foreign
[Music]
okay all right
should i start it's live yes
okay good evening welcome to the
planning and zoning commission
the time is six o'clock our 601 i have
it's september 22nd 2020.
the first order of business is conflict
of interest
does anybody have a conflict of interest
if so can you raise your hand
on the participants list
okay seeing none we'll move on to
approval of the minutes
uh annotation entertain a motion and a
second
to approve i'll make a motion that we
accept the minutes
commissioner jordan this is a
commissioner
and i uh second that hey there's been a
motion in the second to approve the
minutes is there any discussion
okay um so sarah we need a roll call
okay um commission commissioner mooneys
approve commissioner bennett
yes commissioner sanchez
yes commissioner smith
yes commissioner guerrero
uh here commissioner gordon
yes and chairperson thomas
yes okay so the minutes are approved
with a vote of seven to zero with no
corrections
thank you next item is postponements
so what we're talking about here is the
work session that we
started and we're unable to continue
because of some technical glitches
so um sarah do you want to talk about
that
um yes madam chair um this is sarah
gonzalez with the planning department
with that staff is recommending that we
make a motion
to postponed until october 2nd at 9 00
am in the morning
there any discussion about that
[Music]
raise your hand if you want to make a
comment
okay so i have a comment unfortunately
i must have been after i did the google
poll um my husband needs to get an
appointment
with a particular doctor and it turned
out that that's the they could get his
appointment
so i'm not going to be able to attend i
can come at nine for
part of it but then i have to go with
him at his appointment at 10
so um commissioner gordon i'm gonna need
you to
probably run that meeting
that's fine no problem i'll do it okay
anything any other any it's there it
will all be
uh recorded right so i can catch what i
missed later
yes that is correct it will be recorded
so that way you can view later
commissioner muniz
did you want to say something
i i um will be heading for colorado
my son's finally going with this
epidemic
so i won't be able to attend
okay anyone else
i am uh i'm working during that time
frame but i'll be on
i just might have to check out guests or
something
okay commissioner smith did you want to
say something
[Music]
that's when uh my office we have a staff
meeting
uh at that time
okay can you hear me now
i can hear you by your pictures frozen i
don't i
can barely
let me i can hear you
yeah my video went away
see what happens here i um i turned off
your video just because it might help
out with your connections so you could
just talk
with that oh okay okay um yeah that
friday the second and nine a.m
uh i actually have a staff meeting uh at
work
uh i will not be able to attend unless
something changes with
that meeting
okay so um sarah and larry
so we're we're down three now do we
still want to stay with that date
madam chairman sorry community
development
um the training was for the benefit
of the commission members and
i guess with three folks up being unable
to attend
uh that's nearly 50 percent uh i think
i'd like to
to see maybe a little better
participation because i think there's
some really important items that will be
um
be covered in that in that training
um maybe we ought to find another date
yeah with your assessment yeah can we do
another
poll and see if we can't find a better
date that
more people can come i would like to be
there
i'm sorry that we suddenly had this
conflict with
employment my husband has to do if it
helps
um my days off are actually wednesday
thursday
so i'm good anytime on any one of those
days
okay that's good to know
madam chair at this point in time i
would make the recommendation that we
postpone into a date uncertain
we can send out a new poll have
everybody go ahead and respond to that
and then we can go ahead and notice for
the public um so that way they realize
that we will have um
essentially the work session again okay
so we need a motion for that right right
this is a commissioner bennett i make a
motion that we postpone
um temporarily until we can uh get that
doodle poll out
and get everyone together on that
is there a second i'll second this is
commissioner sanchez okay so you have a
motion and a second is there any
discussion
madam chair i do see that our legal
representative um robert caballo is
raising his hand as well okay he may
have a comment addressing that
okay um madam chair commission this is
robert cabello
from the legal city attorney's office um
because of the
requirements of the open meetings act
we've already postponed
this meeting to the 22nd a date
i'm sorry the the 22nd to a date certain
we still need to be postponing it to a
date certain
even if we even if we go ahead and
just that on that date let's say if it's
the next meeting just agree to
postpone it again but i'd feel more
comfortable if
the body were to make a decision to
postpone this to a date certain
just with the idea that we're going to
go ahead and set it for a different date
at that time just like we did right now
yeah
okay thanks for that information so how
about
um if we postpone it to the date of the
next regular meeting
what do you know what that date is yeah
that is october 27th commissioner
okay so um
who made the motion i did
i um this is commissioner ben and i make
the motion that we postpone
um the png work session to october 27th
and the second do you go along
i can second that okay
any more discussion
okay sarah can you call a role for
um commissioner muniz
yes commissioner bennett
yes commissioner sanchez
yes commissioner smith yes
commissioner guerrero uh yes
and chairperson thomas yes oh
commissioner gordon
thank you yes
okay so we have a postponed until
