[Music]
good evening and welcome to the
july 26 2022 meeting of the planning and
zoning commission
i'd like to call this meeting to order
is there anybody on the commission at
this time who has any conflict of
interest
no all right
can i get a is there anybody who has any
corrections to the minutes
no all right then i need a motion to
approve the minutes i make a motion to
approve the minutes
a second
i second
board member vega
yes board member smith
yes
i wasn't here so i abstained from voting
thank you boar member bennett yes chair
gordon yes thank you
okay
there are no postponements
um at this time of the meeting we let
the
audience
have anything to say it's called public
participation
if there is something you need to say
that is not on the agenda this evening
please feel free to raise your hand
okay sir you may come forward
i'll give you a couple of momentum i'm
not sure come on two minutes
uh commissioner uh chairman and
commissioners my name is kerry danes
i'll leave in the
600 6100 block of limo road and i would
like to respectfully ask that um
item 6.2 be pulled from consent agenda
and i would like to see a um
a presentation because it's right next
door to my house
i do have some concerns regarding
lighting and other things that means
okay you can hold those comments
what item are you talking about 6.2
yesterday okay
in that case uh
well you can take a seat and we'll have
to pull that item from the agenda
and at that at that time i will ask you
for your comments thank you for your
consideration okay thank you
is there anyone else
okay
then that brings us to the
consent agenda apparently there is
someone in the audience who wishes to
speak
so is there anybody who wishes to speak
on item from the commission on item 6.1
seeing none
all right on item 6.2 we're going to
have to pull
so
you can come up now and you can speak
do you want to approve
6.1 i'll wait please don't i'll do both
mr chair commission i would just like to
request a presentation and after that i
could probably give a better uh comment
it's my understanding that there's a
presentation on what exactly will be
done
all right is there someone here from the
applicant
okay sir would you please come forward
how about someone from staff
john i guess he wants to have a
presentation so you're on
[Music]
oh
what's going on
john before you start maybe since
there's no one interested in having
anything to say about 6.1
why don't we just vote on that this way
john moscato can leave
is there anybody who has any comments or
needs any questions anybody in the
audience on 6.1
well can i have a motion to just approve
that item on the consent
make a motion to approve
i'll need a second
a second
board member vega
yes for member smith
yes
bennett yes chair gordon yes
that passes okay thank you john anyway
okay
john go ahead
all right
good evening commission uh mr chair rest
of the commission uh today we're going
to bring you the supreme subdivision
number one preliminary plot
uh currently it is located south of
pyeong road and north of lima road which
is east of porter drive
the property is approximately 0.949
acres it is currently zoned r1am which
is our single family medium density
mobile
and it is as it sits right now it is a
vacant undeveloped uh tractive land
as you can see from here this is a
zoning map
the subject property is hatched and
highlighted in yellow
here's an aerial view of the subject
property
so a little background on the property
is uh
right now the applicant is seeking
reapproval of the preliminary plot known
as supreme subdivision number one
on november 1st of 2017 it did go before
our development review committee and it
was given
a recommendation of approval and then in
november of 2017 it went before the
planning and zoning commission which was
approved six to zero
so what the applicant is
proposing is to survive to subdivide the
existing residential lot
into four new lots
uh these lots will all be roughly 0.234
acres in size all drainage will be
maintained by each lot
within the property
and right now it is proposed for single
family residential
this is a
image of the subdivision
public notice was sent to all relevant
our
public notice was sent to the
surrounding properties
staff did receive a phone few phone
calls
regarding the type of development that
will be occurring on the property
also it was sent to all reviewing
agencies
and all departments supported the pro
the proposed preliminary plan
the design review committee met in june
of 2022
once again to review
the proposed subdivision
as part of this it was given an approval
with conditions that there be separate
utility stub outs to each lot
which will need to be
constructed prior to the subdivision
approval at the final plat
stage
staff recommends
at this time staff is recommending
approval based on the following findings
it provides access to lots within a
residential subdivision
which are from a dedicated and accepted
improved public right-of-way
uh the proposed preliminary plan meets
all objectives of the preliminary
of the preliminary plat as required by
the subdivision code
and based upon review by relevant city
staff the proposed preliminary plat
complies with all requirements
of the 2001 zoning code as amended as
well as the city of las cruces
subdivision code and design standards
today your options will be to vote yes
to approve vote no to deny or vote yes
with conditions
all right john thank you is there
someone here from the applicant who can
explain basically what's going to happen
there so that maybe this
lady will get have a better feeling of
what's going on
i think that's primarily her concern
thank you mr chairman my name is ted
scanlon
i'm at 2990 north main street suite 3c
and i represent the applicant i'd have
to swear you in
do you swear affirm that the testimony
you're about to give about to give is it
truly nothing but the truth on the
penalty of law i do thank you go ahead
okay i don't have anything really to add
to
the presentation that mr castillo just
made but i would am here to
inform the commission that
our intent it's four lots they're
on existing streets
we have one condition from utilities
that we construct all of the uh utility
stub outs to the lots before
the final plaque can be filed which we
have no issues with
it's our intent
to
and as we have
up to now
complied with all of the city's
various codes
conditions
not asking for any waivers variances or
anything like that just 100 percent in
compliance with the code
little four lot subdivision
okay thank you ma'am you you can come up
and maybe you can address mr scanlan and
see if he can answer your concerns
but before you do please give us your
name again and your address and let me
swear you in yes
my name is kerry danes my address is
6145 level road okay do you swear
affirmed at the testimony about to give
us the truth and nothing but the truth
on the penalty of law yes sir thank you
go ahead
actually i would just
urge the commission
excuse me mr chair and commissioners i
would just urge the commission to vote
yes with conditions um i do have
concerns with um
the lighting that may or may not be
required and i understand that they'll
be putting in the utilities but um
that's this is going to be directly next
door to me and i am concerned about the
traffic increasing the dust increasing
things of that nature i've worked very
hard on my particular piece of property
to
make it very appealing and curb appeal
and i don't have any problem with the
subdivision itself i just want to make
sure that it
to be quite honest doesn't really bring
down my property values because i've
worked and put a lot of money into my
property so i would want to make sure
that the appropriate lighting if they do
put in mobile homes if they are skirted
and things of that nature
appropriately which i think is all the
code i just
want to make sure that that is going to
occur specifically lighting because it
is um
pretty dark there and i put in my own
lighting so
um i'm just
i just have a vested interest in what's
going in next door to me so i would just
i don't have any problem with the
subdivision itself i think we need
affordable housing it's in a
working-class neighborhood and i think
that's very important
um but i also want to make sure that it
is
suitable for for everyone to live there
okay thank you very much uh mr
commissioner and commissioners i don't
have any more comment thank you all
right thank you mrs canlin you uh
have heard her cons you have heard her
concern so you uh
uh can answer what she's concerned about
yes as i stated previously
up to this point and beyond this point
we are
in full compliance with all of the
city's regulations and
all of the codes and everything and
i don't know what else we can do besides
comply with everything
so okay then thank you
all right is there anybody from the
commission who has any questions
none anyone else from this audience
alright then maybe we're ready for a
vote
can i have a motion please
uh i'll make a motion to approve uh this
um
6.2
sorry yeah uh 6.2
a second
board member vega
uh i vote yes do i need to give reason
behind yes please so if we can vote yes
with conditions can we just um make a
note that
the
requests from
the resident are added into
our vote as far as the lighting goes and
meeting the other requirements for the
