okay well good morning everybody Welcome
to our city council meeting
let's see what day is today it's uh no
it's May 15th
2023. it's approximately 9 00 a.m and um
before we have our Pledge of Allegiance
I'm asking if you please rise as we
reflect back on the brave men and women
of the United States armed forces as
they protect our interests around the
globe as well as the courageous men and
women of the Las Cruces Police
Department and the Las Cruces fire
department as they keep our city safe 24
7 365. and also wish a happy birthday to
our mayor who's an old man today
just for that counselor Flores you
joined us in the pledge
allegiance to the flag of the United
States of America and to the Republic
indivisible with liberty and justice for
all
now if that wasn't a flashback to the
70s or when I was in school and start
off the Pledge of Allegiance yeah okay
so we're going to go ahead and get
started with our pets of the week and I
believe Amy the Felix is on the
um
zoom and I know councilor Ben Como is
going to be joining us via Zoom a little
bit later so I'll get to her in just a
second but Amy are you there
hello yes I'm here can you hear me yes
awesome excellent I will share my screen
all right
and hello my name is Amy I am the
adoption and rescue coordinator one of
them for the Animal Services Center at
the Mission Valley I am the one that
also works on the pets of the week so
I'm here to present that to you today
we'll start off with our cat of the week
um her his name sorry is Simon his
number is 61358 and he says I am a small
boy with a big personality I called for
your intention of the sweetest meow and
I want to spend my entire day cuddling
up and getting tips from my people like
most stories of the cats around here I
was found outside trying to schmooze my
local neighbors for snacks but my
perfect family will keep me indoors and
spoiling Amy since you took a breath I'm
going to let mayor know that we are not
seeing the picture on the screen are you
seeing it I'm seeing it since I'm screen
sharing it that is it is but can you
expand it so whether you see just out in
the audience a small square are you
seeing the full picture I'm seeing the
full picture let me
um on the zoom let me try to share it
again that is very interesting
there we go Amy thank you there we go
awesome there we go thank you
and then here's the cat of the week
what I'm so sorry I see there it is the
cat of the week oh and his little
description as well
um I will also like to share our dog of
the week um his name is Betty his number
is 554-91
um and he says if you're looking for an
adorably charming and Goofy dog with a
handsome like handsomely unique
appearance look no further I am a sweet
affectionate boy who is 100 excited to
go on walks with you I might even know
sin already so aren't I so smart I want
my forever family to keep me active and
teach me more commands so that I can
feel fulfilled and enriched
and I always versatilize it but have not
had a sort of like a physical
um present like a slime for it but we do
have our adoption event this Saturday we
will be at the farmer's market from 10
a.m to 1 pm we're usually stationed
around Oregon Mountain Outfitters so if
you need a little GPS location that is
this is their address 53500 with main
um we hope to see you there we will
definitely have dogs sometimes we have
cats if they have the banks that allow
it um let me encourage you to stop on by
it hopefully adopt a new forever friend
now to continue this month's topic of
good season
um I'd like to share what is it that you
or other members of them have like into
the first step would be to check out the
kittens to see if they even need human
help so to recap from last week's
presentation if the kittens look pink
healthy or warm and have full bellies
then you should leave them alone for now
it looks like mom is taking care of them
and you can wait until they're a little
older to attract them and bring them
into a shelter or rescue and then at
that time you can also trap mom and TNR
her
but if the kittens are pale cold if they
have small bellies
um or other signs of illness mom is
likely not present and they definitely
need human help
these cases are the cases that shelter
service views want to preserve their
resources for because they're the ones
that definitely need the most help to be
able to thrive if Mom's not taking care
of them feeding them they need human
intervention for help
so when you spot these guys definitely
reach out to us local organizations to
see if anyone has any availability to
take them in and be able to care for
them and nurse them back to health quite
literally actually so to create in to
increase our own availability we
definitely encourage you to sign up to
Foster the ascmv and other local rescues
have Foster programs and we're all
always looking for bottle baby I should
say bottle baby Fosters we're not
looking for more bottle babies we will
look Fosters definitely
to help increase our pool at least the
as the ascmv offers training to anyone
that wants to learn how to care for a
bottle baby if they've never had done so
before so we help you teach how to kind
of bottle feed them what to do if the
baby happens to be a particularly
stubborn eater basically and other stuff
when it will also help with some
training of a medication administration
for the little teeny babies we don't do
anything more than just like the topical
ointment so it's pretty easy to give you
the Run by the education to kind of how
to do that but most effectively and how
often
and other sort of bottle baby sort of
skills like weighing them making sure
that they're gaining about doing the
quick evaluation how to stimulate them
because baby kittens don't know how to
go potty by themselves they need their
mom to help and if they don't have Mom
they need us now so we give you kind of
the whole rundown of how to take care of
a baby kitten and if you're interested
but have never done stuff before
um you can visit our website at
ascnv.org Foster program we have a
digital copy of our cost replication
that you can print fill out and bring
over to us and let me put you in touch
with our foster all right temporary
foster coordinators because our main
frontal coordinator is on maternity
leave oh but we have stuff about interim
Foster coordinators that are definitely
able to help and want to help
there are also some local rescues that
are that I am pretty familiar with that
are also always looking for more Fosters
the two that I've listed are the
cutscale Las Cruces you can find them
online at the Academia Las cruces.com
and we also have the action program for
Animals rescue you can find them online
at APA Las cruces.org
um we I work with them a lot sending
cats transferring cats and dogs
um but we always hear the video during
this kitten season they're also
struggling for foster space
um and if you would prefer to help them
any help videos to them indirectly or
even directly helps us the more that
they have their own resources they are
able to help us out as well so it's a
community-wide ever now over so any help
to anyone helps the community and you
know helps us beat survive get in season
but that is all I have today so thank
you
okay thank you Amy
okay next we're gonna have our jobs of
the week and Irene para from The
Economic Development Department we'll
present those
[Music]
good morning mayor city council everyone
part of Economic Development and happy
birthday mayor
okay we begin with the city of Las
Cruces who is hiring a marketing
coordinator this position pays between
58 000 and 83 000 a year and closes on
May 23rd the White Sands Missile Range
is hiring a commercial sponsorship
program coordinator this position pays
35 000 a year and closes on May 22nd
families and youth has hiring a
Hospitality specialist this position
pays between twenty two thousand and
thirty thousand depending on experience
and closes on June 4th
Messiah Valley Community of Hope is
hiring a Veterans Services Health Care
Navigator this position pays between
forty one thousand and sixty three
thousand a year and closes on June 3rd
to cash Government Solutions is hiring a
dispatcher this position pays between
thirty three thousand and thirty nine
thousand a year depending on experience
and closes on July 28th and distinction
LLC Roswell Job Corps is hiring an
enrollment specialist this position pays
between twenty eight thousand and thirty
six thousand a year depending on
experience and closes on June 2nd
and as always for more information you
can contact the local Workforce
Connection office at
575-524-6250 or at their local office at
226 South Alameda or online at employ
nm.com thank you okay thank you Irene
okay so I don't think we have any
presentations so we have counselor
Johanna Ben Como on the line who would
wish to join us so I'm going to need a
motion and a second to allow her to
participate telephonically move to
approve Corin second gram
I mean who's did the second
Graham okay motion based by counselor
Koran second by councilor Graham to
allow councilor Johanna Ben Como to
participate our council meeting
telephonically
uh Christine this is on the motion to
allow councilor Ben Como to participate
telephonically councilor beta yes
councilor Graham yes councilor Ben Comal
yes councilor Koran yes Council Flores
yes councilor gandada yes mayor yes
okay now I'm going to read the conflict
of interest statement this is where any
member of the city council the city
manager or manager city manager staff
has any known conflict of interest on
any item on the agenda
on 7.4 in reading the packet
my father-in-law was mentioned as sort
of the
initial founding father if you will of
the area the family owns a property
adjacent to the area in question so I
wanted to say that out loud and there
might be a perceived conflict of
interest now obviously that we're
married and but Bill doesn't own that
property his in-law does
okay how do you feel you feel you can be
fair and impartial yes okay if you feel
that then okay yeah
and councilman Cuomo
you're good
none for me mayor okay yeah neither do I
not for me okay thank you all right so
with that we're going to go to public
participation now let me just kind of
clarify a few things I know that there
are many residents here for item 7.4
which is the ordinance zone change
with the council's approval I would like
to have that move to the first okay so
the first item so for those of you that
are here if you're here to to speak on
that I had told Mr Cesar Brooke here
Brooke Milgen yes sir I had mentioned
that since he's going to be the uh kind
of like the lead person that they have a
total of 15 minutes so if you've
coordinated with uh with Mr Milligan
then that's great but if what I'm trying
to say is
I may after their presentation allow
just some very limited time for the
other residents let's say you don't know
him or let's say you haven't coordinated
with him I may allow some limited time
for for comments after him but so what
I'm trying to say is this public
participation if you have anything other
than any item that's on the agenda if
you can feel you feel free to come
forward you have a total of three
minutes and then when it comes to agenda
items total of four minutes okay but
that's if but that's only
um if you don't speak on anything else
so you only have two times at the podium
okay so I usually start on my left and
season one on the first row
second row
third row
fourth row
fifth
throw Mr Garcia yes
my name is Juan Garcia I hear counselors
during 2022 there were 15 peace officers
attacked by the Las Cruces criminal
element public information aggravated
assault and a peace officer in nine
counts as defined unlawfully assaulting
or striking as a peace officer with
deadly weapon aggravated battery on
officer caused Great bodily harm one
count aggravated battery on peace
officer not great bodily harm four
counts disarming disarming a police
officer one count
this is a total of 15 counts in 12
months or 1.25 assaults per month all
felonies I went by Lucy's Cafe on Valley
Avenida the Messiah last night four
Windows four windows and the front door
shattered
small mom-and-pop restaurant with owners
trying to survive
went by the little shop on Main Another
Broken Window I've lost track on family
Windows Patricia has had to replace
many portray the Las Cruces criminal
element as choir boys or victims to
create a counter narrative to Law and
Order and help justify normalized
criminal behavior and attempt
to keep it under the radar
like the Forgotten victims who are now a
report number same old story poverty
climate change mental illness made me
terrorize small businesses the reason is
the criminals know they can do it and
get away with it
I hear of this country's horrific
systemic racism as a factor in crime yet
we have tens of thousands illegally
pouring across across the border 40
miles away in El Paso
makes no sense I hoped it was Forward
Thinking putting to the number of police
officers added to the budget with no
control over the legislation and the
Judiciary we heard quote the council's
hands are tied but you control the size
of the police force to help keep under
crime under reasonable control the local
Progressive representatives and Senators
as demonstrated in the last legislative
session will not raise a finger to
enhance legislation against Crime their
ideology prohibits Based on data
reported to the FBI in 2020
there was by fifteen thousand law
enforcement agencies the national ratio
of police officers to population is 2.4
officers
with the Las Cruces population at 112th
that would be about a plus up of 50
officers not 18.
I understand many in the community push
you against an increased into LCPD
so in the meantime the Forgotten victims
quote will continue to pile up on the
Las Cruces Hall of Shame listing this
last four years have been dismal failure
in public policy
I'm going to submit these pictures for
the record
thanks Juan
I'm just going to comment on two things
one I appreciate you highlighting the
information regarding the officers and
what's really dangerous about that is
you have members of the public who
choose to
attack a police officer who's in uniform
has a badge has a gun has the authority
can you imagine how dangerous they are
to just a regular unarmed person of the
private citizen the second unless things
have changed
it used to be the standard was for every
500 population you had one police
officer where and I think if with this
next group of
graduates in December
fingers crossed will be at 220 officers
which is if you use the the formula 500
that's 110 000 population and the last
census we're at 111 000. so we're close
this would be the closest that I've ever
seen LCPD be percentage-wise to the
number that was dictated by population
so again I appreciate your comments
anyone else on the sixth sixth row
seventh I'll get you in a little bit
seventh row
eighth row
last rows yes sir
and if you could just state your name
when you come up to the podium please
good morning mayor council members my
name is Leonard Wells and I am from the
Fort Bliss Garrison headquarters where I
work in the plans analysis and
integration office one of my primary
duties is community relations and
Regional Partnerships so on behalf of
Colonel Jim Brady our Garrison Commander
we'd like to invite your city staff in
particular your city manager and your
director of Public Works to our
community Summit which is on the 23rd of
August so it's a little ways away I've
reached out to Don Anna County the
Commissioners and I received support
from their County manager and their
County engineer to participate I've
reached out to White Sands Missile Range
as well and they're Garrison commander
and their staff are going to send
representatives and really just very
shortly very briefly our our Summit is
an opportunity for all the community
members to share their Visions for their
organizations two to three year kind of
short term and then also the long-term
Vision so we can find areas of common
interest common initiative common action
so that we can kind of work together and
we don't really want to put a limit on
those priorities that you may have in
particular for us some of them are
renewable energy or infrastructure or
Services it could be Community Services
or Emergency Services because we have
all of that as well but really the
in-state success for us is not only one
to kind of build relationships between
our installation and those in the
community which we think is very
important but also to identify those
common initiatives those common goals
where we can work together and maybe
gain some efficiencies in terms of
economy of scale for for whatever
initiatives or projects that you have
and you're focused on so just again on
behalf of Colonel Brady I just like to
invite your staff
to participate and I can send the formal
invitation to your office as well but
thank you very much for your time
thank you Mr Wells and give our regards
to Major General Eisenhower
yeah great expelled without the e by the
way so
okay so no one else on my on my left
correct all right so now I'm going to do
that my right first row nobody's second
row looks like staff
third row looks like staff fourth row
fifth row
sixth row yes sir
yes sir yes sir we come forward yeah if
you can if you can come to the podium
please just need you to state your name
we have to have it on the record
hi um sorry this is my first ever
meeting and uh I just wanted to make
sure I'm uh this is the appropriate time
to discuss 7.4
to discuss which one the seventh point
no not yes not yet sir if you can wait
until we it's gonna be coming up though
soon okay thank you yes sir okay so that
was a sixth row no one else on Sixth row
seventh eighth so no one else on my
right
okay so we'll go ahead and um
get to the agenda but let me just say we
have a couple things real quick we're
gonna have to remove in its entirety
under proposed ordinances 9.1
so that's going to be removed in its
entirety and I'm asking if we move item
7.4 to the very first of the of the
items in front of 7.1
and that's the only changes I have
mayor I'm asking to remove 6.1 and 6.2
6.1 I have a couple of questions and 6.2
I want a full presentation thank you
okay so I'm 6.1 6.2 removed
with that I need a motion a second
please move to approve with the
Amendments second a beta she made my
counselor Koran second by counselor beta
to have item 9.1 removed in its entirety
Council Bill
[Music]
23-025 ordinance 3031 moved to the first
of the resolution resolutions for
discussion and removing 6.1 6.2 for
discussion
Christine
the agenda with removal of item 9.2 in
its entirety
moving item 7.4 to the first discussion
item and removal of item 6.1 and 6.2 for
discussion
so moved
we already did that counselor
counselor beta yes councilor Graham yes
councilor Ben Comal yes
councilor Koran yes councilor Flores yes
counselor candida yes mayor yes
okay 6.1 resolution 23-123
Motion in a second please move to
approved
second Corin motion made my counselor
Abate the second by councilor Koran and
before we get to Mr Birchfield I see uh
mayor protem emerita Sharon Thomas is in
the building
so good to see you there airport 10.
okay so Raymond Birchfield yes sir good
morning Raymond Birchfield for the
record housing and Neighborhood Services
and before you we have a resolution to
approve a Community Development block
grant agreement between the city and the
Messiah Valley public housing authority
Mr Birchfield I think that mayor Pro tem
just had two questions so I don't think
you need to do full presentation if
that's okay yes sir okay thank you Mary
thank you Mr Birchfield appreciate that
my questions are centered around
um
the the funding the
half of it is coming from our arpa
distribution
counselor yes okay and then the second
question is are all the units at this
Oak Street campus going to be renovated
or rehabbed in some way
their application doesn't specifically
counselor mayor council it doesn't
specifically State all the units right
now most of them are currently occupied
they want to do improvements to the
exterior and Ada and then as necessary
kitchens bathrooms in the rest of the
units there's 21 bedroom and two
efficiency units yes and is that so I'm
concerned about that piece that it's not
specified if there wasn't an assessment
done I know that I see Nicole here but
I'm not sure if I see anybody from
Mission Valley Housing Authority I just
want to make sure that there's been a
proper assessment of each of those units
in efficiency apartments and that that
each of them based on priority I guess
I'm trying to figure out what that
process is in terms of rehabbing and and
how you as staff indicate that that's a
proper
mechanism to move forward
councilor mayor we can certainly inquire
us to their plan before we go to before
they go to bid
I don't specifically know how many are
occupied at the present time most of
them are veteran occupied and I don't
they don't they didn't mention a
relocation plan so they want to use
vacant units first and then you can move
people but I don't I'm just making this
up I don't know what their plan is on
that okay I appreciate that you
mentioned the relocation plan that was
my next question so if there are it's so
if I'm concerned I'm concerned about the
plan especially if staff isn't um
under the impression with specificity
about what that plan is
and I want to make sure that there is a
plan in place before we move forward
with the funding or distribution I
realized that that would happen in a
monthly basis
and maybe we're months out in terms of
what that might look like I'm also
requesting that they come back and I
mean Messiah Valley Housing Authority
come back and make provide a
presentation to council about their
process and updating Council accordingly
a counselor mayor we can actually
we can do that
please make sure that that happens I
again continue to be concerned about
Messiah Valley Housing Authority and
their plan moving forward as they
renovate and Rehab these
complexes that are that are very cons we
should all be concerned our veterans are
in there
and we want to make sure that the
appropriate
um
plan is in place for them
and I know Mr Birchfield this isn't
really on you completely I I had hoped
that summer from Messiah Valley Housing
Authority would be here to answer the
questions
thank you counselor
thank you thank you mayor
okay yeah so the
mayor Pro tem did you want to make a
motion to table this actually you know
that's a great idea mayor I think we
should put a motion forward to table it
until we get the number of questions
that I have and I don't know if Council
has as well until we get those answered
we should do that Mr Mayor I did reach
out to the agency Natalie Green for the
record they are rehabbing the interior
kitchen and bathrooms of all 20 units
I would like to I appreciate that
Natalie I really do
um but I think there needs to be also a
relocation plan and they should be here
to answer these questions so mayor yes
I'm I'm putting forth a motion to table
it until the next regular council
meeting looking at Christine and she's
nodding yes
June 5th
second by Flores
motion made by mayor Pro tem Gandara to
table this into our June 5th city
council meeting second by counselor
Flores Christine
this is on the motion to table
resolution
23-123 to the June 5th regular meeting
counselor beta yes councilor Graham yes
councilor bencomo yes councilor Koran
yes counselor Flores yes councilor
Gandara yes mayor yes
before we go to item 6.2 just for those
members in the audience when a motion to
table is motioned and second there is no
discussion so I just want you to be
aware of that that's why we didn't
okay so item 6.2 Council bill number
23-026 ordinance number 3032
need a motion a second please
Second Court actually made by mayor Pro
tem Gandara second by counselor Quran
and Natalie Green will be discussing
mayor Pro tem did you want a full
presentation or do you have a question I
do full presentation please mayor thank
you
Natalie Green for the record with
housing and Neighborhood Services uh the
item before you is an amendment to the
Pud for the Messiah Valley Community
hope campus
just some information on the current
conditions of the property it is located
at 999 West Amador and it's currently
about eight acres in size this land was
originally acquired by the city in 1994
and in 2013 through ordinance number
2676 it went through a PUD development
process and the existing campus is
currently subject to that ordinance and
its uh Associated conditions
again that ordinance laid out some
conditions around the existing campus
and it proposed some uses and potential
Rehabilitation projects
this is an aerial of the subject
property
the original campus is here and then the
property that we're talking about is
outlined in yellow
the existing zoning again in 2013 it was
converted to a PUD it's currently
surrounded by industrial zoning and then
we are incorporating some new Parcels
which I'll get into further slides there
is some R3 and some other this is the
cemetery so
and then there's some other Industrial
and Commercial uses surrounding this
property
The Proposal today is to amend the Pud
boundary to incorporate the new Parcels
that are required between 1994.
