Colony Ridge developer speaks out as Texas Republicans call for action

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

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

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

Critics of the developer’s promoting have interested by commercials that inform possible patrons they don’t want a Social Security quantity to shop for land in the neighborhood. There isn’t any state or federal regulation in opposition to promoting land to those who aren’t electorate.

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

“I know I’ve got people slinging mud at me,” Harris mentioned. “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 mentioned problems referring to Colony Ridge shall be addressed in an upcoming particular legislative consultation, even though he has now not but specified what he would ask lawmakers to do.

Attorney General Ken Paxton has mentioned his place of business is also taking a look into Colony Ridge, whilst Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick toured the improvement through air Monday ahead of pronouncing the world 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 mentioned 15 to twenty had authorized 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 mentioned, maps of Liberty and Montgomery counties striking on a wall in 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 selection of subdivisions that quilt about 33,000 acres and is house to more or less 40,000 folks, Harris mentioned.

A pressure thru a slice of it, close to U.S. 59 and Texas 99, unearths a mixture of trendy, multi-story homes and cell properties. Farther east sits the primary subdivision the corporate evolved in Liberty County, Montebello, the place paved roads are flanked through more recent properties and dust roads result in spaces nonetheless underneath building. Signs put it on the market homes for sale through Terrenos Houston, Colony Ridge’s advertising and marketing and gross sales arm, as smartly as different corporations.

Some quite a bit have cell properties short of restore, others have trash strewn in every single place around the garden — points of interest that Harris mentioned don’t seem to be distinctive in rural Texas tendencies and are not any explanation why to forged judgment on citizens.

Harris mentioned a few of his shoppers 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 a standard suburban brick house, whilst others purchase the land and construct when they may be able to have the funds for to.

Harris mentioned 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, usually with a 20-year observe at a 12.9% rate of interest.

Development within the Montebello house started in 2011, Harris mentioned, and the primary citizens arrived in 2013. A decade later, the community has some brick and mortar storefronts together with folks promoting greens, end result and recent juice underneath roadside plastic canopies.

A. Carrasco, 52, mentioned 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 in the neighborhood. 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 offer his complete identify, mentioned he has been following fresh news in regards to the construction, and chalked it as much as an upcoming election season. Some of the grievance — like crime — is a societal in poor health that accompanies any rising neighborhood that isn’t but absolutely evolved, he mentioned.

“I love it here, the weather, the environment, the space, everything,” he mentioned from in the back of the counter of his retailer, the place baskets had 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, mentioned he moved to the improvement 3 years in the past from an rental in Houston, the place he changed into bored to death with crime after two of his vehicles had been stolen in two weeks. He heard a business for Terrenos Houston at the radio and made up our minds to shop for a area.

He mentioned he hasn’t had any issues of crime. Other citizens have complained about gunfire, he mentioned, however he had by no means heard any close to his house. But just lately he’s spotted extra police patrolling his community’s streets, he mentioned.

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

Still, Colony Ridge has attracted secure grievance over time from neighbors, who alleged in a lawsuit that Colony Ridge’s construction had ended in flooding in within reach Plum Grove in spaces that didn’t up 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 the town that it have been promised 2.6 acres as a part of a construction settlement, consistent with Bluebonnet News.

A 2017 Houston Chronicle report documented emerging tensions between learners and those who had lengthy lived within the house who complained in regards to the new construction straining public services and products.

More just lately state elected officers, as smartly as an immigration suppose tank that’s been designated a hate team through the Southern Poverty Law Center, have painted an image of a neighborhood the place the streets are bloodied through cartel violence.

Harris mentioned he may now not ensure there was once now not any cartel or drug process, however he doubts the characterization through 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 mentioned. “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 house, Harris mentioned Colony Ridge was once being blamed for violence that didn’t occur within the construction, which will pay for a dozen full-time regulation enforcement officials to patrol. Harris mentioned he’s spotted the arriving of state soldiers just lately — which he welcomed.

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

Speaking to a conservative radio display ultimate week, Liberty County Sheriff Bobby Rader mentioned 10 of his deputies are paid through the householders affiliation to patrol the world, however that they’ve nonetheless struggled to stay alongside of a “concerning” choice of issues there — together with thefts, drug overdoses, juvenile runaways and stray animals. He mentioned there may be numerous gang individuals within the house, however added that gangs are an issue in every single 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 in opposition to issues from Abbott and others that the world 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 protected haven for undocumented folks.

Harris mentioned he was once now not certain if his construction shall be incorporated at the particular consultation’s call, however that he was once running on collecting info that refute the allegations to ship to lawmakers.

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

He mentioned he believes that Abbott is “a good guy” who made a mistake through now not collecting information ahead of speaking in regards to the construction publicly.

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

Robert Downen contributed to this tale.