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[Music]
you're live
good afternoon good afternoon everyone
welcome to city council meeting today is
Tuesday February 18th 2025 it's
approximately oh the time 10:3 p.m. I am
mayor Eric Enriquez uh before we start I
want to mention mention that we have the
ASL American Sign Language interpreters
available in the front um we will start
if you all join me in a moment of
silence for the brave men and women of
the United States Armed Force as they
protect our interests around the globe
but as well as the courageous men and
women of the Los crues police and fire
department that keep our city safe
councelor Karan if you'll lead us in the
pledge
indice we got the military guys that
would have gig me from my about face
first on the agenda we'll do some
presentations of certifications and
proclamations by councelor
KET I'd welcome um Kaye Martinez Kiana
sandal Michael Chavez and Pac Costa up
for uh teen Dating Violence month
oh you come up here Mr shabis might be
looking for a
job come on up this way you guys can
stand here and then you'll
have right thank you he might be looking
for parking uh oh hi I hope he knows to
he I hope he comes up when he when he
enters whereas teen Dating Violence is
an issue that commonly affects teenagers
between the ages of 12 to 19 Nationwide
this issue does not only affect teens
who are experiencing this form of abuse
but also their family friends and others
in their community and whereas roughly
1.5 million High School boys and girls
in the United States admit to being
intentionally hit or physically harmed
in the last year by someone they are
romantically involved with only 33% of
teens who are in an abusive relationship
ever tell anyone about the the abuse and
81% of parents either believe that teen
Dating Violence is not an issue or state
that they do not have knowledge of it
occurring and whereas teens who suffer
from dating abuse are subject to
long-term consequences such as substance
and alcohol use disorders Eating
Disorders depression anxiety suicidal
ideations and violent Behavior youth who
experience physical violence in a
relationship are much more likely to
carry unexperienced patterns of abuse
into future relationships and whereas by
providing young people with education
regarding healthy relationships and
relationship skills we can change
attitudes and behaviors that support
violence because we recognize that this
form of violence can be prevented and
whereas the promotion of developing
mature safe responsible relationships
has the potential to reduce the amount
of Youth being exposed to Dating
Violence and can prevent the damaging
effects it causes and whereas the intent
of teen bading violence awareness month
will benefit Youth and parents members
of donana County with the knowledge and
support needed to put an end to teen
Dating Violence regardless of
socioeconomic status gender sexual
orientation or ethnicity everyone has
the right to a safe and healthy
relationship free from
abuse now therefore we the mayor and
City Council of Las Cruses New Mexico to
hereby Proclaim February 2025 as teen
Dating Violence Awareness Month in the
city of Los Cruses New Mexico and
encourage all young people to think
about the relationships in their lives
and protect themselves from entering and
living in abusive
relationships thank
[Applause]
you good afternoon buis this couldn't
have been possible um if it wasn't by
the collaborative that we have with a
hatch
schools Miss Kaylee and Kiana who are
the village of hatch Coalition members
and our program youth development and
diversion from Parks and Recreation you
know domestic violence does not
discriminate and the victims are not
just just females males adults but we're
starting to see and have seen for years
that teen Dating Violence is happening
in our schools I'm a Survivor of teen
Dating Violence this year we're excited
to have our first annual assemblies in
the hatch schools with a goal that in
the next three years we'll be traveling
to other districts with a goal of
confirming in coming together with a
conference it is people like you people
like our mayor city manager and
definitely celier McClure that believes
that the constituents have to have
freedom of violence I might add that
poverty is another form of violence we
take this with great honor I would like
to see if my colleagues here would like
to say some few words
gracias on behalf of the Coalition we
just want to thank you for this award
and the support from the city of Las
Cruses
and doniana County um I know we're all
in this together so thank you guys all
for the support and for allowing us to
be here
today we see the need that's imperative
to have these conversations and bringing
it to a small community like catch and
starting these conversations amongst the
youth and bringing the red flags the
green flags to the youth and having
those conversations started was an
imperative thing and the schools really
supported us in Hatch and like Miss Pat
said we hope to continue this further
and travel throughout the district and
the county thank you
[Music]
next up I'll invite any representatives
from El Paso
Electric oh all right come on
down thank you all for being
here um welcome for National Engineers
week whereas February 16 through 22nd
2025 is recognized as National Engineers
week to honor the engineers in all
Fields who use their Knowledge and
Skills in innovative ways to fulfill our
society's needs and ensure a diverse and
well-educated future engineering
Workforce by increasing understanding of
and interest in engineering and
Technology careers whereas El Paso
Electric is celebrating all of the
engineers in our region that each
working to make a difference for our
communities that are collaborating to
grow a future Workforce of successful
engineers and whereas El Paso Electric
has a family of more than 1100 employees
including approximately 120 2 3
Engineers dedicated to serving the
communities where they live and work and
I would say in the city we have a number
of extraordinary Engineers as well um as
a regional energy provider with the
responsibility of providing safe and
reliable energy for more than 460,000
customers El Paso Electric understands
the crucial role our Engineers play
every day in transforming the energy
landscape in partnership with other team
members El Paso Electric Engineers are
designing the future that will enable
electrification more renewable energy
and brighter Energy Future for everyone
and whereas Engineers serve as role
models and sources of inspiration to
students and Community to realize the
power of their knowledge and National
Engineers week Works to further promote
a diverse and well-educated future
engineering Workforce now therefore we
the mayor and City Council of Las crusis
New Mexico do hereby Proclaim February
16th through 22nd 2025 as National
Engineers week
[Applause]
good afternoon we're honored to accept
this Proclamation on behalf of all the
engineers who play a role in keeping our
community moving forward this
Proclamation C celebrates not just one
person but the hard work Innovation and
dedication of all the engineers and Los
crues every day our team at El Paso
Electric tackles challenges to ensure
that our city stays powered and
connected
I cannot speak on behalf of what other
Engineers may do in their profession but
this Proclamation is a testament to the
collective effort that all Engineers put
in towards this community I want to say
thank you to the city council for
recognizing the hard work Engineers do
as well as the mayor um recognizing
sorry and thank you to every engineer
who plays a vital role in keeping our
community moving forward thank you
[Applause]
thank
you um next up I'd like to uh welcome
folks from our hous housing and neighbor
Neighborhood Services section to come on
up for
um the presentation and discussion of
the Audrey Nelson Community Development
Achievement
Award okay I'll I'll invite everyone up
CAD Perros board of directors Public
Works management staff and the
neighborhood services team sorry
everyone come
on yes good afternoon everyone today I
have the honor of recognizing a
remarkable partnership that has made a
real impact in our community on February
7th 2025 the national Community
Development Association Winter
conference the city of Las crusis was
awarded the 2025 Audrey Nelson Community
Development Achievement Award for our
collaboration with CAD pagos Beyond
receiving this National recognition we
were also invited to share our success
on the cdbg best practices panel our
Communications team created a video
highlighting this work let's take a
moment to watch
[Music]
in Los crusis casad Perros has been a
Beacon of Hope since its founding in
1979 starting as a small food pantry it
quickly became a vital resource for
families facing food insecurity for over
40 years casad Perros has embodied its
mission to provide emergency food
assistance to those in
need from its humble beginnings the
organization has grown alongside the
community responding to the increasing
challenges of hunger and poverty with
compassion and Care casad Perros
operates as part of the Community of
Hope campus a collaborative Hub owned by
the city of Las Cruses that brings
together agencies like El Calo soup
kitchen Amador Health Center Hardin de
losos and the msia Valley Community of
Hope together these organizations create
a holistic approach to addressing
homelessness hunger and poverty in
doniana County by 2020 casad Perros was
Distributing more than 4.7 million
pounds of food annually far beyond the
capacity of its original 4,000 ft space
it was clear a new facility was urgently
needed enter the city of Las Cruses
through a strong partnership and the
Strategic use of Community Development
block rant cdbg funds the city stepped
in to support this vital project with
$3.9 million from the New Mexico State
Legislature and $3.75 million including
$350,000 in Community Development block
grant funds the vision took shape in
2020 the city acquired a larger property
and in 2022 construction began on what
is now a 13,000 ft
facility opened in August 20123 this
state-of-the-art building has tripled
CDP space streamlining food distribution
and expanding Services It Now features
everything from drive up services to
Shared Community spaces and even a
demonstration kitchen for nutrition
education already the impact is tangible
compared to last year casad Perros has
served 14% more clients and distributed
nearly 1 million additional pounds of
food it's more than a facility it's a
Lifeline for thousands across donana
County we have the city Los Cruses on
our back they're with us donana County
they're with us support from our
legislators they're with us this is
really a village doing the best that
they can to take care of the poort at
the city of Los Cruses casad peregrinos
it's not just about providing food it's
about doing it with heart adante karinho
moving forward with
care together we're building a stronger
more compassionate
[Music]
amazing as you saw and see here this
achievement was only possible through
teamwork um again this these are this
represents casad perago board of
directors Public Works project
management staff and the neighborhood
services team here represented and and
really repres presenting for our
community I'm proud to present the award
um that that goes like this and I'm
proud to be a part of the city of Las
crusis where where where this is
happening so thank you all for for doing
us proud um in recognition of the
exemplary and Innovative use of cdbg
Grant fronts to address the needs of low
and moderate income families homes and
neighborhoods the 2025 Audrey Nelson
Community Development Achievement Award
is presented to the city of Las cruus
and casad barinos congratulations and
again thank you for your dedication to
our
[Applause]
community I can't see you you can't see
me you're not going to be in the
photo you can scoot out the back
good afternoon mayor City Council
Members I'm Sonia Jamila board chair of
CAD Perros it is a true honor to stand
before you today alongside with our
dedicated staff volunteers and fellow
board member and of course our executive
director Lorenzo Alba we're here to
celebrate the city's recognition with
the 2025 Audrey Nelson award for the
expansion of CAD perigos a testament to
what we can achieve together we're
incredibly grateful to the city of Les
Cruses for instrumental support in
making this vital project a reality the
award recognizing the exemplary use of
cdbg funds underscores the power of
strategic Partnerships and the strength
we find in community
connections it is a shared award one
that belongs to everyone at The
Community of Hope confirming for all of
us the importance of programs like
this the impact of your investment is
very tangible at the expanded facility
we now distribute an at least an
additional million pounds of food Ser
14% more clients all possible to the
expansion from 4,000 to 12,000 sare ft
this project has been transformative for
clients the Innovative design of the
building enabled us to implement drive
up food distribution ing individuals who
otherwise might struggle to receive Food
the traditional way and our larger story
storage capacity allows us to increase
the amount of food we rescue from local
grocery
stores food that has passed sell by date
but is still perfectly safe and would
otherwise go to the landfill this has
helped reduce food waste in our
community and supplement the food we
distribute we are deeply grateful for
the city's commitment to supporting
programs that uplift those facing
hardship this project demonstrates that
by working together we are better
equipped to meet our community's needs
thank you again for your partnership and
your belief in the mission of CAD
[Applause]
Perros thank you so much
but the key to this is that you guys
said yes with when I asked you about
Capital
Outlet if you would have said yes we
would have been able to pull this off
and I wish Senator steinborn was here
because I cornered
him at the AL Dorado Hotel in uh Santa
Fe and he said can you get it into me by
tomorrow morning and I'm like
what and yes that's where it began it
began with $188,000 that we got the
first year at capito atlay and the rest
was just a lot of great work by our team
by the
counselors by the mayor by the
administration but more than anything
else our friends Natalie and her team
wow that's
really why this
happened yes we did our part and the
services that we provide in this
community are essential but maybe one
day we'll be able to name a word after
her here in this community because of
the things we're doing with the c last
Cru
and that team in the neighborhoods man
that's incredible all the work we've
been doing just take a look around the
around those crues and look at all the
wonderful projects going up that are
addressing a very difficult subject to
talk about it's
poverty and that's truly what this is
about so I really want to take time on
behalf of the board of directors our
team our
staff our volunteers which you've got a
couple of them here but more than
anything the people that we
serve those that are caught between a
rock and a hard place of whether or not
they're going to have something to feed
their families that day thank you and
God bless all of you so much
[Applause]
okay next it's my privilege and it's my
honor to
recognize the
356 Transportation Company led by
Lieutenant
George
Solano and Sergeant Marshall and the
rest of the company if they'd like to
come
up back in March 2nd of 2024 this
company was deployed and they returned
just recently January
30th uh we want to do so much to honor
them excuse me to honor them and
recognize
them for their commitment and their
dedication to serve our community and
our country and I just want to say thank
you for your service thank you for all
that you've done there's so much more
that we want to do we will do a
proclamation for each individual ual and
we will present it at their location
um to each individual on behalf of the
mayor and Council just to show our
tremendous gratitude for them but most
of all what I wanted to do today is to
have them here so that we could all give
them a a wholehearted welcome welcome
back thank you for coming back and
returning safely to our community
and I'd ask uh Lieutenant Solano to say
a few
words hello everyone my name is Major
Carlos almanza I am the
372nd quartermaster Battalion EXO we are
the higher headquarters for the 356
transportation company and I'm here on
behalf of my command team who couldn't
be with us today um but we are very
proud of these soldiers they did an
outstanding job during their deployment
I think cumulatively as as a whole
company they drove over 200,000 miles
out there they drove through nine
different countries and they did an
excellent job we are very proud of these
soldiers and they deserve this
recognition
[Music]
all right sir you stole my thunder a
little bit there all right first off uh
like they said first lieutenant solo
here uh I just want to express our
heartfelt gratitude for the Lord for
ensuring and our safety throughout this
entire Journey uh it's been a challenge
for everybody this unit was originally
75 people that were supposed to go we
ended up combining with a group from
Georgia uh ended up making over 140
soldiers to be able to complete this
composite truck company just some
achievements that we made while we were
over there like uh major amanza said we
drove over 200,000 miles across
different terrains through the snow
through Hills through tiny little
driveways uh these soldiers were able to
accomplish over a 100 Missions while
doing this uh we had Zero fatalities
everybody came back with us us and it
was just an amazing time to be over
there again we just want to thank
everybody in the local community for
your entire support without you these
all these soldiers would have been
complacent they would have been having a
hard time with their families so having
their family members be able to hold
down the fort for them back here give
them the opportunity to focus on what we
needed to do to be able to help out uh
the Polish nation and all other
countries with NATO that we were able to
help out with uh again just want to say
thank you for everything and sir thank
you for everything you've done for us
[Applause]
again thank you very much and we are so
glad that you're back home thank you
next on the agenda is job of the weeks
and we have Sarah rainy so
board good afternoon thank you so
much um thank you mayor and Council my
name is Sarah rainy I am the One-Stop
coordinator for the southwest region of
the American Job Center New Mexico for
jobs of the week we have a library
supervisor circulation and media um desk
for the city of Las crusis that one
starts at 5 55,000 and the posting
closes on the 10th of March we also have
for the city a facility is electrician
that one starts at $21 an hour and the
posting closes on the 10th as well for
White Sands Missile Range we have a
residential maintenance technician that
posting um starts at 28,000 and the
posting closes on the 1st of
March we have for Kids Quest Academy a
childcare teacher between $ 13 and $16
an hour depending on experience and the
posting closes on the 14th a student
program coordinator senior for NMSU that
one starts at 1785 an hour and closes on
the 24th of March we also have fountains
and pottery laborer for CA Bonita
fountains pottery that one is $15 an
hour and the posting closes on the 13th
of
March I just wanted to point out for our
upcoming events we originally had our
community hope job Readiness event um
scheduled for this week for tomorrow but
we had we have to cancel because
actually for good news they're doing
some remodels over there so they kicked
us out of our room so we will resume in
March and we'll get going on that as
well so thank you
all okay thank you Sarah next next is
pets of the week with
Carol good afternoon I'm Carol Nelson
the digital content specialist with the
Animal Services Center of the msia
valley uh just as a reminder um our pets
that are promoted as dog and cat of the
week are ailable at no cost throughout
the week that they are promoted and if
an animal is in a foster home please
contact our Center to arrange a meat and
greet ahead of time uh good news our cat
intakes are still low so we don't have
cat of the week again um but dog of the
week currently in a foster home is
Julieta
7975 she says I'm a delightful pup full
of energy I love to chase after toys and
play games people say I'm friendly to be
around as I am eager to make new friends
I have a place ful Spirit that's sure to
bring a lot of laughter and happiness to
any home my energy is contagious and I'm
always up for an adventure whether it's
a walk in the park or a game of fetch
I'm looking for a loving family to share
my joy
with um and we want to continue to
highlight our long-term residents to
adopt um which uh any animal that is at
our Center for three or more months are
available at just $25 to adopt Dora has
unfortunately been at our Center for 45
days Alice 258 days Mabel uh 252 days
and just as I was walking in Luna is no
longer at the center so we're super
happy for Luna
so yeah yeah super exciting and then we
wanted to thank the support of the city
council our event at the center was a
success this last week so we
unfortunately didn't get adoptions but
we got a lot of really good promotion
got people out to the center um even
animals into foster uh for our sleepover
over the weekend so it was a success in
that way so this coming weekend we're
going to be offsite again for paccinos
and Paws uh Saturday from 10: to 1 at
the Starbucks on batan Memorial West uh
and as always feel free to visit our
website for more information and to
check out our adoptable animals and you
can also follow us on social media so
thank you for your time today
thank you
[Applause]
Carol next is a conflict of interest
does any member of city council city
manager or any member of the city staff
have any known conflict of interest with
any item on the agenda none none by FL
none none
n next on the agenda is public
participation uh no pending litigation
or items on the non-consent to be spoken
at this time I'm going to allow 2
minutes for public uh participation
today to be consistent with items on the
agenda that anyone would want to speak
on later would just keep it consistent
at two minutes uh Katrina will be here
helping to Usher individuals please
stand up line up as we get through uh
the public participation thank you
Mr Mayor I have to apologize because I
thought we were at three minutes so I
don't know what to tell you no in order
to stay consistent for the whole meeting
two minutes I'll TR I'll try my best Mr
Mayor Dolores Lucero I requested
information two weeks ago for uh
investigation on the Amador restaurant
at 300 South Maine the dress restaurant
is now closed effective January my
review with the help of an accountant is
clear that there is no way that business
could succeed under that agreement and
of course like many others in our city
the additional burden of 2020 only made
it worse I don't have enough time in
these three minutes to refer to the
particulars nor does it really matter
anymore my reason for comments is to
bring out this property which has
another similar property on main street
that the City built and owns first of
all the city- owned property does not
collect property tax secondly the city
has no business leasing restaurants or
other types of this business that's for
the private sector third the location of
the building will be a huge Target based
on those who do not reflect other
people's Pro respect other people's
property so there will be damaged in my
review I can definitely see that the
city manager did not handle on the lease
and the timing of the closing and
probably was just as much surprised as
the public was I was told although I
cannot verify that the city is putting a
committee together to review what to do
with the property let me make it simple
prime location put it up for sale
immediately using local Realtors who are
experts at this career and pay back the
budget which is really the people's
money and get out of owning more
property and leas agreements that you
have no reason to be involved in and
stick to what a city's priority is and
Let me refresh what that is number one
is to provide Public Safety number two
is to provide quality and afford able U
utilities and third efficient roads and
infrastructure do not delay as this
won't be long before this property
deteriorates which will only deviate
from the selling price and reduce its
value thank
[Applause]
you good afternoon mayor and city
council my name is Jennifer dalgreen and
I am with the New Mexico commission for
the deaf and heart of hearing and I'm
here to thank you all so much for
providing access for me and providing a
sign language interpreter I do want to
give a little bit of a recommendation
something you all can think about maybe
planning on using picture in picture for
your live stream services online so that
way people don't have to come in person
to the meeting but they can still be
included in our community and with our
local government also at any time if you
give any announcements that the mayor
gives a proclamation or the fire
department or the police department it
would be really wonderful to have a sign
language interpreter available um so
that way we can have access to the de
Community thank you again so much for
your
[Applause]
time good afternoon my name is lvon Hart
and I'm the director of the spay and
neuter Action Program snap as we
commonly call it
last night uh last month I came and
thanked the board for their support of
the contract between the city of Los
Cruses and snap to provide free spay and
neuter surgeries for companion dogs and
cats of lowincome Las crusis res
residents today I wanted to give you a
brief over uh view of what's happening
with the program we announced the
program on December 31st 2024 in the
first 6 weeks of 2025 we have issued
over 200 vouchers for Bay and nuer
surgeries how does that compare to last
year you might ask well it's a 48%
increase in the number of vouchers
issued in just those first six weeks and
that's without any real
advertising uh we've put out some social
media but that's about it people are
hearing and I'd like to look at
something joint between the city and
snap to get the word out to a wider
audience um
clients receive vouchers to have their
animals uh microchipped and given their
rabies vaccine at the same time when
they uh receive their V uh vouchers for
spay neuter and guess what it's been a
banner month for spays neuters
microchips and rabies vaccines not sure
the pets are that happy about it but we
sure are clearly this program is meeting
the need in our community we look
forward to continuing in our
relationship with the city and hopefully
seeing it grow the veterinarians in our
community are stepping up to meet the
increased need for these surgeries in
addition to the Daily efforts of our
vets we also are planning two special
programs for lost Cruis dogs and cats to
get spayed and neutered February 25th is
world uh spay and neuter day my 65th
birthday as well so thank you for your
continued support of spay neuter in Los
[Applause]
Cruis uh good morning my name is Jim
Hurst um I have a copy of the agenda
today what's missing is it doesn't have
the mayor's moment of silence No Agenda
that I can find has the uh opening
moment of silence on
it if it's the appropriate activity for
this commission to have a moment of
silence put it on the agenda if there's
an
authorizing
resolution that
authorizes a moment of silence make that
known to us if it's a good thing to do
say
so if you have the appropriate authority
to do it say so
put it on the
record thank you very
[Applause]