in 2002 that includes this small 0.7
acre piece the Burrs oil piece and then
the Horse and Hound piece
that will be incorporated into the new
boundary it'll also modify the concept
plan and the master plan based on the
adopted plan that Council
requisitioned and adopted over the
summer
again this is a an aerial of the
existing site we have the three main
buildings Camp hope and then we have the
newly Acquired and currently under
renovated uh Casa de peregrinos and then
it would also incorporate the vacant
parcel that was purchased by the city
this is the concept plan that has
already been adopted through the master
plan adoption process but this ordinance
and PUD would also incorporate this
conceptual site plan and the master plan
and the new sort of uses has the
potential for new buildings expanded
pedestrian safety parking a potential
permanent Supportive Housing complex and
then there's some vacant Parcels for
additional complementary services
the analysis that staff did is that
there's no health safety or welfare
issues that it furthers the development
strategies that it is in compliance with
Elevate and the urban place type and
that it's consistent with the Las Cruces
zoning code
there was public notice to the
surrounding properties and planning and
zoning staff receive one email around
just general information and then I did
check with them today and they haven't
received any additional public comment
the recommendation is to approve with
conditions many of the conditions are
those that were originally adopted as
part of the Pud so they're just carried
over for consistency
the first like half dozen conditions
have already been met they were for uh
the the camp hope
facility so that includes uh and again
it's in alignment with our infill our
Public Safety
and then our zoning code
so those conditions are around
hold on I just wanna
right here are the conditions that camp
hope would have an OPEC perimeter face
fencing that it's at least five uh five
feet in height that they'd add
additional Landscaping that there would
be camping facilities which would be
constructed those have already been done
and that there's access to potable water
and bathroom facilities for Camp hope
and those are in existence today
other conditions were around just trash
receptacles emergency access
it prevented uh fire on open Flames so
those all carry over as well
um and then as part of the management of
Camp hope that they would keep a
residency list that it wouldn't be you
no tent could be utilized for more than
10 people at a time and that they're
going to follow the master plan and the
management structure rep recommendations
adopted by this Council
the DRC recommendations are that a
traffic impact analysis be submitted as
soon as the certificate of occupancy for
the entire build out of the campus is
requested that traffic impact analysis
has already been solicited and we're
just waiting for
September when school is back in session
for us to be able to complete those
traffic counts so we have an accurate
analysis of the traffic impact and then
at that time Casa peregrino should
already be in their new building and
operating and we can manage those
traffic patterns
pnz did recommend an additional
condition and is as build out occurs in
the campus excuse me in the campus we
continue to monitor The Pedestrian
master plan and how people access that
campus both through bicycle and walking
so we'll continue to improve that
pedestrian safety master plan
and then you have your standard Council
options
thank you Natalie I'm mayor Pro town
thank you thank you Natalie um for the
presentation refreshment memory when the
master plan happened
I believe I want to say it was in
a number
but don't hold me to that it's been
quite a bit December of last year yes
and did it come to council it did right
I'm jogging my memory yes
um I appreciate that
[Music]
um
I know that we've received it was it was
part of the the file I appreciate seeing
that and and being able to re review it
again
one of the things that I'm concerned
about and I know that I know I received
an email specific to the traffic
patterns and the safety when safety
vehicles are are coming in and out of
there and I know that there's been a
concern about that now did we address
that accordingly and do the folks at the
tenants feel that staff addressed it and
that there was a good plan moving
forward
because it felt like an immediate there
needed to be some immediate action taken
Mr Mayor mayor Pro tem Gandara there is
two things that we're doing the first is
a second driveway is slated to be under
construction as soon as Casa del
peregrinos is over it's part of that
overall project
um so the anticipated opening of that
second driveway is in July the other
thing that our Public Works team has
been working on is potential access
through over the eBid Channel
so that third access point is
underdeveloped under development we've
reached out to be eBid they've given us
some options to explore and so that team
is working through those options
so
um
what is the time frame for that
specifically
so for the second driveway that'll be
open this summer and then for the eBid
one that'll take a little bit longer one
and I'll defer to public work staff if
they're in the audience is Tony here
so we've already reached out to them
they've presented us two different
options some of them have some
conditions that we need to evaluate
they'd like us to move some fencing and
then we'll have to look at the actual
cost of the build out so that'll take
some additional time especially if we
have to solicit like capital outlay or
some Congressional directed spending
once we have some cost estimates so
we'll be working on that it's going to
take much longer
but they will have the second driveway
open over the summer and that'll
alleviate the access concern
the driveway will alleviate access
concerns yes okay can I I'd like to and
maybe
I'm looking over I'd like to hear from
Nicole if we can I know there was a a
quite a concern given a crisis that
occurred recently and I just want to
make sure that I mean I hate to put you
on the spot Nicole but I just want to
make sure here's the time to have these
discussions and I want to make sure that
we're addressing it in a timely fashion
thank you mayor Pro tem Gandara Nicole
Martinez director of Messiah Valley
Community of Hope
yes so I did send an email about our
concerns about the driveway and I did
meet with City staff and we we discussed
having the the third point of egress
which I think is really still important
yes the second driveway will be helpful
for the top half and up there so we
still feel a bit like sitting ducks and
stuck with no real egress until a third
driveway is put in I did send an email
to follow up last week with City staff
but hadn't heard back so I'm glad to
hear that
um there is some movement on that I know
it's going to take longer and Community
of Hope is also very much willing to go
after funding for that to help as best
we can to move that option along
I appreciate hearing from you Nicole and
and just making it known how important
that eBid access is to all of you there
on campus it's just not a community of
hope it's all the others that share that
campus I know over the time that I've
been on Council there have been major
concerns with pedestrian traffic
just traffic in general speeding those
kinds of things and and when that event
happened not too long ago it really put
all of us on notice I think and I just
want to I want to bring this to the
attention of management Evo I and our
director I see him out on David is is
out in the audience this is something
that we really need to take care of and
if it means taking some funding to
ensure that we get this done sooner
rather than later to include the fencing
that I know has been requested I want to
make sure that that is done in the next
few months
and and that's why I felt like I needed
to pull it
um to have this discussion because I I
was able to refresh my memory about the
master plan and the traffic study and
and such that that's being requested so
thank you thank you Nicole
yes and then
um they mentioned the 24-10
um structure very specifically related
to those allowances that we want to make
is there room to add more
um than the 24 10 structures and the
reason I ask is just because what we're
seeing in community right with
um
um other other homeless folks that are
finding trying to find their their way
to more permanent housing is that a
possibility Nicole
mayor protem Gandara we actually have 45
tent pad sites okay maybe I
misunderstood the
so there are 45 tent pad sites we can
have up to 50 people because we do have
couples or some people sitting in their
car so it's accommodating 50 people and
I think if we were to look at building
out we couldn't fit any more in the area
where we have we would have to expand
part of that would be into the the Pud
change today so we couldn't expand to it
because that strip was not included in
the original rezoning so that would
allow for it I think we'd have to look
at um
different Staffing options because you
know Camp hope is not a funded project
it's something Community of Hope took on
to help the community and the people who
are unhoused to have a safe place close
to services
and I think it would just take a lot of
uh planning to allow for more people and
then to see what that management
structure might look like for something
that's not funded I would be very
grateful if we could have the
conversations and plan out with
Neighborhood Services maybe with our
housing policy Review Committee what
that plan would look like in the funding
to be able to make that happen I just
feel there's no other way or that's one
of the ways in the spectrum of services
that I think we can address mitigating
some of the the issues that we're seeing
with our unhoused out in the out in
community so yes thank you mayor Pro tem
and hopefully we would look also very
seriously at building more housing on
that that the campus there as a response
to serving more people and getting them
off the streets absolutely and I know
you know we have several projects in the
queue and one of those is in that Brewer
area and I think that's going to be also
really helpful so thank you thank you
mayor thank you thank you so I just
wanted I don't know if you can answer
this in a call or Natalie but
and maybe you already did but tell me
again what you're wanting to do with the
eBid
Mr Mayor happy birthday
um I
was requesting another look at point of
egress so coming from Valley across
McSwain and into that Bottom southwest
corner of the Community of Hope campus
right now it's an empty lot that's owned
by FYI plus but it would have to cross
over eBid which is a a real Factor when
we're thinking about the cost but I
think it's also a real Factor when we're
thinking about bringing in you know fire
emergency responders to have that point
of egress we've been told several times
if there were to be a crisis or an
emergency situation that that the staff
and the the volunteers and clients need
to stay out of the driveway so that law
enforcement Under Fire can come rushing
in that that long driveway meaning that
everybody's just sort of stuck there so
having another place to come in and exit
would make sense on Valley and reduce
some of that backup that we're
anticipating is going to happen on
Amador with not two exits right there
okay you know I'm fully supportive of
that I'm just has anyone reached out to
eBid yeah I can tell you that it's going
to be a challenge you know they don't
like to relinquish from a liability
standpoint their their rights of way and
then also I think uh councilman Cuomo
and I we worked on a fence and I don't
know that took a while I mean we're not
talking about it too long and thanks to
evil and we actually went to the board
do you want to expand on I heard
something about a chain link fence I
guess as well
so that that I guess what I'm trying to
say is
I think it probably would be safe to say
it'd be easy 2024 before this happens
if you're okay with that okay just want
to make sure there's no false
expectations and okay well that's only
that's that's good so good luck
did you want to say something oh Mr
Mayor was going to say we have reached
out to be eBid and they have presented
it us with some options they as a
condition of either option they do want
the fence moved against the lateral just
to prevent access
and people being able to get into the
lateral so we are working through those
challenges and challenge it is
okay did they also bring up that they
may want to charge for us to permit to
put a fence on their property
you know they may be just ask about that
yeah
yeah all right if there's anything
further
members of the public
Council if not Christine
oh councilman Como did you have any
questions this is in your District
I do not matter I'm up to date with all
the information thank you perfect okay
thanks Christine
this is on the motion to approve
ordinance 3032 counselor beta yes
councilor Graham yes councilor Ben Como
yes counselor Koran yes cancer Flores
yes cancer Gandara yes mayor yes
okay so we're gonna we've moved item 7.4
to the top and this is Council bill
number
23-025 ordinance number 3031
by Council Graham second by counselor
beta so this is kind of how
we're going to go ahead and do this
just write down Adam here
so we'll have a staff presentation
then the applicant or representative of
the applicant then a presentation from
the neighborhood spokesperson Mr
Milligan and uh and then other residents
okay so depending on the time that could
be
probably two minutes depending on how
many people from the residents from the
neighborhood wish to speak and then I'll
turn it to council starting with
counselor abeta since this is her
district and then the other counselors
okay
Community Development for the record uh
case we have before you here is a
subject property located at 4030 tele
Brook Road it is a proposed zone change
from A2 which is an agricultural
district from 1981 zoning code to a
proposed c3c commercial high intensity
conditional
subject property compasses about 10.85
Acres totally originally the this was
like a zoning District under the 1981
zoning code for agricultural properties
but this is also zoning designation that
was placed on properties when they're
annexed into the city kind of as a
placeholder if you will uh curtain
zoning is actually defunct it is no
longer existing under under our 2001
zoning code so the zone change is needed
in order to bring the property into
compliance with the current code the
subject property is located within what
is the Suburban Place type and the
Elevate Las Cruces comprehensive plan
which is a place type that is called out
for low to moderate density residential
uses and intermixed with areas of
commercial development as well
the property is vacant and was annexed
into the city in 1968 with the identity
25 interchange annexation it is part of
the Los Alturas Estates block a
subdivision subject property actually
currently has no store available to it
any Source line is actually a pretty
decent distance away from the property
so Wastewater would have to be handled
through either the New Mexico
environmental department and or the
environmental health Bureau
showing the subject property here
pointing it out in the green as you can
see it is on A2 vast majority of that
area zone 82 with that annexation uh
some C2 commercial zoning uh of course
the county here to the east uh r1a just
to make sure residential uh zoning as
well
showing us a vacant subject property
here nothing on there right in the
corner of telbrook and Los Alturas a
multi-family development here to the
South and a lot of single family large
Latino family out in the county as well
essentially uh the original proposal was
basically just a Zone changer for a
conversion from the A2 agriculture
zoning District they're requesting for a
straight C3 commercial intensity Zone
designation
um basically the applicant of
development their developmental Focus
was to develop the subject property for
a Botanical Garden in the engineering
office that they'll be using their their
home for a single family dwelling and an
accessory dwelling accessory buildings
associated with the residential home
um the the
the request is consistent with the
Elevate Las Cruces a Suburban Place type
and the parcel size and the physical
location of it does also lend itself to
the commercial zoning designation that's
being proposed the applicant was
informed that they did need to provide
early notification uh letters were sent
out by the applicant to surrounded
Property Owners I believe it's a you
know February 27th of 2022.
when Steph took a look at the proposal
we did see some concerns with the amount
of intense uses that are allowed to buy
a straightforward C3 zoning so staff did
work with the applicant to kind of
revise what would be a lot on the
property and basically now bring forward
what is now the c3c is only a
designation the permitted uses there's a
list of their actual permitted uses that
they would be allowed on there which is
significantly less than what is let
Allowed by right under the C3 after that
it went through review through all the
staff and they did receive approval from
the reviewing staff
just showing some uh street views here
right in the corner of Las Alturas and
television looking Northeast right on
the facility property uh looking out of
telbrook right here you can see The
Interchange up here
and looking along Los Alturas as well
here
and another picture right there as well
so once after their analysis after we
worked with the applicant to kind of
bring down the number of permitted uses
or intensity of the property uh stuff
that seemed that there was no real
health safety or welfare issues
associated with the proposed zone change
uh the proposed development conditional
zoning helps maintain like a significant
degree like incompatibility with the
surrounding area by bringing down the
intensity that that property can be
developed
the property and proposal is consistent
with our Living Las Cruces the Suburban
Place type like I said before and the
comprehensive plan does talk to in
policies saying that it supports for the
development of making land in the city
potential for housing diversity a
balanced growth in areas of the city uh
Integrity uh integrating new development
with surrounding builds and natural
features and for the potential of a job
housing balance and growing businesses
foreign
public notice was sent out to the
surrounding Property Owners as staff did
receive a total I believe of seven phone
calls all in opposition to the proposal
change we had one walk-in just asking
questions and getting general
information on it also received a total
of 40 emails 39 in opposition and one
just again uh asking for information
after the early notifications that
happened though in February by the
applicant we did receive four emails two
uh just inquiring about the proposed
zone change into whatever in support of
the proposed on change and we also they
received two phone calls in support of
the proposed zone change
um
some of the public input those provided
basically summarize the of what the the
issues that people brought up to us to
staff one was being the potential of
light pollution traffic congestion noise
concerns with land use compatibility
with surrounding properties the damaged
natural environment through the
development of the property and the
decrease in property values that being
said there is current code and policy in
place in the city of Las Cruces that
addresses some of these concerns uh
limited here's just a quick list of them
chapter 39 which are outdoor lighting
ordinance which would take care of the
light pollution issue chapter 35
excavations and curb cuts which requires
someone to take care of some of that
traffic issue chapter 4 34 for drainage
and flood control and anybody has
concerns about flood chapter 32 design
standards how we could actually allow
the design and development of the
property chapter 30 the zoning code as
well and of course our Elevate Las
Cruces comprehensive plan
uh planning's only combination
communication did review the proposed
zone change and did recommend approval
with conditions uh those conditions were
that the essentially the uses are
limited to the list uh which I have here
on the ELC in a minute as well uh which
it was exhibit a uh the vote was four to
one went to uh uh vacant seats findings
where the subjective property is has a
non-conforming zoning designation on it
so it does need to be brought into
compliance with the code
prior to development the property uh
property designing designation is needed
before it could get built c33 zoning
district is an appropriate zoning
designation for the for the just the lot
size itself it is located in the
Suburban Place type again where we want
low to moderate density residential uses
with an intermixed areas of commercial
development and that it does meet
several goals and policies that I live
at Las Cruces the 2001 zoning code and
Las Cruces Municipal Code chapter 2-2
382.
