Duranguito Petition: Texas Supreme Court rules in favor of City

The Texas Supreme Court Monday ruled in favor of the City of El Paso in a case related to a petition involving the area where the City plans to build Multipurpose Performing Arts and Entertainment Center in Downtown El Paso.

Interim City Attorney Karla Nieman said the ruling is “a big victory for the City of El Paso.”

The City had argued there is no precedent in Texas law that allows historic overlay to be placed over a neighborhood as a result of citizen petitions. Nieman said the high court reaffirmed “long standing Texas case law, which excludes zoning issues from the referendum and initiative process.”

The lawsuit was filed by El Paso Historian Max Grossman with the Texas Supreme Court after the Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio ruled in favor of the City and issued an order denying Grossman’s petition for writ of mandamus, the City said.

Grossman is spearheading efforts to preserve several properties in the arena footprint. He and other supporters argue the area is historically significant and should be protected.

The case was originally filed with the Eighth Court of Appeals in El Paso. It sought to force the City to place an initiative petition on the November ballot to try to zone city-owned properties within the arena area as a historic district. The Texas Supreme Court transferred the lawsuit to the San Antonio Court of Appeals.

In a statement emailed to ABC-7, Grossman said, “The Supreme Court of Texas has denied our Emergency Motion to Expedite and for Temporary Relief as well as our petition for Writ of Mandamus. The Court provided no explanation.”

Grossman further stated, “This means that the citizens’ ordinance establishing the Duranguito Historic District, in spite of the thousands of signatures gathered and the clear rules set forth in the El Paso City Charter, will not be placed on the ballot of the November election by the City Clerk. We are proceeding in the courts with our other lawsuits.”

Mayor Dee Margo tells ABC-7 this was a major victory for the city.

“These were just some legal tactics by our opposition to continue to bleed the city on litigation fees and costs and to try to delay a multipurpose event center,” Margo said. “We had said all along, and our attorneys had said all along that zoning cases cannot be determined through the courts.”

In 2017, a ruling issued by an Austin Court allowed the City to continue to build the project in the Union Plaza area.

David Romo, who helped organize getting signatures for the petition, said he’s not done yet.

“If the city thinks we’re just going to drop down dead, it’s sadly mistaken,” Romo said. “A lot of people worked very hard. Paso Del Sur carried out three months of gathering petitions. We had a total of 4600 signatures. People that wanted this decision to be placed to a direct vote. but we’re not going to give up.”