San Antonio Bars New Apartments near Toyota Plant

UPDATED 9/5/24, 4:50 PM

San Antonio’s City Council has taken a decisive but controversial step in shaping the future of the city’s South Side.

The City Council has approved a plan establishing certain types of acceptable development around the city’s Toyota plant, the San Antonio Express News reported. Uses outside those prescribed types of development, like multifamily, would need council approval.

The plan, known as the South Side land-use plan, covers a 15.1-square-mile area, from Loop 410 to the north, Neal Road to the south, Pleasanton and Neal roads to the east and South Zarzamora Street to the west.

Under the new guidelines, land directly south of the Toyota plant can be designated for parks or agricultural use, while the land to the north is set aside for light industrial development, agriculture or government operations. The plan encourages the development of housing and retail businesses closer to Texas A&M-San Antonio.

Some landowners voiced concern about the potential restrictions it imposes on property use, questioning whether Toyota influenced the plan.

They claim the decision is reminiscent of the 2006 “Starbright Agreement,” which established a three-mile buffer zone that restricted residential development around Toyota’s plant, a strategy critics argued gave too much control over local development to the automaker.

In 2023, Landowner Fermin Rajunov sued the city and Toyota for blocking attempts to develop affordable housing on his South Side property. Rajunov criticized this latest buffer as favoring Toyota over residents and questioned the transparency of the city’s process, noting a lack of prior public hearings and consultations.

“Housing and rental prices are at an all time high in our great city, and today the South Side is one of the few places where residents can still afford to buy and rent,” Rajunov said in May.

Council Members Marc Whyte and Manny Pelaez were the only two dissenting votes against the plan, citing concerns about the rights of landowners and the adequacy of community input.

Council Member Phyllis Viagran, who represents the area, relayed the need for a structured plan to accommodate Mesquite’s expanding population, infrastructure needs and growing demand for amenities like grocery stores and childcare facilities.

For now, the focus will be on implementing the approved land-use plan while city officials decide whether to revisit the idea of a special zoning district in the future.

— Andrew Terrell

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the city approved the “industrial compatibility overlay district, but the city council has not yet voted on that. Instead, it approved the South Side land-use plan, which still has an impact on development near the Toyota facility.