City Council Votes To Allow Trans Mountain Development

El Paso City Council voted to allow development along Transmountain Road in the Northwest, after pleas from people who want complete preservation and other who want economic development.

City Representatives Beto O’Rourke, Steve Ortega and Susie Byrd all wanted to designate the area as open space, an option that would call for complete preservation, but they were outnumbered.

Instead, the city chose ‘smart Code’, an option deemed a compromise, since it allows development, but still preserves some natural space, such as arroyos and certain parts of the mountain.

The area in question consists of nearly 800 acres near the Transmountain corridor surrounded by I-10 to the south and the Franklin Mountain State Park to the North.

“The thing that makes us a special place to live is the mountain, and we have an opportunity to preserve access to the mountain, to preserve the view of the mountain, and to preserve our corridor, our only truly scenic corridor in our city, I think that we should take it”, said City Representative Susie Byrd.

Councilwoman Ann Morgan Lilly, who represents the area, suggested smart code. She said it was the right compromise, “it’s going to select the very best places like arroyos, and preserve those, and develop around the natural open spaces.”

Charlie Wakeem, a member of the Open Space Advisory Board, said he was disappointed in Council’s decision, but was not devastated. “Compromise is always a good thing and being 100-percent happy with everything is a difficult thing to do”, he said. The Open Space Advisory Board had suggested to City Council that they opt for Open Space.

Several residents conveyed concern for the wildlife along the corridor, even with the compromise. “Even with the smart code, we will have an increase in pollution in the area, urban sprawl, we’ll lose flora and fuana”, said one resident to council.

Members of the Sierra Club said complete ecosystems that rely on the open space will suffer. Still, other residents had different reasons for the case of open space. Had Robinson, a pilot, said it was the only place in the region to fly openly. “We love, open, big undeveloped, we love it, it’s good for us”, he told city representatives.

Not all were advocates for complete preservation. Richard Dayoub, a member of the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce said the area is growing and needs better traffic infrastructure. “We’re going to continue to face this challenge, if we don’t act wisely in preserving and at the same time balancing the needs for that area, then we are going to pay a dear cost”, he said on Tuesday.

The Texas Department of Transportation has already allocated close to $80 million for a freeway along Transmountain that will connect to Loop 375. It hasn’t been clear if zoning changes would affect TxDot’s plan, but City Representative Susie Byrd said that was a deciding factor for some on Council. “The constant threat from TxDot that if any changes were made to any thing along that corridor, that we may lose that funding, is what made some members of city council kind of retrench from their initial support”, she said.

The Public Service Board manages the city-owned land, and has said before that if there’s no development, they’d lose revenue, which would lead to an increase in water bills for residents.

Smart Code calls for development with different types of housing and commercial growth. Shops would have to be pedestrian friendly and more aesthetically pleasing than shopping strips. Houses would have to look different, rather than most developments, in which the houses look alike. “Picture Kern Place and the Cincinnati entertainment district” said, Matt McElroy, the city’s Deputy Director of Planning and Growth.