Guests will be able to move their RVs in and keep them there for a maximum period of a month. The RV park will be owned by Zach Robinson of Cisco, who also owns an RV park in Midland and other vacation RV parks throughout West Texas. Infrastructure will be handled by Bull Mountain LLC while being sponsored by Maverick Engineering.
However, numerous concerns have been raised by those who live in the area. “The neighbors to the south are against this plan, not because everyone’s against having this type of facility in Midland,” Michelle Morris, a local attorney whose father lives in the area, told City Council on Tuesday. “We just really feel like the location is wrong.”
Morris argues that the area in question is known for having commercial and industrial roads where oil, automobile and water workers make their commutes, often with expensive equipment. She and some residents believe that, with the private RVs making the area more active and also increasing foot traffic, it will increase the likelihood of said equipment being stolen. “We do have a high crime rate,” said Randy Hanson, who lives next to the land. “I don’t like the idea of how long somebody can stay.”
Hanson also argued that the increased population can lead to more water and sewage demand without a sufficient supply. There are currently no water lines running directly into the area. Though the city does say this will be a priority during construction, those opposed to the idea have indicated the possible impracticality of this.
“Onsite is all private water. It’s not designed for fire flow for commercial properties that Mr. Hanson and others will need in the area,” said Andrew Mellon, a contractor that has surveyed the site. “It’s a weird situation. Water lines could be brought through there to them if they so choose to develop their land.” Mellon also noted the presence of an oil line nearby, which could make the construction of water lines even more complicated.
Robinson denied these concerns, saying that the park will be fenced off to prevent any theft and that rumoured plans of building walking trails in the park are erroneous.
“We’re trying to provide a place where families can come,” he said. “And we have the same concerns of stuff getting stolen out of the back of your truck in the park.” Hanson himself conceded this, saying, “I think these fellows have good intentions. Looks like they’re trying to spend a lot of money to make it, so that might improve it.”
As for water, Robinson says he is devising unique ways of delivering it to his customers without impacting residents, but that he’s having trouble doing so.
“There’s a water retention pod there that we thought was going to catch basin water,” he said. “And then that would kind of save us all the trouble of bringing utilities over there. But with some of the oil and gas radiuses on the flares and container batteries, the layout didn’t work.”
Despite the concerns, the ordinance to create the RV park was approved unanimously by the City Council on the condition that the park follow their guidelines on such an establishment. There is no current timetable for completion available publicly.
