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[Music]
you're
on good afternoon everyone welcome to
city council work session today is
December 9th 2024 it's approximately 1
p.m. I'm mayor Eric Enriquez I'd like if
we could all stand for a moment of
silence for our men and women that
protect us in our military and then also
for our Public Safety our police and
fire that protect us 2 47
365 to the flag of the United States of
America and to the Republic for which it
stands one nation under God indivisible
with liberty and justice for all
okay we'll go ahead and start off with
jobs of the week if Sarah you can come
up thank
you
maybe there it goes
all right thank you very much my name is
Sarah Rainey I'm the onstop coordinator
for the southwest region of New Mexico
workforce for jobs of the week we have a
community cap program manager for the
city of Los cruus that starts at $45,000
a year and right now it's a continuous
posting we also have a network
administrator for the city um that one
starts at 69,000 and it is also a
continuous posting We have an
environmental specialist two for the
Northwind resour Source Consulting out
at wh Sand Missile Range that one closes
on the 27th of this
month we have a front office coordinator
and certified medical assistant for
Christ's Health um both of those
positions start or I'm sorry they close
on the 28th of this month and the job
postings will list the um pay on those
as well um we have an all equipment
operator this one is a variety of gas
and Diesel mobile equipment skills that
are required for mansco that posting
closes on the 25th we also have a
tractor driver a Sorter and pecan raker
for Arnold Brothers those various um
closings depend on the vacancy of that
company as always we're here to help
right now we're open from 8:00 to 6:00
p.m. we are open at lunch as well so
come down and see us at 226 South alamaa
for any help thank you
all right thank you Sarah next we have
pets of the week
car I've worked with Pablo so hopefully
it works this
week my name is Carol Nelson I'm with
the Animal Services Center of the msia
valley I'm the digital content
specialist um this week our cat of the
week Diablo um great news has actually
already been adopted so we're super
excited about that um he was a pretty
relaxed Kitty so we were pretty sure he
was going to get adopted but uh our dog
of the week is Aurora her number is 76
296 if you want to look her up on our
website she says I'm an energetic girl
who loves to be the center of attention
and will happily shower you with
affection I'm great on the leash and
know how to sit when asked plus I'm a
fast learner who loves to please I have
a lot of energy and can get a bit
excited sometimes jumping up and
spinning around so I'll need some
training to help me channel that
enthusiasm with a little guidance and
patience I'll thrive in an active home
and be your loyal loving companion ready
for plenty of
Adventures uh in this month for the
we're running a holiday special uh for a
home for ASC andv pets all adoptions are
$50 uh and coming up we are working with
a couple of organiz ations that are
probably going to sponsor some adoptions
so stay tuned for that um and our usual
discounts still apply even with our
current
special uh and then this coming Saturday
we're going to have pause in the park uh
we're going to be at Young park with our
adoptable pets so come by and see us
we'll be there from 11: to
2: uh and as always you can visit our
website for more information or also um
check out our social media WE Post
fairly regularly on there
for more information thank
you thank you
Carol next on the agenda is item 3.1
realize L
crues for the final review and
refinement progress uh so Sarah
Gonzalez good afternoon mayor city
council Sarah Gonzalez with economic
development um before you is going to be
the update on realizes lost crues and
then an overview of what the Planning
and Zoning um recommended or recommend
recommended last month um to present
essentially where we're at in the
current process is Don Warick she is
with frie and nickels so she'll start
the presentation and then I will jump in
towards the middle
thanks Sarah um mayor City councilors my
name is Don Warick I'm with frz and
Nichols I'm happy to be here to give you
an update on where we are with the
realize L cruus project and so with no
further Ado we'll jump in we've got
about probably a 15min overview
presentation uh before we get to a
little bit more of the specifics because
we're kind of at the point where this is
starting to come together and it's very
exciting um we've got a few more things
to to iron out though um so as you see
here the team that's been working on
this project includes uh those of us
from friez and Nichols Karen Perez is
here with me today Erica Craycraft
couldn't make the trip this time so
missing her um we also of course have
our uh subc Consultants Fred Lopez and
Dana Kyle who have been instrumental in
helping to pull this
together so today we're going to just
give you an overview of where we are
kind of where we've been and where we
are uh so just a recap of the process to
date and talking about the um highlights
in the document itself in uh the updated
uh L development code as well as some
major revisions kind of what that looks
like and where we're headed so next
steps and then plenty of time for
conversation um key here is that we aim
to utilize this conversation as a means
of getting any additional feedback and
Direction so that the draft that evolves
from today's meeting represents what you
all will have in front of you in
February at the point of adoption so
fingers crossed we're just about there
so just to recap where we've been um the
city went through an a pretty extensive
public engagement process to develop
Elevate Las cruus that is your policy
guide for Land Development growth and
development moving forward and of course
this is one of the major implementation
uh actions of elevate Los cruus which is
to align your development regulations
with those policies that have been um
encapsulated in Elevate um a lot of the
actions that are identified within the
implementation section of elevate L
crusis are actions that are directly
tied to an update to your development
regulations so one of the first things
that we did was understand what the city
uh adopted when they um adopted a new
comprehensive plan and how that ties
directly to your development regulations
so this is just a snap of a chap of a
section
that
um was part of our U foundational
material U that in in addition to
stakeholder conversations and other uh
research so what that led to was the
development of a scope for updating the
code and that meant touching a whole lot
of different sections within your
Municipal Code including the ones that
you see on the screen some of these were
complete overhauls um as far as you know
content others were more uh looking at
the
um the formatting and framework so but
these were all um areas of development
regulations that needed to be aligned
with Elevate L cruus and also needed to
be incorporated into a document where
they were not conflicting with
themselves or any other elements of the
uh City's regulations so our scope
included all of these I think that's 10
sections right there um we began in
March 2021 with the initial phase of the
project that was divided into three
phases the first phase being the
diagnostic evaluation and of course that
involved that uh sort of Deep dive into
elevate it also included talking to
stakeholders having some additional um
input online particularly at the time it
was still kind of an online um
environment but also working with staff
to understand that we captured what we
needed to in a diagnos report that gave
us a road map for moving into phase 2
which is kind of just where all of the
magic happened maybe it took the longest
amount of time relative to the three
phases of the project but that really
was where we took those 10 sections of
the existing development regulations
reviewed them updated them and worked
through iterations of each section to
develop a full uh discussion draft which
has been sort of evolving through phase
three which is the refinement and
adoption phase of the
project so along the way we have had um
code user interviews I've mentioned more
than 45 participants in that effort um
we had a technical advisory the City
established a technical advisory
committee and the staff conducted and
facilitated 33 meetings with that group
we conducted four openhouse meetings um
in the early fall of this year to um
gather public input on that draft um
document and understand where there were
things that may still need to be
addressed or worked through um online
commenting has been up and active so far
we've received more than 270 comments
and the image on the right side of the
screen is how that sort of manifests in
the online environment um just various
you know like sticky notes where people
are asking questions or saying what they
like or dislike about certain elements
of the uh update and then we've received
more than 200 emailed comments so all of
that has been kind of worked into the
draft that is posted and available for
review I believe that's dated October
15th um we've continued of course to
find other things that need to be
addressed but that's kind of where we
are um major things that were um that
needed to be incorporated into this
development regulation uh update really
talked about alignment like I said with
Elevate and one of the key land use
features in Elevate was the development
of place types and so as we developed
zoning districts for your updated
regulations those PL those uh zoning
districts are either character-based or
traditional and so the character-based
districts um are your residential
neighborhood one two and three so the
level of intensity is identified by the
one two and three and they're divided
into character areas that are Urban
Suburban or rural just based upon the
environment that um the or the geography
that that those lots sit within um
you'll also see within the menu of
zoning districts traditional districts
such as uh commercial retail open space
and Industrial
districts also in that menu are overlay
districts that are intended to reflect
the overlay Place types that are
introduced in Elevate those include the
mixed juice Corridor the town center and
Neighborhood Center so the purpose of
these of course is to provide locations
that can increase that can have an
increased density and provide the
development pattern that support a more
walkable uh
environment so those Place types were
reflected in uh mapping and so along
with the development of your code
document itself um a zoning map has been
evolving sort of alongside that to
ensure that those Place types have um
been located and placed in the right in
the right locations um so as that's
evolved and staff's done quite a bit of
work on the mapping side of this to get
the place types uh established in the
proper geographies so that we're
reflecting um an acknowledging what's
existing but also reflecting what the
future State Should is intended to look
like based on um
Elevate so the character areas and
overlays are reflected on this graphic
and so those character areas again are
the urban suburban and Rural locations
within the
city the uh updated regulations also
include an updated menu of roadway
crosssections and this again is to bring
forward the future thoroughfare map that
was established in Elevate to ensure
that we're accommodating all of the
different modes of transportation within
the uh rights of way as possible as much
as possible so the cross-sections um are
gra are mapped within the um regulations
and identify opportunities for when
there is a new Street section or when
there are modifications to bring things
more into um a a section that addresses
multimodal transportation and active
Transportation
opportunities another element or some
other elements within the updated codes
that um are are noteworthy Landscaping
trees and parks so these areas um of the
code got got a full full look and an
update um Street trees to encourage the
um kind of breakup and the the
introduction of shade for both Walkers
and and vehicles parking lot
Landscaping improving the situation
within parking lots to have you know
trees to break up uh large expanses of
um of pavement which cause heat Islands
screening and buffers just to break up
the um introduction of those parking and
vehicular service areas and provide
those buffers between adjacent Lots um
tree removal permits for trees that are
larger than 6 in in
diameter uh the introduction of a
neighborhood park dedication and Trail
dedication other items relative to
elevate as Al and also the active
Transportation plan uh building form
standards so introducing things like
build two zones and how and uh how
structures should be articulated in
order to um create the environment
between buildings and between buildings
in the street um
the ability to better address what we
refer to as missing middle a variety of
housing choices within
neighborhoods um introducing
neighborhood service uses as permitted
in areas that are closer to or
integrated within neighborhoods so that
they are walkable and
convenient multimodal multimodal traffic
impact analyses so looking not only at
vehicular trips but also looking at
trips for other modes of transportation
as Walkers and uh cyclists
and then enhancing and improving the
connectivity within the city in
general so since then we have taken this
um through a variety of different
conversations and and I think probably
the June meeting is when we were back
here and had some conversation with the
city council um some updates that have
been made since we had that discussion
and since we've also had um some uh
