This article has been updated.
Comal County’s Honey Creek Ranch, once slated for development of as many as 2,400 homes, has been purchased by the state of Texas, officials announced Thursday.
Landowners Ronnie and Terry Urbanczyk sold the 515-acre ranch for $25 million to the state’s parks department in a move facilitated through a partnership with the state’s parks department, The Nature Conservancy in Texas, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation. Funds for the purchase were made available from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, state appropriations for land acquisitions and private donations, according to a press release announcing the move.
The sale was finalized on June 1, parks staff said.
With tears in his eyes, Ronnie Urbanczyk likened handing the property over to the state’s parks department to how he felt on each of his two daughters’ wedding days.
“It was a tough decision when we decided not to make it a subdivision because it was our retirement [plan],” Urbanczyk said at a press conference at the ranch. He told the San Antonio Report he and his wife would likely have made around $150 million if the development had proceeded. But in the end, he felt selling the ranch to the state was a more significant legacy.
“I asked my board of directors — my board of directors are my grandchildren — ‘Would y’all like to see this made into a park?’ And they all screamed ‘yes,’” he said.
The ranch’s acquisition by the state preserves an environmentally sensitive plot of land upstream of Guadalupe River State Park and Honey Creek State Natural Area off State Highway 46, northwest of Bulverde. The ranch property will become part of the state natural area, which it borders.
“We feel like this is a huge conservation win and we’re very excited to be celebrating the acquisition of the ranch,” Suzanne Scott, state director for The Nature Conservancy in Texas, told the San Antonio Report. “[Honey Creek] is a sensitive and important watershed that the Nature Conservancy has been protecting since back in the 1980s when we made the initial acquisition” of the almost 2,300-acre Honey Creek State Natural Area.
The ranch’s namesake creek starts on the property and flows into a 20-mile-long cave on nearby private land, discharging its clear water into Honey Creek.
The Honey Creek State Natural Area, which is open to the public only via guided tours, lies just southeast of Guadalupe River State Park, a popular recreation area for San Antonians.
Wastewater concerns
The deal ends a five-year-long saga surrounding the ranch and its future.
Honey Creek Ranch first came to the public’s attention in 2018, when the Urbanczyks submitted a permit application to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to develop the property and build a wastewater treatment plant that would dump up to an average of 500,000 gallons of treated sewage effluent per day into Honey Creek. The pristine creek flows through the Honey Creek State Natural Area on its way to the Guadalupe River. The application noted the development would include about 2,400 homes and three schools.
Concerns over what effects the effluent would have on Honey Creek and its nearby cave system quickly drew attention from the Urbanczyks’ neighbors and local environmentalists alike. Scientists noted that even something as minor as a change in the water’s natural temperature or how much nitrogen is in it could have negative impacts on the sensitive species living in the creek, including the endangered Cascade Caverns salamander — Eurycea latitans.
Even after consultants and contractors assured the public that effluent would only be discharged into Honey Creek during heavy rains — the subdivision would use recycled wastewater to irrigate its lawns and landscapes — concerns lingered.
The Urbanczyks withdrew their initial wastewater application in 2019 and instead filed for a Texas land application permit that would allow the discharge of an average of 365,000 gallons per day via an underground drip system onto 84 acres of common landscape area in the proposed housing development rather than into Honey Creek.
While some applauded the move, others called it a temporary win — noting that the allowance of a large housing development would still likely have a significant environmental impact on the sensitive area. Runoff draining from hard surfaces such as roofs, sidewalks or driveways was a particular worry.
Scaling back, then a different path
Designs for the housing development were scaled back in 2020, reducing its density to around 1,700 homes. But that didn’t allay environmentalists’ concerns, and talks began between the Urbanczyks and The Nature Conservancy, along with state parks officials.
The Nature Conservancy negotiated an option for the ranch’s purchase, and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department commissioners unanimously voted in favor of the land deal in August 2021.
However, one obstacle remained: In anticipation of building the proposed development, the Urbanczyks had entered into a water contract requiring them to buy 50 acre-feet of water per year, ramping up to 1,000 acre-feet per year over 20 years.
The status of the contract with Boerne-based Texas Water Supply Co. appears unresolved; when asked about it, Urbanczyk said he hopes the water company will “do the right thing” now that the property has been sold. Parks department officials said it’s unclear what will happen to the contract.
In 2020, Comal Independent School District acquired 150 acres of the ranch to build an elementary school, middle school and high school on a front section of the property, directly along State Highway 46. Those plans are unaffected by the state parks department’s purchase of the rest of the ranch, said Rodney Franklin, director of the Texas State Parks Division.
Scott praised the Urbanczyks for their involvement in and support of the deal making the land preserved as a state property for the public to enjoy.
“I think everyone — all the partners — came together,” Scott said. “It was a compelling conservation message — to see us all come together.”
