El Paso City Council raises water impact fees 28% on development in three parts of city

The El Paso City Council took a timid step toward having developers and homebuilders foot the cost for expanding El Paso Water services to the farthest edges of the city.

After hours of public comment at its meeting Tuesday, May 7, the El Paso City Council voted 5-3 to impose new impact fees on developments in three parts of the city — the Northeast, East Side and West Side — where growth has exploded in recent years and strained city services.

The vote marks the first time water impact fees have been updated in 15 years, but the 28% the City Council approved is far below the 100% increase advocates were demanding.

City Reps. Art Fierro and Brian Kennedy, who pushed the more modest proposal, were joined by city Reps. Joe Molinar, Isabel Salcido and Henry Rivera to push it over the finish line. South-West city Rep. Chris Canales, who championed the proposal for increased impact fees, was joined by city Reps. Cassandra Hernandez and Josh Acevedo voted against the downgraded increase.

Canales noted that the growth at the city's edge has already led to higher costs for the city, which is now absorbing the cost of providing additional police and fire services, public parks and libraries, code enforcement and street maintenance.

Additionally, he noted the city has incurred additional debt for the construction of an El Paso Police Department Westside Regional Command Center, as well as a regional park on the Eastside.

East-Central city Rep. Cassandra Hernandez agreed.

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"It is inequitable," Hernandez said. "How do we stop that irresponsible growth?"

Hernandez called for the city to both de-incentivize building on the city's fringes and encourage more development within city limits, where more than 92,000 acres are currently vacant. While those calls seemed to fall on deaf ears, Canales noted that work is currently being done on a plan to incentivize development within the city.

City Council inundated with public comment

Canales' assessment that developers should be expected to bear the weight of further straining city services seemed to resonate with members of Amanecer People's Project, formerly Sunrise El Paso, whose members turned out in droves to advocate for the new fees.

Also on hand to advocate in favor of a 100% increase on current fees were current City Council candidates Kenneth Bell and Wesley Lawrence, as well as former City Council candidate Veronica Carbajal.

"Once again," said Carbajal, president of Justicia Fronteriza PAC, "El Paso is far behind other cities in Texas."

"Developers are lucky we are not asking for interest on the last 15 years they've avoided paying (impact fees)," she added later.

Those pushing for a 100% increase in the fee insisted that the cost of extending city services to the edge of the city should be paid by developers.

A chorus of opposition to the increase in impact fees was just as loud, led, in large part, by the developers and homebuilders who would be paying the higher bill.

Opponents to the increase asserted that any hike in cost for developers or homebuilders would simply be passed along to homebuyers and the future development would be stifled.

Mia Romero of the El Paso Chamber chided the city Planning Commission for not offering a recommendation on the proposal and Carlos Gomez of ICON Custom Home Builders said the cost would "disproportionately affect those who aspire to own a home in El Paso."

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso City Council approves minimal increase to water impact fees