[Music]
so
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good afternoon you're now live
good evening and welcome to the may 25th
meeting of the planning and zoning
commission
this meeting is being recorded
okay
commissioner thomas who is this year is
absent this evening and i am
commissioner gordon i'm the vice chair
so uh perhaps david you could call a
role
sure um this is for tenants this evening
uh
commissioner vega president
commissioner bennett
commissioner smith here commissioner
guerrero
uh here commissioner manise
here and chair gordon and i'm here
thank you you have a quorum this evening
thank you uh next on the agenda is
dealing with
a conflict of interest is there anyone
from the commission
or the community development that they
feel they have a conflict of interest on
any of the
items on the agenda this evening please
uh
speak up raise your hand
uh seeing none all right then we can
move on to the
approval of the minutes from the meeting
of the of april 27th
can i have a motion in a second please
i will motion the approval of the
minutes
this is commissioner bennett and i'll
second
david could you please call the roll for
a vote yes mr chair this is
uh for the approval of the april 27 2021
meeting
minutes excuse me uh commissioner vega
commissioner bennett yes commissioner
smith
yes commissioner guerrero yes
commissioner moniz i was absent
okay uh commissioner gordon yes
your minutes were approved uh five
uh one abstention and one absence all
right
i thank you according to the agenda
there are no postponements but are there
any uh
that aren't listed i've seen none
uh is there any public participation
from anyone perhaps who might be on it
wants to discuss anything
that is not on the agenda for this
evening
mr chair it looks like the folks that
are attending the meeting are all
involved with a application or a case
that's
further down your agenda so it doesn't
look like there's just anybody from the
general public
all right thank you in that case let's
move on
uh to the consent agenda there is
nothing on the consent agenda this
evening
there is no old business so i guess we
can just move on to new business
tonight there are two items on the
agenda this evening
can i have a motion for the first item
and a second
please someone
someone make a motion please comment
right here the first item i don't have a
number right in front of me
that's why i wasn't responding
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well i think we decided that we're just
going to list them by item that we we're
going to read the case number
unless we
is there a second this is commissioner
smith that's second
all right thank you uh is there a staff
presentation on this item
mr chair john castillo will present this
case to the commission
all right thank you
hi john
you're on mute john
all right um good evening everyone uh
commission
uh today we are going to be discussing
um
a non-administrative replat um it's the
jf davis summary subdivision replant
number two
so this is um this is a property located
at 407 fred way
it's a single-family residential lot uh
that encompasses 0.287
uh acres uh it's currently zoned r2
which is our media
or multi-dwelling low density zoning
district
um and it's a development of a
neighborhood
which consists of
duplexes and triplexes um there's uh
single-family homes on there as well
and it's also a local roadway which is
connecting to an arterial roadway which
is three crosses avenue
so this image here is the subject
property of 407 fred way
uh the images that are provided are
looking uh westbound on fedway
uh cul-de-sacs at the end then eastbound
towards
um three crosses avenue
this is an aerial map of the area
as well as our zoning map showing that
the property is zoned r2
so the customer is proposing a
non-administrative re-plan
which is uh being subdivided into two
residential lots
the lot sizes are 0.144
and 0.143 acres in size
it does meet the subdivision code design
standards in the 2001 zoning code
housing plan and active transportation
plan
at the time that this was created in the
staff report went out um
there were notice notices were sent out
to the surrounding properties
and staff did not receive any phone
calls or comments or concerns from the
community surrounding the area
staff also reviewed all
staff also reviewed the information and
it was sent out to all relevant agencies
and departments
they all supported the proposed
non-administrative replay
on april 7th uh 2021 on the drc
or our design review committee met they
did give approval for the
they recommended approval of the
proposed replay
a staff recommendation is giving
approval based upon the reviews by the
relevant city staff the proposed rule
known as jf davis summary subdivision
replant number two
um complies with the subdivision code
the proposed new lots that are being
created by the replay comply with all
requirements of the 2001 zoning code
and then the drc recommended approval on
of the replay during a public meeting on
april 7
2021.
