[Music]
thank you
good evening and welcome to the planning
zoning commission
today is december
28th thank you
and the time is 6 p.m
we need to start with uh so i'm calling
the meeting to order but we have two
commissioners who want to participate
by phone so can i have a motion to allow
them to do that
it's commissioner vega and commissioner
muniz
i'll make a motion that we allow
commissioner vega and commissioner muniz
to participate by telephone
i'll second thank you so we have a first
and s a motion and a second to allow two
commissioners to participate by phone
could we have a roll call
board member bennett yes board member
guerrero uh yes board member smith yes
board member gordon
yes board member vega
four member vega can you hear us
board member marines
yes
thank you
can someone work on getting board member
vega connected
chair woman thomas um the
we are trying to get her to connect uh
she's connected she just can't hear any
of us
so they're trying to re-establish that
connection
thank you for that information
okay the next item on our agenda is
approval of the minutes from november
23rd 2021.
need a motion and a second to approve
the minutes i make a motion that we
approve the minutes from the previous
meeting commissioner goreto i'll second
it
okay we have a motion and a second to
approve the minutes from november 23rd
um there any discussion
um i have something i want to bring up
mr nichols mentioned in the
on page 16 about the public outreach and
the developers and builders who are
now our ad hoc committee
working on the
land development code
i just want to state my opposition to
that i don't think that a special
interest group like that should be
involved in the actual writing of the
code
they were involved when we
worked on the the comprehensive plan and
now the the all that the consultants are
charged with is
writing the land development code to
meet the comprehensive plan
and we don't i spoke to people from
aarp and the bicycle group and safe
routes to school and american heart
association and they all feel like if
the home builders get to be an ad hoc
committee that's actually involved in
the writing of the code that they all
should be able to be
there as well
so i want to state my opposition and
give the floor to anyone else who wants
to state their opposition or
or
approval
or if we want to as a commission say
that we don't approve of that
this is commissioner gordon i have to
agree with you the problem with to put
it bluntly is that they marched to the
beat of their own drama and i don't
think they care very much about the
setting i can't hear you
i said i happen to agree with you
i feel that basically to put it bluntly
like i said
is that the builders they just watch to
the beat of their own drum
and i really much consider it sometimes
what is good for the city just for them
commissioner guerrero here i
i agree as well i mean as much as i
understand that uh some of the home
builders have experience obviously they
have experience and development um i do
feel like there should be a voice more
of the people of las cruces as well so
i i oppose as well
thank you
sharon yes yes this is a lot i also
agree with you
thank you commission
any other comments
yes mr nichols
thank you madam chairman commissioner
larry nichols community development for
the record
the
announcement that i made at that meeting
and then showed up in the minutes
was the
information that was brought forward
the
mayor
mayor miyakeshima
and the city manager mr palais
had met with the developers the ad hoc
committee request these
and they agreed to
form this committee
to work with the
land development code
and that's the reason that it was
presented to you
but i'll carry the information
obviously this is being broadcast
publicly been on the minutes
but i will carry the information back to
the mayor's city manager about your
comments
thank you
i've been in communication with the
mayor all day so
and the other groups
would like to meet with the mayor and
the city manager as well they just want
that to be on the record
also
okay so
we need a vote on the approval of the
amendments
board member nice
board member muniz
approved
thank you board member vega
board member vega
board member bennett yes board member
guerrero uh yes board member smith
yes
board member gordon yes chairperson
thomas
yes thank you
next is conflict of interest does
anybody have a conflict of interest with
any of the items on the agenda tonight
no c none
do you have any conflicts
no
commissioner vega are you on the line
yet
no
okay so going we'll go on to public
participation this is for anybody who
wants to speak about something that is
not on the agenda if you're here to
speak about something on the agenda we
ask that you would wait until that item
comes up and we have the presentation
so is there anyone here to speak on
something that's not on the agenda
okay see none
there's nothing on the consent agenda
and there's no old business so we will
go to new business
agenda item 7.1 ellara vista subdivision
master plan
commissioner thomas i think we're going
to have to vote on these two items
together and
we're going to see the presentation of
these two items together but we're going
to vote
oh thank you yes there are two items
that have to do with this subdivision so
first we need a motion to say that we
can discuss them together but we will
vote on them separately but i need a
motion to say we'll discuss them
together
i make a motion that we discuss 7.1 and
7.2 together
i second the motion
okay roll call
board member your niece
yeah
thank you board member vega
board member bennett yes
guerrero yes board member smith yes
board member gordon yes chairperson
thomas yes thank you okay
and now we have a presentation right
good evening members of the commission
this particular presentation is for the
laura vista subdivision this is both a
master plan and a preliminary plat
and as you indicated chair thomas these
would be voted on separately however
they are related
so the site consists of about 18 acres
it's west of hornada road and north of
peachtree hills road
just east of the school there as well as
south
from a multi-family development that's
to the north
it's currently zoned r3 and it is vacant
and undeveloped
here is a picture
of the site in question as you can see
the school is here to the the west
there's another school up here
to the north and then just north of it
is that small multi-family development
that i had mentioned and uh the metro
verde development that we're all
familiar with um you can see is very
nearby
to
the south of peachtree at this location
again just a zoning map so you can see
the types of zones that surround that
again multi-family there's some single
family where the schools are located
the pud which is metro verde and a
holding zone to the south
currently they're two parcels and
they're interested in their proposing um
94 single-family lots and in one tract
that is dedicated for drainage and
utilities based on staff's review we saw
that it met the requirements of the
subdivision code the design standards
active transportation plan and elevate
loss cruises this is uh listed as part
of the suburban place type and so the
lot sizes the layouts
and the uses are within
that place type
character
here's an example of what's being
proposed this specifically is a
preliminary plot but it doesn't differ
wildly
from the master plan it's just much more
clear on this you can see the the
roadways uh intersecting
over here and then it loops
and then
out of consideration for the development
to the south
the developer is placing that roadway
adjacent to the the lot to the south so
that it would make development
much more
cohesive moving forward
reviews were sent to all the relevant
agencies and departments um all of those
reviewing agencies and departments did
support the project they and during the
reviews they didn't note anything that
uh
would would indicate that there were any
any need for mitigation or um
or any negative comments
notice was sent to the surrounding
properties there was one phone call with
just some general questions about the
development what they were doing
the development review committee also
reviewed the project there was on that
was on december 8 2021 and after some
short discussion did recommend approval
staff is recommending approval based on
the findings that this complies with the
uh that the master plan and the polymer
comply with one another uh they both
comply with all the requirements of the
zoning code and the subdivision code
elevate las cruces and the uh design
standards and of course the design
excuse me the development review
committee did approve the master plan
and preliminary plat
it should be noted
that i just lost my train of thought
excuse me excuse me for that
so your options tonight are devote yes
which would approve to vote no to deny
yes with conditions or vote to table
please note that denial would require
new information or facts that weren't
otherwise identified in the staff report
or during the discussion tonight so with
that i'm open to questions and the
engineer as well as
the applicant are here to answer any
additional questions on this
ultimately the reason that the master
plan is being done and again they look
very very similar is simply because the
number of lots
associated that exceeds 40 and so
they're required to do a master plan um
in addition to this preliminary plan
moving forward if this is just this were
to be approved they could proceed with
the final flat and then construction
drawings
i have one question um
would you this roadway that's on the
southern side
is this so there will be connectivity to
any future development yes ma'am that
was the intent okay
so i'm very happy to see that
we it's a problem we have in many parts
of the city where we have subdivisions
that are not connected to one another so
all the traffic goes out into one road
or people have to go out on that road
and go to go on the next subdivision and
i hope going forward we're not going to
do that anymore
and i would like to point out the
applicant worked long hard to try to
negotiate
some connections to the school
property that's just to
the west and unfortunately
based on
a number of factors that was not viable
however they they made their best
