Plan Commission - Regular Meeting

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Good afternoon everybody and welcome to the April 9th meeting of the city plan commission. My name is Lauren Hansen and I will be chairing this mission. We are beginning sharing this meeting. We are starting at 1:34. Mr. Bgo, will you please read the statement?

Sure. Statement to the public. The city plan commission has sole and final approval authority over subdivision maps which is statutoily limited to ministerial examination of the application's conformance to applicable code provisions. The staff report for an agenda item may include conditions, exceptions or modifications. The commission may approve the item with all staff report conditions, exceptions, or modifications, including additional measures regarding the item as imposed by the commission. Otherwise, the staff report with all modifications, exceptions, and conditions is approved, and the applicant shall comply with all provisions of the staff report. Commissioners will consider all agenda items other than subdivision items in the form of a public hearing. The normal process is as follows. First, the commission will hear a staff report followed by a statement from the applicant. Then members of the public may speak followed by any final statement from the applicant. Finally, the matter will be closed for further discussion or a motion among the commission. The commission shall then make a recommendation that will be forwarded to city council.

Thank you staff. Are there any changes to the agenda today? There's also planning. We've got two changes to the agenda. We've got item number two. We can move that to the regular agenda. And item number six, the applicant is requesting that be postponed for two weeks. That is all the changes we have. Madam Chair. Okay. Thank you. Can I get a motion to accept those changes? So moved. Second. All in fa Oh, any discussion for that? All right. All in favor? I.

All oppose. Great. Thank you. We're moving on to public comment. Is there anybody that would like to speak about something that is not on the agenda today? And if you're on the phone, that is star six to unmute. Again, this is the time for anybody in the public to speak on something that is not on the agenda. Okay, public comment is closed. We move to the consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I.

All opposed. Approved. Regular agenda. The first item on that is number five. Number two. Oh, we moved. Perfect. Thank you.

Uh, good afternoon, chair, members of the commission. Alonso Hernandez with planning and inspections. Item number two on the agenda is Harmony Education Foundation Replat A involving a resubdivision combination application. Uh this development is located within the city of El Paso limits and is located north of Sun Valley Drive and west of Dyer Street. Access to the subdivision will be from Dyer Street. Uh this is the subdivision superimposed on the aerial map and the applicant is proposing to resubdivide 1.60 60 acres to vacate the access uh the existing access ement as well as lot two and to dedicate this these areas to public right of way storm water drainage will be managed through surface flow and this application is being reviewed under the current subdivision code. This is a preliminary plat. This is the final plat and the applicant is requesting the following exemption from the city plan commission to allow the culde-sac street to exceed the maximum length of 300 ft and this is a proposed street uh street extension for innovation avenue. the the area highlighted in gray uh represents the existing uh street and the area highlighted in orange represents the uh street extension. These two areas are proposed to uh be dedicated to the city. These are the existing conditions for innovation avenue. Uh these images were taken uh facing Dyer and these images were taken uh facing away from Dyer and the exception request to allow the culdeac street to exceed the maximum

length uh meets the criteria under the El Paso city code title 19. And uh with this staff recommends approval of Harmony Education Foundation Replat A on a resubdivision combination basis and approval of the exception request. And this concludes the presentation. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions? Yes sir.

Extension of that culde-sac. It looks like it's still is going to go further. Does it have more future extension? Um I don't have that information right now. I mean they are extending because this uh street serves the school. The street is Sabarina school. Uh so I think they have a future development proposed. So the possibility that that future connection might actually give it a second access and correct the cult would no longer be an issue. That's okay. Thank you through the chair. Um you had mentioned storm water flow. I didn't quite catch where's the water going to go to surface.

It's a pond. It's uh there is a pond on lot one block one and there is a pond. So they are taking this uh water uh to the pond. Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you.

Can we hear from the applicant? Good afternoon uh members of commissioner. Um um my name is Alan Area with CA Group. I'm representing the client on this uh I guess re resubdivision for the I guess the proposing improvements for the second phase of the project. There's already a a high school in place and they're proposing to do the elementary side which is the further west of the of the parcel. Did you want to ask about the extension?

