PLAN REPORT 62-1

THE 1925 CITY PLAN

A REVIEW OF THE KESSLER PLAN FOR EL PASO
this is a pictuer of two triangles one purple and other is orange with a yellow gradiant background
This is a group of thirty rectangles in three rows with different type of coloring  DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING CITY OF EL PASO

EL PASO

1859

TOWN of EL PASO

DIMENSIONS                       
BLOCK 180(260)FEET SQUARE"
J."S 86 FEET 8 INCHES BY 120 FEET
STREETS 70 FEET WIDE,
ALLEYS 20.
PROPRIETORS
.J. S. GILLEY • H..S. GILLETT. J. F. C ROSBY ,W.J. MOHT0N.
V.ST. VRAIN. W.T. SMITH,
AN50N MILLS,'
surveyor
EXPLANATIONS scale  200 FEET TO t'
PROPERTY SOLD *
BEFORE THE TO
INDICATED
NOTE: Quotations appear in this type style.
RALPH E. SEITSINGER
MAYOR
City Seal
ALDERMEN
TED BENDER
MAYOR PRO TEM
BERT WILLIAMS
RAY S. WATT
R. R. "BUCK" ROGERS
J. M. HERRERA
CITY CLERK
This review of the 1925 City Plan of El Paso is published as Volume I of the 1962 El Paso City Plan. The 1925 plan is frequently referred to as the Kessler Plan because of contributions made by George E. Kessler (1862-1923), who was employed to prepare the plan. Mr. Kessler provided inspi­ration, wisdom, and foresight for which we are grateful. Less frequently mentioned is Walter E. Stockwell, who assisted Mr. Kessler and completed the project after Mr. Kessler's death. We also owe a great debt of gratitude to Mr. Stockwell. He kept the plan alive and made the plan work. He remain­ed with the City as Plan Engineer and Secretary of the Plan Commission until his retirement in 1952.
Now it is time for the El Paso Community to again express through printed words and maps its objectives for the immediate and long range future. The need for a new plan is well known. What is not as generally known is that the City has had a plan since 1925 and that a significant number of the objec­tives of that plan have been achieved. The plan has been consulted from time to time during the past thirty-seven years. It has served as a reference and guide in the planning and execution of public improvements. In fact, most public improvements have been made, sometimes consciously and sometimes unknowingly, in accordance with the 1925 plan.
Since the early nineteen-twenties the City Plan Commission, composed of citizens who serve the community without compensation, has been an impor­tant institution. The Department of Planning which functions as a research and advisory agency is an integral part of the City government. Planning has been a continuing process over the years. The 1962 plan is intended to be an extension of the 1925 plan. This first volume is a review of the 1925 plan upon which the 1962 plan is built.
Ed Hicks' Signature
Ed Hicks, Chairman City Plan Commission

INTRODUCTION

    In 1925 the City Plan of El Paso, Texas, was adopted and published by the Mayor and City Council. It was the work of the City Plan Commission, the City Plan Engineer, Mr. Walter E. Stockwell and Mr. George E. Kessler, City Planner and Landscape architect. Seventeen maps accompanied the sixty-nine page re­port.
    The philosophy of this forty-year-old city plan is not dated. It represents the best thinking, the ideals, and standards of El Paso today. The City has out­grown the land area described in the 1925 plan. How­ever, the City has not outgrown the necessities and standards for city living outlined in that early report.

In looking toward the future, the 1925 Plan predicts:

