The City Council, acting as the Mass Transit Department Board, voted this week to start final design on the bus transit terminal to be located in Union Plaza Garage. During that meeting, the consultant team hired by the city admitted its members were commissioned to study the relocation of the transit terminal to UP; they did their job well, delivering a plan that the Transit Board accepted at face value, even after we pointed out several glaring problems with it.

We at Lynx Exhibits first heard of the proposed move to Union Plaza garage when we were invited to an ‘informational’ meeting by the consultant group. When we arrived, there were already detailed plans drawn up to locate 20 bus stops around the UP community. One look showed us it had been designed in a vacuum, as it blocked entrances, loading docks and traffic. After we pointed that out, they tried to drive a bus through the area, and it could not make the turns. A second plan removed many of the sidewalks and curbs, all of the landscape and put buses on San Antonio. When we pointed out that one bus was less than six inches from our building, we heard no more from the consultants until this ‘final’ proposal was presented to the Transit Board.

After seeing the initial plan, we spoke with the captain on duty at Union Plaza Fire Station. As of last Friday, he had never seen the planned layout, had not been involved in any discussions, and was mortified at the potential danger to pedestrians and bus passengers. Interestingly, we were told that his shift probably was not involved, but the others were.

The transit terminal plan has not been well researched. Consider these key points:

1. The plan brings 13,500 to 20,000 pedestrians per day into the neighborhood. The consultants told the Transit board that there were 750 riders per hour on average with 1,500 at peak hours.

2. Surveys showed that 60 to 70 percent of all riders were from the bridge.

3. The plan moves 16 bus routes with 20 stations to Union Plaza, an area of only one block.

4. All streets around the UP garage are two-lane, except for San Antonio, which has three.

5. The plan approved by the Transit Board places buses all around UP garage and on both sides of San Antonio.

6. Amazingly, the 60-foot easement on San Antonio is supposed to accommodate three 11-foot lanes, two 10-foot parking lanes and two 7-foot sidewalks. My calculator says that’s 67 feet!

7. There are less than 8,000 rentable square feet in the UP garage. With eight toilets - required for 500 people - and the promised seats for 500 people, there is not a single square inch available for the proposed retail shops in the plan.

8. If we put people nose-to-tail (2.5 feet) and shoulder-to-shoulder (3 feet) the 570 lineal feet of sidewalk around the garage would hold 380 people and the sidewalks would be impassable.

9. The plan is supposed to cost $2.4 million, but will run much higher. According to the consultants, every street has to be rebuilt with concrete, including San Antonio. All the landscaping, trees and sidewalks have to be removed and rebuilt, and all the lights and signs removed. The awnings, sprinklers, fans, security cameras, new lights and trash management have to be added. With all of that, it is very unlikely that this estimate will be anywhere close.

10. Nowhere in the plan was there any discussion of the additional security and waste management required in this facility and the surrounding neighborhood.

11. There is no retail space available within the immediate vicinity; the natural appeal of that feature is purely illusory.

12. The sheer volume of pedestrians will restrict access to parking and surrounding businesses.

13. There is no mention of the disruption to existing bus service at Union Plaza while the yearlong construction is completed. Further, there is no mention of the damage to businesses and the convention center while the surrounding streets are closed.

So what is our problem with the plan? Are we just grousing because we own the adjacent building? We spent years finding a suitable location. We enlisted the support of the same city officials who voted against us at the transit meeting. We invested hundreds of thousands in repairs and remodeling as well as advertising and renting exhibits to offer a family-oriented venue in Downtown El Paso. Last year, we brought more than 40,000 people Downtown to enjoy high-caliber exhibits, learn something new and purchase products, not to just pass through on a bus.

In a nutshell, every time we asked a specific question of the consultants, we received the same answer: this is just a concept; we need the final design to work out details. Every time we asked for a copy of a drawing, we were told they only brought one copy with them. Every time we asked about alternate sites, we were told that they were investigated and UP was the best. The only objection they could raise to the city-owned property on Santa Fe was that it has only one entrance! When we asked where, specifically, there would be room for retail at the UP garage, we got the “wait for the final design” answer. When we asked for buses to be physically brought to the area to test their impact, we were told that they were professionals and could work that out on paper. Of course, in the first design, these same professionals placed buses on streets they could not turn on to.

Let’s be very clear. Lynx Exhibits is all for change – as long as it is constructive. We support the Downtown plan, while many of our neighbors do not. We support growth and progress, being one of the first to invest substantial funds into developing a business other than another bar. We have helped bring people Downtown to visit other museums around us, to eat in the few restaurants in the area, and to consider UP as a destination. We want to see Downtown grow and flourish. Moving all the buses into one city block makes no sense whatsoever, is not workable, and, by the time the city learns what a monumental mistake it has made, many businesses will be driven out, including us.

Mike Churchman operates Lynx Exhibits, at 301 W Overland Ave. in Union Plaza.