attempt to try to create that
connectivity but there are sidewalks
right that go down to the corner and
around the corner and up
okay yeah so because when the peach when
that elementary school was first built
there was no sidewalk up to the school
there were roads
but no sidewalks
so any development associated with this
if there are any missing sidewalks at
least adjacent to this property they
will develop those and then peachtree
has sidewalks as well okay thank you
very much
commissioners questions comments
no
anyone in the public who wants to to
comment on this
proposal
okay so now we'll have to go back for
separate votes so we need a motion to
prove
7.1
in a second we'll vote on that and then
we'll need a motion for
for 7.2 and to vote on that and madam
chair members of the commission just to
be clear the master plan is the first
vote the preliminary plot is the second
vote
for the master plan okay i'll make a
motion to uh to vote on both of those do
i have to mention them individually or
yeah we should do them individually
okay perfect so i make a motion to a
vote on a 7.1 and 7.2
just just say 7.1 oh 7.1 sorry
a second yeah any more discussion on the
commissioners okay can we have a roll
call form remember your niece
[Music]
thank you board member vega
board member bennett i vote yes uh meets
elevate las cruces current zoning codes
along with increased connectivity
board member guerrero uh yes as well
based on the staff recommendations and
meeting the comprehensive plan
board member smith i vote yes
based on meeting staff recommendation
and it also complies with the elevate
las cruces comprehensive plan
board member gordon
i vote yes based on findings staff
recommendations and a
comprehensive plan
chair thomas
i vote yes based on site visit and staff
recommendation
and
the nice connectivity and just for the
record i want to read what it says in
elevate las cruces continuation and
projection of streets as development
occurs existing streets should be
extended and when an adjacent area is
undeveloped
the right-of-way layout should provide
for the possible future continuation of
the street or in this case a street that
will sort of be shared between the two
developments so yes
so it passes
six
nothing
i need a motion now for 47.2
uh i make a motion
um to approve uh to approve 7.2
is there a second yeah commissioner got
rid of second it okay any more
discussion
okay and we have a real call board
member niece
board member vega
board member bennett
i have yes based on staff recommendation
board member guerrero uh yes uh just
select the last one based on staff
recommendations and uh the meeting the
comprehensive plan board member smith
of all yes based on staff recommendation
and also on compliance with the
therapeutic plan board member gordon
i vote yes based on staff government
staff recommendations and a compliance
with elevate las cruces
chair thomas i vote yes based on site
visit staff recommendations and elevate
las cruces
motion passes six to zero
then next we have now have two more
items that we want to discuss together
so
can i have a motion
to discuss
7.3
bumblebee leaning learning center master
plan and 7.4 bumblebee learning center
zone change
alright i'll make a motion this
commissioner gordon
that we
deal with item 67.3 and 7.4
i will vote it on separately
okay
is there a second to discuss together
but vote separately
a second okay
any discussion
bro can we have a roll call
board member munice
yes board member vega
board member bennett yes support member
guerrero uh yes board member smith
yes remember gordon
yes chair thomas yes
and we have a presentation yes
we do
members of the commission
chair this is catherine harrison rogers
for the record
this particular project uh is similar to
the last one in that there is a master
plan however instead of a preliminary
plan associated with it there are
multiple zone changes
any subdivision would occur um if this
is approved and at a later date
ultimately this particular property is
also vacant and developed
it's about five and a half acres it's
located west of holman road and north of
baton memorial west
with frontage along the baton memorial
it's currently zoned r2 which is a
multi-family low density
zoning district
here's the map you can see that the r2
is is surrounded on all sides by r2
however there is some some commercial
and higher intensity multi-family nearby
again here is a an ariel you can see the
nature of development in that area of
course there's a school
some single single-family residential
subdivisions some vacant properties and
then when you get across the road across
the interst it's not an interstate but
across the highway
of baton memorial there is some limited
sort of commercial development
this master plan and corresponding zone
change is proposing two commercial
parcels and one multi-dwelling
parcel to be again subdivided in the
future
the zone change request is from r2
to c3 which is a high intensity
commercial and also r2 in some of the
areas so maintaining that that zoning
that's already there
the commercial zoning districts will be
fronting bataan memorial west
where high intensity commercial uses are
generally appropriate and recommended in
both elevate las cruces and our current
zoning codes
the multi-dwelling residential land uses
will be near holmen road they don't
front holmen road exactly but they will
be near holman road and the applicant is
placing conditions upon themselves for
limited land uses
those limited land uses were outlined i
believe in attachment 3 of the report
to try to mitigate any potential high
intensity impacts on the neighborhood
that already exists out there
they're proposing that this will be
phased and most likely subdivided
through the alternate summary
subdivision process which is an
administrative process
during our review staff did determine
that it did meet our subdivision code
requirements for the master plan the
design standards as well as the zoning
code as amended
ultimately what they're proposing you
can see here that um
the two properties along batan are being
proposed as commercial this last
property number three
would be um
excuse me i get that i i misspoke
number one would be residential two and
three would be the commercial properties
now the
the does the development review
committee did review this on december
8th specifically for the master plan not
for the zoning because ultimately they
don't have control
over
projects outside of the subdivision
process
after some
minor discussion
it was recommended for approval
it should be noted that the applicant
did go through the early notification
process
to alert the neighbors and provide them
an opportunity to express their feelings
about
the zone change and the master plan
city staff did receive some input from
the public
basically with concerns about future
commercial development and the intensity
near their neighborhood
and as i had stated before the applicant
did provide some limited uses to try to
address those concerns
now
planning and zoning is the final
authority on the master plan however
planning and zoning is a recommending
body to city council so ultimately for
the zone change
that will go to city council however the
master plan would be approved at this
level
i do
recommend again individual motions for
each proposal as we did on the last
project
and staff is recommending approval of
the master plan
and then approval with conditions for
the zone change specifically the
conditions limiting those uses as
outlined in attachment number three of
your staff report
and this is based on staff's findings
outlined here and also reiterated in the
staff reports that were provided to you
and again the conditions based on what's
an attachment three of the staff report
your options tonight are to vote yes
vote no
yes with conditions or to table
and of course the applicant
sauder miller is here to address any
questions you may have
and i do believe there are members of
the public here who'd like to speak to
this as well
thank you
um so maybe we should discuss the master
plan first
and then the zone chain or what order
are they
so
madam chair members of the commission
the the master plan in terms of voting
uh would need to be voted upon first the
zone change would come second
however i think you could discuss them
simultaneously and make a determination
on that because one
one
dictates the other ultimately they do
influence one another
okay
any questions or
concerns or comments from
[Music]
any of the commissioners
and it's in regards to the commercial
part of the plan
i'd like to know what type of buildings
are being built for commercial
um
when when i asked that question what are
they going to attract supermarkets
another dollar store
a thrift store what are they being built
to attract
i'd like to hear from the builder or the
person asking for the zone changing
permit
madam chair if i might yes the applicant
is here today and does have a
presentation i think that may clarify
yes
that would be great
good evening chair commission my name is
paul pompio with soldermill and
associates and we are
here to present this case on behalf of
the owner
you know the drill
do you swear and affirm the testimony
you're about to give is the truth and
nothing about the truth under penalty of
law yes i do thank you
thank you madam chair and commission for
the opportunity to present this to you
tonight um i do have a presentation uh
so as to
not be repetitive i'll skip to
um the staff's presentation was quite
comprehensive so i'll skip to the to the
um
good parts
what you see before you on adjacent to
holmen road and u.s highway 70 is the
subject property
there is a zone madam chair i can't hear
him at all
how about now
no can you get a little closer to the
microphone i don't know maybe you need
to take your mask off
once again the property is located
off the northwest corner of holman road
and u.s highway 70. the property is
currently zoned r2
this plan
seeks to keep a portion of its zoned r2
and other portions modified to r3 or to
c3
for the record i'd like to point out
that the c3 designation is wholly
because of the size of the lots if we
were not talking about one acre lots
then the program appropriate sony would
be c2 but we're limited to c3 because of
the lot size
this is the proposed master plan showing