today the options are to vote yes for
approval vote no for denial
uh vote yes with conditions or vote to
table
are there any questions or comments from
the commission
all right seeing none of hearing none
um mr chair i believe uh
commissioner guerrero had a uh had
raised his hands
okay yeah thank you
thank you um i just had a question is
where where is the proper where's the
line gonna be between each property
is this being divided into two
uh mr chair commissioner guerrero
um it's going to be relatively close to
the the structure that's already there
um it is a few feet away from it
but the applicant also is requesting
that
that home that is there will either be
removed or
possibly um
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renovated if possible
well then i have a question are they
going to meet the setback requirements
yes they'll meet the setback
requirements so as long as the line is
somewhere down the middle of the
property
as long as they meet the setback
requirements should make any difference
no all right
trisha guerrero does that satisfy your
question
yeah i was just curious that's fine no
no problem here you should ask if you
have a question
is there anyone else who has a question
or a comment
all right well i'm seeing none is there
a perhaps a statement from the
petitioner who wish to
say something before we take it to the
public
david does someone want to speak
mr chair the applicant is
present this evening and
i think i've just uh
promoted them to
the meeting and
uh mr underwood
if he wanted to could
could make a presentation or answer any
questions that you have
mr chairman this is larry underwood
we're the uh
surveyors and engineers for this project
um we we do
we have a range for mr underwood i'm
sorry to just interrupt you but i have
to swear you in please
can you hear me i can hear you
okay do you swear or affirm that the
testimony you're about to give is the
truth or nothing about the truth who's
under penalty of law
i do indeed i thank you go ahead i'm
sorry to interrupt you
uh the owner of this property
is attending this meeting tonight
kathy and should there be any questions
she's
free to answer them but
uh as far as
we are concerned uh this does
seem rather elementary and a very simple
job
uh there was an original
partition between this lot
i guess it was i don't know 10 15 years
ago
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it was that partition was vacated so
now the owner would like to
reconstruct and put the partition line
back in the midway between the right and
the left
lot lines that this has now
so that both when if this is approved
the both of these lots that this
partition line will create
they're of equal distance so
i did have a long talk with the owner
an hour ago and
she's uh prepared to move the
mobile home either turn it 90 degrees to
the street
or some other angle she isn't even
sure if this mobile home is worth trying
to save
by doing something like that but it's
certain
you're certainly well aware like mr
castillo
said that
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we're not going to create any
violation of the setback requirements
so i think she and i we don't have any
questions for the commit
yeah commission and we're both available
to answer questions
mr underwood thank you is there anybody
from the commission who
has a question
well if not david is there anyone from
the public who wishes to speak
mr chairman i don't believe that there
is anyone from the public
here all right then um
i guess we are prepared to vote okay
mr chair i'll take the roll call
commissioner vega um i approve
based on the site visit and a meeting
with the elevate west cruises plan
uh commissioner bennett a vote yes
uh based on the commentary here and
staff recommendation
commissioner smith i approve
um based on
uh it meets its standards for site
compliance
for the for the use current use
commissioner guerrero um i vote yes as
well uh
based on a fitting elevate las cruces
and staff recommendations
um commissioner moniz
i think you just um muted yourself
commissioner moniz
i think i think it froze oh okay is that
when something happened yeah
can you hear me now yes ma'am
i'm voting yes on the recommendations
of staff regarding this
but i would like to see it upgrade on
mobile homes within the city limits
if they're gonna still allow them
so i hope they or they're thinking
complaining
whether to get rid of that older mobile
home
so but i'll say yes
chair gordon
i did a site visit according to findings
and discussion and compliance would
elevate las cruces i also vote yes
mr chair the subdivision plan has been
approved
and you're ready for your next item on
the agenda all right thank you
i can have a motion then for the second
item on the agenda
please make a motion
is it a second i said yes i'll second it
sorry we're
we're
all right then is there a presentation
on this item please
mr chair there is um vincent benegas
will be
making that presentation for you
mr chairman vincent banegas for the
record
um i will be presenting the the
case 21 zero zero five
uh zero zero zero two nine which is the
