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'It's become a deathtrap' | Livelihood of farmers on San Antonio's west side impacted by new housing development

Jerry King pointed out the construction has created a domino effect of issues ranging from safety on the road to affecting his livestock.

BEXAR COUNTY, Texas — Housing development in west Bexar County is causing frustration for at least one family who lives on a small farm.

“I’m not opposed to development. I’ve always seen San Antonio as always grown out and never up,” said Jerry King.

King and his wife say they feel out of the loop regarding the housing construction taking place across the street from their property along Grosenbacher Road just north of I-90. 

The area is filled with a landscape of excavation equipment and scattered mounds of dirt. 

King stressed the housing development’s impact is widespread.

“I came out of my driveway last week and found this whole area was torn up, scraped out, my driveway scraped out, where they decided they’re going to put a new road,” King said.

King noted the additional dirt lane along Grosenbacher Road poses a safety hazard in an area where he said people already speed.

 “They put the new road right into my easement so that I cannot see the traffic coming up this road,” King said.

On Monday morning, King discovered his mailbox resting in the brush near the driveway several feet away from its original location where the makeshift third lane now exists. For a brief time last week, he was unable to receive mail.

“I could have moved the mailbox. I didn’t need to have it dug out of the ground and thrown up against the fence,” King said.  

The current housing development he said has affected farm operations, leading to trash and runoff filing up the creeks, establishing flood issues, and contaminating the water that was once used to nourish the livestock.

“I’ve lost my livestock, I’ve lost my chickens from all the varmints that have moved from this wooded area onto my area, I’ve lost my bees from all of this dust that blows through here now,” King said.

All the Kings want is a clear line of communication and transparency as to what’s happening in their community, which is growing as new housing developments occupy the land. King stressed he has no plans of moving despite the growth.

“Some kind of communication that says this is what our plans are, that’s all I ask,” King said.

KENS 5’s attempts to reach the real estate company known as Meritage, were not successful as of Sunday.

We will follow up with additional details on their response. 

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