october 27th um
and then if we need to make any
adjustments we will bring forward for
another work session
okay thank you very much next item is
public participation
so we have one attendee does that person
want to say something or
are we going to move on
uh no i don't have any comments
okay thank you so then let's move on to
the consent agenda
i need a motion and a second to pass a
consent agenda
i make a motion that we pass the consent
agenda
so your state your name
i apologize commissioner bennett thank
you
in a second good commitment
commissioner okay we have a motion a
second any discussion about
the consent agenda
i have to go back to the panelists
okay sarah can you do a roll call okay
this is on the motion to approve case 20
cs050060
on the consent agenda as presented
commissioner muniz
yes commissioner bennett
yes commissioner sanchez yes
commissioner smith yes
commissioner guerrero yes
commissioner gordon yes chairperson
thomas
yes okay consent agenda passes seven to
zero
okay next item is old business we don't
have any
so we're going to move on to new
business we have two cases
i need a motion a second for the first
case
all right i'll make a motion i make a
motion that we
approve case number
[Music]
is there a second that was commissioner
gordon
thank you this is uh commissioner
bennett and i second that
okay we have a motion then a second to
approve
case number two zero zero three zero
zero zero did i get enough
zero eight three sarah do you have a
presentation
staff does can everyone see my screen
yes okay so this is for a proposed final
site plan known as the trails at metro
property is located on the west side of
sonoma ranch boulevard
623 feet approximately south of its
intersection with peachtree hills
and about 385 feet south of central
avenue intersection
it encompasses 53 acres and is part of
the planned unit development known as
metroworthy south
it is an undeveloped and vacant tract of
land
here's an aerial map of the subject
property as you can see
it is located south of peachtree hills
road it will have a few connections um
from sirocco avenue
you have central avenue and it is just
north of the proposed subdivision that
has been done
recently this year here's a zoning map
of the subject property as identified it
is a planned unit development it is part
of the metro verde south
plan unit development concept plan and
within this area as you can see it is
all zoned pud since it is part of that
master plan
the surrounding properties are all
single family residential at this point
in time we do have a com
a few commercial lots that are located
off of central avenue and red hog
but you do see primarily single family
detached homes
the applicant is proposing to do 255
single-family residential lots
there will be nine tracks designated for
drainage arcs and a trail system
the connectivity throughout the
subdivision which is us moving forward
through our active transportation plan
includes seven interior roadways and
then three entrance roadways off of
sonoma ranch boulevard
this meets the requirements of the
subdivision code our design standards
and the 2001 zoning code
as well as follows the approved metro
worthy south concept plan
this property is zoned u3 and u3 u4
which allows for single-family detached
home development so it is following the
zoning requirements
of these designated zones
here is the layout for the subdivision
as you can see along the south side is
your sonoma ranch which if we were
looking at it from a map going north and
south
this would essentially be the east side
and then you have the three entrances
which then lead to the connectivity
throughout this entire subdivision
this map actually shows um some of the
process in which we went through and the
developer went through with the parks
and rec
program so as you can see we now have
this trail system that goes all the way
around the entire property
and then you have the red that is
highlighted to the open space that's
extended
essentially the walking path and then
more of that vegetation and so it
creates more of that walkable
environment
in the center the applicant is extending
what he had originally proposed for the
park
and is making it a lot larger so they
acquired two lots in the center to add
on to the park development to make it
more
of a larger park for the amount of homes
that will be going in for this area
staff did send this to all relevant
agencies and apartments and did support
the subdivision moving forward
at the time staff has not received any
public input from the surrounding
property owners
so with that stash recommendation is
approval being that the final site plan
does conform to the metro verdi south
pud concept plan
it also meets the final site plan to
where it balances the benefits of what
the community is looking for
as well as a developer's interest it's
also providing
connectivity to new parks and it also
provides several outlets for emergency
vehicles
so with that i leave you with your
options to approve yes
and approve the proposal vote no and
deny
if you vote to deny please remind
yourselves to
provide new facts or findings um to move
forward being staff's recommendation
is in the affirmative you can vote yes
with conditions
or vote to table with that the applicant
is present if there are additional
questions or i stand for any questions
as well
questions or comments this is
commissioner gordon i do have a question
can you hear me yes go ahead okay
sarah on the on the next to the last
page of the packet that we're given
not the large map it shows
and i'm not too sure what this is i'm
just doing it for clarification and i
think
is this the same as a speed bump what
they call a a speed
table
madam chair and commissioner yes that's
what that is so a lot of times what we
see near the park areas
is going to be some type of raised
crosswalks or