the housing that will be put in place
mr chair and commissioner vega this is
david ware with the community
development department
um as a part of the approval
you could as your condition or excuse me
as your vote you can state that you took
the concerns of the
the the
member of the public the
adjacent neighbor into consideration
the minutes will become a part of the
record and all city standards will be
required and so as the development
is constructed the subdivision is
planted they'll have to go through all
the permitting process and at that time
we'll make maintain the standards
as you said the if it's a site-built
home all the building codes will be
followed if it's the sighting of a
manufactured home again all those
requirements for the skirting and
utility connections will be required and
then if there is something that's not
being met
the the neighborhood will have the
opportunity to contact codes and staff
would follow up and make sure that
all our standards are enforced
thank you okay um i vote yes based on
staff recommendation
board member smith
uh yes based on staff recommendation and
it meets uh neighborhood character
incompatibility
guerrero
uh i'll vote yes as well with conditions
i understand the resident's concerns i
believe that they should appropriate
lighting
and safety as well so my vote is for yes
with conditions
barman mercosta
i realize you just got here so i
apologize
um you can abstain from the vote if
you'd like but you need to turn your mic
on so that i can hear you
there you go
all righty and i'm going to go ahead and
vote to
yes to approve thank you thank you board
member bennett
uh i vote yes to approve based on staff
recommendation me to elevate las cruces
and the objectives of a preliminary plan
board member gordon
i wrote yes based on staff
recommendations and certainly to echo
what
mr weir had said and which has been
added to the minutes
all right then they'll take care of the
consent agenda but before we continue
there is no old business but
i at this time would like to welcome
even though he's a little late mr acosta
to the commission as our new member
uh i wish you uh
uh
well
all right
okay so then we'll go to new business
mr banegas
mr chairman commissioners vincent
banegas interim planner for the record
i'll be presenting
the following case
involving 750 south main street
it is a special use permit request
for case
zero zero 2201008 one
current conditions uh involve the
following the property is presently zone
c2
originally developed as a gasoline
service station back in the day it now
exists and has existed for
several years now as a used car
dealership
it's my understanding that the current
owner
is seeking retirement and hence the
opportunity to acquire the property is
is taking place
which now triggers the need for for this
request
the property is located at the northeast
corner south main street and alameda
boulevard and involves roughly
just shy of half an acre
size
the surrounding neighborhood is
primarily retail and office
and those are the immediate properties
that
surround the subject property
the r1a zone which is the zone single
family residential zoning in question
which triggers the need to come before
you
is located a little bit further to
the west
and the supporting zoning districts
that involve all these uses both retail
or i should say residential and
non-residential
involve the r1a which is our medium
density residential zone
our o1
which is our
low intensity
office with limited residential
our c2
medium i'm sorry c1 which is our low
intensity commercial c2 is medium c3 is
high
intensity commercial and then of course
our downtown development
code with the subzone of downtown
that downtown district
basically surrounds the subject property
on the north
and falls within our downtown area or
cbd
here is a zoning map that
illustrates what i have spoke to
this is the dt
designation for the downtown
subject property is outlined here in red
you do have c1 zoning immediately
adjacent
along alameda boulevard
more or less serving as a land use
buffer if you will
to the r1a or the single family
development located here
further farther north you have c2 zoning
and you also have some c3 zoning further
south of the subject property some o1
here so there is a
distinct band of non-residential zoning
that
exists along alameda boulevard
again serving to buffer
the subject property in question
this is the aerial view of the subject
property once again
this to the east
you have a lot of state and of course
last cruise public school offices
administration building here
you do have a lot of retail in office in
the downtown district
and some
low intensity retail
some office and some medical office
located in
this proximity in the band along alameda
at the el molino boulevard
alameda boulevard intersection on this
subject property
there does
exist a medical marijuana facility
that is grandfathered in that was
allowed pursuant to previous
requirements or regulations
that were in effect prior to our
cannabis regulations
meeting state standards at the time
and a lot of those
throughout the city those that came in
as medical marijuana
some are opting to do
the retail cannabis much like what is
being requested here at this
intersection
so some history with the subject
property
the building that sits there was
constructed in 1970
at the time it appears to have met all
the
building requirements and zoning
requirements of the time
and it has been commercially zoned since
pre-70 1970 which serves as our base a
year for our zoning
designations and our research
it is presently c2 as indicated
the proposal
that has been submitted is to place a
retail cannabis store
at this location
the
the site
meets all of the
distance requirements except for those
involving
the single family residential zoning
district boundary
[Music]
what you may find is the applicant for
the cannabis business who has a
presentation this evening
may show a different
distance buffer distance from the
perimeter of their proposed building to
the
single family residential district
it appears as if they took their
dimension from footprint to actual
single family footprint as opposed to
district boundary so my measurement
comes to 218 feet
it's approximately 82 feet
of a shortfall to the required 300 feet
or foot distance
again all other buffer distances are met
and those are from cannabis to cannabis
and other
requirements such as schools and day
cares
ultimately if approved this evening
the use will have to follow both clc
and state of new mexico regulations
governing cannabis
and related retail activity
these are a couple of snapshots of the
information they provided
to the left is a site plan
showing the proposed layout
the building with the canopy that is
existing it
certainly does appear based on the
snapshot on the right that there will be
some interior work in order to make it
compliant with
necessary cannabis regulations
you do have some of the parking outlined
here which would indicate ingress egress
along alameda boulevard at this location
and they do specify a shared ingress
egress point
as another
primary point of access for the property
indicating access from there to these 90
degree stalls
along this area
it's my understanding
at least at present there are some gates
that close off this
entry and this entry
and certainly as the
permit gets reviewed for any and all
interior work
those will be identified as areas of
concern in that they're in very close
proximity to one another
and certainly at the intersection of the
two arterial roadways so i don't see
those being an issue
they're certainly not now because
they're not used but
i think that will continue
in the future if again this is
approved
a couple of photos showing the site
currently again
used car dealership and these are a
little dated but nonetheless show the
the property
as it is
relative to some of the other retail
establishments along main street
this here is alameda boulevard and of
course off to my right
or to the right of the slide is is main
street
a lot of the properties once again along
alameda
are
non-residential in nature
and the same goes for those along main
street
this is looking
more down
main street at the corner property here
certainly busy roadway
arterial designation for both roadways
so you do see quite a bit of activity
it's unlikely that any of the traffic
pattern that gets generated by the
proposed use is going to have a
significant impact to the residential
area in question
i think you're going to see much of the
same
in terms of use and traffic demand that
the proposed use may generate
and then bottom slide is just showing
from the alameda side
the subject property
and you'll notice that immediately
adjacent to the subject property off to
the north is it used to be a
car repo lot so
for the most part it's vacant it's used
in
too little degree
just for the purpose of storage if you
will of of the vehicles
and they shot down alameda boulevard
again showing some of the
area in question here's that lot that i
was just talking about the old city
offices are down a ways and those a lot
of offices in this area
so from a public input
notice
requirement staff did send out letters
as required pursuant to code
to the surrounding property owners
as a result of that
effort staff did i did receive two phone