uh let's see here another uh
let's see here surrounding area outside
this little commercial office
multi-family residential development
thus the proposed development could put
in this zone change could potentially uh
have more of a mixed use and follow
their comprehensive plan a little bit
better as well
seed here this is the actual list of
permitted uses under the conditions you
see some residential uses institutional
uses recreational there's a Botanical
Garden that they're looking at doing
some services not to intense business
offices accounting offices architectural
offices
institutional uses some legal services
and in very limited retail land uses
well when you see right now what their
permitted retail land uses are allowed
in C3 by right it's significantly yet
less so a cafe cafeteria ancillary to
Botanical Gardens clothing store you
know Limited in size garden supplies and
a plant nursery so
this is really hard to see and I
apologize but it's just such a long list
I just kind of want to show you all just
the number of
actual things that have been stricken
from the actual permitted Latin uses by
raylander C3
and you can see a number of them just
the applicant decided to just completely
eliminate the potential use of any of
these uses and including these are the
retail land uses as you can see vast
majority of these are stricken through
where they cannot do any any of these
proposed uses no gas station no hardware
store in a grocery store so on and so
forth again just really showing the
amount of total well the total land uses
that are permitted either by right by
conditions or by special use permit
under the C3 zoning District roughly
about 90 to 100 land uses total their
total land uses are about 15 to 20. so
really brought down the intensity of the
proposed onion designation
well that uh Council uh your options
today is vote Yes to approve the
ordinance affirming the plan is on his
recommendation to change the zone change
to c3c to the vote notes this the United
ordinance rejects the recommendation
made by the planning zone commission
trees on the property to c3c uh three to
men this will allow city council to
modify the ordinance by adding any
additional conditions deemed appropriate
by Council and fortitope will spawn and
this will allow Council to spawn the
ordinance and direct staff accordingly I
believe the applicant is here they don't
have a formal presentation but they're
here for questions and I stand for
questions as well
thanks Adam actually I do have a quick
question and I I know you went over it
but I just want to clarify something did
that there the
sewer
our city sewer does they wouldn't be
hooking up to this that they would
actually have to use a septic tank Mr
Mary that is correct there's no sore
availability for this property actually
the sewer line closest sewer line is
a few thousand feet away or 100 100 feet
away so they would have to if they did
want sir they'd have to try to link up
to that to work with utilities to
potentially like gum to that that being
said a lot of those sources sewer lines
out there are kind of old so that option
may not be on the table so yes they
would have to basically do a septic
system yes sir the reason why I bring
that up is because I think this Council
has in the past we've worked with the
legislature to have mobile homes to have
different mobile homes not have access
to uh
to the acceptance that they have are
into our City sewers aligned on the
North
West
I guess Northeast part of the city we've
actually worked with that I think that's
our the council's goal is to eliminate
to help a residents have access to city
sewer
and I don't know this would be in my
opinion almost counterproductive if we
were to move forward with this on or
require you know that's do you happen to
have does the applicant know how far
this is I don't know if Adrian is here
maybe we'll come back to her if she
doesn't have that map because there's a
special map that you know has it lined
out different colors you know where the
gas is where the sewer is I mean the
city is like like for example on gas I
mean we're we're not extending new lines
but that's different you still have
access to it this one here I don't know
that's just I'm just thinking out loud
here sure so let's go ahead and listen
to the to the applicant or the
representative their presentation and
then we'll ask some further questions
oh okay
yes sir I do I do have a question well
it's a question for Adam yes thank you
Adam for you yes ma'am
excuse me thank you for your
presentation I too um
share the um
the mayor's concern
and I understand I well I represent the
area that he referred to in the
Northeast part of the
of the city and it took quite a while I
mean this is my six year on city council
and I have advocated for that
um just from the very beginning in 2017
and it took that long for accessible
sewer lines
to finally hook up
so I on that basis and and I think that
I wonder if there's something in Elevate
Las Cruces
that would cover that in terms of the
impact
septic tanks have on our environment and
um
so I
mean I hear from the gentleman that
wants to present
but Mr Weir appears to have some words
of wisdom
Mr Mayor counselor Flores I believe Las
Cruces doesn't really touch base on on
sewer systems I'm sorry in septic
systems that being said since they are
limited septic system they're because of
that they're limited to how intense they
could build on their
from my
past regular planner zoning days when we
used to work with the etz any property
that just residential property that was
the only way you could have a septic
system is if you were a minimum a half
an acre in size and that's just for a
single family home so if it's for any
potential apartments or commercial uses
they're really going to be limited by
the nmdot because of the size of the
septic system they have to provide for
whatever development they do on the
property but uh to answer your question
no ma'am I do not know I do not believe
there's anything from what I've read in
Elevate Las Cruces pertaining to a
septic systems Mr Mayor may I call
um srijana
to ask her because she is very
knowledgeable on
planning zoning and I think she knows
the Elevate Las Cruces very well and she
might be able to address that concern
it's a big concern for sure of course if
there isn't a positive
remedy I would have to vote against it
Roshana yeah
Mr Mayor um happy birthday
Council Flores srijanabaset City
Innovation strategy manager I don't
necessarily have specific policies to to
Rattle off for you right now but um and
I was not part of this review at all so
I would not be able to speak to it today
however excuse me Elevate Las Cruces
does have a couple of policies on sewer
the preference for sewer conversion to
encourage developments to hook up to the
nearest sewer line that sort of thing
because it is a comprehensive plan and
is thinking multiple years out in the
future that is the general direction
thank you so much Miss basnick and that
was pretty much my recollection but it's
better to have an expert speak on it so
thank you mayor and thank you Adam
thank you okay so Adam there's a
presentation from
the
Mr Mr Wilcox yes okay I just need you to
state your name please
did you have a presentation or were you
just here to answer questions I'm raelyn
Wilcox and me and my wife only land
and just
a few minutes real quick
lent under consideration Now is really
just desert that attracts a whole lot of
trash
she vagrants and a lot of political
signs
so we're going to try to make it really
nice over there
her requesting permission to build our
personal house for me and my wife
a Botanical Garden
and a 1200 foot square electrical
engineering office
which very low impact on the sewer
system
our house plans are completely finished
in Rarity to start construction on our
house immediately
that can assure every single one of you
and every neighbor
that I am not going to build anything
junky next to our house it's going to be
beautiful
we've reached out to everyone in the
neighborhood
three and four times
explaining our plans
and trying to alleviate all of their
concerns
have we provided our cell phone number
our email address
but literally they've never received any
response
from anyone in opposition to our plans
we have received some very nice
telephone calls
emails with lots of words of
encouragement
we've met with the adjacent neighbors to
the north
to the east
and some of them to the South
and they've all been very extremely nice
and encouraging
and they're all on board
the only thing to the West is the
interstate highway
well
the city of Las Cruces
the planning departments put extreme
restrictions on the what could be
constructed on the land
and with those conditions is really
no way that anything too crazy could be
built on the land ever
also since there's no
Sewer Service not much could be built on
the land
uh I've personally met with the New
Mexico environmental department and got
a letter from them
showing what we proposed
and that they would prove and authorize
us to use the small septic tank
literally very small septic system
to the South there's already property
Zone as C2
where some of the owners have built
super nice apartments and they fit very
well into the neighborhood
the proposed restrictions
that Adam and the city put on us
are much more stringent did not see
existing C2 zoning
on Thursday
Vincent from the planning department let
us know
that there are still people worried
about six story 400 unit apartment
buildings being constructed on the land
of course that can't happen
do the sewer
but to try and ease these fears to the
neighborhood
we've agreed to allow additional
conditions
to only half of what to either under C2
or C3 zoning as far as any apartments
are concerned
but I have no intention of building
apartments I want to build our house
where I can retire
it's really surprising that anyone
who'd oppose a building of a house in a
Botanical Garden
I can't literally think of anything
nicer that could be built on that land
and I'd like us all to work together and
try to build something nice and
beautiful for Las Cruces
and I assure you it's going to be
beautiful
I thank you
this is Mr Wilcox if I may so you you
didn't submit any even small conceptual
designs to the city that that we could
see to get an idea of what you're
talking about because it sounds like
you're just wanting one house and maybe
a separate building for your electrical
engineering business and that's it we've
actually submitted a
engineered master plan and plot plan
and literally it's a house Botanical
Garden
in a small electrical engineering office
and uh I'm sure Vincent or Adam can help
you with that plan
or I have a copy as well
do you already have an existing do you I
take it you're an electrical engineer do
you already have an existing business
yes sir Tech Tron engineering okay so
this was going to be you were going to
have your business there as well yeah as
I retire okay we'll just work out of
this bill got you all right I just
wanted to clarify that but perhaps maybe
in the future we might be able to or
soon just get an idea conceptually how
it sits that would really help out
better for but we'll track something
give you a plan right here
um no
if you want to submit that to the clerk
and then okay so I think Council may
have some questions I think you had a
counselor Koran
my question actually is a little bit for
you and a little bit for her City staff
to do some forecasting
um
this is a non-conforming zoning type
this was annexed
um
historically in if we could anticipate
and realize what would a likely Place
type be in this what would this parcel
likely be uh sort of largely zoned as if
we could anticipate in real life based
on from what I'm seeing
in the presentation this is actually
more restrictive than the likely change
that will come with realized which would
allow for full C3 I would anticipate
Suburban Place type
uh
development
Mr Mayor Castle Corona correct so
because of that Suburban Place type we
already have the mixture of low to
moderate uh intensity or density
residential the one big thing we're
missing in this area is the actual
commercial component of a Suburban Place
type so this property definitely does
lend itself to that you know what the
conditions it's going to restrict it a
lot more than it would just be a
straight commercial zoning so definitely
that's what staff's analysis was that it
we believe it does fit within that place
type man
thank you
thank you also to to
um
the presenter and for your sharing what
you were doing I would also say just as
far as sort of neighborhood
talking I I have to acknowledge that I
will perpetually not find apartments
scary so anytime anyone's proposing
Apartments I'm just going to go on the
record and say if you say the
Departments are a threat to your
neighborhood I'm going to
judge that as I see fit but just as just
to let you know and and the folks in the
audience know there are some arguments
that I I personally will not be
listening to and I saw some very
troubling emails in the packet of What
kinds of people people want in their
neighborhood and I found that frankly
disturbing to hear from folks in Las
Cruces so I just want to go on the
record to say
looking forward this would be a more
inclusive zoning if we looked at realize
I believe that would allow for even more
different varied types of development
and so I'm going to just put it out
there today that my perspective has only
been informed by this and and your
willingness to work on a on a more
neighborhood sort of agreeable part but
but I would again say that I will never
see Apartments as a villain in our
community and so um
just putting my own perspective out
there so thank you again for your for
your inputs
counselor beta thank you mayor and thank
you uh Mr World Cups as well um I wanted
to just look a little bit into some of
those restrictions that you place so I I
do want to say thank you for
for adjusting with some of those I did
notice within it there is one of the
items that was crossed off was that of
units of Housing and it was for a
specific type that had 40 units so under
this type of zoning and maybe this can
help with the neighborhood how many
units would be acceptable on this
property with this type
um Mr Mayor councilor beta under the C3
zoning District uh you it's a Max it's a
minimum of 10 doing units maximum of 40
dwelling units uh if it's if it's by
right but there's also condition where
they could potentially ask for more
going units but as the applicant State
he's more than willing to bring that
down to more of an r2r3 density which
should be under R3 is 20 boiling units
per acre r215 million is per acre man
okay so either 1500 the R2 or 20 with
the R3 that is correct thank you and I
appreciate your willingness to to work
on this with in
the issue of sewer as well
what type of
restrictions do you think you might
encounter or just issues you might
encounter if you were to do the 20.
the environmental Department would
require you to build quite a system
can't remember the technical term that
they called it
but to put 20 units there would be
extremely expensive to take care of the
city so it's just not going to happen
thank you my house and my office
small sewer system take care of it all
thank you and I do have to say I
um I think that a Botanical Garden would
be very pretty could you perhaps explain
what that looks like to our fellows
council members and members of the
public that idea
speak up in the microphone yeah
um would you be able to explain a little
bit about the botanical garden and kind
of the coffee shop I believe it is sure
in the drawing that we submitted there
we carved out about three and a half
acres right now of Botanical Garden
with pathways through it
tried to landscape it as if some of the
really beautiful parts of the organ
we can't do anything too crazy due to
water
so it's not going to be super green but
as you all know up in the organs there's
some beautiful spots
pinon's junipers small Pines Oaks
I think we can make something really
beautiful for all of us
thank you
and that would be accessible to members
of the neighborhood it's what the
ultimate goal is and everything would
have to have its own drip irrigation
yes I couldn't afford
three and a half acres
and we don't all waste that water
thank you I think some of the the
concerns that I was just looking at
reading the emails from the neighborhood
there was the issue about the outdoor
lights
impacts to the environment it sounds
like a Botanical Garden that is you know
designed for a desert landscape would be
a benefit
um to that area and when it changed the
environment that much and then looking
at I think
potentially looking at an R3 designation
um within this
Zone can help alleviate some of the
issues in the future you know if you'd
like to own the property for as long as
you like but looking at what would
happen to the property with a different
owner you know in the future
I think that might help alleviate some
of the concerns
I think that the conditionals
restrictions they put on it
really nailed it down and it got it
really tight
and it's something that I could deal
with
so I kind of respect them for looking
out for all of you
thank you and thank you sir and thank
you mayor
thank you councilor Flores thank you Mr
Mayor and thank you for your
presentation
I see that utilities director Adrienne
Widmer is here and uh
the Public Works director David Saville
are both here I have some questions for
them regarding the possibility or the
hopefully the probability of the city
replacing
all septic tanks
and and what because I I do agree with
you sir that it would be an enormous
unanticipated and unforeseen on your
part
and that's not your fault
to uh to to to make sure that there is a
sewer system Whitmer
so my question is
um as you may know because you've been
utilities for quite some time that it
took quite some time and it was quite an
Endeavor to get funding
for the removal of the septic tanks and
the putting in the
yes sir system in the Northwest area
close to Oregon whatever anyway
um
is there any plan for the city to
eliminate all septic tanks and if so
because Adam did mention that the septic
what's it called
the the septic system excuse me the
sewer system there is ant Antiquated or
old or whatever so is there anything in
the blueprint or at least a dream that
the city will get rid of all the septic
tanks thank you
Mr Mayor councilor Flores Adrian Whitmer
utilities director
in the long term we would like to
eliminate all
septic tanks within the city limits and
so we're working towards that around
areas that we can install additional
sewer right now the nearest sewer to
this particular area is a bit north I'm
trying to get the actual distance but
I'm going to say it's probably at least
two thousand feet
so would probably be more likely a lift
station to get to that particular area
and we would need to look to make sure
that that lift station could actually
handle whatever planned capacity
in the meantime we are completing our
master plan that includes
areas that we want to have so we're put
in there are areas within the city
limits that are still if you're the size
of your lot is large enough that you can
put septic in
so this just happens to be located where
if the lot sizes are large enough that
septic systems are still accepts
acceptable
so it's completely up to you all there's
um obviously we would prefer to see more
sewer put in there but the current sewer
system that is over there it may be a
little older but by golly it is working
just fine
I don't know if that answered your
question or not
oh yes it does thank you so much Miss
Woodmere it does answer it but not um it
does answer but it's not what I wanted
to hear no no
I I
would like the city to
um make it a top part one of our we have
many top priorities but really make it a
priority to um to get all of our just
get rid of all of our septic tanks maybe
have a plan and it would be consistent
with with the Elevate Las Cruces and the
environmental impact it has now the fact
that the the property owner has
indicated that the environmental
Department of New Mexico has said that
it wouldn't have an impact probably not
because it's one perhaps one septic tank
but um
but over the long run it would because
then the the septic tanks would continue
as that land develops so but thank you
so much Adrian I appreciate your
and Mr Widmer Mr Weir mayor and City
councilor just something for the council
to consider
the reason that you're here with the
zone change is that the zoning is kaput
it's not in place anymore so there is a
need for some zoning to be placed on the
property for him to have use of the
property he owns one thing I would offer
for the commission to cons excuse me the
council to consider is asking the
applicant if he'd be willing to add
another condition that if sanitary sewer
within 300 feet of his property he'd be
willing to hook up to it so that's a way
that you can allow him to have some use
of his property but then you have some
guarantee as sanitary sewers extended
into the area you will have an assurance
that it will be connected and that that
septic tank will be eliminated
but you're saying that he would commit
to do that if the city were to have an
extended sewer line that he could hook
up into correct
um how could he commit to something that
doesn't exist
he's committing to do it when it was
constructed it's often I think you're um
sanitary sewer ordinance is already set
up that way if it's within a certain
feed of your property that you are
committing to connect so I just
when you look at the property and whole
he does have a property right to to use
his property without any zoning on it
he's pretty much stuck
with owning property with no use and so
this is a way that you can put places
Zoning for the use of the property but
then you also have some consideration
that he'll connect to sanitary sewer and
you'll meet your desire of eliminating
septic tanks throughout the community
just a thought yeah it's a it's a great
thought but my concern is that I know
just from dealing with the issues in the
North
East part of the city is that it's very
expensive and that's why the city had to
wait for allocations to come in to make
sure that it could be done because it's
it's a big job I mean cleaning up the
septic tank and then putting all the
proper access
it could be expensive and I don't know
if that would be fair to put that kind
of an imposition on someone at this
point do you have any idea what the cost
would be
um
mayor and councilman Flores if somebody
were to take an anchor tract and try to
develop it larger they would factor that
into the cost of development so they
would be making a decision based on
whether it was appropriate for that and
and they wanted to do that but um
If This Were Zone you know like C1 which
is a less than a half acre lot size and
if he had three quarters of an acre he'd
be able to put a septic tank on it by
the state so he already has the right to
do that from
dealing with sanitary sewer needs I'm
just
was trying to provide an option for you
as development take place down the road
that it would be prime it could be
redeveloped and it would need meet your
needs of getting off of a septic tank
that's very very thoughtful and I
appreciate your input thank you so much
thank you Mr Mayor
councilman Cuomo you have a question
yes thanks mayor just in regards to the
septic tank issue
um if for whatever reason in the future
there was more development on here with
additional units that responsibility to
ensure that there was no septic tanks
and that they would be hooked up to the
City Line would be on who the developer
uh Michigan
that is correct to be the developer who
basically wouldn't he'd submit his
applications to us for any future
development we'd have to make sure it
could of course would go out to
utilities for other review so at that
time if let's say in the future there is
line that was drawn uh Shoreline that
was extended out to his property
utilities would basically
but per their policy would require them
to hook up to that sort of system or
they'd have to work with a state of New
