D6 Councilwoman Leads Successful Effort to Find Common Ground Between Community Needs and Corporate Citizenship

CONTACT: Victor Landa, 210-884-3429
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SAN ANTONIO (January 27, 2022) - The San Antonio City Council voted today to finalize a seven-month process that led to an agreement between the Stonegate Hill HOA and the Microsoft Corporation regarding the development of a new data center in District 6.
At District 6 Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda's request, Stonegate Hill residents and Microsoft representatives met more than 9 times over a period of 7 months to iron-out differences in the corporation's development plan.
At issue was a planned 60ft-tall data center adjacent to Stonegate Hill. The residents opposed the structure.
"It became clear that the only way forward was a frank and difficult conversation between the residents and Microsoft," said the Councilwoman. "The intent was not to reach a compromise, but rather to find a third, better way to address everyone's concerns."
The agreement which was approved by Council will reduce the proposed data center's height by expanding its footprint. The Council's vote approved an administrative exception to the City's Tree Preservation Code.
In addition, Microsoft agreed to plant 800 new trees and pledged $1.4 million to the Parks and Recreation Department's tree mitigation fund. This could translate into the planting of more than 1,400 trees throughout San Antonio.
"Although the proposed single-story footprint of the building necessitates this requested variance," said James Egbert, Vice-President of the Stonegate Hill Homeowners Association, "the planting of over 800 new trees, both shade and ornamental, will increase our canopy cover to 30%, which is nearly 50% greater than the City's Unified Development Code minimum of 25%."
The new trees will also replace older unhealthy trees while regrading and planting of additional vegetation will help limit soil erosion.
"These are wins for the environment," added Egbert.
"Our work with community members and corporate citizens to move beyond this complication has uncovered a need to rethink the parameters and processes regarding variances to the City's tree preservation code," said Councilwoman Cabello Havrda. "The best way to accomplish that is with a clear intent to find new ways to bridge differences. Our main job as Councilmembers is to listen to our community and respect their decisions."