and so, boundaries can change. For example, we have the city's south annexation we had proposed for 30 square miles. What was (eventually) annexed was 19 square miles."


About the Author:

Stephanie Serna is a weekday anchor on Good Morning San Antonio and GMSA at 9 a.m. She joined the KSAT 12 News team in November 2009 as a general assignments reporter.