input from the community uh at the time
the um land use of Cafe and a local
grocery were not permitted in the nh1
district U by W so that's been amended
within the permitted use chart um local
retail in the nh1 district um was
previously permitted but now is is
allowed with um a special use permit if
it is under 3,000 square ft so smaller
um shops would be appropriate within
that nh1 district with a special use
permit um drive-thru um is now prohibit
prohibited within nh1 it was previously
listed as a special use permit but that
was removed and is no longer permitted
use in that nh1 kind of the lower
intensity neighborhood District uh tap
and tasting room was previously a
special use permit in the NH3 district
and that's been changed to a permitted
by
right so also in section 33 which is the
permitted use chart uh gas pumps and car
washes in the NH3 District if it is on a
collector or hire was previously a
special use permit and that has been um
amended to
permitted um cannabis production was
prohibited it was previously excuse me a
special use permit and is now prohibited
in the nh1 and nh2 districts um halfway
house is permitted by special use permit
in the nhh districts all three of them
and sober living house is permitted by
right um also in those three NH
districts um relative to
multifam um there were previously
compatibility Provisions that um were
introduced for duplex Triplex and
quadplex um dwellings between those
types of higher um multif Family
dwellings and single family that was
removed uh also relative to two multif
family dwellings um previously there was
there were two separate um use
categories that were multif family 5 to
12 units and multif family 13 units and
above those were Consolidated into a
single use listing um and that is now
Allowed by right in the nh1 2 and three
districts um previously the 5 to2
category was a special use in nh1 and
the 13 and up was a special use in nh1
and 2 so that's an amendment to was
previously in the permitted use table um
we also removed compatibility Provisions
uh which called for these U multif
family dwellings to be located at
collectors or higher and included a
particular type a um buffer adjacent to
single family so
basically the purpose there was to
ensure that more types of housing are
accommodated in more of the neighborhood
um zoning districts without the um
compatibility requirements that were
seen as barriers to affordable
housing and then we took this to the
Planning Commission and we let Sarah
cover those um responses or
recommendations once again Sarah
Gonzalez with economic development um
these will be the pnz recommendations
we'll kind of go through chapter by
chapter do a short overview and then we
can come back and start answering any
questions that Council may have for
chapters 1 2 and four there were no
recommendations made by the planning and
zoning commission chapter one is going
to be your general Provisions this is
going to be your definitions your appeal
process and then outlining essentially
what the transitional Zone will be so
this is going to be that eight-month
time frame to where you could be using
both codes as to which one you prefer to
use so we can actually identify to see
if implementation is going properly or
not we'll be able to outline and
identify anything that would need to be
changed so that way after 8 months we
can come back with amendments to Council
in Chapter 2 that's going to be the
historic preservation
chapter which is going to have um there
were no recommendations made by the
Planning and Zoning commission as we
have um revamped some of those terms or
the conditions placed within the actual
code chapter four is going to be your
subdivision code and so that there were
no comments as to what subdivision
regulations need to be modified or
changed our primary chapters for changes
are going to be in chapter three which
is our land use chapters and then
chapter five which will be related to
Parks um D the dark sky ordinance as
well as our our roadway
constructions so for chapter 3 it
essentially started out with looking at
the setbacks on properties and looking
at our Urban core our Urban core is
going to be defined primarily by your
infill area which is going to be three
crosses to University Travis to Valley
so that is a very large Urban core it's
currently where our mras are also
located um one of the recommendations
was to remove the minimum front setback
and just rely on the build two setbacks
or build two lines to actually develop
one thing staff had looked at was
consideration of we've determined that
looking at setbacks and the bill two
lines but we haven't determined how it
would change the facades or the street
design if we had only build two lines
and so that may become a compatibility
issue the second was to remove the
minimum number of stories there was
essentially like a typo on the page
where it had minimum and Max so it was
is there a minimum or a maximum of five
stories with that we would never want to
you know put minimum on there as five
stories CU that means someone has to
build that that's where the extended
cost comes into play the next one's
going to be for a requirement for
special use permits to explain what a
special use permit is is that's going to
require an additional process for anyone
who's coming in from the public special
use permit means you go to the Planning
and Zoning commission for approval it
means extended time extended cost going
into possibly an already developed
property one of their con um
considerations was to remove
drive-throughs within our Urban core
mixed juice Corridor as well as or town
centers in order to increase basically
your walkability standards within your
Urban Court but that is definitely a
larger area to
consider the next was to provide a
special use permit for all gas pumps
located within the same general area so
you're also once again looking at your
infill area mixed juice cor corridors as
well as Town
centers this also goes for car washes to
be located within these areas so you
have three land uses essentially your
drive-throughs your car washes as well
as your gas pumps to be located with
special use permits and going through an
extended process um staff has
recommended that our non-conforming
Provisions go up to two years instead of
one year knowing that it's very hard to
get someone to come into a building once
it's been vacant um but knowing that you
also have to come into full compliance
after two years and so that would mean
if any of our businesses currently right
now were to go out of business and have
these land uses then they would be
required to go through a speci use
permit to actually obtain it
again another consider ation was for
special use permits to be done through
payday loans cash checking and Bell
Bonds within the nh2 and NH3 districts
the way that nh2 and NH3 are defined is
primarily what you're looking at as far
as your c1c2 zones and probably your R4
zones so think of your high density
multif family what we currently have and
our lower conditional um commercial land
uses um right now there are conditions
for other land uses to have collector or
H higher roadways however these don't
and so these are just considerations to
think of these land uses moving
forward lastly would be to require speci
use permit on a commercial parking lot
or garage within NH3 CR or your
industrial zones one thing to consider
within this provision is if you look at
ba Belgium that is a business that
currently has very limited parking on
their property they actually have
designed and developed the property
adjacent to it for a parking so this
would say that this would no longer be
permitted they would have to come into a
public hearing to get this approved so
that would be a consideration
we would now go to chapter five um first
we'll start off essentially with the
roadway cross-sections a lot of the
provisions through here were going to be
for travel Lanes Bon pedestrian and
multimodal
transportation um the first one is going
to just um be to replace words with you
know should and shall we want to
prioritize and staff agrees with that in
all Transportation decisions we should
be prioritizing the safety for all
people using those actual Transportation
modes um the second one is going to be
for amending any of the roadways with
low travel speeds um a travel Lane may
also be used as a shared Lane for
bicyclist that's currently already being
done now um and so you already see that
shared lanes are either within local
roadways or they're using the shared
multi-use path but to um basically add
any calming measures that may need to be
taking place when you're looking at low
speeds you're looking at essentially
your local roadways and so a lot of
times there's either going to be speed
traffic mechanisms parking on street and
so traffic traffic is already going at a
lower
speed next would be is when parking is
placed adjacent to a bike way the
recommendation was to remove um that it
be on the street side and place it on
the curb side one of the things that
staff considered is when you replace
that um putting it on the curb side is
you actually do have blind spots when
the bicyclist is getting back into
traffic so that needs to be considered
as to where that curb side would be um
one of the other items that I did notice
um in looking up from the urban Bikeway
design it said you should actually place
them on the curb side only when parking
is not present and so in this case we
would have parking present and so we
would be flipping it instead so the
recommendation would be to keep our
roadway cross-sections as they are in
order to move that pedestrian or that
bicyclist out of the way of
traffic oops skipped ahead so our next
one's going to be physical barriers
within 3 ft um should be required unless
approv by DRC and so three essentially
what you're trying to do is eliminate
any vehicle traffic and pedestrian
traffic from impeding each other and so
you're going to put up buffers that
could be curbing gutter that could be um
the flag post that we see along telshore
some kind of vertical structure that may
separate out those buffered Lanes in
order for staff when we look at these
we'd rather use them as to be a
requirement through DRC and not cified a
lot of these things are going to be
taken into consideration with the use of
our technical manual so every road that
we're going to design is going to go in
there and say what are our best
practices what's our current speeds
what's our local traffic what are we
actually looking at because they're all
going to be different that's the purpose
of creating that technical manual is
when you codify something if it doesn't
work it takes a lot longer for staff to
come back to council to make that
adjustment whereas when we're using the
technical manual we're doing the best
practices every
day another one to consider was for
local streets cherl marking shall not be
approved unless accompanied by other
traffic calming measures when you're
looking at local streets a lot of times
you're just using those the streets are
actually available for bikeways anyway
and so sherrow do create some of that
confusion and so staff's recommendation
would be to remove sherels alog together
um your traffic calming measures are
going to be the parking if there's going
to be chicanes reduced rway those are
all going to become those traffic
calming measures that are outlined or
defined whenever they are going through
their actual process for
development we then move to travel Lane
shabi than 11 ft across on the
crosssections one thing to consider
within our actual cross-sections and
there was that little note that was
underneath them is curbing gutter has
not been taken into account on some of
those Street Lane widths and so it may
say 13 ft but when you have 1 and 1/2t
gutters and curvs it's less than that 13
foot so we're already Meeting those
minimums that is required essentially to
where we stay at a lower traffic speed
because the lower your your lane widths
are then your your speed will actually
come down and so we've just got to
reallocate where those roadway lines may
be but to understand that when you have
a median you have a foot and a half curb
when you have another curb on the other
side that may be by the bike lane
there's three fet that's not accounted
for in the cross-section that is coming
from those travel
Lanes next would be removing one side of
parking so that it's actually curb to
curb for 30 ft what that means is our
local cross-sections right now are 50 ft
wide so you have essentially your two
six foot lanes that are going to be for
your sidewalks you have two 8ft parking
lanes and then you have the two driving
lanes that are 11 ft if you remove one
of the parking Lanes on the actual
roadway it will reduce the cross-section
down to 42 ft creating a 30ft pav
section that also means that one side of
the road cannot be parked on right now
we currently see a lot of development
that is coming in you usually have two
cars parked in a driveway and then
people do park within those streets so
by eliminating that additional Park Lane
and now eliminates how much parking can
actually be on the street so we do lose
some of our calming measures that are
actually in place by just doing a
general um
cross-section lastly for the roadway and
intersection design is to follow Neo's
Urban Street design guide and urban
Bikeway design guide these are actually
going to be implemented into our actual
technical manual we would not be placing
these into a codified one because as
they Continue to update we want to
continue to update and we want to make
it as easy as possible to do those
updates um when we come to city council
generally we're about three or four
months into an actual session where we
can use our d C which is our de our
