RIP New Urbanism in El Paso

There are several reasons. First, in 2013 voters, upset by the city's financing of the ballpark and other issues, elected a regressive City Council. In many respects it is the best Council ever bought and paid for by developers of land mainly in east El Paso. Following that election, the new Council hired Tommy Gonzalez to be the City Manager. Pushed by powerful players such as Ted Houghton, more miles of freeways and freeway loops have been built and will continue to be built and expanded over the next few years as westsiders know all too well. Freeways create sprawl. Rather than boulevards, we built freeways. Why? So we could move construction equipment and materials more easily around the city in order to build more developments and eventually more freeways not to mention ticky-tacky strip malls. The trend has been away from smart growth, Plan El Paso, building codes which could have encouraged sustainable, energy-efficient housing and soon-to-be changes to the landscape ordinance.

Note how Plan El Paso appears on the city web site. Scroll through the first few pages and you will see unreadable gibberish. 

Along with clamping down against New Urbanism, the new "regime" has now opened the doors to a new El Paso brain drain. Many of the city's best and brightest city planners are beginning to look at work outside of El Paso. 

The new regime has also stymied work by the Open Space Advisory Board. Recommendations are held up. The new Director of Planning has covertly taken over what will and won't be on agendas. Agenda items today are largely for "information" rather than discussion and action.

What can be done? It goes without saying that we need more innovative, progressive policy makers on Council. It also means that we all need to become aware of city codes and work to change those that lead to unsustainablility and the destruction of our environment. Especially it means that as consumers we begin to choose other options for housing, neighborhoods, connectivity, walkability and transportaion. If they build it, they will come? No, if the sprawlers want to sprawl, let's have nothing to do with it except to do everything that we can to limit it and regulate it. Then let's build better and smarter.

Fracking, Wasting Water, Keeping Promises to Sprawlers

It was good to see last week that Keagan Harsha and KTSM-TV News picked up our story and petition about fracking coming just east of El Paso. Read the story and see the video HERE.

Astoundingly someone by the name of "mike b" commented on an unrelated post about fracking: "There is no evidence that fracking is harmful.....Just hysteria from radical enviros.....They deal in emotion, not logic..." 

Assuming that "mike b" has some gray matter, he might want to read other posts HERE and HERE. 

No matter how much the fracking industry attempts to deceive the public, fracking depletes and ruins ground water. To understand how the recklessness of their actions, just note what is happening to groundwater all over the world. Satellite surveys paint a bleak picture. See the MAP.

Climate change and excessive use of water without any proper water planning is to blame. Sensible city planning can help the situation. Yet, in our City, Council members are in the deep pockets of the urban sprawlers. They have shelved Plan El Paso and are making every attempt to force the sale of PSB managed land in smaller lots. Not long ago, City Councilwoman, Cortney Niland, was heard to say that the City needed $3.2 Million to keep a promise made to developers. Amazing how that $3.2 Million is exactly what she and the Mayor propose to take from that portion of the stormwater fee meant to go to open space over the next couple of years. The item comes up for discussion and action this coming Tuesday at City Council. See Item 13-2 on the agenda. Note that the item says nothing about the agreement to limit pilfering of open space funds to just $3.2 Million.

Happy World Water Day or Is It?

Dry Rio Grande riverbed. Photo from El Paso Inc.

Happy World Water Day!

Or is it so happy? Here's a sprinkling of stories just from this past couple of weeks:

Most of you have noticed that water has yet to begin flowing in the Rio Grande in our upper and lower valleys. But not only is water a problem here in El Paso and New Mexico but throughout the Western U.S. Read Sheila Collins for a global perspective: The West's Coming Tragedy of the Commons.

El Pasoan, Dr. Marshall Carter-Tripp, expands on the global issue and brings it home in her excellent article Where Have All the Rivers Gone in the must-bookmark blog, Border X Roads.

Many thanks to Michael Bray, owner and manager of  EXIT West Realty in El Paso. He shared another great web site with us: GreenBuilder. In it Sara Gutterman posts The Energy-Water Nexus and discusses water conservation-smart homes.

EPWU has a recommendation for a water smart home. Yet, like most things in El Paso City government, it sits on a shelf - the victim of disapproval by the El Paso sprawlers - those developers and builders who don't give a hoot that we have more land than water. Moreover they want you and me to pay for their expansions instead of accepting very affordable impact fees - and just 75% of those impact fees a couple of years ago. (Of course, those fees now only cover 40% of expenses.) They say that a Neal report for the City shows that their developments pay for themselves. I'll be discussing this week the limited number of expenses that Neal talked about - not the total package for new infrastructure, schools, police and fire protection, maintenance on that infrastructure, etc., etc. More in the days to come.

More than anything the City needs a long-term development plan. Wait a moment - didn't we spend two years, involve thousands of people and spend $2Million on Plan El Paso? Like smart homes, Plan El Paso sits on a shelf while the current City Council conspires to ditch it, ditch the codes for intelligent growth, ditch the NW Master Plan ($600,000 for that one), yadda, yadda, yadda.

The bottom line is this: we are running out of water yet we continue to follow the dictates of a building community that believes in sprawl as if Ike were still President and the V-8 wasn't a juice drink but the number of gasoline-guzzling pistons under the hood of your car. 

Time to wake up El Paso. If the sprawler's growth will pay for itself and leads to prosperity, why are you and I and small business owners paying through the ying-yang with our property taxes that keep going up and up and up?

We may have been mad about the past City Council taking away our vote so we voted out all of the progressives - but these guys and gals could care less about the real grassroots decision-making we did with Plan El Paso, the 2011 Transmountain petition and the NW Master Plan. Who is taking our vote away now?

Happy Water Day!

Council Ready to Jetison Smart Code in Northwest Master Plan?

Click image to enlarge.

City Council may have taken the first steps toward re-zoning the NW Master Plan by going from smart code to conventional code. It is just one more way in which the El Paso sprawlers are on a land grab and arroyos and natural open spaces be damned.