The City will be densely built up in the future to the Baptist Sanatorium (Logan Heights Cantonment) and east­ward to the Fort Bliss Spur (Robert E. Lee Road). West of the mountains the usable territory in Kern Place and Pied­mont will be well occupied and there will be settlement all along the Mesa Road to the Country Club. Down the Valley, suburban residences will extend in solid lines along all roads as far as Ysleta.
In the city, the business district will have expanded northward and eastward and new trading centers will have sprung up. Manufacturing will be important and factories and warehouses will occupy much of the territory between the railroads and the river.
Such a city will need more and wider thoroughfares lead­ing into the business center, and more trolleys. The blocking of important crossings by railroads will not be tolerable. There will be great public buildings and there will be parks and parkways. With such a prospect, to plan for the future is efficient and economical, for otherwise much that is done will be inadequate and inappropriate.
Picture of the westside of El Paso Texas 1962 - KERN PLACE AND PIEDMONT
WEST OF THE MOUNTAIN TODAY - KERN PLACE AND PIEDMONT
Picture of North East El Paso from an aerial view with Dyer street running up and down the center of the photo. Farm land, housing developments to the right of Dyer street and desert is to the left.
LAND WON FROM THE DESERT ALONG DYER STREET
OBJECTIVE OF THE 1925 PLAN
This report is presented to the citizenship of El Paso not as an ephemeral thing, to be glanced at and thrown aside, but rather with the hope that it will prove to be of permanent worth as a compendium of fertile suggestions, and as an aid to the gradual systematic working out of a plan good in all essentials for 50 years to come. Above all, the effort has been to make the whole project reasonable, practicable, time­ly, and economical with public and private funds. It is for coming generations as much as for the present.

This was the purpose and function of The City Plan

of El Paso, adopted and published by the City Council
in 1925. The objectives of the El Paso Community
were stated as follows:
Now the City of El Paso through its Chamber of Com­merce and other civic bodies and through the municipal government, has emphatically expressed its desire and in­tention, still further to promote the convenience of the popu­lation; to improve health conditions; to provide more liberally for public recreation; to add to the comforts of urban life; to beautify the City and its surroundings; to develop earnestly all cultural elements in community life; and to give the City of El Paso such distinction among cities that it will acquire new and wider fame.
This plan was published by the City Plan Com­mission, by authority of the Mayor and Council. Mem­bers of the City Council in 1925 were:
H. P. Jackson, Mayor
W. K. Ramsey
M. C. Tracy
J. B. Brady
A. B. Poe
The City Plan Commission included:
H. D. Slater, Chairman
H. L. Birney
R. F. Burges
W. E. Robertson
R. E. Sherman
W. E. Stockwell (ex-officio)
The work of city planning in El Paso,while under discus­sion for many years, began to take definite shape in 1919 with the establishing of the City Planning Committee of the Cham­ber of Commerce, of which James L. Marr was Chairman.

Civic accomplishments which developed from the initial planning program and which were completed be­fore publication of the Plan in 1925 were listed as:

1.      The Plan for Memorial Park was developed, and planting begun. The swimming pool and tennis courts were built. Additional land was acquired.
2.     Construction of the Copia Street grade separation.
3.     Hidalgo Park (Armijo) was acquired, and plans completed for its improvement.
4.    Acquisition of land for Rim Road was begun.
5.    A highway connection (Robinson St.) was establish­ed from Kern Place to Scenic Drive, and Schutz Street was connected with Texas Western College.
6.     Dudley Field was established and its first grand­stand built as part of extensive plans and development work at Washington Park.
Picture of Memorial Park when work just started
Memorial Park with grading work just started
Picture of Memorial Park two years later
Same view two years later
Picture of Memorial Park three years later
Same view three years alter planting
(PHOTOS FROM THE 1925 PLAN)
7.    The railroad problem was studied intensively.
8.     A plan for the highway system of the Valley between El Paso and Ysleta was made as a guide for new devel­opments.
9.    Kansas Street was opened on the west side of the County Courthouse (the present City-County Building), and Alameda was widened.

Future plans and projects were listed under three categories. Those listed under the category Big Plans for the More Distant Future were:

1.   A $500,000 museum and art gallery.
2.   A mountain playground (the development of Mt. Frank­lin).
3.    The construction of more scenic drives and develop­ment of recreational areas, both close in and as far away as Hueco Tanks and Cloudcroft.
4.    Cooperation with Ciudad Juarez and the Mexican Government in the development of a regional plan to create an international metropolitan area of credit to both Mexico and the United States.
Completion of the El Paso Museum of Art, at a cost of $750,000 and acquisition of the Kress Art Collection, insured for $1,500,000, has made proposal number one a reality.   Progress has been made with reference to num­bers two, three, and four but complete fulfillment of these early objectives has not been realized.
Picture Kansas St. at the Court House before widening
Kansas St. at the Court House before widening
(PHOTOS FROM THE 1925 PLAN)
Kansas St. at the Court House after widening
Same view of Kansas St- alter widening
Picture of the El Paso Museum of Art
THE EL PASO MUSEUM OF ART - KRESS COLLECTION, LOAN EXHIBITS, LOCAL SHOWS

