"Boerne Forward" is a political action committee created to counter the clout of "Boerne Together," a grass-roots group that has seen three supporters elected to City Council since it formed in 2005.
"The no-growthers don't want any more citizens. That's the whole issue," said Boerne Forward spokesman Bill Taylor, a local real estate agent.
He said amenities the community wants are unaffordable unless development controls are eased to help build the tax base.
"We believe we represent the majority of people in town," he said of the pro-business group that endorsed two winning candidates for the six-member council in May.
But the top vote-getter was Councilman Bob Manning, a Boerne Together founder who rejects the "no-growth" label.
"We need very carefully controlled growth," he said.
Despite its progressive name, Boerne Forward "wants to get back to sprawl as usual, and rubber-stamping every development request," Manning said.
The escalating rhetoric comes as city leaders begin to implement a new city master plan and take on major projects that include a new sewage treatment plant, city hall, library and police station.
Action also is needed to relieve worsening traffic congestion in the Kendall County seat.
Equally important are negotiations on a development agreement with Esperanza, a proposed subdivision of 2,480 homes plus commercial sites on Texas 46.
It's being developed by Marlin Atlantis of Dallas, which is being asked to help cover sewer upgrades costing upwards of $25 million and to pitch in for better roads around its 1,240-acre site.
"Because of the enormity of their project, we have to be very careful in making our decision," Mayor Dan Heckler said. "This has a big impact on the community."
Negotiating on the city's behalf are council members Judy Edmondson and Rob Ziegler — whom Taylor called "puppets of Boerne Together." His group wants them ousted from office in elections next May.
Ziegler and Edmondson said they advocate responsible growth and that their votes reflect constituents' wishes.
"This should not be a split community if we are all looking out for good of the community," said Edmondson who, unlike Ziegler, isn't in Boerne Together. "Esperanza is one of those things that could be really good for this community."
Ziegler cast Taylor's remarks as uninformed "rantings," but said, "I'm not going to get down to slinging mud."
"I've never been against businesses in town," Ziegler said.
Esperanza's negotiating team includes Grady Jolley, a local lawyer hired by Marlin Atlantis. He said he helped organize Boerne Forward as a private citizen.
He donated $3,850 to the group, which formed just before elections last May to support Heckler and Ron Warden who both won council seats, and a third candidate who lost.
Also on the Marlin Atlantis payroll and among Boerne Forward's estimated 75 members is Mike Coyle, a local engineer.
Jolley called Boerne Forward a "pretty loose organization still," but said it may firm up after a fundraising event Oct. 17.
Marlin Atlantis isn't allied with the group, Jolley said, calling Boerne Forward's main objective getting the master plan implemented.
Heckler said he welcomes new voices in local debates, but distanced himself from Boerne Forward, saying, "I don't know who they are or what they represent."
Similarly, Warden said he was unaware Boerne Forward had registered as a political action committee.
"I'm not part of the group and don't have any contact with them," he said.
However, he said, he discussed growth concerns with business leaders during the campaign, including Taylor, in whose company he spent much of election day.
"A lot of people are upset," Warden said. "They're disenfranchised because they say there's people on council who represent special interests versus the interests of the community as a whole."
Former councilman Ben Stafford said he joined Boerne Forward because, "We need a balance." He said Boerne Together's stance was no-growth, "loud and clear," but added, "It paints it with different colors."
Mark Mason, Boerne Together's spokesman, said the organization doesn't endorse candidates, donate to them, or attach puppet strings to them.
"Our group is about ideas, and it's those ideas that resonate with voters," said Mason, adding that the root of the city's division is philosophical differences over what's best for Boerne.
"A lot of the local politics revolve around folks who are promoting rapid residential growth and see that as being an avenue toward quality of life and prosperity in the community, versus others who see quality of life differently," he said. "I don't think the debate here is different from the debate in thousands of other places."
zeke@express-news.net
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