A few words About
The Brown Property
The Brown property is a pristine natural 45 acres of open space, hosting diverse local flora, fauna, and wildlife, located within Bee Cave’s City limits east of Hamilton Pool Road, west of Great Divide Drive, and north of Little Barton Creek. The City purchased this land in 2017 to be preserved as open space and recently began the process of developing it as a nature preserve. The City has kept this land pristine for more than six years.
The Brown Property is a tract along Little Barton Creek, situated within the Edwards Plateau ecoregion, characterized by a mix of open savanna, wooded hillsides, and mixed woodland bottomlands. It was once a thriving grassland savanna with scattered groves of live oak, Texas oak, and Ashe juniper, maintained by frequent fire and the grazing of bison and antelope. However, European settlers in the mid-1800s, through activities like continuous grazing and fire suppression, shifted the balance between grassland and woodland, causing woody species like Ashe juniper to expand into the prairies and savanna.
As a parkland/wildlife preserve, the Brown Property can benefit the community in several ways:
- Community spaces provide places for recreation, socialization, and environmental engagement, which fosters place attachment, community involvement, and social ties.
- Property values increase when parks are nearby. Home buyers appreciate them, and they help attract and retain area businesses.
- Carbon-reducing sustainable landscapes like parks cleanse air and water, replenish aquifers, reduce stormwater runoff, and protect wildlife habitat.
The Brown Property is protected from traffic pollution and noise by 200 feet of largely open green space (the Field of Dreams and Montessori school south of Hwy 71). But the council plans to remove that protection by building a major road along the northern boundary of the Brown Property, which will destroy nearly 10% of the space, but more significantly, it will weaken the ecological benefits of the nature center.
Currently, less than 1% of the original savanna remains due to development and land use changes, leading to a decline in healthy ecosystems worldwide. Bird populations, especially grassland birds, have been significantly impacted, with a 53% loss in grassland bird species since the 1970s. Bird loss also indicates a decline in other wildlife, such as insects and amphibians, and negatively affects ecological functions like clean air and water, vital for human survival.
Despite the challenges, the Edwards Plateau remains one of the most biologically diverse regions in the nation, supporting various bird species, including migratory ones. It also hosts rare aquatic, cave-dwelling species like the fountain darter and Texas blind salamander, as well as unique plants such as big red sage, buckley tridens, and sycamore-leaved snowballs.
The region’s karst topography, formed by limestone dissolution, creates unique ecosystems of sinkholes, caves, and springs, housing many species that live nowhere else. Healthy grasslands and woodlands play a crucial role in filtering and slowing down water before it enters the ground, influencing the quality and quantity of water in the aquifers and springs.
The most significant threat to the Brown Property is the City of Bee Cave’s plan to construct a major new road along its northern boundary, extending from Hamilton Pool Road to Great Divide Drive. Although the city calls it the Hamilton Pool Bypass, a more fitting name would be the State Highway 71 Bypass, as it serves as an alternate route to SH 71, as stated by the City Manager.
There is also concern about a possible threat to the health of Little Barton Creek due to the proposed construction of a bridge at Great Divide Drive.
Barton Creek is one of the last pristine streams left in Texas. That’s not just an informal description. “Pristine streams” is the term used in a 2021 bill and in a 2022 petition that asked the state to protect selected rivers and creeks from new wastewater discharge permits. “Pristine” has a specific definition in these proposals — streams with extremely low levels of naturally occurring phosphorus, which scientists measure as a marker for overall water quality. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) recognized this classification in a stakeholder meeting on pristine streams. Only 22 stream segments — again, in the entire state — qualified for this designation, and again, Barton Creek was one.
The two main threats to water quality in pristine streams are wastewater and stormwater. Discharge of treated wastewater into streams is a problem if it still contains high levels of pollutants even after treatment. Stormwater can cause runoff pollution when impervious surfaces are built too close to streams with no mitigation.
Rain that falls from normal storms onto natural and undeveloped land will usually infiltrate the soil where it falls. But any amount of rain that falls on impervious cover will immediately flow off. It will also pick up pollutants on or next to the impervious cover. For roads, this can include automotive fluids and dirt on the pavement, as well as litter, debris, and animal waste along the shoulders.
