By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Four members of a group opposing the placement of a proposed second international bridge northwest of Del Rio and its accompanying connector route to area highways made a presentation about their concerns to city council members on Oct. 22.
Amistad Community Action Group members Lori Reyes, Lionel Reyes, George Solis and Jon Grace spoke during an agenda item placed on the council’s meeting agenda at the request of Mayor Pro-tem Jim DeReus.
According to the group’s private Facebook page, members “are representing city and county residents in Del Rio and Val Verde County who are against the proposed upriver location of the (planned) new port of entry, along with the four-lane highway corridor being locate anywhere near our residential community and our fragile Lake Amistad.”
Several members of the group, including the four who addressed city council on Tuesday, have spoken out against the upriver site of the proposed second bridge, as well as the accompanying highway corridor at many meetings of county commissioners court, the city’s international bridge board and city council ever since plans for the planned bridge and highway route were unveiled in November 2022.
Group members have also expressed their frustration with the three-minute time limit imposed on citizen comments during city council and city bridge board meetings.
Placement on the actual council agenda allowed the members of the group to give longer presentations.
Lori Reyes was the first member of the group to speak.
She told the council, “The members of our group range from families with young children, to couples, grandparents and great-grandparents. We have chosen the locations of our homes very carefully. We enjoy the peace and quiet of our rural neighborhoods, the ability to have enough space to raise animals, tend gardens, hunt, ride horses and do many other activities. Placing a port of entry and roads through our neighborhoods will tear apart our community and cause safety and security concerns in addition to negatively affecting property values.”
Reyes challenged a statement that 90 percent of the region’s business owners support the city’s plans for a second international bridge at the location upriver of the current bridge.
“We want to let the council members know that we really care about our community, the area’s pristine natural resources and preserving the way of life that we enjoy. The current proposed location of the second international bridge and route will cut through Val Verde County’s fastest-growing residential area. This will create a completely unnecessary burden on the entire community.
“It will result in the loss of homes and property for some county residents and an unreasonable tax burden for the citizens of Del Rio on top of the $99 million debt the city already has. . . Property values will plummet while taxes will increase,” Reyes said.
She added many county residents don’t realize the new bridge will be for commercial traffic only and that personal vehicle, bicycles and pedestrians will have to continue using the existing bridge.
Reyes also said, “Customs and Border Protection has a very difficult time manning the current Del Rio Port of Entry and the crossing on Amistad Dam. Once the personnel are spread out to a third location, wait times are likely to increase along with lane closures and reduced operational hours for all of the crossings.”
Reyes said there are also potential environmental problems with all of the four connector routes that have been proposed so far by the city’s consultants on the bridge project.
She said both the Texas Horned Toad and the Texas Tortoise are found in the area encompassing the routes, adding there is a large cavern in that area in which rushing water can be heard and worried aloud that since the cavern lies within the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone, “there is a danger of contamination of nearby wells and the underlying aquifer.”
By continuing with its plans to site a port of entry, a new international bridge and its connector routes northwest of Del Rio, Reyes said, the city council is ignoring a vote taken by county commissioners court opposing the placement and ignoring a petition signed by 1,200 city and county residents noting “an international bridge south of Del Rio is the only feasible option for Val Verde County and Del Rio.”
Amistad Community Action Group member Jon Grace addressed the council next.
Grace, who told the council he has lived in the Las Brisas area for 19 years, went point-by-point through the five reasons given for the necessity of a new bridge in a 2017 feasibility study on the project.
Grace said the first reason given for needing a new bridge was “to promote direct economic growth and commercial development” in Del Rio, Val Verde County, Texas, Ciudad Acuña and the state of Coahuila, Mexico.
Grace said placing a new bridge upriver from the existing bridge “will focus this economic growth and development within the fastest-growing neighborhood of the Del Rio area.” He argued in favor of siting the bridge downriver of the existing bridge instead, noting it would foster economic development in an area where there is none currently and, more importantly, would not affect any existing homes.
Grace agreed the upriver location will reduce commercial traffic in downtown Del Rio, but again pointed out it would redirect that traffic through “the fastest-growing residential neighborhood in the Del Rio area.”
He also said the upriver location “would have a negative impact on the environment,” adding a downriver site for the bridge would require a shorter and more direct connecting corridor to major highways on both the U.S. and Mexico sides of the river.
“The five purposes and needs goals of the feasibility study are righteous goals that will benefit our community, but only if we choose to locate the new port of entry at a location where we will have the best chance of success. Clearly, the proposed upriver location is not the correct choice,” Grace said.
Del Rioan George Solis was the next member of the group to address the council.
Solis told the council, “The feasibility study (for a proposed second international bridge) done in 2014 and revised in 2017 was based on assumptions or projections that have turned out to be incorrect.”
Solis said the study projected increasing local population numbers for 2020 and 2025, but the area’s population has, in fact, declined.
He also said the study’s projections of increases in commercial truck traffic over the international bridge were wrong, pointing out commercial truck traffic has actually decreased.
Solis also said projected costs for the project have increased and pointed out that “Texas law prohibits condemnation authorities from taking property to enhance tax revenues or foster economic development,” noting in 2019 and 2023, Texas juries “awarded litigants four times the cost of their properties, resulting in millions of tax dollars spent.”
Solis, too, decried the detrimental impact of a new port of entry and a commercial traffic corridor on the environment and protected species found northwest of Del Rio and possible environmental issues for the Amistad National Recreation Area.
Lionel Reyes, a life-long resident of the county, spoke last and reiterated a statement he has made on numerous previous occasions, that the agreement to place the new bridge upriver of the existing structure, signed by city, county and Mexico officials in 2014, violates the “compact clause” of the United States Constitution.
Reyes told the council, “As a group, ACAG is not opposed to progress. Ports-to-Plains can benefit this community if it is done correctly; proper planning is critical. Bringing a highway through a residential area shows a lack of foresight and disregards the taxpayers’ wishes. The attempt to connect one project with another, Ports-to-Plains and a road between the maquiladoras in Mexico and the Del Rio industrial area.
“The most logical route to connect to Ports-to-Plains is Highway 277 to State Loop 79 to Highway 377, which is the actual Ports-to-Plains corridor. There is plenty of open land between Sycamore Creek and State Loop 79 for the port of entry, roads, commercial and industrial expansion.
“By trying to sneak in a pet project which is primarily going to benefit the maquiladoras in Mexico, you are pandering to foreign business interests and failing to ensure the best interests of American taxpayers. According to your (feasibility) study, only 5 percent of commercial traffic crossing between (Ciudad) Acuña and Del Rio leaves the immediate area. The remaining 95 percent of truck traffic remains within 10 miles of the current Del Rio Port of Entry. . . The prevailing attitude of ‘north (of Del Rio) or nothing’ has got to stop. Usually the area with the least opposition is the right choice,” Reyes said.
Council members did not comment following the presentation by the group.
Reach the writer at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