Other projects were listed in the 1925 Plan under the titles For Immediate Action and The Larger Present and Pressing Problems. Many additional suggestions and recommendations were included in the text of the report. For the purposes of this review, these proposals are re­grouped under the following headings:

Economic Development
Over-all Design of the City
Downtown and Other Commercial Areas
Civic Center
Parks and Recreation
Schools
Streets, Thoroughfares, Alleys, Lighting
Railroads
Drainage and Flood Control
Water Supply
Sanitation
Housing
Legislation
Zoning Ordinance Building Code Housing Code Subdivision Standards

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Growth and expansion are anticipated. El Paso is a city of 100,000 population including suburbs (1925 estimate). The City is connected by bridges over the Rio Grande with Ciudad Juarez, State of Chihuahua, Mexico, a city of 25,000 popu­lation.
Within 690 miles of El Paso in any direction there is no other city so populous or so important commercially and in­dustrially as El Paso.
El Paso is the most important city south of Denver, be­tween San Antonio, Texas and Los Angeles, California.
El Paso's location at the most important gateway to Mexico helps to make the city the natural metropolis of the northern states of Mexico as well as of New Mexico, Arizona and Western Texas. . .
It is safe to estimate that the population will reach 120,000 by 1930; 200,000 by 1940; 250,000 within 25 years from the date of this report.
The report did not outline any program of economic development, but special assets of the community were named for exploitation:
1.    In the City's life the Spanish-American contribution is colorful, vivacious, and agreeable. El Paso has a unique opportunity to capitalize in numerous ways its exceptionally interesting cosmopolitanism...
2.   El Paso is the natural concentrating and distribu­ting point for all passenger travel in the Southwest, as well as for all trade and industrial traffic.
3.  Next in importance is climate...these climatic condi­tions make El Paso an all-year resort for health-seekers and for those desiring relief from extremes of heat and cold and excessive precipitation and humidity in other sections of the country...The climate is also favorable for industry, permitting cheaper construction of build­ings and less expense for heating. Outdoor work is seldom interrupted at anytime during the year...
4.   Already El Paso has extensive and varied indus­tries; any plan looking into the far future must assume the probability that manufacturing plants and wholesale houses will increase steadily...
5.   The aim is first, to care for the present population with maximum efficiency according to modern city ideals; and second, to induce more tourists and home seekers to visit El Paso, and to make the city so attractive that worthy newcomers, once familiar with El Paso's advantages, will remain permanently, add their energy and their capital to the City's upbuilding and urge their friends to join them.

OVERALL CITY DESIGN

The Plan urged symetrical development of the City, and to this end it was suggested that the City encour­age development along the west side of Mount Franklin
to correspond with development that has already taken place
to the east and northeast. Also it was urged that a dis­tinctive El Paso Southwest architecture be developed and exploited to give a unique character to the City.

DOWNTOWN AND OTHER COMMERCIAL AREAS

These recommendations have been accomplished:

1.      Install modem street lighting. For the second time
since 1925 modern street lighting is currently being in­stalled in the downtown area.
2.     More car parking space is an imperative need which will grow steadily greater...other things being equal, the shopper
will seek the stores where parking facilities are best. At least six major parking facilities have been built by private investors. Public money is expected to build more. Money is being accumulated now to build more parking facilities through a public improvement district.
3.   Street Intersections. The Stanton, Myrtle, San Antonio intersection has been improved but not completely realigned as proposed in the 1925 Plan.
The Kansas, Myrtle, San Antonio intersection has been accomplished as proposed, after demolition of the old City Hall Building.

Other proposals of the 1925 Plan include:

1. Clear all business streets of projecting signs, metal or wood awnings.
2.    Remove obstacles to traffic such as crooked intersections and projecting comers.
3.    Improve the Campbell-San Antonio and the Mesa-San Antonio intersections.
4.   Realignment of major intersections and acquisition of park property in Five Points to protect the use and investment in
this commercial area. Off-street parking was also consid­ered essential to the survival of Five Points as a prime commercial area.

