Click here to explore an interactive map of Buda

South of Austin, halfway to San Marcos, what used to be a sleepy town of 3,800 residents now bustles with the sounds of 18-wheelers and heavy equipment.

Four housing developments expected to quadruple the town's population are under construction. Fleets of machinery haul dirt, sending clouds of dust and smoke wafting through the air. A large Wal-Mart now faces the highway just yards south of the main exit. A place that was once a far cry from the urban sprawl of South Austin is now filling its wide-open spaces.

Buda was a lot like other small Texas towns, with locally owned mom-and-pop storefronts, neighbors who knew each other's names despite the good distance between houses, and plenty of vegetation to recall the real beauty of Texas.

For many years, Buda and its city council resisted the push from developers and landowners eager for a massive overhaul of the townscape.

But around four years ago, a new Buda City Council was elected. Suddenly, lands were approved for annexation and eventual development.

"It wasn't until we got the new administration that any of this was allowed to happen," said Joyce H. "Tommy" Poer, a 45-year resident of Buda.

Poer is a self-described libertarian who talks about the town's great opposition to the changes taking place.

On Sept. 30, 2003, the council called a special meeting in response to a request that it hold off on approving any land deals until the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality could certify new, long-awaited maps. Citizens, along with the Save Our Springs Alliance, suspected the new maps would show that the impending developments significantly cover part of the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer recharge zone.

At the meeting, 33 residents of Buda stood up to voice their opinions on the construction ideas, 29 in opposition.

After hearing public testimonies, the council broke for an executive session, then quickly returned. One by one, the members said why they were going to vote to approve the lands for development.


A catalyst for change

Bob Mathis, a former Air Force commander in South Dakota, was hired three years ago as city administrator for Buda. During his time as administrator, he led the town's push for progress.

Part of Mathis' job included researching the effects of allowing development in Buda and preparing a presentation for the city council.

Local rule dictates that should the population reach 5,000, the job of administrator would change to city manager pending a public referendum. The new structure would more closely resemble Austin's city government, with the manager wielding greater power and influence over daily operations than the city administrator position now holds.

Poer, along with others in Buda, see a conflict of interests. They say it would benefit Mathis to grow the city, both in the reach of his influence and in the size of his paycheck.

"There were numerous planning and zoning commission meetings where he would give his sales pitch and then recommend they approve the sites for construction," Poer said.

An open records request for land plots surrounding one of the developments shows that Mathis purchased a flag lot off one of the development's borders leading to the nearest road to that side of the neighborhood. Mathis purchased the land shortly after the area was approved for annexation but before construction had begun.

Less than two months ago, Mathis broke his four-year contract with the city a year before it was up. The contract stipulates that 90 days' notice must be given before resigning, but the city accepted Mathis's resignation with only two weeks' notice. In a statement following his resignation, Mathis said he was leaving to continue his military career and will be in Hawaii receiving training for his new position. He left Buda the following day.

Recent attempts to reach Mathis by phone have failed.


Right in your own backyard

Mathis is gone, but his work, which includes the expansion of big-box stores to Buda, along with massive increases in the housing capacity, will remain for generations. One sign of progress, an approximately 2,000-unit housing development, lies directly behind Sam Braswell's ranch and houses.

"The school district is figuring 3.2 people per household, so this plot alone could almost double our population," Braswell said.

Last summer, Joe Bland Construction Company broke ground on the project and along the way got Sam and his daughter Joyce's attention.

After discovering 20 head of cattle on their ranch that did not belong to them, the Braswells took a short hike to the southwest corner of their ranch which revealed a cut barbed-wire fence with large sections removed. A small dam for transporting machinery had been built across Garlic Creek, clogging the western-most border of the Braswell ranch, and ironically, all of their "no trespassing" signs had been removed.

The Braswells began to fight the city, hoping to stop what they knew to be illegal activity. They received little attention.

Law prevents dams from being constructed without a permit, even temporarily; but Mathis refused even to admit that Garlic Creek is a flowing body of water.

"It's not even an active creek," Mathis said. "It's just puddles until they dry up, and then there's not really any water at all."

