{"id":1592,"date":"2007-04-16T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-04-17T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/04\/developers-of-massive-east-mesa-project-pledge-to-donate-land-for-as-many-schools-as-necessary\/"},"modified":"2007-04-16T19:00:00","modified_gmt":"2007-04-17T01:00:00","slug":"developers-of-massive-east-mesa-project-pledge-to-donate-land-for-as-many-schools-as-necessary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/04\/developers-of-massive-east-mesa-project-pledge-to-donate-land-for-as-many-schools-as-necessary\/","title":{"rendered":"Developers of massive East Mesa project pledge to donate land for as many schools as necessary"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Developers of a proposed 6,000-acre project on Las Cruces<\/st1:city>\u2019 East Mesa<\/st1:place> pledged during a public hearing today to donate land, where the purchase of cheap public land isn\u2019t an option, for as many schools as are needed. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The current plan calls for the donation of land for four schools. Following a long dialogue, Kirk Clifton, representing the developers, said the group will donate land for as many schools as are needed in the area, if public land isn\u2019t available.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The school district can buy public land for only a few dollars per acre, but within the development, the land will be owned by the company constructing the project.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Assuming public land isn\u2019t available, \u201cwe will donate land for every school that is needed within this area,\u201d Clifton<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The pledge came after Stan Rounds, interim Las Cruces Public Schools<\/a> superintendent, said if 20,000 homes are built, the district will need approximately one high school, three middle schools and nine elementary schools. The number of homes in the development will depend on future density approvals but is estimated to most likely be 25,000 to 30,000.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Rounds left the meeting before Clifton<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> made that pledge clear, but said earlier in the meeting that he appreciates the developers\u2019 attempts to work with the district.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThe developer has been very good at dealing with us on these initial (four) sites,\u201d Rounds said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Clifton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said the developers and school district aren\u2019t certain all schools needed to accommodate the development\u2019s residents would be located in the development, but said the developers will work with the district to determine that. Clifton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> also said the developers are willing to donate land for charter schools.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Concern about land for schools was one of the major topics of the lengthy meeting.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s was the first meeting at which the council discussed the massive project that could double or triple the city\u2019s size. Votes on whether to approve the annexation of 4,200 acres that aren\u2019t yet in the city and a master plan for the overall development are scheduled for a week from today.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Also at the meeting, city Manager Terrence Moore<\/a> announced that he will oversee a public meeting on Friday from 3-7 p.m. at the city council chambers. The developers and at least some city councilors will attend to gather input.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That wasn\u2019t good enough for some critics of the development. Steve Fischmann, representing a group that wants more input into the process, urged the delaying of a vote to allow time for more. He suggested a two-month public-input process.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re talking about participation. This is not a stalling tactic. We\u2019re not trying to stop anything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But city staffers told the council the deadline for acting on the annexation request is at the beginning of May, so it\u2019s unlikely the council will do anything other than approve or deny the request next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Developers of a proposed 6,000-acre project on Las Cruces\u2019 East Mesa pledged during a public hearing today to donate land, where the purchase of cheap public land isn\u2019t an option, for as many schools as are needed. The current plan calls for the donation of land for four schools. Following a long dialogue, Kirk Clifton, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}