If you drive to Northeast El Paso along the Patriot Freeway, or take Trans Mountain from the West Side, you will see Castner Range. You may not realize the significance of what you are seeing, unless someone points it out, but you likely will feel the visual impact of such a large open space inside the city.
The range is a former Fort Bliss training ground, littered with unexploded ordnance, that the military stopped using in 1966. It is the undeveloped stretch of land you’ll see on the other side of the Patriot Freeway from Cohen Stadium, an open swath from the flat desert to the foothills to the high mountain slopes, hemmed in by the strip malls and subdivisions of Northeast El Paso.
In spring, golden poppies bloom there, a scene that has become iconic. Visitors flock to the Wilderness Park Museum, off Trans Mountain, to walk among the flowers; further up Trans Mountain, El Pasoans pull off the road and hike up a ravine to Cottonwood Springs, to sit amongst trees.
These elements -- the flat open land next to the freeway, the golden poppies, the hike to Cottonwood Springs, the unexploded ordnance, and the surrounding development -- will define Castner, and its future.
Environmentalists and neighborhood residents want it preserved in its undeveloped state. The Regional Economic Development Corporation (REDCO) has proposed preserving most of it, but developing on about 2,000 of its 7,000 pristine acres closest to the Patriot Freeway, most of the flat land before the foothills. The military, in the midst of an enormous expansion at Fort Bliss, has not committed to a course of action, but generally, policy set by the government favors maximizing the profit from federally owned land.
Tuesday (Jan. 10), the City Council will consider making a policy statement on the range, a discussion posted on the agenda in two items, one from Rep. Susie Byrd and one from Rep. Melina Castro, both of whose districts border on the range. In addition, sometime within the next month, the Army will have public forums as part of a land use plan the Fort Bliss Directorate of Environment is developing.
“I feel like there has to be in the long term a recognition of how important and how valuable that kind of open space on the mountain is and we really need to preserve some of that for perpetuity and I think Castner is one of those pieces of land we should talk about preserving,” Byrd said. “A visual landscape defines your home. Right in the middle of the city to have a really incredibly scenic and untouched desert landscape is really remarkable. I don’t know that it's possible but I think we shouldn’t shy away from the conversation.”
Castro, who wrote a letter to Fort Bliss Oct. 20 asking whether development was being contemplated on the land, said her constituents favor leaving the land alone.
“I don’t know how far the plans have gotten ... I don’t think the people in Northeast really want any development (on Castner),” Castro said.
Carl Robinson, a Northeast resident who is active in several civic groups, said the prevailing sentiment is, leave Castner alone. He points to thousands of acres of
Public Service Board land that already has been master planned in anticipation of growth in Northeast El Paso, which is poised to absorb thousands of new troops at Fort Bliss.
“There is and will be a movement to oppose development on Castner. We want to preserve that area. There’s plenty of land to build,” Robinson said.
“This is Just a Concept”
An opposition movement is what REDCO seeks to avoid with its proposal. Bob Cook, interim president of the private development group, said the idea is to preserve most of the range, while creating a partnership that benefits Fort Bliss and the region’s economic development efforts.
“There’s no specific proposal or plan, but we have a concept we want to discuss with Northeast neighborhood groups, and environmental groups. We started communicating with a select group of people and probably will initiate a more public process in the next couple of weeks. I want to be clear, this is just a concept with no relationship with developers, planners, architects or engineers,” Cook said. The concept was developed by his staff, Cook said.
Cook said standards for landscaping and environmental impact would be tightly controlled, and development would be “low to medium density. This would not be an industrial park -- no rail spurs, for example -- and would be targeted to really high tech offices in a campus-style development.”
Cook said the public process would be to work through city representatives Byrd and Castro, and state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, and to get input from neighborhood and environmental groups before hiring architects or planners.
Shapleigh said the proposal might provide something for everyone.
Shapleigh said his preference would be to create a master plan that preserves the poppy fields, places most of Castner into the Franklin Mountain State Park, and sets standards for “good development” on the section along the Patriot Freeway.