design Review Committee to come in and
get those done within two weeks if we
see that modifications are
necessary one other um implication was
to add that the Public Works director
may require an applicant to conduct a
TIA there's reasonable expectations that
the project May adversely affect
pedestrian or cyclist
safety Public Works had no concerns with
actually adding this to our actual
provisions and actually codifying this
as it does just reinforce what we are
currently doing with in our traffic
standards
now lastly was to add placement of
traffic signals or other control devices
shall not be predetermined based on the
rigid and flexible design standards
current um currently this came from
mutcd standards however they have been
modified and so they were rigid they
were very difficult to use and Implement
um and they did have certain criteria
because they've already done an update
and we have adopted that updated version
we would say that all of these are
actually being addressed through our
technical manual and so these would not
have to be codified to say that we are
looking for existing controlled access
for our pedestrians and our bicyclist or
that all users particularly are not
being accounted for whenever they're
being done so we are using these
practices currently right
now one comment came up as far as our
low impact development um and one was
just to remove the last sentence because
we do understand that it actually
affects everything and so it doesn't say
for only appropriate for larger Green
Field developments we need to understand
that it's going to be appropriate for
any Green Field developments and so the
last sentence was just requested to be
removed next we would move on to
essentially our Parks section within the
development code there was a request to
add language to dedicate for open space
or unimproved Parkland to include areas
for restoration provided by a developer
if it completes the restoration activity
so if you find some open space area and
a developer is willing to actually
renovate and make make that part of
their open space that could be part of
their calculations for their park
dedication
land next would be to replace
non-residential with mixed use
development and remove the exceptions
and so what we were noticing was that
there was a certain criteria for
commercial land development that you
would actually be providing open space
dedication through there and there was a
mixed version as to if it was
non-residential commercial and
Industrial standards or if it was mixed
use development and so mixed use
development is when you do see those
residential and Commercial components
which would need to provide those
Parkland
dedications the next was to add language
regarding flexibility in our Urban
Development for Park development um some
of those concerns were to say if you're
in the urban core we understand that
there's not the 3 Acre minimum that's
required to dedicate and so it may need
to be adjacent properties that are
located next door where you have the
ability to purchase that land add it
into acreage or you can actually provide
some trail system on your property
that's going to connect to an adjacent
property so you're opening up
essentially what opportunities the urban
can actually do their dedication with
the means that are actually
available two of the recommendations by
the Planning and Zoning commission were
to one either table this section of the
development code until the park impact
fee update was approved and then come
back to revisit this section the second
was a consideration that if the section
was to be adopted that Council consider
reimbursement of 50% to the development
of those neighborhoods Hood parks and
meaning if right now currently our Park
section is written as you would do
dedication and improvements and there
would be no Park reimbursement whenever
you're developing your neighborhood
parks because that reimbursement is
going to be going to community parks and
so you would have two considerations or
however sta um city council would like
to proceed
forward next would be to eliminate
buffer requirements between residential
which is our NH zones and our SE zones
within the urban place types mixu
corridors and town centers staff has no
concerns with that a lot of times when
you see Development coming in you want
the mixed juice development buffers are
going to be something that is a rock
wall it's going to be your Shrubbery
your trees it's going to create
sometimes that barrier that if a
developer wishes to put them in they
will still put them in even if the
requirements not there however if it's
not a requirement then it gives more
flexibility as to making that space a
walkable or joining
area lastly there was mentioned to in
input essentially the dark SK ordinance
into replacing our current outdoor
lighting um we did have um a gentleman
come forward and speak at both City
Council meetings Albuquerque just
adopted the dark sky ordinance and so
with that staff is looking at we would
probably come back and do a work session
with city council as a consideration
we're not saying it shouldn't be off the
table but we do need to look at it and
how it would actually affect
implementation some of this would need
to be affecting on residential as well
as commercial which would be something
new we have to identify any of the cost
for new development what that's going to
impact um neighbors that are now
installing or putting lights onto their
home so it's a process that staff can
bring forward through that eight-month
transition period and actually work with
the development Community as well as
neighbors to understand what this would
mean whenever development does come in
or whenever development is
modified so we have our next step
okay obviously we will spend some time
today getting a handle on where things
are what adjustments the city council is
interested in seeing before this
document is ready to be brought back to
you um so the next steps every time we
present seem to get shorter which is
kind of nice um but today is the of
course conversation about making sure
that we're in the right place and that
questions have been answered and disc
discussion has been had and then
preparing the final draft of the um
update and zoning map to bring to you uh
for hopefully for adoption in February
so that's all I have on next steps and
we have time to
discuss all right well thank you thank
you for that
um what I was going to mention what I
what I would like to do is I know
there's a couple of uh groups
organizations that would like to have
some time to speak and then maybe some
public input and then at the end if it's
okay then Council uh questions and
discussion items and then we'll bring
staff back to to address some of those
issues after we hear from everyone
everyone's okay with that sounds good if
I if I need to leave can I leave my
questions with someone else absolutely
thank
you so I know uh the home builders uh
had wanted to speak and the
preservation um what I requested was a
spokesperson to come up and get 7 to 10
minutes to to speak on their their
group's behalf
so do we have
anyone the historic preservation if you
want to come up
first good afternoon for the record my
name is name is Dr Judy bman current
chair of the historic preservation
commission I will share my 10 minutes
with other members of the commission
that may want to make an additional
changes as chair it is important to
recognize the work that has gone into
the current draft of realized L cruus
particularly the changes made to chapter
2 which is now chapter
35 in terms of historic preservation in
many cases chapter 5 is a stronger
document items such as historic
resources don't need to be in a district
to be protected the city is now liable
for demolishing historic structures
without due process and the topic of
deconstruction has been added the
revised document also reflects the need
to add two existing historic districts
into the Legacy
zoning as noted and realized lasu's
historic preservation is an important
component within the document much of
the material found in chapter 35 which
is now originated from chapter 40 the
value of this document is clearly
demonstrated with a transfer of the
definitions duties procedures into
realized Los Cruses however work still
needs to be done to reflect the original
intent of the historic preservation
ordinance these two changes to the
drafts that are critic to operationally
the inent of realized L crues and
securing the place of historic
preservation in the future of our city
to meet these goals stated in section 21
I'm asking the following two changes to
be made one that HBC be retained as a
commission not a
committee and two the position of
historic preservation Specialists be
spelled out and be reinserted within the
document so the retention of the term
historic preservation commission
commission or committee why is that
important I'm going to um abbreviate
some of my discussion because what I
want to discuss is we have been told
that we need to align um the term
Commission or committee with the mun
city code of ordinances and I and I want
to go through that very Bri briefly so
the mun code city code ordinance Article
4 division 3 subdivision
16 um was adopted in February
5th de uh division three defines
non-standard boards section 16 title is
the historic preservation committee now
if we assume this is an error then it's
an error but um it's sort of immaterial
at the moment sections the further
sections 576 use the term commission
throughout the document however within
the immunity code if you go into the
supplemental history um it clearly
states that Council Bill 2 20011
ordinance
2903 um I'll read it it states to add a
new non-standard board the historic
preservation commission this change was
adopted in December 2 2019 by by both
planning and zoning and by the city
council by unanimous decision so what
does this mean the discussion of
community of committee versus commission
is really immaterial
unless the council or um is planning on
changing the mun code the administrative
code it stands as HPC is a
commission I'm not going to go into the
duties of the commission because I think
we all agree to what that is I would
also like to point out that the city of
Las Cruses has become the 10th City
within New Mexico to gain CG status in
brief CLG is an acronym for certified
local government is a unit of local
government that has been certified to
become a participating partner in
national state historic preservations to
be eligible to apply Community must make
um a historic preservation ordinance
which the city has and two it clearly
States established a local preservation
commission which it has so in order to
close this argument there really is no
basis for us to be discussing Community
Committee or commission HPC is a
commission the second item that we would
like um is to reinsert the term historic
preservation specialist in the current
realized L Cruis why is this important
the term historic preservation special
has been replaced with a with the term
Community director or a design appointed
by the community director I would
suggest the wording be changed too um if
we cannot use the word
historic preservation specialist I would
change it to say the community director
a design or a consultant that meets both
state and federal guidelines so that
would meet the needs of the CLG and
would meet the needs under what
established under the mun code so why is
this important the historic specialist
must meet qualifications under State and
National preservation laws the position
of HBC is not a journalist that can be
appointed as needed it requires one with
specialized training and and experience
if this position is important enough to
be hired and filled it should be clearly
listed in the glossery and with the
document outlining job
responsibilities so in conclusion at
this time we are requesting two items
reinstate the term commission and
realize Los crues two reinstate the
position of historic preservation
specialist rather than a general General
and point I would also suggest that the
definitions referring to Historic
preservation that are currently in the
glossery be put back into chapter 35 so
it makes the document easier to read so
I'm going to give up the rest of my time
to members of the commission or the
public that would also like to comment
thank you very much
Barry did you want
to so good afternoon um for the record
my name is Dr Jerry Wallace I'm the
director of the public history program
at NMSU so I really appreciate all the
comments that Dr barryman just stated
about the future of historic
preservation and that's what I actually
would like to take in in a couple
minutes to just kind of talk about and
the two things that kind of outline my
just sort of brief talk here is thinking
about collaboration and stakeholders in
the future of historic preservation in
the city of Las crues um we are the
second largest city in the state and I
would like to see moving forward uh the
the ability to expand our historic
preservation portfolio we have a number
of Comm communities within our city that
are um that are worthy of nomination uh
this year alone the BMA districts both
of them both the original and is the
original is 72 years old and then the
lah Heights is 64 years old those alone
uh could add to our historic
preservation
portfolio um one way that I think one
one thing that I would love to do is
collaborate with the city I don't think
we talk about collaboration enough and I
feel like one way that we could
collaborate with the city both the
historic preservation commission but
also where we could get a lot of
community buyin in our in our city would
be to create a historic preservation
plan and the plan I think would be