Mexico for any improvements to a septic
system if further development is
required or wanted or they might not be
allowed to develop any further as well
because it could be restricted for their
for their septic system on the property
great thank you for that answer yeah
absolutely I think you know right now
we're seeing a pretty big demand on the
city on public dollars because we are
trying to transition a bunch of these
older neighborhoods to our sewer lines
and that come at a great cost to the
community I'm hearing though that with
this kind of development that would be
on the developer and I think that that's
um I think that's an important
distinction to make I also wanted to
note that I do have some concerns about
a legislating on a piece of property
because of what potentially could happen
in 10 years and 20 years and 30 years as
opposed to what is being currently
proposed which is a Botanical Garden a
home a residential home and a office so
I think we have to look at what is
currently in front of us and
um not to say well it might not be my
problem because I might not be here I
will not be here in 10 years that's not
what I'm trying to say however I think
it's important to recognize that if we
vote on this today
um and it there's a potential change of
ownership on this land in many years it
doesn't seem like the applicant is
um
thinking about selling at any time I
heard he wants to retire here I
those plans would have to come to that
new Council and that new Council would
have to approve any changes and so I
just I do have some concerns with us
thinking about well what could happen in
10 years and 20 years I think that's not
what's in front of us today and the
proposal in front of us today
[Music]
um
like it's a property owner trying to
create something for himself and his
family and for the neighborhood so I
just wanted to make that note mayor
thank you thank you councilor I do have
a question Mr Wilcox or perhaps uh Adam
may know approximately what is the
square footage of that office building
that you're looking to build
my engineering office would be 1200 feet
and the entire building would be about
three thousand feet
okay let me ask you something sir
are you the principal owner of will
lynco electric company yes we are were
you planning on moving your company
there absolutely not no we have a great
place over on Amador
3 000 square feet that's pretty good
size
uh it's for an engineering office it's
1200 square feet
well I'm sorry so just you said three
thousand square feet I mean I know your
own
your own individual office is 1200
square feet but the whole building the
commercial building is three thousand
square feet Yes the other 1800 feet
would be like for an entrance to a
Botanical Garden
in a bathroom I didn't I thought I saw
the Botanical built Garden on another
part of the Earth on the plan so I'll
look at it some more but there is one
little tiny building for like to park uh
Kubota tractor in maybe you're looking
at that yes sir I I just got the
impression you know because that that
you might have wanted this office just
uh you know just to have your maybe you
were your your you are an electrical
engineer maybe you just wanted to have
it separate from the house I don't know
but uh
okay thank you for somewhere where you
could bring clients
rather than sitting down on my dining
room table I understand I I understand
okay well you've given me a lot more to
think about okay thank you sir
okay there's no questions now I'm going
to go to the uh
the
presentation by the spokesperson Mr
melgan
and I believe you have a video or you
have some slides to show us okay
and since this isn't an appeal I don't
believe you get sworn in so you just uh
just make a presentation you'll have up
to 15 minutes okay
is this your shirt okay can we put it on
full screen
thank you mayor counselors my name is
Brooke Milligan I'm here representing a
large group I want to stress that this
is not just myself this is a large group
of people from as you'll see here
they're spread throughout the city these
are not just local residents within the
surrounding neighborhood so there's a
big concern that is you can see it these
are numbers next to each of the zip
codes for the 212 people that have
signed the petition related to this
um I think that's a likely an
underestimate of the concern that people
have in the community regarding
um
smart growth context sensitive growth in
the community of Las Cruces I think this
is also
an important
location it's the gateway to Las Cruces
for anyone coming to the South so what
we do in this land use in this area will
have an impact on the what people view
as the as the values that we put forth
to
regarding the development so that we'd
like to stress that our message is clear
it's a simple message it's a message
that you should deny this request
there are in fact
um
options that you can take which I will
mention that would be consistent but the
main point here is that this is
um
this is inconsistent in fact with the
idea of smart growth with many of the
principles laid out in the Elevate Las
Cruces document as well as the Las
Cruces Land Development code and so
forth this is an example of doing
exactly the opposite of many of the
principles that you have are articulated
and developed so hard with so much work
over the years
the rationale for this is
straightforward
we have an issue at hand today that is
do you should we allow commercial
development at this parcel on 4003
telbrook Road
I will make the point that let
commercial development in this area is
incompatible with the neighborhood the
red the residential neighbor nature of
the residents of the the neighborhoods
surrounding I also make the point that
it was inconsistent with Elevate Las
Cruces and that
furthermore this is not an economically
developed a sustainable land use and
that any commercial development at this
location is likely to be
counter to a sustainable economic goal
so we advocate
that the council take actions that are
consistent with elevated Las Cruces with
their smart growth principles
going forwards
okay
as you're aware zoning decisions are a
semi-permanent designation they do not
change often
in this case we're looking at a c c3c
zoning request
c33 zoning allows for a broad range of
commercial development
staff just said that the restrictions
placed on this
allows 10 to or 15 to 20 different
development options they're in fact 24
on the list in Annex a that were
presented earlier
two of those broadly there are many
along list 24 I just said there are two
of them that are broadly there that
there there could be Apartments I
personally don't have anything against
departments either but
these must according to the development
code comply with C4 development
standards there's also a in the list a
variety of retail stores of different
forms
you know in this consideration I feel
that this I think we all feel that the
statement of the stated plans of the
current owner are not particularly
relevant when we're considering a
long-term designation for what we should
allow land use to be
plans change ownerships change
the Elevate Lux Cruces has a strong
continuity in dictating that development
occur in a context-sensitive nature that
context is really important to think
about it has to be on a scale that makes
sense for the neighborhood involved I'll
show you in a second what that means in
this case
most importantly your decisions have to
really consume that any of the possible
allowed land uses might occur
so to start with what is some of the
context here what is the neighborhood
currently like
the neighborhood in this area is 1100
over 1100 Acres it's entirely built
except for one fire station as
residential
construction this has developed over 50
years there's been a consistent Vision
By A diversity of residents making
thousands of individual decisions there
is absolutely a very clear neighborhood
identity in this area
this is evident here these are the Zone
the the distribution of land
of parcels across all of the different
Uh current zoning designations within
this 1100 Acres
you can see
all but five of these Parcels are zoned
for one form or another of residential
uh development
those five are also nearby the subject
property
they are all either
duplex or Triplex and in fact
several of them are owner occupied and
not commercial or rented out at all in
any form
any everything I'm saying today would
also apply to converting those to actual
commercial operations as well
here's what this looks like on the
ground
the red block there of course is the
subject property on the corner of Los
Alturas and telbrook
virtually everything else in this
neighborhood as I've said is is
residential zoning of one form or
another that's what the different colors
represent those couple of blue just to
the south of 4003 telbrook are the few
that are zoned commercial as I said
though those are either small duplex
or owner-occupied residences
the diversity there's a broad diversity
here of parcel sizes this is not a
landscape where there are only large
sort of estate kinds of land of of
parcels involved it's a broad range here
with many a variety of different kinds
of people and opportunities for
um for
residences to be built
so that's the context
entirely residential over a Thousand
Acre spread surrounding this area
what would the impact of commercial
development be does it make sense that
this be developed as a commercial
activity
as I said Land Development code requires
that if this is developed as Apartments
it has to be our for compliant here is
the impact of what that would look like
as you've heard earlier there would be a
minimum of 10 residential units per acre
so 100 at least up to 400 for the 40
units per acre these arcs here represent
the areas in which that number of
residents currently occurred so the
orange Arc there contains 101 residences
it's so the minimum requirement dictated
by code would require taking the
equivalent of that many residences and
cramming them into that one lot the
yellow is the same for the 40 acre
require 40 unit per acre requirement
that would almost that would be
increasing the density of of people in
this area by 50 percent
here is a vision of what it would look
like vertically okay the the orange of
course or all the footprints of existing
buildings in this area the gray
buildings are
a
potential apartment complex that could
be built there under these conditions
that and that would be more or less
required by the current Land Development
code you can see that this would be a
very big change of the character of this
area
we could also ask about other commercial
options in this area
are they likely to be
successful okay there's a couple of
really obvious examples here for example
for instance we could consider small
stores of various stores retail
operations retail operations that would
be attractive to the whole neighborhood
generally have very low margins of
profit
we can go through this in Greater detail
if you like but this is analysis based
on very typical results
and conservative assumptions about
things like loans and so forth and it
suggests that if a business was to be
supported by the entire neighborhood
we would have to be spending twelve
hundred dollars a month
every month in order to support a
neighborhood business of that sort
clearly that is not sustainable
it's the neighborhood is far too small
to support a business that's going to be
economically feasible
the location is very poor for attracting
uh large customer bases
we have failures of similar businesses
there's one across the freeway on stern
drive that was there to serve a
neighborhood in in a gas station
convenience store it's failed so it's
been out of business we have failed
businesses throughout the main in much
more Central locations that are much
more likely to be successful locations
and you as a council have worked very
hard to ameliorate that
simply put commercial development at
this location is not likely to be
sustainable
there are very few other locations
within this neighborhood for commercial
development to even occur
therefore the whole idea of a mixed use
neighborhood is really unlikely to be
realized in any any time in the future
developing commercial activities at this
location is exactly the opposite of the
infill development idea
this is on the periphery it's in a
terrible location for attracting people
to a business location it can't be
economically sustainable what about the
Botanical Garden much has been made of
that
we can learn about Botanical Gardens and
how their whether they are in fact
commercial by looking at the commercial
the botanic gardens that already exist
within New Mexico this is the entire
list these are all much larger they are
all associated with large or and formal
organizations the biopark for example
has a 19 million dollar gross receipts
tax dedicated to its funding
the only thing here that's even
moderately comparable to what is being
proposed would might be the Santa Fe
botanic garden but it is
adjacent to museum Hill an international
tourist draw
it has a budget of
1.1 million dollars a staff of 19 people
it's our it's um as you've heard six
times greater than in size than the area
that's being proposed here
none of these things are sustained by
gate receipts they are not commercial
activities in any way
so what are the risks of this if we
develop commercially in this area we
will be faced with exactly what we are
faced throughout the center part of Las
Cruces places that have much much
greater draw much greater possibility
for economic success you've worked very
hard to address these issues with the
Metropolitan Redevelopment areas
so
given that this commercial development
is incompatible that it's economically
untenable and it's counter to elevate
Las Cruces what is likely what is a good
option
we see two options here
one is to recognize that this is really
a low density commercial I mean low
density residential area and that it
should be zoned as such there is no need
to change the zoning to commercial just
because zoning needs to change the other
one is that there's an open space option
as well so let me return to the final to
the final Point here Mr Milligan that
you should deny this request thank you
very much I'm happy to answer any
questions
beta
thank you mayor and thank you I was
going to have a question with the 212
individuals that you stated were part of
this how many were City residents and
how many were County residents
I do not have that information
a large I mean it comes from throughout
the city throughout the the all the zip
codes every every
um yes but there is an important
distinction between the city and the
County residents when we're in this
class gestural role in my
primary function is that of the city
residence
I appreciate that the plans for
development in Las Cruces
have an impact on everybody in the in
the area I think it would be a very huge
mistake for Council to take a narrow
view on this topic because we have a
comprehensive plan that applies much
more broadly than just to the city
limits
thank you um
within the context that you brought up
to elevate Las Cruces one of the
founding principles of that is mixed
neighborhoods that have basically the
use of livability between each Community
a lot of the items that were denied are
scratched off from the applicant are
items that are principles of elevate Las
Cruces already is that correct
that is correct
thank you so that of having
um you know a grocery store pharmacy
those types of things that make a
community more desirable
Mr bear councilorator that is correct
so we with the limited restrictions the
applicant has already
um
put in line more of community and
neighborhood values rather than the
principles of elevate
Mr mayor council beta that's what staff
saw in our analysis for what they
proposed for the uses of the property
thank you
um for our this question might be for
um
Christine but in our quasi-judicial
function are we to determine
um
business
viability for future years in this
function
it's verbata I would say no
thank you for members of the public may
you please describe what this
quasi-digital role is for
mayor councilor beta this is just to
approve a zone change that's it
and was there an official
appeal done by members of the
neighborhood mayor counselor beta no
thank you thank you I'm sorry those are
just some background questions that I
think need to be stipulated thank you
mayor I'm done with my questions
counselor
Graham thank you did I jump line on
anyone though no you didn't I was just
had mental telepathy
brilliant
not questions I just don't know if this
is going to be my only chance to comment
so I want to jump in
um and I think the counselor Koran
really stated my primary position
eloquently earlier so I would refer
anyone back just zoom this meeting back
a little bit after we publish it as a
live stream
um
Dr Milligan I believe so yes
um I'm going to I'm going to partially
quote you from the start of your from
the start of your presentation values we
put forth on development and I believe
that was in reference to you were saying
this is a kind of Southern gateway to
the city of Las Cruces and if I were to
be asked if I would want mixed-use
development multi-family housing to be
part of the values that we are
communicating as soon as you get into
City I would say unequivocally yes
um I understand your position I
understand and
to a degree sympathize with the issues
you're raising but I think that in the
short time I've been on Council we have
consistently seen
where mixed-use development where
multi-family housing where affordable
and attainable housing
is perceived to fit and where it is not
perceived to fit
I'm in a district where it is perceived
to fit pretty much everywhere the
residents of District 3
are rarely afforded
the time the privilege to be able to
come and take a stand like this against
potential changes in their neighborhood
um
and that you know I think that speaks to
I've I've made my points on Planning and
Zoning in the history and
continuing status thereof as
[Music]
a lot of socio-economic economic class
issue I think I said nonsense in the
past so I'll just say it again
um
I do want to point out
um to those who have seen the agenda
packet published for today
that our staff with their expertise on
Elevate Las Cruces
um
do say this this plan absolutely
complies with Elevate Las Cruces so I
would just like to note I know that
you've said several times throughout you
feel this is counter to elevate Las
Cruces I counter that counter with the
expertise of our staff who have pointed
out several goals several themes where
this does in fact comply
um
and yeah I think that's it I'm just
obviously previewing my vote and giving
a little explanation to why and I'll
quit there but mayor you priority knew
that I was about to stop because of
telepathy exactly thank you
okay so any other councilman come with
you you didn't have anything else
okay
now I'm going to ask if there are
members of the public who had any since
since this was a very I figured you had
to have some background this is a very
good presentation you hit all the points
very good so um I didn't I when she
referred to you as doctor I've perhaps
you're a professor at the University or
retired but did a great job are how many
members of the public are here that wish
to speak on this issue
just keep your hands upside count one
two three four five seven so you know I
don't think he can Dr Milligan can touch
on more but so I'm just going to give
you one minute if that's okay I just
come forward to the podium state your
name and if you think you can add to
this or if you just want to just tell us
why you're you're either for against it
that would be great
and if you wouldn't mind the rest of you
can if you can kind of come forward to
the front
first two rows that way there we can
expedite things good morning I'm Joseph
Hendrickson
and I live out here in Las Cruces in
88012 area code I notice our area code
was up there with the previous guy
president
um I would be interested in having to be
conical Gardens out here I would love to
take my family out there we don't go out
to the hike too much but having
everything out here from the mountains
would be very interesting and very
unique first to have that's all I have
really to say thank you okay all right
thank you
hi my name is Doug bupp I've known
raylen Wilcox for over 25 years he's
straightforward and an honest man
what he says he wants to do I
I believe is a good thing a botanical
gardens I would love to visit myself
I think for families to go and walk and
if it's paved you know handicapped or
whatever I think it's just an area to
get out and enjoy nature I'd also like
to say I was I've seen his work in
anything he does will be quality work
and it will be a gemstone for the
neighborhood I believe thank you
thank you
my name is Lynn Hampton and I'm a
resident of 4835 Los Altos Drive within
the city limits and I do not have sewer
I'd like to read a statement from
County Commissioner Shannon Reynolds
Massachusetts city councilors first
thank you for all your wonderful
committed and dedicated servers I would
like to request that you vote against a
rezoning of approximately 11.5 Acres of
property on the northeast corner of Los
Alturas in telbrook there are three or
four single story triplexes across the
road your City Community Development
would lead you to believe these qualify
as apartment buildings
these are no apartment buildings in over
1 000 homes along muscle tours in either
the city or the county
resigning that property to a C3 will not
prevent a later development of 60-foot
apartment complexes or any kind of
manufacturing I know you can rezone and
put restrictions on it with C3 zoning it
would be easy for the future city
councilors to ignore and remove those
restrictions I will be out of town when
you decide this this is why I am writing
now I'm writing representing my roughly
4 000 constituents that will be affected
by this decision thank you Lynn I'm
sorry
we got the adjusted yes sir and happy
birthday sir oh thank you
Jen Summers I own property directly
adjacent to the proposed project I would
like to say that I am looking forward to
having the Botanical Garden there and I
think that in the future development
could change but with a Botanical Garden
in place that it would unlikely to
change to something else that people
seem opposed to however I am the only
household that is right next to where
he's proposing to develop and I do not
think that there are any ill
repercussions from having done this
environmentally or economically
thank you
my name is David finston I live at on
tobosa Road near near the within a mile
of the proposed project
I'd like to point out a couple of
deceptive items that were presented
related
there were photographs of the area that
were presented you would get a much
different impression at eight o'clock in
the morning at the intersection of
tellbrook and Los alturos Road it's a
high density traffic as it is now a
hazard to the many bicyclists like Dr
Milligan myself my next door neighbor
Alexa Davis
the entire Los alturos from Mesquite to
University Avenue is a high density
traffic at certain times of the day and
is would only that problem would only be
exacerbated by further development
oh let's see
immediately adjacent to the property is
not the interstate but rather Los
Alturas Boulevard
and I would like you to consider this in
your the safety of the in of the
residents in your considerations thank
you
good morning my name is Luis quitario I
have known the Wilcox for many many
years I'm also a real estate agent here
in Las Cruces so I can see the benefit
of having a Botanical Park available for
the community I see that in different
places Metro Park Metro Verde when I'm
showing a house I see kids running
around around the park the water water
area as well and it's exciting to see
the community coming out in the
afternoons enjoying a beautiful summer
enjoying our weather here in Las Cruces
and walking into a special area like
that and I think what they have in mind
building their house building their shop