Last week I announced a contest to identify a place in a picture. The prize: a $20 gift certificate to Amigos, 2000 Montana Avenue. (If there is better Mexican/Tex-Mex food in El Paso, I haven't found it.) The scenery in the picture no longer exists. That is why I asked for a place. The picture above is what you see today. It is on the west side of Mesa just past the new light at Montecillo and across the street from Montecillo. So much for El Paso protecting arroyos. One wonders how safe the deal with the City is regarding the NW Master Plan.

When our petition certified, a deal was struck with the City to redo the NW Master Plan as smart growth development. Land was transferred to the Franklin Mountains State Park. Arroyos will not only be preserved but roadways across them must be bridged. 

Yesterday City Council voted unanimously to reassess whether land in the NW Master Plan, NE Master Plan and Painted Dunes can be sold off in increments of less than 100 acres (I guess never mind a Memorandum of Understanding with the PSB); and whether or not to reconsider smart code. (Emma Acosta and Carl Robinson spearheaded the affront on smart code.) After the Council meeting, City Manager Joyce Wilson offered assurances that "Council did not take any action to undo the updated master plan for NW area, and that we were clear that it was a settlement that should not be tampered with." In an email to me she went on to say that "the focus is really the NE master plan and the two [NW and NE] are just getting comingled.  I have made it clear that your group bargained in good faith and expects the agreement to be honored."

However, in spite of her assurances, one must realize that Wilson's time with the City is about up and that she doesn't vote on zoning. Council didn't take any action on the NW plan but that doesn't mean that they won't. Moreover, this Council has already demonstrated that it favors sprawlers when it comes to discussions about growth, smart code, Plan El Paso, impact fees and land sales. The Mayor's office has kept all members of the conservation community out of discussions on land sales, impact fees and even considerations about the new City Manager. One can expect a City Manager who will be in line with those who want to sell and develop all the land that they can, believing that will be best for taxpayers in spite of the realization that our property taxes keep going up and up and up. Their building feeds their pockets, not ours.

I can tell you that my phone has not stopped ringing off the wall since Council voted yesterday. It's not just that yesterday was alarming (and it could be just by itself). It's a whole string of things.

The 2013 Petition (posted on another page) never really caught fire. Most of the signatures are over 180 days old and, so, invalid. Now there is a huge ground swell to do a new petition. People unexcited about the 2013 petition are suddenly excited. The energy is there. 

What Council, the Mayor, the sprawlers, the Chamber must understand is this. We don't want to preserve land just because it's pretty. The biggest issue is water and a sustainable future for El Paso. Is there a discussion going on at City Hall about water? Hell no and, in fact, the build-it-one-way-only-ers pretty much killed the EPWU smart home idea. The other issue is healthy living. Allergies, asthma, respiratory illnesses have gone up because of development. Moreover, El Paso also suffers from an epidemic of diabetes and obesity. Studies throughout the country for many years now show that you can't grow your way to prosperity. All we are really doing is taking away the future for our grandchildren and their grandchildren. We are heading toward extinction.

So, with a vote to reconsider smart code in spite of assurances from a lame duck Manager, those who care about the future of water and the health of each and every El Pasoan are rightly alarmed and have begun to meet and mobilize.

Finally, a number of you had good guesses about the place for the picture in the contest. Only Judy Ackerman got it right. She emailed: "[It] is the place where the new theater is going in, across Mesa from the Montecillo.  That’s how it used to look.  Now it looks like sh--!"

Memo to Judy: I love Amigos. Remember your friends.

  

Agenda 21 Comes to OSAB

I need to preface this post with two items:

First, as a person with deep traditional conservative roots, I don't like big anything - government or business. I also want plenty of liberty with freedom of choice. Smart Growth means more options to me. It doesn't mean that someone can't do something. It means more choices. Living in sprawl America means that I must choose the automobile for transportation. I must choose hydrocarbons for fuel and lubricants. I must choose the big box store on the edge of town. If I live in most suburbs created from the 1950's forward (or in East El Paso predominantly with the palm trees and squared front walkways), my choice is to leave my niche or culvert, find the main arteriole where I join many more motorists and drive to the strip mall usually much farther from my home than the crows flies or park on I-10 to go to work. The oil, automobile and agricultural giants have convinced me that I still live in a free country and have such great choices such as buying a Chevrolet or a Hyundai, purchasing Chevron on this corner or that, and shopping at a mega food giant or a big box store. So many choices! Bah! With Smart Growth I have more options: drive a car, ride a bus, ride a bike, walk, maybe even take a train. I can live in a house with a backyard or in an apartment above my small street shop. I can choose to live next to natural open space because there is natural open space - not just more land for developers to put up the latest Happy Acres.

That's my first preface, here's my second: Ed Beck is a good guy. I mean it. Who is Ed Beck you ask? He was one of the many candidates who ran for the District 2 seat on City Council. More than anyone else he was probably the reason Romero beat me in the run-off. Ed had a sizable loyal following of fellow conservatives. I'd often find his cards stuck in the door of the same houses I was visiting. They would read: "I'm the only Republican in this race." Ed is a man of principle and voters loyal to him weren't squishy. Having principles was also true of Michael Apodaca who endorsed me after he lost in the general election. My other opponents had squishy followers and they easily voted for Larry Romero or myself. Am I sore with Ed? Absolutely not. If you ever get to know the guy, you will like him. He's not just nice, he's a good man. He's a good neighbor and someone who will do something for his neighbors not just talk about it. The big problem with Ed is that he believes one really screwy thing: the Agenda 21 UN Conspiracy. 

Agenda 21 Conspiracy followers believe that smart growth and smart choice and sustainability and being green are ALL U.N./Communist plots to ultimately put all the world under one government control. One conspiracy nut (and let's not call them "nuts" because that's derogatory - "fruit pies" which are sweet seems far more apt) . . . one fruit pie said this: "Agenda 21 is not an environmental management policy, but an attempt to impose a global centrally planned quasi-government administered by the United Nations. Under Agenda 21 all central government and local authority signatories are required to conform strictly to a common prescribed standard and hence this is just communism resurrected in a new guise." (The Green Agenda) Can you stomach more? Then read the American Policy Center's piece. Or read a piece by an El Paso blogger even if she gets most of her facts wrong about Dover Kohl and Plan El Paso (that communist, UN document that evil people thrust on El Pasoans). The ultimate vision of the world under Agenda 21 comes from Glenn Beck, no relation to Ed I don't believe. Here's that dark future being brought to us by Plan El Paso, Agenda 21, and all those who who favor sustainability, a clean environment, plenty of natural outdoors and freedom to walk or ride a bike as well as drive a car:




Now you know that, as the author of a blog for a "sustainable El Paso southwest", I want to burn up old people (after taking away their automobiles, their backyards and their WalMart.) Bad robot!

