County of El Paso, City of San Elizario working to resolve zoning conflict
County Commissioners and the City of San Elizario are looking to resolve a strange zoning conflict based on a decades-old state law.
El Paso County has the ability to set zoning along a stretch of the Mission Trail, mostly in what recently became the City of San Elizario. That is a power counties usually don’t have, and it’s causing some issues as San Elizario begins to enact its own ordinances.
San Elizario Mayor Maya Sanchez came before commissioners Monday to sort it out.
As the city began registering businesses within its city limits, it found there are supposed to be some county regulatory boards overseeing things like zoning and historical preservation in the area. Those boards were either phased out or never fully established in the first place. On top of that, records the boards were supposed to have kept are incomplete or missing.
San Elizario’s leaders want to figure out how to work within a legal framework that no one’s really been paying attention to.
“We’re not trying to invent anything new, we’re not trying to single out any businesses in particular,” Sanchez said. “This is just something that the Mission Trail is quite an asset for the county and for the city of San Elizario. So we want to make sure that is being followed.”
As a result of Monday’s discussion, commissioners directed county staff to work with San Elizario to develop any agreements necessary to eliminate the zoning confusion.
