MARFA — The City of Marfa Planning and Zoning (P&Z) commission voted last week to deny an application from American Electric Power (AEP) to rezone a property from residential to industrial. The proposal now heads to City Council members, who have the ultimate say on whether or not the rezone can occur.
The proposal — which involves erecting a new much larger substation on a current residential lot on Oak and Aparejo streets catty-corner to the existing station — was the subject of two public hearings earlier this spring, where input from an AEP public affairs manager and Marfa residents was heard. The existing station, which supplies the City of Marfa with power, is routinely operating over capacity and is in sore need of an upgrade, according to AEP. Opponents of the project argued the addition of a massive substation would permanently damage an otherwise peaceful residential neighborhood.
On Thursday, P&Z voted unanimously — with four out of five members present — to deny the application for a rezone and approve their report on the matter, which will next be heard by members of the City Council. “We’ve just found, from the P&Z perspective, that we couldn’t support it, but all our official statements will be in the report,” said P&Z Chairman Chick Rabourn.
The P&Z report includes board members recommendations and public input received on the proposal. City Council will now vote whether or not to accept the report, likely at its June 26 meeting, then will schedule a public hearing and ultimately vote on whether or not to approve or deny the request.
The Big Bend Sentinel asked for a copy of the P&Z report, but Rabourn deferred to other city officials on whether or not it can be made public before it is heard by the City Council. (The Sentinel has also submitted an open records request for the document but did not receive a copy by press time.)
Don Richards, an attorney who works with the Freedom of Information Foundation Texas, said the report is clearly public record because it was voted on in a public meeting and used for a policy decision. “That doesn’t even sound like a close call unless there’s something I don’t know about,” he said. “If it’s something that the governmental body relied upon, then yes, it’s gotta be made public. And it’s not an internal memo — that ‘internal’ went out the door once it’s voted on by the governmental body.”