calls one of general inquiry
and one certainly
from a protest
slant
they indicated there was already crime
in the
immediate area in the neighborhood
and they were fearful that this use
might generate some additional concern
and then they did cite a cannabis
location
already in the proc
proximity of the neighborhood and that's
off of that el molino location that i
specified
again non-conforming in nature
in that it was a medical marijuana
establishment pursuant to state state
law
the
city did receive a protest letter i did
include that in your packet
the attorney who represented
a client
indicated that there was some procedural
conflict
with this process they talked to both
the special use permit process and and
the variance process and
and their concern was that the
sup process especially used process was
circumventing
uh that of the variants
steps if you will in terms of
consideration of distances buffer
distances specifically
so from a recommendation and findings of
fact perspective staff does recommend
approval
the findings for approval are as follows
except for the distance to the single
family district boundary all other
buffer distances are met
the subject property was developed
pursuant to
the applicable codes at the time and met
said codes
and property has been commercially
zoned since uh pre-70
and the
property
has retail or i should just say
compatibility with several other
properties immediately adjacent to
alameda boulevard
the those properties provide that buffer
that i mentioned from a land use
perspective between the subject property
and the residential
zoned area
and the ingress and egress to the
subject property along south main and
alameda should not pose any significant
impact
to the residential neighborhood
and the app the application the proposal
meets the purpose and intent of section
38.2 of the zoning code
and it's also
a known fact that these type of uses
along with this you know special use
request
will meet
all the requirements both within the
zoning code
building code when permits are submitted
for any interior work and those of the
state
that they will follow all provisions as
necessary
there were several goals and policies
and actions of this
comprehensive plan that supported
this type of
request this type of use and that it's
retail oriented use
it's this area falls within the downtown
place type
which is suggestive of a mix of
residential and non-residential land
uses
associated with the thriving central
business district
the predominant land uses include
residential civic commercial lodging and
retail
and from a goal uh policy perspective
the supporting
language speaks to mixed-use
neighborhoods expanding economic
opportunities
increase in employment opportunities and
economic security
and provisions for a wide range of
business types along key corridors and
thoroughfares
so your options with this request this
evening are as follows
you can vote yes and approve the request
vote no and deny it if you take that
route please
provide your findings a fact and that
the ones presented this evening are in
favor of the request
you can vote yes with conditions
and make that part of your motion or you
can vote to table and once again mr
chairman i believe the
prospective business owner has a
presentation
and
i also believe mr gary sander who's a
representative for both seller and buyer
may be in attendance this evening and
may also have a few words so that
concludes staff's presentation
thank you mr bernice is there anybody
from the commission who has any
questions
okay mr acasa
and
perhaps it's going to be addressed here
in the presentation i just wanted to
clarify if this is space is going to be
used for consumption as well
mr chairman commissioner costa i'll let
the
applicant speak to that issue it's my
understanding based on the application
that it was just retail
anyone else i have a question just
before you sit down
just so we this is just for
clarification so everyone understands
your measurement is from
the property line and not the edge of
the building
correct mr chairman
the my measurement as required by the
code is from the building footprint of
the proposed use the cannabis use
to the zoning code district boundary
those boundaries are typically middle of
the right-of-way
so it doesn't go from
the edge of the building is that what
you're saying all the way across the
street
so so in this case
my measurement
was right where the arrow is pointing to
which is the corner of the building
right
and then it follows
oops
it goes to that location to the nearest
point which happened to be right here in
the right-of-way that's the
r1a district boundary
that is closest
to the edge of the building though
and that's within 300 feet
that's within 300 feet all right thank
you
okay
is the applicant
have anything to add
would like to speak
if you come forward and give your name
and address and let me swear you in
please
good evening my name is sean maddox
address 455 linden street um which is
actually in laguna beach california
yeah all right let me
all right let me sway you in please
do you swear affirm that the testimony
you're about to give is the truth and
nothing but the truth on the penalty of
law i do i thank you go ahead sir i want
to try to get this presentation up uh
before i do i'd like to thank the
commission and chair for having me here
tonight i'd also like to clarify the
question with regard to consumption no
consumption is planned on site
just want to give a quick presentation
and breakdown of the site and our
proposed business
how do i go full screen on this
apologies
there you go
so again my name is sean maddox i'm here
on behalf of off the charts uh in our
request for special use permit for the
location at 750 south main street
as brought up earlier the special use
parameters are really based off of the
cannabis regulation act which gives
local jurisdictions the right to decide
time place and manner rules
the las cruces municipal code
four cannabis retailers in the c1 c2 and
c3
zone require buffers from school day
cares
and commercial schools which
we meet it also requires a buffer from
single-family residential zones
as well as other cannabis retailers
in our scenario we meet all buffers
except for the single-family residential
zone i do want to call attention to the
bolded
which lays out the fact that the
municipal code makes a express exception
for
a special use permit when any of the
single-family residential zone is
impinged on
just a quick background off the charts
has been looking at las cruces since the
beginning of the year we want to be in
this community it's a great fit for our
store and kind of our business ethos
it's been very hard to find property
because of the buffers and zoning
and and we've actually passed up on
multiple locations because of being
closer to residential or
impinging on one of the other buffers
this location seemed to be unique in
that it was pretty far distant as
mentioned there's actually a kind of
land use buffer as well as a four-lane
you know arterial thoroughfare which
provides a buffer between this location
and the residences
once we found this location we
immediately reached out to city planning
to have a pre-application meeting to
discuss our request for a special use
permit to see whether or not they agreed
with and would support it
based off of that pre-application
meeting we submitted a permit as quickly
as possible
and that led to us being here in front
of you today
just a quick slide on the site in
context
as was mentioned in the staff report
this actually measures from the edge of
building to edge of building not from
edge of building to edge of
zoning district and these measurements
show that it's approximately 261 feet
away
we're not here to debate the distance we
know that we're within the 300 feet but
we do feel you know again based off of
the site map that south alameda
boulevard and the c1 buffer kind of
creates i think a special case where
we're not next door to residential and
many of the concerns that would be
related to proximity to rel to
residential are evaded
on the next slide i want to bring up
just kind of path of travel distances
as another way to kind of contextualize
the distance between the site and the
nearest residential
the closest pedestrian path of travel is
over 638 feet and then the closest path
of travel for a vehicle is over 315 feet
so in both cases over 300
and again kind of shows that the
accessibility to residential from the
site is pretty
attenuated
i just want to give a quick background
of the business for the sake of the
commissioners
i think to provide context on the
economic benefit of approval
off the charts as a cannabis retailer
that's been in operation since 2018 they
have six current operational facilities
in california and have
expansions at about one per month over
the next year with more locations in
california as well as locations in new
jersey
ohio and albuquerque new mexico we did
look for las cruces before albuquerque
but again hard to find the property so
prolonged that getting us here
all of off the chart stores
feature robust community integration
initiatives it's part of being a
sensitive use we're coming to a
neighborhood we want to be good actors
we want to fit in as opposed to stick
out
part of these integration
