Growth vs. urban sprawl

Subdivision ignites fears services will be strained
Cindy Ramirez-Cadena
El Paso Times
Sunday, August 12, 2001

The first phase of a planned 1,300-home subdivision could start taking shape on the West Side next month, reviving discussion about the city's urban sprawl.

"Growth moves outward to the city's edges, and this will likely be the biggest single development on the West Side in the coming years," city subdivision coordinator Rudy Valdez said.

Franklin Hills, possibly the largest subdivision on the West Side in recent history, is being developed by Colony Partners Joint Venture, a partnership between Hunt Building Corp. and Hanson Development Corp.

When completed within seven to 10 years, the 482-acre subdivision could tap against Franklin Mountains State Park on its north and east sides. It borders on the Canutillo school district line. It does not include mountain development.

The subdivision plans include a 20-acre community park, a 7-acre neighborhood park and a unique 2- or 3-acre city park that would be developed with access into the Franklin Mountains State Park. Park officials confirmed that those plans are in the works but said funding to develop them has not been secured. Franklin Hills also will be within two miles of the planned 72-acre regional park approved by voters under a bond issue election last year.

Developers said the upscale Franklin Hills subdivision could add millions to the city's tax base, while others believe it will also burden city and school services.

Mayor Ray Caballero said the subdivision is a prime example of urban sprawl that often strains city services.

"It becomes an issue of how much growth, by one definition called urban sprawl, we can handle," Caballero said. "It impacts our schools, our need for police and firehouses, and our tax dollars."

John E. Edmonson, vice president of government affairs with Hunt Building Corp., said developers have worked closely with school and city officials in developing the subdivision that, in the long run, will contribute to the city's tax base.

In the first 15 years, Edmonson said, the subdivision's property tax revenue could be more than $135 million for the city, county and school district.

Caballero said the city is reviewing its development ordinances and later this month will discuss annexation, infill development and urban sprawl with the City Council and city planners.

That was welcome news to Westsider Adan Carrillo, an electrical engineer who recently bought a home about one mile from Franklin Hills.

"We keep growing and crowding our streets. Traffic is terrible, and our schools are worse," Carrillo said. "Maybe it's because, like me, others want to live in the crisp, new subdivisions, but we need to be prepared to deal with the drawbacks."

Concentrated growth

Development has been concentrated on the city's East and West sides the past decade, significantly increasing the population in those regions.

About 20,000 more people lived on the West Side last year than a decade ago, a 28.3 percent increase, according to the 2000 U.S. Census. That's the second-largest population growth in the city, following the East Side's growth of 43,000 residents, a 39.2 percent increase, during the same period.

Much of the East Side growth has been concentrated in the Socorro school district, which has seen its student enrollment double to about 27,000 the past decade. It may double again in less than 10 years.

Across town, the West Side's growth has primarily affected the 62,000-student El Paso school district, though some has spilled into the rural 4,600-student Canutillo school district.

Total El Paso district enrollment has declined by 4 percent since the middle of the 1990s, but that hasn't been the case on the West Side.

Most West Side neighborhoods send students to Franklin and Coronado high schools and to their elementary and middle-school feeder schools. The total student population in those two attendance zones grew from 13,915 in 1994-95 to 16,505 last year, a 19 percent increase, according to district records obtained by the El Paso Times under the Texas Public Information Act.

Enrollment in those West Side schools is projected to grow an additional 4.6 percent next year, according to district estimates.

El Paso school district officials said they're working with developers to plan schools in the area, some of which were already on the drawing board to alleviate overcrowding in existing West Side schools.

"We've known that the anticipated growth would require a whole new feeder pattern out there, so we've been working to identify some land and funds to build out there," El Paso school district spokesman Luis Villalobos said.

Potential sites for an elementary, middle and high school have been discussed to alleviate overcrowding at Coronado and Franklin high and Hornedo middle schools, Villalobos said.

The new schools will also help handle growth, though it's anticipated that the upscale homes won't bring in as many students as are brought in by lower-priced homes.

Prices of houses in the subdivision will start at $125,000 and will average about $200,000. The first phase is expected to be about 200 houses on about 50 acres.

"It's a relatively expensive piece of land to develop," Hunt's Edmonson said.

School district officials said the tax revenue generated by the development -- estimated at about $81 million for the district alone during the first 15 years -- won't help immediately.

The district is applying for several state construction grants for help but will also need voters to approve a significant bond issue, officials said.

Without a bond issue and increased taxes, the district is less likely to qualify for state or federal school construction grants, officials said, because the funding is based partly on how much communities and districts invest.

The district hopes to have a bond election within a year.

District voters last December overwhelmingly rejected the largest bond referendum in county history -- $398 million to repair decaying campuses and build new ones. The bonds would have included more than $100 million for new schools, many to accommodate growth on the West Side.

The West Side growth has expanded toward the rural community of Canutillo and the school district by the same name, both of which are dealing with development.

Hunt Building owns adjoining property in Canutillo and two years ago unsuccessfully petitioned the Canutillo school board to merge with the El Paso school district. The developer was looking to build an upscale community at the boundary between the two districts, but officials had said potential homeowners would be more likely to buy homes within El Paso school district's boundaries.

Bordering Canutillo

The unincorporated area known as Canutillo successfully fought annexation efforts two years ago by the city of El Paso. City officials had said annexing the community would allow the city to control West Side growth and protect water rights.

Canutillo's population grew from 4,442 in 1990 to 5,129 in 2000, a 15 percent increase. The city of El Paso grew by just over 9 percent in that decade.

Despite failed annexation efforts, Canutillo school district officials said they expect enrollment to double during the next five years, especially because many of the new developments are low- to middle-income subdivisions or mobile home parks that typically bring in more children.

Several subdivisions are manufactured home parks, including the 250-unit Canutillo Heights, where construction is expected to begin by early next year. An additional 230-mobile-home park is planned off Trans Mountain Road and Interstate 10, while a 98-space mobile home park is scheduled for Santiago Road off Artcraft Road.

In 1999, Canutillo voters approved a $23 million bond issue to build a new high school. The district last year did not qualify for the state Infrastructure Facilities Allotment grant that helps property-poor school districts build schools, but Superintendent Charles Hart said he expects to receive some funds next year.

In the meantime, the district has qualified for Existing Debt Allotment funds, in which the state will pick up 70 percent of construction costs associated with approved bond issues.

"We compare our growth to a wave: It's crested but hasn't broken," Hart said. "We're growing very rapidly, but not uncontrollably yet."

Cindy Ramirez-Cadena may be reached at cramirez@elpasotimes.com.