Planning and Zoning Commission - Regular Meeting

Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat.

Good afternoon everybody.

My name is Isabella Perez, recreation leader for the city of Sakuro. Thank you for joining today's meeting. Before the meeting begins, we would like to remind our guests to remove all hats and silence all electronic devices. No destructive behavior or outbursts will be tolerated and violated are subject to ejection and possible prosecution. Rodriguez, good Good afternoon everybody. This is the planning and zoning commission of the city of Sorro, Texas. It is January 20th, 2026, 5:32 p.m. We call this meeting to order.

Uh good evening everyone. Uh I want to welcome everybody to the Is this a special meeting? Special special meeting of the Sakor City Council. Um it is now 5:32 p.m. and I call this meeting to order. At this time we can have everybody please rise for the

pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Item item number two, establishment of quorum. Andrew Royos here. David Estrada here. Julie Dominguez here. Oswald Doresa here. Yolanda Rodriguez here. We have a quorum with five commissioners present.

At this time, we'll go ahead and establish quum for the Sakoro City Council. Ruben Reges here. Caesar Nevarez here. Alejandro Garcia here. Rudy Mayor Cruz here. Gina Cordero is absent and Irene Roas is absent. Mayor, we have a quorum. Thank you. Item number three, open forum seven. Do we have anyone that would like to speak? No, we do not. Sorry about that. No, we do not. Thank you. No speakers, mayor, for public comment. Okay. Do we uh does council have to open the floor for public comment for the record as well or do we have any speakers signed up for uh

No speakers? No, no speakers. Okay. Item number four, consent agenda. Do I have a motion? I make a motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. All those in favor? Oh, I'm sorry. I have a motion made by Antoyos. Second by Julia Dominguez to approve. All those in favor of the motion? I any n any abstain? Motion carried. Okay. Agenda item number four. This is the consent agenda. Do I have a motion? Motion to approve consent agenda. Second. There's a motion and second. All in favor say I. I.

Any oppose or abstain? That motion carries. Item number five, workshop and discussion concerning the planning and zoning commission structure, bylaws, scope of authority, roles, and expectations. Miss, I'm sorry. Does a city council also have to state the agenda item as well for the record? Yeah, it's the same thing, but you can. We'll we'll we'll follow as

we'll follow the the commission's lead on this. So, good evening, mayor and council commissioners. Thank you all for being here today. We're holding this joint meeting between the mayor and city council and the planning and zoning commission in response to the requests made at the last planning and zoning commission meeting. At that meeting, commissioners expressed several concerns and areas of dissatisfaction and asked for the opportunity to meet directly with his council to discuss. staff has worked to facilitate today's meeting so that we can have an open constructive conversation. The purpose of today's meeting is for council to listen, ask questions, and engage in discussion with the planning and zoning commission regarding the concerns that have been raised. We are also hoping to limit this meeting to one hour. So, we ask that everyone be mindful of time and remain focused and productive in the discussion. With that, I'll turn it over to the chair commissioner, Mr. Afternoon everybody. Uh so last meeting we kind of had a questions that we'd like to ask as far as what the role is on on all our commissioners. I think we're pretty much aware of what our roles are or whatot, but uh I guess we want just to speak up a little bit more and be heard a little more as far as um all these warehouses come in and stuff. Not that I like to pass this over to Mr. Estrada and take lead on this one.

Okay. Uh Mr. So, um it's been a couple of weeks since that last meeting and and it got a little heated on on on our discuss not heated, but it was a thorough discussion, right? And so we're we're aware as a as a zoning as a planning and zoning commission as to our role. I think uh Mito and M attorney have done an excellent job in executive sessions explaining what our role is and and the way the process process works. I think uh we don't we haven't spoken outside of planning and zoning. So what I'm going to say may or may not the rest of this board may or may not agree. I'm the first question that comes to mind is uh and I asked several people outside of this room why why the influx of warehousing and I get different answers to that right um so I'd like to see and have that discussion here so that we better understand why the influx of warehousing and then we can go go forward basically with with an answer. Um the the second part of that is as a board we don't we're not clear as to what city council is looking for as far as the the path forward for Sakoro regarding warehouses. And so the first thing that comes to mind is, and this is opinion, is okay, warehouses, great maybe, but keep them around the perimeter of the city limits, maybe along I 10 out on way on the outskirts of of uh of the city limits of Saporro. Uh but maybe the opinion is on on on your end that no, maybe we should just infiltrate and and have them scattered throughout the city limit, you know, u as we've seen a couple of these pop up. not not very many, but guidance as to what you're looking for would really help us in making those decisions. Um, we've seen a

lot of warehouses come in the last couple of of years, two to three years, and I can just sense that we're all kind of thinking that's enough. Um, we hear it from our neighbors and so on. Why so many more housing? Why not the infrastructure? And we understand, but explaining that forward is is not always as you guys I'm sure you guys know we're explaining to to constituents. So I think on uh my my focus would on I'm thinking why the warehousing and then what path can you paint for us going forward as these continue to come forward. Uh there may not be any and there may be a lot more. I'm of the opinion of we as a city hold a lot of valuable land and we're in a strong bargaining position uh when it comes to the money that's coming in regarding warehouses. And so I think that we can push back and get a lot out of the people coming in to build these warehouses. But if we're not working together as a group with the city council planning and zoning and then every everyone else that's involved, it just seems that we go round and round on this end and then it goes up on up the chain and and it's the the decision making isn't always in sync with what we're looking for and what we're voting on. And so that would be the main area that I would be interested in in discussing. We lost form right now. So I think we need to wait until we have it.

Mayor, for the record, Miss Gina Cordero arrived to the meeting at 5:40.

Thank you. And so can I add to Mr. Estrada's comments? Um I think that we're also caught up in the fact that we are looking at a comprehensive plan in the future. We have a book that tells us this is what we are going to do as an infrastructure. So we try to follow that and we approve or disapprove according to that. But when it goes up to city council then sometimes those get reversed. And so the at the for the end goal is that is that as a community for Sakoro we want it to grow but we also want it to go with with more residents because we want our school structures to grow with that. If we don't have more housing, we lose our schools because there's nobody going to once that generation goes past, then there's no other there's who's going to fill those schools. And I think that when we get caught up in a discussion and uh we cannot dictate to the developer what he can and cannot do with that property, but we can dictate or try to constrain him with um the zoning that we're looking comprehensive plan and I think that is what we look at when we say no we're not going to approve it to go to commercial or industrial we wanted to keep it as a residential

okay so I'm taking notes right as as we go first of all did did everybody get a chance to view the video I I think a lot of the qu a lot of our frustration was mentioned there in regard regards as to what what we come around, right? I mean, if you guys would took the time to view the video, and I appreciate it, right, first and foremost, I think that's where a lot of our frustration might get answered on your guys' end. Um, as to what I I guess at the end of the day, we need education, right? as what is it that the plan is the the the the communication in between us so that we're not deciding against each other if if it may or to understand what weight our decision carries and how we can tag team together. I think at the end of the day it goes into communication and to uh knowledge because I've been uh learning along the road right and then sometimes what I know from the outside is not really or how everything in here is is guiding right so I might come in as a real estate investor real estate agent which is my career and I might not be the same as a development as in within the city but then we also get approached by residents and as a farmer myself I sometimes don't have these answers for the residents right so it I think it's just that where it comes to in the education that we lack that we need to get in order to have better communication better ideas where we're headed, we're directed and why our frustration comes upon um when all these items are brought in and then we don't know how to answer. Say I I'll speak on my behalf, right? When I want to say no to something, I I called the executive session if I'm not mistaken within the time that I've been I think I've went on two years three times because I don't know the answers and then I want to say no, but I also don't want to get the city in a lawsuit involved, right? So maybe that education that I'm lacking might still give me the right of saying