measures include an open house anytime
we open a facility about two to three
weeks before opening our doors we send
out notices to surrounding neighbors
city staff
police department and have people come
in voice their concerns get to know us
get to meet our community liaison and
know that we're here to serve the
community and
appease any concerns that they may have
another
unique thing that we do is we have
employee volunteer participation so we
actually pay employees to go participate
in uh you know community outreach and do
community service initiatives
we're focused on local hiring to create
economic opportunities for the cities
that we operate in
if granted the sup will immediately join
the chamber of commerce here
and then another kind of unique thing is
that we do host on-site workshops and
events and these are things that are
just kind of
outreaches to the community you know we
provide information on cannabis use
responsible use
you know warnings about usage dangers of
usage
and all of those things in addition to
our general outreach we have robust
nuisance mitigation procedures
we have a robust odor control plan which
we'll hit on on the next slide we
typically have a traffic control plan
for all of our sites to make sure that
our traffic doesn't impede on the
surrounding neighborhoods
and then a unique feature some cities
require it but we do at all of our
locations is having a 24
7 community liaison it's usually a local
manager who's available to city staff
and neighbors if any concerns or
complaints come up surrounding the
business
typically these sites security is a big
concern i saw one of the phone and
communications was relating to security
studies have actually shown that
cannabis businesses increase security in
surrounding neighborhoods we will be
having 24-hour security and monitoring
there will be surveillance on site which
has exterior license plate reading
capability interior facial recognition
capability
everything on site you know will be
locked up at the end of the day and is
heavily secured but the you know
inclusion of roving security patrol
24-hour security and alarm and
monitoring with live feed to local law
enforcement actually makes these
facilities safer than the businesses
that preceded them
more neighborhood compatibility again
odor control i think typically comes up
with these facilities and everyone wants
to make sure that you know you don't
have a stinky pot shop
on the corner of your big business
district we do implement best in
practice procedures for odor mitigation
that includes negative pressurization of
an hvac with our activated carbon
filtration
essentially
we have an hvac system that pulls more
air out of the facility than is let in
so if somebody opens an exterior door
air comes in anything that gets pulled
through our hvac system is filtered
through these activated carbon filters
to ensure that no odors escape the
facility
additional measures you know we
implement green practices and design of
our buildings as well as our standard
operating procedures
lastly just a quick summary of our
community impact
our current six locations are averaging
around or over 10 million dollars in
revenue at each location
we think that we can do similar numbers
here in las cruces if we do do it right
that would allow us to create robust
local employment opportunities we're
projecting over a million dollars in
annual salary wages and benefits to the
local community
at all of our locations we give wages
that are above the local living wage
which means that a starting hourly would
be at least 15.32 cents to any employee
on site
we also emphasize
local hiring and social equity hiring
local hiring and promoting within is a
key of all of our stores i think we have
over 75 local hiring in all of the
cities and counties that we operate in
and we also focus on hiring
socioeconomically affected communities
this includes veterans immigrant
communities as well as focusing on
communities that were
impacted by the war on drugs
you know kind of as a last
point
we have looked at the site we do plan
some
pretty hefty renovations to the interior
as well as the exterior we'd be doing
exterior rehabilitation we plan on doing
some landscaping when we work through
the planning or through the planning
process
um you know we're looking at over a half
million dollars in investment to the
site which will bring up the aesthetic
of the exterior and the community
and then in addition to that you know
based off of revenue we do
proportion a percentage of our funds to
local associations and as mentioned
earlier we we work with our staff to
make sure that we're felt within the
community through servicing local
community organizations
that's the end of the slideshow
again i'd like to thank staff for the
recommendation and we ask that the
commission
follow staff's recommendation
but really we're looking at this as a
unique opportunity to be here in your
community
we view it as a relationship with the
community we're not coming in here
trying to impose our will we're trying
to come in here be a good neighbor
create economic opportunities and do
something that's going to better your
community so i hope staff takes that
into consideration and i appreciate your
time
and if you guys have any questions i'm
happy to answer them
thank you very much for your
presentation
is there anyone on a commission who has
any questions
commercial
vega thank you thanks for the
presentation um i like that you
mentioned reaching out to
veterans people that have been affected
by war on drugs what does that actually
look like in terms of hiring and
bringing those individuals
into your
establishment so usually we'll look for
local veterans associations and make
sure that we're posting too many job
boards and things like that
we prioritize it in the hiring process
but at the end of the day for equal
opportunity employment reasons we can't
say you're a veteran we're going to hire
you but you know it's taken into
consideration and we usually work with
just local veterans organizations to
ensure that they're given access and
reached out to when we're bringing on
new employees
and then as far as individuals that have
been
affected by you know misdemeanor crimes
and now can you know
how do i want to say this by the war on
drugs how do you find and what are your
hiring practices like if you have
someone that had a misdemeanor or
something that was related to a small
amount of marijuana so we do run
background checks on the majority of our
employees just based off being a
sensitive use in general in most states
that we operate in we're not allowed to
hire felons and people of you know
higher
convictions
but again this kind of goes back to the
local community and working with local
associations most communities have some
type of social social justice initiative
or organization that we reach out to and
place job placements
in other states and cities we've also
hosted expungement
clinics so anybody who would show up we
would say hey look we you know we're
looking to hire people like you who've
been wronged by the war on drugs and try
to bring them into the interview process
and make sure that they've got a shot at
getting a job with us
that's all i have thank you
anyone else
just put your light on and i don't know
mr acosta commissioner costa
got it right here so just wanted to ask
how much you were aware or if you are
aware of the elevate las cruces plan
uh we are not
okay um and
other than that i just any sort of
experience working with any of your
other
you know planning and zoning committees
um
in any of your other various cities on
what you guys have done to help develop
some of the character of the
neighborhoods that you're entering
yeah i mean we've got extensive
experience because we've opened six and
we've got another 12 in process right
now so you know this is a collaborative
process
we look to planning and zoning we accept
conditions of approval when asked upon
us
you know in designing the building and
building it out you know obviously
there's some interior things that we
need to do
but beyond that
again it's a collaborative process with
the city and their commissioners and and
everybody on their review boards so
we've got extensive extensive experience
there and then you know our community
relations and community liaison outreach
is typically the one that's going to be
reaching out to elevate las cruces or
some of these organizations to make sure
that
we're finding the right people within
the community to work with and emphasize
our efforts on
thank you and i just do think it'd be
great for you to you know make yourself
aware of it as you're going to be in one
of the most highly trafficked
corridors here you know in town if
that's the case el paseo road right
there between alameda and el paso is a
big part of
some of that future elevate elevate
development plan
here for the city so
i think as a big time company coming in
and something like that that'd be
some considerations that i'd like to see
on my side if we were to push those
things through
absolutely
anyone else
i just have a comment commercial smith
hi um i've been living uh just a few
blocks away from the current business
for uh 23 years and i just wanted to
address the
the concern that one of the public had
about increasing crime um