When discussing stormwater pollution, water engineers refer to this as the “first flush.” It means almost all the pollutants on the surface of a piece of impervious cover will be washed off with the first inch of rainfall. That’s why this first inch can be very polluted. Studies have shown that the first flush of stormwater may be just as contaminated as raw sewage. In addition, runoff from impervious cover has to be dumped somewhere. That usually means stormwater drains that carry the water to a central discharge point on a nearby stream. For the SH 71 Bypass, that would be Little Barton Creek.
When the SH 71 Bypass proposal was considered in Bee Cave City Council meetings earlier this year, one of the most frequently asked questions was: How much of the Brown Property would be used for the Bypass? While a small percentage of land would be taken from the nature center for the road, the more important question is: What would be the total physical impacts of the SH 71 Bypass on wildlife at the nature center?
Highways have two primary impacts on animals: noise and light from vehicles on the road and the physical hazard of the roadway itself. While the intent of creating the nature center is to provide a safe space for wildlife, SH 71 Bypass will create new dangers that don’t exist on the Brown Property now. This is especially true since the property has an undeveloped northern border with the Montessori School of the Epiphany.
Road noise from vehicles and bright headlights will create a less- than-peaceful environment for wildlife. Studies have shown bright lights at night are particularly disruptive to nocturnal animals and migrating birds. Even more concerning, the SH 71 Bypass will create a physical obstacle course for animals that won’t recognize that the nature center stops at the new roadway. We assume one of the goals of the nature center is to provide a welcoming habitat to attract wildlife. To be perfectly blunt, building a major highway along the edge of a nature center will create the perfect conditions for road kill.
Study after study has shown that while new roads may initially relieve existing traffic, they quickly create new traffic. The proposed SH 71 Bypass, a two-lane road, will likely be expanded to four or more lanes soon after initial construction.
According to Bee Cave’s city manager, the bypass offers a convenient route for residents to cross town without using SH 71. But for how long? Bee Cave residents and users of navigation apps like Waze and Google Maps will utilize this shortcut. These apps effectively divert drivers away from congested roads onto less busy streets. Consequently, with increased traffic and possibly additional lanes on the SH 71 Bypass, the issues of runoff pollution and wildlife risks are likely to intensify.
Thankfully NO! Citizens for Preservation of the Brown Property share the concern raised by the Save Barton Creek Association (SBCA) that building the new road along the Brown Property could potentially impact the benefits and viability of the nature center. We support SBCA’s suggestion to have the HPR Bypass intersect with SH 71 before the Brown property. By doing so, the city can have both the road and the nature center. This solution would allow the city to relieve traffic on Hamilton Pool Road while preserving the open space along local streams and creating a green space for the community.
Citizens for Preservation of the Brown Property and Save Barton Creek Association advocate for responsible development while acknowledging the diminishing availability of open space along local streams in our rapidly expanding region. If we want to have green spaces for our children and grandchildren to enjoy, we must protect them now.
On February 28, 2023, the Defendant Council Members broke their commitment to Bee Cave residents. The City Council voted to cede over 4 acres (nearly 10%) of the Brown Property for a new bypass route for SH 71 car traffic. The road would tear through areas of the Brown Property that the City’s own environmental studies identified as unsuitable for development. The City’s consultants also cautioned that ceding any land for a new road would significantly diminish and impair the environmental quality of the remaining lands and the water quality of Little Barton Creek.
The City’s actions surrounding the Brown Property and the decision to repurpose it for a bypass road have demonstrated a consistent pattern of lack of transparency and compliance with state law. Several actions by the City Council occurred without proper posting, and the City has blatantly ignored public information requests, withholding information required to be released under the Texas Public Information Act until after the City Council voted to cede the Brown Property for a new roadway.
Our lawsuit is aimed at forcing the City – to comply with State law requirements, to consider all available alternatives, and to fully mitigate environmental harms that result from the roadway. To read the petition, click here.
The Citizens for Preservation of the Brown Property, among other things, advocate for the residents and taxpayers of the City of Bee Cave interested in –
- Preserving open space, wildlife habitat, and the environmental integrity of the Brown Property, Little Barton Creek, and other public and private land (along with their own) within the City of Bee Cave;
- Safeguarding the quality of life of Bee Cave residents impacted by the City’s actions; and,
- Securing the financial interests of Bee Cave taxpayers and promoting responsible utilization of taxpayer funds through transparent and effective governance.
Citizens for Preservation of the Brown Property requested the Court enjoin the City from continuing to use public funds to construct a new road across the Brown Property until the City complies with the requirements of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Code and compel the City to comply with the Texas Public Information Act.