much good afternoon mayor counselors and
those watching online I'm Lyn Mo we
recognize the actions the city manager
is taking to allow the majority of
counselors to avoid attending a briefing
by experts with public participation
regarding epa's new leaden copper rule
this is despite citizens repeated
requests that it be at a city council
meeting that a briefing by experts
occurs a city council meeting has an
agenda is properly noticed and has
minutes prepared all counselors are
obligated to attend a city council
meeting by contrast a majority of
counselors may not be present at a
so-called Town Hall that discusses
public business or it would constitute a
quorum and violate New Mexico open
meetings Act take a careful look at
section
10-5-1 pointb of the ACT this city
manager is planning a so-called Town
Hall rather than a city council meeting
which will allow at most only three
counselors out of the seven of you to
attend and participate each counselor
and the mayor needs to be educated about
and consider this very consequential
rule that affects the public health of
every citizen of Los cruus and everyone
who drinks its water all seven of you
need to gather enough facts and
Impressions to form at least a
preliminary idea as to whether the
actions being taken by City Utilities
Personnel are adequately protective of
Public Health and compliant with the new
rule and very importantly whether
additional funding is needed a special
city council meeting could be held that
allowed two or three hours of
presentation and discussion regarding
one subject the lead and copper rule
this could be similar to the special
meeting that was held recently to to try
to cure your open meetings act
violations pertaining to your selection
of this city manager we ask you to
rethink this and insist that a city
council meeting be the framework for a
briefing on the rule not a so-called
Town Hall please stand firm against
allowing the city manager to Usher you
into yet another violation of the open
meetings act in Via laata and
espanol thank you
[Applause]
mayor City councilors I'm Liz Rodriguez
Johnson almost four months ago the Las
Cruses utility office sent out a letter
announcing the new lead and Cooper rule
in English only two months later it
became necessary to make requests that
the letter be sent out in Spanish so
that Spanish speakers could have the
same opportunity as English speakers to
learn about the Le and copper rule which
could have implications on their health
the request was made again at a city
council on February 4th on February 6 a
city councelor said in an email there
was a mistake referring to not sending
the letter out in Spanish however it's
been almost two weeks since that email
and the letter in Spanish still has not
been sent out a false claim is that the
new rule was sprung on water systems
with little warning and no funding the
reality is that the lead and copper rule
has been very publicly in the works for
about a decade it's been in the public
eye since at least 2014 when the
problems with the lead in the water in
Flint Michigan were widely publicized
another example of funding is epa's
announcement that more than 26 billion
over five years is available through the
bipartisan infrastructure law to support
lead pipe replacement projects yet
another spous Claim by a counselor is
that will guidance was provided to help
Water Systems implement the rule the
truth is is that EPA published various
kinds of guidance for example in 2022
EPA published this 164 guidance document
that anticipated the ltin copper Rule
and here it
is this thorough guidance explains how
Water Systems should comply with the
predecessor to the lead and copper rule
issued in 21 as well as the October 24
rule thank you
[Applause]
hello okay hi everyone uh my name is
Lindley Hornsby I use she her
pronouns um I am taking time out of my
day as a master of Social Work intern um
to represent my constituency here to the
council I'm president of graduate
Workers United UE local 1498 we're a
labor union of research assistance
teaching assistance and graduate
assistant at NMSU
um we perform duties that are essential
to the University's research and service
Mission there's about 900 of us um the
majority of us are a conglomerate of
international students and domestic
outof State um student workers we come
to the city of Los cruus not only to
attend NMSU but for the opportunity and
potential that this city
provides um I wanted to speak up on
behalf of my constituency in support of
realiz lost Cruis because affordable
housing is an essential issue um to
graduate workers at
NMSU um scores of workers tell me they
want to work live and raise a family in
Los cruus after graduation so why do
they
leave they leave because they can't find
affordable housing and these are workers
that are invested in this community yet
we are lacking the infrastructure to
meet their needs um realize puts us on a
path path towards achieving affordable
housing for Working Families ma'am you
you can't discuss uh an item that's
going to be on the agenda you can talk
about certain things but you can't speak
specifically to
realize until it comes up on the agenda
okay and unfortunately I have to go back
to work so I I won't be able to um but I
just wanted to um acquaint myself I'm
not sure if the city council has been
acquainted with our labor union um we
unionized in 2022
um we are a rank and file Union that
believes in political action and we are
watching this Council to see that you
all do the right thing um for working
people um so thank you for listening it
is a privilege uh for me to be here and
unfortunately um because I have to work
I won't be able to be here for the
remainder of the meeting thank you yeah
thank
[Applause]
you okay
good afternoon mayor and city
council first let me address the issue
brought up by the young ladies having to
do with the lead pipes sir again state
your name for the Edie Thomas thank
you first let me address the issue
brought up by the young ladies having to
do with the lead pipes that's serious
stuff I Googled it and it's bad
especially for developing children it
can cause stunted growth slow brain
development learning disorders permanent
digestive issues like vomiting diarrhea
cramps currently there's a renovation
project going on in my neighborhood
where the utility lines are being
replaced kasas Linda's project between
aan de msia and Amador I can't think of
a more perfect time to check what the
water pipes are actually made of you got
to start somewh where why not start in
one of the oldest neighborhoods in Los
cruus just tell us the truth once you
find out because right now the only
person I trust on that
dis is Chief
story last time I was here I pointed out
the building across the street did any
of you notice it as you walked out to
the parking lot of course not you all
park in the back right at any rate it's
still there for all to see I'm sure
visitors notice it right in front of
City Hall along with a myriad other
shuttered buildings on plywood Plaza as
I like to call it I think that speaks to
the actual state of the city's financial
and economic health businesses come to
die here in Los cruus that's the truth
to summarize we have cannabis which I
have nothing against because they pay
taxes and they take up residents in what
would otherwise be a shuttered uh
storefront we have homeless we have
plywood Windows high crime high taxes
and abortion what family wouldn't want
to live here and raise their kids in the
lowest performing school system in the
country welcome to Los cruus in the land
of enchantment
[Applause]
I'm William Beerman and I wasn't
planning to speak on this subject but
the last meeting I attended the ladies
also spoke about lead in the water and I
regretted that I didn't stand up and
support them then I'd like to concur
with what they said and also regarding
the subject of water my tap water is 500
parts per million dissolve solids and in
contrast the water at that I buy at the
Watermill every few weeks I go and I buy
30 gallons of water to drink that's zero
parts per million and it's been like
this for at least five or six years when
I used to be on the capital Improvement
advisory committee and I just wish that
you public officials would focus a
little more on traditional Municipal
responsibilities like the quality of our
water instead of some of these tangent
issues that you seem to be obsessed
[Applause]
with mayor council Juan Garcia elections
have consequences in the New Mexico
Progressive oligarchy New Mexico story
is one of profound struggles and missed
opportunities for Generations as a
result of Elections favoring the
majority Progressive policies have
dominated the state's political
landscape yet the results were a
heartbreaking picture of systemic
failure look at our city when it hit a
new high in crime after the 2020 council
elections the most telling is our
dependence on government employment New
Mexico's three largest employers the
state of New Mexico the federal
government and CIA Laboratories all draw
from public funds creating a cycle of
Reliance that deepens with each passing
year which is why so many progressives
oppose the eradication of waste Fraud
and Abuse from our federal government
malpractice laws strain our Health Care
system while the removal of qualified
immunity left our Law Enforcement
Officers vulnerable and hesitant the
recent trial of an LCPD officer stands
as a grim Testament to this
reality so yes elections do have
consequences both ways and New Mexico is
a clear example and on the subject of
hate speech against elected officials I
received a report of a well-designed
graffiti placed on Main Street and I
will read and I quote be the change you
want to see in the world killed Donald
Trump the this is located on the streets
of Main Street not too far from where
we're at there was other similar
stenciled graffities that advocated for
the killing of the sitting
president nobody wants to hear about
this type of threats and let's hope that
some comments come from the dice
[Applause]
next is the acceptance of
agenda mayor I'd like to motion to hear
item 7.4 first second
CH this is on the motion to accept the
agenda as presented and to listen to
item 7.4 first councelor McClair yes
councelor matis yes councelor Graham yes
councelor cran yes councelor flutes yes
councelor benl yes
mayor yes
[Applause]
so resolutions Andor ordinance for
discussion 7.4 Council bill number 25
019 ordinance number
3090 move to approve second
Gram hey and we'll have Chris favor and
SAR Gonzalez presenting okay go ahead
Chris good afternoon mayor city council
Chris favor with Community Development
for the record uh today we are going to
go through the uh proposed changes to
the zoning code known as realized Los
cruus I will start off the presentation
and recap a few things touch on a few
highlights and then turn it over to
Sarah to get into more of the technical
uh changes that came from the last um
Planning and Zoning meeting
so starting off why realiz L Cruis so
quickly the development code regulates
land use and development within the city
limits uh realiz will'll be amending
zoning regulations the map subdivision
rules sign regulations and design
standards such as parking streets and
Landscaping and the key focus is
streamlining and simplifying the
development uh procedures to clarify and
and make things more efficient and it's
important to note that the last time
this was done was in the early
2000s so the goal was to align the land
use code with the goals that were set
forth in the city's comprehensive plan
known as Elevate Los cruus to update and
align with those policies and actions
that were established by staff and by
Council um and again updates provide
usability with compliance to state
regulations uh and make everything the
code more familiar and easier to use for
both both staff and the community uh
who's working through the
process so it's been a while since we
started so I thought I would walk
everybody through a timeline of how we
got to where we are uh we onboarded
Frieza Nichols which is the consultant
that helped us do this analysis back in
2001 no
2021 uh from 2021 to 22 they spent time
uh with code review and making
recommendations
and then from that point up until 2024
there was what was called the realized
technical advisory committee which was
combined of Staff members of pnz members
of the community uh and they were
assessing and going through all the
recommendations and proposed changes and
working out uh variations um in in these
public meetings there were about 33 of
them held during that
time um we did receive many comments
during that time both online and via
email you can see the numbers there but
we did have quite um uh the amount of
feedback from the
public the timeline as it relates to
Planning and Zoning uh so we brought it
to a work session uh in the end of
February of this past year had some
public comment uh the Commissioners uh
we had about a 5H hour meeting where we
went through each of the chapters and
discussed um and came up with some
recommendations that they would like to
make to council uh the work session was
on October their recommendations came at
a meeting in November um and a lot of
the things that they focused on were
zoning right of way Park dedication um
and those changes were forwarded on to
city council recapping the timeline from
a city council point of view there were
a couple work sessions uh in early 2023
2024 uh and then again we brought the
recommendations from Planning and Zoning
to Council on December 9th for a final
uh work session review again there was
public on on input at that time uh and a
lot of the things that I discussed were
similar things that were brought up with
the pnz zoning roadway Park dedication
things of that
nature so now I would like to touch on a
few different things that that sort of
highlight the benefits of of realized L
cruus and so what what what this slide
has here is as it relates to funding
opportunities related to housing from
the state of New Mexico among the many
criteria that they look at they do look
at things related to zoning and they
they prioritize these things when it
comes to some of their funding
opportunities there's many others that
we left off this list but there's a lot
on here that align with what realiz will
be changing and making uh receiving
dollars for affordable housing more uh
something that Los Cruses can attain
through changes to this
code and some of these other things I'll
go through in some other
slides so what are some of the
additional benefits well the big benefit
of of realized l cruus is that we're
going to be increasing density
allowances for residential development
and that will allow greater flexibility
for developers there'll be more
opportunities and new developments some
of the things we're doing is reducing
lot width and setbacks to make some of
those densities more um easy to achieve
uh we are revising Street cross-section
and making uh more use of multimodal
Transportation standards to make Street
sfers for cars bikes and pedestrians and
again I can't stress enough that part of
this is to really add flexibility to the
design uh elements of of of the code and
for for developers and Builders to
really have an opportunity to be
creative um in some of their designs
moving forward it'll also really help
with with providing some of those gaps
in in housing that we're seeing right
now again another benefit is that it
will encourage growth and Redevelopment
within the current mras as Council knows
that's a big Redevelopment effort that's
going on with the city right now we have
two currently being planned and
potentially more coming on um some of
the other features are eliminating such
barriers as parking setbacks uh parking
setbacks and permitted land uses within
what's known as the urban areas uh
neighborhood park dedication and
improvements is also now required under
realize and that will help increase the
quality of life for Generations in L
cruus to come uh additionally we took
some elements that are currently under
municipal code and put them in what is
known as a tech manual and this is
things that potentially change a little
bit quicker and we created a process
there so staff uh and those involved in
that process can work through those
updates in a more timely fashion instead
of having to come back to amend
Municipal Code each
time so I'd like to take a couple
minutes to just clarify some information
uh highlight some things that that I
know the the public is concerned about
so as it relates to you know what's
typically known as residential
neighborhoods those are now the the nh1
neighborhoods which would be the
primarily the main amount of single
family residents in Los Cruses currently
um under code things that are that are
permitted right now home child care
schools libraries museums places of
worship the things that are highlighted
are really the only things that are are
permitted that are new and those are
small bnbs small locally local grocery
stores and cafes without such things is
like a drive-thru so the idea was to add
a few features to neighborhoods that
have low intensity low impact they would
be a benefit for the residents in the
community I think the key point to
realize too is that they still have to
meet all the all the designs standards
that are set right so it's do you have
room for parking do you have room for
ear ponding do you have all of those
same requirements that you do now are
they applicable on that site so there is
still a standard that has to be applied
when when looking at some of these new
smaller impact uh commercial
developments retrofitting existing
neighborhoods is going to be a challenge
and potentially cost prohibitive a lot
of these things that are brought forward
as recommendations are intended for new
neighborhoods when they're going from
the master plan phase things that they
can now incorporate into those
neighborhoods as opposed to finding ways
to uh you know put them in neighborhoods
that now are mostly developed and built
out and so again getting back to this
idea of more flexible future development
these are some things that will allow a
neighborhood in the future to have maybe
a little grocery store on the corner um
I think the requirement there is less
than 3,000 square ft so it's still very
small have a little cafe that could be
within walking distance of your house so
those are the kind of amenities that are
now allowed within what is considered
your typical uh single family
neighborhood cannabis dispensaries are
not allowed in nh1 or nh2 and only by
special use permit in NH three which are
your larger more urban mix use
neighborhoods not your your typical
single family style neighborhoods and
gas stations gas stations are required
to be on a collector or higher Road
classification your neighborhood streets
are local roads they're not permitted in
your local neighborhoods again there's
roadway um classifications that will
dictate what sort of amenities are
allowed in your neighborhood um whether
it's existing or a new neighborhood uh
in the future
so at this point I'm going to turn it
over to Sarah she'll take us through the
final recommendations we'll touch on
some next steps and then we'll be
available for questions thank
you good afternoon Sarah Gonzalez with
economic development um staff did bring
all of the recommended pnz changes that
were to be modified and to have that
discussion on December 9th from there
staff reviewed the input that was
provided by the council members and then
updated the following to changed within
the code drafts um one of the major
concerns was to make sure that a zoning
map Amendment or a zone change would be
a one-step process that has been
completed in the sense that if it's
going to compare to elevate we would
just want to see it as one package and
then city council would be allowed to
say yes or
no the next was community development
director the definition was to be
updated to also include a consultant in
case staff did not have a staff member
at the time to do any of the resarch
research or put any of those items for
historic buildings into implementation
and so we could hire out to a consultant
if
necessary next we come to there were
some land uses that needed to be
modified um so you would require a
special use permit in an nh2 and an NH3
zoning District if you had a payday loan
checking cashing or bail bondsmen and so
that was to limit the number that was
actually going into nh1 or single family
zones next was Parkland dedication
currently we do that through the filing
of a plat and that has also been updated
and clar IFI the same process
now the next three are going to focus
more on your travel Lanes or your road
design a lot of feedback was provided as
far as multimodal transportation and
providing safe and amable um basically
facilities for everyone who is using
them so the roadway was basically
transferred or rewarded to say for
roadways with low travel speeds the
underline was changed and so now we're
saying that the roadway design should
include Elements which provide a safe
safe and comfortable roadway for cyclist
sharing that road and so a lot of times
we're looking at our local roadways or
roadways that are 45 and lower and so
we're making sure that we're using any
of our federal standards our state
standards and then any of our guides
that are going to help us create
essentially the best and safest roadway
for all users um the second one is going
to just clarify that the word sh came in
instead of May so that way we ensure
that we are doing the safest practices
we can
lastly if there was ever a time in
development came in and it was going to
impede on any pedestrian or bicycle
safety then there was a request that the
Public Works director could request from
a developer a traffic impact analysis so
if it didn't just impact roadways or
Vehicle drivers but it did impact our
pedestrians and our bicyclist we could
now request that as well so those have
been implemented into
code we did hear a lot of public input
and we did receive the petition from our
bicycle um bicycle Community the last
time that we spoke here in December with
that we've created a two-step process
because this is going to have to happen
through our transition period as we need
to continue to educate businesses and
the public as to what we'll be
transforming um step one of the process
we currently have updated our code so
that way if a non-conforming business
does come in now and does expansions or
there's an increase in dwelling units or
floor area we would see compatibility
with including those bicycle parking
being added to a lot
um but the second part is going to have
to be to implement this through the
transition period so we need we need to
be able to notify businesses we need to
work with the community to say this is
what's coming forward after that
transition period then we'd be coming
back to city council to implement
essentially the wording that is provided
here for code to say that any existing
structure shall come into compliance
after that transitional period within
two years that gives us a chance to work
with all the businesses and the
communities to get everybody up to where
bicycle parking is now available
to go into what our zoning map is now
going to be listed in the zones that are
going to be provided we do have our
residential districts which are nh1 2
and three and you have Urban Suburban en
rule Urban suburban and Ru are coming
from our comprehensive plan with this
all it is is an increase intensity from
each one of those neighborhood districts
so if you're looking from 1 to three
that's essentially your scale you're
going to increase once you get to your
neighborhood 3s this is going to allow
for these low intensity commercial units
to be placed into these residential
neighborhoods we then have cr which is
our commercial zoning districts those
are going to be your highlighted red
areas you're going to see them
essentially on a map you would see them
along tail Shore you're going to see
them where the mall is located any of
our big box stores are going to be
commercial we do have a set that is a
long essentially baton Memorial and
that's going to emphasize you know the
big box Kmart stores that's going to be
any of your larger stores that are
impacting and do actually generate a
little bit more traffic so going to be
located on higher density or intensified
roadways we have light industrial heavy
industrial and so you may see um an
industrial building coming in but maybe
it's not going to impede on sound and so
that's going to separate the difference
maybe they're manufacturing something
through 3D where someone else is
actually manufacturing using heavy
machinery we have open space one which
is going to be our recreation in open
space so this could include anything for
Parks and Recreation so all of those
would be labeled the same way to
anything as as far as Trails Parks or
any other open space that might be
limited where there's a royos O2
drainage is going to basically be
anything that the city may be
maintaining or any of the drainage ponds
that are built out with any of the
developments and
sites one example to reference as far as
our existing residential neighborhoods
and then moving forward a lot of our
area does represent the nh1 Suburban and
so that's going to be the primary light
yellow color that's through our map what
this means means is our average lot size
right now is close to 7,000 square ft
you may have some that are below you may
have some that are increased higher but
our average lot size is 7,000 square ft
if we were to take basically our new
code adoption and put it into saying 16
units is what's permitted and you divide
that out essentially it says you can
basically build two units on your
property so at a 7,000 foot lot and a
residential neighborhood could not build
16 units because they don't have the
space for it the part to always consider
is existing neighborhoods you still have
setback requirements you may have
accessory dwelling units that you do
want to place on your property it's been
a lot of the request from neighboring
owners and stuff is they want Casitas in
their backyard and right now you
currently can't do that within our code
um accessory dwelling you have pools and
you have storage sheds so once that all
encompasses your backyard it's very
difficult to go and say that you can
build a 16 unit apartment complex in
these existing neighborhoods just
something to clear ver ify what could be
that intensity in some of these
neighborhoods it's not going to be to
that full extent but it does give us
opportunity to maybe have that one extra
unit or maybe an accessory dwelling unit
within the rear
part through this design essentially um
our Consultants were provided the
chapters that they were going to be
modifying in the Las cruus Municipal
Code as you can see chapters 33 and 35
were not included as part of their scope
of work we have included them as part of
it because we've restructured
essentially the numbering of these code
sections in order for them to align
knowing that the the other four sections
or five sections of code have to be put
together um and so with us going through
the design standards and drainage and
signage and subdivision and Zoning we
came up essentially with the same
chapters here um 32 and 33 essentially
excavation and curb Cuts were just being
replaced so they didn't have any
modifications there are no changes to
them they were
renumbered number 33 for chapter 33 we
didn't do anything with the development
impact fees as that does not pertain to
the actual Cod of re rights so chapters
34 through 38 is what you're going to
see as your development code anything
that was taken from there is now going
to be placed into the technical manual
as Chris had stated because we're going
to be using those design design
