Plan Commission - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the November 20th, 2025 meeting of the city plan commission. I'm Alfredo Boreo and I chair this U commission. I call this meeting to order at 131 PM. Commissioner Vivo.

Thank you. Uh statement to the public. The city plan commission has sole and final approval authority over subdivision maps which statutoily limited to administerial examination of the application's conformance to all applicable code provisions. The staff report for an agenda item may include conditions, exceptions, or modification. 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, Commissioner Bio. At this time, I'm going to take a point of privilege to welcome our newest commissioner, uh, Mr. Doberi. Did I pronounce that correct? All right. Welcome to our commission. And also uh just let you know I was asked by staff that when you speak speak into the mic state your name or your last name when making a motion or seconding or anything else. Okay. All right. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Changes.

Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the commission. I hope you're doing well. Kevin Smith with planning inspections for the record. Uh there is one change to the agenda. Item two is proposed to be postponed until January 29th of 2026. Um, and that is on the consent agenda. Item two till until January 29th.

That's all. That is it. All right. Um, can I entertain a motion for the changes to the agenda? Second. We have a motion and a second to change the consent the agenda of today. Any discussion? Seeing

I want is that a um is that a public opinion public request issue or that's just common sense? Uh it it's a private matter that is being um coordinated.

Any other discussion? Seeing none hearing none. All in favor say I. I. I. All opposed. Motion carries. Okay. Let's move on to the consent agenda and it's just for the minutes. I'll entertain a motion.

Motion to approve. Uh, Commissioner Reyes. Second. Acca. We have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. All opposed. Motion carries. We Oh, before I go there, public at this time. I'm going to open up to public comment. If there's anybody um on the phone, I don't see nobody in the public here today, but if there's any anybody on the phone, star six to unmute. Public comment. One more time, star six to unmute. Hearing none, public comment is closed. And we move to the regular agenda item number three. And for that, we have Mr. Fontes. Sorry, just wait on the presentation. I think it should be in the in the desktop.

All right. Good afternoon, chair, members of the commission. Fontes with planning and inspections. Item three on the agenda is a states involving a major preliminary application. Next slide, please. Thank you. Here's an aerial view of the development. This development is within city limits and is east of Messa Street and north of Mesa Hills. Here we have uh the aerial imagery um showing the subdivision superimposed over the aerial. The applicant is proposing to subdivide 14.5 acres of land into 29 residential lots and three lots for open space. Residential lots approximately range from 6,900 square ft to 24,600 square f feet in size. Open spa open space lot slots total at 3.26 acres in size. Storm water drainage will be will be conveyed from the lots to drainage easements to a nearby nearby canal infrastructure. Access to the to the subdivision shall be from Aison Drive as it will connect to Barber Drive and this application was reviewed under the current subdivision code. Here we have an an image of the preliminary plat. And the applicant is requesting the following exceptions pursuant to El Paso city code to wave the number one is to wave the dedication of 25 ft of rideway the construction of 5t of sidewalk and 5 ft of planter strip along a portion of a drive. Number two is to allow for the construction of a Zam drive as a private street in accordance to the street design manual. And number three is to wave the construction of 5 ft of planter strip and to allow for the sidewalk to above the roadway along Barry Drive.

Then here we have the portion of a drive that is being considered for the exception request. It is highlighted in red. [snorts] And and then here we have the proposed cross-section for Drive. As you can see, it is missing 25 ft of rideway, 5T of sidewalk, and 5T of Planter Street. Here are the existing conditions for the proposed Azam Drive. Here we have the proposed cross-section for Barbary Street. As you can see, it is missing 5 ft of planter strip. Here we have the existing conditions for Barbar Drive and the exception meets the criter uh the exception request to wave the rideway improvements meets the criteria under the El Paso city code. And to to conclude, staff recommends approval of Azana estates on a major preliminary basis and it also recommends the approval of the exception requests uh the exception being requested from the city plot commission. This concludes my presentation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Fontes. Commissioners, questions. Commissioner Vegas. Yeah. Why are they uh requesting a exception to reduce the rideway and sidewalk? Is it limited space there? Why where are we? So the first portion of AAM drive is going to be Could I get the presentation up please? The first portion of AAM drive is uh meeting the code meeting code requirements. But to answer your your question, they're asking for that reduction um on Azam specifically to minimize the grading on the on that side of the of the mountain. So that that's one of the reasons why they're requesting that. um that exception and then on Barber you uh drive um that exception is just to to match the existing conditions off the roadway