CIVIC CENTER

The present City Hall is entirely inadequate for present needs and should be replaced when the City is ready to build a new one...a new federal building is needed...a municipal museum and art gallery may well be among the achievements of the future— Demolishing the present City Hall and open­ing North Kansas Street to its full width...and acquiring for a new City Hall an entire block...would make the beginning of a dignified civic group.
This objective has been substantially accomplished. Variation occurred when the Federal Office Building was built in the site suggested for a new City Hall and the City Hall was incorporated in the re-modeled City-County Building. Plans have been accepted by the City and County governments for expansion of the governmental area to the east.
Picture of Kansas St. looking south from the railroad tracks
Kansas St. looking south from the railroad tracks, showing the need for widening....
(PHOTO FROM THE 1925 PLAN)
Picture THE Federial office and City-County building
THE FEDERAL OFFICE AND CITY-COUNTY BUILDINGS - NUCLEUS OF THE FUTURE GOVERNMENTAL CENTER
Illustrated map of Down Town El Paso in 1925
SUGGESTION FOR PROPOSED CIVIC CENTER
ANP STREET CORRECTIONS
DOWN TOWN1 DISTRICT.
CITY PLAN COMMISSION EL PASO. TEXAS
1925

PARKS AND RECREATION

SCHOOLS
The progressiveness of a city may be measured largely by its park and recreational facilities, for these are the expres­sion of the aspirations of the community...
El Paso has special need for a progressive park and rec­reational program because nature has denied her the natural attractions of grass and trees found in a humid climate.
Supervision of playground activities should be extended beyond school hours and throughout the year...some of the older schools are sadly deficient as to play space. Alamo, San Jacinto, Beall, Bailey and Morehead Schools are badly in need of more space.
Parks and playgrounds at frequent intervals will keep chil­dren from playing in the streets. A new park will soon be needed in Momingside Heights, which is rapidly filling up.
Acquisition of the Magoffin Homestead for a park was recommended In addition, the 1925 Plan proposed a natural park in the Upper Valley.
Unnecessary streets and parts of streets should be aban­doned and the space thus saved could he used for parks and playgrounds—
The existing major parks, Washington and Memorial, are to be developed as planned—
Mount Franklin and Charles Davis parks should be develop­ed, as they have great possibilities for unique desert parks__
Today Washington and Memorial Parks have been developed, largely as suggested in the Plan, although the original Washington Park area has been divided by Paisano Drive. Hidalgo Park in south El Paso has been improved as planned by Mr. Kessler, and renamed Armijo Park. Dudley Field was established prior to the 1925 Plan as a project of the City Plan Commission. An im­portant asset to the City today, Dudley Field was re­modelled extensively in the Spring of 1962
Since publication of the 1925 Plan a considerable number of neighborhood park sites has been acquired; many developed. At present, school authorities work with the City in planning, acquiring and developing joint-use recreational facilities for year-round activities. In some instances the City purchases land for park sites next to school sites.
Still to be accomplished are the following major pro­jects:
Expansion of playgrounds in developed areas.
Development of Charles Davis Park and exploitation of mountain recreation areas.
Acquisition of a natural park in the Upper Valley.
Acquisition of the Magoffin Homestead as a historic landmark.
The 1925 Plan calls attention to a 1922 survey and report completed by the New York Institute of Public Service on El Paso schools. A need for larger play­grounds and for a careful study of new school locations was cited by this school survey. The planning of schools to serve areas as yet undeveloped was also urged.
The philosophy of this Survey has been followed rather closely in the location and creation of new school sites in recent years.          Schools and playgrounds are
being planned in advance and the land is acquired as the area is platted for development.