standards to implement on a regular
basis so we're using best and safe
practices at the time that they're
coming in a lot of times whenever we do
amendments we do have to get onto city
council agenda we do take a little bit
longer but we could be using those best
practices right now and so by putting
them into a technical manual we
alleviate that extra time that it's
going to take for development to get
moving for staff the next steps are
going to be um to implement this through
everybody so we're going to do education
through all the boards and the
Committees um working through the
council district meeting so that we can
inform and educate everyone as to what
the new code means or provides um
pamphlets will be available at Community
Development so that way it takes you
directly to the code and then provides
you some of that background information
as to what you might need we'd also be
posting on City website and Facebook and
then going through essentially education
from just staff residence developers and
design professionals everybody's going
to be learning as this is something that
is new when you haven't changed
something in 25 years you have to find a
way to start saying how are we going to
implement
them with that though always come
stipulations where we get things right
and we get things wrong and we all
understand that and that's why we have
an 8mon transitional period from that
time frame an applicant can come in and
they can use the existing code or they
can use the new code it' be based on
their preference right now we have
several applications coming in we would
not want them to have to modify any of
their plans and spend that cost to
update to the new code if they're
already through that process and so
that's going to get us through any of
the designs that have already been
implemented or processed through um
we're going to ensure that zoning is
being implemented and monitored we do
have over 43,000 Parcels within the city
and so you know we're asking residents
and public and neighbors as you come
across your Parcels in your city please
let us know is there any conflict is
there any issues to ensure that we
continue to do our zoning map properly
um any of these anticipa or anticipated
changes will be coming back to city
council our expectation is after eight
months we're coming back with any of the
changes that we've noticed didn't work
or maybe did work but we need to do some
minor modification too so this will be
an ongoing process at least from now
until o October of
2025 that I leave council with their
options and then stand for any questions
and as Chris mentioned we both
do thank you Sarah thank you Chris um
Council any
questions oh mayor PR go thank you um
thanks Sarah so much for everything for
getting us here um and I'll have more to
say but I I'll wait I just want to ask a
question on the transitional period this
will sort of be filtered on an
individual basis from the things you
hear the feedback you hear from the
public the end users essentially to
staff will it go through a committee
through pnz like are you just sort of
field how are you going to be Fielding
feedback mayor mayor proem and
counselors the best way that we can
essentially tackle everything that we
need to get done within those 8 months
um transitional period would be working
with everybody and especially the
community so as developments come in
we're going to have to be documenting
and noting what changes aren't working
or not um through each development
review Comm we have development Review
Committee we have pnz but that will
ultimately come as part of the review
board anyway and so it's really working
with the community members you know each
one that's coming in and developing a
property and saying ooh this didn't work
so we need to document it and come back
or did it work but it didn't work for
every situation and how could we make it
maybe with conditions and so it's really
going to take I think our public
engagement process to say please go look
at these and see what may be this
doesn't work in a neighborhood or this
does work and so as we continue to work
with the public going through district
meetings I think that's going to be the
time that we can capture the most thank
you
Sarah councelor Flores thank you mayor
and thank you Miss Gonzalez um I was
able to follow everything you said um
but I do have a question so you did
answer one question with um mayor prm's
uh question about the um the eight-month
period um but um will you be um having
meetings in the areas where uh this will
be implemented or calling for Community
meetings I think you did mention that
there would be meetings I think it's I
think it's difficult to um you know in
order to have people where some of this
is going to be implemented it'd be good
to have uh that sort of stuff you know
that sort of stuff a meetings Community
meetings you did mention that but is
that what does that mean and and when
how mayor councelor FLOTUS Chris favor
for the record um so yes some of this
will be kind of building out on the fly
so we know that counselors have district
meetings from time to time we certainly
want to be a part of that as you have
those meetings uh there are definitely
local groups within the community that
we can get in front of and explain this
to there are groups uh you know like the
Home Builders Association that we can
get in front of there may be groups
through them that they can put us in
contact with a lot of it is just going
to be kind of going and building this
process as we identify audiences that we
can get with but we will be sort of
tailoring our message to the audience
right so uh a conversation we have with
someone that would be considered a
designed professional is not the same
conversation we'll have with someone
who's just a resident right for example
carports I know carports are a big issue
um you know we are reducing the setback
from 25 ft to 5 ft that's something that
every resident's going to want to know
so that'll be something that'll be very
critical to the conversations we have um
as we move forward with residents so um
as Sarah mentioned accessory dwelling
units now they're available by right if
you meet the setbacks and all the other
requirements you can now have an
accessory dwelling unit in your property
by right so those little things that are
very applicable to a resident we want to
make sure we're getting in front of
those groups maybe it means going to a
like a like a neighborhood watch meeting
or something like that so it'll be very
fluid it may take us several months or a
couple years to get in front of
everybody but the point is it's a good
opportunity to kind of reset and engage
with the community on levels and just
keep that conversation going and at a
minimum let them know who they can
contact if they still have
questions and an accessory uh unit can
you um explain what that is
and
what H mayor counselor FLOTUS it would
be like a little house in the back of
your house for say like uh if your uh
parents want to come live with you or if
your college kid stuck at home and you
want to get them out of your actual
house and put them in the backyard
something like that I don't know
anything about that great idea but um so
people would be aware they're Casitas a
citas that correct so uh you'd have
those Casitas and people would know uh
you'd let everybody know who is going to
be impacted by those decisions um that
this is what the city is allowing and
permitting um it's it's just that you I
what what I visualize is that we're
going to have people coming in and
saying what are you doing you're adding
more people we don't have any parking
space we don't have a garage for them
yada yada so that that's my concern
about uh full disclosure you know just
letting people know that there is that
impact mayor councelor FLOTUS yes it's
going to be an ongoing process and I
think the big thing is to let them know
that they can come to the Community
Development Department for answers to to
sort of figure out what those what those
particular questions are we're not going
to be able to anticipate all of them we
will try and create as much material as
we can once this is adopted we will
definitely work with the city's
communication Department to do sort of
of an ongoing social media campaign that
maybe identifies some of those key
issues and just keep it out there
circulating on social media over a
period of time so people see I can see
the K the the citas one the um the one
about the carports those kind of things
we can just kind of keep it out there in
the public so that you know if you don't
if you miss it one month it's still
available on social media down the road
so we'll try to take advantage of all of
the resources we have available to us to
get the message out and how big of a lot
do you have to have uh must it be to uh
build a Cita is there any regulation on
that or any
limitation
mayita bigger than your own house yeah a
lot of that is going to depend on the
size of your lot and the setback
requirements of how much space you have
some Lots obviously larger and can
accommodate something others may not be
able to have that same kind of FIB there
is any regulation right now on that as
long as you meet you know the setbacks
and some of those other other
requirements yes okay thank you so much
Mr a
favor councelor
Maes CH I have a lot of questions I the
first I would like you to maybe put up
on the screen what allowable businesses
on the 43,000
parcels that's like okay is is that the
total amount of businesses allowed
you're talking about uh small local
grocery stores
and mayor what specific business I know
you had a list that was
allowed uh mayor counselor matis so yes
within within the code there's actually
a chart that shows what is allowed what
is allowed with special use permit what
is not allowed and there's a very
extensive list it runs for several pages
but I created this slide because it
seemed like the biggest questions were
coming around what we commonly know as a
single family neighborhood and that's
seems to be where most of the the
comments and questions come from so as
it relates specifically to what was what
is known now as a single family
neighborhood the only things that are
allowed that will be allowed that are
not allowed currently are like a small
BNB a small local grocery store 3,000
squ ft or less or like a small
neighborhood Cafe with the exceptions
you can't have like a drive-thru uh
there so there's some some of those
restrictions but it's not um unbridled
commercial development that you can have
on any residential street whether
whether you're starting from a brand new
development or if it's an existing
neighborhood that may have some sort of
a vacant lot
someplace can can you tell me I mean may
maybe I don't know if you have a real
estate background but let's say you've
invested in a home for 25 30 years and
and and that's your biggest asset that
you have when you're 75 or 80 years old
and a small Cafe comes in next store uh
do you think the value of that home
would be the same or or reduced or
decreased you have any
idea mayor councilor mati you know
there's other communities have that have
implemented this and I'm not asking
about other communities I'm asking about
this community and what what your
feeling is on on the value of that home
mayor counc Ma so there's other
communities that we can use as sort of a
Benchmark and determine those property
values so we would use that as a guide
if you're asking me personally if I
think the value of my home would go up
because there was a walkable Cafe I do
so from that standpoint I do think that
there is an interpretation that these
these do add value to your neighborhood
remember this isn't you're talking about
a walkable Cafe right next to your home
right right next St mayor councelor
matis so again you have to understand
that there's going to be
there's going to be restrictions that
probably would not allow that to happen
I don't think the lot size okay now and
that's where I can't vote Yes on this
because you're talking about probably it
we probably will not let that
happen but it could
happen mayor councilor
matis
[Applause]
sure you know
and and I just have a lot of faith in in
you my staff everyone that that worked
on this I realize you worked on it for
two
years but I believe we could do better I
mean I I believe we could actually maybe
have the neighborhood allow a petition
you know just like all of you could
petition to have me
recalled in other words if we don't make
the right decision anybody could start a
petition well you could do maybe allow a
petition of those neighbors like you do
for a speed bump cuz I remember I needed
a speed bump in my neighborhood and I
needed to go get I think it was
75% of the neighbors had to comply to
get that that speed bump built maybe you
could put that into the into the
law so that the neighbors have a say if
they want that Cafe next to Molly's
house or Jennifer's house
[Applause]
it it's just a suggestion thank
you anyone
else okay uh Chris
um just to kind of re recap so this
standard is almost 25 years old mayor
that is correct and so we are upgrading
a new uh development code for the city
of Los Cruses uh replacing one that was
initially 2001 mayor that is correct
okay a lot of the comments and and
thoughts are that single family
residents are being
removed mayor that's not accurate what
what this code does is it
allows uh other options for developers
when they're developing new
neighborhoods to look at so for example
expansion on the East Mesa when you're
Master planning a new neighborhood you
now have the ability to include single
family homes multif family homes Town
Homes maybe you do want to have a street
that has a little grocery store at the
end or a cafe at the end that's what
this flexibility is built into to allow
okay so it creates a flexibility for
growth and development in our community
the other thing is when we talk about
out a cafe next door to your house or in
your backyard and things like that there
other than this there are plenty of
safeguards that we have in the city is
that not correct mayor that's correct
that's that's sort of what I was was
alluding to before is just because and
and let me just preface by saying not
not every neighborhood doesn't have
vacant Lots but most of these
established neighborhoods don't have
vacant Lots sitting in them um but if
there was a vacant lot next to a house I
know I might grew up on Cedar and for
some reason there was a vacant lot at
the end of Cedar Dale for years and
years and years they finally built a
house there that lot would not allow you
to do a lot of these things it's just
not big enough for that these things are
put in the code so that when you're
developing a new neighborhood you could
build this the lot to accommodate
something like this so if you're doing a
cafe you still have parking requirements
you have to meet you still have ponding
requirements you have to meet there are
still setback requirements you have to
meet so I I don't want to say it's
impossible cu that not a good place to
be but it's very difficult and cost
prohibitive if you were going to try and
retrofit existing developed
neighborhoods to to accomplish something
like this that's not saying you can't do
it but the code was intended for new
development and really try to encourage
that creativity and deal with some of
the shortfalls in housing right now
that's correct thank you Chris that's
what we
[Applause]
want we want the flexibility we want the
ability to grow but then again we we all
recognize and and I've lived it
personally here in Los Cruses and I can
say we don't want it in our backyard it
happens sometimes but there are plenty
of safeguards and those are the things
that we want to make sure that Community
Development and our Public Works our
traffic everybody's on board that they
understand that these safeguards are to
protect our residents but yet we can
still continue to grow that's what this
is all about correct that's correct
mayor
[Applause]
yes Council
VES thank you mayor Enriquez so Mr favor
that is the point that uh the mayor just
brought up it's all prospective it isn't
as if the city is going to allow a
market to go into existing neighborhoods
am I correct mayor councelor
fles it will be
possible under code but again you need
to follow you need to have all those
safeguards the mayor was referring to
whether it's having space for parking or
having space for the setbacks or all the
other various things you have to have
you still have to be able to meet that
standard so just having a vacant lot and
saying I want to put a cafe there and
code allows me to do it that's it's not
that simple and and there's safeguards
to prevent something like that from
happening and and the people who are
here today um can pretty much anticipate
that that and prepare for anything the
city has to
offer thank you Mr favor thank you
mayor you Council FLOTUS no it's it's
it's not happening because we have
43,000 partials available so it's it's
it's not growing leaps and Bs so um with
that we'll move to public comments and
um you know we'll start with the left
side uh everyone has 2 minutes if you
wishes well can I see a show of hands
who wants to speak to this
issue that's it come on no that's great
thank you thank you all for being here
and um you'll have two minutes but if
you can start forming a line Katrina
will start to Usher but if you can start
forming a line as you come up so that uh
we can move through this and we can hear
all your uh public comment on this
three minutes yeah two minutes uh state
your name and then uh you have two
minutes you don't need the two minutes
but you have two
minutes okay we're going to we're going
to start so I'll need some quiet in the
chambers please good afternoon I'm
Beverly Hogan I live in a single family
residential neighborhood in Lo cenus we
chose this very diverse neighborhood for
a reason our neighborhood is a mixture
of all age groups races religions and
cultures I taught fair housing laws for
the Pennsylvania state Real Estate
Commission our current zoning is not
quote deeply rooted in class and race
issues unquote as mayor protm bomo
States I'm vly opposed to eliminating
traditional single family residential
zoning in Las Cruses you are our elected
officials you're supposed to represent
your
constituents not this Progressive
ideology of quote reimagining unquote
American single family zoning I doubt
there's a single person other than most
of the city council and your
spokespeople who are even aware that you
planned this major coup for today yes
I'm a retired teacher and what you're
doing is a coup it's an overthrow of
traditional single family zoning that
most most of your constituents chose
when they purchase their single family
home a neighbor beside us has seven
children many of us have
grandparents having restaurants or cafes
and retail stores or apartment complexes
makes it very unsafe for them to walk in
this neighborhood the no single family
zoning changes will cause a major drop
in property values in existing family
homes many of our seniors are on fixed
incomes and cannot afford to move if you
really want want to do something to make
housing more affordable do something
about the crime that we can hopefully
attract more small businesses and bring
this city around change that attitude
before you ever consider changing the
zoning thank
[Applause]
you please don't forget to state your
name hi I'm Kim schulmeister and I also
read that the husband of another uh city
counselor had said that single family
zoning promotes poverty addiction and
crime as well as mayor protim Ben Como
said that it's deeply rooted in class
and race issues again I also have a
single family home um and I uh like so
many people uh lived in poverty uh when
uh my husband and I were taking care of
three children and he was working for
Los cruus fire for less than $8 an hour
at while I was going to nursing school
we fought our way out of poverty uh by
the grace of God with our values our
morals and our hard work um just as
everybody can the root issue of poverty
addiction and crime we have to address
the poor um city and state laws that we
have on the books that is not addressing
this our police are doing the best that
they can to address this but this is not
the L cruus that I moved into uh I I see
people in needles in the Parks our kids
cannot say go to the bathroom in a park
if you integrate these things the safety
is going to go down the issue the issue
of um having a quiet neighborhood will
go down parking will become an issue and
remember that those property taxes are
what pay for us to have a decent and
livable City and those that commit
crimes those that are addicted they have
choices and they have the freedoms as we
should they can choose to seek help we
have opportunities I think we should
grow those opportunities I think we
should have affordable housing get rid
of the isore on Amador and Valley tear
that down make it an apartment complex
out of that make it to where these
people do have a hand up I needed a hand
up we all do at some point so we can get
where we want to go but we all have
freedoms and choices and that should be
recognized for all population and this
kind of wording is divisive it is not
helpful for us as a
community good afternoon mayor city
council chief of police Tim Jenkins I
would like to bring to your attention
that according to new mexico.gov for the
last 24 years Los crusis has been ranked
number three in not within the top three
in the nation for seniors and retirees
move moving here to Los cruus and from
2022 to
67.8% of the people moving here to Los
cruus were above the age of 55 moving
here to retire I believe that this is
going to seriously impact our
seniors Nationwide that are seeking to
move here because if you're a senior
you're looking to move into a single
family quiet neighborhood and have your
own privacy and and I am in full
agreement with what Bill matis said I
believe that it should be the voice of
the people that we vote on this and not
this thank you very much have a good
day I'm uh Dave rice I'm among one of
the older ones who moved to the area I'm
in uh Council counselor Flores area uh
the area I'm in is uh mix already that
does not have little B uh bnbs and other
things in the area but I I am in general
support of realiz loss cruus because I
think we have a clear affordability of
housing issue it's um has to do with
income but there are a number of people
who are older people that I know who
have had a sudden change in their their
fortune and they can not find housing I
think the idea of at least a owing uh
local housing the flexibility of an
owner to add a Cita kind of a situation
or something could help with the
affordable housing thing and I would
urge you to at least adopt that part of
this proposal thank
you mayor and Council my name is Edward
Howell uh first this place is really
cold okay so the second just like to
throw that in is a
taxpayer you've been looking at your
computer screens you've been reading
rings of paper and all that stuff and I
wanted to provide for you a visual that
I think might help you in your decision
as you uh look at approving or
disapproving this Revitalize lusus plan
uh okay but I'm going have to turn
around a little bit here how many in
this room are homeowners in Los cruus
raise your hands okay thank you how many
of you are against this plan as it's
presented today raise your hands okay
here's the third third question how many
of you would be inclined to vote against
someone who has approved this who's on
the council who has approved this bill
going forward vote against it okay okay
so maybe that will help you as you start
to think about this because there are
many people who don't like this plan and
those people not only are they
homeowners they're
voters so uh and I think this is a
really bad plan I've I've seen how it's
been implemented and read about it in
other cities it causes lots of problems
and we have a great City here we can
sell it as it is and grow it as it is
without this plan thank
you mayor City councilors I'm Liz
Rodriguez Johnson I urge you to pass
realize Las Cruses the prop proposed
changes will make the development code
more flexible make it easier to build a
variety of housing Styles and types for
rent and for purchase across a spectrum
of affordability which is what we really
need right now this will help make Las
Cruses a place where people can lead
good lives where they can prosper and
Thrive with reasonably priced housing
thank you
[Applause]
hello mayor and
Council my name is Grace Martinez and
thank you city council for providing
this platform for public input I'd like
to inquire about the weight given to
public participation in your decision
making process time and time again
concerned citizens have voiced similar
worries about safety and the well-being
of our homeless and transient
populations yet it seems like Collective
concerns are being dis
disregarded the lack of acknowledgement
is deeply disheartening as a community
we're invested in the wellbeing of our
city and it's frustrating to feel like
our voices are being ignored I urge you
to reconsider the value of public input
and take concerns
seriously we're not just stakeholders
we're the very fabric of this community
our Collective voices deserve to be
heard and respected with that being said
to all my friends
that are concerned about the safety in
their neighborhoods I share your
concerns and frustrations about the
state of our community it's
disheartening to see areas like Amador
being
neglected and allowed to deteriorate
because that's exactly what's happening
the lack of attention to pressing issues
like theft and safety is alarming and
it's
unacceptable that these concerns be
taken to a back seat that's what they
are our concerns are being put in the
back seat more over the proposal to
allow businesses to build in our
residential neighborhoods is a recipe
for disaster our homes are our
sanctuaries and we deserve to feel safe
and concerned and secure in our own
communities why must we normalize theft
why must we normalize our kids being
targeted in our own front yard the idea
of disrupting our peaceful neighborhoods
with commercial development is
outrageous and must be opposed I urge
everyone to make their voices heard and
vote no on this proposal our future and
safety depend on it so let's come
together and vote
no I'm Mary Joe bur and I'm specifically
moved back to Los crues and bought a
house in the neighborhood where I could
walk to the grocery store walk to a
clothing store but now it is unsafe to
walk in those areas because the desert
is no longer safe from my house I used
to be able to walk from there to you
know just across the desert to
Albertson's it's not safe there are
people down there starting fires they
have propane tanks there are talking to
themselves in addition why would people
come to Los cruus when we're last in
education and first in child poverty and
I suggest that we address those issues
first thank you
[Applause]
hi there I'm Kathy Brooke I live in msia
Park um and have lived there for 30 some
odd years I previously lived in a
fourplex in Los cruus uh for eight years
and I lived in uh a single family
dwelling in losal tourist area acre lot
um now I live in a in a single family
dwelling I have uh found MSA Park to be
uh an area with a mix of Housing and in
fact there was a city staffer I don't
remember who who mentioned msia Park in
a an earlier discussion of um realiz
lost cruus I support realized lost
cruus um it serves the needs of people
in a variety of ways to have a mix of
houses
I myself moved my mother here from uh
California 20 years ago and moved her
into the condominiums that are um uh
about a block from where I live that was
very workable for me and my family I
know other people that live in the same
