Council Passes Scenic Corridor Ordinances

Unanimously, City Council this morning passed three ordinances which, in effect, establish the new NW Master Plan, the smart code re-zoning necessary, and the preservation of 55% of the open space by transferring 658 acres to the State Park and protecting key arroyos with smart code.  It was a major victory for environmentalists and conservationists and a win-win for all including the development community.  In addition, City Planners have begun to add the critical tool known as green infrastructure/low impact development to their planning.

Following presentations by Planner Carlos Gallinar and former City and now EPWU attorney, Lupe Cuellar, I had these words:


"Mr. Mayor and members of the Council

for the record, I am Jim Tolbert, the citizen who authored the petition to preserve land in the scenic corridor along Transmountain in northwest El Paso.  That petition was sponsored by the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition. Along with others I coordinated and spearheaded a successful drive to collect enough signatures to bring the issue to your attention.

"When we began the task of preserving land in its natural state, I had no idea that our work would have such positive, far-reaching results.  Rather than insisting on one way or another, we chose to work together, to find accommodation, compromise and consensus. As citizens, City Planners, attorneys, employees and agents of the PSB/EPWU, State Park officials, environmentalists, conservationists, recreationalists and consultants we were constant in our effort to stay true to the spirit and conditions of the petition while maintaining the integrity of our various value systems and institutions.  We not only worked through our distrust of one another, but, there came a time, when it became apparent that all shared the same goal of making El Paso an even better place to live.

"Now we on the verge of preserving 658 acres of natural open space by transferring that land to the State Park.  We will protect precious arroyos through the use of smart codes as we more intelligently design a place to live that is livable, workable, walkable and in better harmony with the natural environment. The re-doing of the NW Master Plan, the utilization of smart codes, the new knowledge of a great tool called green infrastructure/low impact development will improve community and recreation and foster the value of natural open space.  It will make us a more productive, healthier and it will be a boost to our commerce.

"It has been said that following environmental principles is contrary to business.  That to be “green” is to be anti-business.  100 years ago if you favored separating residences from factories with new-fangled zoning rules, you were labeled anti-business. As we know now zoning fostered better business and living standards.  Back in the 60’s and 70’s if you favored cleaning our air and waterways, you were labeled anti-business.  However, improving the quality of our air and waterways has led to more productive communities and healthier and happier work and living spaces.  Today, one favoring modern development practices and green infrastructure/low impact development is often labeled “anti-business”.  The truth is that being green is not the antithesis of commerce – but the partner. Our care for the environment, our natural world and our eco-systems of which we as humans are just a small part, will only lead to better lives for us all.

"There are so many to thank for this day: those who worked so hard on the petition drive; the Dover Kohl team; all the citizens who participated in the charrettes: the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition particularly Scott Cutler, Judy Ackerman, Pat White, Joyce Ford, Jane Fowler and Richard Teschner; City Staff particularly Matthew McElroy, Carlos Gallinar, Elizabeth Gibson, David Coronado and Lupe Cuellar. State Park officials: Deirdre Hisler and Dr. Cesar Mendez.  For the PSB/EPWU – Dr. Rick Bonart, Ed Escudero and Katherine Brennand and especially Pat Adauto and Risher Gilbert and ultimately John Balliew and Mr. Ed Archuleta. Thanks also to Charlie Wakeem and the Open Space Advisory Board for its hard work.  And I thank you on City Council for your patience and for allowing this work to be done deliberately and well even if it took more than a year; and I thank you, Mayor Cook, for your leadership and wisdom, and our city attorneys headed by Sylvia Firth. 

"Today in El Paso there are those who would divide us. There are those who want our city to be “us against them”, “my group against your group”.  But look what we accomplished together: a new vision that is pro-commerce as well as green.  We overcame our mistrust of each other and we happily discovered that we were working side by side and shoulder to shoulder.  To those who would divide who see only negatives let us respond together that we can be visionary and innovative.  We can grasp for our future.  Let us all remember that El Pasoans work best when we work together."

Scenic Corridor Petition Reaches Conclusion with Land Transfer

Tomorrow, 3 items on the City Council agenda (5A, B and C), if passed, will in essence finish the work begun with the Scenic Corridor petition. The actual language of the petition cannot come before Council until April.  If tomorrow's ordinances are passed, then the petition item for April will be deleted as a matter of procedure.

The Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition, which sponsored the petition I wrote and the petition drive that I spearheaded, sent out this notice:

"On Tuesday, 5 March, City Council will decide whether to transfer 658 acres of City owned land for inclusion in the Franklin Mountains State Park (FMSP).  Please plan to attend and contact Mayor Cook and all City Council members to express your support for our State Park.  Contact information is at the City website.