There are, of course, more rational voices. Read Jeff Turrentine who concludes: 


"In the century since they first appeared on our physical and cultural horizon, the suburbs have earned the right to consider themselves every bit as American as our gleaming cities and rolling farmlands. There's no stealth plan to "abolish" them. There is, instead, a perfectly transparent plan to include them in the list of communities that must be brought into the sustainability fold if we're ever to address climate change effectively, protect wildlife habitat, and ensure that we don't pollute or deplete our resources to the point of no return. Smart growth is great for cities—but it's great for suburbs, too. People who love them should understand that any concerted effort to make them cleaner, prettier, safer, and less congested is a conspiracy worth joining."

Or read Stephanie Mencimer who makes the connection between the Agenda 21 Fruit Pie Conspiracy and Big Oil. 

So, what difference does it make that Ed Beck believes the Agenda 21 Conspiracy? Today City Council appointed Larry Romero's nominee to the Open Space Advisory Board: Ed Beck. Larry demagogued the smart code/smart growth issue in the election with his own brand of misinformation. He had a business friend of mine believing that he would have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to remodel his struggling restaurant. Larry also got it in my friend's mind that the evil El Paso government was going to take away parking from his patrons for more mass transit. Larry has a new vision - a vision of continued blight and favortism. Ed gets his payoff and Larry and his rich string pullers get the status quo and that suits the old fogies on the 5 Points Business Association just fine. They're Americans, you know. They like that freedom of choice that Big Oil, the Automobile Industry and Big Industrial Agriculture give them. Let's hear it for choice!

Oh - one new insight!   Why does TxDOT want to take federal money from Bike Share and give it back to the federal government by way of salaries for more agents at the border gates? Bob Bielek said it: "The automobile is King." TxDOT loves your freedom to choose the automobile - but not the bicycle, not the bus, not the train, not the soles of your own shoes - walking is a communist, U.N., Agenda 21 conspiracy. (Ted Houghton saw to it that big money went to Larry Romero in the election. He vetoed any money that might have gone my way and the way of freedom of choice.)

Smart Code Works

Smart Code works and the El Paso Times has spotted it.  Too bad the 5 Points Business Regressives (aka, Association) and City Council Representative Larry Romero are preventing this new model of urban planning from working miracles along Piedras, Grant, Pershing and Montana.

Plan El Paso Passes!

Plan El Paso Passes!

That should have been the bold front page headline for the El Paso Times this morning.  Instead we got “60-mph gusts to make driving difficult today”. This time of year that can be the headline for just about any day. The excellent Chris Roberts story, Council Oks plan for Smart Growth got shoved to an awkward place on the first page of Borderland overshadowed by Moody’s plan to take on Margo – an important race but one that will not have the long-term impact on El Paso as the new Comprehensive Plan. On the Times web site, you have to search for the Roberts story.

Okay – elpasonaturally is not written to criticize the journalism of the El Paso Times. It is worth noting that probably the most significant event for decades to come hardly got the attention that it deserved in the local rag.  Plan El Paso was facilitated by one the best (if not the best) City Planning consulting firms in the country (or even world) – Dover Kohl. The Plan was developed collaboratively with thousands of El Pasoans working with Dover Kohl and expert City Planning staff over a period of nearly two years in a 100 meetings and 20 hands-on sessions. The Chamber of Commerce took part as true El Pasoans – team members to the end. And, although the powers to be at EPWU tried to be the devil in the details, they were largely unsuccessful. At the end of the day, and it was a very long day especially for very dedicated members of City Council, the Plan was approved unanimously.

There are plenty of people to thank but let me tell you my heroes in all of this: First and foremost the Dover Kohl people led by Victor Dover, Jason King and Bill Spikowski and a cast of very smart, very creative professionals. I got to see firsthand their agonies, their angst and their getting to what was for El Paso a true Yes-Yes-Yes. Through all of this  I have come to respect, appreciate and admire deeply our City Planning staff especially Matthew McElroy, Carlos Gallinar and Fred Lopez. What an extraordinary talent it is to be able to stick to your principles while managing to bring people with differing views on board. El Paso is in good hands with this team.  Cortney Niland – Goddess! She just wouldn’t let go of her insistence that the final document tell the truth – the PSB is a land manager and not a trustee. Words are important and those words should help the current Council and City Councils of the future make right decisions when it comes to our City land. Niland also rightly insisted that the developing industry be rewarded more with park credits when they help to preserve hillsides and arroyos.  My heroes also include Rick Bonart and Steve Ortega (and by extension the great Chuck Kooshian) by keeping the Kooshian 2005 Arroyo Inventory in the Plan. Finally, I want to acknowledge Richard Dayoub,  the President and CEO of the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce. I know that as a conservationist, environmentalist, “tree hugger”, I don’t always see eye to eye with the development industry of El Paso. But Dayoub saw to it that the Chamber interact in the Plan El Paso process as a team player. His words at the end of the day yesterday were very fair. The Chamber reserves the right in the future to disagree with some of the planning. He explained the toughest thing for the business community: much of the pace of the progress being made today by City Planners is hard for many businesses to follow. Like any good business person, Dayoub wants to see how changes help not hinder the bottom line. That’s fair and, if Plan El Paso is to be a living document for decades, there must be efforts to learn more and more about the advantages of Smart Growth and how to make that work for all El Pasoans. The conversation and collaboration should continue.