neighborhood where a uh a grown maybe
middle-aged child and a parent live
within a block or two of each other um
sometimes in single family units and
sometimes in uh the
Condominiums uh we also in my
neighborhood have a um
small um uh trailer park um so single
family units small trailer park um
Condominiums
Apartments um this is all very workable
and um and
thank
you good afternoon my name is Ruth jari
you know that our City's in a housing
crisis we all agree with that but how
bad is it the pew pew charitable trusts
published an article in January
confirming that New Mexico's situation
is among the worst in the nation worse
even than other Western States including
Arizona and Montana Pew found that
rental costs in New Mexico Rose by 60%
in the last 7 years home buying is no
better the average price of a home in
our state is now over
$300,000 the problem is a lack of
housing researchers have found that
strict land used regulations prevent new
homes from being built therefore
limiting Supply while raising rents as
well as the cost of
homes exclusionary development standards
add additional hurdles to Building Homes
often resulting in fewer multif family
choices and making existing homes more
expensive realized loss crues removes
those regulations that are causing our
crisis while giving residents more
housing choices please vote Yes today
and by the way I will vote for you if
you pass
[Applause]
yes my name is Jay Nash um honorable
mayor and City
councilors I have lived here can you
hear
me I'm sorry I was going to ask Chris to
help you if that's oh thank you
okay thank you thank you honorable mayor
and City
councilors I have lived here a little
over 25 years I have followed the work
the um
uh interest and with great interest of
the city council for all those years I
can look at everybody seated up here as
a counselor
today and our current mayor and I know
enough about the history to know that
over time you have done many things to
improve the quality of life here in this
city first I want to Second what has
just been said uh so well by the people
who have come to the microphone and who
have spoken in favor of realized Los
cruus I am asking that
today you support
this the the approval of these
development codes which I believe are
going to increase not decrease but
increase the quality of life for so many
people in our community and to make it a
livable affordable place for
everyone thank you and if you vote for
this I will vote for you
[Applause]
hi uh my name is Nancy akbari Shamir
zadii would you all repeat that please
okay um I urge the council to table this
vote today uh as you can see there is a
large uh group that opposes it in
general
I like also the re revitalized L clue
concept but I think the the the the
zoning and all those changes should be
for new developments I noticed that
Chris was talking a lot about new
developments I think it should be there
very attractive but
not relevant or not imposed on the uh
existing single family um homes two
things I am a retired lawyer I'm not
giving legal advice however there are a
few serious impediments that could be
brought by neighborhoods by people if
you vote this in one of them is an
appeal I believe I'm not I'm not 100%
certain because I'm didn't look it up
but if people appeal this it could stay
put off the entire program that's number
one um number two there are
constitutional issues which have been
brought up in terms of value that too
would delay tremendously the
implementation there's plenty of tools
in the system for delaying this so I
recommend tabling thinking about putting
this on new developments but not on
existing okay thanks and I I wouldn't
vote otherwise I vote I vote for
me anyway thank
you good afternoon mayor city council um
my name is Beth Bardwell and I am here
on behalf of the League of Women Voters
of southern New Mexico um Los cruus has
a housing shortage um I want to repeat
what another um public U member said and
that is a recent analysis from the Pew
charitable trust found that from October
2017 to October
2024 median rents in New Mexico
increased by
60% while the cost of a home climbed by
70% we want Los Cruses to be a place
where people can lead good lives where
they can prosper and they can Thrive and
then a minimum that means paying a
reasonable amount of your hard-earned
income to put a roof over your
head the changes that realized Los cruus
is proposing are drawn from hundreds of
hours of community input that preceded
today's
vote input input during Elevate Los
cruus the comprehensive code and this
realized Los cruus code as well and the
proposed changes that were said today
that were laid out today by staff are a
reasonable valid response to those
Community comments and Community Vision
for Los
cruus realize Los Cruis changes to the
land use design standards and Zoning
districts will enable more Home Building
slowing rent growth and a decline in
homelessness please I urge you to vote
Yes today for realiz Los crues and I
thank you for your public
[Applause]
service my name's Jim Hurst and uh I
want to thank the commission for coming
this far I hope you get the ball across
the goal line today
um and I'm a parent I have three
children I do not live close to them I
wish I
did and I can say to the people in
opposition to this if you're in
opposition to this measure you're in
opposition to your kids growing up and
living in this community very few young
families can afford to buy a home they
have to rent if you're concerned about
child poverty
if a family is spending half their
income on rent they're not taking proper
care of their
children it's just that
simple good communities have affordable
housing we
don't you either want to make Los cruus
a healthy growing Community or you don't
if you do you have to support measures
like this and if you vote for this I'll
only vote for you I'll knock doors for
you I'll social network for you I'll do
whatever I can I don't have much money
but I'll do whatever I can to help get
you elected thank you very
[Applause]
much good afternoon my name is Terry
Miller and um I've lived here 52 years
so I have two points on the um many
things that you're U wanting to work on
to to talk about today the first is I
would bet that every single person in
this room who is a property owner feels
like they should have the freedom to
choose what to build on their own land I
also believe that everyone in this room
would like to have any unnecessary or
burdensome regulations removed from the
building coat I appreciate all the time
and effort the city staff and the city
council have put into this I support
wholeheartedly and I support you
wholeheartedly thank
you sorry I have to put the glasses on
because I'm not as young as I once was
buas my name is Maris and I am as Mr
favor so eloquently said just a resident
I live in District 3 I would like to
share my experience of living in a
district where business activities are
mixed with residential areas my comments
are specifically about the res uh the
residual impacts of living right next
door to a nonprofit religious
institution that operates and has
traffic flows similar to a regular
business while the religious institution
provides essential services to the
community and is often a Lifeline for
many the impacts on the neighborhood are
not as positive the
church hosts numerous ous events every
year such as spring parties and
festivals which draw many individuals to
the neighborhood to accommodate the
influx of people the church purchased an
empty lot next to our house although
this lot is zoned residential it is used
as a parking lot which is not
permissible I did check patrons leave
trash play Loud Music set off fireworks
and create a tremendous amount of dust
this situation also feels like a
violation of our privacy as people peer
into our yard and pick on our animals
my chickens
included last year they hit our fence
and neither the church nor the patrons
took responsibility they left us to deal
with the insurance company and the
costly repairs Additionally the church
uses a commercial dumpster on this lot
causing heavy trash trucks to drive on
it one to two times per week loosening
the dirt and worsening the dust they
host Community distributions which is a
good service but it requires an
18-wheeler to drive through our
residential street residential streets
are not likely paved with the
appropriate type of asphalt for such
heavy trucks as Mr favor also alluded to
patrons also leave provided shopping
carts up and down our street and they
use the alleyway as a street blocking
entry and speeding through with no
regard for
residents almost done there is a
constant flow of strangers passing
through our neighborhood creating a
sense of insecurity and vulnerability
additionally the increased traff makes
us makes it unsafe for our kids to play
outside I share my experience to
highlight the challenges faced by
residents living next to such
institutions and to raise awareness
about the potential issues resulting
from the zoning changes you're now
considering we're not against it we just
ask that you reconsider some of those
additional pieces about how it impacts
us living in those neighborhoods because
there are protections but we have a
cannabis shop right next to our house as
well so it's permissible thank you
[Applause]
mayor council members my name is Joe
blust and I've been in a single family
home for 18
years I I like the single family home
life I am concerned about bnbs cafes and
small stores whatever coming close to me
however I do understand the need for a
lot of the program of realize Los cruus
the one that I am most concerned about
and I think is a totally separate issue
is our single family home residents that
are already
established I just think
that we should be grandfathered in aside
from realiz l crusis i I just don't
feel that those of us who have already
invested and are looking for this is our
forever home or an investment should
have to worry about a business coming
right next to us so I'm just saying I
see this as a two-part issue please just
find a way to grandfather in at least
the single family residences that
already exist thank you
[Applause]
mayor city council my name is yovani
sasan ernandez um I'm here today to urge
your support for city ordinance uh
3090 um that's all have to say about
that but um I have a question or
something for y'all to consider and for
the audience to consider as well I
wonder how many of y'all are going to
after this city council meeting ends
public comment period ends how many of
yall are going to walk over to msia
drive over to msia go get a coffee go
eat at a restaurant walk around and say
to your neighbors and to your friends
who don't live here I I love how
walkable it is I love how accessible it
is that vision is a vision for Los
crusis also so uh I hope you uh
acknowledge that irony um uh City
councilors and fellow Los crusin um
again I just heard your support for this
uh for this ordinance thank
you good afternoon city council my name
is Lucas hearnen I'm a resident of
District which is uh councilman mati's
District um he's going to go to msia
because that's where his business is
um uh and it's interesting too to hear
councilwoman matis and some others talk
about property value um a little bit of
a history by the way I have my degree in
history from uh New Mexico State
University because I'm a lifelong
resident I've owned my home for 19 years
the only time I've ever lost value was
when big Banks in Washington in uh New
York City uh blew up a house bubble and
decreased my house value by half um so
if you want to blame somebody blame
Banks not small businesses where did
single family zoning get its start in
the Progressive Bay Area Enclave was the
first first city in the country to
implement single family zoning it was
adopted for Elmwood neighborhood in 1916
making it illegal to build anything
other than one home on one lot in that
neighborhood Duncan McDuffy a prominent
real estate development uh in Berkeley
who built the Claremont Court Uplands
neighborhood in the early 1900s was a
big champion of single family zoning his
development all came with racial
covenants which barred homeowners from
selling or renting their homes to people
of color but he also wanted to make sure
that that neighborhood next to Claremont
including Elmwood wouldn't allow
families of color to move in because he
thought it would lower property
values when I hear people talk about
their property values and not about
their neighbors or not about caring for
this community I cannot not help but
wonder what you really
[Applause]
mean good afternoon buen Tardes mayor
and City councilors my name is marero
and I currently live in district one and
it seems rare and odd to me that I am
one of the only people here it feels
that was born and raised in Los curses
and um I've watched the city grow I've
lived in Picacho I lived up on 70 I've
seen the growth and how small business
has thrived how like all kinds of
businesses and things have just grown in
this city um and I'm very lucky to live
in a spot where I can just walk like a
couple minutes down the road and I can
get to my job I can get to like
different restaurants I can get to like
public spaces and go to these events
that Los cises has and
to me I wonder why don't we you know
spread that to the rest of Las Cruses
why is it such a bad thing to people you
know like it's just it's it boggles my
mind and like as someone who has ridden
the bus for several years as someone who
is going to get a bike really soon I
would love for the streets to be more
safe I would love to have sidewalks in
the downtown area cuz that that goes
like for a block and then it stops for a
block and then it's again sidewalks
that's so unsafe and like if realize Los
cruus can like help with the sidewalks
if it can help with making Transit more
accessible more friendly to people that
might need
it I would really appreciate if you guys
like helped past this I would love to
see Los cruus grow Los cruus has changed
so much and I feel like there's so many
people here that want to call this place
their home including myself I have so
many friends I have family here that
want to call this place their home and
if real life Los crues can help spread
that if it can help you know make people
more comfortable make it more accessible
for them to enjoy their lives I would
love to see this happen thank you so
[Applause]
much good afternoon mayor and City
councilors my name is Victoria Alisia
Cavo I live in district one I'm here to
ask that you vote Yes on realized last
Cruis which includes comprehensive
changes to resolve conflicts arising
from past code modifications as we've
already heard and will not affect all
neighborhoods these changes will not
only ensure neighborhoods will have less
traffic and will have space for children
to play but will also ensure less
children are homeless not sure how many
people opposing this read all 1,291
pages of this ordinance but I read all
of the sections dealing with residential
and mixed use neighborhoods and realize
L cruus does not get rid of single
family houses it defines zones within
the code um as single family lowdensity
residential districts in section 36 SE 2
describ zoning areas of primarily detach
single family dwelling units to maintain
and protect a low density residential
character development section um chapter
36 section 36-1 describes purposes which
include encouraging innovation in Land
Development that complements
neighborhood's existing character and
encourages bicycle podrian and Transit
modes of travel controls inates unlawful
use of structures or land minimizes
adverse Environmental impacts of
development reduces nuisances encourages
development of vacant vacant properties
within established areas and conserves
the value of buildings and land these
are wins for our city this ordinance
does allow some mix of homes and
apartments mobile homes restaurants and
grocery stores that's a win for our city
realized loss crues Will Allow more
people to will be able to afford housing
reducing homelessness that's a win this
ordinance allows for dozens of
exceptions for single family dwellings
from various new adaptive reuse driveway
and other construction codes and ensures
all of y'all can still Park your RVs on
your single family lots so I'm just
wondering is it just the RVs that are
the only roof over family's heads that
you object to Vacation RVs somehow don't
offend your delicate and sensibilities
you cannot pretend to be Pro business
and at the same time condemn Business
Development and L crues except I guess
you can because I guess that's what so
many people are here to do today thank
goodness areas like Sonoma Ranch will
start allowing apartment complexes and
restaurants and grocery stores I'm
almost done I know a small powerful
group of people would prefer not to see
working class CL people exist but I ask
the city council to not design our city
around their feelings this ordinance is
a win for our
city mayor City counselors uh my name is
Nick choli uh I live in district 6 um
I've spoken here a few times uh about
the mountains of data uh related to
housing security and overall physical
and mental health outcomes um obviously
that data hasn't change so I won't bore
you with it again um so I'll just say
that Las cruus is changing and growing
and it's going to continue to change and
grow whether or not we pass realiz less
crues really the only thing we can do is
to change and grow with it um the way
for a city for a growing city as diverse
and unique as ours uh to continue to be
successful is to take care of our most
vulnerable
populations um that's not just low
income that uh service workers College
grads and seniors um if we want to curb
crime if we want to curb substance use
if we want to attract and retain jobs we
need we do need to get to the root
cause and that is to end those adverse
experiences that perpetuate generational
trauma we do that by by providing
Services needed for basic survival
specifically the fundamental rate of
accessible
housing I ask all the city councilors to
proceed with realiz loss cruises so uh
this city can continue to grow and all
of our uh citizens of our unique and
wonderful Community can be successful
thank
you hello my name is Sky Q I wanted to
show my support for realized L Cruis we
have an Ever booming population of
people that have prior been forced
accommodations excuse me that prior is
forced accommodations to the volume of
people by expanding out which inevitably
is is expanding into our national park
areas that make Las cruus so unique also
making those who have limited commuting
options have less than safe access to
desired locations which will now be
something with the rezoning create more
job opportunities having more affordable
housing by building up in closer to
desirable locations will be a boom the
economy because of this accessibility
resoning will create the much needed
means of a more walkable city um meaning
less need for excessive car ports or
parking New Mexico is known for its
Hospitality which will only grow as we
build community protecting cyclists and
pedestrians should be our priority
ensuring we are keeping those who
already exist here at the Forefront of
our development which includes low
income families and unhoused people
providing for the community should be
the antithesis for Crime people are that
are well taken care of and provided for
is known for lessening crime and making
spaces ultimately safer housing is a
human right access to resources is a
human right and if you vote for approval
for this I will in turn vote for you
thank
[Applause]
you hello Council mayor uh my name is
Trent Scribner for the people taking
notes in the audience taking names
that's t r n t
um I'm up here today to support realize
lost Cruis I've lived here my whole life
uh like other people have said I've seen
this city grow I've seen the city change
and and this city is changing is why
there's so much backlash here today is
because people are Avers to change it
makes sense I
understand um but this is the only way
that we can change the city for the
better the way it stands right now if
you want to keep housing unaffordable
one Surefire way to do it to restrict
development is to keep single family
zoning this we know this we
know I'm less concerned with property
values for people who already have homes
than I am for people being able to have
a roof over their heads at night and for
the people concerned about safety I
understand and you have my sympathy
my my grandfather was was killed by a by
a cafe on the corner
street a coffee mug it was horrible but
um but it's not a serious concern safety
from having small businesses in your
area it's it's a myth it's something
meant to keep people scared from
progress and I hope that you guys
realize this and I'll come out and fight
for you if you vote for this thank
[Applause]
you hello Council I am Rosie amandola I
live in District 2 and I'm a lifelong
resident and a
homeowner and
and yeah I'm for this resoning thing the
one thing that's been really frustrating
about living here in crues is the lack
of resources for people in the
community and what's a better way to
improve that is by giving the people
what they need uh affordable housing uh
job opportunity
and you give people their resources you
tackle all kinds of things you yeah
decrease crime you improve um life INSP
and yeah this is something that we need
I don't I feel like the positives
outweigh the negatives here and yeah
hope you seen your heart to really think
about the different communities here
that would really benefit from this
especially those of low and income and
living in rural areas
so yeah you vote for this I vote for you
and I'll yeah continue living here thank
you
[Applause]
uh Council mayor uh my name is Clare
Neil Wallace I'm a 15-year resident of
Los crusis and I just wanted to say um
I'm I'm here to support realiz Los
crusis because it's good for our city
being a number three retirement
destination is cool you know that's a
good achievement uh but there is also
other demographics of people who live
here in Los cruus and a job the job of a
city government is to look after all of
the people of the city not just the
retirees this also is very good for
people who do not have cars having a
small grocery store in a walkable
distance is an absolute game Cher we
currently only allow on the city buses
people to carry two bags of
groceries so it's two bags of groceries
with a indetermined amount of time when
you'll have access to a grocery store
again enough to feed a
family usually no maybe for one day a
bus ride every day to the grocery store
is not very feasible for most parents so
we need to think about not just the
people who are have the means to get
here to this meeting today at on a
Tuesday afternoon when most people are
at work but we also need to think about
all the people who do not have the means
to get here who are members of this
community and are taxpaying citizens and
they deserve a right to food a right to
a place to live and a right to community
that is not completely inacessible them
simply for them not having a car so I
hope you all you know find it within
yourselves to to make the right decision
here and and support this Common Sense
policy thank
[Applause]
you all right so hello everyone uh my
name is Chris Center I'm from District 3
I believe uh so let me just tell you a
little bit about myself I live in a
lower income uh like area of the Lost
crisis and we are in a walk distance um
last year I didn't have a car I wasn't
able to like get access to a car and I
was able using the transport system um
and with that I was able to walk to
stores I was able to get my groceries I
was able to get the things that I needed
and with having small businesses in
grocery small corner stores and small
grocery stores in these places of our
city is extremely helpful because in the
city of Las crus I just looked it up and
it says that over one quarter of the C
County's residents lives in a food
desert which means they have to walk
over a half a mile to access the
nutritious food because and that is
super important because we need access
to food like we that's that's how we
survive um so I highly suggest that you
guys advocate for this and to vote Yes
on realized realized L Cris because it
is going to help the community and it's
going to help lower lower income people
as well as housing and food and cafes so
I believe you guys should make the right
decision and I'll vote for you all right
thank
[Applause]
you H hello and good afternoon my name
is Valeria Baron um and I would like to
speak in favor of realize L crues
specifically speically for the fact that
it
is first of all it's not going to take
away your single family residents home
from your from your hands it's for newer
developments as well as lots that from
my understanding lots that have been
empty and away from people for a long
while and with these uh with these local
businesses local parks um it's been
historically proven in the past that
with providing local businesses you open
up jobs for people who are in desperate
need of a of a place of work uh opening
said a cafe next
door maybe it could inconvenience you in
noise however it's providing that
Homeless veteran an opportunity to work
and to be able to afford housing um sure
perhaps uh perhaps the park that you uh
the park that they're going to
install uh might make uh might attract
some leaves on the ground but it's also
going to provide that wife that has
several children that she can't take out
very often to finally have a place for
them to play and to have enrichment and
it's been shown that in studies that
places that have enrichment for every
member of the community have been shown
to have a lower crime rates uh lower
rates of addiction and lower rates of
self harm and suicide as well
so think uh think of it as more
enriching uh enriching the society that
you live in and giving people an
opportunity that they were not given
beforehand thank
[Applause]
you um good afternoon honorable mayor
councilman our chief and other
dignitaries I'm Larry cido and I came
here today because I don't not live
right in right in Las Cruses have many
friends and family live in Las cruus but
one thing about what you're talking
about today it has to do with our right
to have privacy have our own house have
a decision made by us to find a place
that we want to live that's comfortable
for us to have our neighbors that people
can can access available resources that
we have that close to us that's what we
decided to most of you did not come to
Las cruus find a place to live in a
neighborhood that was beside a store or
a bar or whatever else you did not do
that just like most people don't they
decide a place that's safe for all of us
I want something for everyone I want
safety I want protection those things
are important in our area especially Los
cruus we have a majority of problems
here that have been brought on by many
many means there's things that can be
solved it takes time it takes resources
it takes excusing conscience not spur
the moment decisions that are not based
on fact I think you need to really
consider what you're going to do today
because you don't want to have the
effects later on or appeals that come in
the future we have had major lawsuits
here in the city and the county for
people that do not respect our
properties do not respect our laws for
me I think we need to really really
really uh realize what needs to take
place here in Las cruus we want the best
for everyone in this community that's
what we want we don't want it for a
select few so B basically when you make
a decision like that you're you're
representing everybody in Las crues not
just what your ideals or your agenda is
so think about what you're going to
going to be doing because I'm really to
