Group Rallies To Save Another Arroyo
EL PASO, TX. – With the recent success in saving one west side arroyo, another group races to preserve another, this time with a successful model to guide them.
Thunder Canyon Arroyo is located between Sharondale and Moondale Avenues on the western slope of the Franklin Mountains. Neighbors are asking the city to use funds designated to buy ‘open space.’
The owner of the land, Willis Homes of El Paso has been working with neighbors of Thunder Canyon since July or 2005. Willis Homes has given the Upper Mesa Hills Neighborhood Association until the end of this month to buy the land or they will start development.
So far neighbors of Thunder Canyon have raised $120,000 dollars in pledges and will ask City Council to pay for the rest during Tuesday’s council meeting. Various groups estimate total value of this land from $500,000 to $650,000.
By creating a “Public Improvement District,” the city would buy the land up front and then the neighbors pay the city back over time. City Council votes Tuesday on the proposal.
