Borderland Tuesday, March 18, 2003

Vic Kolenc
El Paso Times

Doug Schwartz, vice president of the El Paso Builders Association and chief executive officer of Southwest Land Development Services, said restricting construction inside the city limits would shift growth to outlying areas without water restrictions.

"Growth is just going to move," Schwartz said.

But it would take time to shift development that was occurring in the city to outside areas, he said. Outlying areas don't have as many lots now available for development as are available inside the city, he said.

"It takes about nine months to develop new areas -- to get up to speed," Schwartz said. And every house El Paso would lose would lessen ! the city's tax base, he added.

Arturo "Tury" Duran, general manager of the Lower Valley Water District, which is El Paso Water Utilities' biggest water customer, said the district is seeing an increase in home construction.

"We have 1,200 homes going up as we speak. Builders are moving to this area to build because of the issues they face in the city," Duran said. "We have no mandatory water restrictions" and none are planned, he said. "We want to grow."

The Lower Valley Water District, which has about 11,000 water hookups, uses about 5 million gallons of water a day, but has a contract in which El Paso Water Utilities is obligated to supply it up to 25 million gallons of water a day, Duran said.

"We are at 75 gallons per day per person. We don't have the same issues facing us as in the city," Duran said.

Vic Kolenc may be reached at vkolenc@elpasotimes.com