the three lots being created as
catherine mission by some subdivision
process at a later date
i didn't want to make one
one
modification to staff's presentation
right now the property is owned r2
and
it's kind of an odd shape here which you
can see on your screen
we are proposing to keep this property
that's in the northeast quadrant or
section that will stay r2
c3 properties that front baton and are
more appropriate for those uses because
they take access directly off baton
we're getting an awful lot of feedback
i don't know i don't think it's you
do you think it's the
open line to commission muniz
commissioners can you
mute
your phone
on mute
is that better
i think that's better i think so yeah
thank you
okay
thank you manager commission as as i was
pointing out that on the actual zone
change
r2 will stay in the quadrant in the
upper northeast section
and the zone change to c3 is for this
these two parcels here that front bataan
memorial
as that's more of an appropriate uh use
for pursuant to the comprehensive plans
and elevate las cruces to have
commercial uses that front that section
of baton
a question was asked as to what is
anticipated to be there one of the
tracks
tracked to the west will be that of the
learning center as it's been presented
in the
applicant's presentation the c3 to the
east will be general neighborhood
commercial type uses so they could be
free standing stores or things of that
nature but i'd like to point out with
the property only being slightly over i
think this trash is 1.2 acres in size
those uses are limited as far as square
footage and intensity of use
so with that man i'm sure that concludes
my presentation i'd be happy to answer
any questions that this commission might
have and i would also like the
opportunity in the future to respond uh
to anybody that may be speaking about
this case
thank you very much i have a question
yes
what access
will we what what access will be
available to get to r2
well
madam chair commission
there will be a single driveway
that's proposed in this section here off
baton memorial that will be
applied for and permitted through the
new mexico department of transportation
and that will be the primary access to
these properties there is no plans at
this time currently today to do any
development on the r2 track to the to
the back
but if there is
and say you're going to put some houses
or something in there
then how are they going to get out
how fire going to get their police
well in order to develop this and to to
your point
if there was going to be a multi-family
even low-density residential in this
area there would have to be multiple
access routes so
when this property r2 goes to be
developed
they're going to have to figure an
access through the adjacent property out
to baton so thereby having two separate
and distinct access points
do they own a dj's a property no they do
not what happens if the owner doesn't
want to give them an easement
well i believe that pursuant to the fire
code
the property ends up being undevelopable
in the back if we can't secure those
other axes
because i know i believe that based on
my working relationship with las cruces
fire department that they would have to
have that access so if they cannot
secure it then they're limited on what
they can do with the property
i'm mr excuse me commissioner gordon
members of the commission i would like
to point out that during any sort of
subdivision process
staff would have to ensure that legal
access
is provided to all properties so
in terms of a commercial or multi-family
development that could be
a
50-foot driveway easement
leading to that back property and we
would ensure that that would occur
during the subdivision
phase of this as is required by a code
okay thank you
i'm not sure i understood that catherine
can you
so
would that road go through the lot two
over to three or
so during any sort of subdivision
process madam chair members of the
commission
staff would ensure that if this were to
be subdivided off as its own property
that there would be an easement
providing access from baton memorial
to this r2 property
um as an alternative another access
secured through the adjacent the
adjoining property but that would have
to occur in order to subdivide this they
would have to provide legal access and
staff would ensure that at the time
but that legal access should could come
off of patan memorial
it could it could he had an easement
in one of the c3
okay thank you
any more comments from up here
okay
are there people here who would like to
speak
can you raise your hand so i can see how
many people want to speak
okay we're going to limit um
comments to three minutes
so if you want to come down we'll start
on the left here so the first one yes
you're the first person on the left if
you want to come down here
okay and you state your name
name is john hola okay i need to swear
you in
do you swear on the firm the testimony
you're about to give is the truth and
nothing but the truth under penalty of
law yes ma'am thank you go ahead
first of all
just to kind of go over what was
recently discussed
concerns were not just sent by phone
calls they're also emailed by numerous
members of the neighborhood when you
talk about commercials already
established in the area it is on the
other side of u.s 70 not on the north
side of us 70.
also you went through slide 9 very
quickly i really would like to know
what's on that slide
and
[Music]
residential store there's still no
solid what kind of store
we don't know
so
with that being said
i also would like to
as we talk about purpose authority and
scope of zoning condition
section 38.2 purpose of intent
i like to figure out mitigate congestion
in the streets and public ways right now
with the two elementary schools on
holman road there's so much congestion
in the morning and afternoon schools are
in session there is no police there to
monitor control that traffic
so building a commercial into that area
would be even more harmful for
congestion
secure safety from fire flood waters
panic and other dangers we're already
next to a flood zone so by building
commercial properties there increase
water what are we going to do for
flooding there
promote health and general welfare
by bringing in commercial even a day
care center
learning center you're going to have
diapers you don't have food waste
which is going to attract vermin snakes
spiders scorpions
other trash there's already feral hogs
running around from construction going
on north of holmen there's already
javelinas running around
from the construction going on north of
holmen
so what are we going to do to protect
our the neighborhood there
prevent overcrowding of land
sorry
that kind of speaks for itself
approving this is going to overcrowd
that property
by going into a commercial zone
facilitate adequate provisions
transportation water sewage schools
parks and other public requirements
so how are you gonna with all the
congestion already going on with the two
elementary schools the wic program out
there how are you going to facilitate
being able to provide transportation
safely
not only for the residents of the area
but new people coming to the area
also
there's so many more things i can go
over by limiting on time but lastly as
far as the neighborhood itself is
concerned
when that was designed
and approved our neighborhood was
supposed to have a park and sidewalks we
have but yet to receive that
so how are we going to be able to
facilitate this
when
the city's responsibility still has been
met to what was promised to us as
residential
occupants of that area thank you
thank you okay next row on the left side
oh there's somebody in
the row three did you want to come
yes
hi my name is mark augustinian i live
back in the neighborhood okay
do you swear on affirmative testimony
you're about to give is the truth and
nothing but the truth on their penalty
of law i do thank you
well my question is
looking up there this thing the middle
property what's going in there we don't
even know what kind of commercial
buildings going in there okay you're
gonna throw something in there it's
gonna devalue our property value
okay
number one number two what's it gonna do
for crime
where's the closest police station to
that area
there's not one
so you're taking a chance of raising the
crime rate
i mean
it's just it's just it's a train wreck
the whole thing
how do you propose
to police that area when we barely get
policed right now
answers
i mean they're not even telling us
what's going to go in that middle piece
of property some commercial building
they're going to be a three-story
four-story building
they're not saying so what's going to go
in there
yeah you're going to have a daycare
going on the left i understand that and
housing on the right what about that
middle piece of property what are we
going to stick in there
and what's it going to do to our
neighborhood as far as crime
and property value going down because
they're going to stick something in here
we don't know what
don't we have a right to know what's
going to go in there
that's all i got to say thank you i
think i understand that the
lot on the left is housing and the
middle lot is the learning center
i'd still like to see
a more
you know exactly what's going to go in
there because we don't we don't know
what kind of building they're sticking
there's going to be a four-story
building
they're not telling us that
well those kinds of things will be
decided later on in the process
with us they'll work with staff
i just
i think it'd be nice to know a little
bit more because if we live in that
neighborhood
we've got to deal with these things like
i said law enforcement out there is very
non-existent i mean you don't see
patrols coming through there as it is
now i've been there almost 15 years
thank you thank you
anyone else on the left tense my left
hand side yes one
two three row four
my name is veronica can you pull the
microphone down hi monica bullock
do you swear and affirm that the
testimony you're about to give is the
truth and nothing but the truth on their
penalty of law i do
i'm just going to read the letter that i
um sent in response to
this whole debacle here
to whom it may concern i am writing in
reference to your letter which proposes
rezoning the above noted property from
