Colony Ridge developer defends Houston-area community as state leaders vow action against it

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NEW CANEY — From the attention of a rising political storm, the developer of a massive residential community close to Houston rejected allegations by way of conservative media and state elected officers that the improvement is a “magnet for illegal immigrants” whose streets are overrun by way of crime.

It’s all “bullshit,” stated Trey Harris, who owns the improvement along with his brother John and cousin Kevin, on Tuesday from their corporate’s workplace in Liberty County.

In one in every of his maximum in depth interviews for the reason that allegations started flooding right-wing media and Republican leaders began calling for action, Harris brushed aside accusations that the improvement is flouting rules and the use of centered Spanish-language advertising to draw undocumented folks.

Critics of the developer’s promoting have involved in advertisements that inform doable consumers they don’t want a Social Security quantity to shop for land within the community. There is not any state or federal regulation against selling land to those who aren’t voters.

Harris stated the corporate helps folks — lots of them Latino — purchase assets. He defended their advertising, which he stated is concentrated at the Houston subject, as a result of that is the place the majority of his consumers are living. Reports that the developer does mass promoting in Mexico, South America and Central America are false, he stated.

“I know I’ve got people slinging mud at me,” Harris stated. “But to me that’s insignificant compared to the love I get from my customers, right? The love I get from my customers means way more, affects me mentally and emotionally way more than the naysayers.”

State GOP leaders appear intent on investigating the improvement. Gov. Greg Abbott stated problems bearing on Colony Ridge will likely be addressed in an upcoming special legislative session, regardless that he has now not but specified what he would ask lawmakers to do.

Attorney General Ken Paxton has stated his workplace is also taking a look into Colony Ridge, whilst Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick toured the improvement by way of air Monday earlier than announcing the realm needs more law enforcement. Following the excursion, Patrick and Harris spoke for greater than an hour.

Harris invited lawmakers, and state officers together with Abbott, to excursion the improvement Thursday and stated 15 to twenty had approved the invitation. Abbott — whose campaigns have received $1.4 million in donations from Harris since 2018 — was once now not amongst them. An Abbott spokesperson didn’t right away reply to a request for remark.

Criticism of the improvement about 30 miles north of Houston is “new on the national scene, but it’s not new to us. We’ve been getting opposition since we started,” Harris stated, maps of Liberty and Montgomery counties striking on a wall at the back of him. “I don’t know, but if it don’t go away, I’ll be more than happy to go to Austin and visit with whoever wants to talk.”

Colony Ridge is a choice of subdivisions that duvet about 33,000 acres and is house to kind of 40,000 folks, Harris stated.

A power via a slice of it, close to U.S. 59 and Texas 99, finds a mixture of fashionable, multi-story properties and cellular properties. Farther east sits the primary subdivision the corporate advanced in Liberty County, Montebello, the place paved roads are flanked by way of more moderen properties and dust roads result in spaces nonetheless beneath building. Signs market it properties on the market by way of Terrenos Houston, Colony Ridge’s advertising and gross sales arm, as smartly as different corporations.

Some quite a bit have cellular properties wanting restore, others have trash strewn all over the place around the garden — points of interest that Harris stated don’t seem to be distinctive in rural Texas traits and are not any explanation why to solid judgment on citizens.

Harris stated a few of his consumers are developers who assemble properties at the quite a bit and promote them, some are folks with sufficient cash to shop for so much and construct an ordinary suburban brick house, whilst others purchase the land and construct when they may be able to come up with the money for to.

Harris stated the land they promote — “dirt,” as he referred to as it — comes with water and sewer traces, paved roads and stormwater drainage. The corporate will finance land purchases, he added, normally with a 20-year word at a 12.9% rate of interest.

Development within the Montebello subject started in 2011, Harris stated, and the primary citizens arrived in 2013. A decade later, the group has some brick and mortar storefronts along side folks promoting greens, end result and recent juice beneath roadside plastic canopies.

A. Carrasco, 52, stated he and his circle of relatives used to promote produce and different items from a roadside stand in Colony Ridge till they stored up sufficient cash to shop for a plot of land within the community. In March, he opened a brand new retailer off a hectic intersection close to Montebello, promoting produce starting from chilly coconuts to greens and cheeses — maximum of it imported from Mexico.

