Concert venue planned near Edwards Aquifer spurs neighbors to prepare for legal fight

Residents in Hays County and a southwestern portion of Travis County hope the possibility of a civil case against a California development company will stop plans to construct a 5,000-seat concert venue on a two-lane country road near Dripping Springs. Traffic concerns are important for the Fitzhugh Neighbors group that has formed to fight the amphitheater proposed for nearly 33 acres on rural Fitzhugh Road, but the potential of improperly treated wastewater impacting nearby aquifers is the issue that has unified environmental and other groups in the fight.

More than 100 people turned out Monday night for a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality hearing organized at the request of state Sen. Donna Campbell in response to heavy objections from residents. Representatives from Blizexas LLC, which is connected to parent company Lexor Investments, made few statements and didn’t provide satisfactory answers to attendees, some of whom have retained the law firm of Perales, Allmon & Ice, PC, in preparation for an expected civil case. The state will soon determine which of the residents, environmental groups or other relevant parties would have standing to bring the case, which will likely come sometime next year after the state rules on Blizexas’ water quality permit for the project.

Ann Clearkin, a member of the Fitzhugh Neighbors group, said the Monday hearing felt largely perfunctory, with neither state officials or Blizexas representatives answering residents’ questions.

“A lot of the times, TCEQ didn’t have a lot of answers for anything, so it did feel performative or just checking off the box … going through the motion is what I would say,” she said, noting that stormwater runoff from more than 1,800 paved parking spaces is another issue connected to the health of local aquifers. “For a venue sitting over the Trinity and Edwards aquifer area so close to Barton Springs … why is wastewater a separate permit from groundwater and stormwater runoff?”

Already more than a year into fighting the amphitheater project, the residents are putting together a series of fundraising concerts and other events beginning this spring to cover the costs for a legal fight they expect could last two years or more.

Clearkin said a pivot to a less intense hospitality or entertainment venue would still be a poor fit for the area. She and other neighbors are pushing to convert the property into a natural preserve that could host smaller and more intimate gatherings.

Mike Clifford, technical director for the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, said it’s likely any change of plans won’t come until Blizexas has to fight for the project in court.

“What happens in these processes is until the developer actually has to go to court and see what the evidence is against them, then a lot of times they want to settle,” he said. “The problem that the developer has is the only settlement that I think that all of those affected parties would agree to would be a much more downscaled-size venue, something more like a music venue as opposed to an amphitheater.”

Representatives from Blizexas and Lexor did not respond to requests for comment.

For neighbor Cindy High, the idea of any substantial impervious cover in the property that feeds water gradually into Barton Springs is unacceptable.

“That particular lot of 33 acres is sitting on very environmentally sensitive land, so we really don’t want a lot of traffic and we don’t want a lot of pressure on it because everything is going to run off from there into the Barton Creek area, into the aquifer,” she said. “We think it’s better use to put in a park where we can still preserve the land and the waters.”

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