something that would have a 5-year plan
with one and threeyear markers in which
we could have this sort of you know
Common Ground between the city a lot of
different community members whether
their neighborhoods or districts uh and
in addition to that with the historic
preservation commission um I think that
that community plan or that historic
preservation plan could um really uh
build a strong relationship and a future
for historic preservation within um
within our city so I would really love
us to see I would love to see within
like 10 or 15 years us get up to the
status of Albuquerque I'm always very
envious when I go up there I go up there
several times a month uh to do research
and I'm just so jealous of how well
organized are with historic preservation
and I and I think that we could easily
do that if we have a historic
preservation plan so I want to thank you
for your time and allow somebody else to
speak Faith Hudson for the record good
afternoon councilors mayor and city
manager I also want to Echo what um uh
Dr barryman has said I want to speak
about the HPC remaining um a commission
it's not a power trip it's not ego it's
about following the letter of the law
ordinance 2903 sections 2- 582 2587
which was adopted on December 2nd 2019
added a new non-standard board historic
preservation commission ordinance
2938 Council Bill
21-5 adopted August 17th 2020 as amended
transferred the duties of the South
mosqu design review board to the
historic preservation commission under
the current version of the municipal
code which is October 14th of 2024 and
what is posted on the website it is also
the hyperlink that is in Chapter 2 of
realiz Los cruus only in the title is
HPC referred to as a committee the rest
of the ordinance the word used is
commission so having said that the
language clearly states that HPC is a
commission and unless Council will be
voting to admin uh admin the
administration portion of the chapter in
the language of realiz L crues they must
follow the current ordinance and the HPC
must remain a commission thank you very
much mayor council Dr PA for the record
um simply as a certified local
government with a commission and a
historic preservation specialist there
is a great deal of money available for
historic preservation cultural
preservation from the federal and the
state thank
you Jo prep another PhD um and not
speaking as a member of the commission
um I want to come let let me go ahead
and give the time now to the home
builders and then after we'll open it up
for public about two minutes for for
public to speak okay I wasn't clear on
that thank you thank you
good afternoon Mr Mayor uh members of
city council John Moscato here because
the Home Builders Group asked me to
speak about a couple of items uh
fortunately there are not very many
items for which we have problems at all
with the document we look forward to uh
council's adoption early next year but
there are are a couple I'd like to speak
about and there might be members who
want to mention one or two more uh the
first item is simply a process item uh
as Sarah mentioned the setup in realize
is that there's a use designation which
is zoning and a character designation
which is either rural suburban or Urban
it's our understanding that to uh amend
or to change zoning and character would
require a two-step process you'd have to
go through a zoning application and then
because of the character change you
would need to amend Elevate Los crues
because of the place types established
there what we would recommend is that
somehow the document establish a single
step process so that staff's time
council's time developer time would not
be taken up with a lengthier or two-step
process but most ly I want to talk about
uh section 5.5 which is Parks uh couple
of items before I get to the main event
uh
in 5-5 C there's a calculation for how
to come up with the amount of Park land
to be dedicated and we really don't have
a problem with that calculation because
when you run the calculation if you had
say a 100 lock development you'd have
Park land needing to be dedicated just
less than 3/4 of an acre you'd have to
get up to about little over 400 lots to
require the 3 Acre
dedication however later in the document
there's reference to a 3 Acre minimum
what that's going to do is actually
decrease the number of parks being
developed in the city and there's very
simple reason for that because if you
had say 20 acres that you're developing
and you have a 3 minimum you're going to
be required to dedicate 15% of your
total land mass for a park well no
developers are going to want to do that
the net result is going that they're
going to do the fee in Li which means
the city will get funding but it won't
get Parks so there'll be fewer Parks not
more Parks so why not just stick with
the calculation in
5.5 C which establishes the calcul ation
for Park area dedication why include on
top of that a 3 Acre minimum that would
actually decrease the number of parks
being developed in the city uh another
somewhat procedural issue there's
mentioned that the
dedication would be required to take
place before recording of the plat
before the city signs the plat for the
plat to be recorded well the plat
recording is what is how the dedication
takes place so to say that the
dedication has to take place before the
city signs the plat which would lead to
the
recording means that you're you're
you're really putting the cart before
the horse you need to have the plat
recorded for the dedication to take
place but the bigger issue is is really
what we don't know and what we don't
know is what the total impact of
the exclusion of reimbursing to the
developer for the cost of parks what
that will do to the overall cost of
housing uh the reason why Planning and
Zoning commission recommended that
the section 5-5 be paused until after
establishment of the new park impact fee
is just because we don't know what the
impact's going to be the last
time the Parks and Recreation
Department's consultant
recommended an increase in park impact
fees a little over five years ago it was
a doubling of the park impact fee if
that happens again and if Council would
adopt that increase that's going to be
over a
$5,000 increase in the park impact fee
on top of that the developers C cost of
construction would be passed on to the
home builder which would be passed on to
the home buyer which would result in
another two or
$3,000 charge to the home buyer so the
home buyer would be paying through
what's charged to the home builder
they'd be paying over $5,000 in park
impact fee they would be paying over to
or
$3,000 in the cost of construction of
the park that's no longer being
reimbursed so you're looking at a total
of $7 or $8,000 if you had a smaller
town home say 150 $180,000 town home
that's going to result in a five or 6%
increase in the price of those homes and
those are the lowest priced homes for
the bulk of the population who couldn't
afford a more expensive home so you know
why is that being done now in advance
answer the park impact fee being set I
can't really answer that other than to
think that maybe it's easier to push
this through now not knowing what the
impact is I would recommend to you that
you really should know what the total
impact fee is going to be on the cost of
housing which you don't know I don't
know nobody knows because the park
impact fee hasn't been uh you know set
for next year yet uh I I also want
wonder why
there's why all of a sudden there's
there's a need for this extra funding
where the developers no longer being
reimbursed for the cost of parks you
know for the last 10 12 years uh the
company I've been associated with has
built and given to the city about 15
Parks probably more than the city's ever
seen developed in in that length of time
uh during that time the park impact fee
total available
collected and and in in the fund has
gone in from
2019 to now from 4 million to over 7
million so if there's that much money
consistently in the park impact fee fund
to be spent why all of a sudden is there
a need well we're told that there's a
need because we need that funding for
community and Regional Parks but I think
all of us know that Comm and Regional
Parks have never been funded through
Park impact fees there's never going to
be enough Park impact fee money just
from I mean unless you raise it to 10
$20,000 per lot which I don't think
you'd want to
do there's never going to be that much
money there there are other sources of
funding for community and regional parks
to put it on the burden uh to put that
burden on home buyers and that's really
where the burden is it's not on the
developer it's not on on the Builder
it's on the home buyer to put that
burden on the home buyer for community
and Regional Parks which are City Wide
amenities and to place that specifically
as a burden on these new residents in
neighborhoods doesn't seem to me to be a
a fair way to approach it especially
when you look at the overall impact
which we don't know what it's going to
be but you know it could be $7,000 it
could be 8 ,000 nobody knows so why not
put a pause on the adoption just of
5-5 uh Sarah mentioned there's going to
be an eight-month review by the time
that eight-month review comes around you
will have set the new park impact fee
you know what the impact's going to be I
don't think there's any
detrimental harm to the city uh in
waiting another eight months especially
since the system that's been in place
for the last 10 15 years has worked very
well anyway so why rush into it why not
take your time come at it with eyes wide
open later next year and just deal with
5-5 at that point Thank
you thank you Mr Moscato um now I'll
open it up to the public anyone wishing
to speak uh for we we allow you two
minutes uh Katrina if you want to come
up and assist anyone that wants to come
in to the microphone and
speak uh hello uh my name is McKenzie uh
so I'm here to speak about the RV
parking code that uh a uh full siiz RV
park over one time parking in the front
yard on the property not the street but
on the property uh so right now RV
parking is allowed but um when we are
trying to partially use it for business
for example setup what I did uh
partially you know set it up in the
fance market as a
display uh even though it it's only 3%
of the time that I'm using it and 99 7%
of the time I'm still using as a regular
RV and then I I cannot use it I cannot
do that uh I would have to move it to a
uh commercial parking lot um that's what
I'm facing right now uh so that's how it
can be uh
interpreted and I just think that is
something that needs to be changed
because um New Mexico state has uh
changed the cage food uh food act for uh
small business to have a better uh
business environment to succe and
normally when people trying to start up
uh you will be we just using part part
of it for example in the same same part
of the code it's it says the
25% for home occupation business you can
use 25% of the house which it doesn't
address on that part of the for vehicle
over onetime parking on on the property
and
so uh the
proportional proportionality Doctrine
says the purpose of Regulation must aim
to achieve legitimate uh public interest
necess it the regulations should not
impose more restriction than necessary
to achieve its purpose and the balance
the regulation benefits must outweight
the burden it imposed on individuals
which uh right now this is kind of uh a
burden on us which trying to start a
small business just only 3% which is
insane my time is up so thank you thank
you
I guess we'll try again Joe rep um
longtime resident um I want to just
speak uh very quickly about some of the
history of historic preservation efforts
in Las crusis and this is part of why I
think you've heard a number of us making
very U pointed arguments and uh deeply
felt arguments to keep historic
preservation as a commission and
historically it it's because it
originates out of an ad hoc committee
that worked for years to get to the
point of getting something approved or
put forward before city council and to
get to the point where we actually have
a commission and to go backward now to a
committee is a slap in the face and it
disregards a lot of the work that's gone
into getting to this point the other
thing is that I don't I think some of
you are aware but the commission has
been laboring under a number of
difficulties in these startup years this
is a commission that has only been up
and running for about four years and
it's been in Uncharted Territory and
it's gotten very mixed messages at times
from City staff some of who are no
longer with the city um about what the
commission can do what the Commissioners
can do what the purpose is and the
current chair Judy barryman and the
current uh Commissioners I've seen them
start getting this sorted out and they
deserve to be able to keep that status
maybe what you could do is put in a
review uh uh Clause so that the status
of this
committee question rather than
commission is reviewed after a certain
number of years I I think for most
anybody you could talk to on the street
commission is seen as a more permanent
body with stronger stat stand Standing
and with uh quasi legal uh status that
you have to pay attention to what the
recommendations are thank
you hello my name is Lisa parrot excuse
me Lisa parrot and I'm a resident of
district 6 I have in my hand our duly
recorded warranty deed joint
dated October 30 1997 proving that Dan
and I own are residents this deed
Incorporated by reference protective
covenants filed September 11 1989 by the
owners of what is known today as high
range which I also have these protective
covenants which are quote binding upon
the respective grantees their successors
and assigns end quote state in part
