SAN ANTONIO – Most people in San Antonio recognize the name Stone Oak. The sprawling North Side neighborhood just west of U.S. Highway 281 and north of Loop 1604 was the first master-planned community in Bexar County.
In 1985, private developers, led by Dan Parman, crafted plans for the neighborhood along what was then ranchland.
That plan was put on paper to lay out the boundaries of Stone Oak and what areas could be developed for residential, commercial and multi-family use.
Construction in Stone Oak slowed during the Savings and Loan Crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Different developers were also involved in the project.
“It was planned down to the nitty gritty. Absolute unbelievable detail,” Art Downey, a Stone Oak Property Owners Association board member, said.
Downey, who has lived in Stone Oak since 1993, said the board can alter the master plan but rarely has.
He remembered his mother’s response when he told her he had purchased a lot to build a home in Stone Oak in the early 1990s.
“‘Arthur, there’s nothing out there but cows,‘” Downey recalled.
That countryside feel is part of what attracted Downey to the area. However, all that’s left of that feeling today are views from the hills of Stone Oak.
“There’s very little open land in Stone Oak anymore,” Downey said.
Not only does the neighborhood have its own property owners' association, but most of the subdivisions within Stone Oak have their own Homeowners Associations, as well.
“I think it gives it a cohesiveness and a look that is very definitely a positive thing,” Downey said. “I think people can tell when they’re in Stone Oak because it looks nice, and it does. And we try to keep it that way.”
The Sonterra neighborhoods, built around a country club, were some of the first in Stone Oak.
Today, there are 35 subdivisions in Stone Oak.
“I hope it stays operating under the master plan that has been doing such a good job for so far, for so long,” said Downey.
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