Stick to the Plan

This whole business with the NW Master Plan is really quite simple and can be addressed simply: Stick to the Plan. If the City just follows the Northwest Master Plan and the ensuing regulating plan for development, thus, abiding by the compromise worked out between citizen petitioners and city government, then there is no need for a conservation easement. Period. 

There is only one possible sticking point: the SmartCode T-1 designation can be changed administratively. That is, as an "Adjustment" to the Plan, it could be up to the discretion of the Consolidated Review Committee (CRC) to review and approve or disapprove the change. The CRC, which hasn't met in 2 years, is composed of the Planning, Transportation, Fire and Parks and Recreation Departments. 

SmartCode Transect-1 is the "Natural Zone" - lands "approximating or reverting to a wilderness condition, including lands unsuitable for settlement due to topography, hydrology or vegetation." For El Pasoans these include our arroyos.  In the NW Master Plan there are existing hike and bike trails in the Natural Zone Transect (T1) which so many want to see preserved. An administrative approval by the CRC to undo the designation would just be too easy.

What Planning will recommend tomorrow to Council is that, for the Northwest Master Plan, any amendment of the T1 Stormwater Open Space boundaries must be reviewed and approved by City Council. The change would not be an "adjustment" by the CRC. In fact, this tougher process of making any changes to T-1 would be part of the bid documents. That is about as close to putting the preservation of the arroyos in stone. Keep in mind that a conservation easement on land with bridges and some utility infrastructure may be improbable. 

If City Council reaffirms the Master Plan and agrees to a recommendation to tighten how a T1 designation might be changed, then it will be worthwhile to take this next step of seeing how the land might be sold for development. Taking this next step may result in some real benefits to the City: it may show that SmartCode development is not as costly as some contend. And, it might show that SmartCode development can be very profitable. Thus, it may alleviate the last fears about SmartCode in El Paso.

Bottom line: Stick to the Plan. Keep your promise. That makes a conservation easement (even if possible) unnecessary.

City Council will consider proposals to do just that tomorrow. It is the last item on the Regular Agenda - Item 12.2.

Finally, do read Dr. Bonart's excellent op-ed piece in yesterday's Times: Impact fees protect rate and taxpayers. One suggestion in his essay that can't work is increasing the stormwater impact fee by 5 percent annually until parity. The City can't do this because a State statute disallows it. Otherwise, Bonart states a self-evident truth in the form of a rhetorical question: "If growth did pay for itself [as the sprawlers would have us believe], then wouldn't it also be true that the larger the city becomes, the lower your taxes and water rates would be?"