because I believe we shouldn't approve it. I will say no and these are my reasons if I have that education on why to say no. Make sense to me. That's where my frustration comes in. But I know I don't know where that guide book is at or I don't know where those videos are at where how can I say no to this specific item. I just want to know what our decision and how much it weighs and what how we can tag team to have the same vision and and and be on the same road as a city. I guess this is where uh the open dialogue begins and I'll open the I'll open up the floor with uh thanking you all. I know that the volunteer work that you all give to this in this community is something that a lot of residents aren't willing to do. So, I want to thank you all for taking your personal time and being so passionate about the growth of the city. And I just want to thank you all personally before we open the floor to u communicate. So, I do want to let every commissioner that sits on on this board and every other board, let's remember the time that we all got a phone call from one of us sitting here. requesting your assistance in serving on this board. I want to let you all know and remind you that those conversations can still continue to happen. The the phone works both ways. You guys can always pick up the phone and call us and ask us a question or email us. You guys are more than welcome to do that. I think that the frustration that everyone is is seeing or feeling right now is one that's that's not controlled by what we want, what you want. It's one that's controlled by number one, state

law. Um number two, the the rules for which the planning and zoning um has created and we follow in accordance to the master plan. So there's certain amount of green areas that we need to keep. There's a certain healthy amount of residential that we want to keep. And I think that the frustration that I I I heard when I watched the video was about the warehousing happening on North Loop. And I I want to make it clear and I and I want you all to share this message with the rest of the community and our residents. We are not the ones going out there finding developers that want to come in here and build warehouses. We're not we're not doing that. If someone wants to come in here and reszone what used to be farmland, agricultural, um, and turn that into commercial, just understand that within the realm of commercial, anything can happen that's in accordance with the rules set by the planning and zoning office and also the state of Texas. The last thing that we want to do is if if the simple question is how can we stop warehouses coming in within certain amount of feet of residential then the only way that you all can stop it is not allowing the the reszoning to occur. what I'm seeing in your videos because I watched several of them is the zoning happens and once it comes to replat, you guys want to change your mind and say, "Well, now that we know that it's a warehouse, we don't want it here anymore." That happens on this table all the time, too, because we don't know what's coming until the replat comes. And I want to say about 90% of the recommendations that you all that you all make, um, us at the table here, we we follow that. when we see Miss Kito's presentations and we see that the planning and zoning uh commission has has voted yes, um more than likely this table has voted yes because we've we've we come here and approach all of these

meetings with the understanding that you have taken the time to review to make sure that everyone is compliant. So the only way you can deny a replat, so let's just say the warehousing that just got approved the other day, we wanted to deny it during the replat, which didn't happen and it wasn't going to happen. Number one, you all didn't meet the timeline requirements. Number two, the only way you can deny that replay is if for whatever reason those people, whether the developer or the planning or or the engineering was not complying with what the city of Soo has in their guidelines and they're they're not complying with state law. Since they comply with state law and the city of Sakoro, it automatically gets approved whether we like it or not. So, just so you all are aware, the last meeting um this agenda item was posted the the North Loop um development that that you all were very passionate about or didn't didn't seem to to lack much because of the error that it was placed. Um we didn't even get to vote on it either because it doesn't meet the the the the timeline. And if we were to hinder the process, uh, those attorneys, which they did, sent a a pretty letter to the city of Sakoro, uh, to our attorneys, just you all aware, because of the liability that it could it could cause. And the last thing that that we want to do here as representatives for the city is see our residents tax dollars being used to pay attorney uh, fees and and litigation. Uh, we don't want to see it come to that. So, if you all are wondering how we can stop or maybe change the way we develop in our city, we need to ask questions and those questions can be asked to the planning and zoning um department. That's that's where all of your questions and and concerns are going to be answered as far as how we're we're developing and if they're in in compliance and they meet code and whatnot. But also keep in mind

that there's also state laws that we have to follow. A lot of people think that the city is developing um all of these warehouses. We don't sit on a lot of property. The city doesn't own a lot of property. We own we're checkerboarded throughout the city, but we own very small lots. I think the largest piece of property that we own aside from our parks is the piece of property that's behind the Walgreens on on Horizon Boulevard. That's like the only big piece of property that we own. Other than that, we don't own um very much property for us to say we're going to develop this and that. But What's happening is a lot of the farming community uh the the agricultural land it's been inherited by younger generations of people who don't want to farm. They don't see the the value in that land. Um they no longer live in Sakoro. Some of them don't even live in El Paso. They they've moved to other places. And so what used to belong to their grandparents, it's very simple for them to turn around and sell it to a developer for 1.2 mil. and they get to bank off of that and then you see all the pecan orchards being hacked down which we don't like to see either but there's nothing that we can do to stop to stop that. Is it the progress that that I think this table wants to see? Not necessarily. I think that it's the progress that is being seen because the developer is being compliant with the rules and regulations of the city and also the state of Texas. And also keep in mind that the transaction between land and owners is something that's happening between the um the current land owner and the new land owner which becomes the developer. And so we see a lot of that happening right now throughout the old um the old farming areas that once um we once had here in Sakoro. And so the one that we just saw, and we understand your frustration because it's going to happen again, but over in Clint, they're going to remove about 90% of those pecan trees for

another development similar to the one that we're seeing here in Choooro, but it's closer to the Clint cutoff. Do we like to see 2,000 pecan orchards being knocked down? No, we don't. Is there anything that we can tell the land owner? We can make recommendations. Hey, can you keep um can you keep this this facade of of farming orchards around to kind of uh create a buffer around the building? Yes, we can. Do we have to? No, we don't. That would be the response from the developer. Um I think that they've they've tried doing it with this one here. Um does it do much? No, it doesn't hide very much. Is it a requirement? It's not a requirement. When when Peter Piper came in to build their parking lot and the bank and the Walgreens and all that. They didn't they didn't have to comply with all that. Um but can you all make recommendations and can you all say, "Yeah, you know what? We want to put a condition. Um can you all please keep a lot of the vegetation up front? Um our residents really like that. We enjoy it and and at the same time it creates a buffer. They can do that. They'll work with us but we can't force them to. So I think moving forward and just by reading um a lot of the comments that were were mentioned in in the PNZ meeting, the last one. I think that um I would I would recommend that if if you haven't been given a copy of the bylaws, that's one that you guys would need to study. I also would review the master plan as as as you stated earlier, that's the master plan that the city has has created and it was created with with the residents uh feedback as well. There was there was input from the residents and the community, although not very many people show up to to voice their their opinions or concerns, but we do it anyways. We want to know what type of growth Sakoro wants to see. Um, but as

