Sunday, August 10, 2014

Who is Sandy Oaks?

The city of Sandy Oaks is on the cusp of the Eagle Ford Shale area, with major industry players locating operating facilities in the nearby area, including Baker- Hughes, Weatherford, and Halliburton. Additionally, there are storage tanks for Calumet San Antonio which puts the new city within a 3-mile blast zone should there ever be a catastrophic event.

The San Antonio Water System (SAWS) recently announced the development of a desalination plant nearby, which will desalinate groundwater from deep in the Wilcox Aquifer in southern Bexar County.  Rail is also playing an important part in the energy industry with the recent opening of Alamo Junction The major intersection of Loop 1604 and I-37 is growing, with the opening of the Pilot Travel Center.  There is further development expected in and around this important intersection.  The City of San Antonio has reserved their right to annex this intersection.  In fact, notices have been sent to property owners notifying them of their intent to do so.
  • The city of Sandy Oaks is comprised mostly of residential properties with an estimated 3,800 residents.  
  • The average appraised property value is roughly $33,000*
  • Of the approximated 1,900 properties, over 950 are appraised at $20,000 or less*  
  • It is purported that more than 50% of the residents earn below the poverty level.  
  • The residential properties consist of a mix of mobile homes and some site built homes, as well as vacant lots.
  • There are many DIY-ers who are constructing their own homes.    
  • There are an estimated 1,400 registered voters with an average age 46.  Female voters comprise 661, male voters total 581, and the remaining are listed as "unidentifed".  
  • There are 14 known registered sex offenders in the community.
*Source:  Bexar County Appraisal District



On Saturday, August 9, 2014 the first city elections were held to elect the Mayor and five council members.
The initial vote counts were 149 early voting; 76 on voting day and 2 mail in ballots for a total 227 votes cast.   There were 8 candidates running for the 5 available positions.  82 under votes were cast; which is where a ballot is cast without fully choosing candidate(s), for example, not voting for the mayor but voting for alderman positions, or not casting a ballot for all five available alderman positions or any combination of the two examples..

The position for Mayor was unopposed; therefore the single candidate won with 144 votes.

Council Members by vote counts are as follows:

David K. Tremblay, 128 votes
Earnest D. Gay, 122 votes
Douglas Tomasini, 118 votes
Joel Ortego, 118 votes
Micki Ball, 114 votes

The Bexar County Elections Administrator will validate the results on Wednesday, August 13 with swearing in of the elected candidates to occur on the same day.






Monday, August 4, 2014

Where is Sandy Oaks?

If you head south on I-37 from San Antonio heading towards Corpus Christi, it would easy to pass up this newest city-in-the-making.  For many years, this part of the southern most portion of Bexar County has been extremely rural, vastly under developed, and mostly ignored by both the City of San Antonio and Bexar County.  A developer by the name of G. G. Gale purchased some land way back in 1987 just south of Loop 1604 and named it Waterwood.  The vision outlined for the community has not lived up to the expectations of the residents, mostly due to the lack of enforcement of deed restrictions.

Over the years, many have expressed dissatisfaction with paying annual maintenance fees to Waterwood Development for the lack of upkeep in the neighborhood.  A group of individuals have been involved with the Waterwood Park Property Owners Assocation (WPPOA) but their involvement in resolving any issues has been ineffectual at best.  Many in the community view the WPPOA as a cluster of annoyed residents who assumed a position of authority with no means to rectify any issue.  The WPPOA remains a cloistered mystery to the majority of residents.

At some point in 2010, these same WPPOA members created the Committee to Incorporate Sandy Oaks (CISO), with Pedro Orduno as the Committee Chair and Jim Clement as the Vice-Chair.  Both of these individuals are long time residents of Waterwood and along with CISO, they formed the Sandy Oaks Political Action Committee (SOPAC).  There were two previous attempts at incorporation which failed, for reasons only known to the small group of WPPOA/CISO/SOPAC.  Throughout a secret campaign, they were able to silently push through the latest incorporation, surprising many in Waterwood and the surrounding areas now known as Sandy Oaks.

The area is comprised largely of residential properties, with roughly 50% of those properties appraised at less than $20,000 on the Bexar County Appraisal District tax rolls. The meager commercial tax base consists of a Valero gas station with an adjoining convenience store, a fireworks stand and a quasi-convenience store.  There is very limited land available for additional commercial interests, and with the SOPAC pushing for a city tax of $.38 cents, the majority of the revenues will be gleaned from the near empty pockets of the residents of Waterwood and other surrounding residential properties.

Elections are underway for Mayor (unopposed) and 5 positions on the city council. The race will be decided on August 9, 2014.


The original request for land to be released from the San Antonio ETJ was impressive and would have provided a good commercial tax base for the city.

What was approved is something that will present immense challenges to providing services at a tax rate the residents can afford.





With no budget, no money in the bank, and very little commercial tax base, the doors to the new city open after the swearing in of the mayor and council members on August 13, 2014.