Editor's note: The City Council agenda for Tuesday (Oct. 3) contains an item for discussion and action on the Northeast Master Plan request for qualifications for a master developer. For background, there has been a strong debate over whether the PSB ought to sell its land in one large chunk, or whether the property can be split up and sold in smaller tracts to local developers. Richard Roman, government affairs director for the El Paso Association of Builders, wrote in an El Paso Times Op-Ed July 20 that the plan would exclude local builders and yield less money. Woody Hunt argues in this open letter that maintaining the land as one property would yield higher-quality neighborhoods.
* * *
Fellow El Pasoans:
El Paso is unique among cities. In the northeast and northwest growth areas, we ourselves own most of the vacant land within the current city limits. How those 30,000 acres are sold and converted into new neighborhoods will define us a community for generations to come. It will establish whether we can deliver the quality of life required to be competitive. It will determine if we can attract and retain the best and brightest.
The PSB should be commended for its recent policy decision to sell 3,200 acres to a single master developer who will have to comply with the Northeast Master Plan. If done correctly, the result will be neighborhoods with open space, parks, public facilities, schools, shopping centers, employment centers -- as well as housing. In other words, "smart" communities where residents can live, work, and play with the right things in the right places, rather than the suburban sprawl that consumes land without delivering any real quality of life.
If it's done right, everyone benefits:
City transfers the development risk to the private sector,
High quality infrastructure investment is built before the development starts,
Value of the remaining PSB land is enhanced,
Builders get more choices to purchase lots,
Home buyers get better places to raise their families,
Qualified developers invest in the community for a long term reward,
Competing developers raise the quality of their subdivisions,
El Paso attracts new jobs and investment,
Taxpayers get a stronger property base to pay for services.
Much has been said about the need to respond to the growth at Ft. Bliss. Evidence from other cities suggests that master-planned communities not only set a higher standard but also produce more lots and more housing choices in the market.
If we believe that El Paso's past policies have not created a community we can be proud of, now is the time to ask, "What changes can we make that will result in a higher quality outcome?"
Through Master Planning and longer term strategies, communities such as Albuquerque, McAllen, Tucson, and even Las Cruces have created higher quality neighborhoods, respected the environment, and enhanced economic development opportunities. We have the means, do we have the will?
URS Corporation, the PSB's consultant and a nationally recognized land planning form, recommended that a master planned community in the northeast is the right strategy. They also noted that while El Paso has delivered "affordable housing", the City has not kept pace in the quality of our neighborhoods. The same conclusions were drawn at the recent Smart Growth Conference. What has been widely demonstrated elsewhere is that affordable housing and sustainable communities are not in conflict, but rather can be mutually supportive.
I encourage every El Pasoan to contact your City Council representative and insist that they stand firmly for a better tomorrow. Let's do it right this time. It's our land and it's our future.
Sincerely,
Woody L. Hunt
Chairman and CEO
Hunt Building Corporation
* * *