far as the commercial growth happening, if someone sells their land and they come in here to reszone, just understand that within again the realm of commercial, warehousing is one of the things that they can operate. They can also retail, they can also put restaurant operations, they can put bars, they can put all kinds of other types of um of development that lands within the realm of commercial. So if if it if it is the desire for the the planning and zoning commission because I did listen to your meeting. I I know that one of the comments mentioned was we don't we're not politicians. We don't want to be in the politics. If we wanted to be politicians, we would have ran for office. But I just want to remind you all that as collective decision makers and power relations among individuals that by definition is politics. I think you all are feeling what we feel every week that we serve as elected officials. We get the phone calls, we get the concerns, and we also get the text messages and phone calls from family members that aren't happy about the decisions that are being made. The thing is is that you all aren't necessarily making the decision of creating warehouses. We're making the decision of creating warehouses. It it's we're we're creating the decision of whether or not this developer came in with a plan that is in compliance, which for the most part they they always have. And when they're not in compliance, the planning and zoning department will always send them back to correct. Um that's that's the easiest way that I could break it down. So if if it is the desire for you all to see the agricultural staying agricultural then you all need to deny the the um the reasonzoning of these uh properties or per se um at the moment of resoning. We

can make uh recommendations of not allowing warehousing. We'll reszone it but no warehousing. We'll allow retail. will allow, I don't know, restaurants, something like that. Is that allowable? Correct. But we're reszoning, so we're telling them we'll we'll pass the reasoning to commercial from agriculture. You're almost holding a hostage to do what you want them to do. We cannot do that. No, that's their land. They can do whatever they want with their land. They can sell it off in pieces. They can do whatever they like. Not even as recommendation. We can do a recommendation of all we want, but it's their land. I don't think you want somebody coming to your house and says paint the wall blue. Of course not.

And that's what I'm trying to tell you. It's their land and the the rules and by it's for a reason. We cannot be telling people what to do with their stuff. But we can deny the reasoning. We can deny a lot of things, but the thing is we're going to be ending up in court. Correct. So what is the correct process to be able to deny your resing without having to go to court? And that's why we're asking you, let's say somebody comes. There isn't. So then that's why I said in the video then we just approve everything and let it get to you. Exactly. Right. So I mean is there going to be an education? Is there not? Because then if if there's if we can't do anything then might as well pass it from planning and zoning over to you guys.

Well, no. You you you serve a purpose and let me show you let me let me explain to you what what the purpose is and how it works. Um, I I want to say that every every member that sits on the planning and zoning commission was was um was asked by a different representative and maybe not this not this table, but maybe in the past and it was more than likely somebody from from your district. And so what you see here is is you see a net large and you see district one, two, and three and then four um represented by representing the whole city and its community and its best interest. So, Miss Border will represent the best interest of what her community needs are. Um, Mr. Garcia will represent the best interests of what his community and and the needs are within his area. I want to say that you all do the same by listening to your community members and and the areas of representation that you hold low. This is the the great thing about democracy is that you have different people on the table that represent different areas of the city making decisions collectively as a group. Um, so I want to say that all of the and and go back into the the minutes or watch the videos. You all are a democracy. This is a consensive a consensus. And if and if all four of you decide and say nay to something, then it gets denied or or or there's no approval. For the majority of the meetings, it's always been three yays and one nay all the time. And that's why these things continue to happen and get approved and the development happens because collectively as a planning and zoning commission you all have voted as a consensus to move forward with it. Now if you all come together the consensus and say we don't like this or we don't want to approve the resoning then it doesn't get reszoned and then it comes to the city council and it gets presented to us in the meeting and Miss

Kito will say this is the development or this is the that came through. Um, planning and zoning commission have voted unanimously no to reszone. Then that's where we can say, "Mo, what was the purpose or reasoning behind the uh denial?" And she can say, "You know what? There's a lot of concerns. There's a lot of concerns from planning and zoning commission because they don't like this development in the area because it affects maybe uh the traffic or there's a school nearby, there's a church, or it's just not the flavor that that they want for that area." Okay. And then this this body again because the council can can either go through with with what you all have recommended or they can always say you know what we don't we don't necessarily like the decision they made. Um let's take the vote. The vote can also work the same way as you. I can have three nos on the table and two yeses and it gets denied here as well and there is no reasonzoning and guess what that property stays agricultural until the next uh application comes through. That's how it works. But for the most part as a consensus you all have continuously voted for every single project to move forward or resoning application to move forward. when it comes here, we've noticed that the planning and zoning commission has always voted uh yes, and there's always one nay or abstension or whatever. So, by looking at that, this body says we're going to we're going to do with what the planning and zoning commission has recommended. And 90% of the time, this body has always move forward with the recommendation of the planning and zoning commission. Um, I think moving forward the concerns that you may have, you all need to discuss and and and enter into discussion on the table. Hey, you know what? I don't like I don't like this uh in this area. So that way you all can can can state all of your concerns and

and what you're what you're passionate about on the table and you can vote. You can vote no. You you have two options. It's either yes or no or you can abstain from the vote. And that's the same those are the same options afforded on on any governmental body when we go to vote. So that's that's how it works. I want to I guess ask a question but I guess for clarification because I I understand everything that you just that you just said and so the discussion here we have the discussion and then it goes up as as a pass it passes the the reasonzoning passes but I think the decision- making at this level is because we're being properly guided and being told by by our attorney for examp I'm thinking we don't we don't want to vote yes but to stay away from any legal issues we vote but it's my belief that if these go up to let's say they're they're unanimous names they're 0 and five 0 for five and then go up to 0 for five. We're fine in doing that. We can we can send it on up at 0 for five, but that brings it to the spotlight in front of you saying just like you just mentioned, why are they going 0 for five, right? And most of these have been 0 for five in the opinion, but again, we're we're thinking, yeah, they meet the guidelines. That's that's yes, even though we don't we don't like it.

And that's where the questionever Whenever we see something like that, give us a good explanation as to why it I go back to what mayor said 90% of the time we go based on your recommendation. Is that not so or do you not know that? Oh, no. I think I think that yes, I think we agree with that. We agree.

But I also think that um our recommendations and our approvals or denials are based on recommendations from our staff, the planning staff. That's fine. It will continue to be as such and at that point whenever it comes up to us, if we have questions, we'll have the time. So, so let's go back to what we said earlier. Let's communicate better, right? Let's have a consensus here. And situation.

I think our biggest problem right now is just like this item that we had the last time. It was a uh ETJ property. Right off the get-go, we were told we can't do nothing. We cannot do anything because it is not It is county land. So when you have a developer that buys that property, we have totally no control over anything because that was not a resone property. That was not resone. He came off to a plot, but we couldn't say, "Okay, well, what are you going to do here?" We didn't call it commercial. We didn't call it residential because we were told recommended that it is an ETJ property and we can't do anything about it. So, how many ETJ properties are out there that we really don't have any say? So,

so it's everything within a two-m radius of of the city. And what the extr territorial jurisdiction of of a city means is Although the city of Sakoro doesn't really have say in what can go up, what we do have say in is that they comply with our building and standards of code. If you go build uh a lot of these warehouses that are going up in our city in the county, um you can see that they don't adhere to the guidelines that that we have here. Um you can go put a a trailer uh in a county uh property or lot and it doesn't necessarily conform to our standards here because we want to be able to to say or control is we can't control your development because it's not in our our our jurisdiction as a as a municipal government. We at least want say and know that what you are building within a two-m radius of our city is in compliance and within code of what the city of Sakoro has in in their building and standards. And the reason for that is if for whatever reason in the future we we would like to annex a certain portion for whatever reason, whether it be for economic development or or some type of rightway that we're seeking. We want to make sure that all that infrastructure that was laid in in that building already aderes to what we would have done because in the county it's non-existent and it doesn't exist. We want safer and and better looking buildings within the two-m radius of our city. That's the ETJ pretty much um is for us. Although we have no say in in the development that that occurs, we're also very limited to certain development that takes place. Although I will tell you this, if if someone wants to put a liquor store within X amount of feet of a church or a school, see that that right there is is compliance. see a denial letter for replanting on something like that. You guys would hold

