MARFA — City Council members took no action on the American Electric Power (AEP) rezone proposal at a public hearing on Tuesday, where 24 members of the public weighed in on the company’s request to rezone a lot on the east side of town from residential to industrial in order to build a new substation. While a handful of people voiced support for the rezone, citizens largely turned out to oppose it.
Council members told The Big Bend Sentinel after the hearing that they plan to discuss when to schedule the vote at their next meeting on August 12. While council could technically hold another public hearing, it seems more likely that they will proceed with a vote.
All council members were present; Mark Morrison led the hearing after Mayor Manny Baeza recused himself due to his current role as an AEP employee. Council Member Eddie Pallarez was again called on by a couple of citizens to recuse himself due to his 46-year career with the company, but there is no indication that he plans to do so at this point.
AEP’s proposal involves purchasing an approximately four-acre lot at the corner of Oak and Aparejo streets and erecting a new substation — eight times larger than the existing Oak Street station and triple the capacity, increasing from 5 MVA to 15 MVA (megavolt-amperes) — an estimated $7 million to $10 million endeavor.
According to AEP, if it spends $10 million on the new substation, the tax revenue for the first year — it will gradually go down after that — for area taxing entities is:
- Presidio County: $48,513
- Marfa ISD: $82,385
- City of Marfa: $32,825
- Big Bend Regional Hospital District: $6,609
- Presidio County Underground Water Conservation District: $1,000
While the issue of local power outages — like one that happened during a Tuesday night storm — has been used to underscore the need for a new Marfa substation, it is worth noting that blackouts are often caused by issues with transmission lines and the statewide grid and will not disappear after a new substation is built.
This week AEP External Affairs Manager Fred Guerrero told The Sentinel that while that is true, the main concern is that the Marfa station has been “severely overloaded,” up to 40% at times, and is reaching the end of its serviceable life. (AEP has not publicly presented data on the existing substation.)
“Is it gonna hold for the next three or four years until we get a new one in service and offload the power from the old one to the new one? That’s the main issue we’re worried about,” Guerrero said.
AEP has drawn public criticism for a failure to present potential alternative sites for the substation and for not providing engineering plans or a substation design, something Guerrero has said will not be completed until the land sale goes through.
Many people that spoke at Tuesday’s public hearing — and in other previous public hearings held by the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) — said they are in favor of reliable power and local AEP employees but are against putting the new substation at the specific location that’s been targeted. On the other side of the issue, the family selling the lot, their realtor, their lawyer and some Marfa-born residents said it’s a suitable use for the land, and the project will benefit the entire town.
At this point, not much is publicly known about what council members think about the project, though they did previously push back at the P&Z for its recommendation that council deny the rezone. City Council did go into executive session to discuss the AEP rezone in a meeting last Thursday, but reconvened with no announcements. When a citizen spoke up to ask if they could share any insights from their discussion, they declined.
Some “affected landowners” — legally defined as those within 200 feet of the zoning request, including P&Z Chairman Chick Rabourn who has publicly opposed the project — recently filed a 211 protest with the city. At least 20% of the affected landowners signed the written protest which triggers a super majority vote on the council in order to approve the zoning change, meaning 4 out of 5 will have to vote in favor of the rezone for it to pass, instead of the typical 3 out of 5.
Another city-wide petition opposing the rezone, presented to council Tuesday by Ginger Griffice, an affected resident, garnered over 200 signatures, she said. Several citizens warned that the city may face legal action if they approve the rezone, which has been speculated to constitute an illegal “spot zone.”
Guerrero told The Sentinel that if the rezone is denied he will “have [AEP’s] real estate agent begin the process of searching for viable properties.” If the rezone is approved, AEP will move forward with purchasing the property, initiate the process of procuring materials and could begin construction as early as January 2027, bringing the new substation in service by spring of 2028.
He said the substation is undoubtedly needed, it’s just a matter of how quickly it will get done. “There is a possibility where it could get pushed down on the priority list, because it’s taken forever for us to get it built,” Guerrero said. “That money could get pushed to something else — some other station for the time being, and it’ll knock down the Marfa one’s priority — but the priority is still there. It’s going to get built regardless.”