building a Botanical Park it's going to
benefit the community as well and not
only that I can also take my kids take
my family take my grandkids out there
whatever the case may be and enjoy the
time thank you guys
thank you
yes sir
hi I'm Sanjay Lahiri I live in the
county I work in the city
contribute to the city so you hurt my
feelings
so just uh quickly I won't go over all
the other things that everyone said uh
the pros and the cons are obvious
what I would like to do is try and
maintain
the
few things that Las Cruces is really
famous for
the
Dark Skies
I would hope that there aren't lights
pointing up everywhere I would hope that
even if you have high intensity I'm from
a city where there are 20 there were I'm
I grew up in a city of Calcutta where
there are 20 20 million people so we
don't want
unplanned growth happening over here
so I am concerned about things like
visual pollution the sound pollution the
traffic pollution we have regular
accidents on those corners
and so
I want to thank all of you for your
service to the city and I would like a
considered opinion not a biased one
thank you sir
yes
hello my name is Heather Morton and I
live in Mission Bell neighborhood one
thing that hasn't been mentioned was the
traffic impact it's a very narrow
one-lane road and it's it's already
um
it already gets pretty busy and I would
like to see what the traffic impact is
going to be if we're going to change the
change the zoning there
another thing the applicant mentioned
that his lot was full of trash and
vagrants
and I would say that that's quite the
opposite in my experience
we chose that area because it's wild and
unmanicured
um
I would like to know if he has an expert
to help him with the building of his
Botanical Garden because gardening in
this area is not for the week and there
is a reason that those Mountain plants
don't thrive in our neighborhood
sorry I'm nervous
um
yeah also is he going to have a parking
lot with a lot of trucks
in it coming in and out because that
could be dangerous and um yes ma'am I'm
sorry but your time mayor can I make a
quick comment please
it's me yes you didn't know
thank you first of all you did a great
job I know it's insanely nerve-wracking
to be down there and I do want to point
out
um that if you if you want to write this
down for later page 202 of the of the
packet does say a traffic impact
analysis will be submitted and approved
prior to the issuing of it so so yes
thank you very much absolutely thank you
I just think it would be irresponsible
to do high density commercial if the
sewer does not is not there yet to
support it thank you thank you
my name is sharbani dasgupta I live
pretty close to this current property
under discussion I pass by that every
single day I've never seen a vagrant
there I do see trash but that's like
plastic bags blowing around and that's
all over the place my question is if the
current owner just wants to build a
house and an office and have a Botanical
Garden why do we need a C3 commercial
intensive care intensive uh I don't know
the exact terms why do we need that kind
of Zoning for that we can give him a
zoning where he's allowed to do what he
needs to do and continue that for
whoever he sells it to because it will
be sold eventually
the third thing I wanted to talk about
is that we are a community we all know
each other I did not receive any uh he
mentioned that he contacted residents we
did not see anything with no contact
from him about what we felt about that
place so so
that's what all I wanted to say thank
you okay I think that just one more
question I hope your minds are not
already made up on this because that's
the reason why we want to come and
express ourselves
you know I my mind is definitely not
made up yet so
good morning Marcie McGuinn I live in
the Los Alturas area also I just wanted
to make a comment and follow up on a
question someone asked if there was a
parking lot planned in one of the
preliminary plans that was submitted to
the City by Mr Wilcox there is a 30
parking spot parking lot planned for the
area I want to reiterate what Miami what
my neighbor said just before me if we're
just looking at building a home in a
Botanical Garden having a little space
we don't need C3 zoning and we invite Mr
Wilcox to work with the city and work on
a more appropriate zoning option for
this largely residential area
thanks
thank you okay so this concludes there's
no more all right so before I turn to
counselor beta since this is her
District just just a real quick overview
so as you you may or may not have read
that so in 2001 the city went into a
different Zone in code and then that's
when this thing changed and that's why
it's what they call non-conforming and
so in order for them to do anything
they're going to have to change it so I
think it's currently zoned a
agricultural A2 so in order for them to
do anything
they have to get this this zone change
from the city so that's why we're having
this had this already been Zone
commercial whatever it is
C3 then they could have this until the
next
the time the city decides to change
which is every 20 30 years so I just
wanted to kind of point that out
so with that I'm going to start with
counselor abeta and then any other
counselors that have questions or
comments counselor make that thank you
and I do want to say thank you to all
the the residents who did take the time
to come here today and to write and
submit letters and attend the Planning
and Zoning
um
there was quite a bit that we got in our
packets about I think they said about 40
residents as well so I I do want to say
thank you for taking that time
and I recognize that this is a
sensitive area it has been agriculture
so it's been
you know uh designated as a spot that
looks just open and free that no longer
aligns within the the values of the
comprehensive plan and as mayor stated
does need to have an update
um I've appreciated the applicant
um working with City to do um heavy
reductions on the types of land uses
permitted and I do believe because of
how he wants to have both the the
Botanical Garden that may have like a
little coffee shop in it and the
residential all those uses all together
is what necessitates the C3 is that
correct Miss America that is correct
okay so all those together have to have
that C3 designation
with it in mind one of one of the
largest issues that I think is that of
how many other uses later on in the
future for residential might impact
given that I would suggest an amendment
for the reduction of residential to be
down to an R3
so that is the the one area that I think
might help the neighborhood feel a
little bit more comfortable later on
and we already saw in the stipulations
that there was already going to be a
reduction of that 40 unit so that
already was not going to happen but this
would reduce it even further
um the the other part that I would like
to say is I know like I said when we
want the community to come in as
somebody mentioned this is a corridor
for people coming up South
um to view our community and seeing
growth business and progress is not a
bad thing especially for our district
I've worked for four years to try to get
a park
Improvement our area is aged a lot of
the places were built in a time where
they weren't looking at different
multi-use purposes and so we've gotten a
lot of areas that
are really in need of great repair or we
have a lot of agricultural zones in the
middle of our community that no longer
fit and so those have to get updated and
so I think it's looking at it that
knowing that change is going to happen
in such a way but how can we do it that
also kind of looks at a way that can
help the community I think a Botanical
Garden viewing it as you're coming into
town actually looks pretty nice and to
be real honest it will be the nicest
private I think growth item that we have
had since I've been here on Council like
I said I've been working really hard to
try to update Tony Gomez in fringer park
and it's going to take a little bit of
time and but we're trying really hard to
make some of these so the idea that a
private entity is going to come in and
make a space for the community is
something that I need to take into
consideration and as it was pointed out
for County residents as well as City
residents too we do look at both of
those items however my primary function
here was that for City residents and so
I I know that's hard and it's not to be
mean because I look at County too I
interact very well with the county our
commissioners try to maintain good
dialogue and communication but at the
end of the day it is that City it's the
city Charter that I run by it's the city
planning documents that I go by not by
the county but by the city so that is
the main focus there
um so what I would like to do like I
said is propose that our three
stipulation as well within this so that
we do have a little bit of that
reduction it also seems that if there
are any other plans that are outside
this scope that may have to happen that
we would have to be addressed again
within Council correct
if there was like a say an apartment
complex coming in that would have to
come back to council correct
um
it would just have to follow the the
conditions of the R3 and and so I guess
point of question for you as well ma'am
when you state R3 uh densities or
development standards that would also
limit the height that would be density
for that residential
thank you for clarification Mia thank
you
thank you mayor
mayor thank you councilor Graham hi
thank you mayor sorry we should have
been able to end on that eloquent but I
messed up so I wanted to clarify my mess
up the traffic impact analysis that I
cited was actually attached to another
item on the on the agenda so my bad
would a traffic impact analysis be
part of you know should this zoning
change be granted or before anything
business related went in would that be
part of it I just don't want to put
staff on the hook for something that I
misread Mr Mayor councilor Graham uh the
traffic engineer will be would be
reviewing party for whatever is
developed on the property uh they may
need if not a full-blown traffic impact
analysis and type of traffic study for
the area to see what improvements if any
are needed to the adjacent right away
okay so a traffic study of some you know
of some
fashion would happen that is typically
orders requested especially go to the
property of this size man but the
Traffic Engineers will request some
information okay great I just didn't
want my mess up to loom over everyone
else thank you mayor
cancer Flores
and a traffic impact
say it's um
it's adverse adverse to having such a
plan implemented what happens at that
point
Mr mayor council of Floyd is basically
the the applicant's traffic engineer or
the developers traffic engineer and
heart traffic engineer we get together
to see what improvements would be
required to the adjacent right away
whether putting diesel Lanes Excel Lanes
right in right in and out right only
possibly even you know lights on the
internet it really depends on what the
the analysis comes to with the final
fruition in order for the property to be
developed when you say lights you mean
semaphor is traffic signals yes sir okay
so
um what happens if uh there isn't
something that can be worked out what
what happens to Mr wilcox's or Dr
wilcox's plans
would not be supported to be developed
by our traffic engineering section so
then it wouldn't be feasible and it
would not go through so does that
describe thank you thank you Mr Mayor
mayor Pro Temp thank you Adam will you
describe since counselor Abate the
um is considering an amendment to the R3
you asked the question development and
density so it makes me feel like I
should ask to be very clear and to for
the public to understand what that R3
designation does
uh Michigan
I took to clarify it'd be going to our
three densities currently under the R4
identities which is what a C3 property
is required to develop to four
Apartments
um it would allow up to a maximum of 40
dwelling units per acre the R3 is only
designation the densities would cut that
in half because then the R3 is only
designation maximum of 20 dollar units
are permitted for apartment complexes so
essentially cutting the density in half
for any potential possible apartment
complexes in the future
thank you Adam and then as in regards to
the traffic study did you say that has
to happen before the actual designation
or could we put that as the stipulation
Mr Mayor uh I believe that was a that
was actually a comment that was brought
up prior traffic engineering with this
load change that any before any
potential future development occurs they
need some type of traffic analysis in
order for them to uh for whatever
potential future use that comes in there
will have to be submitted before they
can approve any any development of the
property okay okay good
um and then
um
as it relates to the parking lot what is
your
what is a consideration
have you seen the design
uh Miss America I've seen a couple of
sketches uh these are super conceptual
of what he's planning on thinking of
possibly doing uh I believe the parking
just put there that would not only would
be for the offices that he's proposing
there but also for the Botanical Garden
as well for people to go and enjoy that
as well again it's just conceptual we do
have minimum maximum parking
requirements in the in our zoning code
so we definitely would make sure that
they'd meet the minimum parking
requirements but as to the total number
of 30 parking stalls that may or may not
happen man considering the plan is
conceptual so the minimum is how many
slots parking lots and Maxes
so right that's a nice load of questions
so mayor comes around to that uh for a a
home some family home we have to have a
minimum of two parking stalls for the
property for for the home additionally
for Botanical Garden
I I do not know the exact uh
calculations for that but everything is
based on calculations but for like a
professional office typically you need
one parking software every 350 square
feet of gross floor area so if it's it's
1200 square foot building they'd have to
have a minimum of four parking stalls or
the one accessible stall
for the for the building but and then in
addition it would have to be additional
spaces for the Botanical Garden yeah Mr
American United that is correct that is
a separate use which has a separate uh
parking requirements I do not know that
information on top of my head though but
it'll definitely get you that
information back Joshua Adam I wish you
would because I wonder if if there's a
way that we could stipulate just it
could be a maximum of a certain amount
of parking spaces
does that make sense
does Larry would Larry Mr America I mean
I guess that could be another potential
condition okay where you would limit the
number and within my rights to say or
not right but within I can say would
like to make an amendment specific to
the parking because that seems to be an
issue for folks Mr Mayor cancer
the potential condition that they just
meet the minimum number of parking saws
required for the for the potential uses
on the property okay and as I made
mention
um my father-in-law
was the founder of this area and had a
vision for this space him and and his
his then wife
Shirley Souls that area and I
specifically finished reading everything
um and purposefully didn't
ask
Bill about it until this morning related
to that area I don't know when this
particular
piece of land was sold and maybe this is
irrelevant in terms of when that was
sold
um what I can say is it was the Soul's
Vision to have
an area carved out that didn't include a
single family dwelling that included
things like a possible grocery store and
you know maybe smaller retail I don't
know what is what his vision
specifically was but this is what Bill's
Souls at least indicated to me this
morning when I when I called and asked
specifically if he was familiar with the
area and of course he was
and so I thought I I want to throw that
out there as is as his vision
and as people noted here in the audience
at public comment things change and they
change rapidly right the souls are no
longer at least the Elder The Matriarch
patriarch of the family are no longer
living
um to include Bill's
brother
and now it's like three generations
who are responsible for at least the
house that's sitting over there that was
the first house that was built so with
that said I I appreciate everybody being
here and speaking to to this I know
there's some concern about things
changing and why are they changing why
is the zoning necessary why is the
parking lot are we expecting 30 spaces
those kinds of things so I'm taking all
that into consideration as I sort of
just decide what's the best course of
action moving moving forward so Adam and
everybody in the audience thank you for
being here
thank you mayor
council binkomo did you have any
questions
I didn't mayor thank you
you say you did or you didn't okay so uh
I want to address something here to Mr
Wilcox
where is he
there you go it's Wilcox I'm a
business person I I do support real
property rights
I think the area location where it's at
what you're asking would be suitable in
my opinion
however
now I know that a lot of the neighbors
have currently are on septic tank
and but of course when that subdivision
was built back in the 60s or probably
even late earlier you know the city
wasn't wasn't that hadn't expanded that
far
but we have since we've uh Adrian her
team her predecessors have really worked
hard as to to grow our sewer Alliance
throughout in fact we offer to many
County residents the ability to hook up
and the reason is is because and the
reason why the city is wanting to help
those that are on septic is because you
just never know if something was an
accident was to happen it could seep
down into our our water tables into our
aquifer and you know I and I do know
that New Mexico environmental department
does allow that but throughout the years
they've added more and more square
footage to those who give a approval to
so I'm going to me personally only
support this if and I found out that we
were approximately 300 feet from our
sewer line and I know that's about a
football field and I know that adds a
tremendous amount of cost but that's the
only way that I'll be able to support
this I don't know about my colleagues I
can't make a motion I can't make an
amendment I can only second I can and I
can vote but I just want to let you know
if if it was to move forward and without
this amendment I'm gonna have to vote no
but if it's uh if one of my colleagues
does choose to require that it be did it
go through as planned because I look at
it
from what they call highest and best use
and the highest and best use would be
maybe you wouldn't do it but if if your
estate was to end up selling it and they
may say hey it's zoned for for some
apartments let's do that so I hope you
understand that I mean I it's we're
trying to balance things here I've had
no discussion with either party in fact
I I thought you looked familiar but I
wasn't too sure and you know probably
I've only seen you once in 20 years so
and I will say that your company is very
well respected and does tremendous work
but uh
that's what I wanted to let you know I
want to tell you that up front okay so
that that was my own comments so I'm
gonna lead up to my colleagues here I
know mayor Pro tem said something about
doing an amendment but um
I can definitely commit if you all could
get within 300 feet
I would connect it instantly that would
be great for all of us
oh I said approximately again this is
the it could be 400 feet but they said
more or less 300. I think they're quite
a ways down the road right now but if
you'd all ever extended within 300 feet
I'm I'm All In
evil did you have something or
the mayor again that's what I was just
going to say so we would require if it's
if the sewer line comes within 300 feet
he'd be required to to have gone at this
point I do believe it's it's a lot
further and that's why they're not
currently requiring but we can set it as
a condition that if it does get within
if it could I think the conditions can
be set even 400 feet if we wanted to but
I I believe
it's probably I think Adrian mentioned
somewhere around 2000 feet away
but if we got it within a certain amount
we can we can make that a requirement
thank you evil councilor Quran and the
councilor FLOTUS my question was just to
follow up on that it already that that
requirement exists in our code correct
the 300 foot required hookup
um so I just wanted to clarify that
that's already I think something that's
written into our existing development
code
missionary uh Council Corin uh you're
correct I believe it is under the
utilities master plan uh when those when
shoreline gets within a certain distance
from a property that they require to uh
uh to connect to to City store
mayor just to clarify this is counselor
just to clarify on process then we do
not need to make a separate Amendment if
that is is that what is being discussed
well counselor it's possible we could
require that um
that if Mr Wilcox was to build say 1700
feet that the city would commit to the
other 300 feet obviously that's a shows
a partnership that we would do to to
help
that's a possibility again not just
something there that the council wishes
to choose but you're right as of now
there is no amendment I can't make an
amendment but if we were to make one it
would be that the applicant would be
required to extend the city's the sewer
line to within 300 feet of a city of our
cities were
system and then that gives us the city
300 feet to do our portion
right mayor I guess I'm
an ordinance so do we have to then
additionally add it to this well
counselor no the requirement would be to
have the applicant build a sewer line of
I guess 1700 feet
before it is it is the zoning is
approved or that's a condition of the
zoning is what I'm trying to say
and 1700 feet is
food it's probably less that's about
two-fifths of a mile
so less than half a mile but you know
you there
yes I am here mayor I I think I'm
dressed
um
and the reason for it I'm not
understanding what you're proposing
there oh okay basically is to approve
the the uh zoning code with the
condition that the applicant builds 1700
feet of sewer line and then this that
leaves the city the opportunity to hook
up the the other 300 and then we're
connected together and the reason being
is if they were to eventually build
Apartments
I wouldn't like to see that apartment
complex on sewer lines I mean on septic
tanks and this way here they would be
they could be hooked up to a to the city
sewer that's it that's why I talked
about the highest and best use if if
down the road another generation chooses
excuse me to build an apartment complex
it would be required to hook up to the
city city sewer which is will be right
there and by requiring the applicant to
build 1700 feet of a
sewer line it would be ready to go and
then the city could hook up when they
want to to 300 feet so that it's so that
it's there
and what is that responsibility then be
on that developer who chooses in this
hypothetical the developer if they
choose to build apartment complexes that
would be their responsibility not
necessarily this person's responsibility
well once the zoning is given
then it's um that's the hard part and
once we give the zoning there's a as you
could tell by the various the
presentation there are various uses that
could be on there including Apartments
so this is really the only time the city
can probably require that the sewer line
be installed after that after we give
the zoning without any conditions it's a
different story then
nope so the the issue I had is that one
earlier in my question in my questions
right asked if there were to be
additional units whose responsibility
would it be to then hook up to the sewer
line and I was told the developer
do you understand something differently
than I understand and maybe that's a
question first asked
well no I you're right but that's uh
something there that that
um
we don't know if if that's what they're
going to do that's why I just wanted to
be prepared for the highest and best use