uh teeth on something like that because it doesn't meet the the the standards and that's a violation of what we would allow to happen here. Um the same thing goes for any other type of business such as those the the smoke shops. We won't allow for those to go up within so many feet of a school. And I think um a year or two ago this city passed an ordinance not allowing any more of those types of businesses to establish themselves here. So if there's four or five that are currently operating in Sakoro, those are the only four or five that can operate here until they decide not to operate within our city anymore. We can do things like that. But as far as us telling the land owner or property owner, don't sell to this developer because they're going to move in and build a warehouse. We can't we can't tell them that. And we're kind of blind the way you you you feel um that you're blind because we don't know what's going to get built. You all see it before we do unless we're watching the u the videos. Um but you all get to see the development before we get to see it. Um we don't we don't know what's coming. it's getting repled. All we know is that a property got reszoned from agricultural to commercial or or something else. That's all we know. And then once it comes um to the next meeting and there has to be public hearings being held and all that because that's the process that that that it's given. Um then we find out, oh, they're building a Dollar General on Sooto Road. trees around the congrove. We asked what

agreed went up to the new owner agreed. Think about those two rows of concret as well. Watch. You can't tell the land owner when it to us is either this or this and that's where we can discuss and make the best

informative position bringing up that. Go ahead.

Oh no, I just wanted to give you examples of some stuff that has come up. I remember one time I think it was right before my first term uh we uh we had something come up and it was an ATJ and sometime we didn't appear we didn't agree we were at odds and that was I just got elected and we were at odds and no no nothing and guess what happened it passed with a no vote with no votes means it's going to pass and with a 30 days calendar now you guys know it's still going to pass. And so those are the kind of things that were going and I can't remember um one thing that there I'm trying to remember things that we've reversed on you guys. It's it's hard. I know for sure uh we've reversed a couple of um duplexes if I'm not mistaken. I think for sure that uh but the big one that I remember is the the warehouses by Englewood and North. We all agreed on that one. So that's something where I as here I'm scrolling and see what you guys said and what staffing says that's where we're getting our information from because that's what I get my information from. I only speak for myself because if it does if you guys say no that I'm why are they saying no? And the time when I ask why did they say no? If you watch the meetings, I'm always asking why did they say no? Because it's an eye openener when you guys say no and why did you say no? And she'll tell me they felt this, they felt that and I'm I'm I feel you. But it comes the kind of things that I'm remembering because this state law has changed and it doesn't matter what we do. It might still pass if we say no. If they have everything in

order, you know, if you if you have your your your your money. If you pass your driving test and you pass the written part of the test, why wouldn't they give you a driver's license? That's a hard part. And and I'll be honest with you as well. We we we just had a presentation where we're running out of money and we need a tax base. That's the biggest concern that I have because we need a tax base and and may be wants to do business. I remember the Nobody wanted to do business with you guys remember those days. No other thing was growing and nobody wanted to deal with this council. Well, it was another council but as well. So, progress hurts. It really really does. I know it does, but it's it's it's a it's a bump in the road and we all have to. I mean, this is a good thing that we're talking about it. The one thing I'm kind of concerned about is the talking, the communication because I don't think sometimes we should communicate how people are going to vote. That does concern me. But um the city manager is point to everything, is knowledgeable, and she can tell you you call her and she'll tell you what's going on, you know, and that that is the biggest thing you could do is is get your agenda. I have a question about this, this, and this. And she knows exactly what's going on

because what's happening here and we can about votes. You can't tell me how you're going to vote. I can't tell you how I'm going to vote. And that's what I tell the residents. I can't tell you how I'm going to vote, but I know my opinion because we're we're stuck. We're stuck here in in a sense where we either grow or we raise taxes or we do this or we do that. That's the hard part. Something's got to give. I think Mr. Estrada had a comment. No, I'm sorry. Uh, Mr. Resa. Okay. So, going back into that 90%, I think I think we've agreed on that 90% because we really didn't know we could say no and then you guys would make the final decision.

Well, that's that's speaking for myself. Correct. I think we were just going by the recommendation that staff would have because if I would have known that saying no would alert you guys to actually have a discussion of, hey, why are they saying no? Believe me, we would have disagreed on a lot of items. The thing is that oh no, they followed everything. Well, that's why I asked, how is our vote have any weight? Now, I know it has some weight with you guys to acknowledge why we're saying no. Because before, again, fairly new, right? I would just say, "Oh, no. Well, they're doing everything." Okay. Well, no. I guess it's just past, right? Can we agree to that? So, that's why

questions go back to correct them because in turn we're going to get that information as well. Correct. And I will ask why did they say no? Uhhuh. And then that's when you guys will get the reason. But you know it just won't be on sentimental feelings per se is what I'm trying to say. We can't do that. You got to leave that aside. Exactly. 100%. But the thing was that we would always go based on the recommendation. Staff recommends approval. Oh well, we see approval. Okay. Well then

why? Well, exactly. We never had this discussion. We never knew what we were able to say. So going back to the recommendation of the buffer zone that you said, we had always brought it upon us of saying, "Hey, that buffer zone, we'll approve a commercial reszoning if you allow a buffer zone, per se, right?" And then you're saying, "Well, who's going to water them? They're going to die." Well, that's why we have code enforcement. Let's say those peon trees die. Code enforcement, since that's the way it was approved, should have the right to go out there and tell them, "Hey, those peon trees died. You need to replace them with some plants, some flowers, some something." Is that correct or wrong? Exactly. Okay. It's an example I'm giving. Exactly. You're not going to come back and tell me what I'm going to build.

Correct. No way.

I can agree to this. I'm going to get in now. It's a hassle to deal with that. So, so as far as negotiations go, um, you cannot negotiate the development of a developer when they're adhering to all of the rules and they're in compliance. What you can do is make requests as as as a planning and zoning commission. We've done it as as a council in the past. Um there was a question at the beginning of this meeting why why such the desire for um the warehousing not my desire not her desire not his not his it's not anybody's desire but you all need to realize where we we live

we're a border city

we live on the border where bational trade is something big that's a lot of um That's how a lot of people here make their money. Whether you're a truck driver transporting goods to and from even even um between Mexico and the US, the Canadian border as well, they have the same type of development happening up there because that's what drives and boosts their economy. You go to the Midwest and there's certain states that they their number one thing is potatoes, other states is corn. Texas it's pecans and beef. Um same thing in Chihuahua. That's what they're known for. And because of the area that we're situated in, the the influx of warehousing is growing in our areas because it's an untapped market. City of El Paso can no longer grow anymore. They they've already reached their max development. Our rates are are way better than the city of El Paso's rates, which is why we've set up foreign trade zones to make it more enticing. for folks to do business with Soro within the the foreign trade zone because of how close proximity we are to the the border. Not all cities can do that. Um and it's just something that I believe the city has taken advantage of. Does our tax base grow? Yes. I'd like to see a lot of our infrastructure needs being met with the tax base being offered from commercial rather than the residential. Right now, we are backwards on tax base. We're we're seeing we have 70% of our infrastructure needs like our streets, our sidewalks, our parks, police, um, and public works. 70% of the money comes from the residential taxpayers. I need I need that to flip to where 70% of our tax base is being built

