You're live.
There you go.
Oh, the red. There you go.
Good evening. I will now call to order
the June 23rd, 2026 Planning and Zoning
Commission at 6:00 p.m. I am Chair
Crystal McCaslin. First on our agenda is
the conflict of interest. Does any
member of the commission or any member
of staff have any known conflict with
any item on the agenda today?
Great.
Seeing none, we're going to move on to
public participation.
Next public participation at this time,
I would like to invite anyone from the
public to come up and speak on anything
that is not on the agenda under new
business. Or if you want to speak on any
item under the consent agenda, please do
so now.
Seeing none, I will end the public
participation and we have the acceptance
of the agenda. By voting to approve the
acceptance of the agenda as presented,
we will be approving the P&Z minutes
from our last meeting and the items on
the consent agenda unless a commissioner
wishes to remove a case from the consent
agenda and we can vote on the amended
agenda.
Madam Chair.
Commissioner Costa.
I move accept um
all documents as presented.
Thank you.
I second.
Thank you.
All those in favor?
No.
I'll go into roll call if you like.
Yes. Please do.
Thank you, Chair.
Uh
Commissioner [clears throat] Smith?
Yes.
Commissioner Thurston?
Yes.
Commissioner Kaiser?
Yes.
Commissioner Costa?
Yes.
And Chair?
Yes.
All right, thanks so much. So
moving on to new business, we have item
7.1. Can I have a motion to approve item
7.1?
Madam Chair, so moved.
Thank you.
Second.
Thank you.
Do you want to call the vote?
I'll I'll do presentation then open for
pre- for public participation then we'll
do the vote afterwards.
yeah. I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm so ready
tonight.
Ready to get this one done. Yes, ma'am.
[clears throat]
Adam Matri Community Development for the
record. Uh so, our one case we have
before you tonight is a zoning map
amendment. We used to call these zone
changes uh for the a property located at
1240 South Valley Drive.
[clears throat]
The scope of discussion we'll have today
for this proposed zoning amendment uh
would be limited to the actual zoning uh
map amendment. Uh P&Z's role essentially
for this is your recommending body of uh
uh to the City Council. So, whatever
recommendation you have, that's what
recommendation will move forward to City
Council for their final consideration
and adoption of this as an ordinance or
law, basically. Uh discussion needs to
focus basically on land use, zoning
compatibility, uh density transitions,
uh connectivity, kind of consistency,
just overall uh fitting in with the area
where the proposed zoning map amendment
is being proposed in that area.
[clears throat]
So, the subject property is located on
the southwest corner of Valley Drive and
Aspen Avenue and encompasses uh just
under an acre, about 0.987 acres in
size. It is currently zoned NH1S,
Neighborhood one suburban.
There is an existing shopping / business
center on the property. That shopping
business center was developed I believe
in 2011. So it's been it was developed
under our previous zoning code, the 2001
zoning code, and was previously zoned C2
commercial medium intensity, which is
our middle of the ring type of intensity
commercial zoning back then.
As you can see here, there is the
subject property highlighted in pink.
As you can see it's nothing other type
of rural zoning exists in the area
[snorts] minus NH1S, which is the
residential area to the north, and those
two big commercial corridors along
Valley Drive and Avenue Lomas Chino that
everything is zoned CRS, which
commercial retail.
So that is the proposal for this for
this property as a
zoning map amendment to CRS, which is a
commercial retail suburban, which would
match the existing zoning is found
around
the area.
The CRS zoning designation is more
consistent with the
the previously existing C2 zoning
designation for previous zoning code,
and actually the existing NH1S zoning
designation actually does not permit a
shopping / business center on the
property. So essentially with the
adoption of our new development code we
made the property a non-conforming
property. So this zoning change would
eliminate that non-conformity from the
property.
There is that area again
showing the shopping [clears throat]
center here. There is also a wireless
communication structure, which is also
not permitted on site. So that would
take care of that issue as well.
And again just calling out the
residential area with multi-family
single-family to the north and just
nothing but commercial surrounding along
Avenue Lomas Chino and Valley.
Once staff did their analysis we did not
identify any real well real
health life or safety issues with the
proposed zoning map amendment. It is
consistent with the zoning as you as As
saw that sea of red along
Avenue in the CN Valley.
So [clears throat] it's definitely not
out of context. Additionally, on top of
that per case law,
it has been voted on and the courts said
if an error was identified on the
current zoning [snorts] map by staff
then the zoning map amendment can occur
and the proposed amendment will correct
that error.