hill rise drive multi-parcel
uh rezoning effort seeking to change the
zoning from r4 to o2
but a point of order before we continue
discussion on this case
there are two parcels that were
originally part of this request
it has come to light that they are not
part of a
condominium arrangement as was once
believed
and so therefore there has to be some
additional research
to determine how they have come to be
in terms of the lot layout that they
currently exist in
and those would be for the parcels that
are addressed 3003
a and 3003 b
so if we could have a motion to remove
those from further consideration that
would be great
does that mean that we're going to have
to bring this item back by those two
parcels
we would uh bring those two parcels back
and then a third that provides
access and parking to the two uh parcels
that house the building so those would
be coming back
at a later date uh we could postpone
uh to the next meeting next month's
meeting
and then assuming that we get those
issues resolved we'll proceed if not
then we'll have the table well i have a
suggestion perhaps
since that this is really nothing that
is just changing your zoning
and basically when i looked at the
properties they're all medical or office
buildings
perhaps we should just postpone this to
say our next meeting where we can
resolve these two items or three items
and then put it all together as a
correct package and let's do it then
yeah for those three parcels mr chair is
that what you're referring to
oh i'm talking about doing all of it
mr chairman this is uh point of order
this this is david weir
the applicant's representative is here
this evening
i believe that there are some
arrangements or contracts that may be
impacted if you don't take action
tonight on the remaining parcels so i
would recommend that you
postpone the the two parcels that um
mr banegas has noted and you go ahead
and review the
the remaining uh parcels so that um the
zone change can continue to go through
the process and then it
wouldn't create any other uh changes or
modifications to previous agreements on
the on the tracks
okay considering that what would cause i
had no problem with that either i just
thought it would be easier but since we
have this complication
i guess we could go home and do that if
you could just repeat
the the the numbers that you want to
remove from this and then someone will
make a motion
yes sir uh mr chairman commissioners the
subject properties are these uh parcels
these two small parcels here and those
are for
three thousand three a and three
thousand three b
those are the addresses for those
parcels
right and i guess if we could get a
motion from one of my commissioners we
can go ahead and do that and we can
eliminate that and bring that back in
the future time and then we can resolve
the current item that's on the agenda
okay uh this commissioner ben and i make
a motion that we remove
3003 a and 3003b from this
application second commissioner guerrero
i
second that removal okay
david does that meet the requirement to
do this it does i just need to take the
the roll count uh to
remove those parcels from this case this
evening
but i just want to make sure that the
motion is correct
yeah um it is
uh and if you if you'd like i'll go
ahead and take roll
on this amendment okay uh commissioner
vega
yes i agree commissioner bennett
yes commissioner smith
uh yes i agree commissioner guerrero
uh yes commissioner moniz
it may be muted yeah commissioner
monizer
okay um commissioner or chair gordon
yes okay uh the the amendment passes and
uh
you if you'd like vince can go ahead and
present the rest of the parcels for you
okay will this be a time certain for the
next meeting
i believe that that's the way you didn't
uh
specify a different date so we'll have
to put it on the agenda for next
next month that's fine
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so mr chairman members of the commission
um
again this is a rezoning effort from r4
to o245
parcels instead of the original seven
that may be identified in the staff
report
the reference to the word conversion
speaks to a process
that we used to follow upon adoption of
the 2001 las cruces zoning code is
amended
whereby we are seeking to realign
and make congruent the existing land
uses on properties
with the 2001 zoning code there were
stipulations that may have changed
within each zoning district and so we
would take
on the effort to try to bring about
conversion to the most appropriate zone
for the uses that we saw on the property
the current conditions
for this case show that the
following addresses are applicable
to the properties in question we have
eliminated of course 3003 from
consideration uh all the properties
on both the notice letters and the
advertising and the paper
and on the maps that we will show here
tonight
reflect all the properties in question
they're currently zoned r4 which
just for reference sake is our
multi-dwelling high-density limited
retail and office
use district
and one of the parcels that has the r4
base zoning had
a condition placed on it when it
received the rezoning
