BEXAR COUNTY, Texas – The owner of a west Bexar County property says CPS Energy crushed her plans to create a space for the community.
Now, she tells KSAT Investigates that efforts to reach a compromise with the utility company have been met with a threat.
For the last few months, a piece of land on U.S. Highway 90 West helped spread holiday cheer. But the property’s owner, Martha Perez, has bigger dreams for what it could be.
“We already have plans to place a full trailer park here with access to the community,” Perez said.
Perez and her business partner, a KSAT employee, bought the 2.6-acre plot in May 2024. They already had renderings for a playground, picnic area and a dog park.
“But at this point, we cannot proceed or do anything because we have that problem in our hands,” Perez told KSAT Investigates.
The problem, Perez said, is the four power poles CPS installed on the property in late 2024. Records state that they are meant to give a neighboring property power.
“I think this is a big mistake from CPS,” she said. “And it’s a mess that now we have to deal with, and it’s a waste of time, a waste of money.”
Before starting a project involving a third party, CPS Energy’s requirements posted online state that the easement, a legal agreement that allows a utility to use someone’s property, must be finalized early on.
“At this point, have your neighbors asked for permission to install these poles on your property?” KSAT Investigates’ Daniela Ibarra asked.
“None at all,” replied Perez. “The only letter that we got from the neighbor was a month after the poles were installed.”
Perez said CPS Energy did not notify her or her business partner about the installation, which she says should have happened in the 40-foot-wide easement.
Perez and her business partner filed an open records request with CPS Energy because they were not getting answers.
In the documents they received, they found an email from more than a year before the installation. It shows that CPS Energy knew the power poles had to be about 10 feet east of the easement.
“They did everything backwards,” Perez said.
“Has CPS come out here since you’ve brought up this concern?” Ibarra asked.
“CPS has never come here again,” said Perez. “All we are asking from CPS, please come and remove your post.”
In November 2025, an attorney representing Perez and her business partner asked CPS Energy when the poles would be moved or for an offer to buy an additional strip of the property.
The next month, a CPS Energy attorney admitted the power lines were outside of the easement. Instead of moving the poles, CPS Energy offered $20,000.
“They basically said either you take it or we can do this through the condemnation law,” explained Perez.
“When you read that, what was your reaction?” asked Ibarra.
“Where are our rights as landowners?” said Perez.
Perez and her business partner declined the offer and gave CPS Energy a Jan. 30 deadline to remove the poles.
KSAT Investigates reached out to CPS Energy five times since December 2025, asking for the agency to explain why it did not use the existing easement and why it failed to follow its own requirements.
An agency spokesperson declined to comment due to threatened litigation and refused to answer KSAT Investigates’ questions or make anyone available to speak with us.
KSAT also reached out to the neighboring property owner twice, but we did not get a statement.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.