A new $1,200 administrative fee that El Paso Water is charging for outdoor racing events at the Lost Dog Trail Head is deterring some groups from wanting to use the open space.

At least two groups, one aiming to organize an outdoor trail running event and another trying to organize a mountain biking event on the land located in Northwest El Paso were told by an El Paso Water employee that they would have to pay a $1,200 administrative fee to get a permit to use the Lost Dog trail for their events.

Concerns over the new fee have been raised during the city’s Open Space Advisory Board’s last three meetings in November, December and January. During the December meeting, board members asked that EP Water officials attend the next meeting to discuss the fee.

El Paso Water owns the Lost Dog trail and surrounding area.

“EP Water encourages the community to enjoy open space, but the utility does not have the same liability protection as other state and local entities for public or for-profit events,” said El Paso Water spokesperson Denise Parra, who only gave responses to El Paso Matters via email.

Even though race organizers said they generally have their own insurance to cover liability when they are hosting events on public or private lands, EP Water has to review the applicant’s insurance policy and coverage to ensure the utility is indemnified, Parra said in the email response.

She also said the fee was put in place after the utility was made aware of a violation of the conservation easement for unauthorized use of the land.

“The utility implemented the process, along with the associated administrative cost in late 2022,” Parra said, adding they have also been made aware of other violations.

Parra said that “there is a cost associated with a large-scale event that covers staff time to review a request and ensure requirements are met, along with maintenance post-event. EPWater’s fee is $1,200 for the use of the land, and only if the request is approved.”

The $1,200 fee would go into the utility’s general stormwater fund, she said.

“From the borderland mountain biking perspective, we do not believe there should be any fee associated with using the Lost Dog conservation easement,” said Joe Garibay, president of the Borderland Mountain Bike Association and chair of the open space board.

Garibay said members of the Open Space Advisory Board (OSAB) and the biking association have concerns that the $1,200 fee is excessive and may be prohibitive to those wanting to use the area for events. He said any fee for for-profit events like races should have fees similar to those charged by state parks where there is a certain percentage or charge per person.

During the Jan. 10 OSAB meeting, city staff said no one was available from the utility to attend, leaving the board with no option to further discuss the issue since it was not on the meeting agenda. Board members again asked that an item be placed on the next meeting agenda to get more information about the fee. The board meets monthly.

“If we need to pay that, we are thinking about just not doing it anymore because for us it’s not a business – it’s just the love of showing off the sport,” said Pablo Muñoz, race director and owner of EP Enduro, which has hosted mountain biking events in the area since 2021.

Muñoz said the new $1,200 fee was a surprise when they were organizing their mountain biking event last year. He said they had gotten the proper permits in the prior years without any issues or exorbitant fees. He said they generally host an event in September, but that is now in limbo.

Muñoz changed the starting point of his 2023 mountain biking event to avoid the fee and use of the Lost Dog Trail Head.

Parra said any activity on conservation easement lands has to be compliant with the legal terms that aim to preserve the land in a natural state.

The land, located near the Franklin Mountains State Park, has a variety of popular hiking and biking trails and was at the center of a community-wide effort to have the land preserved as natural open space rather than be used for future development.

In May 2019, 89% of El Paso voters overwhelmingly passed a petition initiative to preserve about 1,100 acres of the undeveloped land in Northwest El Paso including the Lost Dog area.

The City Council in February 2020 voted to reimburse the Public Service Board, which manages the utility, about $11 million to impose a conservation easement on the land after the election.

Conservation easements serve to protect and preserve designated lands by restricting or limiting allowed uses such as development, or activities that may damage the natural state. Nonprofit conservation organizations also known as land trusts typically manage the lands, while the ownership remains with the original party.

In 2021, the nonprofit Frontera Land Alliance took over stewardship of the Lost Dog conservation easement. Frontera is tasked with maintenance of the land as the land trust.

“We’re working really hard to help people become educated on what a conservation easement is because it’s a new term for most people, as well as trail etiquette and ‘leave no trace,” said Frontera Land Alliance Executive Director Janae’ Reneaud Field.

Field said some unauthorized events have taken place.

“One race went forward and they left waste on the land,” Field said. “Taping, cutting of bushes, any heavy use on trails where it degrades the trails – all of that is something that we as the Frontera conservation easement have to address.”

The land alliance would have been tasked with approving the event permits for the mountain biking and running events, but does not set the fee for permits for use of the land.

Field said Frontera would take into consideration the amount of participants for an event, which trails would be used and for how long as well as be tasked with going to the site the day before, the day of the event, and the day after the event to ensure no damage or trash was left in the area.

She said Frontera hasn’t rejected any applications, but they are evaluated on a case-by-case basis and no set policy has been established on how often events should be allowed on the conservation easement.

“In the future there needs to be a management plan with (EP Water and) Frontera – whose job it is to maintain (the land),” said Rick Bonart, who spearheaded the effort to preserve the Lost Dog.

Bonart said racing events organized by for-profit groups should have to pay some level of fee and have liability insurance among other rules, but the utility and non-profit should also develop a policy on how often and what sort of events will be allowed throughout the year.

“It has to be fair, in that there needs to be a public policy written up. Whether or not the $1,200 is legit – they need to justify why they’re charging that much,” Bonart said. “But at the end of the day, there also needs to be some sort of a fee, and some sort of a written policy.”

Neither racing group moved forward with the permitting process because of the EP Water administrative fee.

Muñoz said while his group charges registration fees for the event that draws around 40 participants, they don’t generate a lot of income.

“This year, all of a sudden, they said there were new requirements,” Muñoz said. “When I contacted El Paso Water they came up with that $1,200 fee.”

The organizer of a mountain trail running event was also hit with the fee.

“That’s the most asinine amount of money I’ve ever heard for a permit ever,” said John Lacroix, owner and race director for Human Potential Running Series and organizer for the Franklin Mountain Trail Runs.

Lacroix said the trail runs event had been partially held in a portion of the Lost Dog area in years prior without a fee having to be paid.

Lacroix, whose event has about 50 participants and will be held Jan. 20, said there had been some back-and-forth with a possible compromise to the $1,200 fee, but he did not hear back from EP Water until two weeks before the event.

By that time he said he rerouted the race to avoid the Lost Dog area to remain in the state park where he said he paid a $1,000 permit for use of the park and campsites for five days. He said he also paid the city a $65 fee for the use of McKelligon Canyon.

“With El Paso Water I was looking at using two-and-a-half miles of trail for five hours,” he said. “You can see the disparity there.”

Parra said the utility is reviewing the fee to potentially move to a refundable deposit.