STREETS AND THOROUGHFARES

The highway system is the skeleton on which the City is built, and the Highway Map is the fundamental of the City Plan...El Paso has planning problems of peculiar difficulty be­cause of topography, but it also has opportunities for features of special interest if the problems are attacked boldly and solved rightly.
The business center should be the principal focus for the main traffic arteries of the city.
A system of thoroughfares east of the present city limits is shown as a guide for the future development of this section. Without such a plan there is great danger that this region will be developed piece-meal___
The above recommendations of the Plan have been generally carried out, through careful examination, revi­sion, and application of the City's Master Thorough­fare Plan. The 1925 Thoroughfare Plan and the 1962 Thoroughfare Plan appear following page 11 .
Specific recommendations which have been accom­plished include:
Extension of Cotton Street southward across the rail­road tracks (although this is still unpaved).
Opening of East Missouri between Cotton and Piedras.
Construction of Copia Street underpass.
Extension of Montana to connect with Womble (now Trowbridge).
Construction of Dyer Street underpass.
Construction of a grade separation west of Union Station.
Construction of Rim Road.
Highway connections from Kern Place to Scenic Drive and to Texas Western College.
Preparation of a highway plan for connections with Ysleta.
Widening of Alameda.
Opening of a free bridge connection to Mexico.
Extension of Mesa Street to the Crossroads.
Opening of Kansas Street on the west side of the County Courthouse.
Projects completed in modified form are:
The extension of Piedras to a new bridge to Mexico was recommended. The Cordova Island crossing, off Hammett Street has been built in this general location. This crossing eventually will connect directly with a north-south freeway.
Construction of a road to Hueco Tanks and Carlsbad Caverns was urged in the 1925 Plan. The construction of Montana Street and U. S. Highway 62 has accomplish­ed this objective. In 1923, travelers to Carlsbad went by way of Pecos, Texas, or Roswell, New Mexico, later via Van Horn, Texas.
Projects yet to be accomplished are:
Contruction of a monumental bridge to Mexico located somewhere between the two existing toll bridges at Stanton and Santa Fe Streets.
Elimination of grade crossings.
Extension of Copia Street northward.
Construction of McKelligon Canyon Drive over the
mountain.

RAILROADS

The problems associated with railroad crossings and switching yards was of prime concern to the people of El Paso in the nineteen twenties. The 1925 Plan had this to say about the subject:
El Paso is to a large extent a railroad town, being the ter­minal or division point of three important systems and railroad payrolls contribute much to the prosperity of the city..
With the growth of the city, the railroad yards have become entirely surrounded by residences and business, making im­possible any large expansion of either railroad activity or of the business district, and interfering with the circulation of traffic. These conditions call inevitably for relief in the near future.
It is not the purpose of this report to say what the solution shall be. There are, however, certain general conditions for a solution satisfactory to the city which should be expressed here.
First: Grade crossings should ultimately be elim­inated from all intersections with streets designated as main thoroughfares.
Second: Classification yards and tracks not nec­essary for local service should be removed from the center of the city.
Should the present EP & SW line from the yards to Fort Bliss be abandoned for main-line operation, the opportunity should not be lost to make this a great boulevard.
The removal of the railroad tracks from the heart of the city will permit a natural expansion of the retail district and tend to counteract any tendency to excessive concentration.
Expansion of the business district is resisted by the rail­road tracks and yards. The property in the western end of the yards will in time, become too valuable to be used for this purpose and it is for the interest of all parties concerned that plans be made for an ultimate solution of the problem and a beginning made toward their execution by eliminating the grade crossings between Campbell Street and the Union Station.
The Bataan Trainway, completed in 1950, has elim-imated the grade crossings in the Central Business Dis­trict. A contract is being let this year, 1962, to con­struct a grade separation at Hawkins Way as a part of the long-range program to eliminate dangerous crossings throughout the city.

DRAINAGE AND FLOOD CONTROL

In general, the drainage of the city presents an unusual pro­blem because of the topography and irregular rainfall...A comprehensive flood water drainage plan should be prepared for the whole area of the future city, so that all street im­provements and drainage plans may be made to conform with it.
In the spring of 1961, the City of El Paso formally adopted a ten-year flood control and drainage plan, aug­menting the extensive program underway since 1958.