i don't know how many familiar with the
kilby hotel
is uh you know it's been a a real
problem uh with crime in that area for a
long long time um
i just want to state that i don't think
having a cannabis business here will
have any increase
or negative impact on
crime in that area
if anything
as the
applicant has stated you know it may be
even less crime but i just wanted to
state that i'm very familiar with that
area
after living here for such a long time
anyone else
i have a i have a question how many
employees do you think you're going to
have
if all goes to plan we're hoping over 30
employees and upwards of 40 to 50. and a
lot of that just depends on you know
revenue and
and flow rate and how many people we're
seeing but
we think at least 25 more likely in the
30 to 40 right and you're and you're
going to be local hiring absolutely
is this is this is this a publicly owned
company or is this all private
it's a family owned and i love working
for them it's a husband and wife team
they started modestly they haven't taken
any big investors yet and they've you
know expanded on the fruits of their
labor and they've been really successful
um and you know part of this is treating
their staff right and being proper in
the communities that they work in it's
i've loved working for them i have
ownership in a few of their shops and
plan to here but it's definitely not a
public you know we're
one of the bigger operators in
california but we don't operate like a
public company
all right thank you is there anyone else
from the applicant who wishes to speak
if not uh is there anyone from the
audience who wishes to speak
yeah
just please wait wait a minute hold on a
second just just let's do this in order
to do to be three people please raise
your hand again three people okay so
let's start here on the right with the
gentleman in the front
i'll give you uh
three minutes that's a long enough time
i think
uh if you will please give us your name
and address and let me square you in
my name is gary sandler and my address
is
201 north church street here downtown in
my business okay
do you swear or affirm the testimony
you're about to give is the truth and
nothing but the truth on the penalty of
law i do all right sir go ahead
our commissioner and uh
chairman
i would really appreciate the
opportunity to talk to you all here
tonight i i just wanted to touch on
about three points that were previously
touched on from a real estate
perspective since i'm representing the
buyer and the seller and i have been
in real estate for i don't even want to
say almost 50 years i started when i was
seven
[Music]
i want to talk about the family business
i know these folks i've been interacting
with them for a number of months and as
this process
uh began and i hear the kids in the
background and it really is truly a
family business and i
uh i appreciate what they're they're
doing they're really doing it on their
own from the ground up and they're being
really successful at it the second point
i want to make is about the distance the
buffer there
if you all are familiar with that
particular area
you can't even see the housing really
you'd have to
to make an effort to see where the
houses are there's quite a bit of retail
and commercial around that area but i
think the last point i want to make and
probably the most important
is
i've been talking with the owners about
their plans for the physical
location itself and they have a plan to
turn that corner into something that las
cruces could be proud of
and if you look at it now i mean it's a
40 year old 50 year old gas station
this metal sticking out all over the
place and i think what they're going to
do with landscaping
and
the building itself is going to really
uh enhance the gateway to downtown las
cruces and that's all i have
all right thank you all right then i
believe the gentleman in the rear on
that side thank you will you come
forward and state your name and address
and let me sway you in please
yeah i'll give you the same three
minutes
yes my name is jed fanning and i'm
representing citizens bank address is
505 south main
okay do you swear or affirm that the
testimony you were about to give is the
truth and nothing but the truth under
penalty of law i do go ahead sir thank
you
mr chairman commissioners the existing
zoning requirement for a 300 foot buffer
distance
between a cannabis retail establishment
and single family residential zoning
district is based on standards and
guidance
initially laid out for retail cannabis
sales
with retail cannabis sales new to las
cruces community and new mexico
deviation should not be considered until
long-term data shows the impact to
residential zoning close to this
300-foot buffer
making deviations now cannot be
supported by any statistical data
most importantly deviations dilute the
intended purpose of the original zoning
buffer
set another way granting this special
use permit would set a precedent that
runs the risk of negatively impacting
the intent
and the benefits of having a defined
buffer area between residences and
retail cannabis
not only do residential properties fall
within this 300-foot buffer as has been
pointed out
but two entities that cater to miners
are within or very close to that foot
buffer
the 2d bambini children's clothing store
is one
and then across the street to the east
and southeast
is the challenger learning center of las
cruces
so therefore i would encourage you to
take this into consideration and not
approve the special use permit
thank you for your consideration
okay thank you
i believe the gentleman on the back
i said yes sir
you're gonna have the same three minutes
just please give us your name and
address and let me swear you in
thank you commissioner
i speak a little bit
english but i i understand most of what
you guys talking about okay but please
first i need your name
my name is jose antonio rivera a.k.a
tulsa okay let me let me swear you in
first
do you swear you raise your hand you
swear
that your test do you swear on the firm
that the testimony you're about to give
is the truth and nothing but the 200
penalties of the law yes sir fine go
ahead
okay um i live in um
in a three seven five close to the
to the other spencer and now they've got
to open another spencer
and i'm gonna be a victim of
many many crimes and
the apartments that i leave and i think
it's not beneficial for the community to
open another expansion close to what we
got another one we have
the other ones so i be
broke my car many times and uh
my apartment windows get broke and i
think so it's just not me it's a lot of
people is having a lot of complaints
about this other new business that's
coming to town
and
this is my concern
that it's not a safe for the for the
neighbors it's not safe for the for the
people who's going to eat to the dentist
restaurant in there and to the community
that's my concern
okay thank you
thank you is there anyone else ma'am
can you please state your name and your
address and let me swear you in please
okay
my name is billy taylor
my address is 5740 vista verde road okay
do you swear affirmative the testimony
about to give is the truth of nothing
but the truth and the penalty of law yes
and you have the same three minutes
ma'am okay
um i i represent titty bambini with his
children's
thrift store
on the corner of el molino in alameda
i'm president of the board of directors
of this organization
which was started by sister beth
approximately 10 years ago we've been
located on that corner for 10 years
we have
children with coming with their parents
especially mothers and grandmothers
coming to our store
and
we have
some concerns about having another
dispensary
sister beth was unable to be here this
evening so she asked me to read a short
letter from her
i had planned to join billy taylor
at this hearing but i'm in quarantine
because of being exposed to covet
i'm not opposed to cannabis dispensaries
in our town however i'm not in favor of
having another dispensary close to our
children's thrift store
on the corner of el molino in alameda
we're located directly south of sacred
garden
dispensary
a major concern is the safety of our
customers mostly women and children
due to the increase in traffic
the area around el paseo and maine and
alameda is so congested much of the time
my opinion is that adding this business
will further compromise this area
and create hazardous conditions for
customers entering
and leaving our parking lot
and that's from sister beth
so i and i concur with her her um
concerns about having this business
especially if they're going to be um
using alameda to go in and out
of their business
so thank you
right thank you is there anyone else
gentlemen yes sir
you'll have the same three minutes and
please give us your name and your
address and let me swear you in also
reuben smith
all right do you swear affirmative
testimony about to give us the truth and
nothing but the truth on the penalty of
law yes i do go ahead thank
you first of all let me say when i left
office here some 20 years ago as mayor i
told him i would never be attending
meetings to give input
my views on anything
unless somebody were to ask me to come
in on their behalf
unfortunately or maybe fortunately
i happen to own property
that's within the residential area
and that's where sister beth lives i