Of course there is a much longer list of people to thank including Larry Nance and all of the people on CPC and CPAC, Charlie Wakeem, Chairman of OSAB, City Council members (particularly Ann Lilly who personally participated in the sessions and my Representative Susie Byrd), Joyce Wilson and many more. Plan El Paso Passes! We El Pasoans should really be proud of ourselves.

Unfortunately, let’s move to the not so good news starring our old friends at EPWU/PSB and, in doing so, transition to the NW Master Plan and Scenic Transmountain Corridor.  At its special meeting this past Monday night, the PSB voted to recommend only one scenario to City Council – the one in which building takes place on both sides of Transmountain. (I’ll get into the details of this more in the next e-letter.) More egregiously, Ed Archuleta via Risher Gilbert and Pat Adauto is crafting a different “conservation strategy” than the tried and true Conservation Easement. They are calling their yet to be unveiled product a “Restrictive Conservation Covenant”.  Seemingly by announcing this “product” on Monday along with their attempts to set their own definitions for arroyos and their own rules for land management was a very clever attempt to torpedo Plan El Paso’s effectiveness when it comes to EPWU control and any real permanent preservation of natural open space in the Scenic Corridor. Archuleta insisted that arroyos will have to be hybridized and concreted and Gilbert acknowledged that their “Restrictive Conservation Covenant” will allow for “changes” on the land. She used horse riding and horse manure as examples although she should have been forthright enough to say that they are really talking culverts and pipes and tanks. (By the way, necessary utility infrastructure in land preserved by a Conservation Easement can be allowed. It is plain that where Risher Gilbert and Ed Archuleta are going is the arbitrary re-taking of land from its natural state over a period of time.  Witness Blackie Chesher Park – another matter to be given its own attention soon.)

Control has always seemingly been the raison d’être for Archuleta’s policies. Now his style of leadership is being seen increasingly as arbitrary and unreasonable by a growing number of people.

Sadly, PSB member, Richard Schoephoerster, revealed an attitude that is too clearly a part of the fabric of a Board with no accountability to the people of El Paso. When discussing the Scenarios presented by Dover Kohl for development (or no development) in NW El Paso, Schoephoerster, the Dean of Engineering at UTEP, stated that those who participated in the charrette had a conflict of interest. What was the conflict of interest? They happen to have been people who care about our environment. In other words, those with whom Mr. Schoephoerster disagrees have a conflict of interest and, therefore, have opinions and interests that should not be entertained when it comes to setting public policy. (If conflict of interest really concerns Schoephoerster, then he should look no farther than fellow board member, Maria Teran, whose business with the EPWU was a huge ethical lapse.)  Remember that it was Schoephoerster who pronounced the Johnson Basin to be natural open space. (See the video with Schoephoerster.) What several people are beginning to ask is whether the Dean of UTEP’s College of Engineering is a bad representative for UTEP as a member of the PSB. Does UTEP’s culture value those who discount the opinions of others in a free debate? Is it good to have the one who is head of engineering be so unconcerned about the facts and details of a piece of land in question and so quickly accede to the claim of another? Attention to facts and details must be critical to an engineer and future engineers must have this trait above all others.

So we head next to the hearings about the NW Master Plan and the Scenic Transmountain Corridor – issues there because of a successful petition. Just to be very clear – no permanent preservation of the land – no deal. Petitioners will begin to get enough signatures to put the matter to El Pasoans whose votes, if not opinions, PSB members cannot discount as a conflict of interest.

Action Nears on Plan El Paso; Preservation of Scenic Corridor Next

We are down to two meetings about Plan El Paso, the City’s Comprehensive Plan Re-Write:

Public Service Board (PSB)

Monday, March 5, 2012, 5:00 p.m. 1154 Hawkins Blvd. (Map)

Not only will they discuss the Comprehensive Plan Re-write (Plan El Paso) but the NW Master Plan/Scenic Corridor issue.

City Council

Tuesday, March 6, 2012, 8:30 a.m., 2^nd Floor City Hall

Some final tweaking is going on but it looks like final passage by the City Council is better than just a good bet.  Still it is very important that supporters of new urbanism for El Paso attend the PSB meeting this coming Monday and then the City Council meeting on Tuesday morning. It is very important to attend Monday evening’s PSB meeting because they will, along with taking action on the Comprehensive Plan, recommend a course of action for the NW Master Plan and the preservation of the Scenic Transmountain Corridor. (Monday’s PSB Agenda)  More on this in a moment.

Plan El Paso should be adopted because there are clear economic advantages to be had by all El Pasoans including developers.  Additionally, the Plan favors the preservation of natural open spaces and encourages downtown revitalization and infill over sprawl. Simply looking at building vacancies in El Paso makes the argument for infill over sprawl.  There is some question about language added to the document that suggests that the PSB is Trustee rather than just a land manager. The overwhelming evidence suggests that the PSB not only is not a Trust but, under Texas State Law cannot be a trust. Trust or No Trust – that is the question.

City Council will probably take action to adopt Plan El Paso at its meeting on Tuesday. Unfortunately, it is Item #13 on the Agenda so it is hard to predict exactly what time Council will get to it.  Nevertheless, those who favor the new plan should plan to attend if able. Nothing should be taken for granted. If I hear anything new before Tuesday, I will post it at elpasonaturally.

A tentative schedule for taking action on the NW Master Plan and the Scenic Transmountain Corridor is now available. Mark your calendars. That schedule includes Monday’s special PSB meeting – a critical/must attend meeting beginning at 5 p.m. Elpasonaturally has learned that Mr. Archuleta has been actively opposing preservation and wants to build, build, build on both sides of Transmountain. One can only hope that PSB members will keep just a few things in mind. No-build was clearly the unanimous choice of those who participated in January’s hands-on session led by Dover Kohl. This is no small group. The PSB itself contributed one-half of the cost for Dover Kohl to do an update of the NW Master Plan and to recommend scenarios that include preserving the Scenic Transmountain Corridor. That was a significant but well-made investment. Members of the PSB are bright people. They can see that land sales are a tiny portion of revenue and really have nothing to do with rates. They can also see what the elephant in the room really is: El Paso has more land than water and conserving land along the Scenic Corridor will only tend to increase the value of the lands that they will continue to manage.  The land in question is inexpedient. It is not useful to the functions of the utility namely water and/or waste water. El Pasoans do not gain by further sprawl – in fact, they lose financially because of the ongoing expenses that they will be burdened with: maintenance on infrastructure, essential services such as fire and police, schools and so forth. Adopting a plan that preserves the Scenic Corridor in perpetuity makes good sense.