"Transferring 658 acres of City land to the FMSP (owned/managed by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department [TPWD]) unquestionably benefits our park and preserves some of the Transmountain Scenic Corridor.  Many El Pasoans demonstrated their support for conservation of this City-owned land when they signed the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition (FMWC) petition, first circulated in August 2010.  Please encourage City officials to approve this transfer.

"The land transfer is agenda item 5C.  You can read the agenda and the detailed attachment on the city website:

http://www.elpasotexas.gov/muni_clerk/city_council.asp

You may sign-up to speak on any agenda item by contacting the City Clerk at  cityclerk@elpasotexas.gov."

The notice does not include the fact that, along with the preservation of 658 acres of land, additional land making up the arroyos will be preserved by smart code re-zoning in 5B. In addition, the entire process means that a vastly better Northwest Master Plan has been created using smart code. City Development will be adding GI/LID features - a new tool in their tool box because of the petitioners efforts. 

I plan to say a few words to Council following the presentation by City Planner Carlos Gallinar.

Begin the Process!

By a unanimous vote today, City Council gave the City Manager a green light to sign an agreement with Dover Kohl which includes updating the NW Master Plan to Smart Growth/SmartCode plan and providing a plan for the permanent preservation of the Scenic Corridor view shed. Preserving open space as called for by petition now includes preserving that open space in the context of a much better plan for Northwest El Paso.

Here is the full text of the Dover Kohl proposal:

DKPNWScope092811

Two sections were amended and all parties agreed to the amendments:

Page 4, Task 3.1

FROM THIS:

The two preferred development scenarios will be presented to the PSB and City Staff. Once DKP receives comments from the City and a selection of the one final development scenario, then the one final development scenario will be revised and resubmitted.

TO THIS:

The two preferred development scenarios will be presented to the PSB and City Staff. Once DKP receives comments from the City and a selection of the one final development scenario, then the one final development scenario will be revised and resubmitted. The final version will be submitted for approval by the PSB Board before consideration by the Mayor City Council.

AND

On Page 5, Under Item II

FROM THIS:

6.) Open Space Plan: for land to be preserved as open space to include the option(s) of a conservation easement, land trust strategy, zoning, or other mechanism for the T1 land along Transmountain Road. A conceptual plan for conservation shall be designed for the property

TO THIS:

6.) Open Space Plan: Consultant will prepare an Open Space Plan for land to be preserved IN PERPETUITY as open space along the Trans Mountain corridor. The Plan will include the option(s) of a conservation easement, land trust strategy, or other mechanism for the T1 land along Transmountain Road. A conceptual plan for conservation shall be designed for the property.

Conservation Easements

By more than one expert, I have been told that a conservation easement is "an extremely flexible tool." I asked Richard Teschner, the man who helped save Resler Canyon and who is a Board member of the Frontera Land Alliance, a land conservation organization, to summarize a longer document about conservation easements. His summary also makes its application relevant to the situation with the El Paso Transmountain Scenic Corridor. Here is his summary:

Frontera Easement Summary

Click on "Fullscreen" to enlarge.

What Sprawl Looks Like

Click to view. Open file at bottom of new window. Click to enlarge.

Above are 3 maps showing how land conservation affects sprawl in the Transmountain Scenic Corridor. This illustration was done by Charlie Wakeem long before the petition to conserve 792 acres (now 780) was certified. The term "Compromise Plan" was just a term but it is based on the real Wakeem map that was posted yesterday. No such compromise has been struck. Note that east is at the top of the maps and north is to the left. Gas Line Road orients and scales all 3 presentations.

The pane labeled "Westside Master Plan" reveals the unchecked sprawl created by PSB's current Westside Master Plan. It will contain the same helter skelter ugly developments currently checkmating the El Paso Northwest. There will be no sustainable, smart growth. You can forget green infrastructure, low impact development. Most of all, you can forget a Scenic Corridor. The animal crossing which TxDOT plans to build under Transmountain west of Paseo del Norte will be unusable because animals will be forced into limited habitats to the east by the PSB sprawl and won't even attempt traversing the asphalt and concrete of these new neighborhoods with big box houses near big box commercial stores.

The pane labeled "Proposed 792 Acre NOS Zoning" shows the Scenic Corridor preserved. Since this is an older illustration, it also shows the encroachment on that conserved land by the unchecked sprawl of land without Smart Code.

The pane in the middle is the "compromise" which preserves arroyos 39 and 40 and moves Paseo del Norte west.

Here's the question: Do you want what is behind Door #1, Door #2 or Door #3? The petition calls for Door#3 with a Conservation Easement (forever) and not NOS Zoning that can be changed by whim and political maneuvering - particularly in a City that abrogates responsibility to its PSB in favor of ugly sprawl - and, it must be said, more water meters, draining bolsons, large pipe projects to shift water from east El Paso (and soon agriculturally-important Hudspeth County) to large, population-thin, big box houses in the El Paso NW.