some type of area that's going to slow
down the traffic so that
when you're walking past the streets in
these local areas it starts to calm so
they're traffic calming measures
i thought that this was something that
the city didn't would like to prohibit
because it creates a problem
with the large fire trucks garbage
trucks and stuff like that that have to
go over these things
why are these things now being allowed
madam chair and commissioner gordon some
of them are being required based on the
location so they're not through the
entire subdivision
but they will be in areas where you tend
to find more pedestrian activity
well all right so i assume that the city
is okay with this
madam chair and commissioner gordon this
day go through all the reviewing
departments and these were some of the
conditions that were placed by
traffic department in order to slow down
the traffic in those areas for the parks
whenever you're trying to cross those
streets in areas
okay i had no problem with it i just
wanted some clarification because i've
never
have heard that has been called a speed
table
i've heard speed bumps and things of
that nature but not a speed table
okay thanks for clarifying that i'm fine
with it i have no problem
okay commissioner muniz you have your
hand up
finished in bernice did you have a
comment
okay there it is it was i was having
trouble unmuting
excuse me um it states that this
development will
you know have walking trails and the
landscape
but once it's built who is going to
maintain these things
will it be the new residents or the
taxpayers the city themselves
i'd like to know who's going to maintain
the walking paths and the landscaping
madam chair and commissioner renis that
will be maintained by the city
okay so all of the tracks that are
within this development
are going to be maintained and dedicated
to the city of las cruces for
maintenance
okay thank you mr nichols did you want
to comment on that as well
thank you madam chairman uh larry
nichols community development for the
record
two basic comments uh one for the
commissioner gordon i've met
um a speed table um it is much broader
much wider than a speed bump
and uh it is as
sarah mentioned it is a com a traffic
calming
technique that's used uh and it was
determined that
for the additional public safety in this
location on this subdivision
uh it would be a an appropriate
type of device to to help calm traffic
and then to answer uh commissioner
menus as question regarding the
maintenance
the city does go through after the
subdivision
is hazardous amenities and the
infrastructure
is in the city goes through and accepts
the subdivision
and at that point they accept the
maintenance for
the trails and parks
thank you mr nichols um i just want to
say that
when we started talking about not having
so many speed bumps
it was basically in neighborhoods where
one whole street wanted speed dump
speed bumps and then it just because
they thought they had all the traffic
then it just pushed all the traffic over
on another street
and so um and it was the
emergency vehicles that really didn't
want to deal with the speed bumps you
know if you
in the ambulance you don't want to be
going over speed bumps while they're
trying to put an iv in your arms
things like that so so but i i
understand this where
pedestrian safety in particular just a
single location
seems okay um i had a question
sarah can you go back to the um
drawing about where all the streets and
lots are
yeah that one so you said that there are
three entrances off of sonoma ranch
so when development gets and goes on and
is
proposed on the other side of the
development will there be some
connections over there as well i see
these streets
kind of going out like they might
connect with something
so as you can see basically here in our
in our aerial map commissioner
um thomas sirocco is going to be one of
those connecting streets
right we did approve phase four and five
recently which were
metro central foreign metro park village
four and five here
that's a connecting street and so we do
have the connection between these two
subdivisions
okay thank you any other
um comments or questions
okay see none can you do a rope off
there
this is on the motion to approve case
20300 a383 the trails at metro final
site plan
commissioner muniz
i vote to improve it on the
recommendations
of staff and the answering of my
question
hey and commissioner bennett i vote yes
to approve
uh based on staff recommendation um the
uh increased park size and connectivity
and it meets elevate las cruces
okay commissioner sanchez
vote yes based on staff recommendation
and its compliance with the elevate las
cruces comprehensive plan um
including several goals and policies
that are laid out in the report
commissioner smith i hope to approve
based on
compliance with the elevate las cruces
comprehensive plan and also compliance
with the uh
npo airfare plan
okay and commissioner guerrero
sorry i thought it was unmuted yes uh i
i
proved yes uh uh as well based on a
staff recommendations comprehensive
plan and this is actually like five
minutes from my house i drive by that
area a lot
because there's a park right there and i
take my dogs so there's a lot of
developments out there so
you know we we need houses so yes i
prove yes
commissioner gordon based on discussion
and staff recommendation and
to the las cruces elevate las cruces
comprehensive plan and i also have
passed that site many many times i do
vote yes
okay chairperson thomas i vote yes based
on
site visit and staff recommendation and
compliance with the pud for that
area okay so the motion passes seven to
zero moving forward and it's approved
thank you the second case is two
zero zero oh five zero
zero zero zero nine four should i have a
motion to approve in a second
uh uh commissioner here i'll motion to
approve case
20500 94.