back in i believe it was 2006
it went from an r uh 3 zone to an r4
zone and at the time city council
opted to place a condition on it
requiring that that
that uses only be professional offices
only
so at this point in time for all intents
and purposes
all the properties have r4 zoning
the existence of the r4 zone today
presents some non-conforming
zoning related issues with our current
code
those being that non-residential uses
are specifically called out
in that they cannot exceed 35 percent of
the existing floor
area of the buildings that they occupy
nor can they exceed a 1500 square foot
size requirement most of those
properties under consideration except
for two
uh exceed uh the
15 100 square foot requirement
and all properties exceed the 35
threshold that's identified and because
of those
elements we have to seek a more
congruous zoning district that that
meets the intent of our zoning code and
obviously
the use out on site as indicated we are
now talking about five parcels in total
uh four condominium buildings those
uh buildings and the parcel they sit on
are located right at the corner of tell
shore boulevard
and hillrise drive all the properties
are developed
and have been developed since uh various
years prior to our 2001 zoning code
some of them were developed in
accordance to our
1981 zoning code and and others
in a in accordance with 1969
code so they've been around a while but
one thing has remained consistent
they've always been
professional office or medically related
since since their construction we have
various
acreages involved from 0.4
acres to 1.04
this is a map showing the subject
properties again
we are not considering these two but the
areas that
uh have properties outlined in yellow
are the ones in question
uh just to orient you south telstra
boulevard
runs north south here and he'll rise
drive
along here you can see there is a bulk
of the immediate surrounding area that's
zoned r4
this was that one that was r4 bay zone
with
a condition professional use only
applied to it you already begin to see
some effort to change zoning in this
case for this parcel here which is not
part of the case
but nonetheless there was an effort uh
back in 2006 i believe to change the
zoning to an o2 designation
and in this instance it was uh
always the intent of the property owner
to build a much larger medical building
or professional office building and so
they had to go through the process to
make that happen
you also have a property that's not part
of this request but nonetheless it is an
01 designation
our o1 and o2 o1 is our neighborhood
office and o2 is our professional office
uh designation and our zoning code we'll
see that
elsewhere you're surrounded by r4 you
have
r4 across the street on the west side
across
tell shore those are apartment buildings
and leading further west it transitions
over to single-family residential
development
on the south side you have r3
designated properties you have some
offices
and you also have an elementary school
here this location
and further east you have single family
residential as well
hill rise drive transitions from what we
see
as the medical office and the office
type uses into town home or patio home
style development located
here some of those properties are still
zoned r4
the remaining are r3 with r3 going
further north northeast of the subject
location
and so there's a mixture of zoning that
is in the immediate area and certainly a
mixture of uses
and many oh well all of the uses that
are subject to
this case have been in existence in a
professional office
form since their development
this is an aerial map showing the same
properties
you can see that hill rise drive is
a continuous roadway with some limited
uh
intersection the primary one being with
telshore
and i just showed that to kind of orient
you with with some of the surrounding
uses
the proposal as we now know seeks to
realign and rezone the properties from
r4 to o2
they will be made consistent with the
provisions of our 2001 zoning code as
amended
and o2 zone was selected because it's
the most appropriate
zone that provides the compatibility
with our code and the uses
and compatibility with the surrounding
neighborhood
the conversion effort that i mentioned
earlier
we took upon our took it upon ourselves
as
a staff upon adoption of 2001 code
for years thereafter to bring about
compliance with
existing uses and this effort this
evening
is a first step that is very similar
eerily
similar to those efforts undertaken
shortly after adoption of the code
so that's why i listed it as conversion
as opposed to a true zone change that
you would typically see
the proposal request request received
approval from all reviewing parties
and i just uh have a few pictures of
some of the properties
uh in question some of them office space
within each building may be vacant at
the moment but nonetheless the intent is
to bring in
like uses in the near future
just another example uh this is uh
right here along hill rise circle i
believe it
is
and view looking westward
towards telshore and a view looking
east towards the city limit boundary
