Mission housing growth continues; City weighs dog park

Mission’s city council has approved two new housing subdivisions and has taken steps toward creating the city’s first “off leash” dog park. The actions were among many on the council’s Monday agenda.

During Monday’s meeting the city council gave preliminary plat approval for  two new subdivisions with a combined total of 155 single-family residences on the city’s northwest side.

The council approved the plat request from Everman Development, Inc. to build 81 homes on just more than 62 acres. The Camino De Abram subdivision will be located a half-mile north of 3 Mile Road between Abram and Brushline Roads. The frontage road for the development will be on Abram Road, according to city planning documents.

The council also approved the plat request from Peña Chapa Development to build 74 single-family residences on 50 acres of land located nearby the Camino De Abram subdivision. The Rancho El Portrero subdivision will be located about a half-mile north of 3 Mile Road near the northeast corner of Western Road and 3 Mile Road. The frontage road for the subdivision will be Western Road, according to city planning documents.

The engineer for both projects is South Texas Infrastructure Group. Both subdivision’s water will be supplied by the Agua Special Utility District and all the homes in both subdivisions will use septic tanks. The homes qualify for septic tanks because they are located on lots of a half-acre in size or larger, according to city planning documents.

During the meeting City Councilman Dr. Armando O’Caña asked why the homes in the Camino De Abram subdivision were not going to be connected to city sewar lines. Jaime Acevedo, the city’s Planning Department director, said the nearest connection to the city’s sewar lines was nearly two miles away.

“So because of the great distance from the nearest sewer line they’re proposing to use septic tanks for the subdivision,” Acevedo said.

The mayor and council unanimously approved both projects.

In other business Monday the mayor and council took the first steps toward creating the city’s first enclosed “off leash” dog park.  

The action follows a June 6 letter to Mayor Norberto “Beto” Salinas from Mission resident Georgia Montoya of the 3000 block of Viola Street. In it Montoya offers her support for a dog park in the city saying she is a grant writer for the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District and was offering her services free of charge to draft a grant proposal on the city’s behalf. She pointed out to the mayor there is currently an opportunity to apply for a $25,000 grant from PetSafe Of Knoxville, Tennessee under its “2017 Bark for Your Park” annual grant program. The company touts itself as the “largest manufacturer of electronic pet training devices” and is providing a total of $275,000 in dog park grants, according to its website, petsafe.net.

“Upon your support and approval to accept me as a team member for the dog park initiative, I will dedicate myself to create and develop a successful application proposal to utilize as a submission to support and sustain the development of a safe off leash dog park,” Montoya wrote in her letter. “In the event Mission’s Off Leash Dog Park proposal is not awarded, I will continue to pursue other potential funding opportunities.”

Montoya added she is not seeking compensation for her efforts.

“It is only with my passion for our furry friends and compassion to contribute as an active citizen to our community is my mission for the future Dog Park,” she wrote.  

The mayor and council unanimously voted to accept Montoya’s offer and also passed a resolution authorizing the submittal of an application to PetSafe.

According to city documents there are two proposed sites for the dog park,  Bannworth Park and Bentsen Palm Community Park.

In other business Monday the mayor and council voted unanimously approving a resolution declaring Municipio de Miguel Aleman, Tamaulipas, Mexico, as a sister city and then immediately passed a resolution dedicating a surplus Vactor Truck, or sewar vacuum truck, and five other surplus utility vehicles to the sister city. The surplus vehicles had originally been set for auction.

The mayor and council also unanimously approved spending just under $39,000 on two Ford F-150 pickup trucks for the city’s Planning Department.

Also approved Monday were drive through windows at the Chick-fil-A Restaurant at 2501 E. Expressway 83 and La Curva Taqueria  at 2575 E. Griffin Parkway.

The council also approved an intergovernmental agreement with the City of Alton regarding the use of Mission’s animal control facility. Under the agreement Alton will pay the city a one-time payment of $3,000 for expansion of the facility. Thereafter Alton will pay $70 per each animal housed in the facility and $200 if an animal requires quarantine.

Another interlocal agreement passed by the council would create a cooperative agreement between Mission, Hidalgo County and the cities of McAllen, Palmurst and Alton concerning the implementation of the Mission Police Department’s First Offender Program.

According the Texas Family Code the program permits first-time offending juveniles age 10–16, who commit a non-violent Class C misdemeanor, other than motor vehicle infraction, to be placed in the program in lieu of having formal charges filed.  Successful completion of the program would require the juvenile to pay victim restitution, if any, complete voluntary community service, participate in vocational training, counseling or other rehabilitative services and report periodically to the arresting agency. Juveniles who fail to successfully complete the program would be referred to juvenile authorities via a formal complaint, according to the statute.