quote the purpose of these covenants is
to ensure the use of the property for
attractive residential purposes only to
prevent nuisances to secure each site
owner the full benefit and enjoyment of
his property end quote quote all Lots
described above are hereby declared to
be residential lots and no lot shall be
used for other than residential purposes
there shall not be allowed on any lot
any structure which allows more than one
family resident to excuse me one family
to reside therein end quote quote no
building shall exceed two stories in
height end quote quote no noxious or
offensive activity shall be carried on
upon any lot nor shall anything be done
therein which may be or may become an
annoyance or nuisance to the
neighborhood with all due respect it is
my opinion that while as elected
officials of we the people you do have
the authority to establish codes and
ordinances which affect our real
property you cannot however create Andor
pass any code or ordinance that has the
power to supersede or userve the
protective covenants which were filed
for the purposes of protecting our
property for purposes of discussion only
if the council did have the authority to
totally disregard the residents
protective covenants and
proceed thank you
um good afternoon I'm George Pearson I'm
vice president of vusus the bicyclist
and pedestrian advocacy organization I'm
here to ask that bicycle parking be
required for certain existing properties
and not just for new
properties people won't use bicycles if
there isn't a secure location to lock
their bicycles at their destination
commuter bicyclists would stop at stores
on their way home some bicyclists have
no other Transportation Transportation
choice so this is an equity issue why is
this direction from city council
reflected in ordinance needed we can
speak to local business owners and often
convince them to install Bike parking
however when we speak to corporate
businesses the response is that's
decided by corporate and I can't do
anything Council can step in and tell
the Walmarts and Albert
that don't have bike parking to add bike
parking you've shown tell the
corporations what to do with your
shopping cart ordinance for example um
the Consultants presented a slide at pnz
that would require specific requirements
for Big Box style properties this is the
type of requirement doesn't have to
apply to every business but to the ones
where they're really needed um adding
bike parking needs to be one of those
requirements I have eight page pages of
signatures on a petition asking for bike
parking please include bike parking
requirement in the final adoption in
realized lost cruus did under the
5-2
n.5
AI add another letter to require for
existing uh properties of certain size
and I like to submit the petition to the
clerk
mayor protm council members my name is
Jim Wilcox I'm a member of the bicycle
pedestrian advisory committee but I am
not uh speak on that behalf I'm the
bicycle representative I want to expand
on what uh Mr Pearson just said pointing
out that many people do not have access
to cars because they're too expensive
for their budget or because they have
lost their license or because they have
a mental condition that precludes them
from being able to get a license so this
is an equity issue that people who want
to uh come to who have to use a bicycle
don't have adequate parking and if that
bike is stolen that's their only means
of transportation they are out of luck
now you might think okay I can
understand that that's that's certainly
important but consider this when I park
my car yes I do drive a car and I use a
bike when i p park my car in a parking
lot and I go to say Albertson's and I go
inside when I buy something the cost of
that parking lot is included in the cost
of the food those parking lots aren't
free they pay taxes on them they have to
maintain them so when I go and I use my
car I'm paying a little bit to maintain
that parking lot but somebody riding
their bikee who has to ride their bike
goes in pays for a product pays for part
of that parking lot and gets nothing in
return that's not just an equity issue
that's not fair and so we need to ask
these we need to require these
businesses start out with the ones like
um supermarkets where a lot of people
are going and saying we expect over a
certain amount of time you got time to
save up maybe $1,000 to install Bike
parking give them a year or two but
require it require it for equity and
require it for fairness thank
you good afternoon my name is Donald
Wilson I'm the current president of
vusus and I just just want to um uh
reiterate our request for the city
council to consider the adoption of bike
parking uh requirements in the realized
Los cruises upgrade I've lived in this
city since I was four years old I've
ridden a bicycle since I could go to
elementary school and then middle school
and Junior High that's what it was
called back then and high school I
University and uh I ride a bicycle now
often and I ride I run into this problem
that they've talked about which I get to
a business and there's no place for me
to lock up my bicycle I go to my bank I
have to lock it to a a flag pole that's
out in the parking lot I go to the
dollar store I have to lock it to a
light that's across the parking lot from
the door to the business um so uh I
would just like this to be something
that the city council considers this is
the time to do it with the upgrade to
real life L Cruis the equity issues that
Jim talked about a reel I work with the
community bike shop we have a lot of
customers that come in that bicycle is
their only form of transportation we
want them to be engaged be part of our
community be able to access businesses
business opportunities and bike parking
is a simple thing the city can advocate
for so that individuals all have access
to our business Community thank you very
much
hi my name is Kent thirston um I guess
mayor protim and counselors I uh I'm a
home builder land developer
and
also um I sit on the Planning and Zoning
Board or not board commission um there's
a couple of things that when I was on
the commission that caused me to reflect
and figure out okay is this being done
right so I'm not necessarily for or
against what I'm going to say as of
right now it's more of a I think these
are things that need to be actually
discussed a little bit further there
were things that weren't totally clear
to me and it really has to do with just
the fundamental changes uh with the
parks side of things so here was a
couple of fundamental things that I
thought um were some key points to me
that that I wanted to point out number
one neighborhood parks are no longer
reimbursed um number two there's also a
creation of a new park fund outside of
the uh Park impact fees how is that
going to be established and controlled
those were some uh number three the park
fee study wasn't complete uh without it
being completed we don't have the full
data to really make a decision as to
which way to go um uh and also so those
were some of them I can to run out of
time but also I wish I I I think I'll
just have to email you guys my sheet of
what I really had I had like all of my
Parks was red noted and there was a
whole bunch of things in there I think
it's I think there's a lot of good
things in there that that'll be a a
shift of what we need but then also it
really does come back to that the last
point I wanted to talk about is just the
affordability of that houses there has
to be a way that we have some give and a
take that we are getting better parks
for the city but then also being mindful
of how do we do that and not affect the
housing prices to increase so because we
understand that parks are good for us it
it creates all the other health benefits
for us but then also not being able to
own a home also can create some other
detriment to us so those are some points
I'd want you to just focus in on thanks
hi I'm Nick choli and I'm a student in
NMSU uh this is just regarding the
housing code there is an endless amount
of data that indicates housing as a
primary social determinant of mental and
physical health uh housing security um
is correlated uh to everything from
Clinical oppression to low birth weight
by allowing higher density houses we are
providing an opportunity for the diverse
lifestyles of L crues these multi-unit
residences and accessory dwellings help
provide genz and Millennials with
opportunities to save money as they
enter the workforce it allows service
workers to live closer to their place of
employment and seniors and Veterans and
fixed incomes to have appropriate
accommodations these accessory dwellings
also provide an opportunity for
supplemental income as well as a
culturally responsive way for multi-end
families to stay together
um I think it's worth noting in the
recent literature review uh indicated
that provisional housing reduced
Medicaid usage by
12% the P the use of a primary care
physician Rose 20% while emergency room
visit decreased by
18% the actual offset cost of housing
has mixed data but one study indicated
that secure housing offset Healthcare
cost by 29,000 per person annually so
housing security saves money thank you
hello my name is jod Crowley I'm with
the uh last chras chapter of the
a I don't know how many of you are aware
but a was founded when Ethel pery
Andress found a school teacher living in
a chicken
Coupe so housing has been close to our
hearts ever since um the two issues I
wanted to to commend the uh people for
considering our our
walkability the um and the a ability to
create adus both of these have to do
with allowing our seniors to age in
place which leads to Better Health
outcomes and better income okay so adus
allow multi-generational families to
create a space which is um
accessible and safe for our for our
seniors and delays um moving into H into
um assisted living and of course
walkability is important for keeping
people active and involved so thank you
good afternoon mayor and counselors my
name is Ruth jari and I'm an affordable
housing Advocate and spent my career in
Washington DC advocating at the federal
level for affordable Housing and
Community Development programs first I
want to thank the staff and the
technical advisory committee and the
consultants for their efforts to
modernize our development code I'm sure
it's not not an easy task trying to
develop a code that will meet our many
needs over the next 20 years or so but
we're here and I'm asking you to support
the draft of realiz L crues that is
before you now in particular I support
realiz L crues because it allows
developers to build a variety of styles
and types of housing that are integrated
across the city's zoning districts this
will lead to more diverse neighborhoods
throughout the city which will
accommodate the various incomes of our
residents and the types of homes in
which they choose to live I believe
realiz Los cruus allows us to continue
growing in a way that is envisioned by
Elevate Los cruus I sincerely encourage
you to support the current draft thank
you hello um my name is Beth Bardwell
and um mayor counselors and staff um I'm
here today on behalf of the League of
Women Voters of southern New Mexico to
speak in support of the proposed changes
to the Land Development code including
the design standards and the zoning
districts that are set forth in the
October 15th um draft I believe that
these proposed changes are an important
piece in your Collective work of
addressing the housing shortage and lack
of affordable housing here in Los Cruses
these proposed changes will make it
easier to increase housing options and
promote a variety of housing Styles and
types for rent and for purchase such as
accessory dwelling units duplexes
triplexes fourplexes and apartments that
are integrated within the community
Community this means all households
including but not limited to seniors
firsttime home buyers and Working
Families will be able to find less
expensive housing within City Limits
close to their work increasing their
household incomes to pay for other
necessary expenses that allow them to
thrive such as health care education
food and clothing
so I want to thank you and staff for
supporting the proposed
changes mayor City councilors staff my
name is Liz Rodriguez Johnson and when I
was a teenager we moved to Las Cruses
from the low
Rio Grande Valley in Texas because it
was getting too difficult for my dad to
get a job so we had to move to Las
Cruses and with no money our only option
was to move in with my uncle who with my
uncle and and my aunt and uh 12 kids
that was 14 people we were eight kids
and two adults so that was 24 people in
total we moved into a
three-bedroom one bath my guess is about
20 1200t home very small house and I
don't know how long we live there but um
it was a matter of
months and um to to describe the
logistical and emotional issues involved
with something like that would do it no
justice but I did have the opportunity
to attend New Mexico
State um
and spent the bulk of my DOD
career um in the Washington DC area and
my husband and my family decided to um
move back to um Las cruus retire here um
where my one of my goals is to give back
as much to this community as it gave me
so to that
end excuse me a minute
the proposed changes in realized Las
crusis Land Development code will make
it easier to increase housing options
and promote a variety of housing Styles
and types for rent and purchase that uh
integrated within the community benefit
families like mine thank
you hi um my name is John Holtzman I'm
the chair of the state Council of a
chapter of New Mexico dark sky
International uh in a local resident and
I wanted to provide some additional
information on what staff mentioned
about the outdoor lighning and realize M
cruus dark skies are an incredible
