By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Val Verde County Commissioners Court members have decided they will wait before again discussing the location of a planned county sports complex.
Court members made the decision during the court’s March 29 meeting.
At issue is a controversy that split the court when three of its members abruptly voted in January to move a proposed county sports complex from the county fairgrounds to the former SE Ranch adjacent to Laughlin Air Force Base. The county had purchased that property several years ago to prevent encroachment on the base, and the entire court had previously voted to site the sports complex at the fairgrounds.
Before considering several agenda items dealing with the sports complex during the March 29 meeting, the court heard from two individuals during the citizen comments portion of the meeting: Skip Baker and Sandra Fuentes.
Baker told the court he was representing the Military Affairs Association, the Del Rio Chamber of Commerce and himself.
“I just have a couple of things to say, As for SE Ranch, not in favor of this particular project because of the location. So that’s kind of our position on that. As a parent, I’ll talk to you about this, I just got in on this on the Monday night when you got together and got up to speed on it, and what I saw was, I as a parent would not want to go to SE Ranch. It’s not where I live. It’s not close by, and as a parent, I wouldn’t want to go back and forth. So that’s my opinion on that, as a parent,” Baker told the court.
Sandra Fuentes, a co-chair of the Border Organization, told the court, “We are here this morning to encourage the commissioners court to table items (dealing with the sports complex). This community has been polarized by this item, by this issue of the sports complex. No one disagrees with the need for fields for the children of Del Rio and Val Verde County. That is not the issue. The issue is the location.
“We are asking the court to table it. Everyone take a deep breath, take a step back. Let’s weigh other options. Let’s think outside the box. Maybe there’s some property out there that would be more convenient for everyone,” Fuentes said.
“The Border Organization, it was over 10 years ago, helped the chamber in protecting Laughlin Air Force Base (from a proposed housing development on the SE Ranch). So I don’t know if (a sports complex) is a true encroachment on the base, but if there is, we will definitely take a stand against that,” she said.
“We’re not too sure that the fairgrounds is the better option, so we are here to encourage the court to just slow it down for a little bit. A month. Have more discussions and look at other options. I think that this community has been polarized enough,” Fuentes finished.
After Baker and Fuentes made their comments, Val Verde County Judge Owens Jr. said he would like to move up discussion of the sports complex if the rest of the court had no objections.
“Judge, I’d like to make a motion on item 31, to table, and to look for alternative locations. I believe there are some opportunities for alternative locations,” County Commissioner Pct. 3 Beau Nettleton said.
That item on the agenda dealt with formally designating 250 acres at the SE Ranch on the west side of Loop 79 for a sports complex.
“I’ll second that for discussion,” County Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores said.
“I’m all about, if there’s other land options, I’m all for it, but the sports complex is not going to work at the fairgrounds, and if it’s not going to work at the SE Ranch, if there’s some other land options, I’m open for discussion on that,” Flores added.
“I’ll amend my motion not to look at the fairgrounds as an option, but to look at other properties,” Nettleton said.
“The second accepts,” Flores said.
The court then voted unanimously to approve Nettleton’s amended motion.
On the next item, item 32, Nettleton made a motion to table further action “until we can come up with a plan about what direction we’re going to go.”
That item on the agenda dealt with creating a new line item in the county budget for $250,000 for the planned sports complex.
Flores again gave the second, and the court again passed the motion unanimously.
The court did not discuss the sports complex again during the meeting.
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