Get to CPC Meeting Tomorrow (Thursday) at 1:30 p.m.

Long note but please read. Bottom line: El Paso needs to adopt Plan El Paso, our new Comprehensive Plan.

Please make every effort to attend tomorrow’s (Thursday, January 26^th) meeting of the City Plan Commission at 1:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers. (Map and Directions to City Hall) This meeting is far more important, critical and consequential than last night’s hands-on session (although that was very important).  It is imperative that as many of us who can will make this meeting.

I've also learned that the item to take action on the Comprehensive Plan may be moved to the front of the agenda - 1:30 p.m. sharp!

The CPC will take action on the Comprehensive Plan Re-Write (Plan El Paso).  It is CPC and the City Council who make the final decisions about Comprehensive plans . . . not Dover Kohl and not you and me except as we impact our elected Representatives.  All the work that you did at charrettes last year will be worthless if some powerful interests have their way. They hate Smart Growth; they hate walkable communities; they hate open space; they hate the new Landscape Ordinance. They love little or no landscaping. They like big box stores and disconnected neighborhoods and concrete and asphalt.

We have learned that they plan to come out en masse tomorrow to the CPC meeting. They know that they don’t need to “waste their time” engaging in a public process through charrettes. They will focus on the CPC and on Council. You should too. (Did you see any of them actively engaged in last night’s hands-on session for instance? No. They are sharpening their swords for CPC and the City Council and they have done so with the Comprehensive Plan and they will do so later with the Westside Plan.)

The Comprehensive Plan has been vetted for over a year. More than 2500 people participated in 100 meetings and 20 hands-on-sessions. Plan El Paso has been discussed by numerous groups, stakeholders and the press. Nobody can say that we can’t make a decision on it now.

Plan El Paso is comprehensive and addresses a wide range of issues: transportation, livable/walkable communities, health, historic preservation, transportation, downtown development and much more.

Please plan to be at the meeting tomorrow. Let the CPC know that there are numbers for the Plan. You can sign-up to speak on Agenda Item #9 prior to the start of the meeting at 1:30 p.m.

Let me be clear: the meeting tomorrow has to do with the City’s new Comprehensive Plan. It is a separate item from our current work to re-do the Westside Master Plan and preserve the Scenic Transmountain Corridor. However, the Comprehensive Plan has everything to do with the quality of life in El Paso, our economic development and our El Paso’s ability to be competitively tough in the 21st Century.

You can read the complete draft of volume 1 and volume 2 of the Plan El Paso document online. (The Comprehensive Plan Community Presentation is scheduled for Thursday evening at the El Paso Community Foundation at 333 N. Oregon in the Foundation Room on the 1st Floor. (Map)  This is another very important meeting to make if you can.

Time is very short. We need a big turnout.  Tell your friends, neighbors, neighborhood associations, organizations and everyone you know who has worked to make Plan El Paso a dream come true.