i think i got all the zeros in there
is that a second
hey sarah do you have a presentation
yes madam chair we do
okay so can everyone see my screen
yes we see the screen okay so this is
for
635 juniper avenue this is an infield
development proposal
currently the property is owned c1 which
is commercial low intensity
it is a vacant lot which encompasses
0.30 acres in size
it is located within our infill overlay
and it's also located within the mixed
use corridor
of elevate las cruces surrounding this
property includes duplexes restaurants
a school auto tinting and service retail
services
here's a zone or an aerial map of the
subject property as you can see it is
vacant
located to the south is where we see the
school we have a church to the east and
then you have some commercial services
directly to the west is the duplexes
that were mentioned earlier
there's a zoning map of the subject
property so it is located c1
it is near c2 which is our commercial
medium intensity
we have r4 and r2 which is our
multi-family
commercial zoning designation for our
apartment complexes
for the proposal the applicant is just
requesting the actual land use for an
auto dealership
the applicant will be meeting all of the
required development standards as far as
required setbacks for the building
height requirements for the building
landscaping and buffering of the
property and the adjacent property to
the west
paving of anywhere that the parking for
the vehicles we placed as well as any
parking stalls that are designated
for the business and then meeting the
driveway location in the dimensions
here's a proposed site plan of the
subject property as you can see here is
solano drive
these would be the placement of the
vehicles that are proposed you would
have the entrance coming off of cactus
avenue
property is currently addressed off of
juniper avenue but that may be something
that we change based on its entrance or
its actual location off of solano drive
to help with the economic development
part of it
there will be an office building that
will be located towards the west side of
the property
you have some of the parking for the
customers and then any employee parking
based on the size of the building that's
proposed the applicant is only required
to provide two parking stalls and one of
those being the ada to be in compliance
with federal regulations
when staff analyzes we did not find any
health safety or welfare issues
it is part of our infill overlay which
does encourage development of vacant
parcels
it also is compliant with our elevate
las cruces comprehensive plan by
encouraging mixed use development
promoting economic development within
the area
and it's also consistent with the land
uses that are adjacent
when staff to send this out we did
receive from relevant agencies and
department support in
proposing this infill development we did
receive or i did receive one phone call
yesterday
um inquiring about if the applicant
would provide any fencing or what type
of security would be on place for the
site in order to protect essentially the
investment that will be going into the
dealership
and so that may be a question that we go
ahead and lead to the applicant since
she is present
um after i finish the presentation
so with that stuff is recommending
approval based on it is a vacant
property within the infill overlay
we do want to see the development of
these vacant properties that are going
to promote investment
going to promote grt and basically
bringing in economic development
and it's also compatible with the
surrounding neighborhood
one thing that steph is recommending as
part of the condition
is to provide two additional trees the
site currently is only required for the
landscaping development standards to
provide two trees we'd like to see that
four
placed there and probably along the
frontages in order to make the
appearance
along these corridors um to be a little
bit more inviting and then also
in order to provide shade for those who
are walking around the property since
the sidewalks already existing
so with that i leave you with your
options to vote yes and approve
vote know and deny once again if you
vote to deny please provide new facts of
finding that were not provided in your
staff report due to staff recommending
approval
vote yes with additional conditions or
vote to table
and that would be the end and once again
the applicant is present if there are
any additional questions or if she would
like to add anything as well
i think we would like to hear from the
applicant about the fencing and the
security is that possible
madam chair um joanna are you available
does she have to be an attendee no
no she should be available i asked her
to mute so she did unmute her mic
um is your screen or your
volume on joanna yes it is
okay we can hear you now okay perfect
so the the question from our madam chair
is
what is their the safety precautions or
is there going to be some type of
fencing around your property in order to
ensure that your investment in this
development is in a safe place
yes there will be a fencing around the
property just to ensure like
any safeties and but yes
there will be a fence around it
and security do you have any other
security
conditions uh just cameras and um
what else
cameras are good okay yeah i like
cameras
okay that that answers my question thank
you
else have a question or comment
madam chair mr nichols thank you
uh larry nicholas community development
for the record
um the question for the applicant uh she
did mention that she would provide
fencing uh
and um also i'd like to know about the
uh
the additional landscape the condition
we've
placed on there if they're willing to uh
entertain that idea on the fencing uh do
you have any idea of what
type of fencing in terms of its
appearance that you might be uh