by the commercial. Let them pay for our our parks. let them pay for our road infrastructure and needs, not the taxpayers. But I can tell you this, if so doesn't see within the next three years more commercial, whether it's restaurant, entertainment, um, retail, any type of of business that's going to feed into our economy, we will be forced to raise taxes. It's I'm not a genius on on on this. I'm just seeing that because of the residential growth that we're seeing right now, there's so many homes being built, that's more police, that's more public works, that's more sidewalks, that's more lighting. All the lights that you see out here, we pay for them as taxpayers. We pay for them. Any vandalism that takes place at our parks, we pay for it. So, the more parks we create, guess what? It's more work for us to do. We're like a family that keeps having kids. We're growing and growing and growing. Guess what? Mom and dad need to make more money. Um, how are we going to make that money? we either get another job or we find other ways to bring in that money to the house. So, I'd rather have it come from the commercial rather than the residential um taxpayer paying for that. But it's not that we have a strong desire for warehousing. I can tell you that right now. We don't like to see PE countries being knocked down. It saddens us all to see that happen. But it's it's the harsh reality of what once was a farm and they're no longer to farm what they used to because the the depletion in in the aquifers and and the water source is not what it used to be. The water is is salty. We've seen it here in multiple presentations by local farmers. Um and at the end of the day, I'll tell you what, nobody's grandkids wants to climb inside a tractor and go work out there for hours in the hot sun. They'll tell you that right now. Um They're happy driving their Teslas uh somewhere else outside of the state of

Texas and and they rather sell grandpa's farm because they're going to get some money for it and then the developer buys it and the developer who's not even from Sakoro, they just develop and they go back to wherever they're from

and collect. But how we how we can take advantage of that is is from the tax base. Does it have to be through um through warehousing? No, it can be through other sources which why we've been working so hard to generate revenue um other ways through the manufacturing that we that we are seeing and we're bringing we're also creating jobs the four bliss contract uh believe me we are working so hard to bring in uh and generate revenue other ways than just building warehouses the thing is is that more warehouses are going to be built in our area because there's more land that the city of Elaso no longer has anymore and it's coming this Trust me when I say I'm right next to the main reason why we bought 35 years we built right next to it and when Mr. came over and asked these are the options we have. I'm fixated on trees and that's exactly what I said. I said that's let me tell you my story and the reason why we bought here. I said is there anything you can do to save some of these trees? And he said the smaller ones that have been there for years tells me going to leave those, right? And then let me do that border of trees. But then again, he came back and said, "The problem here is the water and folks that don't want to land anymore. I'm being forced to set." And I said, "Why don't you them out and take them to

Clint?" He goes, "It's a lot. It's and I can't afford it. He says, "I'm older than you. I don't have kids that could take over the property and continue farming it." At that point, you understand the the balls on my court. Do I stay? Do I sell further else? I have uh two comments. We we are with with the commission. Um we've talked so many times. We we wish we could see that different kind of development, something similar to to Islate. And everybody we get those comments too. How come Horizon is looking so beautiful? Horizon this, Horizon that. It's not Horizon, it's the county. It's cheaper for them to build in the county. That's why they build all those those stores. We can do so much, but we are trying to to limit those warehouses. In November 26, 2025, I brought an item and it says discussion and action directing city staff to research and prepare an ordinance. The council's consideration restricting the development of warehouse facilities within 1.5 miles north and south of Sakoro Road within the city limits, preserving the historical and cultural character of the mission trail and protecting the health, safety, and work welfare of nearby residents. We try to do as much as we can and I

know Mr. Pettis told me that we couldn't do citywide. Mr. Pettis, yes. And will you tell me the the reason we couldn't do this citywide? Because we do have a comprehensive plan in place and so we want to make sure that we adhere to the comprehensive plan and so that we are able to uh as we can limit them in that regard and but again the zoning is appropriate to the building. being proposed. Uh the city has limited recourse in saying that.

Thank you. And I've talked to to a couple of people when we go out of town and there's this firms, I guess you want to call them, and they they promise they promised me that they were going to try to bring more restaurants, more more stores, but it's it's it's a promise. And that's That's unfortunately that's the growth we are getting even even if we don't like it.

So a lot of a lot of folks and residents have asked us well why don't we have this why don't we have that? Um a lot of the restaurants and stores that we want to see in Sakoro um they do market analysis. The medium household income doesn't look like what it looks like up there by the golf course. our people don't make as much as they do in certain parts of the county or the city of El Paso. So, we won't see certain stores until there's enough rooftops. And what that means is more residential. Um, there was talks about bringing a a certain uh coffee joint that everybody has probably purchased here once in or twice in their life. Um, we're still waiting on that one. It's finally coming because there's enough roof rooftops. They they've seen a market analysis saying, "Yeah, Sakoto can now afford our coffee. We're going to we're going to bring it." But this is why it's so important for us to keep up to speed with all of the House bills that are being passed. I want to I want to read you all something. Uh this is House Bill 2559. This was signed into law this uh past last summer by Governor Greg Abbott. It now restricts how cities uh city councils across Texas can impose moratoriums on development. So we can enact a moratorum which means you can stop all development and all of the applications are frozen and stuck in that in that department there until we can finally say we've met our infrastructure needs. We can start growing again. But you put a stop to development. But let me tell you what's happening with that. The law requires not my law, not the planning and zoning rules or policies. The state law requires two public hearings. Um spaced out 30 days apart followed by two separate council meetings 28 days in between and only after three4s of the council vote that then the moratorum can be approved and even then it can only last for 90 days. So that means only three months can you go into a moratorum

before it has to be released and all those applications they have to start coming through and trickle down to you all and then to us. Um before that moratorums could last as long as the city wanted to. But what that h what that what happens is a lot of developers who have lobbyed for for this to to discontinue up in Austin have somehow got it passed through this bill which put some constraints on what we can do as far as holding up development. So whether we like it or not it comes. It just comes at a slower rate of speed because of the house bills that protect the developers as well. very difficult thing to swallow, but I thank God for giving me a throat big enough because we've had to swallow quite a bit uh in the past couple years here in Sakoro. And I know we're experiencing some some growing pains and it may not be the growth that we'd like to see, but I can tell you that for the future um and the younger generations, I think I think they're going to be happy with what's coming. Uh they're no longer having to travel outside of the city and leave their money out there. I'm trying to build a city to where we have a good mix of everything. I want to see the restaurants and and stuff like that. It's coming. I just don't know how fast. And everybody thinks that as they go up Nova Wo and they hit the the big marketplace there that that's Horizon. That's not Horizon. That's a county and the Amazon and all that. That's a county. Horizon doesn't start until you get to the to the golf course. You get all the rich people problems up there. Golf balls in people's backyards. That's what they're complaining about. We're complaining about other things here. They're only about 8 to nine square miles and Sakoro is 22 square miles. So I I've told the mayor of Horizon several times, you know, we have people that own land about the size of your whole town there and it's still a town. It's not even a city. Um, but at the end of the day, I think I think that some of the frustrations that both these tables um feel are just things that are

beyond our control. And all we can do is um state our opinion, concern on the table. But does it do us any good? No. Um what does us good is to educate ourselves and know what we can and cannot do. I think that'll help us moving forward in the future. Well, I don't have anything else other than I think um we want to thank council for listening to us today. I think it was a very good conversation both ways. I think both of us or most of us have learned something from this. And I think that as a as a board, I think we can maybe be more diligent about how we process our agendas and maybe lean more on staff and maybe reach out to our districts and get some assistance. So, thank you.