residential multi-dwelling low density
zone r2 to commercial high intensity
zone c3
c3 zone permits a wide range of high
intensity commercial activities
generating large amounts of traffic
serving a wide region of the city
as a homeowner in this immediate area
i would be directly impacted by this
proposed zoning change and i'd like to
state a few things firstly we purchased
this proper property
outside of the valley in a strictly
residential area to enjoy the joys and
comforts of bright starry night skies
views of the oregon mountains less
traffic more space
convenience to shopping without
congestion and traffic
your plan will have severely damaging
consequences for our neighborhood
secondly your proposal if allowed will
negatively impact my neighborhood and
community with respect to the commercial
parking lot lighting increased traffic
noise garbage vermin snakes crime
dumpster garbage pickup times and noise
at who knows what hour vendor deliveries
food trash and refuse being left about
by patrons of the commercial spaces
and also this would establish a toehold
and open up our entire residential
community to more and more commercial
building
what happens when they decide to sell
this properly property at some point and
that person doesn't respect their limits
then what happens to our community
also um
this has an effect on our values as
other members of the community have said
and as a homeowner it also affects our
ability to enjoy our investment as we
intended
who wants to live by a storage facility
that's in between their house and their
view of the majestic organ mountains
you talk about the bumblebee learning
center
storage units small commercial shopping
center which brings up daycare supplies
like food garbage trash diapers wipes
gloves
peak traffic congestion at a daycare
drop-off and pickup
impacting commuting traffic and
immediate area where there are already
two elementary schools and wic side by
side just a block away
additional traffic and non-resident
parking in residential areas on our
street in calico due to the proximity
overflow parking
leaving our we don't have any sidewalks
where are they going to park
commercial dumpsters being picked up
banging around loudly crime
environmental disturbances from vehicle
exhaust rooms loitering car lights
engine noises
i realize that you and your client
purchased this property
knowing that it was residential
there's plenty of commercial property to
the corner across on the other side
thank you
anyone else on my left side
okay
one two three four five row five
oh
hi my name is uh carol mayne and i live
on calico okay do you swear and affirm
the testimony you're about to give is
the truth and nothing but the truth
under penalty of law yes thank you
okay um the proposal we all received in
august is not
what they is
putting before a vote has changed we
weren't notified of the change till we
got the letter about this meeting we
haven't seen your
attachment three there seems to be some
confusion between what this gentleman
just said and what the chairman
understands
what the three parcels are i understand
the one right behind my house from what
he said is the r2 one you think it's
it's the
um daycare the original proposal said
storage
so we need some concrete clarification
on what the three parcels are because
sharon thomas is not understanding what
i understand based on what this
gentleman just said 10 minutes ago
that's all i say
thank you would you like to respond to
that about what the three lots are
maybe i'm misunderstanding
thank you madam chair
to clarify
on the map before you on the screen
there was an original proposal i think
when this project first started that had
they were going to we were going to do
c3 on all of the parcels
that has changed
it on this track here which is the upper
northeastern region that will remain r2
the two tracks as shown
to the southwestern area of the property
that both front baton memorial
are being requested to change to c3
so c3 on the two pieces that front baton
r2 in the upper
the eastern section so this basically
this r2 remains unchanged there's no
zone change requested for this parcel in
the back
okay i stand corrected so the two
parcels that front on to baton memorial
are the two commercial
and the one that's further back is the
one that remains residential that is
correct
thank you thank you
okay anybody else on that side okay
yes
now you could you come you have to come
down to the microphone because we have
to record everything sorry
my name is gerald mayne that's my wife
that's asking a question the questions
you want okay uh do you swear to and
affirm the testimony you're about to
give is the truth and nothing about the
truth under penalty of law i do thank
you
the question she has is is precisely
which which plot is is the daycare going
on uh with some
some confusion about that also
my question is exactly what are going on
what are they going to do or put on the
uh section that is going to remain r2
that's my question for the
say the last part again
what's going to remain
we would like to know precisely what is
going to go what is being proposed for
construction on the
the r2
zoned plot
okay okay also and we'd like
clarification on exactly which part of
the c3 is the uh day pair going on okay
i think catherine's going to answer your
question
chair thomas members of the commission
as i understand it um
if i can get my pointer to work this
westernmost c3 parcel would be the
daycare
at this point in time there are no
proposals for the r2 however from a
land use standpoint in zoning it could
be developed as multi-family it could be
developed as town homes it could be
developed as single-family
residential
any anyone else on my left-hand side yes
do you want to come down
my name is eileen ambrese i'm a resident
of the area there
okay do you swear in the firm the
testimony you're about to give is the
truth and nothing about the truth and
their penalty of law i do thank you
so a couple of questions that i have as
they keep talking about the the size of
the commercial lots that they're
they are limited to what can go there
because of the size of them because it's
only five acres
so you have the c3 which is smaller than
you know the one furthest what would
that be west
is smaller than the the larger one
nothing is planned for the larger one
but the bumble bee is already for the
smaller lot
is this going to be a small
tiny little learning center because i
live right behind i mean that is right
behind my house and it's not very big
when you factor in parking and you
factor in
playground size and the building size
and trash it's not very large
so how far is this going to be from the
easement there
the other thing is
there's
most of it's the size
if r2 is as big as it's looking that c3
zones are not are not very big at all
so i don't i don't understand what the
truck going to try and squeeze in there
also where the c3 that is where the
traffic merges on to 70 and there are
tons of accidents there
tons
there's so many accidents up on 70 that
the traffic gets routed onto
baton memorial all the time
and this is during the you know our work
day where traffic backs up how are we
going to get out of there when people
are trying to get out of day cares and
dollar stores or or whatever it is
that's going to be there
the noise
the lights the just everything going on
even if it's just during
uh daytime hours
i just don't understand with the size
of those lots what you think you're
going to shove in there it's just it
doesn't seem ideal
thank you
um catherine could you give us any
information on
um how large a building can be on
oh thank you
thank you madam chair
as previously noted with the c3
designation the minimum lot size is
going to be one acre and it'll probably
be larger than that
by the time we factor in
playground area parking the building
storm water management and also
remembering that there's
quite an extensive buffer between
the residential area and the c3 pursuant
to the zoning code
the lot will start to grow in size
it will probably in all likelihood
split the distance between the most
easterly property
property line here and the westerly
property land here by the time that's
all factored in
i hear a lot of mumbling but i'm not i'm
not quite understanding what they're
saying
this piece of property here totals 5.46
acres
there's approximately three ish acres in
here and once again by the time you
factor in having to put a dual driveway
here that will serve both properties
the building the parking lot store
monitors management setback landscaping
and buffering
it leaves you with basically two lots
so that's what we're proposing to do
pursuant to the master plan the master
plan shows three total lots
so are you saying that this further
furthermost to the west lot
that
when the the bumblebee
learning center and everything that goes
with it will require that that lot
become
bigger i don't see based on all the
requirements that i've listed to you
that that type of facility would with
all of those requirements would fit
exactly on one acre in size i'm
suggesting that that lot will probably
grow in size
to accommodate all the things
previously listed but it will just be a
single building learning center which
will go on that property but to properly
design it will probably be slightly
larger than an acre that will leave the
balance of this property probably 1.2
1.3 acres that's left on c3 here
that will be left for another c3 use
okay so
the line between
[Music]
um
between those two lots is going to shift
this most likely
yes man i'm sure we we placed a lot a
line on here so we could depict that on
the master plan
to clearly indicate that there was the
we were going to have two lots in this
area there's nothing magical about the
location of that line right now other
than the two depict that there will be
two c3 lots in the future at some future
date
and do you know how tall the building
will be
i do not anticipate
just based on the on that facility
especially the learning center will be a
single story building
we must remember that the current r2
zoning on that
allows for 35 foot structures
so that's allowed by sony code as we sit
here tonight
i am not anticipating if you look at
other small neighborhood commercial uses
throughout
