The Springs At Stone Oak

Springs owners may recall that at the January 29, 2013 Annual General Member Meeting (AGMM) a presentation was made by the Board of Directors and by the ProComm action officer concerning the transfer to the City of San Antonio the portion of Mud Creek that had been deeded/transferred to the Springs HOA in 2001 from the Stone Oak developer (Lumberman Investment Corporation [LIC]).

You'll find on this website's Pages & Links webpage a section entitled, "Mud Creek Deed Transfer Initiative" that provides all of the documents relevant to the deed transfer, including the initial request from the LIC to the Springs, the Springs HOA acceptance, and the most recent documents addressing the deed transfer to the City of San Antonio.

As Springs owners who attended the January 27, 2014 AGMM are also aware, the deed transfer to the city that was considered all but a "done deal" in mid-2013 is now at grave risk of not occurring.   That fact was emphasized at the informative update provided by District 9 City Councilman Joe Krier and by the out-going HOA President, Kellie Rohner, at the AGMM. 

What happened?  Apparently the point of contact at [then] District 9 City Councilwoman Elisa Chan's office who was handling the deed transfer did not accomplish many or any of the tasks that he indicated to the HOA and ProComm were on-going or had been completed concerning the deed transfer.   Councilman Krier's office is actively pursuing the completion of the deed transfer with city staff, however, the city staff appears to be quite reluctant in accepting the transfer, as it would incur initial and recurring costs to clear the current obstructions in our portion of Mud Creek that have been deposited over the past 13 years (tree branches, logs, boulders, dumped household items, etc.).

Why the concern?   If the city does not accept the deed and land transfer, then the Springs HOA retains responsibility for the initial and recurring costs required to maintain "our" portion of Mud Creek by removing obstacles in the creek bed that could block water flow in the creek during heavy rains, and which could thereby contribute to a flooding situation on properties adjacent to the creek in our area and upstream.   The situation is exacerbated by the severe restrictions placed by the San Antonio River Authority (SARA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), who jointly handle flood and flood-related issues in San Antonio, on what and how the debris in Mud Creek can be removed.   Should the city ultimately decide to not accept the deed transfer, then the Springs HOA would need to fund the clean-up of the creek - both initial and recurring - through one or a series of special assessments, by an increase in HOA dues/assessments to accommodate the new cleanup expenses, or a combination of both.   An estimate for the initial clean-up cost is in the $15,000-$25,000 range (approximately $175-$300 from each of the 86 Springs owners for a special assessment).

There are two very positive (for the Springs) aspects of the current quest to transfer the deed of our portion of Mud Creek to the city:  the active participation and efforts by Councilman Krier and his office, and the generous offer by Kellie Rohner, who volunteered to serve as an Advisory Director to the Board of Directors for the specific deed transfer action.  The Board of Directors quickly and enthusiastically accepted Kellie's offer, and she has continued to serve as the primary contact for the HOA in working with Councilman Krier's office and ProComm in accomplishing the desired deed transfer.

This discussion area will be updated as new actions occur relevant to the deed transfer, regardless of whether an action may be in favor of the deed transfer or the opposite. 

This update on the initiative by the HOA to transfer the portion of Mud Creek deeded to the Springs in 2001 from Lumberman’s Investment Corporation to the City of San Antonio has both not so great news and also better news.   The not-so-great news:  San Antonio city staff has informed District 9 Councilman Krier’s office that the city will not accept the transfer of the Springs HOA’s portion of Mud Creek (the portion directly behind our park) to the city.  As such, the HOA retains responsibility for that portion of the creek, and any liability that the ownership may entail.   The better news is two-fold:  Councilman Krier’s office, in support of our HOA, will allocate funds from District 9 contingency funds for the amount needed to accomplish the initial debris removal of the logs and other potential obstacles that could impede the flow of water in the creek bed during heavy rains, or could become dislodged and create an obstacle farther downstream.  The Councilman’s office will also obtain the permit from the Corps of Engineers that is required prior to any work on a “natural creek way” is performed.  The second part is that city staff has confirmed that since Mud Creek, including our HOA’s portion, is such a “natural creek way,” the subsequent future debris removal will be added to the city’s Infrastructure Maintenance Program (IMP)’s 5-year Rolling Drainage Maintenance Program.  It is estimated that our portion of Mud Creek will have debris removal accomplished about every 4 years by the city, paid for by the city.  Please note that these dual efforts will be focused on debris removal only, and does not include the mowing or other clean-up maintenance that the city periodically accomplishes on the creek bed between our portion of the creek and Stone Oak Parkway, or for any modifications to the creek bed to improve water flow, such as widening the creek bed.

 

For those who attended the HOA’s 2014 Annual General Member Meeting in January can attest, Councilman Krier and his office have been and remain proactive in assisting our HOA in orchestrating the solutions that will reduce the possibility of our portion of Mud Creek becoming an obstacle to water flow in Mud Creek, while at the same time reducing or eliminating any financial responsibility to the HOA for the initial and recurring debris/obstacle removal in the creek bed.   We have accepted Councilman Krier’s offer to discuss with Springs owners/residents the actions and solutions that have been developed for our portion of Mud Creek by means of his hosting an informal meeting/discussion at our park, where he will be able to specifically point out what his office and city staff have agreed to do for Mud Creek, and what will not be done by the city (accept transfer of land title to our portion of Mud Creek, mow or otherwise maintain our portion of Mud Creek other than periodic debris removal).  The date and time for the presentation by Councilman Krier to HOA members has not been established, but will likely be scheduled for a Saturday so that as many Springs owners who wish to attend are available to attend.

 

In addition to the very supportive and proactive actions by Councilman Krier and his office in the Mud Creek issue, much of the “good news” concerning Mud Creek are a direct result of the energetic efforts by Kellie Rohner, who continues to serve our HOA as the volunteer Advisory Director on the Board of Directors for the specific issue of Mud Creek and its transfer to the city.

May 2014 Update:

City Coluncilman Joe Krier's office informed the HOA that the city has completed the initial removal of debris from the portion of Mud Creek between Stone Oak Parkway (by the Walgreen's at Evans & Stone Oak Parkway) and Evans Road (by Bush Middle School), concentrating the area of the creekbed owned by our HOA.   Future debris removal will be accomplished by the city on a regular basis (about every 4 years), through their formal Adopted Rolling 5 Year Infrastructure Maintenance Program (Drainage).  As the earlier discussion post indicated, Councilman Krier's office used contingency funds from their District 9 account to fund the initial debris removal, while the city will fund the future debris removal as a portion of their drainage maintenance program.

While very late in my reply, I did not see an update to this discussion, so thought I would chime in.  A few months after the AGMM in which Councilman Krier attended, the city informed they would not agree to accept the deed and land transfer, but would compromise by adding our portion of Mud Creek to the list of natural creekways the city is responsible for maintaining as long as we, the HOA, signed a right of access waiver to the city to perform such services.  We did sign this agreement and our stretch of Mud Creek is being cleared and maintained now by the city.

As a side note, I did conduct an interview with Texas Public Radio, and a story as well as follow-up story was published about our issue, which greatly helped our cause in receiving cleanup concession from the city.