West-side Harlingen residents protest proposed garden homes

HARLINGEN — A group of homeowners along the city’s fast-growing west side are protesting plans for a development of garden homes, arguing new residents would further tax drainage canals while flooding their septic tanks years after officials pledged to bring sewer services into the area.

Along Dixieland Road, developer Armando Elizarde is calling on city commissioners to rezone an area from a residential single-family district to a planned or mixed-use development district as part of his proposal to build 42 homes along 11.6 acres across from Dixieland Park.

In response, 25 homeowners along Shofner Lane and Gomez Road have signed a petition calling on commissioners to stop the proposed project.

Earlier this week, some homeowners spoke out during a public hearing, arguing the project would lower their property values while spurring further flooding.

During a July 5 meeting, residents’ concerns led commissioners to delay their decision on whether to grant Elizarde’s rezoning request.

Calling neighborhood meeting

Now, Commissioner Rene Perez, who oversees District 5, is planning to meet with Elizarde and homeowners to hear their concerns on July 10.

“If they have any concerns, I want to be able to speak about those concerns,” Perez, who met with a group of homeowners on July 3, said during the commission’s meeting. “I want them to have all the information that they can. I’m hoping we can alleviate some of the fears that some of the residents have.”

As part of the project, Elizarde said he planned to build homes starting at $250,000.

Meanwhile, he said Dixieland Road could handle the subdivision’s traffic.

Concerns over lowering property values

During a public hearing, Herman Montemayor told commissioners the development would lower the value of his $500,000 home off Garrett Road.

“I did that because I wanted to be close to nice homes,” he said from the podium. “If they’re going to put these garden homes right next to me on my half-a-million-dollar home, I kind of have concerns about that. Would you want that?”

Waiting for sewer services

Meanwhile, David Gomez told commissioners city officials haven’t brought sewer services into the area they annexed in 1985.

“If you’re going to annex an area, you have to go out there and find out what they need before people start building homes, and they didn’t do that for us,” Gomez, who lives on Gomez Road, told commissioners. “We had to pay for a fire hydrant, and we paid for it in order to build a house. We’re still living like we are in the country with septic tanks.”

“We’ve been living there for 35 years, and we still don’t have sewer,” he said. “Every time we have bad weather, our septic tanks don’t want to work because the streets are flooded — everything’s flooded. Now, they’re selling more subdivisions, and they’re not making the sewers bigger. With all that money you guys are going to get from these new subdivisions, maybe you can use some of that money to put sewer in for us before you start putting more subdivisions in. They’re affecting the people who don’t have sewer.”

Flooding woes

While Elizarde said he planned to widen an area drainage canal, Gomez argued the proposed development would spur further flooding.

“My concern is drainage,” Gomez told commissioners. “Is that drainage going to go into that canal? Ours is going into that canal but the drainage is not any good for us. When we had Hurricane Hanna come in, the whole street was flooded. The drain was full of water. Is this going to make it worse?”

In response, Perez said the proposed development meets the city’s new drainage standards.

Meanwhile, the city’s master plan calls for construction of a sewer plant in District 5, he said.

“That’s years in the future,” Perez told Gomez. “If I could give you sewer tomorrow, I would give it in a heartbeat because I think that is a basic necessity that you should have. I’m trying my hardest to get there, and hopefully, we will get there, but it does take time. These are things that happened decades ago, and we’re trying our best to rectify them.”

Drainage, sewer priorities

Amid discussion, Mayor Norma Sepulveda told the crowd her west-side home also lacks sewer service.

“I understand the frustration,” she said. “Why are we growing when we’re not providing everything that we need to the folks that were annexed years ago?”

“Unfortunately, everyone here has inherited a lot of problems, and we’re trying our best to navigate through that process and come up with solutions for you and for everyone who is in those situations. But it costs lots of money,” she said. “Regardless, we need to get it done, but it’s not going to happen tomorrow. But that’s something that is a priority, and we’re working towards it each day.”

Meanwhile, Sepulveda called drainage upgrades a top priority.

“Rest assured that this commission as a whole prioritizes drainage, and we would not be approving any subdivisions that we thought were going to aggravate any exiting issues that we have,” she said. “Drainage is important to the commission, and we’ll ensure that that’s not an issue. We want the development to have curb and gutter and sewer and move forward in the right direction so that folks are not in this situation that you are in or I am in.”