When the Marfa City Council last met on September 29 to approve its budget, council members all indicated they would be available to meet again on October 14. When the agenda for that meeting came out, there was a biggie listed—discusion of rezoning property to facilitate a new AEP electric substation, a controversial topic that drew dozens to council meetings discussing it.
Since the council had already had public meetings on the issue, and since it went through Marfa Planning & Zoning (which recommended a vote against the rezoning), it appeared the council may have been in a position to vote on the matter.
But when Tuesday arrived, word began to spread that the meeting might be canceled due to lack of a quorum. Councilmembers Mark Cash, Eddie Pallerez and Raul Lara were out of town. That left Councilmembers Mark Morrison and Travis Acreman (also out of town but planning to attend on Zoom) and Mayor Manny Baeza, who has to recuse himself from discussions and actions as an AEP employee.
Meetings on the substation resulted in a rarity in Marfa––packed City Council meetings with numerous speakers opposing the plan. (Supporters of the plan, while in the minority, also turned out to speak of the need for the substation.) As an example, recent council budget/tax rate hearings that would raise Marfa property taxes on homesteads 50% this year only drew one to three speakers at each meeting.
The substation is proposed for a location—a four-acre residential lot on the east side of town, at the corner of Oak and Aparejo streets just before the bridge over Alamito Creek—currently zoned residential that would need a zoning change by the council to industrial.
Also on the agenda for Tuesday was an interview of a candidate to fill the vacant city administrator position, and consideration of a K-9 dog—”Roski”––for the Marfa Police Department. While the K-9 item garnered a lot of questions and criticism on social media—for its possible costs—it’s clear that hardly anyone knew that the K-9 unit was already in place for a few months. Marfa’s newest officer, Kelsy Flores, came from her role as a K-9 officer in Pecos with Roski. The council was well aware and even met Flores and Roski at a meeting
Baeza said the agenda item was just to ensure the city was covering costs for any training, insurance and stipends for Flores—items of concern for those commenting on social media. Those figures were still being worked out as of Tuesday afternoon after Big Bend Sentinel’s deadline, but since the meeting was canceled, no action would be taken.
For a full recap of all the stories Big Bend Sentinel has written on the AEP substation, including community comments, maps, and the Planning & Zoning report—all free to view—visit bigbendsentinel.com/aep-rezone/