purchased that property years ago so
that she could live there
in case she got to the point she's 80
plus years old i hope she doesn't get
too upset about that
i've only got three seconds left
uh he didn't she didn't reset the timer
go ahead sir thank you dave i appreciate
that we hear it again when we get two
seconds
so um
i purchased that property in order for
her to live there in case she couldn't
walk she couldn't drive anymore she
probably shouldn't be driving now
but so she could be easy accessible
i want you to know
that it's important billy just talked to
you about tuthi bombini
when we the city created community of
hope it was sister beth who came with
her partner sister anna to create the
jardin de los ninos which is part of
community of hope
after that several years
they started and took over
the tienda which is referred to as on
alameda right now
across from this proposed development
they proceeded to give back to this
community hundreds of thousands of
dollars
back to the community to help the
homeless
in particular the children
when she left the hardin the tienda she
moved across the street and began
tutti bombini
and has been there ever since
those are the kind of things that are
important to our community and she is
she never comes out against anything
this is the first i've known she would
ever do that she's coming out against in
four legitimate reasons
i began the downtown development over 20
years ago
and i can tell you after 20 years we've
just begun to see what downtown
development can be the redevelopment
now we're into the elevated las cruces
and we're talking about
from that corner clear on down to el
paseo
it is imperative i feel
that we initiate and start
this particular project on the right
foot there are hundreds of locations
that other
well-intentioned
big family cannabis operations can
locate in las cruces
i don't think we need to begin to create
the perception that
if you meet the requirement oh we'll
give you a little adjustment of 80 feet
no problem
and then who's to say that that empty
lot next door could conceivably come for
the same kind of of issue
and then you'll be hard-pressed the city
would be hard-pressed to deny them
i just asked you to think what is it
that we want this community to look like
in terms of creating
a cannabis business
right there in a very prime location
that i am sure
other retail establishments are going to
jump at
i would just say think about what you
want this community to look like
and the perception it's a perception as
many times as reality
what that would create they already have
one just right across the street from
them literally
i thank you and i hope you would take
that into consideration
all right thank you
is there anybody on the commission who
wishes to ask any questions or make any
comments at this point
all right seeing none
i'm so sorry turn your light on and i'll
see it i'm sorry
uh
you know once again i go back to um you
know my sensitivity to
opposition to this this business
as i stated earlier i've lived
just a couple blocks away from this
proposed
business for
23 years and
i really really love that neighborhood
and
i have known the owner of the car
dealership for many years and
i know
how hard he has worked over the past
decades to keep his business established
there and
[Music]
the growth that has happened downtown
i've been very excited about because of
my time here and being a resident there
and
i understand as far as
giving a um you know 82 foot variance on
this
we've already previously made you know
decisions
in other businesses downtown
and you know this business does meet all
of you know the requirements
and this waiver is is
it's actually as far as
access and proximity to residences it's
actually
you know it doesn't appear to have have
an impact and
if i wasn't so
you know invested in that neighborhood
about safety and crime and and how it
appears
you know as far as having this type of
business there i would definitely
be concerned about it but
i i
don't feel um that
having this business here will have that
significant of an impact so it's
something that i'm taking into
consideration as i think about my vote
thank you
all right thank you is there anyone else
commissioner costa
all right and i'm just circling back
here one more time i think this is a
great opportunity to um
come together and offer some possibly
even help um with you know sister beth
situation in the thrift store
and the children that are
the children's thrift store that's
happening there the mom and
children women and children traffic
i think this is a great time for you and
your business coming in here
to align and
do some great things for the community
if you had that you know choice
especially in an extremely prime
location where the
you know the at the feet the 200 feet is
just looks different when it's flowing
all the time at least in my own opinion
however i'd really
really really encourage taking
that community engagement opportunity
here that you pitched in your
you know very very good cookie cutter
you know planning and zoning
presentation that you have here but to
take that time and do some tailoring to
las cruces is going to benefit us and i
think that would you know that would be
what we're looking for from the cannabis
businesses going forward
in terms of safety and stuff like that
and things that are going on in that
help sale corridor and in our district
here
and what we're trying to have downtown
look like so i mean you're looking at
you know probably stuff you've probably
done before trees lights
neon art
directly working with sister beth and
that children's thrift store and coming
up with something to
actually help them
as
a local business owner here too and you
know even
considerably a future competitor in that
regard
i i still think
you have a great opportunity to look at
how to make this a better place as you
enter and i think that's
something that the community could
benefit from if
considerably
if approved so i'd
like some conditions
and that's it and thanks
all right thank you anyone else
all right
we're at the point now where unless
there's someone else now who wishes to
speak
right if not
we're at a point here we're going to
vote but before we vote i want to
apprise everybody here in the
in the auditorium
that there are two options here
if the commission votes to approve this
then the neighborhood would have
15 deal 15 days i'm sorry to appeal to
city council
all right
if we
deny it then the applicant has 15 days
in which to appeal to city council
so knowing that these are your options
so it's not
if in some cases it's not the end but
you do have that choice
all right so i think we're ready for a
vote do i have a motion
i make a motion to approve 8.1
a second
board member vega
i vote yes based on site visit and staff
recommendation
board member smith
i all yes based on site visit and staff
recommendation
board member guerrero uh about yes as
well based on staff recommendation and
the uh comprehensive plan as well
boomer costa
i vote yes but i'd like to add in the
conditional of um actually directly
um coming up with a solution with sister
beth and making them feel taken care of
and
making sure their efforts here in our
community have not um
feel threatened
mr chairman point of order
you're voting on a motion there's been
no motion made to add an amendment to
that so you'll have to go through with
the forgive me motion
i
vote yes based on the other motion
board member bennett
i vote to approve based on staff
recommendation site survey and elevate
las cruces
chair gordon
uh based on findings and my site visit
when i actually found it
sorry vince
um
staff recommendation and what it does
for elevate las cruces
i think this really is a wonderful
opportunity i think what they're
planning on doing there is going to make
this look very nice on that corner
so i think that
with what is down the road where the
sacred garden i think is the name of the
of the facility
they've been here i think for a long
time and i don't think that this is
going to make any difference in terms of
what your concerns are for
so in that case i also vote no
therefore we have a vote of seven to
nothing to approve
so you voted yes
i voted yes
excuse me i voted no
i'm sorry i vote yes
then we have we have seven to nothing
six to nothing we have two four two four
oh who are we missing
oh yeah i'm sorry
that's it i'm getting there and vote we
have six to nothing commissioner kaiser
is absent
all right
now we'll move to
[Music]
item
8.2
thursday presentation
uh mr chair commission um i'd like to
make a point of order to see if we could
suspend the rules so that way we can
hear both
cases together
yes we will take these two items
together we will discuss both but vote
separately on each
correct
important yeah i want to make a motion
that we discuss both of these items
together
and then we'll vote separately
i'd like i'd like a motion
yeah
i make a motion to um see the
presentation together of these items 8.2
and 8.3 i'll second that motion
board member vega
yes board member smith
yes
guerrero yes remember acosta
yes thank you boar member bennett yes
chair gordon
yes thank you
all right john go ahead all right uh
good evening mr chair rock commission uh
tonight i bring you the camino hills
master plan and camino hills preliminary
platt