The amendment to CRS will better align
the subject property with the it is
located in what we call the regional
commercial place type as called out by L
A Las Cruces
comprehensive plan. So the proposed
zoning aligns with that a lot better
than the existing NH-1S zoning
designation.
So with that, the staff does recommend
approval for the proposed zoning map
amendment based on the findings that a
an error did occur for the for the
existing zoning map.
It's located in the regional commercial
place type where CRS is encouraged.
There's numerous
relevant goals, policies, and actions
[clears throat]
found within our
L A comprehensive plan that support the
zoning zoning map amendment and it is
consistent with the zoning found in the
surrounding area.
Notice was sent out to Well, reviews
first of all were sent out to all
relevant agencies departments. All
supported the proposed zoning map
amendment.
Notice was also sent to all properties
per code 500 ft away from the property
making them aware of the proposed zoning
map amendment. Staff did receive one
phone call seeking just additional
information of what was happening on the
property.
So what your options are
are one to vote yes and approve
recommend approval to the city council
for the proposed zoning map amendment,
two vote to deny, three vote to amend
provide conditions deemed appropriate by
the commission, or four to postpone and
direct staff accordingly.
That is the conclusion of the
presentation. I stand for questions.
Thank you, Adam.
Commissioner Kaiser.
Just a clarifying question cuz I think
we had at least one one
come before us recently, but did because
it's an error, was the applicant
required to pay the processing fee for
this zone change, or did the city waive
the fees?
Commissioner Kaiser, Chair, no, they
were not required. Staff did
we did see the error because of the
error that occurred. We are doing this
basically
it's a city initiated zoning map
amendments. So,
Great, thank you.
Okay.
Right.
Thank you so much, then I'm ready to
call the vote.
Let's see, nobody from the public yes
ma'am.
public.
Okay, let's see here. So, this is on the
motion to approve recommend approval,
pardon me,
to the zoning map amendment
for the property located at 1240 South
Valley Drive, case number 226 ZO
0500037.
Commissioner Smith. [clears throat]
Yes.
Commissioner Thurston.
Yes.
Commissioner Kaiser.
Yes.
Commissioner Acosta.
Yes.
And Chair.
Yes.
Thank you so much, everyone.
That is it for tonight. I will Oh, what?
Yes, sir.
Oh, staff, yes.
I just got one question for staff as
well.
Yeah, we are at discussion, so yeah, go
right ahead, Commissioner. Yes.
Um, in the Real Estate Las Cruces, the
PIF funds and the fee in lieu have I
still haven't gotten an answer back on
the fee in lieu
as to how that actually works, where the
money is going when
a developer actually uses the fee in
lieu.
And this is in reference to
parks and rec, correct?
Yes.
Okay.
Cuz we know where where park impact fees
are going to,
but the fee in lieu, where like
that was one of our questions when we
had passed the that
um the realized loss cruises and I just
still haven't gotten an answer on
understanding where that money goes and
what it can be used for.
That's all.
Yes, sir. Staff will reach out to the
director and see if we can get some
clarification for you, sir.
Thanks.
All right. Um are there any staff
announcements? Sorry.
Commissioner Thurston, did you have a
question? No.
I was going to make a motion.
Uh
Thank you.
Just a quick announcement. Uh
summer's heating up with This is when we
can see a lot of subdivisions come in.
So, we are going to have a lot of mylar
signatures, unfortunately. So, we thank
you all for responding to emails. Uh
whoever We try to get whoever we can as
quickly as possible to get these signed
and on their way.
Um just this past week we had about
about a dozen subdivisions submitted to
us. So, we're going to be We're moving
pretty hot and heavy when it comes to
these smaller, minor subdivisions.
There's some big ones coming down the
pipe, as well. So,
just make plans uh
accordingly because more than likely
we'll we'll be here
the next few summer
next few months with cases coming before
you, including next month.
I have one last thing.
Commissioner Thurston.
On your plats, should do should we
remove it being if you're allowing any
of the commissioners to do it, should we
should you change it to be like
commissioner instead of chair and
secretary?
[clears throat]
Commissioner Thurston, Chair, actually
that's a requirement per state statute.
They don't mind who signs it, but it
does have to say the chair and and and
and vice chair.
It
But it doesn't matter who signs it. So,
that's that's the county's been
accepting that as is.
Okay.
Uh
motion to adjourn.
Second.
Thank you. All those in favor?
I.
Adjourned at 6:11.
Thank you so much. Adjourned at 6:11.
Okay.