As part of the construction, Bland's company put in place a rock berm consisting of a large bundle of heavy rocks held together by chicken wire to help filter debris from upstream and prevent silting. Joyce Braswell recalls that in recent weeks it had rained so much the berm had been washed away.

In the weeks that followed, Joyce continued to make trips to the construction site bordering her home and was alarmed to find the consistency of the water in Garlic Creek was changing.

"A thick, gelatin-like substance had formed on the top of the water downstream from the construction site," she said. "I wanted to get a sample, so I dipped a bottle in, and hours later, you could still see the spot where I had taken the sample. The following day I felt sick and ended up missing work for two days."

The Braswells' next call was to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which responded within a couple of hours and declared the area under criminal investigation and took samples. High levels of heavy metals such as lead and zinc were found.

Alarmed by the new discovery and frustrated with the local government's response, the Braswells decided to go to court. Partnering with the Save Our Springs Alliance, an Austin-based group dedicated to protecting local natural springs, the Braswells filed a lawsuit against the developers and the city of Buda. In the suit, they alleged that by putting in the housing development, the city and the builders were refusing to recognize portions of the Garlic Creek West tract as being part of the Barton Springs Recharge Zone.

At the time the suit was initiated, the most current maps published by TCEQ did not indicate the property in question was over the recharge zone. So SOS and the Braswells were left to wait for newer and possibly more accurate maps to be issued.

Last week, TCEQ accepted most of a new aquifer map submitted by the Buda-Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District, with the exception of a portion near the Garlic Creek West tract. The conservation district included the area in its map, but TCEQ rejected that portion, calling the area a contributing zone and not part of the recharge area.

Brad Rockwell, deputy director of the SOS Alliance, said he cannot understand why TCEQ did not accept all of the map as the conservation district has the most qualified experts for the job.

"TCEQ has been a huge disappointment in terms of protecting the Aquifer, and this is just another example," Rockwell said.

The suit also accuses the developers and the city of violating the Clean Water Act, a federal law protecting the purity of natural waters.

The Braswells believe that through the construction process, Garlic Creek has been polluted. They are especially concerned, given that through dye tests, TCEQ found that the creek ultimately feeds into Barton Springs and the Barton Creek Greenbelt.

"If the tests are positive, it could affect a great number of people," Sam Braswell said.


Bad gets worse

Since construction broke ground on the piece of land chosen behind the Braswells' ranch, Joyce Braswell has continued to find dead animals including deer, opossum, skunks and raccoons on her property. To supplement part of their income, the Braswells raise sheep, and in early April, Braswell woke to find four rams and 11 lambs dead.

"They were just lying there, jaws clenched tight," she said. "I expect 10 others to die based on that fact that they are rapidly losing weight despite me increasing the amount that they get fed."

Not knowing the cause of death and fearing for her own safety, Braswell decided to have her own hair tested.

"I haven't been feeling very good; it's like I just don't have any energy," Braswell said.

Hair samples were sent to two separate out-of-state labs. The results led to the involvement of the Texas Department of State Health Services's Radiation Control Center. High levels of strontium, a naturally occurring radioactive element, were found in Braswell's hair. Too much exposure can lead to cancer and, in children, can impair bone development.

Ruben Cortez, safety officer for TDH's radiation control branch, said strontium is often found in leafy plants and can be airborne or found in water. But Cortez said he hasn't heard of levels this high in this part of the country since nuclear testing stopped in the 1960s.

TDH has begun testing and has yet to find anything new to be concerned about, Cortez said. But because strontium is so rare, the lab does not have a standard on hand to test the sample against and must wait for one to arrive before conducting strontium testing.

SOS has since dropped its lawsuit due to limited resources, but the Braswells continue to fight and say they won't stop until the questions surrounding Buda's development are fully answered.

"What are they building on top of? Why do they have to haul out dirt and bring in new dirt?" Sam Braswell said. "I hope this doesn't turn into another Love Canal, but I won't be surprised if the ground they're building on turns out to be contaminated."


Related Stories:

Radioactive Strontium Found At Creek
Groups Fight To Preserve Garlic Creek

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