currently the property is located east
of spitz street and northwest of el
camino real adjacent to the alameda
arroyo outfall channel
it is located within council district
one it is approximately
10.954 acres and it's currently zoned
r1a which is our single family medium
density housing
as the property sits currently is vacant
undeveloped tracts of land
as we can see here from the aerial image
it's highlighted in red
and here is the zoning designation
so tonight's proposal we're going to
hear both for the master plan and
preliminary plot the master plan
proposes to sub
subdivide six existing parcels into a
single phase
uh single-phase subdivision
this is going to include 52
single-family residential lots and
multiple tracks for drainage and
utilities
currently it meets the requirements of
the subdivision code design standards
and the 2001 zoning code and is also
supported by elevate las cruces as it
falls into the suburban place type
neighbor or the suburban neighborhood
place type
the preliminary plat proposes to
subdivide the six existing parcels uh
once again into 52 single-family
residential lots
these lots will have multiple tracks for
drainage and utilities it's also going
to dedicate
0.206 acres for the widening of spitz
street
this will also provide five internal
local
local roadways that would be developed
to the city's design standards and be
accessed off of spitz
through dyne avenue and hanson
as we can see here this is the proposed
master plan
and here is a proposed preliminary plet
public notice
and input were sent to all surrounding
properties
at this time staff did receive a few
phone calls in regards to
notification dates
there was a section where letters were
sent out with the incorrect date
and then it was rectified but however
some did make it out with the incorrect
date
staff also received a letter
yesterday morning
which was given to you this
prior to this meeting
it is in regards to
[Music]
the development of the property and
adjacent neighbors
reviews were sent to all relevant
agencies and departments all supported
the proposed master plan and preliminary
plot
also in regards to this staff
is under the knowledge that the yellow
property notification sign which is a
four foot by four foot yellow sign that
is to be placed on all properties that
come before the planning and zoning
commission and city council
was not posted on site
um this
prior to coming to the planning and
zoning commission
it does go before our development review
committee on april 6th it did go to the
drc
who reviews subdivisions from an
infrastructure utilities and improvement
standpoint
there was after some discussion the
development review committee recommended
approval with conditions for the
proposed master plan and preliminary
plan
these conditions were to defer utility
easement notation
location to the final plat submittal
note stating that there will be no
direct access to spits for houses that
are along spitz avenue
it is also to address minor amendments
to the master plan and planning
submittal requirements
and finalize any roadway improvements
associated with the dedication of spits
at the time of construction drawings as
well as the middle of submittal and
approval of a master and or final
drainage report
staff recommendation is going to be
based for the master plan is going to be
based on approval with conditions
based upon review by city by relevant
city staff the proposed master plan does
comply with
the requirements there were minor
amendments that needed to be done as
stated in the drc
so staff has provided the following
conditions
most of it does reflect what was stated
a little bit more in detail though
updating and getting the approved master
plan or yes master drainage and
drainage plan and report
as well as showing some dedications for
tracks for utility requirements and
minor amendments to the master plan from
a planning and zoning standpoint
staff recommendation for the preliminary
plot is an approval with conditions
once again it's going to be very similar
based upon staff and relevant reviews
as well as recommendations from the drc
in this case once again it's still
following up with the master drainage
report and plan as well as some utility
requirements that needed to be addressed
as well
at this time
here are your options which are to vote
yes to approve
vote no to deny or vote yes with
conditions or vote to table
all right thank you john
is there anyone from the applicant who
wishes to speak
yes sir
have you please state your name and let
me square you in
my name is david clements and i live at
602 hanson avenue which is the southeast
corner of hanson and spitz okay do you
swear firm that the testimony you're
about to give is the truth to nothing
but the truth on the penalty of law yes
i do
go ahead sir
okay well my biggest concern with this
thing is the traffic increases excuse me
sir you're not speaking in in terms of
the applicant
you're you're speaking in terms of the
okay
i'm asking for anyone who is from the
applicant who has something to speak
all right then i'll i if you
when it comes to any from the audience
i'll call you back you want me you want
me to wait
okay
is there anybody john is there anybody
here from the applicant yes i do have a
representative all right
would you like to speak
for the record steve calderazzo i'm
representing the owner as the applicant
i am the applicant but i would prefer to
speak
after they've had an opportunity to
speak about because i may be able to
answer some questions if there are any
is that okay that's fine if that's your
choice i think that might be better okay
all right so then
about that i have a lot i have a little
hearing disability so i didn't hear
exactly what you said i didn't wait then
let me swear you in okay okay do you
swear affirmative testimony about to
give us the truth and nothing but the
truth on the penalty of law yes i do all
right go ahead okay my biggest concern
is the traffic increase on spits spitz
already has a major traffic problem it's
a narrow road there's a park right there
where those three streets are going to
come in children playing there the ball
field balls go right out onto spits the
speed limit is 25 miles an hour but the
in reality i've lived there 28 years
i've seen people 70 and 75 miles an hour
going down spits the police are out
there once a week writing tickets as
fast as they can rate them
we've already had major accidents at
hanson and spitz because there's no
visibility if you come west on hanson to
spits
i don't i don't go out that way because
you can't see anything so i go the other
way people coming out of that
subdivision are going to be a little
better off because they have a little
better visibility but still i think we
at the minimum need a four-way stop
there to slow the traffic down and also
you're going to have a lot of you're
going to have a hundred vehicles 52
houses you're going to have about 100
vehicles coming that you don't have now
that's my biggest concern of the whole
thing is we need to put in a light or a
four-way stop if you allow
and i think on the other hand i think we
ought to make them put in
rear access so all the traffic doesn't
come right on the spit how about we go
the other way out onto one of the
side streets in the other direction
because i think that's gonna
i think the park the children playing
there is gonna be a major problem since
i've been there we've had
dozens of accidents on that there's a
little corner right there i'm on the
inside corner the accidents happen on
the outside they come too fast they go
off the road my neighbors mailbox across
the street's been knocked over three
times that i know of
the house right next to that has been
hit a couple of times and and i think
that's going to be a you know we need to
what used to be a whoop-dee-doo that
slowed people down but then the city
took it out about 10 years ago so the
speeds have increased even though it's
still 25 miles an hour the the second
thing that i want to address very
briefly is that i see we're building 52
houses here 94 at the other subdivision
they're talking about
has anybody thought about where we're
going to get the water for all these
houses we're already in a major water
crisis in las cruces i think somebody
needs to look into that we can't pipe
water from the great lakes we
the river's dry the elephant butte's dry
we don't have any water so somebody
needs to think about that thank you
thank you very much all right thank you
is there anyone else who wishes to speak
just one person or you you can have
three minutes ma'am if you come forward
just be careful
all right you'll have to state your name
and your address please
my name is paula tren i live at 2719
spitz
okay do you swear or affirm
that the testimony you're about to give
is the truth and nothing but the truth
under penalty of law yes
all right ma'am go ahead
um
as i said uh 2719 spits uh the property
just
south we share the south border 549
feet
with this new subdivision
we will have backyards all the way along
that
549 feet
now i know that this is a good infill
project and we need more housing in
in las cruces so
that's not my issue although the density
might be some issue but that's not what
i want to talk about
it's
two issues the
what's going to happen
with a privacy wall a rock wall on that
