MARFA — Marfa City Council members met last week to adopt a revised zoning ordinance and approve a new on-call policy for the city’s EMS personnel.
The zoning ordinance involved six primary changes to the current ordinance, adopted in 2002, recommended to council by the Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Board. The changes were designed to “improve the city’s ability to deal more efficiently with building applications and actively with certain zoning infractions,” according to a P&Z report.
Amendments include restricting the construction of more than one kitchen in houses within the R-1 single family residential district, making allowable home occupations less restrictive, reducing setbacks for corner lots, clarifying buildable lot sizes to match the existing plats within the city, allowing residential use of properties zoned industrial and allowing co-use of commercial properties as both businesses and residences.
While the majority of the changes are allowances rather than restrictions, those in violation of the new law will face a penalty of $500 to $2,000 per offense. City officials will work with residents to prevent those fines when possible, City Manager Mandy Roane told The Big Bend Sentinel.
The process of amending the current ordinance has been ongoing since this fall. Before the P&Z presented its recommendations to the council, two public hearings were held. The city also held two public hearings, which were sparsely attended. Two citizens who spoke at the last of two public hearings expressed concern that preventing the construction of two kitchens in a single home harmed affordable housing, a pressing local issue, while another worried that the amendment would lead to more subdivided properties ruining the character of R-1 neighborhoods.
Council proceeded with adopting the ordinance as-is and last week met for the second reading of the ordinance and the final step to see it signed into law. Councilmember Travis Acreman, who has been active in zoning amendment discussions, said he didn’t feel comfortable adopting the ordinance quite yet due to a lack of time to review the latest edits and likely a complicated amendment process should the council get something wrong.
“Just knowing the problems that are in the existing Planning and Zoning ordinance and the way that they can affect people who are trying to do business with the city, I would just advise the council to be very cautious before putting our name to anything that would be binding and might be very difficult to amend,” Acreman said.
Councilmember Raul Lara said he was “ready to move on” and pass the ordinance, placing his trust in the city’s legal council and administrators. He made a motion to adopt the ordinance, which was seconded by Councilmember Mark Morrison. Councilmember Mark Cash voted in support of adopting the ordinance and Councilmember Acreman was opposed. Councilmember Eddie Pallarez was absent.
Council members also voted to approve a new policy regarding EMS on-call hours. As of August 1, the department will have employees on-call 24 hours, with paramedics and EMTs being dispatched from the EMS headquarters at City Hall. City of Marfa EMS employees were previously on-call, but able to be home during that time.
“The staying at home was sort of a holdover from the volunteer days. Because you can’t expect volunteers to sit here 24 hours,” Roane said.
Employees were being paid for 16 hours before, but will now be paid for the full 24 hours since they will be required to be at the station during that time. Exceptions for church, the gym and meals will be made.
Roane said the change, while an added cost for the city, is still within the city’s current budget and will help improve response times. Councilmember Morrison — who brought forth the item after a personal experience led to concern about the department’s response times being delayed due to the policy — said the budget impact is minor compared to the benefits to the public.
“By having everyone there, the quicker they get out, the better the service, the better we’re gonna build to take care of people,” Roane said.
The EMS station is currently outfitted with two bedrooms, one bathroom and a kitchen. EMS Director Bert Lagarde said the station is “not set up” for the new policy, because three people will need to be on call, meaning one person will have to sleep on the couch in the living room because there are only two bedrooms.
Typically two people are on call, but because a couple of employees are in the midst of their three-month probationary period, a training requirement, three people are currently on call at any given time. Some minor improvements to the facility may be made to accommodate the on-call policy change, Roane said.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story has been updated to include details on the zoning ordinance vote.