support you I have I plan to do many
things to help lasusa in the county in
the future and that's what I'm planning
to do thank you very
[Applause]
much hello hello everyone my name is
Logan Adams and I am proud to say that I
was born and raised right here in Los
crues and if I'm lucky I'll die here too
I love this city and I hope the best for
its future in our Collective
Prosperity there is promise to allow
local grocery stores cafes in all
neighborhoods uh I have to admit I
really like the idea of being able to
support a new locally owned small
business that is within walking distance
that's quite appealing I'd much rather
have the opportunity to support a local
grocery store than be forced to do what
I do now which is Hop on my car drive
four miles down the road to the closest
Walmart and watch as my money is
funneled out of New Mexico through a
gigantic soulless Corporation we all
know that small businesses are the
backbone of our community and I for one
am excited by the idea that we can cut
the red tape and open up brand new
opportunities for new small businesses
to take root and Thrive right here in
Los
cruus now if you dislike the idea of
higher density living it's
understandable that you might look out
to the vast and beautiful deserts and
think well surely we have room still
while putting aside an argument that
it's probably not the best idea to
completely bulldo and destroy our
natural environment around us and we all
appreciate it so much there's a much
simpler problem to consider higher taxes
the cost for the city to facilitate
install repair inspect plan and
otherwise maintain our infrastructure is
already massive the further outward the
city expands the greater the glut of
that bill and as it goes up so does the
need to raise our taxes it's either that
or the city's ability to keep up with
the maintenance nose Dives because they
can't afford to be everywhere all at
once fellow Los crucians it should not
follow us to subsidize uncontrolled
outward expansion of our city especially
when there is an alternative to both
increase the supply of Housing and avoid
this potential untenable maintenance
cost we should do what we can to
increase housing in our city and
excuse our city facilitate the growth
and invest of pro excuse me we should
support small businesses that serve and
connect our communities this motion is
not the only step to take in this
direction but it is a first and for
these reasons I support
[Applause]
it good afternoon counselors my name is
John onel model gole um I wanted to say
thank you for having us here um you know
I just want to take a second to say I
really like the city of Las cruus and I
went through its education system I was
given the opportunity to go to Arrowhead
Park Early College High School get
myself a college education my family
could not have otherwise afforded I got
the opportunity to do junior leadership
through this city and learned about the
many institutions here and I really
enjoyed that too and now I'm at the
stage I actually don't own a home but I
have a meeting with a real estate agent
and a mortgage officer this week I'm
very excited for
it you know I'm looking to start a
family and raise a family here in the
city of Las cruus and the things I'm
looking for I'm not just looking at the
investment costs I'm looking at the
places I can take my kids kids the
schools they can go to the parks they
can play in I want to be able to give my
son $5 and have him go down the street
to the cafe and hang out I'm excited for
that I love this city and I want my kids
to have the opportunity to exist in
third spaces I don't want them to just
be indoors I want them to have fun and
go out into this city and for that to
happen there needs to be housing with
opportunities within a walking distance
um you know I just like to
say you know I can't imagine reaching
this point in my life and pulling the
ladder up behind me to all of the people
that are coming up you know it's not the
Christian values I was raised with my
grandfather was a priest and he raised
me with good values he worked with a guy
you might have heard him his name was
Reverend king um and he was a civil
rights priest and he instilled in me a
set of values that every member in the
community matters and I want to see
opportunities for all the members of our
community that's all I've got for you
minute 40 seconds thank you folks
mayor mayor protm
counselors we've
seen a lot of word salad and
disingenuous theories put out here
misidentifying the can you state your
name again my name is Laura
Reynolds misidentifying the problem we
don't have a housing shortage we have an
how housing affordability problem what's
wrong with councelor matis owning a
business in his neighborhood and
visiting it isn't that what this is all
about yet he's criticized I mean word
salad I am a local real estate broker
productive active and successful for
over 20 years now not in the Ivory Tower
where where my Brokers can't reach me
I'm out in the trenches listing and
selling real estate like others and I
see the problem prices are determined by
the
market not by what you want them to be
or what I wish they
were I've watched Los crusis go from a
thriving and gorgeous Community to
destruction resembling a third world
country all of my grown daughters and
their husbands have left for better
opportunities elsewhere after struggling
for years because there were none here
for
them this would greatly impact
neighborhoods if you don't think a
commercial property next to a
residential property devalues it then
talk to an expert who knows and quit
listening to these people who were
throwing out theories that don't make
sense and are not
true do you want a strip club next door
to you your
grandkids do you want a liquor store
next to a church laugh all you
want laugh all you
want I'm speaking true facts they can
come and tear down the house next to you
and build whatever they want that should
be limited to new neighborhoods and de
developers who can make those decisions
themselves okay thank
[Applause]
you thank you very much Mr mayor council
I appreciate the opportunity to speak to
you today my name is Christopher Brown
I'm a faculty member at NMSU and I've
been a member of the technical advisory
committee that worked to develop realize
I worked for two years to help build
what you have for you today we had
members of the development community
AARP the retirement community safe
routes to school and folks like me
working together to build something that
advances the sustainable development
goals that city council passed and
Elevate Los Cruis I urge you to support
realize and the plan that it has to
build a Los cruus that our comp plan
calls for Los crusis is short 5,600
housing units and the good work that
staff are doing to help build 500 units
is on10th of what we need if we want a
town where our kids have a chance just a
chance at buying the American dream that
so many of us in this room enjoy we must
solve this housing crisis the code Prov
you will give you the best chance at
doing this realize will also support
complete streets and Safe Transportation
for people that walk and ride their
bicycle in their daily life the most
disturbing thing I've heard many people
implore multif family housing with the
crime crisis that's simply not true
realize does not eliminate single family
residential it simply provides other
options I implore you to support
realized Las cruus and put in code the
place that you have before you as
someone else before you said if you
support this I'll vote for you I'll walk
for you I'll campaign for you and
everything you do is realized perfect
absolutely not but the perfect is the
enemy of the pretty darn good which is
what you have before you today I urge
you to vote yes thank
you hi mayor counselors my name is John
Holzman and I want to thank the city
council and especially staff uh for your
efforts on realiz L Cru and I urge you
to pass it I've participated in this
process in several ways including
submitting some written comments making
some comments to Planning and Zoning
emailing staff talking with some of you
I didn't actually get what I wanted but
that's okay I felt that I was listened
to uh I recognize you're juggling a lot
of different and conflicting input which
is sometimes expressed in a hostile and
perhaps less than constructive way
overall I think realiz Las cruus does a
good job at recognizing issues that face
our community and trying to address them
at a root level that is Equitable I
think we're at a point in our community
where we have to be willing to be
open-minded about change and to consider
uh what we need to do to address our
issues and I think that realiz lays out
the polities and policies and especially
the flexibility to do so I respect the
process and look forward to working with
you in the future to make adjustments
and improvements as needed I thank you
and staff again for your efforts on
realiz L Cru
and hope that you'll support it thank
you hi um mayor um city council my name
is Athena hakabe and I'm here to V voice
my strong support for realized L cruus
our city is facing a housing crisis and
outdated zoning laws that restrict
neighborhoods to single family homes
only make it worse by allowing for a mix
of housing types like duplexes town
homes and accessory dwelling units of
which I have one we create more
affordable options support local
businesses and build a more inclusive
community my colleague and friend that
was sitting with me that had to leave
due to time um owns a mixed property in
Asheville North Carolina which is very
lucrative for her she and her son both
own real estate in Las Cruses and are at
this point unwilling to invest in more
real estate because of these restrictive
zoning laws um um the alternative to not
passing this is more unchecked suburban
sprawl soulless car dependent
development that isolates people drains
City resources realiz less Cruis gives
us the opportunity to build more vibrant
walkable and a sustainable City where
people of all income levels can Thrive
please move forward with these changes
thank you
[Applause]
hi I'm Dana Hopkins I'm a resident here
in Los Chas I'm a native New Mexican
although I am recently returned to New
Mexico and I wasn't going to speak
because I saw so many people in my age
speaking but we are not a
monolith we do not all agree not
everyone here is a homeowner I'm not and
for many of the people behind me I'm
going to remind you that you are one
medical crisis away from not being a
homeowner we are a city of many many
kinds of people and many ages of people
it break my heart to see that we are
ignoring the voices of our younger folks
our more marginalized folks and I truly
believe that what we're looking at here
and I have to say it sounds like people
haven't actually read it or listened to
this presentation what we are looking at
here is reasonable it is imperfect like
all things are but it improves Los cruus
for everyone it improves it for people
like me it improves it for my neighbors
behind me and it improves it for for all
these neighbors of all of all ages and
walks of life and people who cannot
afford a home at
all there's there's not a bad thing
about it the things that people are
afraid of are not the things that are
going to happen and change happens it's
2025 it is not
2001 and what worked then doesn't work
now thank you for your time I hope you
all will vote for it
[Applause]
honorable mayor City councilors my name
is Renee Frank I'm a long-term citizen
of uh of Las crues and surrounding areas
um been here for actually now that I've
counted it up 45 years I've watched Las
Cruses grow and I'm very very proud of
Las Cruses uh in 2006 I became a a
realtor and have really come to
understand the importance of the
opportunity for home ownership and even
beyond that the importance of a of a
home a home that provides safety
security health and a PL a base for for
from which people can live their lives I
do see um I want to appreciate with all
of the work that has gone into the
realiz Los Cruses plan I do believe that
these are the kinds of changes that we
need it actually cuts through some of
the bureaucracy and the the red tape
that is required to get some of the
development that we desperately need it
opens up opportunities and provides more
freedom for for homeowners and land
owners to be able to determine what they
want to do with with their land the the
land owners and the developers and the
builders together will be able to take
these and move forward in the ways that
people really want that I I want to say
thank you for the the many opportunities
that were provided for input I got
involved with realiz Las crues it was a
a year ago and I've saw uh I think the
first draft being presented and many
people coming to to uh deliver their
objections and their concerns and I also
saw a concerted effort to take all of
those concerns into effect and to make
changes in the code which were then uh I
saw many of those come back today which
I think helped to uh
to to listen to and to attend to those
things I want to urge you to please pass
this ordinance this is not going to
solve every problem in Los Cruses but
once you pass it today then you can move
on and put your attention to those other
big issues that need to be addressed
thank you very
[Applause]
much good afternoon Mr Mayor C city
council I want to thank Council and
matis for replying to the email that I
sent yesterday regarding this issue um
I've emailed and
called we we need your name please po
Groves I've emailed and called All of
You many times over the years um about
uh issues I've been involved in this um
effort I've uh lodged public comment and
the only response I've ever gotten was
last night um from Council councelor
matis so thank you for that um I would
like to urge you to
table this motion um or to vote no um
I'm not in favor of many of the changes
proposed under the realiz L Cruis plan
because these do impact existing
neighborhoods and so if you if you read
the Thousand Pages if you listen to the
staff presentation
um which said it probably wouldn't
affect you probably isn't good enough
for me I am a third generation Los
crusen I have raised two now adult
children here and I believe that these
changes will be detrimental to existing
properties allowing large apartment
complexes and and retail stores within
our existing single family neighborhoods
increases noise light pollution traffic
and impact safety for families with
young children or elderly residents
these proposed changes will
fundamentally change the standard of
living in our city which will impact the
quality of life and potentially the tax
base and I on purpose am not talking
about property values or these other
things because I'm much more concerned
about the quality of life in this city
where where four generations of my
family have lived um we have current
zoning regulations that allow citizens
to live in these varied um neighborhoods
so I would urge you to table this and
and change this Zoning for new
development only thank you so
[Applause]
much hi honorable mayor in city council
my name is Julia yansy I have lived in
Los cruus for about 4 years now um I
moved when I was just 14 so I'm pretty
young currently I'm a student at NMSU um
and I
think from where I used to live in
Alaska um I noticed the um positivity of
having um like local spaces third spaces
and I have a lot of conversations with
my fellow students and fellow um friends
who don't enjoy not having community and
I think that's kind of a lot of like my
focus in this and like I think I want
to um kind of bring that up and how
having local spaces and um like possibly
cafes and stuff um a lot of community is
built in that and I just wanted to say
that from where I used to live in my
experience living in a small town in
Alaska it brought many tourists um a lot
of um Community within that and um I
just wanted to highlight that and how
that could be a positive effect on L
crues thank
[Applause]
you mayor city council my name is Sylvia
yansy and I live in District 2 while I'm
a Las cruset resident I am also a
Swedish citizen have visited the country
many times and I've seen the benefits of
more walkable cities and diverse
neighborhoods I have also seen the
disadvantages of the American Car
Centric Society for the benefit of our
community I believe that we need to
start moving away from a car Centric
society and I believe that realize Las
cruus is a great step towards that goal
I'm not a homeowner so I've not become
so selfish to only worry about my
property value and to not care about
others in my community of course we all
want our neighborhoods to be safe
if we truly want to end crime then we
want to see what the root causes of
these crimes are that can be substance
abuse issues lack of resources and help
Etc so please if any of this is word
salad then call me the
dressing so please vote Yes on realized
L cruises thank
[Applause]
you good afternoon mayor and Council my
name is Sylvia yoa and I I love Las
Cruses I want this beautiful Community
to grow and to thrive um one of our
counselors here believes that we
shouldn't take a vote for change on the
possibility that something bad may
happen instead of voting for something
so that something good Could Happen um
we deserve a community with thriving
small businesses with walkable
neighborhoods and with easy access to
public transit my NE my nephew left Los
crusis cuz he didn't want to have to own
a car
my niece left because there was nothing
to do here and because there was no
interesting neighborhoods um not
everybody wants to live in a s single
family house uh even those vaunted
retirees that we keep trying to I guess
bring here over our own residents
they're selling their big houses and
they're moving into they downsizing so
um when we say that only single family
houses are allowed what we're saying is
to our kids go live in Denver go live in
Phoenix go live in Austin and when
you're ready to get married and have two
kids and buy a house then you can come
back um so uh you just keep renting and
throwing your money away on that until
you have the money to buy a a single
family house in Los guses so realize Los
guses is about the market working for
all of our consumers um not just for
Baby Boomers who are holding on to all
the wealth and all the resources and
then wondering why their kids can't buy
a house and why they don't live near
them so I really urge you to do this so
that we can make our community work for
all people young people old people
working people and retirees thank
you hello good afternoon everybody my
name is Gloria Molina and I'm here to
support realiz L crues I was born and
raised here and I've seen the many
changes and not for the good but this it
really does have a potential to make a
great impact on people that needed
low-income people um I serve on the
board for the msia valley public housing
authority and our list is is one
1,437 for for public housing housing
which is 244 units um
I really believe that this will help
and I know I've heard a lot of things of
I've been here all afternoon that was a
long wait uh my daughter also went to
Austin um my kids are grown up but I
have grandchildren and
great-grandchildren that I hope will
someday be
homeowners um I went to college I chose
a low pain uh early childhood education
degree and I've I've I've never made
more than $24,000 a year and I'm I'm
okay with that I've I've done a lot and
I'm I'm proud of what I've done I am a
big advocate for lowincome people
because I grew up in the housing project
on um malberry in Ash and I live there
again I moved there when I was 6 years
old and I live there again and it's not
anybody's childhood dream to say oh oh
I'm going to go back to liveing housing
no but I'm in a position where I can
help people and advocate for them now
and so with that I'm I'm running out of
time but please please support and also
I'm going to uh ditto what everybody
says I I'll go all the way for you and
I'll support you if you back us up on
this thank
[Applause]
you look I didn't even read any of my
notes
good
after uh good afternoon my name is
George Pearson I've seen recent
commentary and social media opposing
realiz lost crues realiz has been in the
works for many years it is a result of
elevate lost Cruis the comprehensive
plan that was itself a two-year project
that was adopted as it happens 5 years
ago
today the ideas and realiz are not new
and were accepted throughout the sevene
so planning process I was on the
technical advisory committee and
probably made 30 of those 33 meetings
and I don't remember more than a handful
of people coming to talk to us from the
public um so you're hearing a lot more
here today than we ever heard through
the year and some process that we had at
the technical advisory committee uh
critics are suddenly saying that realize
will destroy lost crues this is simply
not true development is incremental and
the flexibility offered by realized will
allow the creation of more livable and
walkable neighborhoods and there's
nothing in realiz that stops developers
from creating an HOA style neighborhoods
with restrictions that would
probably prevent Casitas from being
built that could be enforced by
neighbors suing neighbors well I like my
neighbors so um I'm not going to be
suing anybody for the casso in my
neighborhood probably about half the
houses have citas behind them and
they're you hardly even know that
they're there please approve Los cruus
realize um and the rest I was going to
talk about bike parking but Sarah
addressed that in the presentation so
thank you for that so please vote yes
thank
[Applause]
you good afternoon uh everyone uh
my name is danuta Frasier my accent is
Polish so what I want to Observation
when I hear all the yes and against my
question will be and I didn't hear the
numbers what how many units of the
affordable housing we will last crues we
will
get with the plan
compare the cost and everything and so
minimum how many units I I am not asking
about the number you I just didn't hear
and bother me now is the alternative to
to it obviously should be and then when
we compare the cost the number all the
in
infr sorry uh that that will convince me
the the other things is is about the
affordable housing and how much you
think the rent or the housing will cost
people who who need those very much uh
to uh to the other
alternative because sometimes everybody
say we need affordable housing we need
we need we
need now but when we came
I maybe very short background I came to
to United States on the Visa which um
president rean led the people who were
oppressed in the in the solidarity time
you you know I live in New York for a
while then I live about um all together
30 plus years I live most of the time in
Orlando we came here and we love this
and we see this city supposed to not
supposed to is my opinion is a tourist
place to get the money for the for the
budget why we not focus addition to to
make this the city welcome and and and
and and this is this this is for whole
world not only for for uh Las crusin or
America that is only my question was
the economic first thank you thank
[Applause]
you thank you city council and mayor I'm
Sarah Smith realiz L Cruis takes away
our choice to live in neighborhoods that
will be safe for our kids to play in or
for the elderly to walk across the
street to check their mail who among you
is going to speak up for the thousands
of families who bought homes with
reasonable expectations that their
neighborhoods would be for home homes
and not businesses or large apartment
complexes you have not done due
diligence in making sure the public is
widely aware of what you are planning to
do at least one of you has also been
making false statements that realiz is
not going to remove single family
residential zoning that is clearly not
true given that realiz would allow
apartments and businesses in all
neighborhoods people will have no
guarantee that they can live in quiet
neighborhoods to get away from the
hustle and bustle a reasonable
compromise would be to allow town homes
and Casitas in existing neighborh hoods
but push the rest of these changes to
new development areas only ostensibly
realiz is intended to allow more people
to be able to afford housing but
fundamentally changing our way of life
without our consent is not the answer
instead you should be working harder to
reduce development fees deal with the
crime situation and retain and attract
job opportunities several Builders and
developers have spoken at council with
concerns that realize is going to
increase development costs they have
also repeatedly told Council that theft
of building materials at construction
site
is increasing the price for homeowners
numerous businesses have failed or
chosen to go elsewhere because of the
crime and the blight please stand up for
your constituents by voting no this
proposal is like a sledgehammer when we
need a more nuanced situation City staff
indicated that the goal is to allow
flexibility for new development then why
not revise this proposal to allow
apartments and businesses in new
development and not existing
neighborhoods thank you
[Applause]
good afternoon mayor city council my
name
is Mayor city council my name is Fred
Miller and I want to have you see you
vote in favor of mixed use neighborhoods
um in support of that I've I want to
read a paragraph from
hillbilly elegy by JD
Vance so I think that any successful
policy program would recognize what my
old High School's teachers see every day
that the real problem for so many of
these kids is what happens or doesn't
happen at home for example we'd
recognize that section 8 vouchers ought
to be administered in a way that doesn't
segregate the poor into little enclaves
as Brian Campbell another Middletown
teacher told me when you have a large
base of section8 parents and kids
supported by fewer middle class
taxpayers it's an upside down triangle
there are fewer emotional and Financial
Resources when the only people in a
neighborhood are low income you just
can't lump them together because then
you have a bigger pool of
hopelessness on the other hand he said
put the lower income kids with those who
have a different lifestyle model and the
lower income kids start to rise up yet
when Middletown recently tried to Li
limit the number of Section 8 vouchers
offered within certain
neighborhoods the federal government
bed better I suppose to keep those kids
cut off from the middle
[Applause]
class hello my name is Jenny Buckingham
I'm probably the newest resident of Las
cruus I've been here for 2 and a half
months and I own my own
home I first want to give a shout out to
what I consider the young people I'm
retired so I can say this uh the younger
people who have come with ideas and
requests and are really talking from
their heart about what they need what
they want in the face of hearing how
people want to save the value of their
property which is a fear tactic to use
uh
the these established developments are
not going to be completely changed or
even significantly changed there are
lots of rules that require a certain
amount of land and other things so
that's really a copout and it's not
evidence proven that that happens what
is evidence proven is that
stable variable housing lifts everybody
up in the community
and these the people who live here now
and need that kind of
housing we should be listening to
them this is not going to bring down the
city it is going to lift it up there's a
lot to repair in this
city and this is an easy way to get a
big
change I I request that you definitely
approve this plan
[Applause]
uh good afternoon everybody I Paula aino
I live in uh councilwoman Flores
District um back during the pandemic
there was charettes in that for the Mesa
Vista master plan I don't know how many
here actually remember that but that was