Yes. The west side looks like you guys still have connection. It's not a fulls road. Yeah, there's a there's a property to the west that doesn't belong to to the school prop uh I guess owner and we're we are basically giving them access in case they don't have to be landlocked. Okay, that explains but in the future if anybody's ever developed that property they will have access to it. It will no longer be a culde-sac street. It'll be a two access street. Correct. Thank you.

And do you agree with all staff comments? I'm sorry. Do you agree with all staff comments? Yes, ma'am. Any other questions? Thank you. Thank you. I'll entertain a motion among the commission to approve. Second. Any discussion? All in favor?

All opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Okay. Now we move on to number five. Good afternoon, chair, members of the commission. Mnagila with planning and inspections. Item number five on the agenda is Carlton Estates unit one involving a major preliminary application. This development is in the extr territorial jurisdiction of the El Paso um and is located north of Montana and west of Flagger Street. The applicant is proposing to subdivide 114.04 4 acres of vacant land to create 515 single family residential lots, one park, seven linear park sites, one open space, three pond sites, and one lift station, one lift station lot, I'm sorry. Primary access to the subdivision will be from Flagger Street, and this development is being reviewed under the current subdivision code. Here we have preliminary plat page one. And here we have the preliminary plat page two. And with that, staff recommends approval with condition of Carlton Estates unit one on a major preliminary basis as it complies with title 19 requirements. Condition being as followed. That the city plan commission require the applicant to landscape the rear of all double frontage lots per section 19.23.0. 040 H 3C of the El Paso City Code. And that concludes my presentation.

Did you say there's a lift station lot? Yes. Where is it on the plat?

I believe it's like right above this second P. The pun in the top. It would be right above it. Any other questions? I do. Mr. Aguiler, um the section between Montana and this lot. How how how many feet is that? I can't see, but it is right there in that section next to it. But that I can defer that to the applicant. Okay. And then um my other question is are there going to be sidewalks on Flagger?

You can refer it to the applicant. It does show that there will be because it was dedicated already for it, but the applicant can Okay. Thank you, Mr. No problem. Any other questions? Yes. I'm also looking at the I'm also looking at the sketch that you have on the aerial where the orange line is not quite all the way up to Flagger. Is that property owned by someone else or does it all the way go to Flagger? No, it's on Flagger. because I'm looking even even on the

on the preliminary it looks like there's you know like a cut off or a disconnect but I guess the applicant can answer to that right it's uh unless it's already dedicated and it's not part of the subdivision and but it's not yet improved correct that might be it okay thank you no problem I have a question about the park how big is the park and is that in compliance with the code? It seems really small for the amount of houses that are there.

It is a pretty big It it does comply in the notes on the on the park. It I believe it does have at 7 91 I believe if I remember correctly. It's on the Okay. Any other questions? All right. Thank you. Can we hear from the applicant? Good afternoon everyone. Lynette Nearez with Train Associates. I agree with all the conditions provided by the staff. Okay. Did you all want to ask those specific questions?

Yes. Could you please could you please explain like how that there's there's a seems like there's a gap between the alignment of Flagger and the edge of the the back of the lot on that. Is that already a dedicated road area or Yes, that section it's already dedicated county right away. Okay. Yes. And and I guess this the question about the park the park does meet the county requirements for park size, right? No, it actually also meets the requirements for city of El Paso. We are dedicating 5.3 acres of parkland and we are supposed to dedicate 5.15 um in accordance with a number of lots.

Okay. Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Uh a couple questions. The area between uh Montana and how many feet is that? Um, I don't have I don't think I have that information, but it's a 10 acre uh commercial lot. Oh, so there's 10 acres right there on in the frontage of uh Montana. Oh, it's 285 ft. Yes. Deep or length? Length. Deep. Okay. Do you know what it's zoned? It's It's county. It's county. Okay.

And my other question is on the sidewalks on the part of Flagger. Yes. We are proposing on the east side of Flagger, we are proposing 5T Parkway and 5T uh sidewalk. And then on the other side, it's going to be a 10-ft hike and bike trail. And then the on the opposite side. Yes. Mhm. Okay. Let me see if I have We don't have the cross-section for this. Do the pond. No. Okay. I did see that but I couldn't when my backup I did see that but I couldn't quite understand it. Yes, but we do we do propose a sidewalk. Yeah.