minimize the grading so they can get the additional rightway and sidewalk just what you want to just minimize the grading I mean I don't I don't understand what the what the um conflict is to to to request that I mean can it be done

yes I mean if the exceptions are approved and and yeah, it would it would [clears throat] be they would be allowed to to build up up until that um to the 20 uh 23 foot rideway. It's a new street, right? It's a new street, new subdivision. Correct. Yes. But what's the limiting factor? I'm trying to figure out. I mean,

yeah, if I can, Kevin Smith, for the record, I I think the applicant can can address some of it, but um as as Mr. Font showed in one of the pictures, um can you show the uh picture there? um that that one there's some pretty significant topography in this area. So, this is getting pretty close to what we term the mountain development area, which is where we really want to minimize the amount of grading that goes on to uh reduce the scarring on the mountain. And so, this um is just one of the options that's being considered, but I think the applicant can probably So,

you're squeezing the properties further in to and then minimizing the street to kind of avoid correct. Okay. Correct. Thank you. Any other questions, commissioners? I have a couple. Um, on our backup, there was some concern from El Paso storm water. Okay. There was a couple things. You know how you ask uh all the entities of El Paso if they this and that and there was some concerns and one of them is how you going to convey that water to streets and then from streets to the closest uh Aoyo is that correct?

Yes. So per um per land development land our land development section didn't have any outstanding uh comments uh regarding the floor of uh the storm water uh but I can defer that question to the applicant if okay they can explain it in further detail.

Okay. And then the other one is on the private street you showed it just inside. Can you put that up again? Yeah. So you said it was only the red. Correct. Okay. What city street goes into that?

If I might, Mr. Fontes, is ASAM in its entirety proposed to be private? Correct. Yes. So, so the exception for the width is only in red, but the entire street of Isam is proposed to be private off of uh barbe

Thank you. That is correct. Yes. Okay. So that blue that blue is going to be a public street up to the red, correct? No, no, no. The entirety of the of u of AAM is going to be private. The only the portion in red is the portion that has the reduction in right away.

Oh, because you stated that was the only one that was private. That part was private. Okay, got it. Understood. Any other questions? Seeing none, thank you, Mr. Fontes. Can we hear from the representative?

Good afternoon, chair, commissioners, condemn incorporated. First, we do concur with all staff's comments and glad to entertain questions you may have. I have a question. Yes, I assume it's not going to be left in its natural state. There's going to be some significant cut and fill. That is our goal is to reduce the and so you don't have significant cut and fill. Are the houses going to be on stilts, pure and beam?

So, if you notice, there's a dashed line on the lots of that are longer. That is a build two line, okay? To prevent more cut. And so, the objective here is to like the hard part about this is it's not zoned in the PMD. It's zoned R3. However, the way we're treating this as if it was in the PMD. That's why [clears throat] we're designing. So that street, the 20 foot three foot wide street, that is your typical PMD street cross-section. We're just using what is typically used now today on the books.

So the the only reason why we have it there is the beautiful part about this is as you get off Barbrey, there is some room, some width. So we have a gated entrance that we have to meander. So if people can't get in there, they got to be able to have room to turn them back around. That's why you see that modified section there, Barbrey, for the first 400 ft. Then you see like a turnaround. We do that like we do in the PMD for fire department. Usually every 5 to 600 feet we provide a turnaround. So you see that that's the reason why that is for fire department and then after that it really chokes in and what you call the top of the slope gets very narrow from there on. And that's why we want the very modified PMD cross-section [clears throat] to reduce the amount of cut.

