Paso Del Norte Group - The El Paso Downtown Plan

The El Paso Downtown Plan

It is the Downtown Plan, that recently pushed the PDNG into public view.

Although the vast majority of the group's actions have been cloaked in secrecy, a select few details have been developed. Before making the plan public, the PDNG undertook several important steps to ensure the plan's success.

The Paso Del Norte Group, under the auspices of its foundation, in cooperation with former city Mayor Joe Wardy, and El Paso City Council, initiated a process in 2004 to create a Master Plan for the redevelopment of approximately 127.5 acres (516,000 m2) in Downtown El Paso. On Feb. 15, 2006, the City Council and Mayor John Cook renewed the process by approving the ongoing development of the Master Plan.

The Paso Del Norte Group’s Foundation raised funds from the following sources:

• The City of El Paso.........................................$250,000
• The Economic Development Administration.......$259,873
• The Private Sector of the El Paso community....$250,000

A Downtown Redevelopment Task Force, a local volunteer group of PDNG members, was established under the criteria that no member of the Task Force was allowed to own any property in downtown El Paso.

The Task Force solicited bids from three of the world’s leading urban planning firms and hired SMWM (at a reported cost of $284,000.00 to the group) which has extensive experience in planning for redevelopment of urban areas. The Task Force spent thousands of hours on this project with the primary objective to develop a comprehensive Master Plan for Downtown El Paso that would be economically viable and feasible to implement.

Once a plan was formulated, a contract with the City of El Paso was forged to establish a loose partnership between the city and the Paso Del Norte Group.

The contract with the city for the Downtown Plan actually was with the PDNG Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization that operates as a supporting agency to the Paso Del Norte Group, a 501(c)(6) business leadership organization.

The Task Force leadership is said to meet consistently with the Mayor and City Council members to brief them on the progress of the plan. In addition, reports have supposedly been sent regularly to the City Manager and to the Economic Development Administration.