EL PASO, Tx., April 13, 2026: El Paso City Council is scheduled to vote on an agreement tomorrow to help raise private funds for a proposed deck park downtown. The Downtown Deck Plaza Foundation, established last year, seeks to raise funds to put a deck park over I-10 near downtown. The Foundation is a “supporting organization of the Paso del Norte Community Foundation.” The PDNG Community Foundation has been active for years funding projects in El Paso, including the Plaza Theater in 2006, its first marquee downtown project. Many of the projects supported by the PDNG Community Foundation require funding mechanisms that include taxpayer dollars. The Plaza Theater was reopened after the city council voted in 2002 to use downtown parking meter fees to help pay for the $38 million renovation project.
According to the deck park’s foundation, the Texas Department of Transportation has allocated $500 million to reconstruct I-10 from Spur 66 to downtown. The people behind the deck park project are hoping to raise funds to build a “green cap” over the downtown portion of the I-10 project. In 2021, the City of El Paso and the Foundation received $900,000 to conduct a feasibility study for putting a park over the I-10 downtown corridor.
The deck proponents say that the economic impact feasibility study found that building the deck park would “generate nearly $1 billion in total economic output over 30 years” for El Paso. The feasibility study also found that building the deck park will cost about $239 million, including the retaining walls to support it. They say that they have raised around $74 million towards the project including $35 million in “private philanthropy to support park amenities” that have been committed but not yet secured.
To fund the rest of the project, the deck park’s foundation says that some “funding from the public” will be required.
Using the figures published on the Foundation’s website, about $200 million in funding has yet to be identified to complete the project.
Although the deck park supporters have identified $35 million from private philanthropy towards the project, the amount is slated for “park amenities” and not for construction leaving almost $200 million needed for the proposed deck park.
What Is Council Voting On?
During tomorrow’s city council meeting, the city representatives will be voting on a Non-binding Memorandum of Understanding between the City, County of El Paso and the deck park’s foundation supporting the proposed deck park.
According to slides posted by City Representative Chris Canales on social media yesterday, tomorrow’s vote is “a non-binding agreement.” Canales’ slide show says that “the agreement does not bind any entity to spend any money, and it does not propose funding any part of the project with local taxpayer money.”
According to Canales, tomorrow’s vote will allow the City to “co-lead design work,” while the Foundation “will fundraise private money for construction.” If funding for the project is not reached by October, the “deck park is unlikely to move forward,” according to Canales.
Screengrab of Chris Canales statement posted to social media on April 12, 2026, Martín Paredes/El Paso Herald Post
Canales says that “I have never supported using local taxpayer funds to construct the Deck Plaza, but it would be a nice public amenity if El Paso taxpayers didn’t have to pay for it.” He added that he would be supporting the vote tomorrow because “it allows the Downtown Deck Plaza Foundation to begin to raise private funds” for it, but he added that he “would not support using City taxpayer funds (including bond funds) to build the Deck Plaza.”
The city council is set to discuss the item tomorrow as part of its regular agenda. The meeting starts at 9:00 in the morning.
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Cover photograph credit: Rendering of the proposed deck plaza, courtesy of the City of El Paso.
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