Any other questions? Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. This is not a public item, correct? Public comment. It it is not. It is not. Can I take a vote? Move to approve. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. All oppose. Motion carries. Thank you. Okay. We move to number six, which is a major combination. Madam chair, that item was postponed for two weeks. Apologies. Number seven.

Good afternoon, chair, members of the commission. Blanca Perez with planning and inspections. Item number seven on the agenda is a special permit application for the subject property located at 7024 Vista Drive. The applicant is requesting a special permit and detailed site development plan to allow for a governmental use building for an existing development to be converted into the city of El Paso Central Regional Command Center. The subject property is approximately 13.23 23 acres in size. Currently zoned R4 for residential and it was formerly the Boneham Elementary School. The plan illustrates two existing buildings that will remain on site with proposed improvements including additions to building A for a total of 46,678 square feet for the entire development. The applicant is providing a total of uh 133 parking spaces and the project also includes six bicycle parking spaces as required. Public access to the site is proposed via Catalina Way while private vehicular access for staff and fleet operations is proposed from Belrose Drive and Edgeir Boulevard. These are the proposed building elevations illustrating the overall height of 26 ft. And here you can see the proposed site plan uh superimposed on the aerial map for context. This is the existing condition of the site as viewed from Si Vista Drive. Properties to the north and east are zoned R4 residential and consist uh of single family dwellings while properties to the west include multif family development zoned A2 apartment and a commercial shopping center zone C3 commercial. And to the south, the site is adjacent to Edgemere Linear Park and Apartment Zoned AO apartment office. The applicant notified the SEO Vista

Neighborhood Association and on January 15, 2026, the applicant met with the neighborhood association and received support for the proposal. Notices were also mailed to property owners within 300 feet on March 27, 2026. And to date, the planning division has received three calls of inquiry and two calls in support of the special permit request. There were 52 notices sent to 57 properties. And with that, staff recommends approval of the special permit and the site development plan request. This concludes my presentation. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions?

I not questions but just a few statements. Um, first of all, I like the idea that that used to be a property of the El Paso Independent School District and now sold to the city of El Paso, that they're going to do something extremely positive with that area. It's a nice big area. Uh, the other thing is that the neighborhood association, Sila Vista, how can they deny that? You know, the neighbors are going to like it. All the businesses along airways of Montana are going to like that. My only concern is central command here in downtown their border would go up to Buffalo Soldier and they're taking their central command three three blocks away from what supposedly the city says was their boundaries just that.

Thank you. So regional command center is that just for is it is it just for um fire because it looked like it was for fire trucks. Is it just for fire or is it police too? It'll be for police main.

Yes, this is for the one of the police stations. So there are a number of regional commands throughout where the mains hubs are throughout the city. the city is serviced by the fire stations um that are sporadically throughout the city as well just to make sure there's adequate coverage. But this is like the main hub for the central regional command. So that's where like um I think the site I was showing there's that's where they would have a lot of their fleet the vehicles. So they would come there and then disperse and do their um their patrols and activities um during their shifts. Do you know were those not garages like the side? Do you not know what those are?

I I would defer to the applicant who um is assisting the city in in designing this and running this through the process. I was just curious. I mean, that's not a reason to deny the property or anything. Yeah. But but I think that information can be answered by the applicant. Any other questions?

Um I have one question. Are they considering on Carolina Way where it butts up to the C3 properties in widening or putting parking on there? Because if you go through there right now, there's barely room for one car to get through on that street. And so now putting more traffic there, that street is going to have to be widened to be able to accommodate Um, I would refer that to the applicant just to further explain if they are planning on doing that, but any more questions? Thank you. Can we hear from the applicant? If they're on the phone, that's star six to unmute. Do we know if they're online and just having trouble getting in?

I guess so. No.

Is the applicant the city? Yes. The the applicant is the city, but the applicant is not planning inspections. Um it's a different department. So, we would not be Do you want to draw straws? Has anyone put out a fire here before? Oh, you can. Yes. Yes. So, we we do have a a member of the capital improvement department who could answer. Good afternoon, everyone. Uh Daniel Kario, capital improvement department. Uh can you repeat that question regarding the parking lot for the on Karolina? You mentioned Katina Way, I guess.

