Part 3 Special Series
When S.A. said, 'Stop,' Austin said, 'Go ahead'
When San Antonio's top developers threw a fundraiser last year for Texas Gov. Rick Perry, architect Steve Heflin assured colleagues the poolside gala would pay off... "All of you who participated and contributed — Gov. Perry thanks you for it," Heflin wrote. "Next year when we are campaigning for vested rights legislation, we know we have a friend at our state capitol." Heflin later insisted campaign cash didn't buy the governor's support for an obscure "vested rights" statute that offers developers a way to sidestep modern city land-use ordinances, saving the industry an untold fortune.
See 2nd article - Avoiding rules they wrote 
In 1994, engineer Gene Dawson Jr. served as the articulate chairman of a committee that wrote new rules intended to protect the Edwards Aquifer...Since then, Dawson's engineering firm has been prolific in helping developers avoid the very ordinance he authored...Pape-Dawson Engineers Inc. has sought exemptions from the water quality rules for clients 477 times — a third of all cases and more than any other firm.
Graphic: A look at builders and development interests that gave money to state lawmakers between 2000 and 2004

Part 2 Special Series - 2 Articles By John Tedesco
Express-News Staff Writer
Dig up an old plan, get vested
But records show the developers began cutting down 600 acres of trees in August 2001, the same month the city signed off on their exemption to the tree rules...Today, homebuilders who bought parts of the property from Powell and Denton are preserving the 400 acres and wiping out much of the remaining forest, grinding the landscape to bare limestone for 2,000 homes.
See 2nd article: Priced out of protection

Part 1 Special Series
Losing Ground - Law lets developers ignore growth controls 
An obscure Texas law written for developers has cost San Antonio millions of dollars, stripped parts of the scenic Hill Country of trees and blocked attempts to protect the region's water supply. The "vested rights" law stops cities from imposing new restrictions on a real estate project once a developer files virtually any kind of plan for it.  From that point on, the project is "vested" and frozen in a time warp of more lenient city codes.  See photos of clear cutting ...
See 2nd article: Losing Ground: How we did this report The Texas grandfathering law has played a pivotal yet often hidden role in shaping San Antonio's growth. To determine the law's impact, the San Antonio Express-News pored over files for each vested project, conducted scores of interviews and analyzed several government databases.

EXCLUSIVE: CHANNEL 11 INVESTIGATES
FBI TAPES ALLEGED TO SHOW MAYOR PRO-TEM DON HILL CLOSELY INVOLVED IN NEGOTIATING CASH PAYMENT, OTHER COMPENSATION, FOR DEVELOPMENT VOTE
A Dallas lawyer and two local contractors claimed to be working closely with Mayor Pro-Tem Don Hill this Spring when a developer paid them a $50,000 down payment on a deal in which Hill would stop stalling a south Dallas project and get it approved, say two independent sources familiar with covert tape recordings of the negotiations.