Councilwoman Teri Castillo wants San Antonio to rethink the alley.
Instead of neglected, potholed stretches of seldom-used pavement, she would like to see the city’s roughly 3,500 non-service alleyways turned into a series of small green spaces that would help the surrounding areas feel cooler.
The District 5 councilwoman has filed a council consideration request for the City of San Antonio’s Office of Sustainability to develop a “green alleyways” pilot program. Green alleyways are designated alleys that are built out of sustainable materials, permeable pavements and effective drainage to create an inviting public space for people to walk and play.
A green alleyways program would aim to decrease the amount of impervious cover around the city, help mitigate heat islands and help reduce pollution, Castillo said in a press release. Funding would come from the city’s relatively new Resiliency, Energy Efficiency and Sustainability (REES) fund.
“We know that the climate disaster is here,” Castillo told the San Antonio Report, “and we need to ensure that we’re taking every intentional step necessary to ensure that we’re mitigating the heat island effect and being intentional with the materials used to construct our infrastructure.”
The program would use non-service alleyways — those not used by the city’s Solid Waste Management Department to collect trash — that are the responsibility of the property owner to maintain. There are about 3,522 non-service alleyways in San Antonio, according to the city. The city launched an inventory program of non-service alleyways in 2021 that was completed last year.
District 5, located on the city’s near West Side, has a high need for basic infrastructure improvements, from sidewalks and drainage to neglected alleyways, Castillo said.
The councilwoman said she often gets calls from residents about their alleyways collecting standing water that becomes a breeding ground for mosquitoes, being strewn with illegally dumped trash, or becoming inaccessible for other reasons, she said.
“We’re looking forward to having the larger conversation that comes with a consideration request,” Castillo said. “This idea is flexible, and we can shape it as a council to where it meets the needs of each district.”
Mitigating heat islands in San Antonio — areas where heat becomes even more extreme after a city replaces natural land cover with pavement, buildings and other surfaces that retain heat — is becoming increasingly important, Castillo said. Castillo added her team looked into areas where this project has been successful, such as in Chicago.
Other Texas cities are also already implementing green alleyways. San Marcos launched a similar initiative in 2017, and Austin launched a demo project of a green alleyway in 2015. Their versions of green alleys include the addition of cobblestone, native plants and benches.
She compared the project to the city’s cool pavement project launched late last year by the Office of Sustainability, which saw the installation of a cool pavement section within each of the 10 City Council districts. Cool pavement is a road surface that uses a reflective coating so it absorbs less radiant heat from the sun, helping keep the air around it cooler.
The Office of Sustainability is working with UTSA scientists to see which of five coatings most efficiently reduces the air temperature around them. The results of that data should come by the end of this year, said Julia Murphy, the city’s deputy chief sustainability officer. The next steps will be developed from there, she said.
The cool pavement project also was funded through the REES fund, part of the city’s 2023 budget. The fund comes from a portion of the money the city receives every year from CPS Energy revenue and goes towards green initiatives.
Castillo said a green alleyways program would help support many existing city programs, such as the city’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, which calls for the city to reduce its emissions of the greenhouse gases driving global warming to net zero by 2050.
It will take a lot of little changes working together to get the city there, Murphy told the San Antonio Report.
“It’s definitely a very cool project idea, and other cities have done this, so we are certainly interested in working with Councilwoman Castillo’s office on this,” Murphy said. She added that green alleyways also promote connectivity within cities; with clearer, safer alleyways, people are able to take routes through alleys they previously avoided.
The council consideration request, filed on Aug. 7, would next move to the Governance Committee, Castillo said. From there, it would have to become a part of a wider council discussion before any action could be taken, she said.
On Thursday, City Manager Erik Walsh mentioned the proposal during his 2024 budget presentation to City Council. The budget for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 proposes allocating funds for better maintenance of alleyways.
“I’m looking forward to the council discussion on how to shape this and how to move it forward,” Castillo said.