planning for the security fencing
no um i'm planning more likely
well i just want uh as far as the
as the fence um i'm planning i'm doing
the fence
i forgot the word
um what's it called
madame chair this is sarah for the
record joanna are you doing a chain link
a wrought iron rock wall
can you repeat that i have one speaker i
no problem is it going to be a chain
fence or is it going to be a wrought
iron fence
or rock wall center block wall
um
i guess what i'm asking is um you know
we try to keep uh
our streetscape with kind of a an
attractive appearance
and so yeah that's why i was asking the
question
um yeah well my sorry for interruption
yes well my plan is to put like um
landscaping in front of it
and as far as the fence the pins will be
like uh
uh pulse so a huge pose so that will be
like
um
wireless wire so they'll be connected so
the fence
it will be like uh surrounding does it
makes a little bit of sense
like what i'm trying to say you know
this is commissioner gordon is it
perhaps he's having a problem with
language
does she speak spanish is there someone
who can translate better for her
um i think i think i think she means a
chain-link fence that's that's what it
sounds like
uh i would be okay
and and uh madam chairman larry for the
record
i think that's what she means as well
so i i'm i'm thinking that would be it
but hopefully that
it will have some hopefully it'll be
an attractive one and what about the
landscape uh
joanna are you you said we're doing some
landscape
yes i'm doing some landscaping
to the to the amount that was listed in
the condition
and others okay thank you very much
i think we lost our commissioners i
think we lost our chairperson for just a
moment uh
uh commissioner gordon do you want to
fill in until she returns and
ask if there are any other discussion
i'm here is there any further discussion
on this
uh
commissioner thomas we we do have um a
member from the public who does
want to speak and provide some
additional comments under our attendees
okay
elena garcia yes would you like to speak
where anyone in or anything yeah we
could hear you
okay yeah i had a quick question i am
actually
um talking about the duplexes right
behind the lot and
um i don't know if i understood the
building is it going to be portable or
is it going to be
an actual structure structure building
madam chair madam chair in the
commission as part of the process
if the applicant is moving in even a
portable building
they still have to meet urban design
requirements so it will become a
stuccoed building
based on the surrounding properties and
the surrounding area
thank you you have any other questions
i actually yes i do um reference
um the fencing um
is there gonna be like an approximate
height sarah do you know the answer to
that or
madam chair this is sarah for the record
so there are requirements as far as
commercial lots
being that this property is located on
three frontages
essentially the corners will have to be
at three feet high they cannot be higher
than that
based on our clear side triangle
regulations after that point
um then the fence can go up to six feet
high along the frontage
okay do you have any other questions
elena i do
um on the setback on the front um like
on the stop signs
um about what's the approximate footage
that
the the setbacks will be for the
drivers that are at the stop sign
to be able to view
madam chair this is sarah for the record
um meeting the clear side triangle based
on you have two local roadways and then
you also have
um our arterial roadway so there is a
clear side triangle
and i want to say i believe it is like
50 by 30
that they may have to meet within that
area so it'll be visible
in order to not have any of that fencing
in place so you may have a vehicle
that's parked there but it would be no
different than any vehicle that would be
parked there as if it were a parking lot
so the fence being that his chain link
will just have to be at three feet from
the pavement
so it'll be a lower standard but enough
for a vehicle to go ahead and be
visually able to see
at that intersection thank you sarah
elena anything else so let me see here
i'm just reading my notes lighting
security fencing setback
and um
[Music]
building no i think i am good thank you
okay any other uh questions or comments
okay sarah could you do a roll call i
can so this
is on the motion to approve case two
zero zero
five for an infill proposal
at 635 juniper with that
i would ask if the commission would like
to propose
the approved condition that staff is
recommending
because we do need to make that as part
of the motion
the motion was just to approve if
commission would like to add that as a
condition
we do need to modify that motion and add
the condition for the additional
landscaping to be in place
okay who made the motion and are you
willing to
modify it
i i believe the motion was made by um
commissioner guerrero yeah
i did so okay so do i have to do it
again but with
the modifications yes or the conditions
i mean
okay perfect so i will go ahead and
um so i'm going to move the motion to
approve
uh case 2 0
z 0 5 0
0 0 0 9 4
with the conditions by the city staff
thank you and who was the second if you
agree
commissioner gordon i second it
okay smith did you want to say something
uh no no okay i have you
unmuted so i thought maybe you wanted to
speak i just thought i needed
for uh my approval yeah all right
anything anybody have anything else
all right so we have a motion in a
second uh no more
discussions uh sarah will you please do
a roll call
okay so now this is on the motion to
approve case two zero
zero five zero zero zero zero nine four
with the condition that the applicant
will plant two additional trees per
staff recommendation
at 635 juniper avenue commissioner
munice
i'll vote yes uh with the conditions
