Texas can continue to be a leader in innovation with “the right guardrails” in place
A report issued by the Edward’s Aquifer Alliance doesn’t water down the reality of the strain data centers have put on water, one of our most valuable resources. The group decided it was time “to dive into the exploding phenomenon of data centers and their impact on our water supplies,” said Executive Director Annalisa Peace in her opening remarks. After sifting through what she describes as an “avalanche of new information”, the report was issued this April. Authors describe the advancements of artificial intelligence as “both scary and wonderful” in various ways as real researched facts and figures leave little room for watering down the dire need for regulation, and fast. The authors also acknowledged that Texas can continue to be a leader in innovation with “the right guardrails” in place, and hope this research will help as officials in the Texas House and Senate “have both pledged to study data center issues in preparation for the 90th Legislative Session in 2027.” Some of the highlights of the report…LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinenewsmembers.com. You will get instant access to our full E-edition, and begin getting the newspaper delivered to your home next week for $36 a year in Medina County. Support important local city, county, and school news like this!
UIL- Congratulations to Luke Brown, who placed 1st overall in Current Issues & Events and Maverick Beaty, who placed 6th in Copy Editing at the UIL Regional contest! Both students have qualified for the UIL State Meet. Luke, a sophomore at Devine High School, was also the Current Issues & Events District champion in 2025, his first year ever competing. This year, he not only takes district again, but he won the Sweepstakes at District, won first place individual at Regionals and placed third as a team. Luke loves politics and has big plans to be President one day! When asked about his UIL experience and major achievement, Luke had the following to say…LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinenewsmembers.com. You will get instant access to our full E-edition, and begin getting the newspaper delivered to your home next week for $36 a year in Medina County. Support important local city, county, and school news like this!
The proposed data center site sits on a 525 acre ranch about a half-mile south of Devine’s city limits on Hwy 132 (just a little ways past Burnt Boot and San Francisco Perez Creeks). The sale of the property is out of local leader’s hands. However, some of the things the City of Devine has power to decide include: #1- Will Devine annex the property and provide water/sewer to the site?
#2-If annexed, will the city offer tax breaks/ incentives, and for what in return? #3- What ordinances or policies would Devine put in place for developments of this type? Photo by KK Calame
City of Devine to consider annex providing water/sewer, tax breaks in future
By Kayleen Holder Editor The proposed data center coming in just south of the City of Devine near I-35 will be an 800 MegaWatt, with half of that power generated by natural gas and half of the power coming from its own on-site power plant. (It’s a good thing as that’s enough electricity to power as many as 200,000 homes by comparison at any given moment). In an interview this Monday, we learned a few interesting things about this project, which is rather unique in a few ways. “There is a lot that we don’t know ourselves,” Mayor Cook said. “We have some of the same questions you do.” Developer representatives (who haven’t disclosed the company’s name) have stated “this is going to be the largest one, the largest private investment in South Texas”, not in size, but money-wise. Mayor Cook and City Administrator David Jordan emphasized that the city wants to get the information out to the public as soon as they can. They also acknowledge that the City has no say on deciding if a data center gets built here, or not. The land is in Medina County and it was sold to a data center company by a private individual. “It’s not in the city. They want to be annexed for the water and the sewer, and they asked if we have the capacity to provide it,” Jordan said. “They are asking for a 2 inch meter [compared to another large business which has an 8” meter].” “By the time the company came to us, they already knew they had a gas line running through the property and a transfer station on the property. They came to us to ask if we can provide water/sewer.” The City of Devine is allotted 911 acre-feet of water from the Edward’s Aquifer. Last year, the city of Devine used about 183 million gallons of water out of its 296 million gallons normally allotted by the Edward’s Aquifer during non-drought times. However, the City has been under Stage 4 pumping restrictions all summer…LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinenewsmembers.com. You will get instant access to our full E-edition, and begin getting the newspaper delivered to your home next week for $36 a year in Medina County. Support important local city, county, and school news like this!
Findings from a financial audit of the Devine Volunteer Fire Department for fiscal year 2023-2024 were forwarded to Medina County Sheriff Randy Brown following its presentation to the Medina County Emergency Services District No. 2 board of commissioners during the board’s April 21 meeting.
By Anton Riecher Findings from a financial audit of the Devine Volunteer Fire Department for fiscal year 2023-2024 were forwarded to Medina County Sheriff Randy Brown following its presentation to the Medina County Emergency Services District No. 2 board of commissioners during the board’s April 21 meeting. Board president Todd Summers said the intent is to give the sheriff the most complete information available in the aftermath of substantial fraud uncovered in late 2024. “Let the DA tell us if they believe we need to go further or not,” Summers said. “Is this going to be enough to prosecute the case to the fullest?” In other business, the board voted unanimously to
…LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinenewsmembers.com. You will get instant access to our full E-edition, and begin getting the newspaper delivered to your home next week for $36 a year in Medina County. Support important local city, county, and school news like this!
On a drive down FM 1343 between Devine and Castroville, a large plot of land sticks out with a tall commercial chain link fence amidst the green rolling hills. It is the site of the 9th data center in Medina County. Data centers now account for roughly 2,673 acres in our county that we know of.
However, there is a large amount of land, over 12,000 acres, which has been taken out of Ag/wildlife exemption and it is unknown what it will be used for. Photo by Angelica Arriza.
By Kayleen Holder Editor
Medina County has long been known for its rural landscape, farms and ranches. On a drive through the green rolling hills on FM 1343 between Devine and Castroville, a large plot of land sticks out. A tall commercial chain link fence has now replaced the old farm fencing on a long stretch of property. It’s one of the newest data center sites. Over 41,000 acres once used for agriculture, has now either been developed or awaits its fate. To be exact, the county has lost 41,111 acres of farm and ranch land since 2013.