eventually
in terms of analysis of this case staff
no health safety or wealth
welfare related issues or concerns
again the o2 zone provides the greatest
compatibility overall
the properties there are three that
actually fall within the urban
place type of our elevate comprehensive
plan
and the remainder fall within the
suburban place type
those place types are similar in
they do focus on residential uses a bit
differently but nonetheless
both place types encourage mixed-use
style of development which
as we've seen this area does provide
we would realign the existing zoning
district as mentioned
and in terms of public notice and input
of course we did follow uh
the appropriate course of action on that
in
terms of uh phone calls or input
received from the general public
uh we only received one call and it was
just of a general
inquiry type basis
in terms of staff recommendation staff
would recommend approval based on the
following findings
that the subject properties have been in
use
for professional offices as we see today
since their inception the
zone change would allow the retention
and possible attraction
of like businesses in the area
consistent with the zoning code
and non-conforming related zoning issues
would go away
with approval of this request
up through city council and
the subject properties have direct
access
to hillary's drive and hillride's drive
has suitable right-of-way
and paving width to accommodate the
existing uses
and any future related uses
that that we may see and uh this
proposal was found to be consistent with
the
neighborhood character and compatibility
type issues
the comprehensive plan the thoroughfare
plan our zoning code and of course the
criteria for decisions found in our
municipal code
and your options this evening mr chair
and members of the commission is to vote
yes and approve the request
vote no and deny it please keep in mind
that
all the information presented through
this uh discussion
has been in the affirmative for approval
so if you do vote
no you'd have to provide new information
to the contrary you could vote yes with
conditions or vote
to table and that concludes staff's
presentation mr chairman i'll be happy
to answer any questions you may have
thank you mr banegas very much very nice
presentation
are there any uh questions or comments
from from the commission
all right i see none uh is there any a
statement or any kind of
comments from the applicant that we
might find
interesting or necessary
i would like to make a comment if i can
be sworn in
okay who am i speaking with my name's
carrie bolsterbaum i'm the applicant on
behalf of the multiple parcel owners
that are part of the zone change
okay uh 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 go ahead thank you
okay there's not much more i can add to
what vents have laid out it's very well
chronicled
um i just want to make two points i
think are kind of critical from a
reality aspect
i'm a commercial real estate broker in
town and it just so happens that almost
every one of these
properties and i can assure you we've
been just as busy over a 20-plus year
period on the other side of hill rise
this area has a major disconnect on a
high percentage of properties not all um
being well in excess of 1500 square feet
of that square footage disconnect
that vince was alluding to
what makes it different today is
since obamacare got passed probably
since the
early late 70s early 80s there's been
very limited vacancy periods on the
majority of these properties because the
majority of these were medical
properties that were fully absorbed
there was never a need
to file for a business registration
or anything of that nature because these
have had very limited vacancy periods
and they were always within zoning
compliance well
more and more of these physicians are
going to work for the major hospital
just due to the structure of obamacare
and you are seeing a lot
of vacancies and pending vacancies upon
the street
and the problem is is that under an r4
designation compared to no2
and the square footage disconnect is
that if
these folks had to either sell
lease file business registration on
almost every single property
but under this zone change and i'm sure
there's a lot more we just can't get to
jump in on this
there's a major problem in the zoning
code they can't um
be approved for an active business
registration without some
some flexibility from the city and and i
just not much more i can add to that but
i just
i just think it's very important to
point out that there's a big problem
here where
you you almost have what you in effect
you have a lot of vacancies creeping up
just due to the times
and i just hope this would be strongly
considered
uh due to the fact that this really
should have been zoned o2
no one probably understood it back when
this was done just because they were
they were never empty and they just
didn't feel like they had to address it
well now it's reality and i just hope
you'll take that under consideration and
with that i appreciate your time unless
you have any other questions
so your comment is that you want to have
this rezoned
