PSB Open Space Land Use and Recreation Policy? It Doesn't Exist

A simple hiker, mountain bike trail along the hill in the background would make this pond road a perfect recreational path

This pond road already is paved with crushed rock all the way to Scenic from the neighborhood below - another recreational treasure!

The two pictures above show two retention ponds along Scenic Drive that have recently been cleaned out. Both could also serve as recreational trails leading to Scenic Drive for neighbors and visitors.

The first just needs a simple trail along the gently sloping hill in the background to connect it with Scenic. The second already ends at the wall of Scenic Drive. That is where I stood the other day to take the picture. As part of my Scenic Sunday walk this past Sunday, I used the pond trail to lead me off Scenic to the neighborhood below and eventually home.

The trouble is this: PSB/EPWU has no intention for either ponding area to be recreational. In fact, they have no recreational policy for your land that they manage. They have no open space policy. They have no land use policy. I wouldn't be surprised, now that I have published this post, to see a big KEEP OUT sign soon - kind of like the one at the Palisades that people ignored for years.

Actually, PSB did adopt a land use policy at its July 28, 2010 meeting. The title is PSB Policy and Procedures on use of Stormwater Funds for Open Space, Green Projects and other related attribues. What this pedantically-titled policy says is simple: 10% of your stormwater fees for acquisition of open space does indeed go to acquiring open space and also to buy sod and shrubs for park ponds. Why? Because the City had already accepted bids and awarded contracts for the Saipan park/pond project and the project had already begun. Nothing in the ordinance really says anything about sod and shrubs. PSB's policy has yet to be approved by Council and has never been vetted by the Open Space Advisory Board. Simply put, it is a CYA for what was already taking place. (It would seem that Ed Archuleta had committed to Alan Shubert, head of City Engineering, to doing the Saipan project before permission from the PSB.)

Interestingly in a meeting of the Open Space Board after this policy was adopted, City Attorney Elaine Hengen gave her opinion about the stormwater enabling ordinance when asked to do so by Chairman Charlie Wakeem. She said that the ordinance only allowed the stormwater fee to go for acquisition of land not trees and shrubs! Oh shit! Had no one given her the memo. Had she not received the email or been visited by top brass from Engineering or perhaps Parks! I've disagreed with Ms. Hengen a time or two - but I've always known her to be honest and a straight shooter who does her very best to give her best advice to the City, its boards, staff and representatives.

Questions: will the $364,000 allocated for Saipan shrubs and sod be put back on the open space side of the ledger? (Acutally, the final amount will be around $150,000.) Will OSAB have advice to give City Council about this PSB policy and will City Council approve or disapprove? One thing that I know about written documents: they have power. This land use policy of the PSB wasn't just a CYA, it was an attempt to gain precedence.

Again, it is time - past time - high time for the PSB to adopt a policy that promotes eco-tourism and recreation on open space lands that it manages for the citizens of the City of El Paso - for you and me.