I have a go ahead. So, I just want to make some clarifications because I know Mr. Visa is saying we can just vote no, right? So, there's things that limit us, right? That's why we recommend approval for some of the items, right? Because even if you vote no, then you're going to have that 90% drop to like 85% if we're in violation of any laws or regulations. Now, once you turn into the ETJ, the county has no zoning jurisdiction. So, they can't ask for any type of zoning. All we can do is request them to use our subdivision ordinance and uh make sure that they follow that ordinance. If they're following that ordinance, staff is saying, "Okay, they met this, they met this, they met this, there is no reason why we can't deny them based on how we execute policy. We're not the policy makers. we just execute the policy and make sure that we are complying with what the law requires. Right? Once um and like mayor said, the legislation right now are ripping municipalities of our powers. They're becoming more pro prodevelopment and really not allowing us any um and I mean this this next legislation is going to be a hard one because they're really ripping us from our powers. So, it's important that we also talk to our legislative um people, Mary Gonzalez, you have Senator Blanco, you have people that can fight for opposing those bills that are coming that are really limiting the way that these developers are developing around the city. But we always staff and legal will always recommend what has already been approved. Right? If there's changes that you think might come to um council for hey we need we

need a change in this ordinance that's where you can talk to council that way you can change policy and then we can go that route. Now touching a little bit about zoning, that is the time, like let's say there's a property that's agricultural, that is the time to deny. Once you approve it, you can't stop that development. Once it's approved to ICMUD, it's approved for residential, it's approved for commercial. At that point, it makes it a lot harder to stop the development because you are making them lose money based on the zoning that they have. A lot of these people that buy property, they first want to guarantee that that property is zoned properly before they make that investment. Right? So, it's at the zoning level that you have a little bit of more authority because once it's zoned, our our hands are tight, right? So, that's um and again, my door is always open. If you ever want to sit down, I can provide you some information. We can have a workshop and talk about these issues and frustrations that you're having when staff is telling you, well, no, we we need to recommend approval because they're meeting all of the guidelines. That's all I wanted to add.

Thank you. Can I add something, Mayor Trish?

I I just want to also clarify a few things in following the city manager and I have these discussions of planning and zoning thing all the time. So, some of this you guys have already heard on repeat or heard it last week. Uh, a few different things. So some of the things planning zoning commission does have discretion on sometimes we talk about those things like resonings you have more discretion but things like preliminary and final plats those are by the book and I think that was one of the last things whenever I show you the factors and to me it's very by the book on the legal issues is here's the 10 things if they have it planning and zoning would tell you they're missing a soil report they're missing a something or other but if they met all those check boxes the state law basically pushes pushes those through now and in a small time period. Um, and city council is also bound by the same thing. Whether or not you guys like something or not, they have the same timeline. They've got 30 days. They got to they have to look at the same factors. If they deny something, they've got to state it. Um, so you know, it goes through the same process. Um, so that that's issue number one. Number two is I always say this and maybe I've said this in front of city council too is when you have applicants as the attorney, I'm always worried that they get a fair shake, a fair hearing. So you have to pretend every time that they came that you don't know them. This is the first time you've seen them because if they don't they can say I didn't get a fair a fair hearing. Well that's you know there's due process under the law. It's like I think I always mention this. It's like when you go to court and the judge hears your case for the first time. He he might know who you are. He might have heard about you but he has to pretend that he he's hearing the he should he or she should hear the evidence go which which way they want to and then come up with their own opinion. And if they can't, then they're probably biased and they shouldn't hear your case, right? You're not getting a fair shake. And we do that here in municipal court. You got a traffic ticket, you know, you get to get you get to be heard. Um, so in planning zoning, if an applicant comes, you got to hear their application. You may not like them. You may not like warehousing.

You may not like the type of business they do. The some of the time, you know, I can't stop you guys because you you got everybody has a strong opinion, I think, on different things. And as a lawyer, it's not my I'm not the tell you what to do, what not to do. I just I just have to guide you on the legal issues, right? And that's that's where I stop. I have to keep my thoughts to myself. But a lot of times I would say if you can restrain yourself from because you don't want to say out loud because if you say something and again the bigger the developer, these people are savvy. They will come in with their teams. You've seen them. They've got engineers. They've got lawyers. I know generally who their lawyers are because I hear from them after a planning zoning commission meeting. Hey what happened and they watch the videos. They go back and watch the whole thing. And again, lawyers are smart. I know what they're doing is they're going to pick they're going to pick through and find every little problem they can find. They'll start with the agenda, see if it was posted correctly. They will see if the backup there was something wrong. They'll watch the minutes. They'll take every word that you guys say. They they can turn it around. You know, smart lawyer will come up with something. And so that's why I'm very kind of careful as we're going through this. I'm aware that who we're dealing with, what's the exposure? A lot of these things we discussed in executive session, so I can't, you know, put it out in out in the public session. Uh, but we have to be careful. And I think usually my recommendation again on the legal side is I'm looking through once it goes to pending zoning, what city council going to deal with? I advise Jim, we go through every item on planning zoning items and I can tell you about 90% plus is getting approved because I'm going through it with Jim before the meeting. And I'm also alerting Jim, hey, this might be a problem. There might be an issue. And this leads to my the last thing. Um, you know, I think we can probably helping zoning commission. I heard a bunch of your questions. We can educate you more on what you can do and can't do. And maybe we'll do that in one of the next sessions here as we go

through the bylaws. I'll go through some of the state law with you. Um, and the city ordinances and the city charter which says planning zoning commissions, this is what you can do. This is what you can't do. So it tells you, but the way it's set up is it all comes to you first as city council said, then it goes to city council. The city council has a final say on everything that happens in the city. And so it might be something you like or something you don't like. But even applicants, they're supposed to get a second shot. If they didn't like what happened at Planning Zoning, they get to go there and make their case again. And sometimes it's it's a couple weeks in between where they hear something, they hear a concern, and they say, "You know what? I'm going to with some new stuff to go to city council and bring up some maybe I got some new evidence. Maybe I got somebody else. Maybe I'll they convince the neighbor. Look, I'll do X, Y, and Z, and I won't remove a tree. And so, they try to do things before it gets to city council to fix a problem. But ultimately, city council has the final say on it. And people are supposed to get a fair shake in front of them, too. And they're supposed to be independent. So, they can take your recommendations, you know, and I think 90% they do, but they're supposed to think also independently. I can't tell them what to do. You know, planning zoning ultimately can't. They can take your recommendation and then the decision lays with them. And that's kind of the I mentioned in one of our last hearings that that's the American process, right? Uh even in court, you go to a lower level court, you win, you lose, you don't like it, you can go to the next court above and you can appeal it. So the appeal is always to city council. They make the final decision. And that's with all the boards and commissions. I believe pretty much they all report to city council. on on these on these kind of items and so they make the final decision. So that's kind of the process. Um but it's meant to be collaborative between both. So it's the only thing I wanted to add.

I have a Yeah, man. So, okay, under un under Thank you, but and correct me if I'm wrong, but there's state law that dictates to all the cities across Texas saying that the developer has a they the state law gives a timeline and state law says that the developer has to meet the guidelines, the charter, the ordinances that each particular city has in place. And so long as they do that, that's where the boxes come through and if they do that within the timeline then it it goes forward. Is that is that correct? That's correct. Yeah. Preliminary final plots. Yeah.