resource that we have in Los Cruses and
New Mexico and help to attract people
here unfortunately we're gradually
continuing to lose them fortunately it's
been recognized that the implementation
of responsible lighting can preserve our
dark Sky Heritage and its benefits for
human health ecology and environment
cost and Energy savings while at the
same time actually improving Safety and
Security it's simply a matter of using
as much light as needed putting it where
and when it's needed and using light of
an appropriate color I commend City
staff for incorporating many principles
of responsible lighting and realiz Las
crusis however there have been some
recent developments that have indicated
the need for some improvements about a
month ago my parent organization dark
sky International released some new new
model template ordinances and also
announced a program by which ordinances
can be certified as dark sky recognized
and it would be super cool if L crues
could be the first one uh I passed on
the draft ordinance the dark sky
International and their consultant
identified a number of areas in which
our ordinance can be improved and
indicated the changes that would be
needed to achieve certification making
all these changes right now is probably
a little too much to ask given how far
along we are in the process uh as staff
indicated um you know hopefully the
council can come back and and revisit
this in a in a larger picture in
upcoming months uh and I encourage you
to recommend that in the meantime there
are two I think small but really highly
impactful changes in the current version
of realize U that could be made to
improve things one refine the definition
of what is meant by shielded lighting to
incorporate the most modern definition
and two to restrict the color of new
lighting uh across all lighting zones
right now and realize it's just across a
couple uh lighting zones so I've
communicated details to staff and I uh
would like to request that uh the
council direct them to consider these
thank
you first time I've been here
ever I'm a resident my name is Craig
charnov of Las cruus we moved here nine
years ago
you know I've witnessed a lot um I don't
have much compassion for
developers they build minimal products
Land Development is
substandard
housing per your own
inspectors other than the National
Building Code everything else is
minimal it's
deplorable this city I came through in
1995 it was a great little village then
it was
exceptional I was
impressed you know it the questions I
pose with the zoning changes that you're
thinking about would you want a
dispensary next to your house would you
want a tea shop would you want another
coffee shop would you want a gas station
because it's possible I'm going to run
out of time and I'm going to keep
talking There's issues here that need to
come into play apartments are not are
not necessarily affordable housing I
worked in the affordable housing market
for 38 years in other
states um you know development let's
bring Corporate America back to Las
crues Macy's pulled out let's bring
Panera let's bring kabas let's bring
civilization
and expansion in the Right
Way section 5 CN Parks I think it's a
responsibility of the developers to
offer green areas and Barks I think it's
their responsibility to finish Lots all
the way to the streets where rock walls
butt up
to they should finish the Lots they have
a
responsibility to the residents that
they Market their products to you know
regardless of cost they pass the cost on
to the buyer anyway what difference does
it
make I have deed restrictions deed
restrictions and Covenants should take
precedence over anything else I bought a
house I don't want a gas station next
door to M Miss um sir your your time is
up thank you understand thank you thank
you
ready yeah thank you all we'll go ahead
uh councel uh with their questions and
staff can come up afterwards and we can
uh see what the next steps are all right
uh councelor Grant thank you um one kind
of just bigger picture thing that
everyone's heard from me a few times and
then two specific questions on the
presentation um first tremendous thanks
to staff to if you were if you were on
the TAC can you raise your hand if
you're
here thank
you um truly appreciate the work that
everyone has put into this and just even
the small sample of comments Today Show
how many stakeholders and sentiments and
industries and feelings we're trying to
juggle so I just want to acknowledge um
what an incredible process this is and
thank everyone who has been involved um
as I've said before my priorities coming
into this recognizes that creating
flexibility and Zoning codes to allow
for greater housing density greater
housing types mixed use neighborhoods
it's one of the few things that a local
government can actually do in the face
of larger State Regional Federal
pressures and I'm so happy to see that
we're moving in this direction um I've
said this before too love my
neighborhood in a C2 um so I'm in a C2
mix Zone commercial have great neighbors
um can walk to see Senor Express so I
don't have to sit in the drive through
line so you get a little bit of
walkability in that for my burritos and
recognizing the fact that not all
neighborhoods look alike not all
neighborhoods have to be alike and all
neighborhoods are equally valuable to
the people who call them home so just
wanted to say that and now to um again I
don't know if we if I should get this
far into the weeds but can I ask
questions to two slides
thanks oh actually just one slide 34
please
and I'm going to turn
to uh just two kind of general public
safety questions so I'm going to turn
first to Chief Smith not Chief
Smith hey
DC um sorry so to the first bullet
travel Lane shall not be wider than 11
ft across all Street cross sections
um I want to make sure that all fire
apparatus can respond safely effici and
not just be in the lane but open their
doors and I think that we need something
a little wi I know you're not Mark
dubbin or chief Smith but would you like
to say who you are yeah I'm deputy chief
Sean hack um thank you counselor um yeah
right now the average width of a fir
truck is anywhere between 8 to 10 feet
depending on the apparatus type and
you're right at 11 feet that that
doesn't really give us much room to open
doors and it also more importantly
doesn't give room for vehicles to move
out of our our way so that we can go byy
them safely and and effectively and and
quickly as most people would want if
we're responding so I think we are not a
fan of that 11 foot at all we'd like to
see it 121 13 I know the buses have the
same issue as us but we're also going
into neighborhoods where the buses don't
go and we need to be able to get to
those areas okay thank you so much so if
that could be considered you know again
I know we're balancing a lot of
different wants and needs here um and
then the second is actually uh the
second bullet point so having having
been in a neighborhood where it was
proposed uh that we were going to get
rid of parking on one side of the street
I know that that is often contentious
for people who
have you know have had that opportunity
or that luxury um for long-term so I
just have some personal input from a
neighborhood where that happened and we
did end up retaining to sides Street uh
parking on both sides of the street um
the question I know uh Chief story had
to step away um but my other idea is on
the
enforcement of making that an ordinance
so I feel like that would be pretty
onerous for whoever would have to be
going out and potentially ticketing
folks who were parked or I I I don't
know what that would look like but I
would want that
considered um if we were going to um um
put this in and it can also again lead
to a lot of fines and potential um
reprecussions for folks who have been
used to having that parking available
and that's all I got thank
you thank you councelor councelor
McClure yeah I had a couple questions SL
statement slash hopefully provoking a
little bit more conversation um the bike
parking I would like to see mandatory
bike parking I think what this this
document becomes is an example of what
our values are and if we do want to move
toward that what would that look like
for our city um no pun intended but part
of this too is making it Equitable in
ways for businesses as well I'm going to
give two examples for example uh Fiesta
Foods we chain up to the front there
that's I would love to see some bike
parking there and I know that there
would be use for that
but conversely on Madrid there's an itty
bitty little grocery store we bike there
and we kind of hope for the best we tie
our bikes together so what would that
look like for that complex versus a
larger um grocery store to be able to
get offer that to customers consider
that as parts of routes very
fundamentally in terms of Transit so
that that would be my commentary for
that um going back to values I'm I'm
going to Echo what Dr Wallace said
earlier in terms of of historical pre
preservation I think we've made some
huge strides and especially the last
year to clarify what the role is of this
organization I'd like to see what other
counselors think I've been going to the
meetings um there's a lot of passion
there's a lot of fear of losing our
history and I think there's a there's a
component of that but there's also a
need to recognize what its role is and I
would like to have that clarified I
would like to know whether or
not this Council now how it sees
historic preservation because to me I
just don't want loss and I also think
there are opportunities so I think that
there's opportunities for affordable
housing I spoke to Dr barryman at one
point and we talked about how their role
will be to have these conversations like
how can you fix your windows to make it
historically appropriate but also to
save money so I'd like to ask a little
bit for my other counselors what does
this look like going forward how do we
envision it and give them guidance on
what they what they want to see for
historical preservation I think the plan
is a great idea I think we're on the way
to get a new historical preservation
specialist I am curious Sarah the idea
of adding that consultant in is that
does that echo in any other document or
any other section that we can do
something like that but I do want to ask
other counselors what how do you see
historic preservation how can we see
this as an opportunity instead of
something divisive so I'm G leave that
there and I'm Gonna Let You Go and then
I'm gonna let them go mayor council
McClair um we were discussing that as
that was being brought up as being you
know a consultant coming on board or
being that defined within the definition
that is something we can look at um per
the certified local government they do
have consultant listed on there as well
um the the main reason we don't like to
list position is because positions
definitely can be changed modified and
we don't want to have to do code
amendments every other day if an IT
position changes and so that is
something we definitely can consider as
part of the definition moving forward
with some of the
Departments thank you and so I would be
in favor something like that if that
might be something we could look at but
I am going to challenge my other
counselors to talk about historic
preservation in a little bit more
Visionary way we don't have to make any
sort of defined statements but I would
like to hear what you think in terms of
keeping some of Las crisis's history
with with us
Council fles uh thank you uh mayor
hriz um I um you want to hear my comment
about I'm 100%
uh uh behind historic uh preservation
and I've attended the meetings I know
some of the people in the audience and
um and you know there's a lot of squeaky
Wheels out there and um but there's a
lot of passion just a lot of passion on
preservation um
and um I I know there's been you know
with a former employee here and all you
know there was some sort of a falling
out but um it seems you know with all
due respect um to my fellow lovers of
historic
preservation um you seem really upset
all the time and so when you come up
here or when I you know go to your
meetings it's
like but and and this
uh the historic uh you know is it a
commission is it a committee and um you
know I I just hate to see that
dissonance and to have that but um but I
feel very strongly about uh preserving
our history and um and and having uh
like for example would the word
commission get you more money from the
federal
government it
would okay they're saying no you're
saying
yes okay I'm G to I'm going to send a
letter to our president Trump and see
what he says but you know with all due
respect it's just
very it's you know I would just like to
see uh your committee your
organization uh proceed and um and
I it seems like that one word is holding
you back and I don't understand that but
but then you know I'm not there um but I
do want to thank um
our planning
um our planning people um it it's very
thorough I think that uh I you know that
I the discussion I had with the two of
you
about cbera Street I think it's cbera I
remember asking uh Chief uh Smith who's
not here uh about that street and I
don't you know it'd be good maybe to go
out there and see how wide it is because
that a friend of mine lives there and uh
and I you know I said to her why would
you buy a place here she said it was the
only one I could afford oh okay but um
but the fire trucks they they do fit in
street but they can't open the side
panels you know which is where all the
life-saving uh stuff is so I and I so if
you could look into that maybe 11 ft
isn't enough given on what um the uh
Deputy uh Chief just uh
reported
um so I you know I I I would like to get
past the barrier uh between the city and
