Creating ‘our future,’ Castroville looks to shape the sprawl and preserve its heritage
https://sanantonioreport.org/castrov...opment-zoning/
Les Tschirhart’s ancestors arrived in Texas in 1845, and today he lives on the land near Castroville that has been in his family for 135 years. The home his great grandfather built is now the local chamber of commerce office.
At age 83, he and wife Patsy still speak the language of those early pioneers from Alsace. If they could see Castroville now, “they would think it’s something,” Tschirhart said laughing.
In the next three years, more homes and businesses will be built in Castroville and the surrounding farmlands — in six active developments with at least 2,500 homes and another 200 acres of commercial development — than in the 178 years since the town’s founding.
That concerns Darrin Schroeder, the first-term mayor of the picturesque town west of San Antonio, as the boundary between Castroville and the fast-growing far West Side of San Antonio becomes blurred.
He revealed those construction numbers at a recent town hall meeting, inviting area residents with a letter stating that these structures will be the “visual backdrop of our lives and will outlast us by many generations.”
Already, islands of asphalt-shingled roofs are spreading across what was once fertile farmland to supply an ever-increasing demand for housing. At least 15 suburban neighborhoods are in various stages of development to the north and south of U.S. Highway 90 West. Multifamily complexes are also growing.
Commercial and retail development has followed. A Walmart Supercenter opened in 2017 and a national hotel chain is planning to build nearby.
The problem of urban sprawl is nothing new to bedroom communities in Bexar County, along Interstate 10 toward Boerne and along Interstate 35 heading north to New Braunfels and Austin — one of the fastest-growing corridors in the nation.
As more and more developers acquire land around Castroville, Schroeder and council members feel a sense of urgency to get ahead of the sprawl by knowing what to require from developers. “We have a small window to take charge of our destiny,” he wrote in a recent letter to residents.