SANITATION

The 1925 Plan suggestions which have been accom­plished include:
Have a thorough cleanup of the sections where human habi­tations are congested.
Prohibit dirt from unimproved areas from blocking side­walks.
Grade and render usable alleys in the developed parts of the city and the streets in unpaved areas.
A broad program for developing the river front, including drainage and pest control.
The present sanitary sewerage system of the city has been a growth with the expansion of the city and no comprehen­sive plan has ever been made for future needs. Large ex­penditures may be anticipated in the future to care for the growing city and a careful study of future needs would ef­fect economics in the ultimate cost.
Other suggestions not yet accomplished include:
South of Washington Park the city owns a large area which contains the sewerage disposal plant and is used for dump­ing. As the land south of the canal comes into use the odor from the disposal plant will become more of a nuisance, and some means to control it will be demanded. A thick growth of trees around the plant will help and should be started at once.
BIRDS-EYE VIEW OF
INTERNATIONAL BRIDGE ACROSS THE RIO GRANDE
BETWEEN  EL PASO TEXAS  -  U•S•A• AND
CIUDAD JUAREZ - CHIHUAHUA - MEXICO
 —•—
GEORGE  E.  KESSLER - ST.L0UIS  -  M0•
CONSULTANT ON CITYPLANNING
MARCH - 1923
1925 map of El Paso

1925
CITY PLAN
EL PASO - TEXAS
HIGHWAYS - BOULEVARDS
PREPARED FOR THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
H.P.JACKSON MAYOR
ALDERMEN

W.K.RAMSEY
A.S.POE
MILTON TRACY
J.B.BRADY
AND
THE CITY PLAN COMMISSION
H.D.SLATER CHAIRMAN
H.L. BIRNEY
RICHARD F BURGES
W.E.ROBERSON
R.E.SNERMAN
—•—
 GEORGE E KESSLER
CONSULTANT ON CIY PLANNING
ST. LOUIS MISSOUR W. E. STOCKWELL ENGINEER
DEC 1922
REVISED MAY 1925


LEGEND

EXISTING ADEQUATE ARTERIALS
PROPOSED MAJOR ARTERIALS
1925 CITY LIMITS
AREA: 13.5 SQUARE MILES

1962 map of El Paso City Limits

1962
MAJOR THOROFARE PLAN

THIS IS THE 1962 MAJOR
THOROFARE PLAN
DEPICED ON THE SAME
ASE MAP USED IN THE
1925 CITY PLAN WHICH
APPEARS ON THE OPPO-
SITE PAGE


LEGEND

EXISTING ADEQUATE ARTERIALS
PROPOSED MAJOR ARTERIALS
PRESENT CITY LIMITS

AREA: 115 SQUARE MILES
72 SQ MILES NOT SHOWN ON THIS MAP

HOUSING

The need to improve housing conditions was recog­nized in the 1925 Plan.  The Plan stated:
Between the business center of El Paso and the Rio Grande lies an area of three-fourths of a square mile constituting the most densely populated area in the city...For the most part it is covered with one-story and two-story tenement houses crowded with human beings.
This area constitutes a special problem, and is likely to remain the city's most congested district. Also, this district must be crossed by every visitor to El Paso desiring to cross the international boundary, and civic pride would urge due attention to the living needs of the area so thai good impres­sions might be made on strangers.
Generally speaking, it would seem the part of wisdom to provide every modern facility for city life, and at the same time endeavor to conserve the foreign spirit, the exotic charm of unfamiliar customs and some distinction of aspect. This should be a show-place, it should furnish a model that might be followed by towns and cities in the interior of Mexico.
The city should provide adequate facilities for the carry­ing out of all the traditional Mexican formulas of life which are good; for example, there should be typical Mexican mar­kets, industrial exhibits, places for music and dancing and games, public laundries and baths.
A large market place and permanent outdoor fair should be provided, possibly as part of the new bridge project.
Since 1925, the City has increased in area from 13 square miles to 115 square miles, and the population has increased from 100,000 to 290,000. As a result of this growth, a large number of well-planned subdivisions have been built. Desert land has been converted into efficient and attractive neighborhoods for the expanded population. Nonetheless, there remain substantial areas of population congestion with inadequate sanitary fa­cilities. Few of the buildings referred to in the 1925 Plan have been modernized or replaced, [t was noted that much had been accomplished to improve housing conditions in the years prior to 1925. Today, the follow­ing statement from the 1925 Plan is as true as when it appeared thirty-seven years ago.
In the past 15 years, conditions of living have been vastly improved, but there is much to be done.