Yes. I was asking if they were planning on widening that street. Currently there are no plans. Um we're going to have that that area where Carolina Way is. That's um it's proposed to be a parking lot for the patrols for the uh vehicles for fleet police department, but no no plans on widening that street for now. You're going to have problems there. Definitely. We will have uh different accesses to the station. One from Edgeir. Yeah. Yeah. One from uh the north side. We're going to have another entrance for the public and one one side one other entrance on that street that you mentioned.

Okay. I would suggest that during the day that you drive that and then you'll see exactly what I'm talking about and figure out because I mean it'll be an easy fix now, but it might not be later. Okay. Well, we'll provide this information to our consultant to see if they can look for some options. to alleviate the traffic in that street.

One of the things for your concern might be that uh on the side of the property there'd be no parking, you know, because right now there's parking on both sides of the street, public parking on both sides of the street. And I've been through there many, many, many times. And you just got to slow down. Two cars can fit with cars parked on the side. But I think one of the proposals could be that on the side of the central regional command, no parking on the street side. Okay. And that would alleviate some of the concerns that you mentioned.

True. But they have the land to do it. And if you do that, that's just going to hurt the businesses because who's parking there now is employees for the businesses. And even though they don't own that land, it's that's who will they'll have to find some some other thing for So if you do that, it's going to hurt the businesses.

Can we pull up the the actual plan because I I see what she's saying, but I'm not sure if if just saying it without the plan up is super helpful. What lot number is that just completely widespace? What is that? I guess I'm asking why is it being left completely blank rather than being used as some sort of either parking space or building so that there that road can be expanded. We currently have well we currently in that blank area we have our in on-site ponding because by per code we have to capture our own water runoff from the facility and part of it will be used for that purpose like we currently have a baseball field in that that section right there. Um but eventually might be demoed to accommodate other amenities but right now we have a ponding area in that section.

So So I think to the to the chair's point um as you see the area in purple there in the middle of the site, that's the ponding area. From what it sounds like, everything to the west of that will be left undeveloped. Um from what I'm understanding,

guess future Yeah, future expansion. It'll be it'll be city city property. I am not incredibly familiar with this area or, you know, the parking situation, but given that this is a public facility, I would love to see some some thought put into how that pond could be, you know, restructured so that that roadway, even if it's not changed right now, could be reconfigured so that it's not hurting the businesses around because like you said, everybody would be so excited to have, you know, an influx of officers, an influx of business here. And if there's no parking, there is no influx of business. So

they have room without changing the ponding to to do it with what they've got now. Definitely because you do have you also have a hotel there that I know doesn't have enough parking either. I mean it made requirements but still you see you know people dragging their luggage across you know and so it won't affect just the businesses it'll affect guests too. Yeah Blanca I believe can can respond to the parking question that uh in the code provisions.

Yeah. Um as of now what the parking they're proposing it's already exceeding the um the maximum amount. So, as regards to parking, there shouldn't be um any issues on on that unlike overflow parking.

Yeah. I'm not worried about parking for the facility that's being constructed or that's being there. I'm worried about uh traffic on a road that's already got too much traffic that too much parking. So, it's really not for that, but they're going to have problems there. just just to be aware that used to be a school and there was a lot of traffic there like it is in all schools all around that uh old uh bonum school there used to be a lot of traffic uh coming in coming out people parking and whatnot. Uh the other thing that I would say is that considering the city's budget, this facility is already budgeted in and like um I think uh Commissioner Massud said, they leave it for future. Hopefully in the future we get some more money and they can put that uh white space into use. Right now it's a softball field. It used to be owned by um El Paso Independent School District and um I think it'll work great for regional command, central regional command. It'll work really good for them right there with access to every everything that they patrol in that area maybe except downtown because right now they're in downtown, correct?

Yeah. Okay.

Any other comments? Well, the only thing is that uh being a regional command versus a school, school actually has a lot more traffic on daily basis coming in and out. Regional command, there's no visitors. It's just the employees going in there. Anything else? Okay, I will entertain. This is a public hearing. Anybody from the public want to speak on this item? If you're on the phone, that's star six to unmute. Okay. Public comment is closed. Do I have a motion?

Move to approve item number seven. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I all oppose. Motion carries. Do we have anything else to discuss before we adjourn? There's nothing on the agenda. You look very excited to go ahead. Nope. It has to be in the agenda. Um move to adjourn. Second. All in favor? I. All opposed. Thank you so much. You all have a great day. Thank you.