549 feet with however many houses are
along there because
we have our dwelling and then our
backyard which we've worked really hard
on my husband ernie bean has worked
really hard on it's park like people
will
see that and want to go in it you know
so i think we need a
good rock wall for privacy there now the
second issue
is probably even more complicated and
that's the utility easements
we have
two utility easements on our property
one coming down the driveway for the
power and then
straight across halfway of our property
that's why it's kind of divided so we
live on the front half and have our
backyard on the back half
so
the utility comes right across our yard
and then it goes right across the camino
hills project and it's just little
regular telephone poles you know type
things with little wires now
now obviously that's going to have to
change somehow to feed those 52 homes
with power
so
the one pole that we have
on our on our property
it's been rotten since the day we built
our house which was 2003 and i think
only the transmission lines are holding
it up so you know they're they're going
to want to do something with that and
then when it crosses our property to the
camino hills
obviously they're going to have to do
something more substantial to feed those
52 houses
and what i would like i understand from
john
that at this preliminary plan those
things haven't really been
set they haven't been decided you know
they had it's all going to come with the
master plan
so
the offer of communication and
letting us know what's going to happen
with the utilities as well as the wall
would be what i would request so
that's it
thank you
i thank you thank you anyone else
okay
sir now you can have your chance
again please just state your name and
let me square you in
yes sir my name is steve calderazzo
okay do you swear affirmative the
testimony about to give is it true
nothing but the truth and the penalty of
law yes sir go ahead
thank you commissioners um
so this subdivision the original design
for it obviously it's a
the lots are smaller they meet the r1a
smaller lot single family but this
subdivision really addresses an
affordable housing need that we have
here in las cruces i was part of the
process
of band more subdivision at bouts and
stern drive when the neighborhood came
out and they opposed it
and we went from about an 80 lot
development
with apartment options on another couple
of acres to down to about
uh if i'm not mistaken we were in the 40
lot neighborhood so what that did was
mathematically it just
what they did was they took the lot
prices and they jumped those lot prices
up and so now that subdivision is no
longer an affordable home subdivision
that was within the city of las cruces
and so
what we're proposing
is a real affordable home subdivision if
you're talking about lots that are
affordable they're not 70 000 which is
what happened to us at banmore 70 75 000
lots you know your two your two
your married couple working family blue
collars not getting into that seventy
thousand dollar lot being able to build
something for their family just not
happening so these are affordable
they're addressing a need in the
community
the currently they look just to address
the electrical comment the el paso
electric is already in the process of
designing the power for that subdivision
beyond that i don't recall any of the
other concerns
yeah i think i think she's mentioned
about a rock wall also let me ask you a
question again before you go any further
didn't i just read i did read that they
were going you're going to widen spits
um yes where i think there's it's called
it triggered the need for widening or
deceleration lane to pull into that
subdivision as well we are all
connecting
haner
is that is that going to be just just a
deceleration lane coming down spits to
get into the community not to get out
correct
okay
i want to make sure i understood that
and she mentioned about putting up a
wall
but most of the communities that we see
now here most in las cruces everybody
has a wall it's a whatever the
code standard is going to call for that
wall whether it's retaining or not i
mean it's going to be built to standard
whatever the requirement is going to be
by city las cruces so
is there anybody on the commission who
has some questions now
yeah i just i know you just answered the
question concerning uh the volume of
traffic on spitz i'm familiar with that
that road i know that over the years
there has been you know a high volume of
traffic number of crashes
and you said that there's going to be a
deceleration lane uh proposed or or
built is that something that's
going to happen or it's just something
that's a proposal it's a requirement as
part of the development of the
subdivision
okay thank you
anybody else
commissioner guerrero i i just have a
quick concern and it's not just for this
neighborhood you know we've seen it in a
lot of other of these developments
and i don't really know
i don't really know how we address this
but you know i mean like i completely
understand and hear the concerns of uh
you know folks that talk about you know
traffic increase i live in a
neighborhood right now where there is
there is a kid you know like 100 200 300
homes being built like right behind and
traffic in the morning is awful you know
so definitely let's keep that in
consideration but not just that just
entry entry uh you know entry and exit
points as well to these neighborhoods um
that needs to be addressed i can't
remember exactly in the presentation
where
and you know and i'm not asking where
they are but you know just you know
there has to be multiple entry places
you know to address some of those
concerns so that's it it's not a
question just a comment that you know is
that boiling in my head
to add to that the fire department
requirement
actually triggered
multiple openings which is why haner is
being connected to the subdivision so we
have one-off spits we have haner so you
have dyne feeding into it and so
all right is there anyone else
commissioner carson
um just one last quick comment on the
part about the affordable housing um
sounds like a great proposal and
everything
what keeps that firm in terms of where
the economy is at now and and kind of it
here in the future and how you guys plan
to you know keep that honest well i
think in the short term it's because of
the size is a lot it's driven by the
size of the lot i mean over on band more
we were forced to increase the size of
the lot the property size didn't change
is the number of
lots they allowed us to build change so
thereby increasing the size of the lot
so we're able to maintain a 5 000 square
foot lot which is the minimum you know
which is not a very big lot but it's you
know it's enough to put a nice
affordable house i mean i think i
project we're going to be looking at
somewhere you know 1500 1800 square foot
homes these are not
you know 2 000 you know maybe you might
find a 2 000 square footer in there if
we can figure out how to design it you
know
utilizing the setbacks so
other than that that's that's how we
guarantee that
that's all i have to say thank you
anyone else on the commission
okay
all right then i guess we're ready to
take a vote we'll do take a vote on the
master plan first
can i get a motion please
yeah uh i'll look to uh
set a motion for so we're doing 8.2
first
uh for uh 8.2
oh sorry yes yes with with a condition
uh recommended by the review board
a second
board member crew
oh me first
i i guess yes
yeah i vote yes based on staff
recommendation as well as uh
the
the conditions that happen on the set
board member smith
yes based on staff recommendation
board member vega
uh vote yes with a condition based on
staff recommendation
former miracosta
i vote yes uh based on staff
recommendation
board member bennett i vote to approve
based on staff recommendation meets
neighborhood character and elevate las
cruces
chair gordon
i vote yes based on the findings and on
my site visit
and staff recommendations and continue
to elevate las cruces with the
conditions
therefore the vote is six to zero
all right it's in approval now we need
to vote for the preliminary plat if i
can get a motion please
i make a motion to approve 8.3 with
conditions listed in the packet
all right second
[Music]
board member vega
i vote yes based on staff recommendation
board member smith hello yes based on
staff recommendation and then we
celebrate las cruces
guerrero uh vote yes again based on
staff recommendation and elevate laws
cruises as well board member acosta
i vote yes based on staff recommendation
and elevate las cruces
former bennett i vote to approve based
on staff recommendation um meets
objectives of a preliminary plat and the
thoroughfare plan
chair gordon
i wrote yes based on staff
recommendations elevate las cruces and
uh good luck with your project
the vote is six nothing in favor
so
that takes care of those two items we
are now finished with current business
is there any discussion from
the commission as anything they'd like
to say
all right if not how about from staff
mr chair and commissioner staff doesn't
have any comments this evening either
all right then i'd like to get a motion
to ajar
uh commissioner i'll make a motion to
adjourn
second
all in favor
yes yes yes yes yes
thank you everyone
you