During the upcoming regular meeting of Amarillo City Council, the council will consider abandoning two public alleyways. However, only one of those alleyways actually exists.

The first alleyway, located just south of St. Stephen United Methodist Church on Western, is a fairly typical alleyway abandonment. The church already owns all of the property on the block and is seeking to expand its parking lot and needs the city to sign off to abandon the alleyway.

The second alleyway, however, only exists on paper. It used to exist, but it was removed when the city built the downtown parking garage over it in 2016. Until Amarillo City Council formally votes to officially abandon it, it still theoretically exists.

According to the agenda memo for the item, the “alley no longer serves a public purpose.” According to the Planning and Zoning Commission, “ the vacation would not result in any detrimental impacts to the public.” The commission voted unanimously to approve the item during their November 6th meeting and sent the item to Amarillo City Council for final approval.

Other items on the agenda include $12.5 million in spending, changes to parking regulations, setting a date for a public hearing on annexing land north of the airport, and various board appointments.

The meeting is scheduled to take place at 3:00 pm on Tuesday, November 14th. It will be held on the third floor of City Hall. Before the regular meeting, Amarillo City Council will hold a closed-door executive session meeting at 1:00 pm. Councilman Tom Scherlen will be available to meet with members of the public in Room 203 of City Hall on Monday, November 13th from noon to 1:00 pm.

The full agenda and agenda packet for the meeting can be found at this link. Those interested in speaking during the meeting can sign up at this link.