Bottom line: keep your eye on the ball. As we transition from action on Plan El Paso to action on the NW Master Plan and Scenic Corridor, stay positive and vigilant.

Finally, not really a brag but a word of humble gratitude: I was given the Conservation Award by the Trans-Pecos El Paso Audubon Society. I received that award because I stand on the shoulders of/and cheer lead for giants who tirelessly work for conservation: John Sproul, Charlie Wakeem, Richard Teschner, Judy Ackerman, Phil Goodell, Maria Trunk, Chuck Kooshian, Lois Balin, Helen Bigelow, Peter Best, Wynn Anderson – and others who have received the award.  These are the real heroes and I am so proud that I may call many of them friends.

Economic Advantages of New Urbanism

The guiding strategy behind Plan El Paso is New Urbanism. This planning approach is also called Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) for good reason. Some of us remember or have seen and admired in older neighborhoods the homes with porches that face the street and are invitations for sociality and neighborliness. Sidewalks and trees line the streets. Shops, offices, schools and churches are nearby. The streets are connected and do not end in tragic cul-de-sacs that take a motorist forever to find connection to a major thoroughfare. New Urbanism uses designs that ease transportation, encourage walking and biking, give infill and not sprawl priority, value open spaces and parks. By the way, parks are not separated from homes by walls that fence in backyards. New Urbanism, and thus Plan El Paso (the City's Comprehensive Plan Re-Write), means lower transportation costs, placemaking, walkability - i.e., community.  But are there economic advantages?  Is there some gain that financial risk takers (developers) can achieve? Studies show that there are.


For a quick overview take a look at a simple slide show put together by Jason King of Dover Kohl, the consulting firm facilitating El Pasoans re-write of their City's Comprehensive Plan. It's called "Good Planning Is Good Business":

Good Planning is Good Business

Also take a few minutes to read "Dynamics of Master-Planned Communities by Laurie Volkand Todd Zimmerman which is found in the Appendix of Volume 2 of Plan El Paso on page C-2. I embed it here for your convenience:


Portion DRAFT ELP C Econ Dev Reports 010512

Development advantages include lower land cost per unit, lower infrastructure cost per unit, lower first-phase infrastructure cost, and greater development flexibility. Developers can expect unit price premiums and increased sales paces. Keep in mind that a well-designed environment enhances the value of property and buyers select neighborhood first and home second.


An EPA study, "The Transportation and Environmental Impacts of Infill versus Greenfield Development" [Greenfield = Suburban Edge/Sprawl] shows the advantages for infill development which include shorter vehicle trips, lower infrastructure and household travel costs, less pollution and greater access to amenities.


The closer you live to work, the more money you save on commuting. The more money that you save on commuting, the more you can pay on mortgage or rent, a benefit to builders,sellers and landlords.


Try a simple tool. Go to Abogo. Type in an address from a neighborhood that can be considered infill - Sunset Heights for example. Type in another address for a home on the edge of sprawl. Make the comparison.


Finally, take time to read "Sustainable Development: Prosperity without Growth" by Michael Kinsley and published in 1992 by the Rocky Mountain Institute. Kinsley's summary: ". . . while growth is often perceived as the only path to economic viability, the good news for both declining and growing communities is that there is an alternative. Prosperity does not require growth; it requires development that is sustainable." 


Plan El Paso, the City's Comprehensive Plan Re-Write, should be adopted and with very few changes - fewer than those proposed in a Memorandum.

City Planning Commission Approves Plan El Paso

The CPC with just a bit of editing approved the Comprehensive Plan Re-Write this afternoon by a unanimous vote. Chairman Larry Nance guided the process which included an inspirational message from City Planner, Carlos Gallinar, and a presentation by Victor Dover and Jason King of Dover Kohl, public comment from the conservation community, Chamber of Commerce persons and EPWU staff as well as a lengthy and active discussion by Commissioners.


Although the CPC's approval was a major step toward final City Council approval set for March 6, there is still over a week to go with Council's Legislative Review Committee meeting next. Here is the schedule of upcoming critical meetings:

Legislative Review Committee

Thursday, March 1, 2012, 1:30 p.m., 2^nd Floor City Hall

Public Service Board (PSB)

Monday, March 5, 2012, 5:00 p.m. 1154 Hawkins Blvd. (Map)

Not only will they discuss the Comprehensive Plan Re-write (Plan El Paso) but the NW Master Plan/Scenic Corridor issue.

City Council

Tuesday, March 6, 2012, 8:30 a.m., 2^nd Floor City Hall

CPC Meets Tomorrow at 1:30 City Hall 2nd Floor

It's hard to get people to a daytime meeting since so many people have to be at work.  I'm hoping a few folks can show up at tomorrow's CPC and/or the other meetings coming up. Here's what I sent out to a large group in the conservation community just now:

Most of you probably read my e-letter yesterday. I’m just reminding those of you who are top leaders to try to attend tomorrow’s CPC meeting and other upcoming meetings regarding the City’s Re-Write of the Comprehensive Plan: Plan El Paso. It is crucial that the CPC, City Council and Public Service Board see us as well as receive our messages and hear some speak. Be clear: we are talking about Plan El Paso, the new Comprehensive Plan for El Paso and not at this juncture about the NW Master Plan and the Scenic Corridor. Below are some points that you may want to make. If you cannot make the CPC meeting, you can email your thoughts to acostamd@elpasotexas.gov.  Please copy or send another email to Carlos Gallinar, Comprehensive Plan Manager .
 Again here is the schedule of upcoming meetings:
 City Plan CommissionThursday, February 23, 2012, 1:30 p.m., 2^nd Floor City Hall Legislative Review CommitteeThursday, March 1, 2012, 1:30 p.m., 2^nd Floor City Hall Public Service Board (PSB)Monday, March 5, 2012, 5:00 p.m. 1154 Hawkins Blvd. (Map)Not only will they discuss the Comprehensive Plan Re-write (Plan El Paso) but the NW Master Plan/Scenic Corridor issue. City CouncilTuesday, March 6, 2012, 8:30 a.m., 2^nd Floor City Hall It is critical that as many of us who care about key environmental, conservation and sustainability issues make these meetings. It has been emphasized to me that turn out is the key. Bodies if not voices are very, very important.   Here are some points if you speak or email:  Rather than a focus on the negative and outdated ideas of a very few, let’s stress the positive.  Plan El Paso encourages infill over sprawl. It encourages preserving our green and natural open spaces. It proposes neighborhoods where you are near to parks and shops and work and where you are connected to your neighbors – where you have community. It “incentivizes development projects of exemplary location and design throughout the City.” It calls for revitalizing downtown. It calls for us to be the most sustainable, walkable, livable and least automobile-dependent City in the Southwest. And, it  sets a goal for us to “provide community services and facilities that meet the physical, educational, and recreational needs of all segments of the City’s community.” Imagine connected, affordable, quality neighborhoods for El Paso. Plan El Paso plans for prosperity, the preservation and usefulness of our historic areas, sets a goal to improve our overall health and quality of life, seeks to protect our environment and the plants and animals of our region all the while building a prosperous, International City.
 I hope that I see you tomorrow and/or at one of the other upcoming meetings. Let’s try to sit together so they see us as a group. Thanks. Jim H. TolbertPublisher, El Paso Naturallywww.elpasonaturally.blogspot.comEasy to subscribe to the elpasonaturally e-letter.
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Building Vacancies Call for Infill Development NOT Sprawl

Here are a couple of astonishing facts about empty buildings in El Paso:


Information gleaned from utility records provide a rough estimate of the number of vacant buildings in El Paso. The most recent research was done in 2009. Approximately 5,500 buildings were vacant, 1,800 of those were commercial.


There is no reason to think that the trend has been reversed. Take a look at two maps of the central core. (Click to enlarge images.)

The first map is a comparison of population in 1990 and 2000 in the Central Core of El Paso. The second is comparison between 2000 and 2010 for the same area. So, between 1990 and 2000 there was a population loss of 11,876. Between 2000 and 2010 there was a loss of 8,144 persons. Astonishingly we are losing about 1,000 people per year out of the city core, leaving houses and apartments vacant in the process.


So, it is a source of jubilation and relief when we see that the overall goal of land use patterns in the Comprehensive Plan Re-write, Plan El Paso, encourages "infill development within the existing City over peripheral expansion to conserve environmental resources, spur economic investment, repair social fabric, reduce the cost of providing infrastructure and services, and reclaim abandoned areas."


The new Plan is also encouraging in that it lays out how to develop for future population needs without having to build in "green" areas: remote, natural, agricultural lands.

Clarifying Three Major Issues

There are several items on the table now and it can get confusing. Keep these three things separate: Plan El Paso Comprehensive Plan (the City’s Comprehensive Plan re-write), Transmountain Road (Scenic Corridor) and Northwest Master Plan (sometimes referred to as the Westside Plan), and the TxDOT Transmountain West Project and the Sierra Club Lawsuit.

First, the most pressing item on the table now in terms of time is the Plan El Paso Comprehensive Plan. You can review Volumes One and Two of the Draft document online at Plan El Paso. Read the letter from the City’s Planning and Economic Development team. It  points out the level of participation and the time spent in concert with Dover Kohl & Partners developing this very forward thinking plan:

“Over the last 18 months, the City of El Paso has been engaged in one of the most exciting and publicized planning processes in over a generation–Plan El Paso, a rewrite of the City’s Comprehensive Plan.  During this time, the City partnered with Dover Kohl & Partners, one of the country’s top planning firms (www.doverkohl.com).  We met with over a thousand residents and many of you were active in giving us recommendations, drawing ideas, and expressing your hopes for a more prosperous, sustainable, and vibrant El Paso.  Nearly 20 separate community-wide meetings took place in all parts of the City.  We met with seniors, families, young professionals, developers, college students, military personnel, realtors, homeowners, and even held several “hands-on” design sessions with elementary age children.  We had over one-hundred face-to-face meetings with stakeholders and neighborhood associations, and formulated an advisory committee comprised of your friends, neighbors, and colleagues  to provide guidance.”

Know that there are some powerful El Pasoans who would like to jettison or water down the plan that all of us together helped to write. There have already been some delays in the schedule to approve the plan but it looks as if all is moving forward now.  Several meetings are coming up that will lead to a final approval of Plan El Paso. But approval is not a sure thing. Please mark your calendars for the following meetings and attend as much as you can. I will alert you prior to each meeting.

Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee

Monday, February 20, 2012, 10 a.m. to Noon, 10^th Floor City Hall

City Plan Commission

Thursday, February 23, 2012, 1:30 p.m., 2^nd Floor City Hall

Legislative Review Committee

Thursday, March 1, 2012, 1:30 p.m., 2^nd Floor City Hall

City Council

Tuesday, March 6, 2012, 8:30 a.m., 2^nd Floor City Hall

The Plan El Paso Comprehensive Plan Rewrite is steeped in the values of smart growth, walkable and sustainable communities and placemaking – making livable neighborhoods, communities and cities. We all know the existential angst we all experience: alienation from each other and our natural world, vast separations of our homes from where we work and where we shop, expansive streets and highways that are congested, our finances drained as a result of driving these distances to work and shop, our air polluted by long waits bumper to bumper, red light to red light, and our canopy of native trees and shrubs is quickly disappearing. The current designs of our communities have drained our wallets, robbed us of joy, shut us off from each other, and plagued us with a plethora of maladies – obesity, diabetes and heart disease being the leaders.

Our communities can be designed better so that we are closer to where we shop, more apt to interact with our neighbors, able to walk or drive easily, connected with our natural open spaces, and have a sense of place.