the the the outskirts of town
i used to live off of park hill and del
ray there's a taller general there as an
example we don't have any use any
specific uses but once again that's a
single story building
so we're not anticipating any
multi-story buildings on the property
now when we get to the r2 that may be a
different story i don't know what's
proposed for that later on in the future
sometime but i'm only speaking of the c3
uses
thank you very much thank you madam
yes would you like to come down
did you speak once already yes ma'am can
we wait until everybody else speaks by
all means
anybody else on
the left side
okay you want to come down
yeah my name is bill raby
do you swear and affirm the testimony
you're about to give is the truth and
nothing but the truth under penalty of
law yes i do thank you
my pro i only got one question on the
residential property
or is there anything in place to
protect us from getting us a zone eight
housing
i'm getting what kind of housing the
house what is that housing a low income
housing
i don't know
if there's anything in place at this
point
catherine can you answer that
i think the gentleman is referring to
section 8 housing
there's no proposal for that nor can we
discriminate against that type of
housing in any particular location
thank you
okay anybody else on my left side
okay so go to the right
okay row three
good evening my name is brian breitake
do you swear and affirm the testimony
you're about to give is the truth and
nothing but the truth under penalty of
law i do thank you
i just had a few questions concerning
the changes that have happened
since we were just contacted by this
meeting already
the proposed shopping center is not
going to happen now
okay
just
there's been so many changes
that
how can we even make a decision here at
this time
okay but let's go back to
the
bumblebee day care center my property is
on the north side of that
and i was told by the planters
that they would have a 15 foot easement
with a wall
and i would request that that wall would
be
eight foot
do i have an input in that
can we make some type of determination
that if they do this
could that wall be eight foot
also the distance between my property
and the wall is 15 feet is that going to
be cleaned out and maintained by
the bumblebee learning center and or
who me
i don't think i'm going to
one more thing
is the lighting
i'm an amateur astronomer i like to set
up my telescope
and a parking lot for a business is
going to
throw that all out the door
now there's zoning requirements that the
shades would be installed
i would sure hope that that would happen
i think
and i think that everybody here would
agree with me
that this should be tabled until we have
a better understanding of what we're
going to do here
thank you
okay
do we have any answers to these
questions about the easement
chair thomas members of the commission
we have requirements in our zoning code
for buffers between certain types of
uses
and so
generally when you have single-family
residential uses against commercial uses
there's a recommended buffer of what we
call a type a screen which is a
completely opaque screen it can be
through
fencing walls a combination of walls and
landscaping and a number of other things
and there is also generally a setback
associated with that it's not
necessarily
an easement per se but it is it is a
setback
and um the the residents
residences adjacent to it would not be
responsible for any sort of maintenance
of of any um areas that would be
entirely up to the property owner
thank you
anybody else on my right hand side
one two three row five
hi my name is renee venegas
hi
do you swear and affirm the testimony
you're about to give is the truth and
nothing but the truth and the penalty of
law i do
hi um my property uh
right now it looks like it's gonna be a
boundary on two of those i'm right split
in the middle of it my biggest concern
is we're not getting the whole story and
that concerns me i feel like something's
to pop up and surprise us later on and i
don't like that right now we deal with a
lot of traffic there's two schools right
there my son attended one
traffic is ridiculous sometimes just to
get out of calico to take him across the
street because i cannot allow them
to walk there there's no sidewalks
there's no way to go around a car only
two cars fit on that road you try to get
on to baton memorial after that in the
morning
your line is going to go all the way
past the school sometimes up to
peachtree we can't even get out of there
you can see there is a line where people
have made their own way they will drive
through there they will go through there
and that's also on the side of my home
that third piece of land are they going
to cut through that property to get
through to caligo to go around are they
going to come through there i just know
it's going to be worse than that as we
go along if you look at porter and baton
memorial they've set up some plastic
barriers to prevent people who make the
u-turns make their own ways i can see
that happening here that's going to be
too much traffic to handle the people
coming off of 70 the people coming off
of holmen the people trying to turn
around right there at the
underpass
there is no sidewalks there's nothing
right there to give anybody any way to
get through to there so
that whole r2 is going to be a mess if
you have to go through baton memorial
and
add more traffic to that
um
i
just gonna state i don't like this i
don't like the way it sounds and it's
too much i don't know it's just
it sounds like there's something going
on also
i just don't want to be surprised by it
thank you
anybody else on my right side
okay so you wanted to make a second
comment
thank you lady chair again my name is
john bola
i like to go back to
article 2 administration of zoning
code section 38-10
it is required
for neighborhood group notice area
meeting it shall be responsibility of
the applicant or representative for the
proposal to conduct a meeting supply any
and all materials necessary to convey
development parameters as applicable
i feel that he has failed
to provide all
information necessary
to make a vote on this
i do not agree that we should table this
i feel we should deny
there has been multiple
statements comments
made
to prove that this has been very ill
planned
and changes have been made without the
neighborhood being informed of changes
even before this meeting
and due to the negligence
this plan should be denied thank you
okay i would like to point out that
this
that our staff and this commission
have to abide by whatever the
ordinances are as the city
and
if developers or someone with a project
meets all the requirements in our
ordinances
we're bound to allow it we cannot make
decisions based on something other than
what's in our ordinances
okay any final comments or questions
from up here on the commission i do yes
go ahead
right now i'm not very happy with what
i'm hearing to be very honest with you
a lot of comments from the presenter and
from
us are very vague
things like we expect this or we were
thinking of doing that
not only that i think number one that i
would require
that there be a condition
with this if we do approve it
that there should be an easement now
allowing
access to that r2 property that's number
one
number two i think perhaps
if
we talk about a buffer to the
neighborhood
i mean you're not going to put up a
30-foot wall but there are trees and
there are other things but they should
be very specific and what will protect
the residents from having to look at the
bumblebee center i don't think the bulb
will be center as a whole
will not be ugly it'll just be a
one-story building it's going to be a
learning center
but right now they're moving lines they
don't know how big this is going to be
and to me this is just very confusing
what i would like to see happen here is
i don't think that we should vote
no at the moment
although i'm thinking of that
but i would like to see this perhaps you
can't table this every table it'll never
come back
but i would like to perhaps think about
maybe a postponement
to the developer to come back with very
specific information as what they are
planning on doing i think the residents
have a right to feel that they are being
put under a cloak here and not knowing
what's going on and i think that they
have a very good reason to to speak as
they did
so that's my feelings
um commissioner gordon i think we can
table to a date specific it doesn't have
to just go away
well
that's fine too
but a postpartum will do the same thing
you give them time to come back
and i think not only to come back to us
but they should go back to the
neighborhood
i think they should have some kind of a
neighborhood meeting perhaps where the
residents can get together with the
owners of the property or the developer
and try to pinpoint down exactly what
they're planning and if they can do that
and come to some agreement
arbitrate this issue or whatever you
want to call it that would be fine too
but i don't think they should just come
back to us
with what they're planning on doing the
presidents have the right to know before
we do
so if they want to postpone it table it
to a date pacific fine focal i mean i'm
sorry to table it to a date pacific
that's fine they want to postpone it to
it to a date specific that's fine also
but keeping in mind i think this one
this is what should be there's too much
concern here there's just not one or two
people getting up
who are a little bit annoyed which what
we usually get but i think there are
some very very specific concerns here
that we should give them the benefit of
being able to
know what's going on
um so if you wanted
to table you have to make that motion if
you want to table it
well i think we have to wait that we
hear from everybody
thank you let's do that
miss commissioner smith um i have two
concerns um
one looking at the west
side of
the c3
property
it
looks like it's pretty close to
a couple of residences there i think one
of the residents was here it's uh her
it it butts up to her her property
i know there was discussion of a 15 foot
buffer
is
that going to be sufficient based on
what i'm looking at here
to provide enough of enough distance
between
the homeowner's property
and whatever building would be there or
wall
