Bad News, Good News

Some bad news and some good news:

The current policy shift in the City from sustainable planning to development for development's sake is taking a toll on morale among Development and Planning personnel. The word is that Plan El Paso is being shelved. Long range planning is out while pushing permits is in. Conventional building is in; smart development is out. Mixed use building is out; single use building with extensive parking lots is in. I've heard that some of this is a bit exaggerated but that morale is low nevertheless. 

According to my sources the shift in policy is being driven by the Mayor's Office. This is too bad because conventional building is actually a huge economic drain on the city. Less energy efficient buildings and the favoring of sprawl depletes the disposable income of El Pasoans who must pay for higher energy and transportation costs with their monthly income. Consequently the sales tax base is low. With such policy combined with the tactics of TxDOT to favor automobile/petroleum industry over mass transit and bicycle infrastructure and even cultural heritage, El Paso will continue as a poorer city that can, at best, attract only low paying call center industry but little more. The Mayor would do well not to tout Prudential's opening a call center here. Answering calls and flipping hamburgers and being paid meager wages in the building trades - all keep El Paso from becoming a rich metropolitan center where we all prosper.

The good news is that an attempt to scuttle the Sustainability Office failed and that office is now safe under General Services and bolstered by the new Resiliency Grant.

The grant leads to more good news for the City and for a potential Conservation Cooperative tool.  From an email this afternoon from Janae' Reneaud Field, the Director of Frontera Land Alliance:

Dear Franklin and Organ Mountains Conservation Cooperative, El Paso Update: Last week Wednesday, April 23, 2014, the Resilience Grant by the Rockefeller Foundation agreement was executed by El Paso City Council. The City’s next step is to recruit a resiliency officer. The city will move forward with developing a Resilience City Plan that will help El Paso withstand shocks while still maintaining its essential functions. The Rockefeller Foundation defines resilience as "the ability of a system, entity, community, or person to withstand shocks while still maintaining its essential functions and to recover quickly and effectively." Simply put, resilience is what enables people to survive, adapt, and thrive in the face of acute shocks and chronic stresses.   http://100resilientcities.rockefellerfoundation.org/ 

We will stay in touch with the Resilience Program with the goal of participating and adding our objective of developing a mapping tool that will identify and classify lands that best accommodate development and gray infrastructure while also considering lands to conserve. The Land Conservation Inventory Tool is a collaborative approach specifically designed to obtain community input, create goals, assist in designing policies, identify land protection focus areas and develop funding mechanisms to create a lasting legacy in our region. This tool will strengthen and provide scientific data to assist in managing the Plan El Paso, Northwest Master Plan, the El Paso Sustainability Plan, the El Paso Open Space Plan, Dona Ana County Comprehensive Plan and other regional efforts that identify preserving large, connected natural areas. Again, the purpose of the project is to provide scientific data to assist in providing better information to organizations, government agencies, individuals, developers and business owners about the existing resources which will assist in their decision making. The Franklin and Organ Mountains Conservation Cooperative’s goals are: (1) safeguard natural and cultural features, (2) improve wildlife habitat and connectivity, (3) address the health of our regional watershed and (4) contribute to the local economy of our communities.

Land-Use Plan for Castner Range Available for Public Comment

Click on images above to enlarge.

Land-Use Plan for Castner Range Available for Public Comment

Contact: Janaé Reneaud Field
915-351-TFLA
janae@fronteralandalliance.org

A draft version of a Castner Range Land-Use Plan has been made available for public comment by the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition and The Frontera Land Alliance, two El Paso-area conservation organizations. Everyone interested in the future of Castner can review the Plan at www.FronteraLandAlliance.org (link in upper right hand corner of home page).

As you drive up into the mountains on Transmountain Road from Northeast El Paso, you may not realize you are driving through territory that still belongs to Fort Bliss. This 7,081-acre property, known as “Castner Range,” is not open to the public because there may be unexploded ordnance on the land.

Fort Bliss is undergoing a process of determining the best use of this land. For the last several years, members of the boards of The Frontera Land Alliance and the Franklin Mountains Wilderness coalition have been collaborating (as the “4C’s”—the Castner Conservation Conveyance Committee) with Fort Bliss to propose options for Castner Range’s acres. The 4C’s goal is to preserve, in perpetuity, the natural areas, wildlife corridors and natural springs that are present on Castner Range. After considerable study and work, the 4C’s have drafted a Land Use Plan that will be turned over to Fort Bliss to aid the Department of Defense in determining the future use of the Range, as soon as results from the survey are in.

The survey asks this: How would YOU like to see this land used (once it’s declared safe for using)? Do you want the land to be closed to the public so you can enjoy the natural beauty from a distance with no disturbance? Do you want hiking, biking and horse trails on the land? Maybe you prefer limited recreational development, once the land is transferred to the Franklin Mountains State Park? Or would you prefer full-scale development such as home, businesses, factories and office complexes? Perhaps you have another idea, one not considered yet, for the conservation of Castner Range.
All survey responses will be incorporated into the Plan, which will then be revised. “The Plan is open for commentary through September 15, 2013,” says Janaé Reneaud Field, Executive Director of The Frontera Land Alliance and a member of the 4C’s collaboration.