that
uh two additional trees our planet
and your findings for that approval
well we need landscaping and they'll
help hide the chain link fence
i'm not too happy actually with the
chain-link fence
fact i'm going to be very honest i'm not
too happy with these type of fused car
lots
but it said that they're going to pave
the surface it won't be just put on
dirt so they're making improvements
so i will say yes to the development
okay commissioner bennett
i vote yes um because it meets elevate
las cruces promotes economic development
in the area
fills a vacant property increased
security for the area
and um also based on staff
recommendation under those conditions
okay commissioner sanchez
yes based on compliance with elevate las
cruces comprehensive plan
um also based on compliance with the
infield development overlay
um and i just wish to say um more
infield development and more trees will
always be great for last christmas
commissioner smith uh i vote yes
uh based on uh discussion and also based
on
uh their compliance with the zoning
decision criteria
and policies okay commissioner guerrero
uh i will yes as well uh with the
conditions that the city has laid i
agree
um it's always a great idea to have more
trees um and i kind of
second uh come here muniza's but um
at the same time like i mean i i do like
that we're seeing businesses filling
some of these
uh vacant lots best of luck
commissioner gordon
i vote yes based on discussion uh staff
recommendations
uh compliance would elevate las cruces a
comprehensive plan
uh that also complies with the
development of infill property
and um i do approve the conditions and i
think it will be a good addition and we
also look to have more business in las
cruces again i vote yes
and chairperson thomas how about yes
based on
site visit um infill
elevate las cruces and yes and
nice landscaping okay with that the
motion passes seven to zero
thank you okay so we're moving on now to
commission commentary does anybody on
the commission have
comments to offer at this point this is
commissioner gordon i have a couple
okay go ahead first of all i don't know
if we can somehow possibly uh
better the way that the case numbers are
provided sometimes we have a trouble
it's a zero or a two i mean a zero or an
o if perhaps they can put a slash
through the
through the o or put a slash through to
zero or
somehow or other differentiate between
which is which so that we make sure that
we get the correct
case number that's my first comment uh
that's something that
the community development can deal with
because we all sit here we don't know
whether or not we're saying a zero or
or no and my second comment is of a
personal nature
when i say this i do say with personal
sadness
and i'm sure that my fellow
commissioners and the city
uh is very sorry sarah that you are
leaving
uh you will be sorely missed uh you have
been
so helpful to us you are the rock
of the of the community development
department when it comes to planning and
zoning meetings
i'm sure that you contribute a lot of
things that we don't even realize
and i can assure you that you will be
sorely missed
thank you i'd like to second that we
really hate to see you go
sarah if you've kept us on track and you
always can answer the questions and we
just appreciate how well you
orchestrate everything and but we wish
you success in your new endeavor as well
you missed your meanings oh sorry i'm
just
seeing what who puts their hand up yes i
um i'm really gonna miss you sarah you
really helped me
and i wish you luck on your new
adventure
and i i know that uh we'll have to call
each other and have that lunch
we've talked about so i won't forget you
and don't forget me
and you'll be missed very much
thank you thank you commissioner
oh um well no commissioners not just
wanted to go first
okay he was about to make a comment
yeah no i can i don't mind going and um
kind of piling on
let me share one quick thought though um
just to something that i've noticed that
i did want to address
um i have noticed now kind of over the
last year for sure
um whenever we do have these public
meetings for pnz
the big bright yellow signs that are in
front of the various properties
for where these hearings are going to
take place i'm just curious if anyone
knows why they're usually up for so long
some of these signs i pass by six months
after the hearings and they're still up
there and so
my concern with that is just that if the
city if residents of the city continue
seeing these signs up and they get to be
dilapidated and falling apart in
different things
um i'm just afraid that they actually
lose any of the value that they're
you know put up there to have in the
first place so that people will be aware
of these hearings so
um that's just the thought on that um
and then also just to add to everything
else sarah thank you so much um for
everything you've done
most of the time i sit here in awe of
how you have all of this knowledge
up there and so you know can access it
so readily so thank you for that
um i met sarah several years ago um
playing pool
in different pool playing places here in
las cruces and so sarah i'm sure you've
heard the news
by now there's another great place to
play pool so hopefully especially as we
emerge out of the pandemic i'll get to
see you a little bit more there
but other than that i wish you all the
best and i thank you very much for all
of your hard work for the city
mr nichols would you do you want to
comment on
uh commissioner's question yes uh thank
you mr chairman
mrs chairman um larry nichols with
community development
i um i will just take a moment here to
um
before i have uh two or three comments
for the commission
but i'll give sarah an opportunity if
she wants to say something
to the commission prior to
my my uh my items go ahead sir