a mixed use Housing Development with uh
Apartments a lot of
apartments and little uh Town Square
where you could have stores and housing
above it and that and I thought that
plan had been approved back then um so I
don't know what happened to that but
that's exactly what you guys are talking
about today with that kind of a
neighborhood so however that ended up
disappearing in or never got approved it
hasn't happened yet but that's what I
was expecting to go on past the
neighborhood I live in um with that part
of the desert being you know raped over
and all of this housing stuff put up so
I'm a little confused about you know I
understand we need to grow and I have no
problem with that I was part of that
charet that gave my voice an opinion
back then so I'm just kind of wondering
what happened to that
plan oh thank
[Applause]
you D rpra longtime resident I ran home
in the midst of the start of the
comments because I wanted to come back
with my copy of realiz this is what
realiz looks like without the technical
manual attached to it this is just
realized and in fact this is an outdated
copy because this is what was presented
at PN more recently and has been
modified since this itself runs over 400
Pages d and that's front and back 200
100 pages of
paper I'm sure it's expanded since then
and I want to address this to the people
in the audience who have spoken in
particular in favor of realize and ask
them
how many of you have actually read this
cover to
cover George I know you have I know
George Pearson has because he was on TCH
and he's attended other meetings I'm not
asking that of any of you on the Das and
I frankly haven't read the thing cover
to cover but unless people have read it
cover to cover then I have this
comment the Community Development folks
includes including Mr favor and
including several the other staff who've
spoken at these meetings have made it
sound very vanilla in fact today I
commented that you must have practiced
your speaking because unlike me where I
have hesitations or pauses you're very
Polished in presenting exactly how you
want to and it sounds vanilla but one
thing that you brought out is this idea
that it was only intended for new
developments I haven't seen a page in
here yet that says
that okay and I live I
live I live in an older neighborhood
where just in the last few years we had
two things that happened one was a death
that meant that the property was open
the new owner wanted to put something in
his garage as a living space for rent we
were able to stop that because there was
a
covenant that was uh applied had been
applied to that property originally that
prevent Ed it but it took a lot of work
on the part of the neighborhood to bring
that to effect and to stop that
subdivision the other thing is that we
had a house that went up with a fire
total total loss when that was rebuilt
because of our neighborhood that was
rebuilt as a single family house I'm not
sure that that would happen if realize
comes in and we have more fires
happening in the city your time your
time is up thank you
[Applause]
Dolores Lucero 2001 of course we should
update the zoning code there's no doubt
about that but let me tell the people in
this room it's already decided the mayor
never in the 20 years that I've been
involved in politics any mayor at this
Das has never put something on the
agenda that's going to fail
ever and only maybe once or twice in the
eight years that I served the mayor
doesn't do that he already knows what
the vote is it might be a four to three
but it's just got to be four to win so
it doesn't happen in these Chambers I
also am a gambling woman I will lay
money down that someone organized all
this group of people to be here today to
show you that they care about their
Community nobody cares as as much as I
do and a whole bunch of other people in
this community I'm going to give my age
I'm 71 years old and I've lived in this
community and my family has been here
for 400 years I do not recognize lost
crues I do not live in the community
that I've always loved I do not have the
services that I should have at this age
because I can't get good medical care
how dare someone stand there and say I
live in Sonoma Ranch I worked hard for
my home I care about people in this
community I have helped people that have
needed care and I'm upset obviously how
dare you say that I don't care about
this community because I own a nice home
there's an empty lot on my street if a
mobile home ends up there I'm going to
be real
pissed and let me tell you if something
else shows up on my neighborhood two
nights go guess what Mr Mayor third time
in a row hoodlums on my street checking
doors I don't live in a bad neighborhood
I live in a neighborhood of Los Cruses
and none of you care where I
[Applause]
live well that's hard to follow my name
is Fred huff and boy have I gotten an
education
today I've heard all of this talk about
affordable
housing and it suddenly dawned on me
what is affordable
housing who owns
it and then it dawned on me as I heard
from somebody in the
audience it's uh real estate people
investors people that don't really that
they're going to be making uh lots of
money off of
this well let's look at
U let's look at some supposed affordable
housing that supposedly taken place here
in Los cruus place called Amador
Crossing
um my understanding is from what I've
heard and and I can be corrected
somewhere along the way that that's
about a $15 million
project for 50 units
that doesn't take much of a
mathematician to see that that's
$300,000 per
unit I could never afford that if I was
having to pay rent typically rents about
1% of the cost that's $3,000 a month
that doesn't sound affordable to
me the other thing
that really I think a lot of people
Miss is if you're renting
they can raise your rent anytime they
want and I've seen a lot of people
recently in the on Facebook and stuff
where people are getting evicted because
suddenly their rent is
raised as a homeowner I don't have to
worry about that so what is affordable
housing as opposed to home
ownership and if that really is a
probability as Mr favor said why wasn't
it grandfather done thank
[Applause]
you good afternoon my name is Daniel
Buck I too sat on the committee for this
plan I look at it much as a bicycle that
has no training wheels or a car without
a steering wheel it puts our city into
urban sprawl and expedites with
unplanned trajectory the aftermath of
tearing down existing single family
homes and areas which have been called
Selfish for people investing family
money to form a life in which they took
and created I live in the historic
district I live in an area where you do
not need a special use permit to put
businesses because mosquit is already
zoned commercial you can own any type of
business for years my neighborhood has
been traded for pennies by politicians
and torn to the ground with only a small
% of the original dwelling still
existing it has not had any economic
rebirth we have an Albertson's not far
down the road on Elo there has been
nothing that has come to spite economic
growth in the area nothing has come that
has risen people out of poverty in our
neighborhood I once lived on the West
Mesa I can tell you I would be very
upset if somebody tore down an existing
home next to a home that cost over half
a million dollars to put a random
business which sunk the property value
and then made me write a check at
closing to make up for the loss of such
an investment I think there is a Lo loss
of trust in the council I think there's
a loss of trust in the public officials
I think we have a concern that there is
backdoor deals being done I've had some
very disturbing things said to me by
people up on this stas before there has
not been a focus on losing the Amador
downtown Main Street how many years
could we have launched a pilot program
that has never gotten off its feet board
after board investment after investment
nothing has come to really create a
lifestyle you can go to El El Paso and
visit monteo a strategic plan
development I happen to be from Naples
Florida where places and I'll be finish
in just a moment before you cut me off
Coconut Grove in Florida is a strategic
plan area where multifam housing is
closest to the commercial District that
includes stores restaurants and
groceries and in the Outer Banks is
Condominiums and then single family
homes where people are more likely to
have a vehicle I highly doubt a 3,000 ft
grocery will be put into a single family
home by a private individual and benefit
anyone including the homeless veteran
inside of our community thank
[Applause]
you I'm William Beerman I had to tear up
my prepared state because of time
restrictions and because I feel the need
to rebut some of the things that have
been said here I know there was a
concered effort to bring out a crowd for
your meeting to support this ordinance
and I know there were talking points
provided to speakers and one of the
organizations that did that was the
Donna Ana County resilience leaders I
don't know who that is but I know they
tried to drum up people to come here but
I listen I listen to people
with warm and fuzzy ideas and
hypothetical claims about what good this
ordinance might do to help others and I
know some of you are motivated by a
desire to help others and I appreciate
that but aside from these hypothetical
ideas about how this might help people
I'd like to present you with some Stark
reality or rather present the audience
with some Stark reality because you
already know about the the the Hazardous
Waste The Biohazard business that the
City Department of Community Development
has been allowing to operate one block
from my house in a single family
residential neighborhood even with
single family residential zoning so my
point is there's a a statement in that
zoning ordinance that gives the city the
authority to approve businesses in my
neighborhood and I cannot trust this
City staff not to put something like a
hazardous waste business on the Block
one block over from me so you know even
Little League kids in this town know
that you can't change the rules after
the game is started so I would urge you
to maintain the existing residential
Zoning for people who already have it
and then do whatever you want in the
undeveloped land in the town
[Applause]
hello uh my name is Ray solar and I'd
like
to talk to you about your
plan sorry you see last crues has been
hated by Washington bre bureaucrats
because of our Unique city design that
makes it feel like a small town
it was designed for the residents
instead of for big businesses and
investors it is not designed like New
York City however your uh program will
change that all with one swipe of the P
pen it it's it's uh like the same
disaster that happened when you closed
up the city and killed all the
businesses downtown with a closed mall
it's I thought I'd never live to see
that happen again well it's going to be
happening today today they're going to
close up the city from being an open
City to be in a closed City full of bad
plans each plan should be decided one by
one not on taking all our rights away
with one stroke of the pen one
shot okay we we know that the only
beneficiaries will be businesses and
investors from the this
plan and not the residents the residents
who are living right now are living
under a safe plan that requires each
Community to be dealt with one by one
this will just throw everything out and
put us all in the water with um life
jacket with a million holes poked in it
it may be more Airy and that's that
feel-good feeling but it is disastrous
and it is life uh it won't save your
life and it won't save our community
please do not destroy this community
deal with it one by one project by
[Applause]
project hello my name is Patty Olsen I
Am a local realtor here in town um I do
want to say um Planning and Development
has done a great job in the new
developments making
multiuse affordability for all of lost
crues mult uh multif family homes uh
commercial projects available to be made
but we need investors and we need money
to make these things happen and to make
that
grow um each and one every one of you up
behind the desk there is going to make a
decision that impacts
every single family homeowners
Investments do any of you want to sell
your home today at the prior 21 price to
make homes affordable I'll sell it I bet
each and every one of you want to
protect your home
value so please table this let the
community let the homeowners make these
decisions not not each one of you making
this decision for my investment
over somebody
over I don't know I I that thought but
we have things in place today special
use permits if there wants to be a a
grocery store or a cafe on my street and
we all agree about it great that's what
a special use permit and a a petition is
for but to to um recreate and change my
investment that's not fair that's not
right and talking about affordability I
do have concerns I have one child who
bought a house and another that you know
may take a longer time to buy but that's
not because of it's because of our
economy as a whole interest rates are up
and because we've seen in Los crues
appreciating
values go up so high and so
fast because people are bringing money
to our town people are bringing money to
our city and our
state please table this get more people
if you only had 270 people asked
questions out of 43,000 properties you
weren't asking the right people ma'am
your your time is up thank
you good afternoon uh my name is Maria
Angelica Varela and um I don't have a
speech I didn't read the book um and um
I don't have a lot of information about
this project but I am in favor with a
little that I've heard today um I live
in the
88001 area so I was very confused
because we have such a mixed um
Community there with businesses and and
a lot of activity going on but I I feel
like it's almost okay just for my area
to have that kind of um just lifestyle
so I am in favor I'm also um I also work
very hard I have my house I'm a
homeowner and um and I see the unhoused
I mean they need houses I'm also uh a
social worker I'm a Child Protective
Services worker and I just want to say
that a lot of children come into care
because there's not in up homes in L
crues so I am in favor to um more jobs
more um housing for this for our
children if we had um more work towards
building the future of our children we
wouldn't have the issues that we have
today
thank
you hi um my name is maranne Lano and I
am the proud owner of Glitz School of
Cosmetology and uh 13 years ago I
actually bought my very first property
here in Los Cruses from Mr matis um I am
eternally grateful for the city of Las
Cruses if people want want to work here
you can make money but you have to give
it all you have to be able to make it I
had no idea I was going to be speaking
here today at all but I am eternally
grateful for people like you for Sarah
because she has helped us and get where
we are today but I also see the housing
issue that a lot of people here have I
as a homeowner would not want by no
means am I saying that a mobile home
park is any less but the value let's
just be real the value it it matters
right nobody would want that next to
their home so I think it's a wonderful
plan because when we go to Scott sale or
we go to Houston and we see these you
know beautiful places where they have
these amazing coffee shops downstairs
from this beautiful residential area
that's kind of cool right I mean that
would be something nice for Las Cruz
but listen to the
homeowners maybe just tweak one or two
little things with that plan and I'm not
here promoting Sarah I'm not here
promoting anybody but all I have to say
is that
um I myself am going to be coming to you
guys with a very very amazing project in
the next year that's going to bring a
lot of jobs to Los crues and something
very amazing for the Youth here which is
what we need so so I'm all for this just
maybe one or two tweaks and I think a
lot of people will be happy maybe just
listen to a lot of the homeowners here
but again thank you for you guys and
thank you for everything that you've
done for the city thank
[Applause]
you good afternoon mayor council people
my name is Charles wler and a few many
years ago I attended sever meetings over
at the county building similar to this
uh plan that you have and uh did a
little bit of research at that time and
found out it was a result of agenda 21
from the United Nations the driving
force at that time and you're all
members I suppose are still of the
Metropolitan planning organization which
is part of that movement so people need
to understand where this is coming from
I don't think it's coming from the real
people here in Los crues okay it's an
outside Force
unfortunately uh some other things I've
been in the chambers here when I've
heard business people business people
here in town crying out to you for
help the Safety and Security of their
small
businesses and our heart goes out to
those folks and the police who are
unated with all kinds of calls for help
so is this going to really help things
then I hear about over th000 Pages or so
it kind of reminds me of one of those
things you got to pass it before you can
know what's in it that's not logical
reasoning folks please Common Sense
leave it alone I vote no on this
resoundingly it doesn't make
sense God bless
you hi uh Troy Mitchell I'm here on
behalf of New Mexico construction
Alliance uh used to be the lcba uh first
I want to say thank you to the Community
Development Department um and Public
Works we've had multiple meetings with
them about the uh um issues that we had
with realiz um we we wanted to get it to
a point where we fully support it and uh
and we're super close um pnz made a
recommendation almost unanimous vote uh
to table section 385 and that's the the
Park trails and and uh open areas um
we're we're concerned about the cost um
that it's going to pass to the home
buyer and really uh what what our uh um
intent has been behind this is to make
you know uh houses more attainable here
in the city of Las Cruses and so what
our thought process was in this is uh
they have a park zone impact fee um uh
uh analysis coming up that we uh we're
going to try to be a part of as well
that comes up in May um we want to pull
that or we want to recommended you guys
to table this section
38-5 um and and do that in conjunction
with with the park park zone impact fee
analysis um just like Planning and
Zoning voted as a recommendation um we
we again we appreciate Community
Development Department planning um
they've been a huge help they've heated
our our um you know problems with
realize we've gotten some changes um you
know uh you guys have been a big big
instrument in that and we really
appreciate it thank
[Applause]
you hello my name is Kathleen Montgomery
and I'm live in a single family housing
area very happy there but I would hope
you guys would vote no on this and if
you going to vote Yes at least push it
toward the new construction in this town
so people that want to make a choice
they can go in that direction and then
we can stay where we're at and we're
then that way everybody's
[Applause]
happy hello this my name is Pam Sunday
and after listening to many people and
going to meetings it seems that U
realize Los cruus is not the best plan
and I feel that if those of you that
vote Yes I will work tires tirelessly
against your being re reelected and be
the word salad and addressing to see new
members on this committee thank you
[Applause]
hi mayor council um thank you for your
time my name is Michael Harris um I have
lived in Los cruus my entire life which
um is not young anymore um and I'm here
today to express support for this
ordinance um I think it is a great step
forward for the city um lived here a
very long time I do own my own house so
I am a homeowner I do own my own
business property um and I've read
through not all 500 pages in Exquisite
technical detail but good amount it
seems like a a pretty good plan um one
of the areas that I would like to point
out to other people in the audience and
express my appreciation for is the fact
that there's a recommendation for kind
of a yearly review of this of this plan
and so a lot of the concerns that I
think a lot of people have might be
addressed then um in the meantime I
think the plan overall is a pretty good
step forward Ward and and I would like
to see it um
implemented um I personally live in a
pretty nice relatively mixed use area of
town um I think it's an excellent model
for the people worried about random
stuff popping up when you have a loud
density in your area you know there's a
great neighborhood of single family
homes um people who live on certain
streets with certain names in that area
have very strong feelings about their
homes I know um and then there's town
houses and lots of owner occupiers in
the town houses um we take great pride
in our homes and they look beautiful and
then there's an apartment complex uh
further down the street and very little
crime um everyone seems very happy with
that um so I guess overall uh I'll I'll
close with a note um I think this was
Harry Truman who said it the world is
not static and the status quo is not
sacred and Los cruus needs to grow and I
think that this is a great step towards
that so thank you for your
[Applause]
time hello my name is Jennifer Cipher
and I am you know if I'm charitable I
would say table it and I find that the
documentation was very very cumbersome
and I can get through doc documentation
quite well but I found it really hard to
understand in some ways and so to me
when something's that big and that
convoluted that there's something in
there that shouldn't wouldn't be
agreeable to me so um but one thing that
um I don't think anyone existed talked
about this but existing real estate
purchase agreement and mortgages are
legal contracts in which zoning is
specified so I don't know
how
um that can be
disregarded and not be a legal
problem and also I would like
to I'm
wondering are there any federal funds
being used for this at all like through
NOS or otherwise and just something to
talk about later so I don't really have
much else to say except I mean I want
people to have the housing they need but
leave what is already in place in place
so thank you very
[Applause]
much good after afternoon mayor mayor
PRM counselors other City officials and
my fellow citizens my name is Randy
himlen I have attended several meetings
regarding the zoning changes and have
been favorably impressed with the
knowledge and pleasant demeanor of all
the contractors and city employees
involved I grew up in an R1 neighborhood
with small Grocery and A Philip 66 one
half block away and felt quite safe for
those with concern concerns about
property values Zillow lists that house
at $950,000 right
now please note that I checked and I
cannot find any homes built in this
Century for sale within a mile of a
grocery
store I hear other los crus citizens
concerned that they will live their
privilege to nice quiet
neighborhoods I live on a culdesac and a
residential plan to Urban Development
neighborhood of about 30 homes one block
from a middle school and half a block
from a church I expect that most people
would call it a nice quiet neighborhood
and safe for the kids using the
basketball court my neighbor has a pet
chicken the most dangerous traffic is at
about 3:45 on weekday afternoons when
people picking up children Park
seemingly as they please blocking USPS
and FedEx deliveries as well as those of
us who live there
I am not asking for an elimination of
this traffic issue because I reasonably
expected it when I purchased the house
reasonably I expect that several empty
lots on Road Runner May well be
developed in something more dense than
single family residences I think it is
reasonable to expect all neighborhoods
to increase in density especially
accessory dwelling units as people move
to wherever they want to live and as
economic conditions require more of us
to care for aging family and Boomerang
Kids in summary I have no dread
regarding the new code and urge you all
to vote in favor of
[Applause]
it first of all hello to all the city
officials I am not a speaker but I'm
going to do my best to try to explain
what I feel about this because I'm torn
between both of them because I am a
former homeowner ma'am could you state
your name my name is Sandra
Hunter okay and I am a former home home
home owner
homeowner and but I am now
living um and affordable housing okay um
I believe that's
important um my anger is that housing
now has become so out
rages now that it's even even senior C
there's more senior citizens who are now
living in affordable housing now but
it's constantly going up and you're
going to constantly have these problems
with people being out homeless and
things of that nature now a lot of you
and I sat here for a while and I've
heard both sides of the story and I
understand about the fears of needing to
have your own home and things of that
nature got that and I I I got the
understanding that you all are afraid of
who's of where where your children are
going to be and uh who's going to live
next door but everyone living next door
is not all bad if we fix what's broken
with the system and the system says that
if we have all these things that we're
not taking care of and I'm talking about
the city officials the mentally unstable
the drugs that are running up in here if
we don't fix any of those things we're
going to continue to have more of a
problem with having to build more units
to house more people I believe in low
income it's important because not
everyone can can can can afford these
things but I'm just simply saying that I
understand what you all are saying I
really do I do but I also understand we
do need affordable housing we do need uh
low income and we need uh help in those
areas but stop being afraid that the
people next door if they move in or the
the restaurants that are moved next door
whatever the case may be they're all not
bad not if if we have policing like we
do back in the back there if we have
those back there and I applaud you all
trust me I applaud them for the things
that they do but if we do if we do our
part in ensuring that things are done
correctly decent in orderorder then we
won't have to worry about you know
whether or not we should have extra
Zoning for this or extra Zoning for that
I just want you to know that I am
for that realize I am so that's all I
have to
[Applause]
say hello uh my name is Debbie mccartie
um I kept waiting to get in line but the
line kept growing and now I realize I'm
going to be the last person speaking
there's nobody else behind me um real
quick um I've listened to everything I
feel like there's pros and cons on both
sides of the division um there's a lot
that I could get behind there's a few
things that I can't get behind um um as
a new homeowner in a in a single family
residence um I agree with the other
people that have come forward and said
let's table this you guys have had a
chance to hear from a lot of different
members of the community and I think
there's things that you could
do uh to eliminate some of the things
that won't work and add some things that
will work so that we can bring the
community into an agreement and then
when you vote you can get a unanimous
yes and we'll all be in favor of it uh
one of the things I heard was uh what
this gentleman recommended um let's
include a clause where there's going to
be a petition so if there's any new
business that wants to come into a
neighborhood established or new there
can be a petition where all the local
residents in the area get to weigh in
and decide whether they want that
business there or not there's a lot of
businesses on the list that um are
viable and and worth having uh I also
think it should be restricted to the new
development and five years from now