LEGISLATION

The City Plan Commission was established by city ordinance in 1923 and Mr. Walter E. Stockwellwas named Secretary-Plan Engineer. The report notes that a volun­teer committee of earnest and energetic citizens is nec­essary to:
—plan far ahead and insure continuity of policy and to employ expert counsel for guidance in many different prob­lems that continually arise.
Additional legislation was strongly recommended as
essential to the fulfillment of the plan and the building
of a modern city of which all its citizens may be proud.
Proposed legislation included:

ZONING ORDINANCE

It is recommended that El Paso prepare a zoning ordinance as soon as there is thought to be reasonable prospect that it may be sustained by the courts.
El Paso's first comprehensive zoning ordinance was adopted in 1930. It has been studied and systematical­ly updated since that time.

BUILDING CODE

Its need and legal status are unquestioned.
El Paso has had a building code since 1936.
Housing Code
In 1925 it was strongly urged that the City adopt a HOUSING CODE
Housing conditions in the lower part of the City, the re­port stated, are bad and should be studied with a view to a gradual raising of the standards. The 1925 Plan went on to
distinguish between a building code, a housing code, and
a zoning ordinance.
Public control of building is exercised in three ways, each occupying a separate field but overlapping to some extent.
The Building Code has to do with the structural safety of buildings, and its need and legal status are unquestioned.
The Housing Code regulates the sanitary conditions of liv­ing as affected by the building and has to do with plumbing and drainage, water supply, privacy, light and ventilation and similar questions. The Housing Code applies equally in all parts of the city and while its legality is unquestioned it is usually applied only to the grosser evils as found in the tene­ment and 'slum' districts.
Zoning, on the other hand, is for the protection of all pro­perty owners against the unsuitable use of property in their neighborhoods.
A " tenement code" was adopted in 1951. A more
comprehensive code bringing together in one ordinance
all health and sanitary regulations concerning housing
has been studied from time to time and is currently a
subject of general discussion.

SUBDIVISION STANDARDS

The subdivision of land is of vital interest and is one of the fundamentals of the City Plan. Little attention has been paid to topography or to proper articulation with streets which have gone before or which are to come after in some parts of El Paso.
There should be legislation requiring submission of all plats within the metropolitan district to the City Plan Com­mission for review of their conformity with the general street
plan. The Texas Legislature passed such a law in 1951.
With a City Plan...it is possible to design new subdivi­sions for the use intended, instead of adhering blindly to the established standards.
In some districts a replatting would be very much to the advantages of both the owners and the city, allowing develop­ment in backward sections by making less costly the grading of the streets and closing unnecessary streets. The City Plan Commission will assist in such cases where the property owners will cooperate.
For some years, the subdivision and re-subdivision of land in and near El Paso has proceeded under sub­division standards and procedures adopted by the City Plan Commission. These standards include most of the provisions urged in the earlier Plan.

