EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson was absent during this week’s City Council sessions and was not present for the vote to move forward with a memorandum of understanding with the County, TxDOT and with the Downtown Deck Plaza Foundation.

ABC-7 reached out to his office for comment and for an interview on Wednesday; in a written statement, he said:

“The Deck Plaza is a once in a lifetime opportunity to reconnect our downtown, and I support moving it forward in a responsible way. What Council acted on this week is not the full construction of the project. The focus right now is on preserving that opportunity while TxDOT rebuilds I 10. Future proofing means doing the key work now so the full vision can still move forward when funding becomes available.

At this stage, many of the details related to economic impact, job creation, and long term operations are still preliminary. Those are important questions, but they will depend on the final scope, design, and funding partnerships. Right now, our priority is working with state, federal, and private partners to identify funding opportunities and make sure we are positioned for success.

No final funding decision has been made, and any future investment will require City Council approval and strong partnerships.

At the end of the day, this is about protecting taxpayers, being responsible with public dollars, and keeping a once in a lifetime opportunity alive for future generations of El Pasoans.”

ABC-7 also spoke with El Paso City Representative Lily Limón, who said the El Paso community has “resoundingly” said they don’t want the Deck Plaza model.

“Regardless of who the operator’s going to be, the city would always be responsible for that and the numbers are very fluid; some people will tell you it’s $209 million and others are going to tell you it’s $415 million and that’s a great big gap,” said City Rep. Limón. “The answer is the city (owning the proposed Deck Plaza), because the agreement with TxDOT is with the city, the agreement is not with the county and the agreement is now with the deck park, it’s with the city, so ultimately, the city is the one that’s responsible for it.”

According to City Rep. Limón, people are telling them they don’t want this project.

“Our community doesn’t want the Deck Park, doesn’t want the Meta’s Data Center, doesn’t want anything having to do with raising money, our utilities, they’re adamant, this is enough, we can’t hold it and we can’t do it anymore,” said City Rep. Limón.

He also told ABC-7 that he has been to the Deck Park in Dallas because he went there to attend a conference, but had it not been for that, he would not have driven or flown all the way there just to go to the Deck Park: “It’s just not reasonable.”

“I think this is a dream, I think it’s a beautiful dream, but realistically and financially, we’re not there,” City Rep. Limón added.

According to Limón, the city has until October to come up with $6 million, but then, after that, the price could go up to $20 million just for the future proofing.

“Now comes the rest and my biggest concern is the maintenance, because just to put the layer on top, that’s all, the maintenance is about $3.5 million a year and we don’t have $3.5 million if we have to do it right now,” City Rep. Limón added. “And then once it’s completed, the maintenance cost could rise as much as $8 million; we just can’t sustain it and I’m sorry to hear people say there’s nothing to do in El Paso when there are incredible things to do in El Paso.”