Some Food for Thought

PSB Board Member Katherine Brennand shows her support for conservation of Castner Range.

The PSB Strategic Meeting schedule has been changed. Below is the “current” schedule. Note the change for tomorrow:

Thursday, September 8, 2011 – TecH2O Center

9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Continental Breakfast

10:00 a.m. Strategic Planning Meeting #1

Friday, September 9, 2011 – TecH2O Center

7:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. Continental Breakfast

8:00 a.m. Strategic Planning Meeting #2

Not much information regarding the agenda. However, there may be a number of items that they should look at including:

• Sustainability of water and long range implications especially noting that water rights are being bought up from farms in Hudspeth County (Dell City); assume 2 million (or even less) people in El Paso in coming decades X 130 gallons per day per person – what’s the plan?
• What about real cost of water? Selling land and development really doesn’t pay for it.
• What plans are there to conserve other natural resources including land? What are their plans for the NW Master Plan? Why are a few acres in the Scenic Corridor so sacred to them?
• What about information sharing with PSB members themselves. Reportedly, that’s been a real problem – keeping Board members in the dark (not to mention the public). Did El Paso Times or the Inc. report let you know about the strategic planning sessions in a very visible story at least in one of the main sections?

Just food for thought. Remember, public comment is appropriate.

Now here’s some food for thought regarding the petition and the Scenic Corridor:

• Since petitioners are not willing to compromise on land and all want the removal of Paseo del Norte, how can a second petition for an election be prevented if Council does nothing on the 20^th or tries to extend or votes the proposal down?
• As stated before, Paseo could be an interchange to no where. El Paso has an interchange to no where. Here are the coordinates: 31.809394,-106.539134. Check out the Google maps link. TxDOT built it. The Army Corps put in a dam. End of story.
• The “box” of 792 acres really gives a buffer to development encroachment. Shrinking it anymore gives permission for encroachment.
• All of us need to advocate for immediate open space conservation of all Natural Open Space and arroyos already promised in the original Westside (Northwest) Master Plan . City Council and the PSB have already voted to change all acreage in the NW Master Plan to Urban Reserve District until smart code is implemented. The problem with a zoning designation is that it can always be changed to residential or commercial or industrial or whatever. 792 acres (the Scenic Corridor) and all the other areas previously promised to be preserved should be preserved under a conservation easement. The remaining acres should be rezoned using smart code ASAP.

Petition Gatherers to Hold Saturday Event

Which scene do you want for the Scenic Transmountain Corridor? If the top, please sign the petitions.

El Pasoans who wish to preserve the Scenic Transmountain Corridor from development can come out to a special event tomorrow, Saturday, January 29 from 9 to 11 a.m. Volunteers helping to gather signatures for both petitions will be on the Pat O'Rourke Trail along N. Resler Drive between Helen of Troy Drive and Transmountain. (Map) A Facebook page announcing the event was created by singer-songwriter, Christina Gurrola.

Both petitions must be signed by registered voters living in the City of El Paso. Both are intended to become ballot initiatives if City Council fails to do as the petitioners direct. You can read and download the petitions from here.

However, persons who are not registered to vote and/or live outside the El Paso City limits may respond to another online petition. They may leave their comments when they do so. Currently 1,210 persons have responded to this petition.

If developed, Mule Deer, such as these, will lose their habitat.

Email John Cook and Tell Him to Save the Scenic Corridor

Click to enlarge

We have learned that Mayor John Cook has told the El Paso Times that he will veto any attempt to preserve the Trans Mountain scenic corridor as Natural Open Space. As a member of the Public Service Board, he voted with the strongly worded PSB resolution that opposes rezoning land in the Northwest Master Plan to NOS – a resolution which also urges him to veto any attempt at rezoning by Council. The resolution was adopted at last Friday’s PSB strategic planning meeting. The vote for the resolution opposing re-zoning was 6-1. Only Dr. Richard Bonart opposed it.

I suggest that all of you email John Cook and let him know how you feel.

Email him at johnfcook@sbcglobal.net and tell him you support saving the beautiful natural corridor.

We have also learned that the City Plan Commission has moved its consideration of rezoning to its Thursday, November 18^th, meeting rather than the November 4^th meeting. The CPC meets in the Council chambers of City Hall at 1:30 p.m. Please send your comments now to Maria Acosta -AcostaMD@elpasotexas.gov and let the CPC know that you support preserving land in the NW Master Plan as Natural Open Space. If you can, please plan to go to the meeting on the 18^th. We will continue to update you.

If you haven’t, please also sign the petition and gather more signatures. Go to www.franklinmountains.org to download the hard copy of the petition or ask others to sign online at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-el-pasos-franklin-mountains/. There are now 1,028 online responses – and many more hard copy signatures!