o2 yeah just like the application and
vents laid out but i just
i think it's important to point out the
disconnect you're seeing along the
stretch it's a very serious one
all right i just want to make sure that
uh myself and the commission
understands exactly what you're saying
is that in that case does anyone have a
question for this
yeah commissioner guerrero here um i
just kind of wanted to
follow up on some of the things that i'm
going to say your name wrong inside mr
bolsterbaum
was oh great was uh i i actually used to
live in that area for
for quite a few years um back in college
and then
after that um and i mean it is true i
think a lot of those businesses
unfortunately are vacant
um so my question is um is this by
the zoning change i mean it'll be
changed to an office
you know general so is it just kind of
like plan like hey we're going to open
it for like all kinds of businesses
or like specific type of business like
real estate retail
do you have maybe an idea of what uh
just you know what
kind of businesses might come in i don't
think it's going to be too much of a
change from what you've seen going back
from the late 70s
on up to where we're at today the high
percentage of these buildings are
medically built
they support a medical related business
it's
i mean it's the times are changing so i
can't look anybody in the eye and say
that there might be
some some alternative uses there that
that would apply
but again i can't stress enough um if
they were always allowed to do this
under the zoning code you you don't have
you haven't had any periods of vacancies
where
all of a sudden the past few years
you've had a lot of these properties
have been vacant for over a year they
have to meet new zoning standards
there's a whole litany of issues that
never apply to the street
going over a 40-year period and now if i
were a medical doctor
trying to do the same thing along the
street if i filed for a boat
business registration for the same type
of use for which this was built
because of the arbor zoning i'm
basically drawn dead on
what i could use this property for for
what it's been used for
for since 1980 you know
and so it's uh to me this is uh
just something that's a major issue
along the street then slated out very
well there's not much more i can say but
it's just it's something i hope to take
under serious consideration
there's a major disconnect
thank you thank you very much
is there anyone else
no other further comment from the public
all right then i don't see any reason
why we can't have a vote
david mr chair this is the vote to
recommend approval of the
zone change from r4 to o2 for the
subject properties
commissioner vega i vote yes based on
staff recommendation and
compliance with the neighborhood
character and compatibility and albeit
las cruces
plan commissioner bennett
oh yes based on staff recommendation
this meets elevate las cruces and
zoning code commissioner smith
hello yes uh it's consistent with the
purpose
and intent of the zoning code and also
based on staff recommendation
commissioner guerrero uh i vote yes
based on
uh staff recommendations and as well as
uh
complying with uh elevate las cruces i
think we need more businesses just in
general in that area it's a great area
so
uh vote yes uh commissioner moniz
i think she might be muted still
she was having a problem with family so
i don't know she may have had to have
left
yeah well there she is
oh well then i'll i'll
[Music]
go on to chair gordon well based on my
site visit and our discussion and i
think that this is appropriate that this
should be done
it does meet the requirements of elevate
las cruces so i definitely vote yes
mr chair the recommendation of the pnz
commission is to approve this zone
change so
we'll we'll move forward from there
thank you very much
all right then considering those two
items are now finished are there any
comments from the commission that i'd
like to make for this evening
um this is commissioner bennett
um i'm just uh wondering when we can get
back
to in person i think we talked about it
a little bit but and i know
um harvey wanted to talk about that too
so
well i understand from legal is that
apparently we're not going to get in
there maybe until at least july
so i guess we're going to be another
month doing this uh
doing this balloon by that time we'll
have it down pat and then we won't need
it anymore
anyone else who has a comment oh there
he is
mr nichols uh yes sir mr chairman of
larry nichols uh
community development for the record um
i'm not certain that
the commission to finish any comment but
i have some staff announcements that
will address the uh
when will be use of chambers again uh
comments i don't think there are any
other you can go ahead
your pleasure okay thank you again uh
for the record larry nichols i have
three items
uh staff comments for you this evening
uh mr chair and
members of the commission uh the first
one is to uh
give you some information about the
status of the land use
or something often referred to as the
zoning code update
as you know we have hired the consultant
freeze and nichols to do that
