Judge: Multipurpose center can host sporting events, but not be built as 'sports arena'

Some provisions in a judge's ruling that the city of El Paso can construct the $180 million multipurpose facility downtown — as long as it does not build it as a sports arena — are ambiguous and problematic, city attorneys said.

"The city may not lawfully expend proceeds generated from the sale of the bonds to design, construct, improve, renovate or equip the facility in Downtown El Paso to be suitable for a sports arena," Austin's 201st Civil District Court Judge Amy Clark Meachum ruled in her final judgment Monday morning.

In an afternoon press conference, City Attorney Sylvia Borunda Firth said the ruling allows sporting events since Meachum didn't adopt the language suggested by opponents "... which would have prohibited the city from ever hosting sporting events in the multipurpose facility."

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The ruling indicates only that the facility can be built to accommodate various performing arts and "similar entertainment."

"Unfortunately, she has not defined what she meant by those terms and we're put in the position of having to deal with ambiguity in the final judgment," Borunda Firth said.

On Aug. 1, when she was originally set to issue her final judgment, Meachum said her ruling would be based on what the city could build, not necessarily on the specific types of events it could host in it.

"It's not that you can never hold a sporting event in a performing arts facility," Meachum said at the time. "I can conceive of having a theater and putting a boxing match on the stage."

In one provision in her final judgment, Meachum wrote that the city cannot use funding from other sources to modify or enhance the facility to make it suitable as a sports arena in the future.

Borunda Firth said the "overly narrow and restrictive" interpretation of the contract with voters in the 2012 bond election is troublesome.

"We would have preferred for there to not be any ambiguity so we could clearly proceed," Borunda Firth said.

Even before the arena went to voters as part of the $473 million bond in 2012, the city had planned for possible public-private partnerships and other funding to operate, maintain and possibly grow or improve it in the future. The city had also planned to use revenue from sales tax rebates and other state incentives provided to businesses and other facilities built within a certain distance of a convention center or convention hotel.

In the past year, City Council has approved increasing funding for other projects approved under that quality of life bond issue to improve or increase their size or amenities. That option had not been discussed specifically for the arena, but Borunda Firth said that option would likely "otherwise be lawful."

Borunda Firth said she will brief the City Council on Tuesday and ask for direction on how to proceed. The city can appeal the ruling or proceed under their understanding of the order, she said.

Mayor Dee Margo declined to comment on Monday, saying he had not yet been briefed by the city attorney.

City Rep. Cissy Lizarraga, who represents Downtown, also declined to comment because she had not yet been briefed.

Those fighting the city's plan said they hope the city doesn't appeal the ruling.

"We hope the City of El Paso will faithfully comply with Judge Meachum's order," Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid attorney Cassandra McCrae, who represents arena opponents, said in a statement.

"Rather than spending more taxpayer dollars on an expensive appeal, we hope the City will accept that unless and until it asks El Paso voters to approve a sports arena, it cannot use tax payers' money to build one," McCrae said.

At issue was whether the city made it clear to voters that sports events would be part of the entertainment at the arena although it did not use the word "sports" on the ballot language. The city countered that sports entertainment, such as boxing matches and basketball tournaments, had been part of the public record leading up to the 2012 bond election.

Also at question was whether the city made it clear the arena was to be built Downtown, as the location was not on the ballot. The city argued that Downtown had also been part of the public record, including the ordinance calling for the election.

Meachum allowed the city to build the arena in the planned Union Plaza area that includes the Duranguito neighborhood.

A temporary injunction that had prohibited demolition in Duranguito has been lifted, the ruling states.

The city may now proceed with finalizing its land acquisition, issuing demolition permits and razing buildings.

After area historian Max Grossman's attorneys were unable to secure a similar injunction in an El Paso County court last week, the city agreed to give a two-weeks' notice to his attorneys before it is issues notices to proceed with demolitions in the arena footprint.

The city has issued seven demolition permits in the Duranguito neighborhood. Some of the purchasing agreements for those properties requires that the landowner raze the building before the sale is final.

"There will be something built in that area," Borunda Firth said.

In her final judgment, Meachum declined to rule on whether citizens could petition to turn the Duranguito neighborhood into a historic district, saying her court doesn't have jurisdiction in the matter.

An initial petition by the Paso del Sur group was turned down by City Council, but the group has started a second initiative.

City attorneys have said a historic overlay is a zoning matter, and that a petition process cannot dictate zoning.

Meachum also ordered each party to pay for their own court costs, expenses and attorney's fees.

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