the historic preservation committee um I
so
anyway my heart does go out to you and
uh that's all I have to say for now
thank
you did you have anything counc no I I
think um I just wanted to share my
gratitude to everyone who's been working
really diligently and collecting a lot
of diverse inputs again similar to what
counselor councelor Graham said in terms
of the range of things that you all have
heard and assimilated in this process
it's extraordinary and um I really
appreciate the the feedback that you've
given to us and the opportunities that
we've had and the significant
opportunities for folks to contribute um
to this and um I I I think moving
forward I do think there are some things
along around the edges that I believe we
can that hearing hearing this today we
can sort of think about and and
incorporate I do think that that we
should have a big conversation about
Park funding and how we do that and I
think that's part of the idea of the
park impact fee being in the future and
I think I look forward to that
conversation as the place where a lot of
those parks that have been built appear
so I I look forward to those evolving
conversations the dark sky conversation
as well um I think we can have a robust
conversation about what that means um as
far as historic preservation I tend to
agree councelor McClure I think
um uh uh Dr Wallace's comments really
ring true with me I would like for us to
have a really clear perspective on sort
of where we're headed with historic
preservation I think there's a lot of
expertise that can be tapped into I know
that
um systematically we've been sort
of thinking about some properties really
um a a small number of properties that
the city has owns but I think
understanding how we sort of plan and
integrate and understand history as it
exists and have a strategy going forward
for that I think that would be a really
meaningful um role for the historic
preservation committee and I think that
was part of the original intent of that
committee and understanding the research
that I've done and understanding um the
origin of the committee and what folks
have shared along the way um
I but I would say this I think that this
the point of this process is
to break down barriers that have existed
historically and I think to be frank um
I think the historic preservation
commission is advocating strongly for
their role to be one of of uh barrier
and I I just think that this entire
process the point of this is to break
down barriers and and so I think I would
ask the historic preservation folks in
the room to think of themselves as a
generative partner in these
conversations more than uh sort of a
functional group that overrides things
that's that's been one of of my asks
throughout all of realiz is um things
should not be being appealed to city
council like car carports um it's not
our area of expertise there's no reason
to have uh a city body weighing in on
things that can be understood better by
the experts who are most approximate to
the to the topic and I think that's true
of historic preservation as well and so
I would I think that the city can do
better in terms of understanding how we
interface with that in terms of historic
preservation but I also think um I'm
going to ask our colleagues to to sort
of consider how um the historic
preservation group can can contribute to
that strategy of really preserving
history understanding history and
supporting that in in our building so
just as far as your request Council Merc
that's sort of where I I come through on
that
um and I'm again I'm really happy that
we probably like we probably aren't
going to hear about carport just just as
a just as a very symbolic um
conversation
uh our development code is outdated you
all have done extraordinary work to
bring it up to a different place and to
integrate an extraordinarily broad range
of voices I look forward to hearing the
presentations in February and I just
really appreciate the conversations that
have happened so far I hope some of the
the very specific things that we talked
about today can be can be incorporated
and and I really appreciate the work
that you all have done and I look
forward to not having to decide if
someone's carport has to be Tor torn
down ever again thank you so much for
nothing if if not that so um that's
that's sort of my perspective and I I
appreciate the opportunity to weigh in
and again give feedback in the many
places that we have had the opportunity
to give
feedback good M Pro thanks mayor thank
you Sarah Chris our Consultants
everybody the TAC um I was just earlier
when you started the presentation I was
thinking about when we hired the
Consultants we still had a counselor
gasquez and now we have a congressman
gasquez so it's definitely been a long
time to get here so thank all of you for
for all the work that youve put into
this all the experts everybody okay I do
have I scared mayor because I was like
mayor I think I have a lot I'm gonna try
to just condense some of my pieces I
think conversations will continue but
given that councelor McClair you know
sort of called us into that question
that is important um you know
I I feel like behind the conversation of
committee to commission is this current
of fear that is this a decision on the
road to getting rid of the HPC right I
feel like there's this fear and this
fear comes from I think years probably
of mistrust from both honestly not even
years decades right of choices that the
city has made um that has impacted our
historic preservation pretty negatively
right and so there's this mistrust I
also feel like we can't codify trust
building here that really has to be up
to the members of the commission to The
Advocates of historic preservation and
to City staff and of course this
governing body there is zero desire in
me to see something like HPC go away I
think their role is incredibly important
their role is um necessary I also feel
like
um I don't often hear I sit on the
Utilities Commission which is pretty
significant and important commission um
I think I very serious about who I
appoint to things like the pnz because
of the kind of power that they
carry
and more often than not I am hearing
about the ways that members of HPC have
crossed the line where me like it is it
happens really only with this commiss
committee group of folks that I feel
like folks um staff and others have felt
disrespected and I do feel like there is
an important conversation to be had
together about how we continue to build
trust
I do not um you know I think there's
stuff in here that I'm going to get to
like some parks things that are going to
have like Monumental serious important
good implications for a long time time
commission to committee I don't
necessarily place in that same uh
category what I think needs to happen is
for a commitment from members of this
advocacy group members of this committee
to come together with staff and talk
about how we change culture how we
change the way we interact with each
other that needs to happen that can't
that can't be
codified um I do also feel that
um naming a position here feels really
odd are there any other positions that
are staff positions that are named
specifically in real life Chris mayor
mayor protm Chris favor for the record
through realiz we are trying to get away
from staff positions being named for the
reasons that Sarah mentioned before so
we're trying to go to a director or
director design when it references a
specific F City Department currently
there are lower level staff positions
mentioned in mun code and I know there's
going to be a larger effort once realiz
is adopted to go back and sort of clear
those up as well so that's what we did
in this attempt with just the land use
code thank you you know and I think I
could sit up here and say many things
and if that fear is still there then
that's what's going to lead the culture
of this committee and I don't want that
to be the case right like I I think this
body has expressed very clearly and not
even just this body but previous bodies
that historic preservation must you know
there should be a priority on that and
so um I can I can only speak for myself
right and say that um that is not a
desire that I that I have is for this
group of folks and the duties of this
group to be to go away so that's you
know I don't know if that's sufficient
or not cancer mlar I know that you have
the majority of you know uh the impact
in district one and so um but thank you
for that
question okay I have several other
pieces that I want to just uh touch
on
um and Sarah you did talk about this a
little bit in chapter 3 okay let me back
up a little bit because so much of how I
dove in to this and how I have been
looking at this is through the lens
of revitalizing ation is through the
lens of the Metropolitan Redevelopment
areas to me those are very critical
zoning designations that I hope a lot of
all of us are really trying to look
through that lens of how do we speaking
of wrong wrongs that have been committed
for decades um many many years ago
decades ago there was a decision that
was made maybe uh subcon like
unconscious decision that was made about
where we place our focus in the city
which caused a neglect to many other uh
areas of our city west Picacho um ELO
South Solano these area this it didn't
just happen that they became under
represented and neglected right there
was choices that were made that made
them feel like this and so now I feel
like with realiz we have an opportunity
to correct some of those wrongs and
because of that I want us to have that
very clear lens of how do we approach
many of these with those in mind and I
think to me that means with a lot of
flexibility with room for um flexibility
and I understand that there's this push
and pull of well if we have standards
and we're always going to wave them then
what do we even have them for the
reality though is that for now in the
meantime areas like the M which I hope
by the end of next year we have many
more other than two is that we are
cultivating uh growth and ensuring that
we are seeing these areas get back to
what they used to be even better so I'll
say that as I approach the next couple
of pieces in chapter 3 pnz recommended a
couple of things that I feel have I have
some concerns with um for example um the
special use permits around
drive-throughs which could impact many
things including a brand new bank that's
going up uh on El Paso and also the
commercial parking lots I have several
of these in my district like B Belgium
um actually like um let's comes near
msia that is still in District 4 and so
I can you just address some of those
pieces give some examples of the
implications of this um that I don't
necessarily um agree
with I I can start and then I can turn
it over to Sarah if she has more
information to give so Chris favor again
for the record I I think the intent from
pnz was to continue to Foster this idea
of more pedestrian friendly walkable
type community
and in that context I can appreciate the
you know the the desire to try to
eliminate things that are specifically
vehicle Centric I think specific to the
entire urban area I think it does create
a it's a very large footprint of the
city that would be impacted it would
make any of those um businesses within
that area that currently have a
drive-thru or a car wash or a gas
station at some point they could be
non-conforming if that business was to
go out and period of time lapsed before
something else came back in so I think
that's something for Council to consider
um across the entire you know urban area
so I I I can see how some of that could
be good standards for new development I
I would caution against the entire urban
area although I know there are some
elements of elevate that do speak to
moving in that direction I will say from
an economic development stpoint that
that does add more time and more cost to
a new business that could potentially be
starting up now they would have to go
through the special use permit process
which would take them to Planning and
Zoning there's additional time maybe
they have a loan that they're waiting on
to pay back so there are other things to
factor in when looking at um the need to
or or the thought of putting a special
use permit in place for those specific
things yeah thank you Chris I I
appreciate that and councelor Corin said
it really beautiful about this really
being a catalyst like for getting rid of
barriers and I feel like making a bunch
of these properties non-conforming
properties only actually adds a barrier
to a place that we're trying to to put
so much attention into so um I for one I
think would say um not to have these as
special use permits for drive-throughs
uh gas pumps car washes those kinds of
places in the urban place as well as the
parking lots payday
loans at risk of getting placed on a
billboard again I don't particularly
care how many sus payday loans have to
go through um I'll maybe I'll get on a
billboard after that um but I I the
other places I do feel like um require
perhaps instead of making them
non-conforming give them some design
options right some design
recommendations for how they can still
keep pedestrians in mind um I Sarah
there's a couple of things you mentioned
about we should just we should leave
that to the technical manual I feel like
that that is really important and that
would be at least what I would like to
see um as we come into
February um and then I think similarly
with dark sky I do not feel well
equipped to say yes put that in here
right now I think we can do a work
session in the future um I have no idea
what Albuquerque has just done and all I
ALS with part with this in particular
lighting Landscaping I also wanted to be
really mindful again
of the flexibilities that we give
businesses in the metropolitan
