April 7, 2008
For El Paso City Council members, city planners, land developers and the people who watch development issues, the rest of April is going to seem like a Tour de El Paso, a marathon of meetings that may seem like a sprint.
Many of the changes being recommended for the city’s subdivision and zoning codes are intended to accommodate so-called smart code principles for subdivision developments that the council majority sees as preferable to the standards the city has been using for decades.
The hurry-up schedule is intended, in part, to accommodate Hunt Communities, which told the city several weeks ago it would not close on the 4,300 acres of Public Service Board property the company agreed to buy for $131 million in Northeast El Paso.
Hunt said it was withdrawing because the city had not adopted the smart-growth principles that are to be used in the development of the master planned community.
City officials hope that Hunt will come back on board with the development if they can put a new subdivision ordinance in place along with other changes.
The marathon began Monday evening with the first of three rapid-fire meetings of the planning and development services legislative review committee.
The second is at City Hall at 9 a.m. Thursday and the third is next Monday at 5:30 p.m.
The agenda deal with smart growth design principles meetings.
The first of four special meetings of the entire City Council at which some of the changes may be approved is today at 2 p.m. or whenever today’s regular City Council meeting ends.
That agenda is heavy with transit issues and the meeting is likely to go most of the day.
The next work session is at 9 a.m. Wednesday, then next Tuesday at the end of that regular council meeting, then Tuesday, April 22, after the council meeting and finally Wednesday, April 23, at 9 a.m.
East Valley city Rep. Eddie Holguin said he has asked mayor pro-tem and West Central Rep. Susie Byrd to remove him from the planning and development services committee because he doesn’t approve of her having expanded it from three to five members.
“What’s the point of having a legislative review committee with virtually every member of council on it and then come back and present it all over again to the entire council?” Holguin said.
He said he expects the new committee will be stacked with enough of the council majority that they can push through any of the controversial changes to the subdivision code that they want.
“It’s like the swimming pool thing last week,” he said. “This is the style this council has adopted. They do everything really fast and then shove it down everyone’s throat.
“I’m not saying the changes are bad necessarily. I agree with some of them. I just disagree with their way of doing things.”
South West Rep. Beto O’Rourke said he expects some significant disputes over the new subdivision code, and noted that it could make changes that those people wanting to see arroyos preserved won’t like.
“A lot of really important battles are going to be fought over sidewalks, street widths, parkways and arroyos,” he said. “It’s just all detail.”
Eastridge/Mid-Valley Rep. Steve Ortega said the current council’s majority is sold on smart growth principles to establish “walkable and sustainable neighborhoods” in future developments.
He said he has yet to see any formidable opposition from the development community, “but I’m certain their overarching goals are not the same as the City Council’s leadership.”
David Crowder can reached at dcrowder@epmediagroup.com and 351-0605