SAN ANTONIO - Bats, endangered golden-cheeked warblers and the Edwards Aquifer won the day in San Antonio City Council chambers on Thursday, overcoming a plan for a dense residential development atop the recharge zone and around the Bracken Cave.
The property had been slated for a dense residential development that could have had up led to 4,500 homes and encroached on a bat colony.
Councilman Ron Nirenberg spearheaded an effort to bring together several entities that have worked together over the past several months. They developed a plan to pool some $20.5 million to purchase the land from Galo Properties.
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Mayor Ivy Taylor called the plan an "innovate solution" that allows the city "to address several public-policy goals."
"Of course, at the top of the list is protecting our aquifer, but also to restrict and limit development in a sensitive area and also to protect a very key and unique natural element," she said.
Laura Huffman, state director of the Nature Conservancy, applauded the comprehensive effect of the plan.
"It is an unusual opportunity for us to achieve what I call a 'conservation trifecta.' You'll be protecting the Edwards Aquifer, you'll be protecting the bat colony. ... and the golden-cheeked warbler," she told the council. "(It) is unusual in a fast-growing urban environment to be able to achieve this many goals with a single purchase of property. And I'll tell you this: It doesn't happen by any entity or organization working in isolation."
