Hikers Upset After Property Owners Restrict Access To Franklin Mountain State Park Trails

Some hikers hoping to enjoy the Franklin Mountain’s rugged beauty are being warned to stay away by private property owners. It’s an issue that was first brought to our attention by ABC-7 General Manager, Kevin Lovell. Lovell adressed City Council on the topic in a public comment during Tuesday’s meeting.

Like Lovell, West side resident Cynthia Carey is one of many nature enthusiasts who are disappointed by the sudden loss of a well-worn West side trail to the mountains, a trail that until recently had been open for decades.

“At first everyone would just hike up here with pets and kids, now they’ve got it all blocked off,” said Carey. She lives next to the Ocotillo Estates, a private gated community owned by developers Southwest Lands. She says many hikers were used to accessing the Franklin Mountain State Park through decades-old trails on Southwest Lands’ property. “To have (those trails) shut off now seems very unfair,” she said.

Intimidating signs and warnings now greet the hikers who used to pass through the property. The land on which the trails are on has been owned by Southwest Lands for many years, though the “keep out” signs were not up until recently.

“They’ve put up gates and those gates are keeping people out of the state parks,” said El Paso’s Deputy Director of Planning and Economic Development Matthew McElroy.

ABC-7 spoke with the property owner’s engineer, Conrad Conde. He said developers tried to make some of the land in the property open to the public when they presented their plans to the city back in the early 2000’s. However, Conde said the city was reluctant to take on the responsibility of maintaining that land, which is why it was designated a private open space instead.

McElroy said it’s not too late for the city to work with developers in getting some of that land back. “The developer still has the option for the undeveloped parts to be included in what’s called ‘public open space,’ and maybe even include some pedestrian rights of way to make sure that people can get through to the state park.”

City representatives said access to trails will be a bigger consideration as development carries on throughout El Paso. “Everyone will know moving forward that when you do a gated community, there’s going to be an issue about letting the public through to the mountain park,” said representative Ann Morgan Lilly after Tuesday’s council meeting. “It’s part of the great ambiance that El Paso has and we don’t want to cut people off from the access.” 　 Representative Lilly told ABC-7 the city is in talks with Southwest Lands to negotiate an agreement. As soon as Southwest Lands submits new plans to the city, the process of turning the trails into public open space can begin. Developers can either donate that land or sell it to the city.