Redevelopment areas I just had a meeting
with Chris and other folks from a brand
new business on West Picacho and they're
trying to do so much and there were so
many barriers placed to them being able
to open and I feel like that is the
opposite of where we want to go and so
again I I just want to reiterate those
pieces um I really have appreciated the
I'll wrap up mayor um I think I really
appreciate
especially working with um the home
builders in in this new iteration of
what park development could look like um
try my computer um fell asleep and I
wanted
to read something that I
found um because I think while change is
very scary I so interesting I found just
earlier today this um I think maybe an
oped or something from Steve Ramirez
from 2013 about the change that happened
then from I think go so there was one
year where it went from 800 to no 1300
to 2600 800 to 2600 that's major right
we T in utilities we talk about this all
the time not shocking rate payers with
those kinds of increases that's why it's
important to evaluate Park any kind of
impact fees on a more regular basis than
let's say 10 years for example so in
20133 the vote came to council and they
decided to keep it at 2600
correct is that sort of how the process
has gone a mayor mayor proem at the time
it actually was 800 in 2013 it was um
approved to be adopted at
2600 thank you and I'm not even trying
to talk about this too long because this
is a different conversation I do just
want to say that there is this um oped
that and 10 years ago talked about very
similar things that we're hearing today
right the fear of how we talk about
parks that it'll create this um
inability for for people to purchase
homes and so all the fear is the same
and I would venture out to say that in
the last 10 years we've seen a lot of
growth and plenty of growth and so what
I would want to just encourage folks to
stay at the table to talk to have these
conversations with us and um I've really
appreciated the sort of boldness that
staff has come to uh Council regarding
some of the park um considerations and
so I just wanted to lift that up and
appreciate that um and then I'm just
gonna look quick take quick look at my
notes I also I did there's two things
from comments that I wanted to address
uh was one the parking the bike parking
I I also feel like that's really
important the one consideration I would
say is to give flexibilities to
businesses and time for that so that we
are not holding up business permits if
they don't have a bike rack installed
right and so but I do feel like bike
parking is really important the other
piece that was brought up that I thought
was interesting and I hope you can talk
about it is the zoning designation and
the character designation about making
that a single step instead of two
separate
steps mayor mayor proem and counselors
essentially it is going to be a one-step
process the way that it would run is an
would come forward with the zone change
the zone change would then go forward to
the Planning and Zoning commission and
from there it goes to city council if
Planning and Zoning um makes a
recommendation to adjust Elevate because
they do not feel it aligns that would be
the recommendation to city council City
Council in turn would decide if it does
align or if it does not so if you're
looking at a bigger area that is
impacted that does not maybe meet the
neighborhood character or it doesn't
align with Elevate then staff at that
point would come back and look at
Elevate to see if it's going to meet the
needs of that growth or through it as a
city and then make their recommendation
to counil and so the zoning process is
really going to be the step that comes
in from the applicant or from the
developer the rest of that portion is
going to be for city council to
determine if it's going to match what
the growth pattern should be for the
city at that point we would want to go
back and actually change Elevate if it
does not
align okay so SAR I'm sorry Sarah that
was a little bit uh confusing for me so
for these kind of zoning changes request
it would only come to city council the
one time May or mayor pretend that's
correct unless there is a time so if I
were to submit an application today I'm
going to actually go to Planning and
Zoning commission so say if I am taking
my neighborhood one and going to a
neighborhood 2 the character areas are
all combined Within These and so you're
going to have neighborhood one Urban
neighborhood one Suburban this is how
the zoning designations will work and so
it's going to tell you essentially how
you get your densities so if I come in
and I want to go from a neighborhood one
Urban to a neighborhood one Suburban
then I'm going to submit a zone change
through that process staff's going to
evaluate if it's going to blend with the
neighborhood is it going to meet the
intent is this zone change appropriate
because it would be no different than
the current zone change process of
identifying if it's a spot zoning we
wouldn't take one zone out of an entire
area and say this one can be something
very different so we're going to look at
compatibility that would then move to
the planning and zoning commission for
recommendation to city council and so at
one time you're going through one
process the only time the process would
become essentially a hold or basically a
postponement would be if Council
determines that it does not meet Elevate
or it doesn't basically doesn't meet our
plan then staff would go back to
evaluate how it would meet the plan or
what would be maybe best options if we
were to re-evaluate um Elevate L crues
because we haven't done it at time so
really it's one process for the applic
it just may have a hold once it gets to
council if there's discrepancies if it
doesn't match the plan if it's not what
council wants to move forward but that's
also to the discretion of council if we
come forward with a proposal or the
applicant comes forward and city council
determines it does not require elevates
Amendment then you have the right to go
ahead and approve or amend or change as
you would need okay thank you Sarah I
again I think just as we talk about
these
things the goal is to Li minate the
amount of barriers right and so I that
still feels really convoluted to me but
again these hypotheticals are really
difficult to talk in terms like this so
if you feel I know that you've been I
think a huge proponent of that as well
that flexibility and so if you feel like
that is um a process that's going to
work um then I I trust that guidance as
well thank you councelor Corin I don't I
saw you um no I was just going to I was
just going to follow up but I think I
understand like one justification that
would go for both types of character and
Zoning thing right for from the
applicant mayor proam um it's not
necessary justification it's just
doesn't fit within your area so we
wouldn't want to see necessarily maybe
if you're in a rural area going directly
to an urban um unless there's some kind
of justification or there's some kind of
plan or there's some kind of if it comes
with affordability if it comes as part
of a master plan so we'd be looking at
it as a whole we wouldn't just want to
go ahead in the middle next to Oregon
mountains and say that's now going to
become an urban area because that
characteristic is very different and I
guess that was the followup sorry to
that I that I just wanted to say part of
the point of this is to have way fewer
of those than we ever have before right
like we have a lot of
inconsistent I think or historical
unchanged you know grandfathered in um
things that I feel like this part of
this is most of these things are
conforming with what we expect now and
so it's less like it's much less likely
that this would ever come into that
review process or that people would need
to do that is that like an accurate
description of what the goal of realiz
is Mayor and councelor cran that's
correct a lot of our existing
developments will be that way we still
expect to see new development coming in
in areas that may not be zoned but
that's where we get those Master plans
we're going to see how it aligns and
what actual development we can actually
get proposed around roads maybe from the
ther plan that have not been designed
yet okay thank you I just wanted to
thank you for asking that mayor proam I
just I I wanted to understand too like
when you said when it comes to council
like that's when we get all like you
know nervous because um we we do not
love an agenda full of 18 zoning changes
so that's our not just because we don't
like that but because we're ill equipped
to to make those decisions and it's
better done through comprehensive zoning
reform so thank you again sorry bye I
don't even want to say that it's because
we're all equipped I don't necessarily
think that I think it like I just
remember that conversation we had about
the carport of this woman who her
husband has had passed away like it just
felt like it didn't need to go through
this process at city like it did need to
get here right so I feel like that's at
least the point for me um and then I do
want to just say that the I feel like
maybe doublesided parking on streets
could be also a traffic calming
situation so um certainly is on my
street and so um perhaps I would just
say to keep it that as well but I know a
couple folks have already said that um
again I think I just lastly what I want
to say is really encourage all of us
especially staff to really look at this
through the lens of mras as well and to
um really consider what it is that we're
trying to get done in areas of our
community that have been um for far too
long neglected so thank you very
much we good
well I just again I just want to say
thank you uh I don't think we can say it
enough for for the gratitude for this
this is a code that has been outdated
for years for over 20 years so it's a
huge task uh to come together and and
put this together so I just want to
thank again Larry and Tim uh David CIO
Tony thino you know from Public Works
everybody that came together the TAC
committee it it's it's a lot of work and
Sarah Chris thanks for coming in and the
consultant it's uh
it's much needed and and what we're
looking for is like the big picture is
is what what I'm looking at is General
is to talk about a code that's
userfriendly that's inviting and that's
affordable and and and that's what we
want for our community and I'll get to
councelor mccor you talk about historic
preservation and you know that's I'm I'm
all about that that's how we become
inviting people want to come and live in
Los Cruses because of our culture
because of our history because of who we
are so I think it's a great idea to have
a plan uh we need that specialist hired
uh whether it's a commission or a
committee I think what it is is a plan
collaboration and working together
because that's what that's what makes
Las Cruses who we are and we need to
develop around that and so I'm all for
having a historic plan and moving in
that direction I thought that was a
great idea uh other things that I wanted
to mention uh that I have just listed
like the dark skies I think that's
something we need to dive into a little
bit more it's not just about the Mr but
it's it's any existing building uh it it
becomes a challenge to bring it up to
code so we need to look at those things
again I go back to Affordable and being
user friendly so we need to really look
at that for our Mr and our existing
vacant buildings uh that we want to be
inviting so that we can attract new
businesses so we have to look at those
those options as well
the parks and the timing fees I don't
want to confuse zoning with fees but it
is something that we we need to look at
and I think Mr mscot brought up
dedication and recording if that's
something that staff would look at and
make sure that we iron that out and to
I'm I'm with that uh staff um to to look
at the the twep process it might be two
steps for us it may be one step for them
but it's a lot of steps in the process
and and that's what we're trying to say
when I get back to being user friendly
and and being uh affordable because when
it all is said and done it it it really
is the homeowner and we want to make
sure that we have affordable homes uh
for people either to move into Los cruus
to upgrade to another home and it it it
all comes and works together so I think
staff has done a great job I I think
I've heard it before everybody has said
that that the the the new code the plan
is like 95 to 98% there so great job I
know it's a long time coming uh we just
need to tweak these final things before
we come up to February but uh I know I
had some more thoughts and ideas and
some things and and I'll pass those on
uh to the city manager but uh I thank
Council for all their comments and uh I
thank the public for supporting because
like I said it is something that that
has been outdated
and and we'll look to to add
into to
help uh I I say our developers and our
home builders it's like the one thing
that we can do as a city is expedite
things to it's a timing issue because
time is money and if we it it helps our
staff so we're not bogged down with is
it this rule is it that rule is it this
step is it that step so this really
helps to to be more efficient and
effective and it's a greater good for
everyone so thank you all for all your
hard work and uh tweak a few things and
I think we're we're good to go in
February okay any other comments by
staff
anything thank you mayor okay I think
that's all we had on the agenda for
today motion to adjourn so move by
florus seconded
this is on the motion to Adin the work
session councelor mcer yes councelor
matis is absent councelor gram is absent
councelor
cran yes councelor flutes yes councelor
boml yes and mayor
yes
e e