THE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM

To implement the objectives of the 1925 Plan, Mayor
Robert E. Thomason, (now Federal District Judge)
asked, in 1927, ten citizens to formulate a program of
public improvements to cover the next five or ten years
because it seems that El Paso is entering on a new era of growth for which constructive plans should be made.
That Committee, whose Chairman was Mr. W. E. Robertson, reported in 1928, saying:
The advantages of budgeting capital expenditures over a considerable period in the future are well known. With a pro­gram developed well ahead, expenditures for needed improve­ments may be kept within the means of the city to pay.
Having examined the city's total assessed valuation, tax rate, and legal limitations on bonding, the Committee pre­sents an analysis of proposed expenditures and their effect on the tax rate, as well as a schedule of proposed projects.
The ability of the city to finance such a program has been given careful study and the Committee believes it will work a hardship on no one; on the contrary, it is certain El Paso will become a more desirable place in which to live and do busi­ness, as wise investments are made in public improvements for the benefit of all.
For projects of primary importance, the ten-year pro­gram included:
Schools                    $1,876,000
Public Works              2,818,000
Plan Projects                820,000
Total                            $5,815,000
An additional $1.4 million was suggested for projects of secondary importance.
These recommendations accompanied the figures:
1.    That the charter of the city be amended to increase the maximum tax rate to $2.25 for the first five years of the pro­gram, and to $2.35 thereafter.
2.    That the program be adopted, and an election called to authorize issuance of the bonds proposed for the first three years, and bienially thereafter as needed.
3.    That an advisory committee be appointed to revise and re-adjust the schedule annually, and to supervise the issuance of the bonds and the expenditure of funds.
(The first city bond issue was $45,000 in 1898, and the net bonded debt of the City in October, 1928, was $6,000,000.)
This comprehensive revenue and capital improve­ment program was published in November, 1928. The City Plan Commission assumed responsibility for re­viewing and revising the capital improvement program annually, as had been recommended. The 1923 city ordinance which established the Commission also di­rected such review.
The depression delayed execution of the Robertson proposals. In the report of the City Plan Commission for 1931, Chairman Roland Harwell writes:
It will be noted that the activities of the Commission have been mainly confined to matters of minor consequence. No projects of any particular importance are set forth as accom­plishments, or as recommended for the consideration of the public.
The reason for this situation is found in the depleted state of City finances, and in the policies of retrenchment, incident to the prevailing economic depression, which the City govern­ment has adopted. There are many projects of public benefit which might otherwise have been offered for consideration. These must await more favorable circumstances for the serious consideration which they merit. It would appear to be use­less to proceed at present with studies and recommendations covering such projects.
Publication of capital improvement programs for El Paso was resumed by the City Plan Commission in 1953, with annual revisions being made each year there­after.

THE 1962 PLAN

The recommendations of the 1925 Plan were practical suggestions. A substantial number of the proposals have become reality. A few are no longer valid because of un­anticipated development. Others are even more urgently needed today than at the time they were originally pro­posed. Over the years, the 1925 Plan has served as a civic conscience and has caused city officials and community leaders to pause and evaluate proposals for public expenditures in terms of their total effect on the city. Mr. Walter E. Stockwell, who worked with Mr. George E. Kessler in the preparation of the plan, remain-in the City employ as Plan Engineer until 1952. Through his knowledge and understanding the objectives of the Plan were retained. Over the years the 1925 Plan has served as a frame of reference for departmental and Plan Commission recommendations. In the introductory chap-
ter to the 1925 Plan, Mr. Stockwell wrote:
A City Plan is a constantly developing and changing thing, meeting new conditions and keeping always well ahead of im­provements in order that there may be avoided the haphazard and piecemeal development of the past. While the Plan can at any time be changed, experience indicates that a well thought-out plan tends to bring about its own consummation by holding up an ideal and a program toward which the communi­ty may work, and if any change is suggested it must be judged by its effect upon the whole plan, and the burden of proof of its superiority be upon the ones who propose the change.
The 1962 Plan is appropriately intended as an ex­tension of the 1925 Plan and of the planning process which has evolved during the intervening years.
The 1962 Comprehensive Plan will consist of the following:
Economic and Population Report Public Policy Report Land Use Report Community Facilities Report
Comprehensive Plan
(a)   Land Use
(b)   Community Facilities
(c)   Thoroughfares
Aerial photograph of El Paso from Mexico
THE CITY OF EL PASO
MAYOR          RALPH E. 5EITSINGER
ALDERMEN         TED BENDER, MAYOR PRO TEM
BERT WILLIAMS RAY WATTS R. R. " BUCK " ROGERS
CITY PLAN COMMISSION
ED HICKS, CHAIRMAN MRS. PATRICIA ADKINS F. DEEL GRIFFIN FELIPE HERNANDEZ CLIFFORD KEETH S. C. McELRATH HERBERT SCHWARTZ EUGENE M. THOMAS JOHN L. WINN
EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS
RALPH E. SEITSINGER, MAYOR
PHILLIP G. DIETER, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS
CHARLES W. DAVIS, CITY ENGINEER
JONATHAN R. CUNNINGHAM, DIRECTOR OF PLANNING
JOSEPH D. NADON, DIRECTOR OF TRAFFIC
PARTICIPATING STAFF
JONATHAN R. CUNNINGHAM, DIRECTOR OF PLANNING CLAUDIO ARENAS, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF PLANNING ROSALIO FIERRO JR. BETTY A. HASTINGS
LUARA THOMAS NESTOR A. VALENCIA
JULY, 1962