Marfa officials are requesting further information from a power lines company proposing to construct a new electric substation within city limits.
The Marfa City Council was set to vote on Thursday either for or against a rezone that would effectively greenlight the project, but instead opted to ask American Electric Power (AEP) to apply for a special use permit in lieu of the zoning change.
While council member’s opinions on the matter have been largely unknown, their recent actions made it clear they shared at least some of the sentiments expressed by several residents. Some locals have said the substation plan felt half-baked and that more details are needed to fully assess the project.
“So, this is basically everything that we wanted and needed them to put down at the very beginning,” council member Mark Morrison said. “They really should have done their homework and brought it to us and said, ‘Hey, here is where we're going to put it on the lot exactly. Here's the fencing we're going to use. Here’s what it's going to look like. It'll be this high, this wide, this color fencing.’”
AEP is proposing to build a new substation — one three times larger than its predecessor — on a different lot on the east side of town. The 3.5 acre site is largely vacant save for a small adobe home and an old RV. The company has maintained the upgrade is long-overdue and needed to ensure the town’s future electrical reliability.
AEP filed for an application to rezone the lot from residential to industrial in January, setting off a series of public hearings. The company has stated it would purchase the land and move forward with the substation once the rezone was approved.
But some residents have pushed back against the idea, arguing that the infrastructure could permanently degrade the character of a residential neighborhood. Several have threatened lawsuits, and pushed AEP on why alternative sites didn’t appear to have been considered.
Harrison King, a Marfa resident who represents landowners that border the City of Marfa, said several potential sites had been located and shared with AEP and council members but “we’ve never heard a word.”
“That just goes to show the lack of responsibility that the council’s taken for Marfa’s public interest,” King said. “AEP doesn’t owe us anything. They don’t look out for the public’s interest. That’s the council’s job.”
Council does intend to further scrutinize the substation proposal, though, as they stated on Thursday. Due to their actions, AEP will now have to file for a special use permit with the city’s planning and zoning (P&Z) commission — which previously recommended council deny the rezone — and comply with any conditions and safeguards set forth.
A resolution was passed by council stating that, as part of the special use permit process, AEP will be required to provide a site plan with its application, “depicting the scale and location of the proposed utility facility and landscaping, parking, street access, fencing, lighting, noise mitigation, features and other details required by Marfa municipal code.”
Council will still have ultimate say on whether or not to approve AEP’s special use permit.
“This way, if they come back to us and draw a little thing with a crayon on a napkin I'm pretty sure we're going to look at that and go, ‘Hey, what gives here? Why are y'all not giving us what we need? It shows us you're not serious, so why would we consider your application?’” Morrison said.
By pursuing the permitting route over rezoning, the Marfa City Council effectively skirted the required supermajority vote previously needed to approve the project.
A petition opposing the project signed by 20% of the adjacent landowners triggered the need for a supermajority vote in order to approve the rezone. For it to pass, four out of five council members needed to be on board. It was clear on Thursday that the council didn’t have the votes to approve the rezone, with council members Travis Acreman and Raul Lara expressing clear support to deny.
In the end, council members Morrison, Eddie Pallarez and Mark Cash voted to table the rezone and approve the resolution stipulating the special use permitting process as presented. Mayor Manny Baeza recused himself from the proceedings due to his conflict of interest as a current AEP employee.
When reached for comment on Friday, AEP spokesperson Fred Guerrero said the company is familiar with the special use permitting process. Still, he is awaiting contact from the city on next steps.
AEP has said its reason for not providing more detailed site plans and engineering is because it does not typically invest in that level of planning up front on projects where the company does not yet own the land.
“That's going to be a tricky spot,” Guerrero said. “We’ll have to do some digging on this internally, just to figure out what we can provide and what we're not going to be able to, so there's still more to come on that.”
P&Z chairman Stephen “Chick” Rabourn — who has disclosed that he lives in the affected area — said he encourages the public to participate in the next phase of the substation permitting process, noting that Marfa’s small size means “anyone and everyone can be heard.”
“I am glad to see that the City Council set up a process requiring more technical information from AEP, which should bring more clarity to the project for all involved,” Rabourn said. “We need to view this as an opportunity to make this town an even better place to live, with modern infrastructure and fantastic neighborhoods. These things don't have to be mutually exclusive.”
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