of that land
that's the only reason because once we
give that zoning it could it could
change and there could be a different
city council sitting here that says no
we'll go ahead and go ahead and build it
you don't you don't need sewer I don't
know what miyagashim was talking about
back then
so
can I can can I stop to clarify this
because I have a different understanding
of the requirement
I'm sorry can you repeat your question
mayor I have a different understanding
of
the possibility of future development in
that requirement in terms of
um it being mandatory that if there were
to be units built that they would be
hooked up to the sewer line and that
that developer would be responsible for
that
I don't know I'm just gonna let David
Ware talk let's see if he can figure
that out I was asking for staff to
answer mayor and uh councilor Ben Como
um I'll try not to just talk but to
set some context currently the property
is not served by sanitary sewer so
whatever uses proposed they would have
to come up with a on-site system whether
that be a septic tank or I know some
places have used of Apple transportation
it's something where they build Mounds
in the the water evaporates but
um
but there are limitations on that and
what the density could be if they wanted
to build it out to full density whether
it be the 40 dwellings per acre or if
the conditions approved at 20 dwelling
units an acre they would either have to
extend the sewer to the property at the
time they propose that project or they
would have to wait to develop the
property until the city does a project
and extends it past that property and
then our current sanitary sewer
ordinance is if the city extends their
service and the line is within 300 feet
the property owner has to tie into it
when they develop
so
um I guess to summarize
as it is today there's no sanitary sewer
that could be provided to this so that
would limit the number of dwelling units
or apartments that could be placed on
the property the someone who bought the
property and wanted to develop his
Apartments
they would the city would not extend
that if they wanted to go forward with
they would be required to extend the
sanitary sewer to the site and they
would incur all that cost
I guess the third option is if during
the master plan the city does a capital
project and extends sewer into that area
and then the property in order to have
to wait until that line is in the system
to go forward so I think those are the
three development scenarios that can
take place for the property
thanks David that actually clarifies
plenty for me
I don't see where that was different
than what I was saying but
so
[Music]
very similar to what you've met her have
it yeah
so um I I I don't think I I believe that
adding a condition that has an unknown
number on it is unfair to uh Dr Wilcox
or anyone in your position not just you
personally but only because
um it could be very very very expensive
and and I don't know how wealthy you are
but unless you're Rockefeller or
Bezos or some of those really Ultra
millionaire type people I I don't know
yeah I know you want it and you're
saying that you're willing to accept an
amendment
that one of us may uh pose or
put forward for vote
consistent with the mayor's thought
processes and I but I have to say that I
I think that
the amendment is it just to on it's an
unknown for you and I I think that it
would be
um
I think that it would be different I
think it would be
I don't know what the word is it just
wouldn't be very fair to you and and
it and it's quite apparent that you want
this so badly that you're willing to say
yes I'll incur the cost but we don't
know what the cost is and that's very
unfair and I think it's overreaching on
our part
only because I guess because I'm not
wealthy you know to just throw money
around that I wouldn't make a promise to
to come forth with something that I have
no idea what the monetary of uh amount
would be I just so I'm not in favor of
an amendment Mr Mayor
can I can I clarify that sure um the
current Las Cruces rules are if there's
a sewer within 300 feet yeah you have
but the owner has to
um Extended theirs who are aligned to
that right and you would incur that 300
that's what it meant to agree to oh not
1700 feet oh okay the 300 feet would
probably be palatable for you I can
afford that but I mean to you know I
okay then I that that if that's if
that's the event is that what the
amendment would be no his is a little
bit more in my opinion overreaching but
with all due respect Mr birthday man
okay so the second part then Adam is
can you can this be divided into since
Mr Wilcox said it was primarily for his
own residence and then for his the
commercial building
can we put two zonings on this so R1 for
say three-fourths of the property so
that just one house sits on that and
then the the portion that has the
commercial
and the parking lot
let's see as a commercial zoning on that
so Mr Mary that is possible we call that
uh I guess in our planning terms it's
kind of like a split Zone at our pancake
zoning if you will that that is possible
sir
um we would need a meet some bounds
survey of the property though to show
exactly what is going to be r1a and what
is going to be C3 that way when us a
staff won't get those applications and
we need to make sure exactly where is
what and and put heads or tails between
everything when it's actually being
developed so but it is possible uh
technically uh it just may be a little
difficult sir
Mr Wilcox did you go back to where'd you
go
yeah so Ricky can you come forward
because just to see if that is something
that's acceptable
and so Mr Mayor also wanted to clarify
as well that is why the the c3c zoning
is being requested because that itself
takes care of the entire picture for the
applicant and its proposed use for the
accessory for his home as an accessory
to the uh offices botanical gardens oh
no I agree I hear you but just like if
just if I can go back in time here
the the land where the new hospital
lives that used to be the country club
and it was zoned R1 and that's why there
was just one house on there and that's
why they had to come before Council to
change change it again so that's why I
thought if since you wanted to have your
house there if the majority of it and I
just did a little diagram was R1 so that
you can have your house there and then
that small portion for the commercial
that way they're the majority of it
would be just for your home as you
mentioned and this way here it just kind
of protects the residents I think in the
future should you decide to you know
give the property away someday that
could be possible but
it probably wouldn't alleviate the
opposition to this
because you could still build Apartments
which it seems like their biggest
problem with the area
well but if three-fourths of it is R1
and one-fourth of it is just for your
your commercial property you can't put
too many apartments on that
yeah that's true yeah Vincent and Adam
and I could talk about something like
that
sorry that's the only way now I don't
know what the risk council is that's the
only way I can support this so we could
theoretically table it so you can
negotiate that with the city and bring
that forward I like I said I'm okay with
that
um or
the council may just wish to to move
forward I just want you to I'm just
trying to be transparent and let you
know what I'm thinking you know I I
you know I recognize that you'd probably
own this land for a long time and that
was your future Vision was to eventually
you know build your home there and you
know have your office there
and um it is but probably the
three-quarter quarter split wouldn't
work
because my house isn't that big
no I know but but this protects the the
future of it and it would require if
someone later with it yourself or
someone else then they have to come
before city council 10 years from now or
15 years from now that's all I'm trying
to say whereas if we put that zoning on
there right now it's it's done it's done
I'd probably have to talk to them about
it it'd probably be better to attack it
like Adam suggested
yeah okay reducing the density on there
okay well
I just want to let you know why it
probably won't be supportive on it um
okay so did you have anything before we
call for the vote Yes I would like to
make an amendment
um to exhibit B to add the condition of
residential to our three death City
I'll second that if that's how it's
supposed to be if that's like how okay
how it should be set okay motion made by
counselor Abate the second by councilor
Quran
to move to R3
designation for the entire for
residential density for residential
density this is for the entire property
and so can you or Adam clarifying what
that does
point of clarification on the property
would still be Zone C3 I believe the
business because they're beta saying uh
and essentially just any type of uh
multi-family development what have to
follow uh density requirements of the R3
zoning Edition in other words like we
spoke of earlier instead of allowing 40
doing units per acre it's a limited to
12 20 dwelling units per acre I believe
that is what her her additional
condition is is to limit multi-family to
R3 and the entire
um the entire parcel is 10 acres plus
correct that is correction yeah so yeah
that's that's I appreciate that
counselor that's probably something I I
still
I would not be able to that's fine
to support
um gosh I wish we'd have diagrams I
don't know why we just don't have why it
wasn't presented as such but okay never
mind I'll try to
all right so it's been moving a second
on the amendment
Christine on the amendment
this is on the motion to amend ordinance
3031 to amend exhibit B to add
residential R3 density
counselor beta yes
councilor Graham yes
councilor Ben Comal
yes
councilor Koran yes
counselor Flores
yes councilor Gandara no mayor no
okay now we're back on the main motion
so now the main motion has this
amendment on included on it the R3
density so are there any questions from
Council
seen on Christine
this is on the motion to approve
ordinance 3031 as amended counselor
abeda yes councilor Graham yes councilor
Ben Como
yes councilor cran yes counselor Flores
yes councilor Gandara no mayor no motion
passes okay thank you thank you everyone
for attending today and thank you Mr
Wilcox for listening to us and myself
included okay
all right so we're before we go on to
the next item I'm going to ask if we
could take a just a quick moment I see
my brother and my sister-in-law here as
well as my wife and middle son
uh so
Jim
yeah yeah do you mind going down there
he's got something there's looks kind of
fishy
oh and my brother Bob is here and and my
wife his wife meloda and my niece Laura
waving
oh
I don't know do I need to be out there
oh okay
uh
yeah I think so so I get to do a special
privilege here sorry remember this is my
last year
so I don't know what am I supposed to am
I getting looks like I'm getting
something
[Music]
hey um
the mayor is the baby of the family so
oh yes and the reason
um the reason Jim isn't reading it is
because he's legally blind and because
I'm the
person who's supposed to read things
today I'm very happy to do this for you
Jim and for the entire miyakashima
family
Biloxi
oh oh you were born
holy moly
boy I'm impressed by the way he was born
in Biloxi Mississippi
yes it was AFB because your dad was in
the military okay whereas uh so this
this is a Biloxi the city of Biloxi
Mississippi
um
a proclamation whereas Kenneth Daniel
miyagashima was born on May 15
1963. he was born on Keesler
Air Force Base Mississippi to ufracia
Catalina porras
gallegosima and Mike casuji miyagashima
and considers Biloxi his hometown
whereas Kenneth is a 1981 graduate of
Las Cruces High School he received his
bachelor's degree from NMSU and received
his master's degree from the University
of Texas at El Paso and whereas he
married Rosario Rosie Resa with whom he
shares four children Danielle John
Francisco and Carlos and whereas Kenneth
is the current mayor of Las Cruces New
Mexico and is finishing his fourth terms
as mayor now therefore I Andrew Fofo
gillich mayor of Biloxi hereby proclaims
Kenneth Daniel migoshima honorary
beloxian in witness whereof I have unto
here unto set my hand an official seal
of the city of Biloxi Mississippi on
this 14th day of April 2023 signed
Andrew Fofo gilich mayor city of Biloxi
Mississippi all right
I have no idea what to say I would have
never imagined this sometimes I think
about
the awards that we give and keys to the
city
proclamations I never expected to get
one well Jim I'm impressed
you army guys are pretty good
thank you I've never even met mayor
gilich glitch Village
I don't know what to say this is
incredible
this is pretty cool
although I was I was born in Biloxi Las
Cruces is my hometown but in fact when
Aggies played Mississippi State
and they beat him agus did of course
Chris Jans was coach in fact I asked
coach Jans I said when did they contact
you he says after we beat them after I
after Aggies beat Mississippi State they
contacted him says hey we think we want
you to
possibly coach down the road so
so I'm always there back in back in our
Aggies but uh wow Jim thank you thank
you for the little inconvenience here
this is really special for me this is
cool
so yeah I'm not done yet
so uh
it's it's I have to tell you it's really
hard to believe that
60 years ago 60. no 60 years ago I was
born right
so it's we're in the year 2023 yeah
I don't know where the years went but
you know Jim's my second oldest brother
and uh and Bob Squad third and we had a
lot of fun growing up Jim was kind of
when I was just uh when we moved to Las
Cruces Jim wanted to go fight in Vietnam
and fortunately the last minute they
sent him to Simmons Army Medical Center
thank God but um
thanks to the veterans too but thank you
Jim I don't know what to say all right
this is incredible this is the coolest
present I've
other than what Rosie gives me than I've
ever gotten yeah so thank you appreciate
it
[Applause]
I'm 60 not 63. okay so let's uh we're
gonna leave we're gonna go to
um my brother's gonna take me to lunch
so mayor Pro tem is going to take over
so and I won't be back okay so I've got
a plan to catch after this and uh
okay you know good luck I think
we're good
thanks
thank you
mayor it's a delight to see you whip
your brother into giving you lunch that
was that was pretty good very impressive
whipping up the votes
[Applause]
happy birthday Mary and many more I hope
it's a peaceful beautiful day with all
your favorite things safe travels
okay so
um The Show Must Go On so we will
present you're here Christine okay 7.1
resolution number
23-124 I need a motion and a second so
moved by Florida's second beta motion
made by Pluto second by councilor beta
hi Cheryl hello it was a little long and
drawn out there right but we're here and
we're we're moving so thank you for your
patience
okay so greetings everyone surround De
La Cruz budget analysts
so today I am presenting various grants
that we've been awarded to be accepted
and let's jump right into them the first
grant that we have for you is the
violent crime victim assistance grant
that has been awarded to the police
department These funds will be budgeted
in the fund 2100 special Revenue fund
for the amount of fifty thousand dollars
there is no required match and the
purpose of this grant is to develop or
ex or expand the development or
expansion of a violent crime law
enforcement victim liaison unit
our second one here is for Magdalena
road disaster funding this is for public
works department it will be budgeted in
the 4100 fund capital projects fund for
the amount of 188
895 dollars
there is a match requirement which is
already budgeted for 62
965 and the purpose of this grant is
disaster assistant Road flooding to
reimburse former emergency repairs that
were done on this road
have our
um
shpo which stands for State historic
preservation office certified local
government grant that we've been awarded
to the Community Development Department
this will be budgeted fund 2100 for the
amount of fifty nine thousand six
hundred and twenty dollars there is no
match required for this Grant and the
purpose is to complete the survey of
Mesquite historic district in the
National registration of historic
district boundaries complete historic
cultural property inventory and update
nomination tax and creation create new
District Maps
we have a modification for the airport
striping grant that was awarded to the
airport which is budget will be budgeted
in 5010 airport fund this amount is 37
911 there is no match required for this
and the purpose for this is to provide
FAA required striping and marking at the
Las Cruces International Airport
another modification we have is for
Haida high intensity drug trafficking
error area this is housed within the
police department the fund for this is
74.92 and the amount is 130 366 dollars
and the purpose for this modification is
to replenish the approved budget costs
associated with the locational move for
the different law enforcement
participants so the physical moved that
they did
and we also have our G23
funding that we get awarded annually for
Haida and that is again housing police
their fund is 74.92 and that is for a
million dollars there is never any match
required for this annual funding and the
purpose of these funds is for a variety
of law enforcement initiatives including
the city's internal police Metro
division
and that is all I have for you for the
month
um I stand for any questions and thank
you thank you cherelle any questions
I have a couple shirelle on slide two
the 50 000 for violent crime
um the Aldi victim liaison unit
um I wondered if I could direct this
question to Chief Dominguez what does
would that entail the expansion of the
violent crime victim liaison unit
mayor Pro tem Chief Dominguez for the
record it's an additional uh program
that is being put together by our
victims assistance unit right now I
don't have the full details on it but
that's the funding is to expand their
their services
it's in addition to the Boca grant that
we receive every year okay what is that
grant that you receive the victims of
violent crime no I'm sorry though it's
in it which is the first grant that you
made mention of
yes and how much is that cheap
I don't have the totals with me okay if
you could get that and then get what
you're thinking
um around the expansion of the violent
crime I'm hoping that we would also work
um side by side with La Casa as you know
they've been working on building their
repertoire of services I know there's
been some dialogue and discussion with
UL
regarding how you can partner to go for
additional grants
and I think given sort of what we've
spoken up in our spoken of in regards to
our Po in our Public Safety select
committee meetings about adding sort of
a additional layer maybe one suggestion
I might add is a
a way to identify data specific to
violent crime
and
twofold juveniles and second the adults
I think currently there is great
difficulty in How We Sip that out and
the data is what I've been told from a
couple of sources there's some big
federal grants that I know family and
youth Innovation plus are are wanting to
um
um seek out and they're having great
difficulty just sort of trying to find
that data specifically and so that's one
thing but the other thing that I want to
put a bug in your ear about is coming up
with a violet uh
violence prevention strategy or
strategic plan for the city because we
all know that our violence our violent
crime especially against women are up
and increasing which is also really see
the single moms and the kids seeing the
violence and the trauma and whatnot so
I'd really like to see that occur and if
this money isn't is flexible enough to
identify a strategic
visioning session I would really like us
to go in that direction
um
and maybe I should be directing this to
the city manager in 19 specifically
because I don't city manager so thank
you
foreign
Grant manager and Mira Pro tem Gandara
Council on this particular Grant came
very very late in the grand year
apparently cvrc had additional funds
available and so they offered this
additional fifty thousand dollars to the
program to alleviate costs that were
going to be paid for by the general fund
the original volca Grant was I believe
right around the area of seventy six
thousand dollars and the cost for
Staffing
um
most of those costs were going to be
paid for by general fund and so when we
were offered this additional fifty
thousand dollars
they allowed us to go ahead and use
those monies towards Staffing
and alleviate that burden from the
general fund so the majority of this
money will be used for Staffing there I
believe they will use part of that for
computer upgrades and that type of thing
for that program I really appreciate the
the
explanation thank you Miss Gonzalez you
said yes Susan Gonzalez thank you Miss
Gonzalez appreciate that okay any other
questions anything from the audience
oh I'm sorry evil did you have your
light go ahead
Chief did you want to say more
protham she pretty much covered it with
the total on that is the original Grant
is 73 414 so it was in addition to that
but it is to expand the services of the
victims assistance unit
Chief thank you Gonzalez and shirelle
any comments from the the public seeing
none Christy
this is an emotion to approve resolution
23-124 counselor beta yes councilor
Graham yes councilman Como
yes councilor Koran
yes
counselor Flores yes councilor gandetta
yes and the mayor is absent thank you
Christine motion passes okay I'd like to
suspend the rules if I can for 7.2 and
7.3 we need an emotion first for to
listen to the item then emotion and a
second to suspend it thank you for
setting me straight so we need a motion
for 7.3 resolution number
23-125 move to approve second motion
made by Council Corin and I think was a
conservata yes conservator
hello Jacqueline
hello good afternoon I know it's no more
no longer morning near Pro tem we need
to suspend the rules
oh now we need one for the suspension of
the roll C I just would go right into it
I moved to suspend the rules
second motion made by cancer Flores to
suspend the rules second made by
counselor beta now Jacqueline I think
you're looking for YouTube now I need to
call them I'm sorry I'll get into it
you're fine you're fine it's in the game
now okay this is on the motion to
suspend the rules to listen to item 7.2
and 7.3 concurrently counselor beta
yes
councilor Graham yes councilor Ben Como
yes
councilor Koran yes counselor Flores yes
councilor Gandara yes and the mayor's
episode
now so Jacqueline there you go okay
sounds good um good afternoon Jacqueline
rubalcava budgeting Grant administrator
I'm bringing forth this resolution to
adopt the FY 2324 budget
you've seen this before again the theme
is Carino it was brought forth by Mr
pili's city manager and it's to Foster
an environment where people have garino
for the things they do
these are the fy24 budget changes so
these are changes from the work session
to now so they were some proposed
expenditure increases to the revised FY
23 budget this was due to the various
budget adjustment that was brought on
April 17th so last month for fy23 budget
and then for fy24 general fund
Enterprise funds and agency fund
increases and we'll explain those
further
so here's the all fund expenditure
increases and we just listed the
proposed fy24 budget that we brought for
the work session and then the one that
we're proposing to be adopted
and the ones that changed will have
changes in the call in the last column
so for the general fund there was an
increase of 0.6 million
the Enterprise fund about 4.1 million
trust and agency funds about 4 million
so that was a change of about 8.7
million
bringing the proposed adoption to 519
million for expenditures
and here's a breakdown of the increases
so for the general fund there was an
increase to the Animal Services
contribution and this was on the general
fund side it wasn't in munis initially
there was a new position position the
Housing and Development for Housing and
Development and it was a HUD Grant
manager that's about 99
000.
