SAN ANTONIO — Stratford Land, the Dallas-based, land-investment company that intended to buy and develop the Comal County property near Bracken Cave, the seasonal home of millions of bats, has backed out of the deal.

Stratford had said it would buy the property before the end of 2013 from owner Galo Properties, which has proposed building a subdivision called Crescent Hills that could have more than 2,500 homes.

Meanwhile, a coalition of conservation groups and local officials worried about the impact of development on the bats and the land remains interested in buying the 1,545-acre parcel and still is trying to raise money.

“Stratford has dropped the project,” said Steve Sanders, Stratford's senior investment manager for Texas. “We're no longer interested in developing Crescent Hills.”

Sanders wouldn't say why the company no longer was pursuing the project.

Gene Dawson of Pape-Dawson Engineers, which was working with Galo on the development, didn't return an email or phone message Tuesday.

But in the view of some opponents of development, Stratford's backing away from the deal shows the property should be left untouched.

“It reinforces the belief that this land is of special interest to the public,” said San Antonio City Councilman Ron Nirenberg, who has been helping organize the effort to buy the land and turn it into a type of preserve.

The property sits just south of Bracken Cave, where millions of female bats come from Mexico every spring to give birth and rear their pups before flying south in the fall.

It's in San Antonio's extraterritorial jurisdiction and in an unincorporated part of Comal County.

The more than 10 million bats that reside in the cave make it the largest colony in the world, according to Bat Conservation International, a nonprofit group that owns the cave and opposes development.

Every night, the bats stream out of the cave and over the property as they start their all-night feeding frenzy.

Critics of the subdivision there have cautioned that building homes for 10,000 people in the flight path of so many bats could lead to cases of rabies that will turn people against the bats and bat conservation.

They also point to the fact that the property sits on the sensitive Edwards Aquifer recharge zone and is home to endangered golden-cheeked warblers as other reasons the land should not be developed.

Supporters of development have countered that people and bats coexist throughout Central Texas — including in Austin and San Antonio — without major problems. They also argue that BCI's estimate of more than 10 million bats could be exaggerated.

Stratford last month met with conservationists and discussed allowing them to buy pieces of the land, restricting home development to just a portion of the property, conservationists said.

The meetings took place as Stratford was under contract to buy the property for $18.5 million.

Laura Huffman, state director of the Nature Conservancy, said conservation groups would have been interested in buying whatever parcels of the property they could, but that the goal still was to purchase and protect the whole property.

“The conservation value of that land is high on virtually every part of it,” Huffman said. “There would be conservation gains in a partial purchase of the land.”

Conservation advocates have said their concerns about bat-human interactions and damage to the aquifer and warbler habitat still are relevant, no matter the size of the subdivision.

Andrew Walker, executive director of BCI, said he met with Stratford twice, but declined to say what was discussed.

He added that going forward, he and other conservationists hoped to do more than just buy portions of the land.

“That would not be our preferred solution,” he said.

For months now, conservationists and some officials have been trying to raise money from public and private sources to preserve the land.

When it appeared Stratford was on its way to buying the property, members of the coalition said their strategy hadn't changed, a sentiment they echoed Tuesday.

“We'll continue our efforts regardless of the owner,” Nirenberg said.

He has looked at possible state and federal funding sources.

Another option is the city's aquifer protection fund, generated by a 1/8th-cent tax approved by voters. Since 2000, more than $150 million from the fund has been used to protect more than 109,000 acres of land over the Edwards Aquifer.

Huffman said the Nature Conservancy and BCI together are trying to raise $5 million for the property.

One frustration for conservationists had been that they did not know how much Galo wanted for the property, they have said. But the price Stratford planned to pay — $18.5 million, sources have said — has given those who want to buy the land for a preserve some sense of what they need to raise.

djoseph@express-news.net

Twitter: @drewqjoseph

Stratford Land, the Dallas-based, land-investment company that intended to buy and develop the Comal County property near Bracken Cave, the seasonal home of millions of bats, has backed out of the deal.

Stratford had said it would buy the property before the end of 2013 from owner Galo Properties, which has proposed building a subdivision called Crescent Hills that could have more than 2,500 homes.

Meanwhile, a coalition of conservation groups and local officials worried about the impact of development on the bats and the land remains interested in buying the 1,545-acre parcel and still is trying to raise money.

“Stratford has dropped the project,” said Steve Sanders, Stratford's senior investment manager for Texas. “We're no longer interested in developing Crescent Hills.”

Sanders wouldn't say why the company no longer was pursuing the project.

Gene Dawson of Pape-Dawson Engineers, which was working with Galo on the development, didn't return an email or phone message Tuesday.

But in the view of some opponents of development, Stratford's backing away from the deal shows the property should be left untouched.

“It reinforces the belief that this land is of special interest to the public,” said San Antonio City Councilman Ron Nirenberg, who has been helping organize the effort to buy the land and turn it into a type of preserve.

The property sits just south of Bracken Cave, where millions of female bats come from Mexico every spring to give birth and rear their pups before flying south in the fall.

It's in San Antonio's extraterritorial jurisdiction and in an unincorporated part of Comal County.

The more than 10 million bats that reside in the cave make it the largest colony in the world, according to Bat Conservation International, a nonprofit group that owns the cave and opposes development.

Every night, the bats stream out of the cave and over the property as they start their all-night feeding frenzy.

Critics of the subdivision there have cautioned that building homes for 10,000 people in the flight path of so many bats could lead to cases of rabies that will turn people against the bats and bat conservation.

They also point to the fact that the property sits on the sensitive Edwards Aquifer recharge zone and is home to endangered golden-cheeked warblers as other reasons the land should not be developed.

Supporters of development have countered that people and bats coexist throughout Central Texas — including in Austin and San Antonio — without major problems. They also argue that BCI's estimate of more than 10 million bats could be exaggerated.

Stratford last month met with conservationists and discussed allowing them to buy pieces of the land, restricting home development to just a portion of the property, conservationists said.

The meetings took place as Stratford was under contract to buy the property for $18.5 million.

Laura Huffman, state director of the Nature Conservancy, said conservation groups would have been interested in buying whatever parcels of the property they could, but that the goal still was to purchase and protect the whole property.

“The conservation value of that land is high on virtually every part of it,” Huffman said. “There would be conservation gains in a partial purchase of the land.”

Conservation advocates have said their concerns about bat-human interactions and damage to the aquifer and warbler habitat still are relevant, no matter the size of the subdivision.

Andrew Walker, executive director of BCI, said he met with Stratford twice, but declined to say what was discussed.

He added that going forward, he and other conservationists hoped to do more than just buy portions of the land.

“That would not be our preferred solution,” he said.

For months now, conservationists and some officials have been trying to raise money from public and private sources to preserve the land.

When it appeared Stratford was on its way to buying the property, members of the coalition said their strategy hadn't changed, a sentiment they echoed Tuesday.

“We'll continue our efforts regardless of the owner,” Nirenberg said.

He has looked at possible state and federal funding sources.

Another option is the city's aquifer protection fund, generated by a 1/8th-cent tax approved by voters. Since 2000, more than $150 million from the fund has been used to protect more than 109,000 acres of land over the Edwards Aquifer.

Huffman said the Nature Conservancy and BCI together are trying to raise $5 million for the property.

One frustration for conservationists had been that they did not know how much Galo wanted for the property, they have said. But the price Stratford planned to pay — $18.5 million, sources have said — has given those who want to buy the land for a preserve some sense of what they need to raise.

djoseph@express-news.net

Twitter: @drewqjoseph