But that build two line, you're going to flatten to that build two line and then after that it's natural slope. No, we're hoping the the builders build correctly to the mountain like you would in the PMD. So you do retaining walls, uh tiered homes, things of those nature. You you don't want to flatten these into typical street lots. No, you do not want that. That's not the way these are meant and designed for.

But it's going to be completely natural after that build too long. Absolutely. All that common open space is going to remain open space. But you said that you hope that they do it that way. Well, yeah. We I I personally don't have control over one builder over the other, but that's going to be something that the owner is going to be looking at within the covenants.

Other questions, commissioners? And if I could just add on to that too is when it comes in for building permits, they will not be allowed to build past that line since that's as would be part of the plat as well. So if they propose anything over there that is would be basically be in violation of the the subdivision.

So that won't just be privately enforced. That's enforced [clears throat] on your end as well. Correct. Yes, sir. Can you talk to us about the sidewalks and your requests regarding the sidewalks? We're not waving sidewalks except for that very small. Again, the PMD already allows for this 23 foot crosssection which does not have sidewalks. That's what's So, we're just using what's already in the books. That's why you don't have a waiver for that. The only thing we're asking for a waiver for is Barbary's already built and they have a 7 foot sidewalk and a seven foot sidewalk. There's no 5ft sidewalk and a 5ft parkway. That's what we're asking for. The exception is that there is no parkway there. It's just a seven foot sidewalk on both sides.

Mr. Kick, can you define uh PMD for us that don't know what it mean? Sure. Uh it's it's a zoning category called planned mountain development. Oh, and it is meant to protect and preserve and reduce the amount of grading. Thank you.

So, Barbarie already has sidewalks. Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Can you adjust the water conveyance there? Absolutely. Just like we stated before, we're trying to treat this like a PMD. Each the street does not carry the runoff. The street's going to drain off to the lots and the lots to the to the natural flow. You don't concentrate. And so that's why that if you concentrate everything, then you're right. You got a concern. But our objective is just like the PMD is to drain this like it is naturally doing now.

Okay, that answers my question. Any other questions, commissioners? Thank you, Mr. Gund. Thank you all. Item number three is before us, commissioners.

Motion to approve a second. We have a motion and a second. Any other discussion? I Commissioner Hansen, I would like to discuss the sidewalks. I'm not sure.

Now's the time to do it. I'm not sure if I have a firm opinion on them, but can we pull back? Can we pull up the aerial, please? So, if you look at the houses, I don't know if it's south, actually, but it's south the way that we're looking at it. It ends up being a really shallow buildable lot anyway. Um, so if we increase the right of way on those houses, I know that if it was a completely flat lot, effectively it would decrease the size of the buildable area, but it's going to be a pretty shallow buildable area anyway. So, I don't think it makes the lots that much less desirable from like a builder standpoint. I don't know if it's an undue burden to require sidewalks. And I think it goes back to us not fairly imposing sidewalks across the board. Um so I guess I guess I have come to a firm decision. I think that we should require sidewalks in the subdivision.

Is there um question in there? No, that was just my discussion. Okay. Any other comments, concerns? Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. All oppose. Nay.

Miss Bernice, roll call. Yes, sir. Commissioner Bad, I. Commissioner Bgo, I. Commissioner Hansen. Name. Commissioner. Hi. Commissioner Baka.

I. Commissioner Reyes. I. And Commissioner Dearolski. I motion passes. Can you give us a count, please? Six eyes, one nay.

Motion passes. Thank you, commissioners. Thank you and want to wish you all happy and safe Thanksgiving. Same to you and your family. Okay, we're going to move on to number four. Other business. For that, I think we have Mr. Smith.

