El Paso City Council Passes Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance 019916 as Mayor Renard Johnson Backs Major Desalination Plant Expansion

City Council Enacts Ordinance No. 019916 Modernizing Land Use and Facility Regulations

EL PASO, Texas — Establishing clear statutory guardrails for neighborhood development and transitional facilities, the El Paso City Council, with formal authorization from Mayor Renard Johnson, officially enacted Ordinance No. 019916 during its mid-October 2026 legislative session. The ordinance comprehensively amends El Paso City Code Title 20 (Zoning), incorporating updated regulatory language into Chapter 20.02 (Definitions), Chapter 20.10 (Supplemental Use Regulations), and Appendix A (Table of Permissible Uses) to govern the permitting and placement of correctional facilities and transitional halfway houses.

The statutory amendments establish rigorous buffer zones separating high-density transitional residential facilities from elementary schools, licensed daycare facilities, neighborhood parks, and residential subdivisions. Municipal planning officials stressed that the modernized rules provide vital legal predictability for property owners and civic neighborhood associations while ensuring balanced municipal oversight across all city council districts.

Council Unanimously Endorses Kay Bailey Hutchison Desalination Center Expansion

In major regional water resilience and environmental infrastructure, City Council members voted unanimously to approve an intergovernmental memorandum of understanding (MOU) backing El Paso Water’s federal grant application for the multi-million-dollar expansion of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Desalination Plant. As the world's largest inland brackish groundwater desalination facility, the plant serves as an indispensable lifeline for the Chihuahuan Desert borderland, filtering brackish water from the Hueco Bolson aquifer into millions of gallons of crystal-clear municipal drinking water every day.

The planned infrastructure expansion will integrate advanced high-recovery reverse osmosis membranes and energy-efficient pumping arrays, bolstering emergency water supply reserves for hundreds of thousands of El Paso households and insulating the borderplex against sustained droughts along the Rio Grande.

Sun Metro Reviews Network Optimizations and Key Municipal Grounds Contracts

Operating in its statutory capacity as the Mass Transit Department Board, City Council reviewed quarterly operational data from Sun Metro following the comprehensive deployment of its 'Sun Metro Rising' network recalibration. Transit administrators reported improved passenger transfers between the Downtown Santa Fe Transfer Center and outlying industrial logistics hubs, supported by modernized station maintenance agreements approved during the session.

Community organizations and business leaders applauded the coordinated actions across land-use zoning protections, long-term desert water security, and reliable borderland mass transit, emphasizing that disciplined municipal planning reinforces El Paso's standing as a resilient, thriving international crossroads.