At its August 27, 2009 meeting the City Plan Commission of the City of El Paso approved the Desert Springs Land Study. The question is: Should it have been approved?
Desert Springs encompasses an area of 189.83 acres just about a mile to the west of the line where the Franklin Mountains State Park begins. Its westernmost boundary is roughly Northwestern Drive if Northwestern were currently extended north of Trans Mountain Road. The land is being developed by Mr. Randy O'Leary.
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Running through Desert Springs is Arroyo Corridor 42B, the only remaining corridor that connects the State Park with the Rio Grande. The City Council approved Open Space Master Plan ("Towards a Bright Future: A Green Infrastructure Plan for El Paso, Texas") says of this corridor: "This area of El Paso is on the verge of becoming the next sector for development, and as such, the preservation of this arroyo system should be considered an extremely high priority."
Several of us walked through this arroyo on Tuesday from the gas pipeline road to I-10. On the way we also saw where City of El Paso engineers insist that a 15 acre concrete pond be constructed - a pond necessitated by their plan to reduce a 1200 foot wide arroyo to just 120 feet in violation of the comprehensive plan which specified a 300 foot wide natural corridor in this arroyo - not 120 feet! The City Plan Commission has the authority to accept, modify, or deny a land study if that study doesn't follow the comprehensive plan.
Violation of the comprehensive plan is just the beginning. The Land Study lacks the due diligence called for in 19.02.040 since the opinions of the Open Space Advisory Board expressed prior to the City Plan Commission were not included. Municiple code 19.02.040 clearly states that a criteria for the approval of a plan requires assessment of open space - the purview of the Open Space Advisory Board!
City Engineer, Kareem Dallo, reportedly told a member of the OSAB that a CLOMR (Conditional Letter of Map Revision - needed to build in a floodpath) had been filed with the City Flood Plain manager. However, a Freedom of Information Act request by citizen Charlie Wakeem yielded no such document.
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City staff could not have made a health, safety and welfare decision necessary under code 19.16.050 to modify the arroyo without FEMA input. Mr. O'Leary's proposal is vested under 19.16.050 which simply states: "Arroyos shall be preserved in their natural state, except that improvemnts or modifications may be made in accordance with designs approved by the deputy director of building services when such improvements or modifications are necessary to protect the public health, safety or welfare."
Since staff did not have the information needed to make a decision about the health, safety and welfare of the public, and since the Open Space Board's opinion was not included for the CPC members to consider, and since the comprehensive plan was violated, how could the City Planning Commission approve the land study? Unfortunately, they were advised by City Attorney Lupe Cuellar that they didn't have any choice but to approve and not a single member of the CPC raised an objection!
Ms. Cuellar warned the CPC: "If the plan meets the codes, and staff says it does, then legally you have to approve the plan." Staff has full and final authority? Citizens on City boards and commissions have no cognitive abilities other than to respond to a staff stimulus with rubber stamp approval? There were plenty of good reasons not to approve the plan as discussed above.
Ms. Cuellar's advice to CPC is similar to her advice to the members of the Open Space Advisory Board as to how to advise Council which is their duty by ordinance. Ms. Cuellar suggested that the Board tell Ms. Shamori Whitt, the Parks and Recreation staff person who has been appointed as the department liaison with the Board; Ms. Whitt tells the Parks and Recreation Director, Nanette Smejkal, who runs it by the City Attorney's office. If legal okays it, then Ms. Smejkal will give it to the City Council. Again, who is empowered by ordinance to advise Council - the Board or a lenghty chain of bureaucracy? Isn't it more in keeping with ordinance for city staff and attorneys to present to the OSAB (or any other board or commission) which then makes a decision and reports directly to the City Council of the City of El Paso? Does ordinance give de facto veto or amendment power to city staff and attorneys?
Someone might want to raise the issue of the tail wagging the dog. Citizen elected councils advised by citizen boards and commissions set the policies of the City with support of the staff and then implementation by the staff. City staff members are Senate pages, so to speak, not the Senators.
One can also wonder why some city staff members are allowed to continue in their positions when they clearly do not care to implement the policies, vision and values set by the people of El Paso through their elected representatives and as manifested by an open space master plan, a parks and recreation master plan, a stormwater plan, now a sustainability plan and much more - all documents that assert the values of care for the environment and ecosystems and open space. In fact, one wonders why some staff choose to thwart these values at all.
Sadly, as some real estate and landscape experts have shown, there are ways to develop with conservation in mind: ways that will increase a land developer's bottom line.
One such expert said:
"The Open Space Board should become involved in future development by approaching developers before they begin development plans. If the Board could show developers that they could make the same profits or greater by introducing green and sustainable development, then it would be an advantage to all parties."
The approval of the Desert Springs Land Study just represents the tip of the iceberg. There's much more underwater that will rip deep holes in a ship of state and send it to the bottom of the sea. The question really is who captains the ship. We've got a lot of crew acting as skippers and one wonders why.
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