With this decrease in ag land, about 23,300 acres of land is now considered “vacant”, a designation given to recently purchased properties for which the use has not yet been determined. About half of that (11,464 acres) will most likely be subdivisions, according to the county, and it is unknown what is to come of the other 12,134 acres or so of land whose owners have let go of the ag and wildlife on it. Land use classified as “Industrial” has seen a 999% boom in Medina County since 2013, now accounting for 7,023 acres across Medina County while “residential” has seen over 10,200 acres of homes and subdivisions added in the past 13 years. According to officials, some companies have kept large amounts of acreage in Ag or wildlife exemption for years until construction began. So land that has been purchased but not yet developed, may still be classified as agriculture currently.
LAND USE
2026 Residential acres- 50,409 acres total (including 11,464.62 acres coded as Vacant residential acres which will most likely be used for residential at some point) Agricultural acres – 746,379.29 Open Land– 12,134.94 (not qualified for open-space ag & wildlife) Commercial acres – 2,070.37 Industrial acres – 7,023.10 (approximately are attributed to 2,673.53 data centers so far, with the majority of other industrial being quarries and large manufacturing sites) *The above figures for 2026 show a more accurate picture of what development is in progress or projected, by breaking down and detailing the predicted use of newly vacant land that was lumped in the residential category due to state codes a couple years ago.
2025: Agricultural acres – 749,385.49 Residential acres – 73,410.38 (figures included some vacant lands per new state code) Commercial acres – 1,933.60 Industrial acres – 4,189.74
2024: Agricultural acres – 753,514.84 Residential acres – 69,467.36 (figures included some vacant lands per new state code) Commercial acres – 1,874.08 Industrial acres – 4,216.17
2013: Agricultural acres – 787,490.67 Residential acres – 40,140.79 Commercial acres – 1,577 Industrial acres – 639.51 Have a news tip? Submit your photos and stories to us on Facebook or to devinereporter@devinenews.com …LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinenewsmembers.com. You will get instant access to our full E-edition, and begin getting the newspaper delivered to your home next week for $36 a year in Medina County. Support important local city, county, and school news like this!
By Kayleen Holder Editor The numbers are now 28,980 homes in Medina County, up from 18,791 homes in 2017. It’s an increase of just over 10,000 new homes in 10 years, with just under 1/3 of those new homes popping up in the past two years alone. The appraised value of Medina County properties has nearly tripled from $2.8 million to over $8.1 million in ten years as well (2017 to 2026).
Total appraised values in Medina County :
2017: $2,857,428,102 2018: $3,007,626,516 2019: $3,476,214,251 2020: $3,832,984,245 2021: $4,374,084,631 2022: $5,232,813,305 2023: $6,240,126,321 2024: $6,994,751,873 2025: $7,693,299,977 2026: $8,173,758,160 Preliminary will certify values in July
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Several Arabians and Warhorses will be advancing to Regionals May 1st in Kingsville. Above, Devine Warhorse Bo Wheeler places 2nd at the Area Meet in Cuero this past week. He broke his personal record at 6’3”. Individual event regional qualifiers were Rowdy Esparza in 400m, Long Jump, and Triple Jump, Mikey Rodriguez in 110m and 300m hurdles, Karter Brown in Shot Put, Bo Wheeler in High Jump, Enoch Hall in 100m, and Brody Lane in 300m Hurdles. All three relay teams qualified led by the mile relay champion foursome of Zach Guerra, Ryan Weinkam, Jonathan Cantu, and Esparza, the runner-up 800m squad of Cantu, Lucas Hudson, Esai Sanchez, and Weinkam, and the third place 400m tandem of Hall, Esparza, Sanchez, and Weinkam.
Medina County authorities responded to the scene of a horrible accident this past Saturday, April 18 around 11 am. It happened on US 90 about 6 miles west of Castroville, according to DPS. “Preliminary information indicates that a Toyota Pickup traveling eastbound on US 90 lost control for an unknown reason, veered into the westbound lanes of US 90, and collided with oncoming traffic (an SUV, and a truck tractor with a trailer combination),” according to DPS. “The driver of the Tacoma, Humberto Barrera, 72, was ejected and is deceased. Both occupants of the SUV were transported to University Hospital in San Antonio with serious injuries. The driver of the Truck Tractor was not injured.” There are no further details for release at this time.
“Vanilla Gorilla,” aka Jason Keown of Devine, is excited to announce he has made some big moves with his music lately. In February, DJ 750, of 750 MUSIC ENT, released a mix tape for Vanilla consisting of his music. “By March 24 we had 174k plus streams,” Keown said. The No FlyZone Mixtape (“Vanilla Gorilla” Edition) is a 10-song hip-hop mixtape released by DJ 750 on February 14. According to Keown, soon after the release 750 MUSIC ENT was brought into the Sony music family for distribution resulting in the local rapper getting a distribution deal with 750 MUSIC ENT and Sony. Vanilla also was brought onto the long time running record label in San Antonio COCKED-N-LOCKD ENT / CNL BRAND, he said. “Vanilla Gorilla”, aka Jason Keown of Devine, describes himself as a rap artist with a country twist. His album “So Throwed” was released last September. “During Fiesta, we will be shooting a music video for the song called MAYNE HOLL (UP) which was also selected for a movie,” Keown said. The video shoot will be Friday, April 24 at graffiti wall and then market square. The movie, “Fredo: The Continuance of Vengeance” is a 2026 spin-off movie from Villain Entertainment. The movie is set in…LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinenewsmembers.com. You will get instant access to our full E-edition, and begin getting the newspaper delivered to your home next week for $36 a year in Medina County. Support important local city, county, and school news like this!