Do some homework. Read Plan El Paso. Check out the smart growth FAQs.  Read more about placemaking from Project for Public Spaces.  Google smart growth economic advantages and surf and read.

Send your comments to Carlos Gallinar, Comprehensive Plan Manager  and go to one or some or all of the meetings above and let them know that you want Plan El Paso.

One more meeting is critical. The PSB is apparently having a special meeting on March 5 at 5 or 5:30 on the 4^th floor of their building at 1154 Hawkins Blvd. (Map) Mark your calendars now because you won’t find this meeting published on their web site until the last possible moment for you to know. They will discuss the Comprehensive Plan and the NW Master Plan. They really need to hear from their public. (Weren’t we talking about firing our trustee?)

This brings us to the next issue: the Transmountain Road (Scenic Corridor) and Northwest Master Plan. My understanding is that dates for discussing this item are under discussion by the City and the PSB currently. I don’t know the next step  but I do know that the charrette work in progress presentation is now available online. An elpasonaturally post reported that the no-build option was the unanimous favorite of participants at the charrette. Still, when further meetings are set, plan to go – that’s when the bigwigs, backroom movers and shakers attend. These are the meetings that count just as the meetings listed above are the ones that count.

Some of the confusion between the Comprehensive Plan and the Northwest/Westside/Scenic Corridor plan stems from the fact that Dover Kohl has been the consultant in each. Information about the NW Plan are at Plan El Paso also.

The impetus for re-doing the Northwest Master Plan was the success of a petition guide asking that land in the Scenic Corridor be preserved and no major roads built through that land. I can tell you that all petitioners are adamant that the land be preserved and arroyos and habitats be preserved from the devastation of bulldozing and asphalting to make more of those wide and congested roads. The petition is still quite alive if preservation isn’t guaranteed. Simply put, the City Charter allows for petitioners to seek a referendum on a ballot should City Council fail to pass the ordinance prescribed by the first petition or pass an ordinance different from the first one. There is no deadline to start a second petition. At this time, both the City and petitioners have agreed to the process now facilitated by Dover Kohl. Nevertheless, a decision must be reached by the City and the PSB. If no preservation, if destruction of natural habitat and animal corridors, then expect round two of the petition to begin. All hope for agreement on the preservation of the Scenic Corridor which can come as part of a new plan developed with the help of Dover Kohl.

Thirdly, there is the TxDOT Transmountain West Project and the Sierra Club Lawsuit.  Expansion of Transmountain Road on the west side has always had some strong proponents even among those who want to preserve natural open space around it. The trouble comes from the fact that the project grew from a simple $15 million improvement to an $85 million super-freeway with an extra unneeded overpass (Plexxar) and without any practical animal corridor and any safe provision for entry and exit to the State Park. (Safe entry into the Park is yet another permutation of this issue which we will discuss later.) The El Paso Times already reported that “TxDOT officials worked closely with developers as they planned a strip of big-box stores on Trans Mountain near I-10. And when public meetings were held in February [2011], ‘plans for Transmountain had long been completed,’ according to an email Texas Transportation Commissioner Ted Houghton sent to a City Council member.” Who cares what you want.

If you want to contribute to the Sierra Club’s lawsuit, then make your check payable to “El Paso Regional Sierra Club Group” with a memo that reads “Franklin Mountain Legal Defense Fund”. Mail your check to the El Paso Regional Sierra Club Group, P.O. Box 9191, El Paso, TX 79995.

Finally, I’ve published before the benefits of trees in the urban setting. Unfortunately, U.S. Cities are losing 4 million trees each year. I’ve sat in enough City Council and Parks and Recreation Advisory Board meetings now to know that the leadership of El Paso is much more concerned about the image of being a Tree City USA than actually valuing trees – native trees. It’s just window dressing. A ribbon to hang on a wall and not the substance of a soul.

Comp Plan Action Postponed to February

There has been a sudden development. The CPC will not discuss or take action on Plan El Paso (the City’s Comprehensive Plan Re-Write) at 1:30 p.m. today. Instead that item will be moved to a meeting in February. I will keep you updated.

There is nothing “going on” – just a need to let a few more organizations have time to weigh in on the plan first.

There still will be a Community Presentation of the comp plan re-write tonight from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Foundation Room on the 1^st Floor of the El Paso Community Foundation, 333 North Oregon. (Map)

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.

Get to Today's Hands-on Session

It has started – the process to review and change the Westside (Northwest) Master Plan including preserving the Scenic Transmountain Corridor. Dover Kohl has their design studio set-up at the Canutillo Independent School District offices on Artcraft. Tonight is the public hands-on session in the Canutillo High School auditorium between Transmountain/Talbot and Artcraft. A schedule, addresses and maps can be found at elpasonaturally. Just be sure you click on the image to enlarge.

Everyone should participate. Simply all of us have much to gain from being in the conversation this week. If you are at the hands-on session then you will get to listen firsthand to citizens and technicians instead of having to rely on mere gossip or someone else’s account of what happened. It doesn’t help to be there “in spirit”. You’ve got to be there. If you can’t the design studio is open all week waiting for your review and comments.

Dover Kohl has already prepared some maps to help guide us with our discussions at the hands on session. Also, already a number of good ideas have been expressed by citizens. One of the more refreshing ideas is a “No Build” option – simply leave the northwest land in question in its natural state. One proponent firmly stated that she was “no luddite”. She believes in development – just not there. Instead, encourage development in downtown El Paso. The draft of the Plan El Paso (Comprehensive Plan) states clearly: “Redevelopment is important throughout El Paso but nowhere more than Downtown” (page 1.13). “What you do downtown, you don’t have to do out there [natural open space in northwest El Paso],” someone else added.

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 on Oregon.

Of course there are other plans that call for more or less development in the northwest principally south of Transmountain. Bottom line is that you need to be at the hands on session this evening beginning at 5 p.m.