We do. Again, good afternoon members of the commission. Um, I'm sharing my screen. it if you can uh share the teams please. Um this is the proposed schedule for 2026. Um personally it is a little sickening for me that we're already talking about 2026 but it is what it is. But um our our meeting schedule as we typically have met is every two weeks and I think we've been a able to manage this throughout 2026. uh our first meeting which would be January 15th would be our annual business meeting that is a little different where we're not going to have cases but we'll have someformational presentation some training um the election of officers um legal will provide training parks um planning planning staff and then um the meetings uh the regular meetings start uh two weeks later on January 29th and go until uh December 17th. So, um, we'd, uh, be I'd be happy to answer any questions, um, on this if you have any.

All right. Does that mean that if the commissioners don't approve of it, they can change dates and whatnot? Technically, yes. But I I think also tech historically, ever since I've been with the city, is we've been Thursdays at 1:30. And I think the biggest thing is we're not going to be meeting on Thanksgiving next year. So,

we're not we're not. So, Okay. Motion to approve. Well, we're not there yet. Let's talk about it. Does anybody want to talk about it? I mean, those that travel, some of you that travel, some of you that take a lot of vacation, you know, and the reason I ask, the reason I ask is because um sometimes we barely make quorum. So, if these dates don't work out for you, now's the time to say it because sometimes it's bad that we don't make quorum. So, everything works out. Commissioner Blacka,

well, historically, it's always been Thursdays at 1:30, so we ought to keep that. I'll entertain your motion now. All right. Motion to approve the schedule for 2026. A palaka.

I second that. We have a motion and a second to approve the schedule for the year 2026. I don't think nobody wants to discuss it anymore. Oh. Oh, go ahead, Commissioner. Yes. I appreciate if they can email us the uh the schedule, please. I know they're probably going to do it anyway.

It's already on the It is. Yeah. on the agenda. All right. Okay. All in favor say I. I. All oppose. Motion carries. Thank you. And now I guess this is an important one because Mr. Smith came up to the podium. Mr. Smith.

Okay. Again, I think we're the third or fourth time. Good afternoon. Kevin Smith with planning inspections. So, this is an update of a presentation I gave a uh actually a few years ago. I did expand it a little bit, but as we have a couple of new uh members of the commission and really a refresher, wanted to discuss um a lot of the foundation on development in Texas and what we here in El Paso base our our uh our codes off of our requirements. So again, as the state um as we're within the state of Texas, the state gives us and all municipalities the boundaries which we have to work within and whether it's development related, whether it's um other items um the state gives the parameters and we as cities often have the ability to work within those parameters. So again, as as we've told you and especially as we talk about subdivisions, which I'll get to here in a in a few moments, property rights are are very strong here in Texas. Um whether it's what you can do as a commission, city council, and and us as staff too is if they if they meet all the legal requirements, we have to allow the development to occur. So what we establish as part of cities is we we establish the minimum requirements to develop There are other other items where often especially the subdivision team when they come to you and talk about vesting and this project is vested on X date that is a legal requirement that comes from the state of Texas that allows a developer to be ruled or um reviewed under a code you know a former code um legal non-conforming is the zoning I would say quasi equivalent of it where it allows development to occur even when

cities or rules change on them to allow them to be existing for a certain time. Eventually, the goal is to become compliant, but um um for whether it be lot size requirements, signage, um we we as a municipality cannot force them to change unless they meet certain criteria. And then with a number of items, we often say it is ministerial in nature. So that means we are are um almost certifying that it meets code. These are items such as detailed site plans and subdivisions. As we saw um on the previous case, there is some ability for the city plan commission to make judgments. And so that's often what we'll remind the commission is you may have to approve the subdivision, but the waiverss and the exceptions that's up to the commission to debate and determine whether it's appropriate to grant those or not. So I'll first start on zoning and um the the cities the municipalities are regulated through local government code. Um chapter 211 is where the the zoning uh lies. And in there they they state certain things about what cities can can uh create. Um, we can regulate items such as building height and size, um, lot coverage, the density, uh, location of building. So often we we talk about setbacks, we have to have those identified and, um, we have to have all those established. Um, so as you all know and and the urban planning design team has been with you a couple of times to talk about the comprehensive plan, which we're in the process of updating right now. is zoning regulations must be adopted in accordance with a comprehensive plan. And as as shown on the screen, there are a number of items and this is per the the state that the