thank you i i don't um have a raised
hand button unfortunately since i'm one
of the hosts
um i i enjoyed all of the time that i've
been here um the city has done
everything for me and it has actually
created where i'm going next and so you
know you're still going to see me
i'm just going to be on the other side
and i hope i'm the person who's bringing
these infill and bringing these
proposals coming forward to you so i'm
staying within the same group
same with that same knowledge but it has
been a pleasure working with all of you
um community development has done so
much for me this department
has been my family for 11 years so it's
very hard to say goodbye but it's it's
with great pleasure knowing all of you
and working through all of them and yes
we will meet again i may not bring
cookies because you know
that's not good when you're doing cases
but it doesn't mean we can't do them on
days that aren't case
related so i i thank you all for the
great compliments because
you guys are what makes this work you
have done a tremendous job in learning
the information
working with us to get the information
out and i i still say
talk to the people talk to your
neighbors still do those outreaches and
get people to understand
what we're trying to do we as a city and
as a community have to come together for
that and this is where it starts
so i thank you for your time and all of
your comments as well
i'm happy to hear you remaining in the
community just working on the other
with some different folks in our
community and i'm sure you'll be a great
asset to them
and we'll help you everybody calls it
the dark side
oh no no it it can be a good thing and
it can be a great development and so
knowing what i have i i think
i hope i bring something to that on the
other side we're happy to see your
expertise
help the other side i think it will be a
great outcome
um mr nichols i think um commissioner
sanchez
wanted to know about the signs yes
and uh madam chairman larry nichols
for the record uh yes i have a
first of all i'll address commissioner
gordon's observation about the case
identification
we'll we'll do some reformatting for you
on the commission
taking care of where it's easier to get
past
the the o's and the zeros and those and
the odds and make that where is uh
easier way to
identify cases secondly the uh
the item that commissioner
sanchez brought up we'll
we'll do our windshield survey we'll get
those signs removed that have cases that
have been
decided and get the signs down we don't
want people to think that
you know we are adding to the litter of
the street
so that's that's not at all our purpose
so
uh i'll see that we uh get people
dispatched for that
i'll have my building inspectors on
their routings
help me identify the locations and then
we'll get out there
and get them picked up and taken down
thank you very much
and we'll do a better job of posting so
that they
don't turn loose
with the wind and the elements um the
other two items i had for the
commission under announcements is um
could we i think we have one more person
from the commission comments before we
go to staff
okay let's do that
you wanted to say something i'll clear
the deck
oh uh i don't know if i'm frozen
not you no oh okay i'm good no i i just
uh commercial guerrero here for the
record i just wanted to
uh you know small thing obviously thank
sarah you have some pretty there's some
pretty big shoes that are gonna need to
be filled in the next
uh coming weeks and months so but you
know but it's
it's been an honor getting to know you
and working with you and
you've just been so helpful um and also
just i also want to shout out to
the whole planning and development
community development staff
i think you you know you guys all work
very hard to make our jobs a lot easier
um and i think that's something the
public doesn't see you know sometimes
people think that
seeing employees you know like they're
like oh what are they doing
or you know what like why are like what
is the city painted
before i'm like you guys you guys do a
lot uh you know i mean i
you know i think most of us knew little
to nothing about
community development before coming on
board and uh you know so
you guys make it all possible thank you
and thank you sarah
i'm excited to see i hope you don't like
become bad like going to like the dark
side
let's hope not he's going to light up
the dark side
no i
i always tell everybody there isn't a
dark side all it is is education if we
can educate more and more people it's
the education of getting it out there
it's understanding what we have what we
have in place
and how do we make this moving forward
that's great not the dark side
we're looking forward to it um
oh commissioner smith yes uh i just want
to make a comment uh
sarah as a newest member of this of this
commission
uh i'm going to miss you because i
you're the first person that i spoke to
um about you know once i was you know
accepted on the board so i know that you
have this
amazing base of knowledge so hopefully
uh
um i'll be able to learn from your your
uh
the person that replaces you and uh so
that person will be available or for a
newbie uh like me so but i'm
um congratulations on your next your
next uh
venture and i'm sure you're gonna do
great
thank you commissioner smith okay so now
we're going to move on to commission
commentary mr nichols you had something
i'm sorry staff announcements mr nichols
well there we go um i was on the other
screen for just a moment but
now now i'm i'm back uh well thank you
and thank all the commission for
the accolades that you you gave to sarah
they're certainly deserved
uh we'll be doing uh quite a bit of that
ourselves
um and we're not going to leave here
without a have her leave here without a
proper send off so
the staff will be we'll be taking care
of that um
