City, county leaders discuss future planning, growth

Las Cruces city councilors and Doña Ana County commissioners held a joint work session today and, inevitably, a massive development on the East Mesa was one of the main topics.

Expecting the annexation of 4,200 acres and master plan approval of 6,000 acres next week, commissioners have formally asked the city to require more public meetings as specific elements of the development are approved at later dates.

Much of today’s discussion centered around the new project as an indicator of a need for more cooperation, better planning and a more intentional effort to keep the public informed. Councilor Gil Jones and Commissioner Bill McCamley expressed a desire to hold a future joint meeting on water. McCamley asked a number of questions about an ongoing attempt to create a joint master plan.

The city and county are each chipping in $50,000 to develop a growth plan. They hope to issue a request for proposals within the next month for a firm to create the plan. The process is being facilitated by New Mexico State University.

County Planning Director Chuck McMahon told councilors and commissioners the plan is to have a contractor in place by the summer. The contractor will spend several months developing a draft plan before beginning to seek extensive public input in January.

McCamley questioned why the process couldn’t be sped up, saying both governing boards and the joined extraterritorial zoning authority are already approving developments without the guidance of an updated master plan.

McMahon said a better plan will result if the contractor has time to study growth factors and analyze the county’s situation before taking public input.

“We want to be able to go out to the public with a lot of data and a lot of analysis,” he said.

That’s because there will be major decisions to make, McMahon said. For example, does the county want to develop farm land or preserve it? And where will the growth occur if not on farm land?

Developing some scenarios for the public will help determine “what they would be willing to accept in terms of tradeoffs,” McMahon said.

Mayor Bill Mattiace agreed that the process will take time.

“The scope of this regional study is huge,” he said.

It has to be huge. Councilor Jose Frietze, who has been on the council more than 11 years, noted that the city has always planned to grow on the East Mesa, but is now growing rapidly in all directions.

He said the growth is good.

“We want to grow. We want to have industry locate here. We want to have more jobs for our children, or, in my personal case, grandchildren,” he said. “… A lot of communities in New Mexico would love to be in our shoes.”

Councilor Ken Miyagishima said the current development proposal reveals the need for public notice and participation beyond what the law requires. McCamley suggested a joint city/county process for conversing with the public on future large-scale annexations.

“I like the plan,” Miyagishima said of the current development proposal. “But we need to shed some light on this.”