there was an update due to the amount
for new vehicles from Las Cruces Police
Department's initial quote of 72 000 to
fleets quote of 75 000. so those are 18
Vehicles so the cost is about 48 000.
and then the merva increased
contribution of 150 000 that wasn't in
previously in the general fund
for Enterprise there was an increase
about 4.1 million for Transit this was
due to Transit expecting the electric
buses by the end of the FY 23 but they
won't be received so they'll need to be
carried over
and for the trust and agency funds for
mervda the board approved budget was not
in the Erp system so that's about 4
million that was just due to budget
deadlines and the time when the board
met
so here's the all fun expenditures from
the fy23 revised to the proposed
so we see that the expenditures are
right now at 519 million
and here's the fy24 proposed City budget
again the 519 million for expenditures
and mostly made up of General 30 percent
capital projects 16 and Enterprise 32.
so it's a 9.4 increase from the FY 2223
expenditures
to the fy24 at 148 million
here's a general fund summary
so we see that the fy24 proposed
adoption budget would be I would have an
unreserved balance about 10.9 million
so that the slight change from the FY 23
. you've seen this before where your
money comes from we've listed the
revenue sources and the revenue is about
138 million
largely made up of gross received taxes
at 79 percent
and where your money goes this is a
general fund and the expenditures as
mentioned before it's about 148 million
largely made up of a Personnel at 68
percent operating 29 and capital
approximately 3 percent
I'm going to hand it over to Cynthia
Campo she'll talk about the capital
Improvement program
thank you Jacqueline good afternoon
Cynthia
good afternoon your pretend counselors
Cynthia Campo CIP analyst
for the CIP budget there have been no
changes to it since the work session our
total budget is
157.7 million of that 8.5 million is for
newly funded projects
117 million is from carryovers and 32.1
million is from annual projects
these are our newly funded projects and
they were all selected through the CIP
criteria which includes alignment to the
Elevate to elevate Las Cruces or our
comprehensive plan
and I will stand by for any questions
thank you thank you Cynthia I'm trying
to pay attention to you and when the
lights go on so counselor I just have
one quick question thank you both for
this presentation and for keeping us so
in the loop about the budget
um I would just really first of all like
to say that I really I so appreciate uh
I'm not sure if anyone wants the Board
of Regents meeting last week but there
are some budget related drama so I
alluded to that to say I am very proud
that the city does an extraordinarily
thoughtful job of presenting the budget
giving us the information updating the
information and and keeping us in the
loop and allowing us to make this vote
knowing what's what's in the budget so
thank you you all for for that effort
that's really appreciated from my
perspective
I do have one quick question on Slide
Five uh the police cars I had noticed
this earlier but hadn't asked about it I
think that this is because the budget
had said 70 each was budgeted at 75k and
that is or is the 48 000 in this case is
this a decrease to the estimated amount
of each or is this a change in the total
amount for the fleet cost
so this was initially LCPD had budgeted
each of the 18 vehicles at 72 000 and
fleet's quote was actually 75 000 so
that is just an increase of 48 000. okay
so due to that yes okay thank you that's
the only question that I had
thank you councilor Grant any any other
okay anything oh I'm sorry counselor
bincoma yes please please ask your
questions
that's okay thank you mayor Pro tem
thanks so much for the presentation and
for staff for getting us here
um it's you know why I felt like it was
important to call in and make sure I
voted on our budget but just last
question
um two weeks ago I had a question
regarding housing
um and so I'm hoping that that I just
that I have a commitment from the city
manager that we'll be talking about
changes to manually Mano and possibly
expanding that for that peer-to-peer
support
um
proposal and the you know that that
wasn't included in this and that's okay
I just want to make sure that um that is
said today that we will be hearing that
soon
yes Evo thank you may Protime and yes
councilman Como uh you know we're in the
process of amending that contract and so
we still have the details the costs
associated with that and so we figured
um we'd be coming back with a budget
amendment as soon as that uh Amendment
for that agreement is has been
been solidified and so we'll probably
bring it back the same time but yeah
just the timing counselor that that's
why we've left it out because we don't
really know the the cost right now
great evil thank you so much for that
reassurance I really appreciate it and
then just lastly I just have a couple
comments to make
um given that you know we are
um we finally got a work session on some
police oversight and accountability on
that conversation and I just want to
reiterate why I feel like this is so
incredibly important
um I I was thinking about this I
remembered that a while ago
um I don't know it must have been last
year or or late the year before that
that the Las Cruces Police Officers
Association sent an open letter to the
city council and I remember in that
letter they talked about that they
believed there was a five percent
decrease in public safety
budgets um which is not true
um since I've been on this Council I
even after some opposition and um
you know a strong belief that
policing isn't the only way to induce
crime that we have to implement
different strategies in order to do that
that this police department since I've
been on this Council has received every
request they've ever asked for including
18u officers and 18 new vehicles and I
think that's and I think it's important
to note that because there has not been
a decrease in any budget for PD
um in fact it's been the opposite it's
quite the opposite and so I I just want
to reiterate that it's important that
when we talk about these kinds of things
and that when we come to the work
session later in May about this
conversation that we talk about
accountability that flows both ways
right we want accountability from our
neighbors to be better neighbors
um and
there should be accountability that
flows in our direction as well and I
think especially when
there are budgets that look like our
budgets that look like every Municipal
budget frankly
um that we're open to those
conversations right so I just wanted to
read to reiterate that that
um
there has never been a proposed decrease
in the police budget and that this year
just marks another commitment to our
police that we want to work together on
ensuring that they have good pay good
benefits good working conditions and
that in return we ask for high standards
so I just wanted to note that before we
vote on on the budget
thank you councilor Ben Como
any
comments from the public
seeing none Christine
this is on the motion to approve
resolution
23-125 counselor beta yes
councilor Graham yes councilor Ben komal
yes councilor Korean yes counselor
Flores yes mayor Pro tem yes and the
mayor is absent
okay and this next resolution number
second made by counselor Flores
Christine this is on the motion to
approve resolution
23-126 counselor beta yes councilor
Graham yes councilor Ben Cuomo
yes councilor Koran yes counselor Flores
yes mayor Pro tem yes and the mayor's
absent thank you Christy
and we moved 7.4
okay next up board appointments
and
I need a motion right to approve the
affordable housing advisory committee
Carrollwood cane a new appointment Ruth
drawer
new appointment
we'll need to do those separately
I have to do it separately okay I need a
motion to approve Carol Wood cane so
moved
second by Flores motion made by Council
Corin second by counselor Flores
Christine this is on the merchanter
appoints Carol Keane to the affordable
housing advisory committee councilor
beta yes Council Graham yes
cancer Ben come on
yes cancer Korean yes counselor Flores
yes mayor Pro tem yes and the mayor's
absent
I need an another motion to approve Ruth
Gerard new appointment
motion being by counselor Curran
second by Flores second by cancer Flores
Christine
this is on the motion to appoint Ruth
drawer to the affordable housing
advisory committee councilor beta
councilor Graham yes councilor Ben Comal
yes councilor Korean yes councilor
Flores yes mayor Pro Tem
yes and the mayor's absent
Christine can I ask you I saw I think on
an email you sent several more on an
email several applications are you
planning on moving those through next
regular session or I'm a little confused
I just want to point a clarification
mayor Pro tem there were five
applications there were three vacancies
two of them to the members that were
already serving were grandfathered in
so that's why we had three
we had one last time and then two this
time okay okay got you got you thank you
thank you for for explaining that okay
next is our city artboard Kayla Blundell
need a motion and a second
motion made by counselor Flores seconded
corn second by Council Court Christine
this is on the motion to appoint Kayla
Blundell to the city artboard counselor
beta yes councilor Graham yes councilor
Ben Como
yes councilor Korean yes counter Flores
yes may Pro tem yes and the mayor's
absent thank you
next historic preservation commission I
need a motion to approve Ernie Campos as
a new appointment so moved by Flores
motion made by counselor Flores
secondary Corinth second by Council
Corin Christine
this is on the motion to appoint Ernie
Campos to the historic preservation
commission counselor beta yes councilor
Graham yes councilor Ben komal
yes cancer Korean yes counselor Flores
yes mayor Pro tem yes the mayor's absent
thank you Christine
um for our Las Cruces Utility Board of
Commissioners I need a motion for
Raymond L Hickman reappointment mayor
Pro tem yes I may I have a moment to say
something
yes of course thank you um I would like
to just bring a concern with the
reappointment of Mr Hickman I believe he
has gone out of scope for the duties and
responsibilities of a board member that
has put us at risk he did attend
the house kind of it was unclear if it
was on behalf of himself as a board
member or the city and he attended
residence house to look at a potential
dispute so I have concerns on the
liability for the city so I would
request not to reappoint
okay
So Christine this is a new one on me
what do we do
um that's at the discretion of the
council if they would not like to bring
It Forward we can move forward and take
applications instead so do we need them
no we could just not do anything okay
okay is there can there be if there's a
consensus can there be a comment from
others and is there any comments or
concerns anything okay
as a member of the Utility Board I have
the same concern and
um
would like to just Echo cancer a beta
statement okay
I appreciate that councilor Ben gomo
okay then next up is Edmund Archuleta is
a reappointment
okay
second gram motion made by concert beta
second by cancer Graham Christine
this is on the motion to reappoint
Edmund Archuleta to the utilities board
counselor abeda yes councilor Graham yes
councilor Ben Como
yes cancer Korean yes counselor Flores
yes
yes mayor's absent
next up is Messiah Valley public housing
authority I need a motion and a second
to approve Gloria Molina which will be a
resident commissioner and a new
appointment
to approve
second Gandara so motion made by I can
do that right
motion made by Council Curran second by
counts Cassandra Gandara okay Christine
this is on the motion to appoint Gloria
Molina to the Messiah Valley public
housing authority councilor beta yes
councilor Graham yes counselor Ben Como
yeah councilor cran yes counselor Flores
yes mayor Pro tem yes and mayor's absent
plenty of information for the city clerk
yes Madam chair yes counselors yes thank
you um
so
what exactly we deferred on Raymond
Hickman
so what does that mean
um does it come up again do we get more
information
um how do we go about on this deferment
um mayor Pro tem counselor Flores I will
work with Adrian and her team to see if
we want to go back out for applications
and then go from there okay so
he's not going to be a contender
is is that what is that where we are at
this place is that what is that the
impact there is no motion to bring it
forward so it kind of dies yeah great
thank you thank you if I I may ask a
couple of more
um questions who notifies him
and is who notifies him of this
is there a process in place is there a
pill process in the event that
their mayor Pro tem there is he can
appeal he has I think a month to appeal
according to our code so um I'll be
notifying him that he wasn't reappointed
and then we'll go from there and see how
it plays out if he does appeal then
we'll have to wait and then look at
additional applications in the meantime
okay all right I'm glad thank you for
the clarification
okay we do not have any notice of
proposed ordinance as we took that one
off the table actually we do we have one
yes
oh
9.2 I'm sorry we sure do okay
um
notice the proposed ordinance 9.2
Council bill number
23-031 ordinance 3037 and ornaments
amending section 3853 conditional uses
in section 38-54 special use permits of
the Las Cruces municipal code for the
purpose of eliminating the 300 foot
buffer between cannabis retailers micro
business and other cannabis retailers or
micro businesses Bring It Forward
thank you
okay next is city council member board
reports and comments
I want to
get my wits about me here let's see
um
speak to Mr Garcia's public comment
about
and counselor thank you councilman Como
for providing a little bit of context I
think
um
it's probably unclear for folks in the
public and maybe that has been in the
past a to his point about
needing more police officers out in the
public
um
and I don't know if it's a resolution or
chief Dominguez you've been here longer
in in terms of the number of citizenry
for every citizen we need a police
officer can someone enlighten me about
what
that looks like because I don't believe
that I've seen it in writing anywhere
and it it leads me to believe that we
have a lot of work to
um educate the public on it if it's it's
out there or
re-establish you know some
some parameters if ones aren't already
established
mayor Pro tem there's there's several
ways that you can calculate how many
police officers are needed in a
population per capita is just one of the
ways and that was one officer for every
thousand uh citizens that you have so at
a hundred thousand we would need 200
officers and we're pretty much there but
we also can calculate it by using
available budget you can also the types
of calls the response times
we we try to use a hybrid as far as the
the types of calls that we're seeing and
our response time are we being
responsive with our current Staffing and
that's what led to our request for the
additional officers because we are
seeing a reduction in our Priority One
and our priority two call times because
of the types of calls that we are on so
the per capita one I wouldn't it's it's
kind of old speak to to hang your hat on
on that you know one prayer every
thousand citizens that I'm aware of not
very many police departments are still
using that it's kind of kind of old
school if you will
thank you Chief Dominguez so that would
leave it open as policy makers to
determine
what might be the formulary if you will
for that
I'm I'm imagining
mayor Pro tem like like I mentioned
we're using a hybrid for us to use the
types of calls for service that we're
seeing a lot of mental health calls
domestic calls that type of cult takes a
lot of a lot more time when officers
respond
so we're using that as well as our
response times to determine how many
officers we need we asked for 18 to get
us to 220 authorized right now and an
additional caveat there is can we
fill those slots it takes a long time to
recruit and hire those and train those
officers so even if say 250 was
authorized we couldn't fill those slots
probably for another year okay
information thank you as a point of
information and is this is something
that I shared with EVO piliarc our city
manager
I was fortunate enough to sit in a
transportation sustainability and
infrastructure PRC and there was a
presentation by Courtney as to the use
of GIS and how effective it is and I was
quite quite impressed by the tracking
and more impressed by the fact that it's
actually the police department that had
the highest
a use of of that GIS which means that
that your your being that police
officers are being deployed on a much
faster
basis so
um yeah I think that sometimes
with all due respect I mean I think we
all would love to live in paradise and
everything be perfect but this is a
metropolis it's a small City but it's
still a metropolis and uh and there will
be unfortunate circumstances along those
lines
I was going to wait until my comments
but
I like the city manager too I'd like us
to have a work session
presented by Courtney on the use of GIS
and how the city is doing everything it
possibly can to be Johnny on the spot
for everybody in every respect all the
time
thank you Chief thank you and thank you
Eva and thank you madam chair thank you
counselor Flores
I bring this up and I said this at one
of the council
um
the the agenda items is
I'll start by saying that I will be
attending a national DV conference
domestic violence conference in Austin
next week through the week I'm really
looking forward to this I feel for me
it's a priority
specifically as I have conversations
with Chief and see the numbers
particularly in public safety select
we've we have quite an emphasis on that
so much so we had received a
um data to suggest that our DB numbers
are going up
um it's it's very unsafe for women and
children in this community as it relates
to what they're experiencing in their
home
um and so I would like to see more
emphasis on
evil grants specifically that address
the prevention of domestic violence Ways
by which the city can develop
extracurricular activities of all ages
for all ages where Parks and Rec are are
more are I wouldn't say more active but
more involved in kids and and with
evidence-based programming there's so
many pro funding opportunities out there
I think and if we involve our our
children our youth in in activities
especially activities related to
mentoring they're more inclined to you
know be off the streets and have idle
time to possibly commit the kinds of
crimes that we're that we're seeing I
don't think that the public is
completely aware of the number of Youth
that are engaged in the kind of crime
that we're seeing and I think to
point about a work session that's also
something that I think that we really
need to emphasize and with that ifo I
saw some information on
maybe it was an email that suggested
that the county was going to stop
receiving
um
applications for the Youth programming
the the
job I think
um it's that you know the funding that
was made available for kids to seek
employment and then Employment I wasn't
sure it what it looked like specific to
the city but we should be doing
everything we can if there is city kids
that don't have a placement or funding
for that kid because I understand
there's thousands of applications that
are pending and they've run out of money
for the number of pending applications
that we should be making every effort as
Council to provide the additional
funding to ensure that these kids get
the the employment opportunities because
it's just
it will be it will benefit us in so many
other ways and so
with that I want to say a very special
thank you to Alexis Espinosa my student
intern she
I hope that you know that she is getting
her dual
um
her dual degree in social work and
criminal justice
she has completed all her work for the
Social Work program and received her pin
but we'll continue as a student of mine
at least through the summer and if I
have every anything to do with it I'd
like for her to continue until she
graduates in May
but I just wanted to say how impactful I
thought she has been and for me with the
city she's sharp just very articulate
spot on in her assessment she's going to
make a fine social worker although I
think she wants to go to a dual program
where she's getting a masters and and to
become an attorney so maybe she'll come
back and be an attorney at this at the
city of Las Cruces which would be
exceptional and so I I wish her well but
she will be transitioning out of her
social work programming and complete her
criminal justice so if you see her in