study for us we've had liftoff
this past month mr ware
and catherine harrison rogers have been
shepherding that effort
there have been about four meetings with
stakeholders
with staff and uh other public input
the uh they have established their
schedule
and i'll see that um you all the members
mr chairman and all the members of the
commission
get the schedule to see how this will uh
uh be unfolded over the next uh
uh several months but uh i just wanted
to uh
share with you that uh that uh is up and
going
and that we're we're making progress on
that
the second item i had for you was
to share with you some information
about restructuring the city manager's
office
has been doing some restructuring with
their
with the new city manager and assistant
city managers
and uh as a result of that now community
development has
had two of our uh two changes
one is a program change the uh community
improvement program
that we have that's uh under mr weir's
purview
they have moved to the economic
development department
that's uh the group that works with the
community development block grants
and the home funding and affordable
housing
and that those items
so they're there now with the economic
development department
the other change we've had is that
this past week it was brought to my
attention that
shirjana bhasnet who is a senior planner
with community development department
will also be moving to
the city manager's office the
as taking over the duties of the uh what
is called the performance
manager uh it has to do a lot with
the reasoning behind that that that
position has to do a lot with the
implementation
of the elevate las cruces comprehensive
plan
with all departments city-wide uh
so she'll be uh taking that position
and there were a couple other changes
within the city manager's office that
not impact the community development
department
uh as much as those two but those two
will be uh
one is already in in practice the other
will happen within the next week or so
then the third item i had for you is
what you were discussing just a moment
ago
uh you know when can we get back to uh
in person
meetings uh face to face uh having the
deus
and the and the podium
and what they have announced now is that
uh city hall will be opening
uh set for july the first now that's on
a thursday
and then of course then the second and
then the weekend
is the fourth of july weekend
so the first meeting in the city
chambers
it will probably be
the word i have it will be on july the
6th
which will be a city council meeting
then following that would be other
meetings but
for you july the 22nd
will be the planning and zoning
commission meeting
that is scheduled to be uh back in city
chambers
so we're all looking forward to that i
know that
we are able to connect our business more
effectively
when we can see the applicants speak to
you person to person
but but that's the date that is set at
this time
the june meeting for the planning and
zoning commission
will is still scheduled to be uh virtual
as we're having tonight
uh i think that meeting is june the
17th it's it's the regular scheduled
time of the month it's the uh
what is a fourth meet a fourth tuesday
evening i believe in the month
so i think that's the correct date i may
be off a day or so there
but those are the three items that i
wanted to uh
your attention and uh uh hopefully you
have some clarity as to when we get back
to
in into city chambers thank you mr
chairman that
concludes comment all right i just have
one thing i'd like to bring up i just
thought about what might be helpful to
everyone on a commission
and this is this is an administrative
request
if it would be possible for someone to
provide
everyone on the commission a complete
list
now of our email addresses our telephone
et cetera like we've had before but
we've not had any changes since
the last couple of people have left the
commission
also if we could get now a list of the
pertinent
um people like for the mayor the city
manager the assistant city manager
uh of course the city council department
heads
that are relevant to what we have to do
otherwise sometimes
i have to scrounge around and go onto
the computer to try to find out
people that i may i used to have a
complete list but now some of it is
quite outdated
there's no rush on this if somebody can
find a few minutes perhaps
to sit down and think and just to email
this to us or
send out that we can print and i can put
it in my in my book
i would appreciate it i think perhaps
everyone would also
mr chairman larry nichols for the record
uh yes sir well i'll assure you we'll do
that i'll have uh
our administrative staff put together a
list of
not only the uh city manager office
contacts but also community development
as well as all the content all the uh
commissioners on the pnc commission all
right
very good thank you all right if there
is nothing else um
i think it's time that we adjourn it is
now 6
50 p.m do i have a motion to adjourn
muted i think she was motioning oh
now am i can you hear me yes
this computer i swear oh god i can't
wait to just come to the meetings in
person
