Marfa
The power company AEP will file a special use permit application with the City of Marfa—as soon as next week—to rezone land and build a new electric substation after the City Council declined its regular application to rezone land from residential to industrial on October 23.
The council supported a different avenue, asking AEP to file an application for a special use permit, which would allow for industrial 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 special use permit application would then go before the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission for review. At that stage, the public can weigh in on details it would like to see that were lacking in the original application—the site’s footprint, materials used, height and width of the infrastructure, as well as fencing, screening and landscaping planned. The P&Z Commission could also stipulate conditions it would like to see with AEP before making any recommendations on approving or denying the application. The application would then go to the City Council for a decision.
AEP had been awaiting receipt of the permit application, which it expected to receive this week, according to spokesperson Fred Guerrero. At that point, AEP will begin filling in the needed details, he said.
City officials have been reviewing the initial plans since January and held a series of public hearings to gather citizen input. Most of that input has centered around criticism that it is an unwise precedent to rezone from residential to industrial, as well as unfair to put an industrial use near existing houses. Citizens also have objected to what they say is an insufficient effort by the power company to look at alternative sights. A smaller group of Marfa citizens have supported the new substation as a way to bolster Marfa’s power needs, which have come close to exceeding what exists in the past few years.
With holidays approaching and meeting times getting scarce, it’s uncertain how long this new process will take. For full coverage of the issue, see bigbendsentinel.com/aeprezone.