The City Plan Commission approved the Medical Center of the Americas master plan this morning. It goes next to the City Council, now scheduled for Oct. 7.
"This allows us to move forward," said Ralph Adame, a member of the non-profit MCA board.
The MCA is meant to be a "keeper of the vision," an organization that maintains a big-picture view of a medical campus that incorporates Thomason, Texas Tech and other institutions and businesses that want to be in one physical location. The concept is modeled after medical centers in such places as San Antonio and Houston, where clustered medical service, research and industry create enormous economic engines.
The concept in El Paso has been controversial because of the potential use of eminent domain, a concern that derailed the project for years and played a role in City Council elections in 2003. The City Plan Commission suggested that eminent domain not be used in carrying out the plan, although the plan itself does not affect the legal authority of any of the institutions involved to use eminent domain for a public purpose.
Adame said it wouldn't be necessary under the current conditions anyway, because enough landowners have expressed a willingness to participate to serve at least the next five to 10 years of development.
The plan was paid for through a combination of donations from individuals and foundations, and a grant from the city of El Paso.
Adame said approval of the master plan allows the MCA to move to the next phase of planning, which will address details such as transportation and drainage in the area.
In addition to recommending against the use of eminent domain, the City Plan Commission also:
-- Noted that the railroad, which runs underneath Raynolds between Interstate 10 and Alameda, must be dealt with in some way.
-- Recommended adding a neighborhood representative to the MCA board.
-- Recommended seeking a study from the Texas Department of Transportation regarding creation of direct access from I-10 to the north and from the Border Highway to the south.
-- Suggested a looking into a mass transit component to the project: "We're suggesting the BRT system in a larger use area," said Gus Haddad, chairman of the City Plan Commission.
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Here is a look at the project through the NPT archives:
-- The MCA and the public trust, Posted on September 22, 2008: "It's back to the future. The MCA master plan is up for discussion Tuesday at a special City Plan Commission meeting. The same issue -- trust -- is in play as during the discussion several years ago, but the processes and dynamics have changed."
-- Meet the Plan: Medical Center of the Americas campus open for discussion, Posted on August 15, 2008: "Almost 10 years in the making, depending how it's calculated, the Medical Center of the Americas will hit a key stage over the next several weeks as the master plan outlining general land use for more than 200 acres is vetted in public."
-- Coming Soon, A Push for the Unified Medical Campus, Posted on March 20, 2006: "One of the most ambitious economic development projects in El Paso's history, mired in politics and semi-moribund for the past couple of years, is about to reemerge. The project, the Medical Center of the Americas, would cluster medical assets in the area now dominated by Thomason and Texas Tech."
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-- Medical Center of Americas Coming into Focus, Posted on April 17, 2006: "The project is picking up steam, with more details made public at a meeting of the mayor’s Medical Cabinet April 12. The city will be asked to help fund a master plan, to begin in September and be finished in March, 2007. Meanwhile, Tech and Thomason proceed with their growth plans."
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Hunt Family Foundation Donates $500,000 to MCA, Posted on August 3, 2007: "The Hunt Family Foundation has donated $500,000 to the Medical Center of the Americas Foundation. The following is a news release regarding the donation."
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UTEP and the MCA, Virtually Partners Despite Missed Opportunities, Posted on September 14, 2007: "For the second time since UTEP signed on as a partner in the proposed medical center in the late 90s, the UT System has decided to place a major health-related asset on the UTEP campus instead of the Medical Center of the Americas, a site anchored by Thomason and Texas Tech in Central El Paso. But this time, the MCA has its own momentum."
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Hunt and Shapleigh on the MCA and the Nursing School, Posted on October 12, 2007: "An exchange of letters -- two from this week -- between business leader Woody Hunt and state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh sheds light on some of the issues involved in building a medical center in El Paso, and that medical center's relationship with UTEP."