i before we uh adjourn
i would like to bring a question to mr
nichols
or mr weir i was watching
a television program
on pbs and our city was one of the
subjects maybe you saw it
we have people leaving the state of new
mexico
because of the economic you know no jobs
no professional jobs we have
specialists leaving las cruces doctors
uh our young college kids are
leaving and not coming here they're also
leaving denver colorado now they're
going to places like wyoming
have staff taken some of this into
consideration
with all this zone changing and building
because we have
a lot of empty professional buildings
now
yet and the developers keep saying
they're building an and possible more
office space
we don't have the people to fill it
what's the city going to do
to attract them here
mr chairman if i may um dave
larry nichols for the record and
commissioner
um well i guess i would begin by saying
uh
i'm one of those that came back to las
cruces i know
so uh um
and my family has been here my my
grandfather had a business here my
father had a business i had a business
and now my daughter
uh has a business here so there are
those that are staying
but we do see uh quite a few folks
leave las cruces what is the
incentive behind that or why does that
occur
we're often told that has to do with
them finding gainful employment
in other locations that maybe the
salaries are
are higher than what is uh available
here
i suspect that's one of the major
motivations
um i i you know i don't believe it
it has to do with how our city
is run or how you know what's
availability of
of housing uh we are told sometimes that
uh housing affordable housing is an item
as an issue which would be related to
our community development
but even that you know i study that
quite a lot and
the housing costs affordable housing
defined as you shouldn't be spending
more than 30 percent of your income on
on housing uh we find that there's quite
a bit of affordable housing based on
that criteria
here in las cruces what we what we have
difficulty with is
what we call low-income housing
or attainable housing so i think that
might be part of the issue
why folks may be leaving
the employment the the uh
the salary just salaries of jobs we do
know that
we're always in competition with that
but what i what i will say is this this
i think would be uh
something for you commissioner renis uh
that might enharten you a little about
about
folks um we had 750
new residential properties uh that we
had uh certificates of occupancy
uh last year uh if we go with the
national average of how many
occupants there are in a uh in a home
which is about 2.7 i think is the figure
let's call it three
uh 750 times three
is nearly 2200.
new residence so um
you know the overall state the
population
uh the last census showed that it only
grew about i think
one and a half percent uh something like
that
las cruces was uh similar to that
but we are seeing a uh
uh influx of new residents of those 752
uh new homes that were occupied
but the builders tell me that about 60
percent
to 65 percent of those were
folks coming from out of state so i
i know that doesn't say how do we keep
the folks that
went to school here graduated here how
do we keep them here
but folks are coming to las cruces and
and we are growing
and i'll defer to mr weir to have his
comments for you
and dave you want to throw in
thank you mr nichols thank you
uh mr nichols and i i
take a little different uh
vent on it i think there are some very
stable employers in the city
um you have the university you have
white sands you have nasa
you have all the government activities
whether it be the city county so you i
think you have a very strong base
uh for the city to stay strong and we're
at a
a population where you the services that
support those activities are
are strong and then i would just say the
vision that was put forth in elevate las
cruces
the quality of life amenities that you
have
just to echo what larry said people will
will choose to live here
and then it's just a matter of what
other activities take place i think
the other opportunity we have as a
community as
we come out of this pandemic we realize
that
you can work remotely and i think some
of those quality of life amenities that
las cruces offers to people will be a
strong attraction
and then i think there's just things
that we should work on as a community
you know
continue to improve our education system
our health care system
and just providing nice services to
complement
the knife lifestyle that we have here so
i i think you know we need need to stay
on top of things but i think we have a
really strong set of tools in our
toolbox to keep us a strong community
thank you all right then this is
commissioner gordon again
it is now 6 57 p.m and i'd like to get a
motion to return
this is commissioner bennett and i make
a motion to adjourn
do you have a second this is
i can't have a motion a little favor say
just raise your hand
i thank you all very good meeting
thank you all right thanks good night
everybody thanks everybody
good night everyone good morning stay
safe
make sure you're inoculated
you