Marfa
After several contentious discussions over months on the issue of rezoning a residential property to industrial to make way for a new AEP electric substation, Marfa City Council members took a middle-of-the-road action Thursday and threw the ball back in the court of the utility company to come up with a different, more comprehensive application for what it needs and how it will operate.
“With what we had to go on, we were not willing for a yes or no vote on rezoning,” Councilmember Mark Morrison said after the meeting.
In a lengthy resolution that acknowledged all the various steps in addressing the rezoning issue since January, the council asked AEP—if it desired—to apply for a “special use permit,” which would allow for uses not normally allowed on a lot zoned Residential 1, which is the designation for the 3.5-acre lot at Aparejo and Oaks streets. Those permits are often called “conditional use permits” because they are usually accompanied by conditions that the applicant must follow.
The council technically tabled the rezoning agenda item on a vote of 3-2 (with Mayor Manny Baeza, an AEP employee, recusing himself). Councilmembers Travis Acreman and Raul Lara voted against the motion to table, simply because they preferred language that said the rezoning application was “denied.”
Councilmember Morrison said after the meeting that despite the small difference in language used to wait on a decision, council members were united in supporting a resolution that tells AEP it will have to provide a lot more detailed information before the council would support the substation location.
“So, [AEP] really should have done their homework,” he said. “Once they give us all the information, then we’ll consider it.”
If AEP agrees to file for a special use permit, its plan would have to go before the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission for review. At that stage, the public would be in a better position to demand something akin to a site plan—which would outline specifics on the substation’s footprint, materials used, height and width, as well as fencing, screening and landscaping planned. “All of this should have been done on their part when they came in for the very first time,” Morrison said. The application would then go to the City Council for a decision.
AEP has said in the past that it was unwilling to do something as comprehensive as a site plan because it doesn’t even own the property in question and was waiting on a zoning decision before it purchased it.
About 40 people packed into the Casner Room at City Hall Thursday, with 15 speaking on the issue. Mary Farley argued that a council decision to rezone would set a bad precedent and diminish the entire purpose of land use laws. “What would zoning mean?” she asked.
Planning & Zoning Commission Chair Chick Rayburn—who lives near the site in question—said the commission came to the conclusion that there were too many issues to address at the site, including a section in a flood plain and threats of litigation from opponents over whether it would be an illegal “spot zoning.” “P&Z looked at it and said, ‘It’s too complicated to build there,’” he said.
Many of the opponents continue to question whether AEP has taken alternative sites seriously. The utility has stated this is the best site from perspectives of location and cost and that other sites proposed by the public have not met the criteria needed for a substation.
The site’s owner, Jessi Silva, said AEP is the only party that has ever shown interest in buying her land, which is vacant of buildings except for a small adobe home. She criticized opponents of the rezoning by saying they didn’t have any interest in the area and “only want to fight AEP.”
Silva’s real estate agent, Sarah Sibley Klein, said the public’s expectations for what AEP would provide were too high, because it is a private company unaccustomed to doing planning workshops with the public like a government entity would. “It’s just not how it works,” she said.
Patrick Chavira also urged the council to rezone. “AEP has been a good neighbor to us,” he said.
Buck Johnston, who had spoken against the rezoning at previous hearings and council meetings, kept her comments short, asking the council to reject the zoning change but also noting that Councilmember Eddie Pallarez should recuse himself from voting—since he was a 46-year-employee of AEP with a pension from the company. Conflicts of interest could result in litigation against the city, she said. “He should recuse himself, and every other City Council member should be calling for him to recuse himself,” she added.
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.