Public hearing highlights
The character of the neighborhood on the east side where the proposed substation would be placed and the lot’s potential for residential development were popular topics of discussion at the public hearing.
Two realtors from Marfa Realty, Melissa Bent, who said she has no financial interest in the rezone, and Kathleen Walstrom, who is representing the sellers, argued that the corner lot is situated in a “transitional” zone, bordered by the Alamito Creek bridge, traintracks and industrial infrastructure to the north. “Do you think residential is the best use of that property that would face the underbelly of the bridge? I think not,” Walstrom said, adding that there are 21 lots on the market and only four have sold in the past year. “We have plenty of lots,” she said.
David Lanman, a previous Marfa mayor who renovated a home in that part of town, spoke of the neighborhood’s historic significance, with some of the oldest adobes, and its up-and-coming potential with several of his neighbors working on home restoration projects. “It’s really growing into a very nice community,” Lanman said. He said people who cannot see the potential of the four-acre lot “lack vision.”
Previous council member Buck Johnston argued that the rezone would devalue Marfa’s property and harm surrounding landowners. She urged council members to heed the city’s existing comprehensive plan which maintains an R1 use for the site. “Just because the comprehensive plan needs an update in two years — this does not make it a lame duck document,” she said.
Rainer Judd said she lives two blocks away from the Sal Si Puedes substation which emits a constant audible electrical hum, and she “wouldn’t wish a substation on anybody.” She also said the proposed sight “seems like it’s in a floodzone.” (It was brought up in a P&Z hearing that there is no FEMA flood map for Marfa.)
Others took aim at how massive and profitable AEP is as a corporation — being currently valued at $60 billion. “I don’t think that a company that’s worth $60 billion on the stock market deserves, certainly doesn’t need, the benefit of the zoning change here or anywhere else,” resident Tim Johnson said.
Marfa local Josh Villa — in addition to his mother Sarah, who echoed his sentiments — were some of the few that spoke in favor of the rezone. In their comments they took issue with the arguments presented by the people opposing the rezone, largely “transplants” to town, they said.
“They moved here because the quiet, the simple, the plain. They want to keep it this way,” Sarah said. “There’s some things that have to progress, and the power, that’s one of them.”
Josh said that the decreased property value argument strikes him as a selfish one, rather than a concern for the entirety of the community, and the people that are concerned about that are the ones flipping homes who aren’t in it for the long haul.
“My family is from here, and has been for generations,” Josh said. “These people that are trying to shut this down, they’re not going to be here in 20 years, 25 years, they come and go, but they want to dictate what goes on to benefit them at the moment and make them some money, and they split.”
“Our community, the ones that are from here, we believe in AEP, they’ve been there for us,” he added.
Others objected to the “old versus new” stance. Marfa local Dawn Shannon questioned whether council members will be truly objective in their vote, or if they’ve had their minds made up to vote for AEP the entire time despite P&Z’s recommendations and the public backlash.
“I don’t know for sure, but it looks to me like the City Council will only listen to and accept recommendations from their zoning board if they agree with the board’s recommendations,” Shannon said. “It looks to me like the City Council has already decided in favor of AEP. … It also looks to me like the council is just going through the motions.”
Several citizens reminded council members that their job is to represent the people of Marfa, not their individual interests. “[AEP] has their board of directors, they are going to make their case,” resident Bob Schwab said. “We need someone to fight for us and to preserve precious residential property.”
Council chambers were completely full for the hearing, even with added seating citizens had to lean against walls and sit cross-legged on the floor.
“I’ve never seen a turnout of this size in this community … both for and against, but vast against,” Lanman said, addressing council members. “You guys are five [individuals]. Look at the difference. Look what you represent. Look what your responsibility is this evening.”
To read The Sentinel’s previous coverage of the AEP rezone, visit bigbendsentinel.com/2025/07/29/aep-rezone/