let's readdress this and see all the
pros and cons and then five years from
now there might be all new faces up here
and they're going to want to implement
another plan just like this and we're
all going to have to go through all this
again so this is not necessarily etched
in stone but uh we need
agreement and we don't have it right now
but you guys could make agreement if you
would just listen to the suggestions
that have been presented today and amend
this plan so that we can all agree on
it thank
you oh I'm not
[Applause]
last mayor City Council
Conrad
atof um we're we we're already
experiencing an invasion of many new
residents Las Cruses residents from out
of state from many states so we're
already growing quite
rapidly all I can point out is a great
prescription for overburdening the city
services providing a a nest for crime
and and continued uh snarls of traffic
here in Los crues is to pack more and
more people into an existing area thank
you hello mayor counselors my name is
Rick Reno and I just have a quick point
on not it's uh I would recommend I I'll
compromise and recommend instead of
voting no tabling it to bring in the
good
suggestions such as the former mayor
made let the residents have a say in
what goes on I talked to realtor she was
Hispanic and she said no they should
just keep it the same leave the single
family neighborhoods is she a
racist you know I think the reasons
given for this thousand page
plan it's 25 years old we've got to
update it
why how many letters did you all get in
the last two years from citizens
saying my single family neighborhood is
racist we've got to do
something you know I'd like to hear one
example of
racism of single family neighborhoods in
Los Cruses just one you know you have a
staff of what 50
you guys have any examples
of single family neighborhoods rooted in
racism in Las
cruus this is
ridiculous so I would vote I'll
compromise why don't we table this and
make it right and the other thing I was
going to say I got 34
seconds you haven't fixed desert Hope
Apartments you know I I hear this we'll
fix it as we go
along it's got a th Pages why would you
have to fix it as you go along with a
thousand
pages so anyway I would vote um to table
it thank
[Applause]
you anyone from count Council
any
else okay
Christine this is on the motion to
approve ordinance
3090 councelor McClair yes councelor
matis no councelor Graham yes councelor
cran yes councelor flotes yes councelor
bomo yes mayor yes motion pass
[Applause]
okay next on the agenda is item 7.1
resolution number
25097 resolution approving the city of
Los Cruses technical manual move to
approve Graham second
Corin and Sarah Sarah Gonzalez for the
record
um oh
wait yeah please um we want to continue
with the
meeting
good okay before council is going to be
the resolution to adopt or approve the
technical manual that will be associated
with the Los crues Municipal Code
update the purpose of the technical
manual is to take the design standards
directly out of the development code and
essentially put them into a smaller
manual that can be updated on a regular
basis this is going to facilitate
essentially better updates in a timely
fashion because right now we can take
them to the development Review Committee
every two weeks and so as we potentially
see new things coming in we can continue
to move forward on our process and
development it's still going to provide
a flexibility of use with multiple
resources and so as We additionally
adopt state standards and regulations we
can continue to adopt new tools that
will essentially be able to help with
development and move forward as well
it's going to support the industry
standard and Community priorities
meaning whatever is going to be maybe
for that neighborhood or what's going to
be better for a certain District or
what's existing within those areas um
once again the development Review
Committee will be the responsibility
party um that will be maintaining and
updating so anytime we see an update
there will be a public process it gets
posted and then it goes through so that
we everybody's familiar and can stay up
to date with the newest practices that
we're going to be
implementing these are going to apply to
our Drainage Systems erosion control our
street and roadway designs low impact
development fence and wall designs and
slope protection so these are all of the
technical aspects that come out that
require maybe some type of engineering
calculations to determine is this flow
going to be okay and it does the
drainage system hold
or is it going to be where you have a
fencer wall is it retaining is it going
to maintain so all of these standards
can change on a regular basis so we're
going to be using every resource that we
have available and then best guides and
tools those include using ashto nacto is
discussed several times as far as
bicyclist and pedestrian safety we use
it because that's also going to give us
essentially when we're doing um traffic
studies or standards as far as
intersection design you have Federal
Federal Highway Administration which is
going to help along with ton Memorial
any of our nmdot rways and then any
other related organizations as well as
references with this these are Council
options um I would like to explain how
these will work essentially because if
you vote Yes this will approve the
resolution as this is going to be
complementary to the Las Cruz's
Municipal codee adoption so chapters 34
through 38 voting no and voting to table
would not be an option as we do have to
have something ancillary going with the
code otherwise the code is going to
defer to no document presented and so
the I it would be you can either vote
Yes or vote to amend if you want to make
any changes to that technical
manual mayor pro thank you thank you
Sarah just honestly really similar
question as before so obviously there's
that uh 8mon period for entirety of real
lives right the tech technical manual
isn't really like that right like it'll
really be in perpetuity that you'll be
sort of um taking feedback and and
potentially making changes as as the end
users are really utilizing the pieces
correct or correct if I'm wrong mayor
mayor protm that would be correct
essentially this is going to actually be
able to be amended quicker so that way
we can actually start seeing those
changes implemented right away we do not
have to wait for that 8mon transition
period but we can identify if oh this
practice isn't working we need to modify
that work with the developers and get on
to our next agenda and that's why I say
this could be something that's on a
bi-weekly basis so that we we
accomplishing the goal thank you very
much see no other
Christine this is on the motion to
approve resolution 25- 097 councelor
McClair yes councelor
yes councilor Graham yes councelor cran
yes councelor flutes yes councelor bomo
yes and mayor
yes next is 7.2 resolution number
25-9 resolution approving the issuance
of Public Finance Authority move to
approve second
Graham Brad
Douglas good after afternoon everybody
Brad Douglas for the record let me see
if I can figure out how to turn this
really lengthy presentation into a
slideshow and so after uh the afternoon
you all have had how about a pallet
cleanser so background on this item
explore Academy Las Cruses is a Public
Charter School uh here in Los cruus New
Mexico that has requested that the
Public Finance Authority of the state of
Wisconsin
issue tax exempt revenue bonds in a
total amount not to exceed $33 million
for the benefit of the school uh if
approved uh the authority would loan the
proceeds to explore facilities group of
501c3 designated organization and where
would this money go to if approved uh it
would Finance up to $18 million of the
cost of acquisition construction
installation renovation rehab
Improvement Furnishing and equipping of
the educational facil facilities located
at 4201 Del
re would also Finance up to $15 million
for uh the construction installation
Etc uh of educational facilities located
at the 850 North telshore Boulevard
location and so why is this item in
front of the Las Cruses city council
good question in order for these bonds
to be issued the governmental unit
having jurisdiction over the territorial
limits in which the facilities are
located facilities in this instance
meaning the school facilities must
approve the action pursuant to Wisconsin
law and I think it's super super
important if you don't retain anything
else from this presentation bullet point
number seven the city shall not bear any
responsibility for the issuance of the
bonds uh the tax exempt status of the
interest on the bonds repayment of the
bonds or any other matter related to the
bonds and so basically explor Academy is
requesting in layman's terms uh your
blessing uh to receive these funds which
again we are not issuing and we are not
responsible for servicing debt on or any
other obligation it's simply a statutory
requirement uh from the state of
Wisconsin um I believe that we have Miss
Jessica Shaham and also Mr Dustin Sparks
both Council associated with explore
Academy and hope he's still here Mr Ry
Gomez are you here he's in the back uh
he is a principal of one of those
locations should any of you have any
questions that I certainly cannot
answer thank you Brad um councelor Karen
thank you I remember that we did this
once before and it was perplexing so I
appreciate your backgrounding this
heavily but I did just I I did actually
just want to hear a little bit from from
the school this is in my district and
and residents have actually asked about
this this school in this location and I
would love to just hear a little snippet
about what what explor Academy is about
and and the folks so that I can talk to
folks around the park Hill area when
they're when they're asking about it
because I think it's pretty exciting so
I would love to hear a little bit um yes
and thanks for waiting so long for this
uh
item please thank
you good afternoon everybody mayor
Enriquez Council uh uh May Pro Temps and
and managers my name is raldo Gomez I'm
currently the principal at explore
Academy at the telshore site and we
house a K5 program there our program is
really to provide Choice opportunities
to provide that individualized
educational program for our students
that come to our campus we currently
house 203 221 students at the K5 and we
have roughly about 210 at the mid school
and high school we're looking obviously
to expand uh our philosophy is still
based under the guidelines of the New
Mexico ped however we do provide choice
for teachers and for students when I say
that uh we are standards based obviously
that is our curriculum how the
curriculum is delivered instructionally
within the classrooms uh is not our
typical uh uh within the four walls
we're we're dancing we're moving we're
Project based learning so that enhances
the creat creativity and critical mind
of our students that come to explore and
that starts from the K all the way to
the five and obviously you as we move on
to the middle middle school and high
school uh choices get um more and more
uh the opportunity for students to have
Choice becomes more at the middle school
high school uh uh but we do offer that
opportunity for our K5 population as
well um again that's a snippet of what
explore Academy is is uh foundationally
based on again Project based learning
indiv individualized instruction choice
choice from um not only instruction uh
from specials to electives as well so
does that hopefully that paints a
picture of of what we're doing at
Explorer Academy thank you it does I'm
really excited that y'all are coming
into the neighborhood so yes we're
excited to be here and and our numbers
are looking great for the upcoming year
too as well so I appreciate the
support thank you uh Council for Flores
thank you mayor oh Mr uh Mr principal
yes sorry sorry I thought it was done
yes ma'am thank you Mr Gomez I I'm just
uh this is the first I've heard of it so
I'm just wondering why Las crusis or is
there a certain Target or a
certain population Target a certain
population of children or I mean why
from Wisconsin and and and so that that
I have that question the other is well
may have a couple more questions you
work closely with lcps the lasus public
schools and the other question is do you
abide by the requirements of the state
of New Mexico to provide the uh the
curriculum needed yes so I'm going to go
in the back order so we are under the
New Mexico public education department
so we follow all guidelines and
protocols that the uh the standards that
they set we are not tied directly to Los
Cru Public Schools we're just in we are
a free public char
that is not in association with lasus
public schools and so uh the Explorer
Academy has been in exist in existence
for 11 years originated in Albuquerque
New Mexico and is expanded to peroria uh
in Las Vegas uh they have two sites in
Albuquerque we this is going to be our
fourth year in existence here in Las
Cruses it was a
five 59 and then they expanded to 10 and
then we finally uh took that leap of
faith and opened the K4 uh and now
obviously we're at the K5 at the
telshore site but it's uh not it's
originated in in Albuquerque but my
question remains
why why does that type of an institution
exist I mean is it so different than our
what we have to offer as a public school
or even our private schools here I I we
stand behind our project based learning
uh where kids are are are moving and
dancing and singing and doing building
uh building that critical and uh
creativity uh skill set um I mean every
every institution even the private
sector here or the other Charters have
their own philosophies in regards to how
they deliver that instruction but we are
Project based uh and we Service uh any
student uh or any parent is wanting
something different um in in the setting
of a a classroom in public education
nothing wrong with public education just
our philosophy and that's what we
believe in and that's what uh you know
just in the efforts this year in our
marketing and just in the number of
people that have transitioned over to
explore um and and and if you have um
I'm sorry that you guys are not aware of
us if we haven't uh we need to do a
better job of marketing that as well our
school our campus and we will um however
uh it's just a different opportunity for
parents for students and you know if you
do talk to
uh our community at at the Explorer
Academy for whether it's the K uh K5 or
612 um I'm sure you're going to hear uh
the story The Great stories and the
great things that um our staff and then
we are doing at both campuses how are
its children um selected is it a uh
basically just a draw of the names just
throw the names in and see who comes up
that's a great question ma'am uh we do
have a lottery system uh so this year we
were able to retain or keep all of our
students that are currently on campus um
out of the fifth grade obviously is
moving on to the uh K12 however we at
the K5 we're able to maint uh retain
about 200 students so that opens up SE
uh several spots within each grade level
and so uh the more we uh students that
we can uh bring into our facility uh
that means more staff more teachers uh
but we do have a lottery uh system and
that currently is open for parents uh uh
to apply and and that's how the lottery
I believe closes in March and then so
we'll start to reach out to those
parents who were able to get in um we're
hoping to take um as many as we can so
and how do you measure success for these
students like for example uh from there
they go to the regular high schools here
in Las Cruses some of them might some of
them continue with our K12 uh explor
and that one's located over there at the
Del uh off Del which was the old call
center and so those opportunities uh a
college-bound college-based uh
curriculum as well uh we do uh terms and
so when I said when I stated earlier
that students have choice they have more
choices at the middle school and high
school uh in terms of being able to uh
our terms are 22 days at the middle
school high school and so students are
able to get Credits based because the
because the uh standards and benchmarks
are cyclical in nature they get taught
and they get hit throughout the school
year so every every 22 days at the
middle school high school starting in
the e8th grade um they change classes
and they build credits that way okay and
um you haven't had a graduating class
from high school yet right no ma'am uh
this coming year uh it will be our first
uh 12th grade class and then um your
students will be are they College Bound
is that is that the goal here the that
is the goal and obviously we all know
whether they're whether it's public uh
School setting or Charter or private not
all uh students are pegged to go to
college they're going to go to the
trades we still build on that uh
challenging them uh to to take those
leaps and and to obviously achieve their
goal whatever that may be and then it's
been uh it's based in Wisconsin right
yeah so um how many how many other oh
well start in Albuquerque but the
money's coming in Wisconsin that that
really is what matters here no um so H
has there been a graduating class from
high school here in uh New Mexico so uh
I believe Albuquerque has had uh a
graduating class go through all the way
through the program yes ma'am uhhuh do
you have any stats on that in terms of
how were the students what they did with
their lives afterwards College I would
have to get testimonials from the head
administrator over there uh I can uh
email or provide you that information uh
could probably send it to our attorney
and then he can disperse thank you so
much you're welcome those are great
questions oh thank you thank you
everybody or any more questions I'm
sorry thank you anyone on
Council Mr Butler you had a question yes
sir
yes well
M Mr Butler you you need to come up and
state your
name set it at two
minutes thank you my name is Robert Lee
but of Las Cruses what where you from
sir I'm sorry where are you from I am
originally from Texas Fort hanock Texas
about an hour and a half did you corre
them approve of teaching students that
talk demons are good
to further their
education Mr Butler Mr Butler talk talk
directly to the microphone address our
questions and then Mr Gomez or or our
attorney will answer this is a lot of
money going to the academy I have
nothing against with law or the Academy
I
just am the concern of about low level
of Education producing after law
sches that's
all thank you Mr
Butner so mayor if I may uh Brad Douglas
for the record again I would reiterate
uh bullet point number seven uh if
approved by this governing body uh the
funds actually would be allocated by the
public Finance Authority of the state of
Wisconsin the city uh and the state of
New Mexico for that matter would have no
obligation uh to issue the bonds to
address the tax exempt status of the
bonds to service the debt in any way or
have any other obligation related to the
up to $33 million funding
mechanism thank you was there anyone
else from the public yes
Joe rpr um mayor city manager and
counselors um I love Wisconsin I grew up
spending some great time in Lake Geneva
my sister still lives near Lake Geneva
and I just have a comment T Grace at
Atkinson years ago said follow the money
I want to ask you to follow not just
where the money is going but where is it
coming from why is Wisconsin
underwriting this was there even an
attempt to have it financed through New
Mexico so that some New Mexico entities
would make money off of this investment
in what seems to be an honorable and
reasonable School where's the New Mexico
money where's the attempt to get it
rather than putting that money in the
pockets of people in in Wisconsin that's
it Mr Gomez do you have anything uh
to say in that regard mayor I would just
defer to our to our legal in that I
can't answer that question for
them okay thank
you uh mayor I'm not sure if they're
still on the call but Mr Sparks or Miss
Shaham uh Christine do you know if
they're on the
call they were here earlier
uh so I can't speak to it not with any
Authority or intelligence so I don't
want to
speculate they're on there I think
they're still on is that correct
Adrian yeah maybe you can repeat that
question for him Mr Douglas sure Mr
Sparks or Miss Shaham if you can if you
can hear he me uh there was a general
question with regard to the origin of
the funds oh I see
Jessica um we can't hear
you let me see if Adrien can help us out
can you see my response in the chat we
can hear you now oh good sorry so um um
this is Jessica Shaham from qac Rock and
I am Bond Counsel on the financing I do
a lot a lot of financings for Charter
Schools including in New Mexico um the
PFA in Wisconsin is a conduit issuer
specializing in bringing conduit bonds
um to the market these the money for the
the project actually will not come from
the state of Wisconsin it just a conduit
for the public market those will be sold
to Wall Street
investors um who receive a tax exemption
on those bonds so that is the mechanism
for Charter School Finance financings
throughout the country really um some
states have set up their own insurance
Authority for these types of deals um
New Mexico has not so um this um but
Wisconsin and a few other states have
like a national footprint and they can
um issue bonds anywhere in the country
and that makes the process more
streamlined and and more um and and
cheaper for the
school does that answer the question
question yes ma'am thank
you councilor Flores thank you I don't
know um the question is um how how was
New Mexico selected would you know that
I mean I uh I was New Mexico selected
for yeah excuse me the school that uh
we're discussing right
now um the school how are the schools
selected by that uh generous uh do
schools apply to the Authority for the
issuance of bonds when they have a
project that they want to
fund so it's actually the other way
around okay so oh I see so was it the
state of New Mexico who applied I'm just
curious what organization or what group
of it's the school that
applies the school will be ultimately
responsible for the payment of these
bonds and they're the ones that apply so
the school wants to
buy its property and instead of leasing
it so they need to raise funds for that
so um the way schools
um access the capital markets is through
these bonds and so they they choose the
issue or they want and they chose PFA
and they apply to PFA there's
underwriting criteria for the bond you
know they have to be a certain amount
they have to be repaid within a certain
amount of time there's a maximum
interest rate that can apply to these
kind of bonds so uh if the school like
yeah we're going to live with your
criteria then they um after this process
which is the public hearing process that
we're doing now after this process um
PFA would do its own approval of the
bonds the school itself would approve
the issuance of the bonds and then um
the marketing would happen that interest
rate would be determined much like um if
the city of lascas wanted to issue bonds
to do some public improvements that
process is very similar it just when
schools they have to go through a
conduit assure and go through the public
hearing process locally great thank you
very much thank you mayor
yeah seeing no other questions
Christine this is on the motion to
approve resolution 25
098 councelor McClure yes councelor
matis yes councelor Graham yes councelor
cran yes councelor flutes yes councelor
Beno yes and mayor
yes next
is item 7.3 resolution number 25- 099
resolution authorizing the city of L
Cruses to accept budget adjustments move
to approve
Graham second
Corin good afternoon everybody
good afternoon mayor city council staff
and public my name is Vanessa pis and
I'm one of your budget analysts and I'm
here today to bring forth resolution to
accept various budget
adjustments before we dive into the
overview of the adjustments I just want
to share a few key reminders these
adjustments presented here today will
primarily focus on updating the
available balances with within our
existing budget the following slides
will provide only a summary of the
requested adjustments but if you would
like more detailed information um please
refer to your packets
on screen you'll see the first set of
general fund highlights quality of life
requested a $50,000 increase to cover
senior me senior meal expenditures and
this is due to an increase in overall
attendance and food
prices Human Resources is requesting
about $8,500 and this is to cover
professional interpretation services for
the remainder of f school year
25 the fire department is requesting to
increase their budget by $1 million
and this is to cover American Medical
Response or AMR for short um as they did
not Bill a fiscal year 24 invoice on
time so we were not able to acrw that
invoice to fiscal year 24 this means
that this will be paid out of fiscal
year 25 funds and they need that
additional coverage so that they can
cover that um that
invoice the city manager Office is
requesting a transfer of
$40,000 to our Transit department and
this is to to fund bus hub
improvements the adjustments on your
screen total about $1.1 million and this
is just related to those on screen I
have a couple of more general fund
adjustment highlights coming
up the police department is requesting
$124,500 and this is to supplement the
payment of an outdoor shooting range the
city manager's office is requesting
$321,500 to fund the roof replacement
project for deos which is a nonprofit
organization with an early childhood
education
program lastly City manager's office is
requesting
$125,000 and this is to continue hiring
temporary employees through Manpower the
expenditures on your screen total
$571,000 the city manager's office is
recording both revenues and expenditures
of about
$546,000 and this is to account for
revenues that Transit brings in this is
through their transportation agreements
with New Mexico State University as well
as Zana Community College the legal
department is budgeting the anticipated
Revenue associated with a recent Bond
and this is a little bit over $18
million the fire department is recording
both revenues and expenditures of
$80,000 and this is to account for
additional Revenue that they'll be
receiving
through the Department of Public
Health airport has requested $33,000 in
additional funding and this is to cover
a grant match as well as general
operational
expenditures airport is also receiving a
transfer of
$150,000 and this is coming from visit
Los Cruses um it's to cover a grant
match utilities has requested the
following adjustments about $60,000 to
update a Sal salary allocation of an
existing employee
$275,000 to purchase a mobile exhaust
filter and this is to prevent exhaust
fumes from entering their
building $36,000 to P to purchase 40
commercial refuse containers and this is
due to an increasing volume of waste
being generated by our
community they're also requesting
$494,000 and this is for a water rate
review lastly the police department's
vehicle acquisition fund is being
decreased by
$800,000 and this is because the
vehicles tied to this budget have
already been received in fiscal year
2024 which means that they do not need
the budget for fiscal year
25 before you are your Council options
and I stand for any
questions any questions by
Council okay see go ahead I'm sorry I
think I just I really can we just talk a
little bit about the
fire um that's
seriously concerning not on our fire
department's end obviously but that's
just I'm wondering if you or um interim
Chief interim Chief can speak a little
bit more to that because I just find
that seriously concerning so I'll
provide it um what I know and then I'll
defer to thank you yes thank you um so
uh we received some revenue from um the
AMR services and we're supposed to
reimburse this to Donya Ana County um
