EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – El Paso City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to postpone the decision on selecting a new site for the 2012 voter-approved multipurpose center (MPC).
The motion by the city council will delay the vote by four weeks, in which there will be multiple community meetings to receive input from the community. The motion was first proposed by District 5 Representative Isabel Salcido, who said she wanted the public to feel that “they’re part of the process and not excluded,” from a project they voted on 12 years ago.
The historic Union Depot site has emerged as the favorite among four sites for the new location of the MCP.
The recommendation for the Union Depot site would entail a hybrid facility with 4,000 indoor seats and partitions that could open up to an adjacent lawn that would provide an additional 4,000 outdoor seats, bringing the total capacity to 8,000 seats, nearly half as many seats less than what was originally called for in 2012.
The project would also leave the Union Station intact and would be affordable under the $162 million left from the original $180 million budget approved by voters in 2012, as City Council aims to not spend more than what voters approved.
“You look at a wish-list of 14,000 seat capacity, but yet we are not realistic with a 180-million-dollar budget. Even back in 2012 we knew, and we heard presentations back in 14′ that that could not be built for 180 million,” said Mayor Oscar Lesser in the meeting on Tuesday.
This new proposed project would mark a significant departure from the downtown arena envisioned in 2012 when it was approved by voters.
“This latest idea for a performance center is a joke and represents the small pea-brain vision of recent El Paso leadership. This is a total waste of money. It will net nothing in terms of a new venue. The site stinks. It’s isolated and an environmental hazard. Do you have any idea what it will cost to clean it up enough to build? Plus, the noise and vibration from the railroad will undermine any performance,” said former City Manager Joyce Wilson in a letter to the City Council.
But City Architect Daniela Quesada said the new facility would provide more flexibility in what events could be held and is more in tune with the current trends of entertainment facilities.
“I think the difference between 2012’s vision and our vision now is that we’ve caught up with the times and we’re not trying to live in the past,” said Quesada. “Cities that have invested large sums of money in large arenas have not found it to be the economic catalyst that it was theorized to be.”
If the Union Depot site were not approved, she said she doesn’t believe there is an alternate site that could meet the bond language constraints and criteria that the city could afford with the $162 million left for the project.
Quesada also highlighted that in developing the new project and site, they would also be doing brownfield remediation, which she believes would be “amazing” for El Paso.
“It’s land use that would never be able to be maximized by the public, utilized to its maximum capacity by the public and so this is the kind of ideal urban development, not just from a sustainability standpoint, but also from equitable development,” said Quesada.
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