2012 story: SPECIAL REPORT: City annexation plans leave some communities behind

The city of El Paso continues to expand.

In the years ahead, it’s expected that El Paso will continue to annex areas to the east toward Hudspeth County.

However, if you look closely at a map, the placement of the county border may surprise you.

Sprinkled throughout the city of El Paso are areas politicians call “doughnut holes;” areas controlled by the county government that the city of El Paso has annexed around, and left behind.

“It’s a county problem because it was caused by city annexation policies,” said Anna Perez, an El Paso County Commissioner. “The challenge has been to get some city council people to recognize this needs to be resolved.”

Perez, who is preparing to leave El Paso County Commissioners Court, is leaving office with that problem unsolved. For years, she said, she has fought a fight against the annexation policy that has left El Paso county in charge of several tracts of land.

Perez believes it’s an issue because of the cost the county incurs to service these areas.

When the city annexes an area, it’s full array of services become available: Water, sewer, fire, police and trash pickup to name a few. The city also makes it a point to surface roads.

However, those areas are also required to keep their properties up to city code and pay taxes.

One area that sticks out on the map is a small area known as Turf Road Estates. It’s a hodge-podge of homes, businesses even a cemetery. While homes near R.C. Poe Road are a few hundred feet from city water, they can’t be connected because they are still separate from the city.

“Every single side of us the front, and the back, it’s city houses they’ve built right around us,” said Rebeca Witter.

Witter and her family have lived on Turf Road for about 15 years. They assumed they would become part of the city of El Paso, but that never happened.

In 2009, the city of El Paso adopted an annexation policy that calls for only voluntary annexation. That means, an area must petition the city to be annexed. Once that happens, it takes as little as 90 days to become part of the city.

Turf Road Estates has yet to become part of the city because it would require all of it’s residents to petition the city. Perez tells ABC-7 that several residents have been hesitant to do so, meaning the rest of the people living on the street are stuck in limbo.

Involuntary annexations, allowed by Texas’ state code, are not currently being done by the city. They can take up to three years, but the city has decided to not pursue them.

“But they should, otherwise the county is left dealing with these problems and the will of the entire county shouldn’t be left to one property owner that doesn’t want to cooperate,” said Perez.

Mathew McElroy, with the El Paso City Planning and Development Department, said it’s not an easy decision. He said the policy, set by city representatives, was made after city staff looked over lots of documents. According to McElroy, it seemed that city representatives felt the best option was to go with voluntary annexation, because it prevented larger, less desirable land from becoming part of the city.

It’s not a decision without repurcusions, though. While the county is left without many options to provide costly services to a handful of it’s citizens, the city has its own problems.

“The connection of Pebble Hills is problematic,” said McElroy. “It’s (in) a major arterial, but people have to go around right now because it’s not part of the city.”

A plot of land is smack dab in the middle of Pebble Hills Road in east El Paso. Those who drive the route can see the other side of Pebble Hills from the traffic light at Zaragoza, but to get there, you have to drive around several roads.

That’s because a piece of land sits in between the roads. If the city annexed it, it could connect the roads. However, the landowner appears to store trucks on the property, and without involuntary annexation, it doesn’t appear possible.

As for the policy, McElroy said it’s not up to city staff to make determinations on how annexation moves forward. That is a decision made by elected officials.

Perez said county politicians continue to use lobbyists in Austin to gain more rights over city ordinances. However, she admits it’s more likely for county and city workers to iron out their own agreement down the road.