Don an County did not bill us on on time
for us to be able to pay that million
dooll invoice so we had budgeted for
that invoice in fiscal year 24 but since
they didn't charge us on time we had to
pay this or we're having to pay this out
of um fiscal year 2025 funds so
basically that expenditure that was not
spent in fiscal year 24 is just rolling
over into fiscal year 25 um I'll also
defer to interim chief for any other
input mayor city council um oh interim
Chief Sean heck for their record yeah um
the the contract that was generated back
in March of 2024 with AMR uh we're still
in the process of going through the
liquidated damage portion of that and
the contract was established with
parameters for response time criteria
and if they didn't hit those response
time criterias then they were going to
be assessed liquidated damages um right
now we met just on February 4th which
was supposed to be the finalization
of just trying to get the first quarter
done which would have been March through
May um we still have not successfully
finished that we we ran into a roadblock
in that meeting and so the goal here is
to try to get that done as soon as
possible but what what you was saying is
absolutely correct is the money was held
for that payment to be done uh for that
3 million contract that they received
the 1 million that we received for that
uh or 1 million of our part of of the
County's part of that just it hasn't
been paid yet and we're just trying to
get that finished and we're we're not
even sure how much it's of that is
actually going to go to them because of
the amount of liquidated damages and
that's what we're working through right
now so we're hoping to get this resolved
within the next I'm hoping by the end of
this month honestly so we can move
forward and get that part done wow thank
you both for the additional
context no no one else ready for a vote
okay
Christine this is on the motion to
approve resolution 25- 099 councelor
McClair yes councelor matis yes
councelor Graham yes councelor cran yes
councelor fletes yes councelor Beno yes
mayor
yes that was a fast vote are we ready to
go
home thank you all right thank you next
is board
appointments and we have one that is to
be read into the record appointment of
counselor Cassie McClure to the New
Mexico Municipal League board of
directors and the other I need a
motion and the second is required to
appoint Aaron Boyd to the msia Valley
Housing Authority
board move to approve and also congrats
to councelor McLure although I know
really were on the next one but move to
approve Aaron Boyd
second this is on the motion to appoint
Aaron Boyd to the msia valley public
housing authority board councelor
McClure yes councelor matis yes
councelor Graham yes councelor cran yes
councelor flus yes councelor bomo yes
mayor
yes next is notice of proposed
ordinances there are none so next is
city council member board reports and
comments uh Cassie mccar thank you mayor
um dozy of a day huh uh I'm glad for a
couple of y'all that are still sticking
around I appreciate you and I appreciate
the ones who came and left um I was
anticipating a lot of commentary but it
was good and it was civil and I
appreciate that on all behalf I wanted
to thank staff specifically for taking
the time on this one uh there was just
so much back and forth and with an
acknowledgement that this is a living
document this is what I'm telling a lot
of people too because we are a growing
and evolving City and I I'm really
excited about it because I just want to
kind of remind people too
that when we talk about the American
dream which is a lot of emails that I
got was it doesn't look the same for
everyone and to me a lot of that means
that we care for our community maybe not
as much as we care for our property
values it is what it is it's also
interesting to me how quickly
misinformation can can spread so I think
a lot of people came with some bits of
clarity out of this and we're hoping to
spread that information more as we go
forward so thank you very
much councelor
Grant thank you um I wanted to
acknowledge the um amazing turnout for
the Fallen officer Memorial walk run
over the weekend um it was amazing to
see uh I know
CAO benom was there who was actually
running I in fact was walking U mayor I
know you attended a Connie um that's
just who I saw and I was happy that
there were so many people that it was
hard to know who all was there um and
also uh shout out to the uh crew from
truck one that morning for coming out
with the Garrison flag on no sleep
because they were just back to back to
back to back um so really appreciated
having them out um also want to
reiterate councelor McClure's um my
sincere thank to thanks to staff and to
um I know we had some members of the
realized Tac here earlier but thank you
um this is the first thing that I've
actually seen through um this was one of
the realized was one of the first things
I heard about when I first came on in
January 22 and it it's finally here it's
it's happened the wheels have turned and
I got to actually see something sort of
from start to finish and then finally um
also going to comment on the comments um
it was really great to see so many
people come out and what struck me was
that I think about the emails that I
received as well and so many people said
everyone I
know thinks this whether it was for
whether it was against and I think
that's probably true because how often
do we challenge ourselves to talk to or
listen to somebody who does not have the
same opinion and as uncomfortable and
frustrating as that can be I'm happy
that there was an opportunity for some
community members to experience that
today in Chambers and I hope that
everyone listened with open minds um
even when someone wasn't agreeing with
you because it does it's just a small
sample of how diverse our community is
in age in background in history in work
um so yeah talk to people you don't
agree with
thanks thank you councelor Graham um I
want to follow up on something that we
got via email today um or via a message
today um from a family that had a crisis
in District 5 and they really identified
a number of members of LCPD and lcfd
that really supported them through that
so I just want to sort of say that um
here and and I follow up with those
folks as well but uh Sergeant Melendez
officer Adler officer Rodriguez uh
battalion chief Haver uh Lieutenant
Nikki Palma Eric Miller Isaac maren
Ariana re Juan
josephte
um John Montoya Lieutenant Montoya Aaron
Losa Aon Lara and and Jesse Bustamante
and and so I just want to thank all of
those folks this is from uh residents in
District 5 where we are going to have a
new fire station soon and I know that
there are a lot of calls like this that
are really difficult where we are
providing Frontline health care and
emotional care and mental health support
and child care in this case as well for
families that are really struggling um
through difficult moments so I really do
want to share the Gratitude of these
residents that that they shared and and
asked for these officers um and
firefighters to be to be recognized so
um thank you to to them and and to the
to the all those involved
so
um um I also want to give a shout out to
the Animal Services Center they did a
really cool the the event this weekend
was very fun um and a lot of folks came
through and saw different animals and
and it was it was really um a great
event I really appreciate their hustling
um to get dogs homes in particular since
there aren't any cats right
now and Luna we hope Luna did get a home
no Luna Luna already got a home yeah
Dora is the one that we're really
rooting for now
um so thank you to that I also want to
thank the staff that worked really hard
on realize and I I just want to sort of
take I I know we're after 5:00 p.m so I
won't take that long but when I got on
Council I said things like what is up
zoning and I think we should abolish
zoning um
and I had no idea what I was talking
about at that time uh since then it's
been a a three years of really learning
understanding really Community
Development staff supporting me and
understanding these issues talking to
Residents I have a resident who tomorrow
is going to apply to build his his
carport um and I told him I'd come in
and and go with him if he wants um he
better hurry up he better hurry right
like um but but this education for me
has been really powerful but also
understanding the history the background
the complicated nature of zoning I don't
say we should abolish zoning anymore I
met someone from Houston who talked
about how uh no zoning meant many parts
of the city became
industrial uh very very polluted
industrial areas um because of a lack of
zoning so I understand a lot more of the
context and I wouldn't say something as
stupid and unformed as abolish Zoning
for myself I understand though why folks
feel that way um and so I just really
want to thank all of the folks who
showed up today and
shared um I also and the staff as as has
been alluded to and I also just want to
say I think I hope a lot of folks said
um we'll we'll remember in November
right um and I would ask folks to expect
more from from your elected officials
than them voting in ways that you demand
because you will vote for them or not I
would ask folks to expect their elected
leaders to read all of the emails that
come in from constituents on any side do
the homework read the Thousand Pages um
talk to people in other cities talk to
own staff respect processes that exist
that that might last years but
eventually get things done like this and
so I would ask that folks consider also
in addition to talking to people that
don't agree with you but expect more
from us um frankly because I don't I
don't think that um saying I'll remember
in November is necessarily a very
constructive way to to have folks listen
to you and so I would urge urge you to
expect more out of your out of your
legislators in in whatever way that
might come so again thank you to all the
folks who shared um and the staff that
that led us through this and the other
folks who educated me along the way um
over these last few years so I'm really
glad that we passed
realiz thank you councelor Flores thank
you um well I'm still against zoning in
spite just a terrible terrible joke um I
I would like to thank Chris and uh
where's
s oh she's home she checked out anyway
uh thank you so much for the
presentation it was dynamite and
uh and it was very the presentation was
excellent and um and I've learned a lot
uh from the two of you um learned a lot
from a lot of people I mean on this the
two of you uh thank you
mayor thank you mayor protm thanks mayor
and thanks everyone that was really
beautifully said councelor Corin thank
you for that um just a couple things and
I also have a few comments on Realize um
but boy we should we should we know how
to clear a room huh like that's empty um
I wanted to definitely congratulate
councelor McClair for rep repping us on
the municipal League that's
amazing um
and um I did want to just say that I was
sad you were sick for sure but I was
glad I got tagged in for the library
event a couple of weeks ago for the VA
program um that the our Public Library
is running it's a volunteer income tax
assistance program um that is helping
prepare taxes um for those making less
than $ 67,000 a year individuals with
disabilities and those who speak limited
English so it will be free uh for people
it'll be but in
um uh in Spanish for those Advocates who
uh care so much about uh providing
bilingual information to our community
it'll also be in Spanish and so I just
want to honestly express my gratitude to
the public library I think this at his
core is what our public libraries are
about and I'm just so proud of you all
thank you so much I know that you spent
months working on that um along with
GECU who are our partners on providing
that um that uh service that we should
all be T telling people because as we
know um tax season can be uh very
anxiety producing for so many folks I
also just wanted to share because it was
really exciting sticking on this
bilingual theme this morning um I
participated as a panelist for the New
Mexico state seal of bilingualism and by
literacy portfolios that LCPD uh no lcps
uh that public schools puts on um and
it's this really rigorous program that
High School seniors go through to get
their bilingual seal and they asked me
to be a panelist and I'm honestly going
to encourage all of you well I guess you
probably have to speak one of the
languages but there's all kinds of
there's German as well so yeah and
they're always struggling for other
languages than Spanish and so um but it
was really incredible to see these high
school seniors prepare this entire
presentation in Spanish and um and you
know get get that very professional seal
and I thought it was very very amazing
and was very grateful to have been
invited and definitely want to be
invited once more anyway I also just
want to express my serious serious
gratitude to everyone involved in realiz
I realized uh that I'd been telling
people that oh this has been a two-year
process and then this morning I was like
wait a second I remember then counselor
vasus was still here when we hired
Nicholls the consulting firm and so that
was a lot more than two years ago and I
actually
remember I actually remember that those
four years ago when we hired the
consultant and they said it it would
take two to three years to fully finish
this how disappointed I felt because
there was a possibility that I wouldn't
be here to see it through and because
this is such an important document that
um that was created by so many people
and so you know gentle push back on this
this idea that we didn't do our due
diligence or that it was a spare of the
moment decision we made when the reality
is that it has been in the works for for
4 years and I think it teaches us
something really important about
politics being a not being a spectator
sport right your local government you
have to be um you have to search for
information about how to get involved
about how to participate so that you're
not mad after afterwards saying well I
didn't know about it that's that's your
responsibility to participate in your
local government to seek out the
information to seek out the
opportunities to provide feedback um and
so I think for me and I I want to leave
this on a positive note but I will but I
I have to say this
because this is going to stick with me
for a really long time I got an email
today that said that they were not in
favor of of forced
integration and I think how quickly
disinformation turns into propaganda and
it's very dangerous how that kind of um
deceitful information gets passed on in
our community and I spoke about this a
little bit at our uh utilities board
meeting last week about how it is really
incumbent upon us to um to have tough
conversations with people and to really
try to interrupt disinformation uh when
it's breast because I think it can be
really dangerous especially for
something that is so powerful like this
and I will say this last thing because I
know everyone wants to go home that
realize is the Talk of the Town in Santa
Fe that people in Santa Fe legislators
uh the governor's housing staff they're
all talking about have you guys heard
about that very cool thing Los cruus is
doing it is innovative it is uh bold and
um States across the country cities
across the country including cities like
Houston are working on revitalizing
their zoning code and making it uh more
inclusive of of these kinds of diverse
and thre driving neighborhood so we're
on the right path I fully believe that
and thank you staff especially Chris and
Sarah but all the staff the Consultants
uh the advisory committee the
homebuilders all the advocacy
organizations and all the members of the
public that participated thank you very
much and thank you
all thank you mayor Pro Tim and again I
just want to Echo uh thanks to the staff
it's been a long process uh We've hired
a consultant we've had over 33 public
meetings uh they've addressed it with
the cultural they've addressed it with
the homebuilders with the developers
everything to make realize what it is
today it's an opportunity to have
flexibility in our community and I also
Echo the same about Houston has no
zoning I know personally of another
municipality in New Mexico that has no
zoning and it's very difficult to
protect your residents your businesses
your Community when you don't have
zoning and you have to have those
safeguards in places so we do have the
safeguards in place and I again thank
the staff for all their work from
Community Development Public Works parks
and wreck Fire Department police
everybody that had input into this and I
thank our residents for coming out and
sharing their input because it's not
about the votes it's about doing our job
it's about doing our job for this
community and that's what we've done
today and we do have the eighth month of
grace period and we do have a year that
we can come back and re-evaluate and see
what's working what's not working so
that it's a betterment for our growth
and development of our community so I'm
very excited and happy and I thank you
all uh for being a part of this um I do
also want to uh Echo what uh councelor
Graham said about uh the Memorial Run
that took place Sunday thank you uh to
DC orenda Chief story but a special
shout out to officer Adrian delag Garza
that put it all together a lot of times
we we take things for granted we take a
lot of things for granted and I know our
Police Department responds to over
150,000 calls a
year and to show that kind of support
for them I thank them for their service
and I encourage everybody to say thank
you to our Police Department I know
there's a catchphrase that uh one of my
former uh police academy buddies used to
say all the time when he first started
the police department and he was working
graveyard and uh yeah he was getting
tired of graveyard but he would tell me
he goes did you sleep good last night
and then he'd say you're welcome so I do
thank you officers for all that you do
to keep our community safe and with that
I'll turn it over to our city
manager thank you mayor Enriquez mayor
pend Moman city council Ean Tomo city
manager uh and I I appreciate councelor
Graham uh sharing about what a great
event this past weekend on the run in
mayor uh about that I do want to uh
correct that
um CAO Beno was the only one running
um May May mayor mayor mayor was walking
and don't want to rat on you and I was
hobbling and so I I just wanted to say
it was a great event um my body's paying
the price for it but um I I I I
definitely appreciate the community
showing up and showing out for that uh
event it was so great to to see that so
Kudos too and Echo what uh the mayor and
and Graham and everyone has shared on
that event also in the uh to the tribute
of uh staff as well echoing uh those who
have shared uh kudos to realize I would
be remissed if I didn't share um my
appreciation sincere gratitude to the
realized team it has went through uh a
previous started with a previous
administration with uh with a different
uh with with some on the Das uh looking
different as well it just shows that
even through the changes uh staff has um
has been there uh they have stayed
steady
and uh receive the direction when it
comes from the deis and and from the
community uh Chris favor Sarah Gonzalez
taking us to the finish line and I was
trying to write down names where it
started it started with Larry Nichols
started with David Wear started with
Katherine Harrison Rogers in a different
capacity um and then Katherine Harrison
Rogers came back in the park capacity as
well so kudos to her and Steven Bingham
um helping out with that also David
sadio and Tony trino being on Tac um
giving assistance from that as well
there's a lot of uh public works a lot
of uh Street uh traffic uh traffic
analysis and traffic impacts that are
huge for developers they were there to
find compromise to help out with tech
manual assistance so there is so many
names that I just don't have the time to
share but I just want to say to all of
the supporting staff helping with
realize thank you uh we can't do it
without without you uh and then I I did
want share um while we're giving Kudos
uh kudos to our utilities team so our
utilities team has taken feedback from
the community and they will be hosting a
town hall meeting on March 4th to
further explain the lead and copper
rooll
invitation the invitations to the town
hall meeting uh have W out in the
utility bills in both English and
Spanish and we will have interpreters at
the event we will also have subject
matter experts we will have those from
enemy in the State uh there we've
confirmed that and we look forward to
sharing information with our community I
do want to clarify that at any time uh
and the elected officials know um they
are and mayor mayor proem and Council
can at any time request an item be uh be
held at city council and so that's
something that will never be taken away
at any time uh that direction can be
given and that'll happen uh when when
they'd like to I I would say that this
uh lead and
copper um Direction coming down from the
EPA this will take several
years I promise you there will be
Council meetings uh we we will have uh
various work sessions along the way to
update us Council to update the
community on this so I just wanted to
share that um to let everyone know uh
and be aware of that that this is
something that uh we're that our team we
have the one of the best subject matter
experts on our utilities staff our our
team is great and I will put them
against any other utilities team in the
nation and for that reason I would like
to recognize them our utilities team has
gone above and beyond the federal
requirements they have provided
information in multiple languages on our
website nine to be exact they have also
made a how-to video to help people who
are interested in checking their own
pipes besides the Town Hall invitations
and utility bills we have also sent out
a letter in both English and Spanish to
reiterate the information sent in
October I want to recognize and thank
our utilities team for handling this
with professionalism despite much
criticism that has been thrown at them
so thank you uh sincerely Adrian thank
you Dominique thank you to Stephen back
at J to all our team again there's a
huge support role huge supporting staff
and I just want to um share my
admiration for them gratitude and
appreciation so thank you please pass
that along
yeah next time next time
so so there are a few updates and I was
just thinking you know if we're going to
give a tribute to staff it is it is two
pages but I I I don't want to cut it
short so please uh counsel if you can
and and to the audience if you could
just do me the favor there I think you
will be uh happy and excited there are
some great things happening especially
in quality of life the senior program
Val Valentine's Day dance at Frank O
O'Brien Pen Center set a new record with
attendees there are requests coming and
to start having more weekday dances and
staff are exploring other
options the City Art board met Thursday
evening February 13th and approved a
partnership project with NMSU faculty
and students for a new public art
installation at the Las cresus
Convention Center also two new Museum ex
exhibitions opened for First Friday on
February 7th and had an excellent turn
out from the public one of which at the
Museum of Art the exhibit opening was
engaging Masters parody art from the
collection of David Lyman a member of
the foundation for Las cusis Museum
board and Chris Alexander The Collection
features more than 80 works of art by 34
artists that parody historic Masterworks
and contemporary art at the branagan
cultural center the exhibit opening was
Wildlife at the Mia Valley which
showcases a derse collection of
sculpture and nature journaling Pages
created by 14 local artists the art stop
artist reception is scheduled for
February 20th from 5:30 to 6:30 in the
Museum of Art Atrium on Main Street the
reception celebrates art that will be
put up six different bus stops one in
each Council
district for
communications I do want to give kudos
um as well to Mandy I spoke to Mandy
there was um one of the public comments
leavon Hart the CE CEO and director of
snap she came up and she asked and
requested collaboration with our
Communications team to put out word um
to put out promotions uh promotional
materials about our Partnerships and and
the different benefits that are offered
now in the community with a partnership
with City Las cruus and so um Mandy is
is excited to collaborate and so they'll
connect as well so I just wanted to
update you on that I will update um and
I think hearing from the mayor he shared
that we want this to be a problem uh we
want to get this out to so many people
uh that we have a line uh outside of
this facility so um we we heard you and
so that's something that we're going to
take care of but I appreciate the comm's
team um working with snap on
that also Communications Friday February
21st is national government
Communications day I would like to give
a shout out to the Communications office
who are doing so many things to keep our
community informed from from televising
this council meeting to running our
social media maintaining our website
managing media interviews advertising
video production graphic design and
branding a big shout out to the talented
and dedicated staff that is working hard
every day to keep the city's voice
consistent professional and engaging
thank you to our Communications
team also Vis Las crusis uh kudos to Ed
carthan VLC sport sales manager was
recently inducted into the new New
Mexico United States Specialty Sports
Association UA Hall of Fame Ed was
nominated and elected for induction
because of his excellent commitment to
softball in New Mexico out of the six
2025 inductees Ed was the only one from
Las crusis the award of Merit was also
presented to visit Las Cruses for the
continued support for
UTSA sport programs so thank you
Ed and last but not least from VC save
the date me Las crusis has announced
their third annual event for mea Las
crusis on April 26th more details to
come as you know that is the place to be
and Vis Las crusis does an excellent job
with that so April 26 mark your
calendars so two more departments to go
last uh announcement for parks and wreck
and then one for economic development uh
Kudos the parks and wreck uh announces
an award of $1 million for for the State
outdoor recreation Grant to support
phase one of a regional bike park at the
East Mesa Sports Complex this
transformative project will enhance
recreational opportunities diversify the
city's Park system and contribute to the
local economy by attracting visitors
promoting active outdoor lifestyle so
this is a 80 acre state-of-the-art
facility and will cater to cyclists of
all ages and skill levels uh featuring
slope style tracks dirt jumps pump track
and dual slalom course so super excited
about that great job to parks and wreck
and our grants team uh applying for that
and then the last is for economic
development the consultants for the
Picacho MRA will be visiting and we'll
be hosting two events popup event peders
Pavilion at the pedders Pavilion
Saturday March 1st 9:00 a.m. to 11:00
a.m. location is 2400 West Picachu
Avenue um in Las Cruses and then the
second event will be at mccarth
Elementary School to meet with students
there on March
3rd at 10:30 a.m. to 12:00
noon thank you mayor and city council
for your
time thank you city manager and with
that I'll look for a motion to adjourn
motion to
adjourn second
Graham this is on the motion to adjourn
the meeting councelor McClair yes
councilor matis is absent councelor
Graham yes councelor Cran
councelor
flutes no no yes councelor vomo yes
mayor
yes e