the Halls please give her a bit of
gratitude
and with that I will turn it over to
gunserplotus
thank you madam chair
um
so I just want to share with you
different information you know some
whatever so as as you may know I am a
liaison to the City Art board and the
most recent development is good news
the art board has commissioned Diego
Medina to do some artwork at Klein Park
and what I have to emphasize and I and
everyone needs to know that this is not
part of the Arts culture District excuse
me funding it is within the um the
Mesquite Cultural District but there's
no funding whatsoever from that source
this is a different source of funding
and
and the beauty of it is that um Diego
Medina who is a
native
indigenous but the
what is it the anyway I'm I can't
remember but anyway his family
the meadow Manzo tribe yes and he was
also very helpful in
um looking at the art piece that is
still still has to be mounted at fire
station number three I think it is the
one on Valley no wherever it is at any
rate he was instrumental in making sure
that it was sensitive to
the indigenous people respectful and it
was and so we can't wait to see it
mounted that that's been a problem the
other thing that I have to praise these
City Art board for is that
um
they made sure that they had someone who
was indigenous not only to this part of
the world but to specifically to Las
Cruces where Diego has Deep Roots and
um and and and he will be
um
he will be having people on a part-time
basis or hourly basis and probably some
Volunteers in the community
contributing their art to Klein Park
um the other
um Las Cruces Community Schools board
the last meeting we had
mayor Pro tem Gandara was there as well
as the chair of the committee who is our
very own Becky Graham
and and that meeting was absolutely
wonderful because the Las Cruces the
community school system started in New
York and it's a program that wants to
expand to every school in the United
States and and the purpose of this is to
really bring in the community because
the only way we're going to thrive as a
people is if we're all on the same page
and um
the
focus at the last meeting was we sat
with the directors of the we have seven
schools I believe Becky yeah we have
seven Community Schools we started out
at Lynn Middle School back in 2018
and now we're up to seven and we'll
probably keep adding and then hopefully
we'll get data about how it's going
nationally as well
but the beauty of that meeting was that
we focused on the coordinators there's a
coordinator at every school and they
were sharing with us what the
impediments were in terms of bringing in
more parents and having more of a
community school
um
and and there were many stories as to
what the impediments are but at our
table
a parent we thought she was a parent she
was actually a grandparent and so that
of course a lot of us are aware that a
lot of grandparents are doing the grand
the parenting to their grandchildren and
she said that one of the impediments for
her her for her Offspring I don't know
if it's a man or a woman to participate
as a parent is because she's had a very
that person has had a very tough life
has a criminal record and is not
employable and it brought to mind the
Deloitte presentation organized by the
greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce
that had Deloitte do a presentation on
what the factors the biases that
employers have and one of them in is not
hiring people who have been trafficked
people have been incarcerated and
migrants because there's just what do
you write on a resume when you just
arrive from another country or you're
not documented what do you do if you've
been in incarcerated so
at any rate that brought a lot of
awareness and Other Stories were shared
but that was that was very
very impactful and hopefully we can work
on that
the other board I I serve on is the
South Central rapid transit district led
by David Armijo and the South Central
Regional
Transit District based in Anthony New
Mexico has received New Mexico's rural
transfer Transit System Of The Year the
award was presented by New Mexico
Secretary of Transportation Ricky sedna
at the state Transit association annual
leadership conference and Expo in March
and
um
what David had to say he's very um he
actually we're very fortunate to have
him Sharon Thomas was instrumental our
mayor Pro tem Emeritus in having come to
this to to doniana County he was
actually based in California and led the
transit district in Long Beach that I'm
aware of and um
because I worked there for a while but
at any rate
um
this is what he had to say this award
exemplifies a collective work and effort
by our our employees and our community
who continue to support and write sertd
service now sertd goes all the way or I
think Williamsburg was dropped I'm not
sure but it really connects there it was
also connecting people as far as
[Music]
and and maybe still is I'm not sure of
the routes I should know but I don't but
it also shares some I think it's 5'3
Federal funding with El Paso because we
also have service into El Paso so I just
wanted to share that with David being at
the helm and
um and it's it's it's very well run the
other one I hope some of you were able
to read the most recent edition of the
bulletin I want to thank the bulletin by
the way for featuring David Armijo as
well as the person I'm going to mention
now
our very own
Nunes what's the same oh Christopher
Nunes an elementary school teacher at um
what's the name of the school it's in my
district I'm so sorry uh Sonoma
Elementary
Sonoma Elementary School fourth grade
teacher Christopher Nunes has won a 25
000 cash prize as a 2022 Milken Family
Foundation educator award for New Mexico
he received the award in California from
Lowell Milken
Awards founder and co-founder of the
foundation and Michael Milken co-founder
and president of the foundation Nunez
was one of 35 teachers from across the
United States honored with the 2022
award
and I just want to share that we have
outstanding people we have people who
are committed
and there's the articles in the May 12th
issue of the of the bulletin I encourage
everyone to read it
um as far as the economic development
PRC goes we had Senator Hamblin come in
to talk about the allocations
she along with uh councilor beta and
department chair uh excuse me
um director Elizabeth Peters worked very
closely with haran Larry haran our
our lobbyists in in I was going to say
Sacramento in Santa Fe
to make sure that we have the adequate
funding that we need and and I just want
to
I want I know that uh
counselor a beta has a plan on what she
wants to do to assure that Larry Horan
and she needs to discuss this with our
mayor our excuse me our our city manager
so I'm not going to say anything but I
think it's an excellent idea
and then I've already asked for the um
for the gis presentation
as uh as it was presented to the
transportation sustainability and
infrastructure
that's all I have for now thank you
madam chair thank you counselor Flores
counselor corn
thank you councilor Flores stole a
little bit of my presentation but uh
thank you
um I just to give an update on the TSI
PRC I do want to give a shout out to the
folks who have been working on the gis
that connect Las Cruces that presented
at the at the tsiprc and and to the
police department who are clearly super
users and really thinking about
evidence-based policing and and working
with the gis
folks so you got a shout out a side
shout out in that in that meeting which
is really great in addition we looked at
the airport master plan which is
somewhat contingent on hearing from the
FAA I think which we should be hearing
in in the near future which directions
that's going but I think that will be
coming to council soon
yes the presentation by Andy Hume so
thank you to to Andy for that and
[Music]
um
I have been doing a whole bunch of NMSU
events and I just wanted to give another
shout out to all of the city staff and
president Las Cruces folks who worked on
and others who worked on the Mira
downtown event I've been hearing from
folks overwhelmingly that they were
really excited about this and hope that
it can continue in the future so um
that was really Pleasant to hear from a
different swath of our community than we
usually hear from
um
and I will stop with that for today
thank you Council Corin councilor
bengoma
thank you
um I just wanted to note that
[Music]
um
that's the indigenous people
of this land that we now know of Las
Cruces
um I wanted to know
you might see is
coming up this
of this week at 2PM and we were
scheduled to have AG Torres join us to
discuss some of the ages initiatives
around housing and housing right however
he is no longer able to join us but his
special counsel
um we'll be joining us instead so
that'll be
um Wednesday at two and a special
counsel to the agormentes will be
joining us
um and it's also affordable housing
month just wanted to remind everybody
um and then I
I did want to know just because
um earlier Chief
um to Mayor pretend's question talked
about the equation in terms of how many
police officers per
um per population
um I did I am wondering G5
calculation changes given the types of
calls you said
um are increasing and that take a little
bit more time around mental health given
that we now have a crisis intervention
team and Project Life
um how that changes and you don't have
to have an answer today necessarily but
I I think it is important to note that
we are trying to implement different
strategies for addressing mental health
concerns in our community people who are
vulnerable and who should be responding
to those and so we are trying to address
that
um for
to ensure that police officers are not
dealing with that alone and then there
was one more thing I was going to say
but I don't remember so I will stop here
and I look forward to see you all
um when I return to Las Cruces tomorrow
thank you counselor binkelman counselor
Graham
mayor Pro tem uh just a couple of
comments on the District 3 Community
chat sessions that I've been having
we've uh had two so far and uh you know
it's a little we're rolling the dice on
this this wasn't a format that I think
we'd tried before but I highly recommend
it
um first one uh we had 12 people show up
second one four and in each of those
sessions I need to count and say thank
you so much to my husband Mike Graham
who attended at my behest I jokingly
call him the first gentleman of District
three but what is more important it
turns out is that he is a firefighter
and both sessions turned into ask a
firefighter people have lots of things
to ask firefighters it turns out so
thanks to him for answering so many
questions I've been talking with Katrina
thank you too so much for everything
you've done so far and I think the plan
right now is to do one more informal
conversation with me only this Wednesday
17th five to seven months and Senior
Center gotta remember to plug that and
then on the 24th
based on the kind of frequently asked
questions we're going to have some City
departments join us but keep the kind of
informal conversational settings so not
the typical come and give a presentation
or a PowerPoint but we'll just kind of
have various
[Music]
um
various departments and don't worry
you've already
you've already been asked so don't be
surprised although except Public Works
I'm not sure if you've been that David
cedillo's smile I wish you guys could
see her right now out there in a
streamland but I think what we'll have
is just those departments set up at a
small table and get to have those kind
of one-on-one conversations with
residents that I've been having which
have just been
awesome just as a counselor but also
seeing people connect two people who
came last week realized they were
co-workers 20 years ago at a call center
for Frontier Airlines that used to be
here in Las Cruces which I didn't even
know about but yeah they were uh they
were co-workers that got to reconnect so
a little bit of community meeting a
little bit of block party hopefully good
information and yeah so third me only on
the 17th and then on the 24th a little
more of a to-do so thank you so much
thank you councilor Graham councilor
beta
thank you mirror Pro Tem
a counselor Flores spoke about our
Economic Development
um
PRC but I did just want to add
additional thank yous to Elizabeth
Teeters and the work that they've been
doing to address issues when it comes to
small business
catastrophic repairs and the different
types of programmings that we've had
that we're looking into to address
vandalism that happens with these
businesses so I know that's been on the
Forefront with a lot of community
members and so I just want to thank City
staff for also working on Innovative
approaches to those
uh last week I had the opportunity to go
to the municipal League's Airport
Manager conference meeting
I would like to say a big
congratulations to Andy Hume who was
nominated as one of the airport managers
of the year he did not win unfortunately
but I think he's winner for us and I'm
so excited to have him as our Airport
Manager
we will be having an oversight meeting
this Wednesday
at 3 and our quality of life meeting
will be on May 24th and I will keep it
short and sweet today so thank you mayor
Tim thank you councilor about the
counselor excuse me you
moved up demoted what would that be like
Mr PV
thank you April 10.
first just a report from our Public
Works in our streets maintenance I know
we had a report maybe a few months ago I
appreciate David and his team for
providing this but I apologize to David
I don't know if I'm going to read all
the 43 streets that we have but we do
have over about 43 streets I counted
that have been Micro Surface and just as
you know as a micro surfaces
is a coat that goes over the
over these streets that has some
aggregate in it so it actually has some
substance in it that fills cracks and
seals and makes the road actually look
new and so about 43 streets have been
um completed
and then 18
replacement pavement replacement streets
are in process should be done in a few
months a couple months at least I think
before the end of the fiscal year
which is the equivalent of 1.6 miles of
new pavement laid down and then Micro
Surface about 10.8 miles of Micro
Surface being done so I wanted to
mention that give those
statistics as we know that that's been a
major
concerned with residents and just so you
know that the works being being done and
being completed and I know we helped the
budget last last year and we've
mentioned to David that you you keep
going we'll come back to the council I
know the council will be agreeable to
amend to increase that budget if we can
keep going so thank you for that and I
thank you for the report I believe it's
posted right so they can see
on our website so they can you can see
all of this
um also
we've been really keeping in in contact
with border servant Corps as we know
with title 42 being listed just so you
know that with staff our eyes are on it
and we're we're in contact uh
fortunately you know as of this morning
just an update for the weekend there
there wasn't
a huge amount relatively low inbound
numbers
and so just so you know we're we're
keeping tabs on that but there wasn't
much uh inbound this less since Friday
and then just to your comment May Pro
tem about the internships
or the the employment with the county
I believe last year the city from what I
understand the city has actually had the
most out of any entity I think including
the county and that's thanks to Ryan
Steins who's been really
really pushing this and um
I know we got a last minute request and
he was able to accommodate we're
actually at 101 with the with the city I
believe the goal was to be 1200 across
the county but
I think we're we're actually leading
that because of Ryan and all those
involved with that
um
I may I have the city
you charge it that's not the point the
point is that if there are City youth
that are pending because there isn't
funding available I'd like to know that
and maybe possibly bring a resolution
forward to approve
um funding to meet that demand when I
read the article I think I don't
remember where quite I found it but I am
concerned especially in light of
you know just youth not having you know
I hear it over and over there isn't
anything for the Youth to do and you you
and I both know that we work really hard
from Parks and Rec to other right
departments
um that really Channel and focus on our
youth and our young people anyways so
we'll do thank you thank you EPO so much
and then we reported on Mira Las Cruces
last time but it was too early to get
the stats and so we got from visit Las
Cruces some of the stats and we way
underestimated what actually occurred
there were over 8 500 attendees from
across seven states
and this is using data Gathering a data
Gathering system with cell phones kind
of scary actually but
um pretty interesting and um
and then an estimate about closer to ten
thousand when you include children I'm
assuming that don't have cell phones
they're like for my children don't have
cell phones so
not yet
um and then the advertising campaign
resulted in earned media of 1.25 million
in ad value 12.5 million in PR value and
an audience reach of over 135 134
million people
there were 239 000 views to the visit
Las Cruces website the day before the
event
and visit Las Cruces hosted 15 social
media influencers and travel writers
tour the area as well as attended the
event from which multiple social social
media posts and stories have already
been written and released
and then next year's
event will be held we already have a
date will be held on Saturday April 27th
2024 April 27th
and then
the only thing I have bear Pro tem and
counselors thank you for approving the
budget
we really appreciate we're going to need
that
but one thing I do want to mention you
know
the the theme when we talked about
Carino
um
and I mentioned this in our retreat but
we've realized the only way to do that
to have God in you is if we we really
focus on taking care of our staff and
that's been something that you've been a
priority of all of yours
and I mentioned this in our staff
retreat but I'd like to mention it
publicly and thanking you for
helping me as a city manager to be able
to take care of my staff and um
and so and I will say the same thing I
know is brought up with
police I didn't get that email so I
don't know what it all said but I want
public to hear it from my mouth as well
I know both Chief and I could attest to
this and we we speak freely about it as
well that it's true the councilman Como
has said anything that has come to you
as we've brought forward from
um incentive pay not just with the
budget from things that we've brought
forward the chief has been really trying
to do to push to get his his police
staff Staffing and Equipment you have
been very supportive and I really
appreciate that and again I don't know
what was said on that that email but um
I can respond if you forward it to me
and but I just want to make a public
statement about that and all the help we
received this year we have an exciting
year ahead with our budget and I also
um
if I'm if you're indulging me right now
I also want to thank our budget team our
finance and budget Barbara and her team
Leanne
it's a it's a big budget as you realize
half a billion dollar budget and the
work that goes on behind the scenes from
our budget team our finance team
hours and hours of preparation hours of
they were going through the numbers
they actually have a short break and
they're going to start this all over
again
for next year it's like a six month
process so just wanted to give a thank
you to them as the city manager and also
thank you counselor for for your support
thank you evil appreciate that
um I'm just point of privilege I see
some folks that have walked in and I'm
assuming that you think our meeting
starts at one today we've been at it
since nine
um the time has was changed and was
folks were notified via our system
but we have Katrina ifo it's okay and
others I'm not sure what you're here for
but we're happy to I'm happy to have
conversation with you if it's something
on the agenda we can speak to that or
connect you with your city counselor
we're happy to do that as well but we
appreciate you being here and taking
notice of whatever agenda item that you
came for and we'll make sure that you
have the information
and with that I need a motion to adjourn
motion made by counselor Graham second
by conserplates Christine
this is an emotion to adjourn the
meeting counselor abeda yes Council
Graham yes councilor Ben Como yeah
councilor Korean yes cancer Flores yes
mayor Pro tem yes and the mayor's absent
thank you Christy