ROMA – Starr County leaders are proposing an alternative plan to the border wall.

Local officials say they don't want to build a border wall away from the Rio Grande, but build a barrier along the river and into a bank.

They say that it would help with flood control and border security.

Roma business owner Noel Benavidez says his 140 acres of land has been shared by his family since the time of Spanish Colonial rule.

Benavidez says the government wanted his land for a border wall in 2008 and again recently.

He says he’s in favor of the idea that the location of the wall be decided by a combined effort of the city and government officials.

President of the Starr County Industrial Foundation Rose Benavidez says the idea would include a man-made barrier along the Rio Grande that would replace the soil of the bank.

She says they’re going to start sitting down with government officials in the next few weeks. 

“Not only negotiate and talk to the municipalities, but talk to property owners,” says Benavidez.

They say they’re working on a system that would allow individual land owners to give their own comments too, so everyone is heard.

For more information, watch the video above.