SAN ANTONIO — Sarah Mauricio has lived in her Southwest San Antonio neighborhood for 66 years.

“Here in my neighborhood, we all take care of each other. We all talk to each other. I can’t envision myself somewhere else,” Mauricio said. 

Living somewhere else is a harsh reality she might have to accept. 

“I’ve lived here all my life and they are going to take it away,” she continued.  

She and 157 homeowners may have to sell their homes and relocate. A draft of a new flood map for this area shows 1,900 structures, including her neighborhood, will be added to a floodplain.  

The recommendation for the change comes after a 2018 report showed 100-year floods actually happen more frequently in Texas than first thought.

“I talked to the projects manager, and they said they were going to do acquisitions and they were going to do meetings, so I started calling all of the neighbors,” Mauricio said. 

The City of San Antonio is already working on the Concepcion Creek Drainage Project, which will fix creeks, drainage and tunnels. The project could go to voters in 2027, but plans to protect the community also mean people would have to move out of the area.

Mauricio’s concerned that she and her neighbors won’t get the true value of their homes when they’re forced to sell.

“People are spending their money renovating their homes, remodeling and doing all of these things to their house, and they are doing this without telling us since 2018,” Mauricio said. “I feel that that’s wrong.” 

Mauricio says the neighborhood wasn’t aware of the project until late March. 

The City of San Antonio's Public Works Department said it’s possible that once the flood maps are finalized in the next 36 months, property values will drop, but Teri Castillo, councilwoman of the neighborhood, says property values will be determined differently. 

“The city does offer fair market value and in this case they would offer fair market value as if the home was not in a flood plain,” Castillo said. 

Public Worls says homeowners can hire their own appraiser at their expense and other homeowners will have to purchase flood insurance if they have a federally backed mortgage.  

They added the property values may be determined by sales comparisons in the area.

“I think it’s important to emphasize these are proposed plans. A plan has not set or identified to be fully supported, so what we’ve done now is public outreach,” Castillo said. 

Mauricio feels like this is a done deal, but she’s hoping she can keep her roots planted in her neighborhood. 

“Our thoughts were to see if we had other suggestions, other things that they can do to leave us in our neighborhood instead of displacing us, but it’s very frustrating,” she said.