El Paso ISD’s finance committee received an update April 14 on the district’s inventory of surplus properties and a proposed process to align property decisions with a long-range facilities plan.
Mr. Bates told trustees the presentation covers both vacant and occupied properties and aims to align property decisions with appraisals, facility condition index (FCI) data, zoning, community priorities, and the bond citizen steering committee’s work. Staff noted recent land sales and pending offers and said one transaction closed the prior day. The team recommended moving from a reactive posture to a strategic property-management approach that bundles properties when feasible and considers demolition, reuse (training centers, early childhood partnerships), or green-space conversion based on community needs.
Staff described a community-engagement timeline: district pop-up events in trustee districts planned for mid-May, a bond citizen steering committee process in June with a facility subcommittee review, a staff package to the board in June and July, and an August adoption of a long-range master plan intended to guide property disposition and reuse decisions starting in September. Staff flagged two pending properties (Kenworthy and Montecillo) and noted title issues requiring legal work on one parcel; staff said a replat is underway for a property that must be split from an existing campus to be processed as surplus.
Trustees pressed for clarity about closed and pending sales, asked whether sale proceeds could help fund demolition of blighted buildings, and requested scoring or market-value rationale that supports disposal decisions. Staff said appraisals and market-value assessments are used annually and that a bundled sale strategy could improve pricing. Trustees praised the speed of staff work and asked for more frequent facilities committee discussion to allow deeper review.
What’s next: staff will hold district pop-ups in May, continue title and replat work on specific parcels, present packages to the bond steering committee in June, and return to the board with a packaged long-range plan in July for potential adoption in August.