With the public hearings regarding Castner’s fate set to start in February, Shapleigh said, “the choice is spot development, or a community master plan. If we segment it and spot zone, we’ll have the typical disorganized development.”
When asked why not put all Castner in the state park, Shapleigh said, “We need to have that community debate, about what constitutes the highest and best use.”
However, Shapleigh cautioned that the Defense Department “wants a return on their investment for that land.” The parcel is worth millions if sold for development, he said, and a compromise might be the best way to get most of the land in the park, while creating an economic benefit for the city.
“Our region has a unique opportunity for a public-private venture that maximizes public access and allows the creation of high-level jobs,” Shapleigh said.
Cook said the idea is to lure companies that develop technology, primarily for the military, to a low-density, campus-style job center.
“We just need an asset like that in our community to sell,” Cook said. “We don’t have that now, not like this concept. The closest would be the Northwest Corporate Center, which has a mixture of office, warehouse and manufacturing. This does not contemplate heavy manufacturing or warehouses.”
Because the density of development would be less intense, Cook said, it requires some public investment to ensure a profit.
He said probably the closest “benchmark” would be Cummins Research Park, in Huntsville, Ala., which is associated with the military base there.
Cook said he met with Castro before submitting a letter to the Army.
“I have heard Miss Castro has been critical but I think she’s being critical about something she doesn’t have the right information about,” Cook said. “For some reason she thinks there will be rail spurs, warehouses.” Cook said he had not spoken to Castro recently.
“A Multitude of ‘Rumors’”
Castro wrote a letter to Brig. Gen. Robert P. Lennox Oct. 20, asking whether the Army was in the process of developing a master plan for Castner Range. [letter]
“Since taking office there have surfaced a multitude of ‘rumors,’ concerning the intentions of Fort Bliss with respect to development of that area, either through a sale or some type of Enhanced Use Lease (EUL) transaction. The ‘rumors’ have varied from having a high degree of credibility to the really inane,” wrote Castro.
She listed five questions about whether Fort Bliss was planning the area, whether it had discussed any plans with REDCO or others, whether investigations already had begun to determine if development would meet federal environmental requirements, the status of unexploded ordnance on the site, and what benefits Fort Bliss would receive if the land was sold or leased.
On Nov. 22, Lennox replied. He wrote that following the discussions regarding the Border Patrol headquarters proposal, Fort Bliss “identified the need for a land use plan that would provide the Army, other federal agencies, and the community with a comprehensive plan and a basis for a cumulative affects analysis in future environmental documents.” [letter]
Lennox wrote that preliminary data was being collected “as part of the baseline information required for any Land Use Plan.” He also wrote that REDCO had approached Fort Bliss with an “unsolicited proposal” and suggested Castro seek further details from REDCO.
“Please be advised that Fort Bliss has no independent authority to commit Castner Range to any entity or to advance the proposals of any private or public concern,” Lennox wrote. “There are very specific criteria to be met and procedural requirements that must be discharged before any decision regarding Castner Range can be made. These decisions are not made at the installation level.”
Lennox wrote that “the economic benefit to Fort Bliss under an EUL, would be the cash value or the in-kind consideration of the full Fair Market Value of the property. There is no economic benefit to the installation from the sale of the property.”
On the same day, Nov. 22, Bob Cook sent a letter from REDCO to Col. Robert Burns, Garrison Commander of Fort Bliss. In the letter, Cook presents the idea for developing a tech park near the Patriot Freeway and preserving most of the range, calling it “the best development scenario.” [letter and reply]
“We believe most of the growth associated with increases at Fort Bliss will likely occur in Northeast El Paso because of its proximity to the installation, and this eventuality will place ever increasing development demands on Castner Range,” Cook writes. “Castner Range’s beauty, location, visibility, size and accessibility make it a truly unique asset, and there may be no real estate like it anywhere else in the United States.”
The letter also outlines the process contemplated by the proposal. Under a Enhanced Use Lease [eul], Castner can be conveyed to another public entity -- in the REDCO proposal, UTEP or the UT System is the preferred entity.