goal is to to uh address such as less congestion on streets. Um you often hear us talking about the health, safety, and welfare. That is really the core of development and we really need to make sure that development occurs in that in the city and in our instance where we have ability in ETJ that it's safe and and appropriate and uh again we want to make sure that we we address it properly to um through um not concentrating a population and and ma as well as make sure that there's adequate for the utilities for infrastructure just for daily life that we often take for granted. So what we do is we create the comprehensive plan. That's a a image of the current existing comprehensive plan panel plan El Paso. And the reality is what we would what comes before the commission are code requirements. There are code requirements for zoning. They're code requirements for subdivisions. Those have to be adopted separately and that's through a separate process. But that's how the vision of a plan becomes a reality is through our codes. So what the state says that each city has to do is we have the ability ability to divide a city into districts. So we have a number of different districts here and as we note especially you know for zoning we have R1, C3, M2 and all the others. Each each of those districts is different and they regulate size. They re regulate what you can and can't do on that property. But we also have to understand that even though we have these various zoning districts, each one's unique. And something that is zoned a certain way on one part of town, the same regulations

have to apply on the other part of town as well. So it's uniform. And each one's unique. And I I one of the key stresses that I want to um convey as part of this is that the requirements have to be predictable. So, like I said before, when someone comes in, they have to know that I can build on any part of the town under a given zoning district. I'm going to be treating the same way elsewhere. The the state um also says that we cannot conflict. If there's something that we we have on our books that conflicts with state law, we cannot supersede state law. We have to adhere to state law. So, just recently, city council adopted some changes that were brought to you here um a few weeks ago about changes for small lots for apartments and and mixeduse residential. There was a time there where our codes were out of date um from because those those uh ordinances those uh state bills were effect September 1st. So, we had a couple months where they were out of date. we had to apply those regulations that the state said even though our code was was uh still catching up and then our regulations is we we cannot um enforce these upon federal and state projects. Sometimes what the state does too is they set the boundaries but then they give the city the ability to choose. One of the option, one of the items there um for alcohol, for example, is if you're within 300 feet of a school, of a hospital, of a daycare, of certain things is the the state allows cities to decide, do we want to accept these or reject them. Um, so it's up in in in this case, it's a straight appeal to city council uh for those items, but um that is one where even though alcohol

uses are allowed in the appropriate zoning districts, if you're that close within one of those uses, they have to go to city council unless the um unless the owner consents in advance. So zoning is is again what you can and can't do on the property and it's I I I view it like a bundle of sticks is each property has a certain number of sticks they can use. They can always ask to say I want different sticks is you know Kevin doesn't like my sticks but I want the sticks that are over here. I can request a change. So that's where a resoning comes into effect of where we can say I don't like the regulations that's currently on my property for whatever reason. It doesn't fit or it's outdated. Um so I can ask for another bundle of sticks if you will. And so that's go through the zoning process. Um again just because I asked for it doesn't mean I'm going to be impacting Bernice here. It just means it's going to impact only my property. And often what what is said before is as we look at these these items that come before you um and we often provide recommendations such as conditions on a property, there has to be a reason why we're we're providing those um those conditions. Uh what we often term as a rational nexus. So there has to be some reasoning behind it. So, I can't say even though I'm reszoning, say a property here at city hall, I can't say, you know what, because of this, I'm I'm required to go construct a a bridge two miles down the road. There's no reason why that has to take take place. And then obviously we have federal law um Supreme Court ruled this um case in 1922 that if we restrict business too much, then that's considered a taking and we cannot do that. So we also have to be cognizant as we look at conditions about not requiring too many conditions as