For conservationists, for petitioners, for those who care about the land and see the value of preserving it and holding it sacred, there remain key points. Here are some that I keep hearing:

Land preserved in its natural state must be preserved forever. Flexible conservation easements can be written to do just that – flexible enough to make accommodations for utility additions such as water tanks and service roads. I have heard that Ed Archuleta and EPWU are afraid that their hands will be tied by an easement. However, its flexibility means just the opposite. Frankly, they are very smart people and I bet they already know that. What they are mainly afraid of is not being able to change things in the future so that they can sell to builders. This is the biggest sticking point for this whole process. If the land is not preserved in perpetuity, then petitioners will ask for a ballot referendum and they have the numbers (which are growing) to get it.

The preservation of the arroyos means that any roads over them must be elevated.

Animal habitat and corridors must be preserved and created.

Keep the mountain biking/hiking trails natural that cost nothing to maintain, but attract a growing biking community and eco-tourists.

Safe access to the State Park! (For animals too.)

Keep some other things in mind. Just as it is important for each of us to be in right relationships with each other, we need to be in right relationship with the land and the living things which inhabit it. Conservationist Aldo Leopold wrote in the now classic 1949 book, A Sand County Almanac: “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”

No one may not be able to objectify it, but there is a spirituality and a sacredness to places.

Finally, in this arid land under drought, preserving natural space conserves water. The model of adding more rate payers (building and metering more homes and businesses) means using up the little water that we have more quickly. Passive rain water harvesting, green infrastructure/low impact development need to be guiding principles. Retention ponds are built upstream for one reason: to be able to build more and more houses and office buildings and strip malls.  The cost to the taxpayer for maintaining and repairing infrastructure such as roads, schools, water lines, etc. is much greater than any initial return on the sales of land. Land sales are not a factor in the EPWU’s bond rating and land sales don’t really affect your rates. When have your rates gone down as the result of selling land? You cannot build to achieve lower taxes, lower utility rates or guarantee more water. It’s the other way around.

Please come to the hands-on session from 5 to 9 p.m. this evening at Canutillo High School. It may be a drive for most – but it is a drive to make.

Bravo Work-in-Progress Presentation!

Dover Kohl team members Pam Stacy, Megan McLaughlin, Steve Price with elpasonaturally author and Tommy Young at top of Ann Morgan Lilly Arroyo 41A. Picture by Judy Ackerman.

On Wednesday evening the Dover Kohl team of consultants gave a summary of their work so far regarding ASARCO and three transit corridors: Five Points, Oregon and Remcon Circle. You can read their post about it here.

There were a number from the open space/environmental community among the 80 or so attendees at the Main Downtown Library auditorium. The City Council members present were Susie Byrd, Beto O'Rourke, Steve Ortega and Ann Lilly. Conspicuously absent was Mayor John Cook. City Manager Joyce Wilson was there as were Debbie Hamlyn, Pat Adauto and Lupe Cuellar. Of course, Matt McElroy and Fred Lopez (the two unsung heroes for getting Dover Kohl to El Paso) were present.

DK's values of infill, preservation of natural open space, community building, walkability, understanding of peak oil and sustainability are enough to make one stand up and cheer. I cannot wait to see these people back in El Paso. I'm already missing them. I wanted to shout "Bravo" just to see their vision of Five Points which is walking distance from my Newman Park neighborhood. Obviously the team's knowledge of zoning laws and economics will help guide El Paso.

I asked Karen Peissinger-Venhaus for her comments and she replied:

"I have to say that the engaging streetscapes depicted during last night's WIP [Work-in-Progress] presentation were a sight for sore eyes. And, the whole Dover Kohl team was a breath of fresh air that El Paso has so desperately needed. I am so very glad City Council spent the (our) money to bring the team to El Paso to show all of us what is possible.

"I was especially encouraged to hear Peak Oil mentioned during the presentation, that it is being taken seriously.

"However, from what I heard and saw, my concerns are these: focus on consumption as a form of leisure, and the potential for displacing low-income people from their neighborhoods. My mantra is, 'design to include, not exclude.'"

Read Karen's blog, The Adventures of Pei. She is particulary interested in the issue of environmental racism which is particularly germane in this region. Also check out the blog where Karen was a guest author: Cheap Like Me.

Plan El Paso Presentation Scheduled for Tomorrow Evening

County Commissioner Veronica Escobar participates in a hands-on session

The Plan El Paso team will give a Work-in-Progress presentation tomorrow evening, Wednesday, June 30, at the El Paso Main Public Library Auditorium, 501 N. Oregon. The Dover Kohl assembly of consultants will present all of the draft concepts, plans, renderings and preliminary regulating plans (zoning maps) for the ASARCO and transit sites.

Consultant Megan McLaughlin tells me:

"I can assure you that there will be a lot of very valuable information and its's really important that we get a good turn out so that we can get feedback from the attendees. We want to make sure we are on the right track before we return home to refine the plans."

Last week a number of El Pasoans gathered at the Memorial Park Senior Center to participate in a hands-on design session around transit-oriented development. They looked at three corridors - Five Points, Oregon and Remcon Circle.

Jim Erickson tackles some design issues with his group

County Commissioner Veronica Escobar participated in the session. Afterwards she said:

"It was a wonderful experience to sit with folks from the neighborhood to dream and plan for the future of Five Points. There's so much potential, and the ideas were so great, that I hope the City and the private sector can help make it happen."

Making it happen is my concern. I had the opportunity to visit with 3 members of the team this past Sunday while we hiked together in the Franklin Mountains State Park. I shared my primary concern: You can do all these great designs that conserve natural space, contribute to walkability, etc., but if a developer comes along and wants to do things the old way, what can be done especially in the State of Texas that has such strong private property laws?

The answer in a nutshell is that the designs will serve not only as examples of how to do something better, but they will be a vision that can long guide us. Dover Kohl City Planner, Pam Stacy, pointed out that El Paso's dreams for urban park development began with the vision of the 1925 City Plan for El Paso. The team that Dover Kohl has put together includes economists, city planners, people who know issues regarding zoning and much more.

Frankly, if just a portion of the dreams that are now taking shape are realized, the City will be so much the better.

Texas Wildlife Urban Biologist for El Paso, Lois Balin, has been sharing a similar dream. Here is her presentation on conservation development:

Balin Conservation Development Design