{"id":2927,"date":"2008-02-28T17:24:00","date_gmt":"2008-02-28T23:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/02\/mayor-says-city-will-discuss-possibility-of-legal-action\/"},"modified":"2008-02-28T17:24:00","modified_gmt":"2008-02-28T23:24:00","slug":"mayor-says-city-will-discuss-possibility-of-legal-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/02\/mayor-says-city-will-discuss-possibility-of-legal-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor says city will discuss possibility of legal action"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima<\/a> said this afternoon that the city will discuss the possibility of legal action after the attorney general said on Wednesday that a controversial land deal that could double the city\u2019s size contains provisions not authorized by state law. <\/p>\n

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

\u201cThat\u2019s something that obviously we\u2019re going to at least bring to the level of discussion at the council,\u201d Miyagishima said when asked if the city might sue. \u201cWe\u2019ll definitely have to discuss it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Miyagishima said he would also be interested in exploring whether the situation creates the opportunity to make any changes to the city\u2019s May annexation and master-plan approval for The Vistas at Presidio.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI think it could be a good opportunity to institute some of the issues and concerns that were brought up before and, if applicable or enforceable, I would be interested in exploring that,\u201d Miyagishima said. \u201cI\u2019m sure it will be discussed at the council meeting, but we just need to be cautious about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Attorney General Gary King<\/a> on Wednesday released his long-awaited opinion<\/a> that the lease agreement\u2019s<\/a> method of compensating Las Cruces developer Philip Philippou\u2019s Solo Investments<\/a> for developing The Vistas at Presidio is \u201cnot comprehended by and in conflict with\u201d a statute that only allows developers who lease and improve land for the state to be compensated for the appraised value of the improvements. The lease agreement, approved by Land Commissioner Pat Lyons<\/a> in December 2006, would also compensate Philippou for other project costs and 40 percent of the change in value of the land as a result of the improvements.<\/p>\n

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

While King said the compensation agreement is not authorized by state law, he didn\u2019t use the word illegal to describe it, and said it would be up to the courts to decide whether the lease is enforceable. His spokesman said King has no plans to take the issue to court.<\/p>\n

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

Which leaves another interested party, such as the city, to decide whether to sue. The new majority on the council was elected by people who are frustrated with the city\u2019s growth policies and this development, so many will be closely watching Miyagishima and the council.<\/p>\n

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

Miyagishima has indicated that he\u2019s not afraid to confront the growth controversy. He recently wrote a letter<\/a> to Lyons<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> asking him to do a better job of involving local communities in decisions that would affect them.<\/p>\n

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

But for now, Miyagishima said it\u2019s best to proceed with caution.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe just want to see how this is going to affect the issue at hand,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026 I guess it\u2019s all up to what the council wants to do, if they want to investigate further.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

I\u2019m awaiting comment from Lyons<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019 office and from Philippou on the AG opinion. You\u2019ll know if or when I get it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima said this afternoon that the city will discuss the possibility of legal action after the attorney general said on Wednesday that a controversial land deal that could double the city\u2019s size contains provisions not authorized by state law. \u201cThat\u2019s something that obviously we\u2019re going to at least bring to 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-2927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2927","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=2927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2927\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}