well because then as I often tell staff is then we have to start evaluating is that the appropriate zoning district to be considered. As we shift gears to subdivisions um and these ones are regulated also in under state law under section 212 of the local government code. So what the state does it allows cities to regulate the subdivision of land. A subdivision very simply is a division of land. Um I know growing up I often thought of a subdivision as 200 houses and that was my mindset. But that's not the case. It is simply a division of land which could be as small as one lot. Um because of the size we are the state does allow us to extend our authority five miles in outside of our city limits into what we call the extr territorial jurisdiction into the county land. So where we can um have subdivision authority there. As a reminder, there is no zoning in county. So that does not apply but we can uh apply zoning reg I mean excuse me subdivision regulations in the county. Um the the state does allow um some exceptions to platting but again those have to be stated per uh in our city code and that is within um that is that is codified in our code as well as what is required of an application. So we're again we're treating everyone the same and that everyone is being is predictable. The state allows the cities to determine who approves subdivisions. Um it could be the city council in some cities um and towns throughout Texas some it is a city council does approve it. Our city council has delegated that authority to the city plan commission for you to act on. As we often say is that plats have to be acted on within 30 days. That is acted on by the city and whether it's there's some items that may be administ uh approved administratively. The

majority have to go to city count uh city plan commission for approval. And if it's not approved within 30 days, then that application's automatically approved. There are some um there's that 30-day period may be extended which obviously we saw on an item today but that has to be requested by the um applicant and has to be approved by the appropriate authority in this case the plan commission. So often what what is there is as as you review subdivisions or or staff reviews subdivisions, the if an item is going to be conditionally approved or denied, there has to be specific reasons why that takes place. Again, going back to how property rights are strong in Texas, it has to be directly tied either to the state law or a citation to local ordinance of why it cannot be straight approved. Um, often what the ones I've seen is it's maybe pending access for transportation purposes, maybe it's extension of utilities. Um those are are some of the um the items that that have come across in the past why we may conditionally approve a a subdivision. If an item is to be disapproved, we have to site the section of the code why it is not compliant and um we need to identify that. And again, we cannot be arbitrary. Again, we we need to be predictable. Um the requirements need to be predictable. And so um we cannot say I don't like Kevin, I'm going to deny it just because it it doesn't work that way here in Texas. It it needs to be we need to have the same requirements for every every subdivision that comes across. And again if the the the word shall is here and so what what legal has often taught me is is about words are

important. So shall means you you shall do this you need to do this and so the municipality needs to approve shall approve a plat if it conforms to all the requirements in the code. It has access to streets and utilities and um is accepted. Again, as I mentioned before, the city plan commission has within their purview the the ability to act on exceptions and waiverss. That is up to the city plan commission. You may approve those, you may deny them. That is up to the commission. That is not a guarantee. So, just as as a summary again, I view it like you know lanes is we have to work within the lanes that the state has has created. We can work anywhere within them but as if the state has created that we have to work within it and it has to be focused on health, safety and welfare whether it's um the planning items that come before you in terms of the zoning and subdivision items or even our building permits. Um it it is all focused on health and safety. That is that is a key on why we do what we do. And there is there has to be a predictable legal process for all of these. If something if a property is going to be reszoned, it has to be a predictable process that has to go through with with notifications and proper uh proper hearings. Um, and again, as often, even though we may want more, we can only enforce the minimum requirements. So, if if something exceeds that, great. But we as a city can only enforce the minimum standards. So, that is a a brief summary about um what the state um has mandated for municipalities. Um I'm here to answer any questions and then I have some people smarter than me that help me out if I need it.