just looking at this 15 feet would
not seem sufficient to provide
distance from a property where it would
not impact the homeowner
thank you
moving down commissioner bennett
that was a mouthful i'm not sure you
want to address that one at a time but
i'll go and provide my second uh concern
uh just have a question has there been
um a traffic study
concerning a high volume of traffic on
baton memorial west a number of
residents have talked about
how much traffic is in that area i'm
familiar with that area
i used i was a
former las cruces police officer long
time ago
and
this was before
many of these homes were even built
and even then there was traffic issues
so
i can imagine over the last 15 years
that traffic has increased
so i'm just just wondering if there's
been any type of traffic study
over the past 10 years even within the
last five years
considering the amount of development
that's being proposed in this area
chair thomas members of the commission i
i can answer one of the questions and
then we'll defer to the applicant on the
other
because bataan memorial
and highway 70 are outside of our
jurisdiction it's the jurisdiction of
the state
but mr pompeo can can answer that in
terms of buffering
we do have some built-in buffering
matrices outlined in our code in terms
of the options of what to do against
from from certain uses to other types of
uses
and in this case
there's actually there's an option we
double checked the matrix just to make
sure there's actually an option that's
listed there
the option is a 10 foot setback
and a fully opaque
screen or wall
or a 15 foot setback any sim a opaque
screen or wall
so those are the options listed in in in
in the code now if this commission feels
as though that's not sufficient of
course
you have the authority to add conditions
for additional buffering
and other types of screening mechanisms
thank you
madam chair commissioners we have not
performed a detailed traffic analysis on
this yet however
in order for us to get a driveway permit
from the nmdot that
site threshold analysis would be
required at that time
i would like to point out we have an
eight lane highway with four forty
thousand trip per day capacity in this
area and right now traffic volumes in
that area are floating around five
thousand trips per day
so the overall roadway network
is capable of handling the traffic from
this area the state of new mexico spent
quite a lot of money building that u.s
highway 70 great separations
the the schools do generate a lot of
traffic in the areas when they're
landing schools in and out i would like
to point out
madam chair if you look at elks drive
there's a coronado elementary it's four
lane divided so it's basically five
lanes of traffic i live in that area it
gets congested when they
when the students are being dropped off
and the students are being picked up
that's just the fact of life we live
with every day that doesn't have
anything to do with this commercial site
because it takes all access to the
commercial lots come off the tawn do not
touch calico do not touch
hole in the road
could you
refer again to what you said about
um highway 70
some
approval has to come from nmdot
yes madam chair access to the two
commercial proposed commercial lots are
off baton memorial west
that roadway that frontage road is under
the jurisdiction of the new mexico
department of transportation
so
if
this project were to be approved we
would have to go to the nmdot
and get a driveway permit
shared driveway permit for both lots
that would require a site threshold
analysis as part of that application
process okay so that's all
in the hands of nmdot at this point so
yes okay thank you thank you madam
okay moving to commissioner guillermo
did you have comments yeah um so i don't
know this is i'm kind of the same place
uh some of my my colleagues because this
is a i feel like we're experiencing a
sword of growing pains in las cruces
right now um i mean my neighborhood is
the same way i live right between las
colinas and metro verde
there's tons of development there sonoma
ranch gets packed every morning because
of uh uh what's up whatever i forget the
name of the school that's there
starbucks there's a bunch of stuff
um and so i like i really i sympathize
with this i mean you know it's just like
gordon said it's not like it's one you
know disgruntled neighbor it's it's it's
multiple people
and you know so i feel like if we are
going to keep presenting things like
this because it is going to happen you
know i mean the city is going to grow
we're going to need more commercial
properties more residential properties i
mean that's just a fact of where we're
at right now
we need i just feel like we need smarter
development and we need consultation
with the neighbors as well i mean this
is their daily life they have to stay
you know they're going to have to drive
by
see this experience this live with the
traffic i think they should be more
consulted as well um i also you know i
have the same concerns that some of my
colleagues have as well as
um
you know as far as what the problem what
like what is this is going to be used
for so you know i just uh i mean i'm i'm
inclined to vote no i don't know
i might vote to table it just because i
just feel like there needs to be more
consultation and more thought as far as
some of these properties that
this kind that we're seeing
and i'm echoing the same
uh statement commissioner
i'm just echoing the same sentiments i i
have concerns with traffic and and um
uh quite a bit with this so i i just
feel like
um
we need a better picture of what exactly
is going on here
thank you
commissioner gordon
i don't no one has said anything yet but
i'm just curious
just a matter of question
what are they going to be teaching here
and who is going to be
being taught
so can somebody tell me what kind of
learning center this is
do you have some information from the
applicant
madam chair i
unfortunately is the engineer on this
project i don't know exactly what the
ages are
younger children for that type of
learning
center activity but i cannot answer that
question directly
so is this possible that there's nothing
more than a day care center
well it's for younger younger children
it's it it's the the owner has it uh
framed as a learning center so that's
that's why the application and the
documentation state that
again see this is very very vague
you can't answer specifically i would be
thinking about two different things the
learning center i think perhaps
for other children who can come before
and get like say a
pre-kindergarten or whatever preschool
my understanding is it is then that that
range
i will read a statement that the the
owner has
had previously prepared
bumblebee learning center offers a
quality uh daycare much like their
sanitaries and surrounding areas we
strive to provide the best child care
arranging for maids from newborns to
school-age children we offer infant and
toddler care
multiple two-year classrooms preschool
prep and pre-kindergarten programs
so that's that is the
the
um age range of the the people that will
be utilizing this facility
so aside from newborns i don't think
they're going to be teaching them how to
read
but
i think for the older children are going
to be there is it going to be a limit to
how many children are going to have in
this
facility talk about it if they if this
is really a daycare center where
people who work have to drop off their
children for somebody to take care of
them all day long
this is a misnomer in my mind
uh
just calling it a learning center to me
is that this is nothing more than a day
care center i i you can't tell me that
there's a there's going to be some
learning here for for two children who
are
newborns or one year old or perhaps one
and a half year olds how old is it going
to be and how many children are going to
be there how much traffic is going to be
generated by people coming in early in
the morning to drop off their children
how many people are going to be there in
the evening come pick them up see
there's so much information that we
don't have
that i feel that this is something that
we have to be provided with more
information
sorry
madam chair commissioner gordon i
understand that the information you want
and we can seek to get that information
as far as the operation the facility my
understanding is that is purely licensed
and and regulated by the state of new
mexico
so how many children or capacity and
things like that it's all based on the
size of the building and whatever those
those licensing standards are of which i
am not aware of
but i believe we do have the right to
know that
we can use that number of children to
determine whether or not we feel that
this is a viable
opportunity for for someone to put up
this they want to call it a learning
center
if it's going to create a lot of
problems because of traffic and age are
they going to have i know they have to
be licensed by the state they have to
have certain regulations well if that's
the case if it's going to be this type
of thing we would also like to know are
there going to be
a medical facility if somebody gets sick
is it going to have an opportunity for
someone to be there to take a child
for medical care
are they going to be
licensed maybe a nurse or someone on
staff to watch out for this are they
going to be licensed teachers
or there's just people coming in and
watch these kids for eight hours
that's just my feelings i just would
like to know these things we've
we've had
approved on many occasions day care
centers where all this information has
been provided to us
and right now for example when we
when we've approved daycare centers
we've we've also learned
for example how big the building was how
big the parking lot was going to be how
much traffic was going to have to be
done
you know in the morning and in the
evening it's just a lot of
misinformation that i just feel very
uncomfortable with
madam chairman and commissioner gordon i
think as i stand before you tonight the
question i have in my mind is is it is
c3 the appropriate zoning land use
designation for this property pursuant
to the zoning code and elevate las
cruces and other
master planning documents
the the getting into the details about
building size and square footages and
parking lots and things seems to be