Okay. Preliminary and final plots and then reszoning. Is it more or less the same thing as as in the city or the the the applicant needs to meet the guidelines that the that the city is imposing whether it's ordinances or charter or whatever it is. So long as when it comes up for reszoning, so long as they meet those requirements, then more than likely we don't have a say, it needs to move forward. It's for plats and replats, but is it the same thing for reszoning?

Yeah, resonings are a little bit different. So the P&Z commission does have a little bit more discretion on that. It doesn't have that same check box as the preliminary final plat. So there's a little bit more discretion on that. Okay. So then why not as a as a as a governing body for S coral, right? And that goes back to like the first question was if if we're and this is an example, okay, but let's just assume that everybody is is of the consensus that we don't want warehouses. Not my position, okay? But let's just assume that

and then we have the the zoning that dictates that. So for example, we have C1 and C2 right now. Correct. So what if we impose C3 and C3 is for warehousing only. There's nothing else under C3. It's just reszoning for warehousing. That's it. And we put that into our res into our zoning ordinance and it's there and we do it and we push it. We do it quickly so that when they do want to reszone, we know exactly what's going in there right from the beginning and we say we're going to reszone this to C1, C2. You can do apartments. you can do. We're not going to dictate to you whatever what you can build, but we're not going to give you R4 because that's strictly for warehousing and we stop it there and that's it. So, for example, somebody comes in and they want to do another property down north. Well, we have or or it's a question, do we have the power to do that? Change this the ordinances, the zoning and say we're only allowing warehousing in this particular zone. It might not exist for us right now. It might be like an umbrella like C2 allows a bunch of different stuff, but warehousing only goes under C3 or C4. We make that determination as a group and then that's it. And then now now we have power as a city. Now we have I think the the ability I don't I don't know that position, right? But I I would I'm assuming that now we have the bargaining power. Now we say no, we'll give you the zoning and we'll go towards it, but now you're going to contribute this. Now you're going to give us the the the the what do you call it the turning lane. Now you're going to help us with text dot and and and push for that city light that we're looking for for your the turning lane. Whatever it might be. It just seems that and and you touched on it earlier. So Cororo has the the land. Soro has the land. Everybody's everybody because we are a hub. We're right on the

border. Everybody's looking over here. Everybody. And here here we are just we don't there's nothing we can do. It's just it just seems that that's there should be something we can do. And that's where my question is. If if we have the zoning in place, the ordinances and state law says the developer has to follow the ordinances, then we set the ordinance ordinances, don't we? That's that's my question.

Yeah, I I would add so to answer your question on a couple things. So number one is the comprehensive plan is what kind of governs and so if there are different zoning areas that allow different kinds of development, it's We already went through that process. I think this last year I think we had another a joint meeting like this and there was a guy that came with little clickers and everybody picked what what kind of developments they wanted to see that went through the community process whether or not a lot of you know people participated. I think there was some some good showing they had a lot of meetings and and outreach. But you can't outlaw just certain kinds of developments and even that particular and I think a couple of city council members mentioned it that when you start limiting somebody's use of their property you say well you can do X but you can't do Y but you can't do Z but I like this you can do A. So hold on that's actually it's a process called inverse condemnation where I'm not allowing you to do anything on your property. You know, I could go in and say, "I won't let you farm there. It's agricultural land. I won't let you build uh, you know, a shopping center. I won't let you build a gas station. I want you warehouse, but you can only build a school." If you do something like that, they will soon say, "Well, you took away all my economic rights. I can't do anything with the property. I don't have the money to build a school. I'm not interested in building a school." You know, and so when you limit somebody's property, you know, that's where it becomes a problem. They have rights and then they're entitled compensation. they can sue and again that's where me as a lawyer then gets involved and say wait a minute you know we're creating a lot of problems here and a lot of these I think I mentioned at the last meeting too is it starts to be a budget constraint and that's for the city council then to decide is how many people you know if you go to war with them and you're using taxpayer dollars how much you want to fight people on it and and if it's a priority you can do that um and that's not even for me the lawyer decide if you

ask me what cost of litigation, I say it's going to be six figures. You're going to spend $100,000, $200,000, and I'll tell you up front, 99% chance you're going to lose on a preliminary final plan because they met everything and and you may pay their attorney's fees as well. So, you're going to pay your attorney, you're going to pay their attorney, and then you're going to go lose in court. Um, you know, and lose very quickly. Those kind of things. I mean, again, the legislature has made it very easy for de developers. Um, the climate we live in. So, you know, we have to kind of be very careful with that. You know, again, as a lawyer, we're usually the negative nies. I'm worried about everything. You know, I'm like, you know, I'm not the business person. I'm not a risky person. I'm here to advise the city on this risk and what you're taking. Uh, but we got, you know, we have to be careful. Now, you can always not listen to the lawyer and not take my opinion. I'm not I'm not offended, but I'm here to at least guide the city to help it stay out of trouble. Um because those things, you know, can cause issues.

Thank you. Um I just from this position, from this board, I just see a year down the line, three years down the line, the way the ordinances are written down right now, state law, potentially we we're going to It could be that there'll be scattered warehousing throughout soor maybe at some point it gets saturated and people you know developers stop asking for warehousing. I don't know that business side of it but that's just what it seems could be possible if we don't find a way to stop it. Right? And so, you know, it's it's an opinion, my opinion, that I I think it should be limited to to the perimeter of, you know, close to I 10, close to group 375 and what other whatever other major roads are are being planned for for the long term, 10 years out, 15 years out, but within the community,

it's just so me and Mr. Cruz are part of this legislative group. We go to Austin and people and and we meet with other people that aren't from El Paso to to start being focused on certain things. And when you're over there, yeah, they tell you the world, but when you're looking at we have no power. The cities have no power. Uh as as as everything's coming through and if you if you pay attention to the politics, they're taking all our power away. They they want the state to rule over everything. And if you have money, then you're a contractor, then you're going to profit. And and that takes away a lot of our power to what we're going to do because, you know, if it's funding, if it's not funding, but we we we've seen it firsthand. We're like, please, I mean, he had to make an emergency trip for certain funding because it's just not going to happen for us. And and if you pay attention to politics in in the state, that's that's the thing. They're they're going to get rid of property taxes or they want to. Then what do we pay? Where's our budget? Mr. Cruz did say 70% of our budget is from property taxes. What happens then? What happens to the city? So, I mean, yeah, if we could, we would, but we have to keep this city afloat. We have to make sure that our employees are paid, that our streets are paved, that our grass is cut. Those are those are things that that we think about every single day. And and if it was I talked to Miss Rod, I used to uh call it a dream killer when I first started because I'd be like, "Let's do this." No, can't. You know, I I actually had a correspondence with HB for a while and they won't come down here.

I don't know. And I remember somebody once telling me takana won't even come into the city. The movies won't come into the city. We've been wanting a Starbucks for the last 10 years. Ask us that. And and it's just it's just a matter of of either either we keep the city afloat or we swing and and miss and then we're no longer able to have a police chief. We're no longer have staff. We're no longer to have any Fourth of July, you know. Sorry to I didn't mean it like that.

It's just a manpower. And the thing is, one thing I'll tell you right now and and anybody whatever they want to say, what do you want more is cops because they want those 911 calls answered like this. No matter what spectrum you're at, they want their cops like this. They want the public safety like that. And I'm telling you, it is what it is.