i guess the early part of next week i
think our last day was it the 30th
sarah
yes my my last technical day in the
office is september 30th
so um well one more week to go we'll
give her a proper send-off for
for the commission as well as ourselves
uh the other two items that i had for uh
staff announcements is
uh appreciate your uh setting a date
specific for the
training that was um uh had the
technical difficulties and we couldn't
complete so we'll be looking forward for
that
um i think we decided that was going to
be on the
october the 27th uh the other item that
i had was um
we sent some an email out announcing
that the
american planning association is having
a virtual cross-chapter
um training and tools and resources
uh it is going to begin on october
the 5th and um
i've told uh sergiana and
catherine to help assist with that if
you are interested in attending
uh we'll be paying the registration fees
for that
and uh so i hope that folks will be able
to
to attend and if you let us know we'll
we'll uh
get you signed up uh other than that i
would just mention that
we hear so much these days and the
headlines
and in the news articles and
reports and all of that uh
business uh related to the covet
pandemic
how it is impacting all of our lives
so much of that is
concerning it develops what i call
a anticipatory grief
anticipatory grief is defined as
one not knowing one thinking that
something
bad is going to happen but they can't
quite put their finger on it
but they know what's going to happen and
it develops uh
you know it develops a lot of uh issues
with
with the public and with the staff
uh we're overcoming that uh we have an
antidote for it
i had a we had a uh an associate
appreciation uh
pizza party i guess you it wasn't a
party we had people come individually go
back to their workstation but an
appreciation for them
and during that time we identified a few
people that are going to help fill
sarah's position and we'll be developing
that for the commission
and we'll try to maintain the level of
professionalism
that she exhibited in her work with with
the commission
but that anticipatory grief
[Music]
one of the antidotes is i made a report
to the
capital improvement advisory committee
last week
and i reported that the construction
industry which is related to the work
that the
planning commission does improving
subdivisions and
and all that we are
last month we were 39
increase over 2019 for new home
construction
we are nine percent ahead of 2019
on subdivisions uh uh approvals
and new subdivisions we are 20 some
percent ahead on the evaluation the
valuation
on permanent evaluations we have uh
issued
264 million dollars worth of permits
uh this year despite the pandemic
so you know
it's good to hear some of that positive
news along with with the rest of it
to try to overcome as i call it uh the
anticipatory grief
uh the planning of the zoning commission
is a big part of those positives and so
i want to thank you for the work that
you do
and helping our in the our construction
industry
continue to progress and keep las cruces
growing
we're adding about 1400 new residents
per year
per year and those folks need parks
they they need utilities they need
police protection fire protection need
to visit our libraries
our museums uh those are all positives
and
so i guess i just wanted to share that
with you and i
i thank you for letting me uh letting me
do that and
madam sherman i i think i'll end on a
positive note thank you
thank you mr nichols that was really
wonderful to hear
this is commissioner gordon i'm very
sorry to interrupt you but i do have one
question for
for larry if you don't mind
uh i know that i've asked this question
at every meeting
could you just give me a little update
on the rfp for the
people that are going to be working on
the zoning i've have somebody been
appointed and they're going to begin
work soon
and uh madam chairman commissioner
gordon larry nicholas for the record
commissioner gordon we have that uh
coming up
for the what we call our our sac
committee uh sac so the
selection advisory committee uh we'll be
reviewing the
proposals that have been submitted uh we
don't have a i don't have a name to
provide you with
right now but i i should have shortly
thank you just curious i hope that we
can get started on that soon
because that's going to be a lot of work
uh madam commissioner uh madam chairman
and
commissioner nichols uh record uh
yes uh it is we we put a time frame on
it of about 18 months
uh we where there's going to be
obviously uh with that type of endeavor
there's going to be quite a bit of
expense involved but there's also going
to be the time element there's going to
be a
public outreach meetings there's going
to be
a lot of staff time it's a it's a major
undertaking
but it's something as you hear us
present to you
on the presentations we say uh this
proposal is compliant with the elevate
las cruces
a 2001 zoning
2001 folks
that that's 19 years ago so
it's time that we we get this updated
and we've been updating we've updated
the comp plan recently
we've updated the building codes
recently we've updated
fees recently we've brought on the
active
active transportation plan uh we've done
a lot of work the last three years
but the one right now is is the zoning
code update
um we're going to we're going to be
heavily engaged in that
thank you i appreciate the update
yes and i just want to chime in and say
we're all looking forward to that work
you realize how old the code is at this
point
yeah any other comments or questions
well this is commissioner gordon i make
a motion we adjourn
is there a second commissioner secondly
okay if everybody unmutes herself and
says okay we can
adjourn okay okay
yes okay all right thank you everybody
thank you everyone
good night everyone good night
you