something where we're putting the cart
before the horse you're asking for the
for the owner to go through all of these
designs and such
i mean
past just general statements
before knowing that we even have the
right via the zoning to even utilize
this property for that use i'm not sure
i'm not questioning the zoning here
i would like to have enough information
for me to approve this
and that's what i'm seeking i guess i
was going to follow up with a question
to you is if we're going to table this
case in order for us to get more
information
then if other than what you've spoken if
there's any other items that we have
then we can certainly bring that back to
you
i also brought up the item of of a
condition of this if we do approve it
for now to
have an easement so that there is going
to be access to that r2 property
right now there's nothing in here that's
specific
they're just saying oh we have a way to
get there well i would want to make sure
that they exactly have the right given
to
whatever's going to be in that property
for a way to get out of it to the access
road right now you're not showing me
anything you're saying well we can give
then access
i want a specific about an easement a
right-of-way to get into that property
that would be a condition
but i still think that there's a lot of
things that i'm not i don't think that i
could at the moment feel comfortable
listen you want me to approve
this master plan
i think i'm entitled to know a lot of
this information before i can make a
decision
otherwise why bother coming here just
put the plan in and we would
automatically say yes
catherine did you want to respond to
that madam chair members of the
commission i do want to point out that
during your consideration for a project
such as this it's about a range of uses
and not one specific
use and the impacts that perhaps
that range of uses
could bring and
i also want to clarify that during the
subdivision
phase of any project
one of the requirements of staff as
mandated by the design standards
has to do with access
and so they could not
subdivide
these properties
without staff ensuring that there is
either right-of-way or a perpetual
easement and so that's part of
the process during the subdivision phase
so i do want to be clear
that this is not just about a daycare
but it's about the entire range of uses
that could occur on the property
and are you uh catherine can i ask you a
question
me too but go ahead and
and
we got this whole list of uses and a
whole bunch of them were crossed out and
so the ones that were left on that list
that's the range of uses you're talking
about
madam chair members of the commission
yes ma'am that is correct because i will
i would point out that let's just say um
theoretically that the zone change was
to be approved
but bumblebee learning center decided to
relocate somewhere else
well the property is then open
for any of those uses that are listed
in that land use table that was provided
in attachment number three even the ones
that were crossed out not the ones that
are crossed out because
that goes with the approval the limited
uses that's correct yeah okay catherine
please excuse me for a moment i just i
want to follow up with that then what
was the point of even bringing this up
as a bumblebee learning center just
approve it as a c3
why put that in here what was the
purpose commissioner gordon
members of the commission i believe that
the intent was just to provide
just a little bit more clarity about
what they wanted to do on the property
in terms of their immediate plans
i'm adam chairman and members commission
larry nichols community development
uh i thank everyone for making their
comments tonight
both the public and and the commission
i can i can add a few of my comments as
the development community development
director
we have uh repeatedly a number of
occasions
we have a developer come to us that has
identified a parcel of land
that he thinks has potential to enhance
the neighborhood
and the overall city development
but in order to do that
he needs to know that his project
would have the proper zoning
otherwise
he said if i can't get this zoning
i have no interest in that development
so the zoning comes first
and then he can begin to tell us i have
this particular project in mind it might
be a learning center it might be a
restaurant it might be professional
offices it might be a cinema it could be
a number of items that are allowed in
that particular zoning
and then once he identifies that project
what type of building is going to be
then our ordinances as the commission
chair said here tonight
our ordinances come into play
those ordinances
are zoning and land use and building
codes and fire codes and utility
requirements
all of those come into play they submit
their plan
and then we see that they meet the
requirements of those ordinances
that's when you get the answers that
some of the questions you've been
answering tonight
but the zoning
for the developer the zoning
is paramount
because without the zoning he has no
potential
to increase development of commercial
and residential land use
i just wanted to make a few of those
comments to
kind of explain
why
at this stage
of the proposal or the request
we can't provide the developer the
applicant
is not able and able to provide the
specific answers that you're asking
about
once the zoning is there and he knows
the building type
then these answers can be provided
thank you madam chair
and will um
any of these this future planning come
back before this board or the city
council
and will any of this future planning
once they
see what's allowed will any of that come
back then to the this board or to the i
think that's what they want to know
madam chair members of the commission
unless they are pursuing a multi-lot
subdivision on this property
the answer is most likely no
if they subdivide this using the
alternate
summary method
one by one individual lots
that's entirely administrative and there
wouldn't be an
additional review by this particular
commission should be pointed out that
the zone change however
we'll have an additional review by city
council
okay
any more comments or
suggestions on what we should do for
people up here
do we want to table this for them to
bring back more information or do we
want to take a vote
i'd like to have a motion to table it to
a date specific
okay
what date
should we set
i i'd like to know whether or not i can
make that conditional upon the fact that
the that the applicant has to
uh try to make an effort to contact
the very
the residents who live
alongside this project
i mean i think that
when they're going to come back to us at
least they'll be here with some
information as to what they would at
least be able to object to or approve
but
i don't know if that's possible
i know probably not
legal do you have anything to say about
that
do you want to state that again
commissioner
what what you were asking if it was
possible to do
for legal justice chair council i i'm
not sure you could actually require them
to meet i mean it would be a good idea
for the developer to meet with the
neighborhood i'm not sure that's a
requirement you can make that they force
them to
to meet
all right i have another question
if we approve the master plan
which is
item number three or whatever it is on a
monday uh
7.3 if we approve 7.3 which is the
master plan
the approval then would have to be for a
show for a zone change
again then that
how how would we be able to vote yes on
that without having information as to
what
these people want to know i mean then i
would have to say no what happens if i
say no
on 7.7.4
and say yes on 7.3 can you answer that
question
legal
or catherine
chair members of the commission
commissioner gordon
i i think that the master plan is is the
basis
for why
one of the supporting documents for why
you would
then
support a zone change
it would be hard to defend a master plan
that that
outlines specific uses and then not
recommend approval of a zone change with
the same
uses
it does so then what would happen that
let's say for example we vote yes on
both
all right now we've approved the master
plan and we've approved the zone change
at this point when does the neighborhood
have another bite at the apple
commissioner gordon
the
the neighborhood would have an
opportunity
at city council
to voice their opinion and their
concerns and ultimately city council
could then make a determination
on
the zone change it's a bit of a
conundrum because if they deny the zone
change
yet there is an approved master plan
specifying those types of uses it would
force the applicant then to one either
appeal to district court
or
to revise their master plan come back to
this
commission
with a revised master plan and a
different
zoning proposal to match that master
plan
so
it seems to me
let me think about this for a second
before i say something
it seems to me well what happens if we
vote yes on a mazda plane and no one has
owned change
in other words they don't get a zone
change correct
which means that the property will stay
what it is now can they i know then they
can still go to city council correct
the zone change also goes to city
council correct
yes madam chair members of the
commission the zone change
whether or not
you recommend approval or denial would
move forward to city council unless then
the applicant withdraws their
application
well
it seems to me sometimes i wonder why we
sit here
if that's what it basically every time
we have a zone change
we've already had one reversed on us
about three months ago
that we denied something and they said
it was okay
so
i don't know all right let it go forward
i'll see what happens i'll decide how
i'm going to vote
any more comments or suggestions or
motions from other commissioners
did you want to add something catherine
not in addition but i do want to remind
you that there's already a motion on the
table um to
um
essentially postpone this to a date
certain however i don't know that that
date certain was ever specified did you
make that motion to postpone today i
think i did but now what did they
certainly didn't decide on that
you didn't pick a date so it wasn't
completed and i don't think there was a
second i don't know i don't even think
it was a vote pardon james did it new
second yeah
okay um