And they don't want to pay taxes. And the thing is that the state will fund police officers and they'll fund law enforcement. And that's where we're at right now. And that's just a political climate in a in a in a in a in a cinch because guess what? Businesses want to grow and they want to make people want to make money. We're in a very capitalist time right now where people are going to build to make money, not because it feels good, not because it's, oh, let's build this. No. How much is it going to make me? We had a baseball thing going on for a while. It didn't work out because they wanted they wanted this, they wanted that, and they wanted this the city to pay for it. As much as I love and bring you court to the city, we can it's just a m it's just facts and it it really hurts and and just I understand you guys. I understand your point, but God on this side it's just so we're tied up and and either we find ways to bring money in and and keep everything the way it is or we say, "You know what? We have to find other avenues and that's going to be on the on the tax tax.

And I I think you hit the the target point, right? Like you said, you have no power as a city. Same thing here. I think to us since we don't understand the whole aspect on your guys' back end, right? What we're saying is like since we have all the land, right? Why not? We're not against warehousing. It's just at the right place. But per se, since there's no zoning or no nothing that Oh, yeah. You could do warehousing, but only here. Like you guys say, we can't tell anybody what to do with their land. So meaning anybody I mean and I don't know the the guidelines of how to reszone to commercial, right? But let's say somebody in the middle of residential, I know there should be some setbacks or whatever, they're allowed to to convert to commercial, right? So but basically at the end of the day, if it's already presented to us with an with an recommendation for approval, well, we technically go back to square one where it's like, hey, we'll approve it, right? Because now we go back to u no miss said

right well no we just can't say no again right to me it was just okay well we'll say no and we don't agree to it just to grab your all's attention right not to to and not just to grab the attention but hey this is the no because of this not because we're just opposed to warehousing but because we think this needs to go someplace else or because of this reason but then we go back to square one left that said, "No, we just can't say no because once it's already to you, it's they've literally passed everything. There's no reason why to deny it." So, we're kind of again just locked by our hands. And that's where the frustration comes. But hearing you, it's like you guys don't even have any power. So, what does it give us? You know, like that's where I was saying like, okay, so then

how do we better help you guys is is basically where I end up tied up of is it do we just approve it? Do we just your opinion? That's where the confusion is at. because I'm now we go back to square one where miss says no you just can't say no my my grandfather used to sayundo correct and and so I I bring that here and and Rudy was really like hey we might not agree anything but at the end of the day let's shake hands and let's do it

so that's that's what it is because if you say no to me and I have a constituent that says I don't like this well there's a it's affecting their life so I have to pay attention and some but if you say everything's fine Everything's fine. See what I'm saying? And I can remember back going to to the Inglewood uh North Loop warehouses that were going to come and and and even our staff said no. You know, we could have approved it and it would have been that, but we came back and said, you know what, we uh we need bigger streets. We need this fixed or whatever. And that was no. You know what I mean? because that was something that I guess we all agreed on per say I can't remember exactly that was a couple years back but when you if you if you say an opinion about something that somebody has to pay attention because I thrive on what I the information that happened that's what I thrive on just I just don't want to get the city in trouble because again we are the faith of the city per se right I just don't want to mess up and say no to something because of what we believe right but then I'm going against what we should say if that makes sense

but we can also say as per zoning as per our staff we going to amend we want this amended to a certain way or this should be done we might not be able to say no but we can also say we want certain things to go with it you know because they're going to ask us for the world oh I don't want I don't want to have to build a hundred so give me 50 parking spaces okay well what can we work with? And that's just that's the way it works. I mean, I'm guessing, right? But we've done that where we we we don't charge people. We don't we won't pass permits. We don't do this. But at the end of the day, how are they going to help us?

So, but your opinion is is super valid, is super important because that raises my eyebrows when I say no. Well, why? And then has been there. She's like,

as long as we don't get in trouble, right? Here's the thing, right? When in doubt, ask. Right? There's a saying in corporate that says it's the five W. You ask you're not agreeing on something. Ask why. Don't respond. Not up to why. You give the right answer. Don't forget 80% of our problems on this earth are caused by lack of and when in doubt you ask is all I ask right so I mean we're all human and sometimes we think with our our brains and sometimes we think with our hearts and um so moving forward just understand that you guys are operating in a capacity of being able to make decisions And when you say, "I don't want to do something that gets the city in trouble." Well, let that's why we have legal in the room. And you can always ask legal a question. You can ask our city planner a question. Uh let's refrain from using certain um or making certain comments when they're personal. If they are personal, just say in my personal opinion, I feel this this and this because um the people that are sometimes being represented in here um like the engineers and their attorneys who are watching um they only see you in your capacity as a commissioner of the spanning and zoning board, which is why it could potentially trigger the the letter being sent to our attorney when we say certain things. Let's be the moves that we make, but also realize that the power that you have, it can only be exercised if you know what you're doing on the table. And if you don't know, uh, you have your resources here. And don't be afraid to

engage. And the last thing that I want is for any commissioner serving on any board or commission to feel obligated to doing something or making a decision that they're not comfortable with. Because at the end of the day, are more than happy to to walk away. But then that where does that leave us? It's very hard to fill those positions. But at the same time, I' I've listened to your comments and concerns in the video. I don't want you guys to feel anything. But understand that we develop and if we like it, doesn't mean the person on the other side of the city has to like it. And I can almost guarantee you that everybody in here has been to a Chihuahua's game at least once in their time, in their lifetime. A lot of people didn't want that stadium to come. Do you think we were over there advocating for them? No, we didn't care. We just saw the baseball stadium going up and we thought it was a good thing for for this region. Um maybe where housing isn't something that the people in the county or other parts of Sakoro say, "Hey, that's really cool." I can tell you this though, everybody from the economic development departments of the county and the city of El Paso, they're looking at us because they're seeing a more progressive than they've ever seen before. And they're liking what they're seeing because we're employing people. We're creating jobs, but we're also creating an e economic driver that we never had. It's tough times right now for the state, for the for the county, and for the economy where we've in the past have relied so heavily on them. Those monies are no longer available. The state of Texas is growing and I can tell you that we have people moving in from other states which is why our residential growth is is is peak has peaked and also people moving in from other countries to the state of Texas. That's another reason why the residential growth has peaked. So, it's just something that we're going to have to um we're going to have to just get along because there was a time where the house that we live in

today was probably a cotton field or a pecan orchard and now it's providing shelter for our families. Um, but if there's no other discussion moving forward, uh, again, I thank you all for taking the time that you do to sit and serve on this commission. Um, are there any more comments from from the commission before we close the meeting? I'll just say that I I thank you guys your time and and at no point are we against it. We just want to be on the same page. Um, and no polling are do I think we're trying to to become a burden or trying to to go against with the growth that we see you guys are doing and and this um board right has I think it's one of the ones that has impacted the most right I mean we don't call it board but the table right per se so we're all for it and I think with it's growing pains as well um and thank you as well for hearing us more than anything

and understand that we we live in the same community that you all live in we we drive down the same streets you all have to drive down and we have to stop at the same stop signs and stop lightss that you all have to. Um, but as there's no uh more further discussion, do we have anything for executive session? No, mayor. Next to discuss. I know that from the city council. Um, we're going to go ahead and entertain a motion to adjurnn and then the PNZ can also do the same. Uh, motion to adjurnn. Second. So, there's a motion and second to adjourn the meeting. All those in favor say I. I that motion carries. Make a motion to adjurnn.

I have a motion made by Andro, second by Julie Dominguez to adjurnn. All those in favor of the motion? I. Any obstain? Any nays? Motion carried. Meeting adjourn at 7:02 p.m. Thank you.