{"id":1595,"date":"2007-04-17T11:45:00","date_gmt":"2007-04-17T17:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/04\/city-county-leaders-discuss-future-planning-growth\/"},"modified":"2007-04-17T11:45:00","modified_gmt":"2007-04-17T17:45:00","slug":"city-county-leaders-discuss-future-planning-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/04\/city-county-leaders-discuss-future-planning-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"City, county leaders discuss future planning, growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Las Cruces<\/st1:city> city councilors and Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename> commissioners held a joint work session today and, inevitably, a massive development on the East Mesa<\/st1:place> was one of the main topics.<\/p>\n

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

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.<\/p>\n

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

Much of today\u2019s 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<\/a> and Commissioner Bill McCamley<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

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

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<\/st1:placename> State<\/st1:placetype> University<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>.<\/p>\n

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

County<\/st1:placetype> Planning<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> 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.<\/p>\n

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

McCamley questioned why the process couldn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

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

McMahon said a better plan will result if the contractor has time to study growth factors and analyze the county\u2019s situation before taking public input.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe want to be able to go out to the public with a lot of data and a lot of analysis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

That\u2019s 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?<\/p>\n

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

Developing some scenarios for the public will help determine \u201cwhat they would be willing to accept in terms of tradeoffs,\u201d McMahon said.<\/p>\n

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

Mayor Bill Mattiace<\/a> agreed that the process will take time.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThe scope of this regional study is huge,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

It has to be huge. Councilor Jose Frietze<\/a>, who has been on the council more than 11 years, noted that the city has always planned to grow on the East Mesa<\/st1:place>, but is now growing rapidly in all directions.<\/p>\n

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

He said the growth is good.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe 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,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026 A lot of communities in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> would love to be in our shoes.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Councilor Ken Miyagishima<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI like the plan,\u201d Miyagishima said of the current development proposal. \u201cBut we need to shed some light on this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Las Cruces city councilors and Do\u00f1a 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 […]<\/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-1595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1595","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=1595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1595\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}