Val Verde County eyeing purchase of controversial property
Val Verde County Commissioners Court has issued a notice of intent to borrow $6 million to buy a large ranch between Del Rio and Laughlin Air Force Base.
“The piece of the property that we’re looking at purchasing is 2,900 acres, called the SE Ranch. I’ve already had constituents call and ask why we are buying all of it, and the reason is, just as I told the owner, it’s to the county’s benefit. Everybody that lives in the county, whether you’re military or school or whatever, it’s to the county’s benefit that we control the destiny of this property,” Val Verde County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. said in an interview Wednesday.
The SE Ranch became the center of controversy more than a decade ago when a planned development on the site roused fears that the development would negatively impact Laughlin Air Force Base’s pilot training mission.
Owens said one of the property’s principal owners is San Antonio attorney David Earl.
“In 2007, 2008, he and the city and SE Ranch Holdings sued each other, and that lawsuit cost the city at least $700,000. The county commissioners court looked at this and thought it would be a good piece of property to develop as long as whatever we did there would be compatible with whatever mission Laughlin Air Force Base has,” Owens said.
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