Thank you, Mr. Smith. Commissioners, questions? No. Really? No questions? No. You got a question? Go ahead, Kevin. Good afternoon. So the Senate Bill 15 basically allows for smaller lots. So the city's really going to make the final call or is or or the city's going to adapt to the state new ruling.

So we we had to stay within what the state allows. So what that state bill said is the the properties that want to consider small lots have to be a minimum of 5 acres in size or more. Okay? Okay. So, some of the areas of town where it doesn't meet that criteria, that would not qualify. If that land has already been subdivided, it it does not apply. If the zoning does not allow single family, it does not apply. Um, a plat cannot have be been vacated there. That does not apply. So, again, those are the boundaries that the that the state um said the cities have to comply. So, as we look at that specific bill, a lot of it's on the periphery of the city. So, a lot of the east side is already built out to the city limits, but as we look at the northeast and the west side of the city, there are some land there that is that this could be pursued for the smaller lots. And so, again, the state gave the boundaries and we as a city have to comply with those.

So, properties that are currently sown do not qualify for that. No, they they they may qualify. Again, they have to be five acres that meet all the criteria, but if if it's zoned single, it has to be zoned for single family. Yeah, you're welcome. Any other questions, Commissioners? Commissioner Hansen,

this this [clears throat] wasn't in your presentation, but this is a question that I have every time it comes up. Sometimes it's like a cleanup subdivision plat for some for a building that's already there. How is a building built in the past that has it's on land that's never been subdivided?

Previously, there were some exceptions that allowed it, especially over five acres. Um, and this was over 10 years ago, that there used to be an exception for if you're over five acres, you do not have to be platted if you have access to infrastructure and utilities and all that. But that went away about 10 years ago. So there may be times where a building is existing on a piece of land that has not been uh ever subdivided. There's also some times too where maybe we annex the land many many years ago and for some reason it has never been platted. And so every time they want to do something, they would go submit a building permit. And if there's an item that's outstanding, such as it needs to be subdivided properly or if it needs to be uh we often say clean up, resoning as well. um that has to be addressed. Um we're not going to go and say so and so is non-compliant, but it's when they come to us um and their specific criteria, that's where we can enforce our subdivision, our zoning requirements on there. And 100% honest, sometimes they build without permits, too.

Okay. I I have a specific example because I don't think this lot is five acres, and I think it would have been in the city. Well, it would have been in the in the city at the time it was built. Um I'm not sure if anyone in this room is working on it, but 150 Sunset. Um it's that's the address. It's on the corner of Sunset and Donovan. Um that building is probably 30 years old and it came in front of us maybe three months ago for a subdivision just like a plat. The I don't know how that was ever built without a plat.

It's just a question. Like I would have to look into it. And each each one's unique. Again, each each case whether it's a a subdivision or zoning case is unique. And so, um, each one presents different challenges and each one has a history that sometimes, uh, I'm not, you know, it takes some a lot of digging to figure out what what transpired over time, but we'd have to look at it specifically and see see what happened there.

Any other questions, commissioners? Nope. I do have a few. Um, I noticed that every two years after the state legislature meets, they take more and more control of the municipalities, you know, being that u, and it's sad because in Austin, they don't know us. Our state reps know us, but they're overridden. And what we do here in El Paso, I think we do for the best of our community, but the state comes and overrides us and takes more rights away from the municipalities. And I think that's very sad. Um, Mr. Chair, if I could just add on to that, that is very true. And often as we review them, I'll just say Kevin's thought is let the cities decide for themselves what's appropriate. you know, again, once the state like similar to Senate Bill 15, it may be a good bill, but let El Paso decide for itself if it's good. But, um, obviously with each legislative session, um, every two years, we're having to react to things. We submit comments. Um, you know, whether we support, oppose a given bill, but once the state makes a call, that's where, again, we we need to make sure we we comply.

