SCHERTZ, Texas — Ronald Schott's grandfather started building their family farm all the way back in 1959. The family still works with contractors to farm their 70 acres today.
Then, last year, a newly built housing development sent water flowing across the back of his property and created a small swamp.
"I went down to shred. I almost got stuck in my tractor. That's when I started complaining to the city about it," Schott said.
Schott told KENS 5 he started contacting the City of Schertz about the issue in the summer of 2023. He said he first went in person and then filed a written complaint. Schott then showed KENS 5 emails sent back and forth with the city about the issue as early as January of 2024.
The city promised to look into it, and Schott said they did put down sand bags at some point, but the flooding from the development never slowed down during that time. By September of 2024, Schott said he couldn't get any more action and still couldn't access his property correctly.
"That's 10 acres down there that I could be getting income off of. But I can't... I'm losing money," Schott said.
Finally, he called KENS 5.
"I'm not getting any results from anybody and no lawyers want to talk to me about it," Schott said. "I'm stuck."
KENS 5 went out to the property to look at the swamp and reviewed recent drone footage of the drainage and flooding.
KENS 5 then contacted Schertz City Manager Steve Williams to request an in-person interview about the situation.
Williams declined to go on camera, but he did immediately start investigating the situation and toured Schott's property with a city engineer the very next week.
Then, that very same week, Schott said the water started slowing down.
"In a day or so the stream of water went down by half. So I don't know what they did but the amount of water that was coming through was drastically cut. Then they put in these dirt dams to cut it down more," Schott said.
KENS 5 again asked Schertz for comment and Director of Public Affairs Linda Klepper was able to answer some questions via email.
Klepper said the land developer for the neighborhood behind Schott's property had, in fact, created dirt dams (berms) to stop the flow of water. She also the City noticed the amount of water drainage was actually reduced before those berms were in place. She said the city is still working with the land developer to find out why this happened.
Klepper told KENS 5 in part:
Staff has met with the developers and has another meeting with them next week and will continue to investigate the situation. We’ve also noted your observation regarding the runoff slowing down, but we’re still unsure what caused that change. As part of this ongoing process, we are continuing to evaluate all possible causes. In addition to site visits and discussions with the property owner, staff is working with developers, checking for water leaks in the area, and reviewing drainage channels. By eliminating possible factors one by one, we aim to identify the root cause.
Klepper also told KENS 5 the berms are not intended to be a permanent fix and said they were primarily meant to help investigate the source of the water which the city was still doing.
Schott said the problem isn't solved for good but he's glad the City of Schertz is now actively investigating. He's also glad he called KENS 5.
"The water is basically stopped because of those dirt dams," Schott said. "When I called KENS 5, that's when things started happening. Not that it's going to be a permanent fix but at least they are working at it now."
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