{"id":1629,"date":"2007-04-24T14:42:00","date_gmt":"2007-04-24T20:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/04\/local-government-officials-should-form-a-task-force-to-examine-area-development-issues-and-procedures\/"},"modified":"2007-04-24T14:42:00","modified_gmt":"2007-04-24T20:42:00","slug":"local-government-officials-should-form-a-task-force-to-examine-area-development-issues-and-procedures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/04\/local-government-officials-should-form-a-task-force-to-examine-area-development-issues-and-procedures\/","title":{"rendered":"Local government officials should form a task force to examine area development issues and procedures"},"content":{"rendered":"

When voters narrowly approved earlier this month a gross receipts tax increase to help fund Spaceport America<\/a>, they were voting to accelerate Las Cruces\u2019 growth.<\/p>\n

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

The city has already grown by 20,000 residents \u2013 from 62,000 to more than 82,000 \u2013 from 1990 to 2005, and should have 90,000 residents by the end of the decade. It\u2019s repeatedly been at or near the top of the lists of the best cities in the nation.<\/p>\n

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

It\u2019s going to continue to grow. In fact, now that residents of this county have opted to ensure the spaceport is built, they\u2019ve committed to attempting to make Las Cruces the center of the commercial space industry. The city is going to expand in every direction \u2013 toward the spaceport in the north; toward the manufacturing center being built at Santa Teresa to the south; to the east, where land is expensive and beautiful; and to the west, where land is cheap.<\/p>\n

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

Local governments are already stretched by the task of adequately addressing the growth. It\u2019s about to get harder. The city and county are working on a comprehensive master plan for the area, but the process is going to take more than a year. The current proposal before the Las Cruces City Council to approve a 6,000-acre development on the East Mesa<\/st1:place> underscores the need for government officials to begin looking at a number of issues the master plan won\u2019t address, and to do it now.<\/p>\n

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

State Rep. Jeff Steinborn<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, is proposing a committee made up of local legislators, city councilors and county commissioners to review local government development policies and try to rework them to give the public greater influence over the process. His suggestion is excellent, and the mission of such a group could be expanded to deal with a number of procedural and structural issues that won\u2019t be addressed in the policy-focused master plan.<\/p>\n

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

What should the committee do?<\/span><\/p>\n

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

The committee could be tasked with meeting periodically to address a number of topics:<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Public involvement: What can local governments do to better ensure not only that members of the public have a chance to speak about development projects, but that they have the opportunity to be genuinely involved in decisions that will affect them and future generations? How can their input be incorporated into plans that will shape the future of their city?<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 The Extraterritorial Zoning Authority: A number of local government officials have a problem with the structure and operation of the joint city-county board that oversees growth in the five-mile zone around Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>. One of the biggest issues is that developers can go to the ETZ when they want to avoid city regulations, or, if they want to bypass county involvement and build denser housing, they can bypass the ETZ by applying for annexation to the city. Overhauling the system would require a statutory change. Should the system be changed and, if so, how?<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Water: What is the availability of water in the Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> area, now and in the future? How big a push should there be for conservation and, if so, what needs to be done? Should local governments form a regional water authority to deal comprehensively with the situation and, if not, how can they work together to address water issues?<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Schools: The Las Cruces Public Schools are currently kept, for the most part, out of the development process, and end up reacting later and struggling to keep up with growth. How can they be more involved in the process so the school system is able to plan for growth? If the ETZ remains in place, should it include a member of the school board?<\/p>\n

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

The committee would then make recommendations to the relevant public bodies. For example, any changes in the ETZ would have to be proposed to the Legislature. Changes in development approval requirements to further involve the public would require votes by local governments.<\/p>\n

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

Who should be involved?<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Members of all relevant bodies would have to be involved, so the committee could perhaps have seven members: two legislators, two city councilors, two county commissioners and one school board member. I\u2019d suggest that Steinborn, who first suggested this idea, and Sen. Leonard Lee Rawson<\/a>, R-Las Cruces, co-chair the committee. Steinborn is a conservationist and Rawson is a builder, so they bring different perspectives to the table and could provide, together, balanced leadership.<\/p>\n

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

The council, commission and school board should appoint their own members to the committee, but should ensure a wide range of viewpoints will be represented. The most obvious example of ensuring diversity in viewpoints would be if the county commission appointed Oscar Vasquez Butler<\/a> and Bill McCamley<\/a>, who are often at odds on development issues.<\/p>\n

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

It would then be up to committee members to decide how to proceed \u2013 how often to meet, how to structure meetings, how to tackle the various topics, whether any other issues should be discussed, whether they want to hear testimony from developers and other interested parties.<\/p>\n

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

There should be an intentional effort to involve the public. The work of any body is better when it\u2019s done under the light of public scrutiny.<\/p>\n

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

How would such a committee get off the ground? Someone must take the initiative. Perhaps Steinborn, who has already suggested a committee, can approach Rawson and the local governments.<\/p>\n

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

It should happen quickly. Such a committee would help the community grow in a smart manner and avoid the disjointedness and sprawl of so many areas throughout the West. Even with a master plan in place, some of these issues \u2013 particularly public involvement and the ETZ \u2013 would remain unaddressed.<\/p>\n

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

McCamley plans to propose a resolution to the commission and ETZ that would further involve the public in those bodies\u2019 decisions. He and city Councilor Gil Jones<\/a> have approached local water experts about hosting a series of public meetings on the availability of water. Such proposals and meetings are important, but, just as local governments prefer master planning to piecemeal annexation, it\u2019s important that officials get together and address these issues in a comprehensive manner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When voters narrowly approved earlier this month a gross receipts tax increase to help fund Spaceport America, they were voting to accelerate Las Cruces\u2019 growth. The city has already grown by 20,000 residents \u2013 from 62,000 to more than 82,000 \u2013 from 1990 to 2005, and should have 90,000 residents by the end of the […]<\/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-1629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1629","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=1629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1629\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}