“REDCO will have no financial stake in the development of the park, and will only act as a facilitator in the initial stages,” Cook wrote. “As the facilitator, REDCO will involve local environmental groups, neighborhood associations and other concerned citizens from the outset -- long before any legal requirement to hold public meetings and receive public input.”
Cook wrote that the benefits to all stakeholders include: A revenue stream for the Army; quality control of development; the ability for a public partner -- such as UTEP -- to secure grants and low interest loans for development, allowing a low- to medium-density development to be profitable; and “REDCO’s specific approach to seek input and buy-in from concerned citizens groups from the outset should result in a less confrontational process.”
Burns wrote back Dec. 6, explaining that a land use plan was under way.
“It is very important that you bring your ideas to this open forum so they can be made a part of our record and be used as part of Fort Bliss’s planning process,” Burns wrote.
“There Aren’t Any Deals Being Made”
Keith Landreth, director of the Fort Bliss Directorate of Environment, said his directorate recently received funding for a land use study for Castner. The genesis was in 2002, when the Border Patrol sought the southwest corner of Castner, at Hondo Pass and the Patriot Freeway, for a new headquarters. The Texas Department of Transportation has a storage yard there.
“We got a huge public outcry as far as putting anything on Castner, a lot of negative comments,” Landreth said. Also in the process, he said, it was “noted that Fort Bliss did not have a plan for Castner Range to prevent it from being piecemealed out in the future. In response to that … my directorate put in for funding for the land use study.”
Landreth said the study aims to look at the best uses for Castner, using as a basis for evaluation the topography, drainage, unexploded ordnance (uxo), archeological sites, and plant and animal life and the potential for endangered species.
“We're trying to schedule a whole day public meeting some time in February,” he said. “If there's anything I want to get across it's that this is complete public participation process, there aren’t any deals being made in smoke-filled rooms.”
This plan is unrelated to the Fort Bliss master plan that deals with “infrastructure changes we're going to be making to support this new mission,” Landreth said.
He said several years ago the military spent $2 million to clear “areas we view as high public access, or trespass.” [news release on clearance]
The project cleared about 1,000 acres to about a foot deep. In addition, fencing was placed around high traffic areas -- for example, around the Wilderness Park Museum where the poppies grow, and along the Fusselman Dam levee, Landreth said.
He said a Defense Department explosive safety board reviews former military sites, and would set the standards that determine whether land has been cleared enough to be safe for public use. However, he said, the “surface” clearing of about a foot deep likely isn’t sufficient for public use. “If it rains, surface clearance one year might not be the same next year,” Landreth said.
Castner and the Mountain Slopes
While the Franklin Mountain State Park is, at 24,000 acres, the largest park in the world contained entirely within a city’s limits, much of what is close to El Paso city dwellers is steep mountain slopes, south of Trans Mountain. This creates access issues, with development and private ownership closing off most of the mountain.
North of the road, the park opens up to include foothills and gentle terrain. Shapleigh, an avid hiker, said the Franklin Mountains State Park plan two years ago had several key elements, including: Place most of Castner Range, 6,000 acres, in the park; work with the PSB, which owns most of the apron land adjacent to the park, to dedicate 10 access points north of Trans Mountain; and create a Chihuahuan desert park, similar to the Sonoran desert park in Tucson.
The Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition’s main goal, as stated on its web site [link], is to secure Castner for the park.
“Castner Range extends from the Patriot Freeway almost to the mountain ridgeline and includes some of the most scenic and ecologically significant parts of the mountains. Hidden springs, complex geological features, unique plant associations, diverse landforms and noteworthy archaeological sites are among the elements that make it, in many ways, the heart and soul of the Franklin Mountains,” the site states.
List of documents:
-- Draft of Tech Park Concept
-- Castro Letter to Lennox, Oct. 20
-- Lennox reply to Castro, Nov. 22
-- Cook letter to Burns, and Burns’ reply, Nov. 22 and Dec. 6
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Photos by Mikey Velarde