Carrasco, who declined to provide his complete title, stated he has been following fresh news in regards to the building, and chalked it as much as an upcoming election season. Some of the complaint — like crime — is a societal in poor health that accompanies any rising community that isn’t but absolutely advanced, he stated.

“I love it here, the weather, the environment, the space, everything,” he stated from at the back of the counter of his retailer, the place baskets have been full of avocados and candied end result. “Undocumented people are everywhere, not just here. They drive violence? There’s violence everywhere too.”

Sergio Placencia Rojas, a 56-year-old building employee, stated he moved to the improvement 3 years in the past from an rental in Houston, the place he changed into uninterested with crime after two of his automobiles have been stolen in two weeks. He heard a industrial for Terrenos Houston at the radio and determined to shop for a area.

He stated he hasn’t had any issues of crime. Other citizens have complained about gunfire, he stated, however he had by no means heard any close to his house. But not too long ago he’s spotted extra police patrolling his group’s streets, he stated.

“It’s very tranquil. I like it. We haven’t had any problems — we can leave the cars unlocked, nothing happens,” he stated. “The only crime here is the taxes.”

Still, Colony Ridge has attracted secure complaint through the years from neighbors, who alleged in a lawsuit that Colony Ridge’s building had resulted in flooding in close by Plum Grove in spaces that didn’t prior to now flood. The town and the improvement each and every recently won summary judgments within the long-running swimsuit. A state district pass judgement on agreed that Colony Ridge was once to not blame for the flooding and agreed with town that it were promised 2.6 acres as a part of a building settlement, consistent with Bluebonnet News.

A 2017 Houston Chronicle report documented emerging tensions between rookies and those that had lengthy lived within the subject who complained in regards to the new building straining public services and products.

More not too long ago state elected officers, as smartly as an immigration suppose tank that’s been designated a hate crew by way of the Southern Poverty Law Center, have painted an image of a community the place the streets are bloodied by way of cartel violence.

Harris stated he may now not ensure there was once now not any cartel or drug job, however he doubts the characterization by way of critics.

“Might there be someone that had a connection with the cartel or does have a connection with the cartel that lives (here), and that’s one of the 40,000 people living there? Yeah, I don’t have any way to know that,” he stated. “I don’t think there’s any more cartel activity in my neighborhood than there would be in any other neighborhood.”

In reaction to claims that crime has skyrocketed within the subject, Harris stated Colony Ridge was once being blamed for violence that didn’t occur within the building, which will pay for a dozen full-time regulation enforcement officials to patrol. Harris stated he’s spotted the arriving of state soldiers not too long ago — which he welcomed.

“They take a crime that’s nowhere even near my neighborhood and they say this crime happened [in Colony Ridge],” he stated. “Well, crimes happen all the time.”

Speaking to a conservative radio display final week, Liberty County Sheriff Bobby Rader stated 10 of his deputies are paid by way of the householders affiliation to patrol the realm, however that they’ve nonetheless struggled to stay alongside of a “concerning” selection of issues there — together with thefts, drug overdoses, juvenile runaways and stray animals. He stated there may be a lot of gang individuals within the subject, however added that gangs are an issue all over the place Liberty County and there is “a bigger concentration of them in this subdivision because there’s so many more people up there.”

Rader additionally driven again against issues from Abbott and others that the realm has change into a no-go zone” — a space police don’t input because of protection possibility.

It’s unclear whether or not lawmakers will probe any of the older issues that preceded the latest accusations characterizing Colony Ridge as a secure haven for undocumented folks.

Harris stated he was once now not certain if his building will likely be incorporated at the special session’s name, however that he was once running on accumulating details that refute the allegations to ship to lawmakers.

“When they see that, this whole thing might just go away,” he stated.

He stated he believes that Abbott is “a good guy” who made a mistake by way of now not accumulating information earlier than speaking in regards to the building publicly.

“I think he’s gonna know he made a mistake when the facts come out about what’s really going on here,” he stated. “I’m curious to see how he reacts when he finds out he’s got egg on his face.”