Um, the other thing is you had a picture up there about groundwater, but you didn't talk about it. It was one of the first few and I just wanted to ask use of groundwater by private entities. Define that because in my house, my business, can I drill and get my own water out from the groundwater? I might I might ask legal to help me out here, but but I what I believe is the we are able to regulate things if it has access to the proper utilities or infrastructure. So our our water, wastewater, sewer is addressed primarily here in El Paso by El Paso Water. So those are are being provided. I'm not sure if Russell has any wants to chime in on this. Yeah, unless you live in the upper valley and have water rights in a well, pretty much your water rights are probably owned by El Paso Water and you can't drill for water in your backyard. So, what you're saying is that all the water underneath our feet throughout all of the city county of El Paso is owned by El Paso water.

Um, unless you have water rights. Unless you have water rights. Yeah, I think you um if you're in with city limits probably most is um El Paso water unless you have a specific well or something like that. Talk about controlled by the state not controlled by the water.

Okay. And um well I I see people drilling wells Waco tanks and all out there by Montana. So I guess that's outside the city. So they are able to to build wells and uh these lots generally don't come with water rights but they still are able to do water wells.

Again this is specific under the zoning. So again if it's outside Montana Vista by Waco tanks that's outside yeah outside the five miles. Yeah. Well it's even outside the city limits because if it's zoning regulated we stop at the city limits for our authority.

Okay. Uh another another one is um local reg regulations do not apply to federal and state there. What it tells me is textile. Do they overrule the city on whatever they're going to do?

I you know they're a state agency. So I I believe so. You would say so? Yeah. Um um I would think that it should be more of um we want to do this in the city of El Paso. We're textile. Let's work with the city. Let's work with the county on those issues. And you know, because I've asked to bring a presentation to ask specific questions about mainly sidewalks and roadways and um I guess we're at the mercy of Texon is what you're saying.

Yeah. and and they'll be coming and I don't want to say we're at the mercy too, but we we coordinate with them the best we can as a city. Um we have very an agency here within the city that really coordinates closely with the state um when they're federal projects or when they're um state projects such as um a reconstruction um of it too. we provide comments but at the end of the day I think to your point is texttop may decide something different and which has happened before

and the reason I asked that is because um we're coming in with I 10 and they ask for all this information and whatnot and uh I'd like to see the city of El Paso even the county of El Paso uh along with us the residents say hey tech stop this what we blah blah blah. Now, having said that, I saw the presentation. Mr. Reyes was there too. We saw the presentation and that presentation was awesome and I liked it. But well, my experience it comes down to a lot of times maintenance of um you know parkways textile will will put in vegetation but they'll have the city to maintain it. They have to enter agreements and and and the city is already overwhelmed by having to maintain so much. So they have to have an agreement. The agree maintain it. They'll put it in Montana there's going to be no vegetation at all. But uh back in the day, Emma Costa, she told Tech, I want vegetation. So we put put on that Montana put like

400 trees. They're out there now. Yes. But the city had to agree to maintain those trees, right? And and water them. And you're absolutely right because on the part right there from Fox Plaza on the center median to um um almost Delta I asked Tex not to do the medium and and they did that was a few years ago but the city maintains them and that's where the partnership comes in. I'd like to see more of that partnership happen between the city and the county and text and it works well. It works well.

Yeah. Often often they have other priorities. Um their their job is to move traffic. Um, frankly, whereas a city, we want to have um good environments for all users, whether it's pedestrians, whether it's cyclists, um transit users. Um so that's where we have to sometimes get into these uh these partnerships where text may construct it, but then the city of El Paso would maintain it. And that's happened a number of streets throughout.

Any other questions, commissioners? There's going to be a test in two weeks. Okay. So, thank you, Mr. Smith. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Commissioners. I'll entertain one more motion.

Motion to adjurnn. Second. We have a motion and a second. I'm sure you guys don't want to discuss it. All in favor say I. I. All oppose. Motion carries. Meeting is adjourned. Thank you all.