we need to
say what the date is
i don't have a calendar
how much time how much time does
if we if we postpone this to a time
certain
what is the applicant going to come back
to us with any what he hasn't already
given to us tonight
i'm looking to find out more information
if he's going to come back with the same
information
we're going to be in the same point we
are right now this will be redundant
catherine madam chair members of the
commission um
mean aside from from the applicant maybe
being able to procure some additional
details about the one proposal which is
the daycare center i'm not quite sure
what else they could provide you
we must remember that a master plan is a
conceptual plan in terms of general uses
densities
phasing
things of that nature
and then again zoning is a range of uses
it's not about one specific use per se
so i'm not entirely certain what they
could bring you unless you're you're
asking for some
um
some specific details that maybe they
could work on in the interim i would
like to point out that the january
meeting is january 25th i'm not certain
of the february meeting do do you know
i do not have a calendar on me i don't
think that we should postpone this to
january i have an idea what the agenda
is going to be for january and i don't
know if we'll have time to discuss this
if anything you would like to do it in
february but if i look at the if i look
at the summary of the case
provided to us it says that the zone
change request is associated with the
bumble bee bumble bee master plan
they're very specific about using that
term again
and seeks to increase development of
commercial and residential land uses
that's that's very very general
if it was just a case of rezoniness to
be commercial then they should have said
we just want to do commercial
they don't have to tell anybody what it
is
is that true
commissioner gordon
madam chair members of the commission
ultimately
it's interesting it depends on what the
commission requests sometimes
commissions want specificity it sounds
like maybe this evening they wanted less
specificity i'm not entirely certain
sometimes sometimes
zoning is very speculative
sometimes it's not in this case there is
a specific use in in mind um
do they have to tell us no the answer is
that applicants don't however sometimes
it does help
and i agree with you and that's what we
asked for
i think that we would i think i would
like to have that information so it
would help me to make a decision
i mean i feel for these residents they
have i think they have a very strong
argument
okay so um the date specifics probably
should not be any later than the january
meeting
i do knowing when i know about what's
going to happen in january don't do it
in january we'll be here at three
o'clock in the morning
well it's true it's a packed agenda for
the january meeting so
um
i mean is there any problem with doing
it in february let's ask the applicant
madam chair that would be february 22nd
thank you you're welcome
madam chair if it is the will of this
commission that we go to february then
we'll go to february and i will seek to
get as much information as i can to
submit it back to staff
i don't know about meeting with the
neighborhood again i do believe that i
do owe the the the information that they
they have
they seek
i will say that after meeting with the
neighborhood we retracted the the
intensity of this development
but then come to this meeting and be
accused of changing what we submitted to
them
i mean we we try to reduce the scope of
that so i will
within the next if we postpone to the
february the 15th for the next two weeks
we'll make another submittal two staff
that will have
as much clarification as we can provide
on the items uh commissioner gordon that
you've asked for
okay but you realize we did not accuse
you of that oh no no no no clarification
i i
uh comments from the neighborhood i i
understand where they're coming from
there was a number of people that spoke
to the fact that we had
tried to pull over their eyes or changed
up what we were doing etc when we first
met with the with the neighborhood there
was going to be a shopping center the
whole all of this property was going to
be c3
and we retracted that not only did we do
that we went back into the c3 uses and
struck a number of those uses in an
attempt to
downgrade the intensity of the uses it
could be on that property so
yes things did change but i in my
opinion it changes the benefit of
reducing the scope magnitude of the zone
change well i don't think i don't think
the residents agree with you but that's
fine well
if the commission is agreeable then why
don't we just expect that decision now
when and we don't have to continue this
discussion because we're not getting
anywheres
emotion on the floor is to postpone this
to
the february meeting which is february
22nd we have a motion and a second
can we have a roll call
board member munice
yes
board member vega
board member bennett yes
guerrero uh yes board member smith
yes board member gordon
yes chair thomas
yes
thank you
okay thank you
thank you to people from the
neighborhood for coming
i think that you
did lay out the things you wanted to
know i think that has to do with um
more about what kind of a center the
bumblebee center is more about traffic
more about
the
buffers between
the commercial and the neighborhood and
so we'll expect to hear more about that
in february thank you
okay
the next item is
7.5 7.5 i need a motion and a second to
approve
the special use permit on south valley
drive i make a motion that is
commissioner gordon i make a motion that
we approve
the special use permit for the
property and the opening of a store on
south valley drive
is there a second
commission smith that second okay
we have a presentation from mr banegas
yes ma'am madam chair members of the
commission vincent banegas interim
planner for the record
the special use permit
this evening involves property located
at 1240 south valley drive
it is indeed a special use permit and
i'll explain why here in a minute it
involves case number 21z0100109
current conditions
related to the pro project or the
property in question it's currently
zoned c2 which is our medium dens
intensity commercial excuse me
it's intensity not density
it is uh currently developed as a small
four suite retail
node or center
and the property and in this case the
not only the property but the suite
is located on the northwest corner of
aspen avenue and valley drive south
valley drive and it is roughly 0.22 or
0.25 acres in size if you round up
the surrounding property there is a
mixture of uses and zoning
to the west and northwest of the su of
the site
you have single-family residential
property in the r1a district
directly north of the subject property
is multi-family uses apartments in this
case and zoned r3
and
elsewhere along valley drive certainly
across the street further south of the
subject property wrapping around avenue
and messiah
you have commercial
zoning and commercial uses and you have
a mix of not only c2 but some c3 zoning
as well
this is a zoning map showing the subject
property it is outlined in red
and hatched as shown on the map
and again your multi-family component
component is directly north this is the
r1a
single-family residential neighborhood
and you'll notice that this parcel which
is single family
is the adjoining neighbor to the subject
parcel and it is the juxtaposition of
these two properties that
require the consideration of the sup
elsewhere you have the c2 as indicated
and further along avenue messiah you
have c2 and c3
this is an aerial view
of the subject property
the little or the small
business node component sits on the
property in this fashion
and again your residential neighborhood
west northwest of the site
just south of there is a
gas station
located south of the subject property
and you do have shared access
not only off of valley drive but into or
across property boundaries
to to help with traffic pattern traffic
flow on site and you do have
ingress egress
pursuant to code off of aspen avenue for
that subject property
in terms of history the property was
subdivided with its southern neighbor in
2008 and later was developed as the
commercial property we see today that
took place roughly four years later
after subdivision activity occurred
at the time all development requirements
were met
certainly at the time of construction
for that
commercial
node or development
all the parking
all the building codes all the buffers
and screens that are required
in our code we heard about the screens
this evening
those were in place and are today
the property has been zoned c2 since
pre-1970 and we say pre 1970 because
1969 was our base zoning that we
started from we sprung
forth with all our zoning
history
so it certainly has been around for a
while in terms of c2 zoning for that
site
the building itself was built
approximately 110 feet from the adjacent
r1 zone the property that i showed you
on the map
and that is the property line the shared
property line that is in question for
this sup
in terms of the proposal the applicant
which is everest apothecary inc
and desert peak architects on behalf of
them have
submitted a request for an sup
to place a retail cannabis store at this
location
and again it would be in suite d of that
building
the buffer distance between cannabis
store perimeter and the closest single
family residential zoning district
boundary is approximately 110 feet
in terms of the current code that which
was adopted by city council not too very
long ago
300 feet is required
because of that discrepancy a species
permit is is now being sought in as an
element for approval
for this proposal
all other buffer distances
are met and those distances refer to the
boundary of operation for the retail
cannabis store
to other retailers
and also to school and daycare property
the proposed use will have to follow all
remaining
clc assuming it gets approved
we'll have to follow all coc
requirements and state and new mexico
regulation
governing cannabis uses and related
activity
this is a kind of modified site plan
showing again the subject property
adjacent to the neighborhood
they identified roughly 66 feet from the
boundary of operation for the retail
cannabis site
to the r3
but again it's 110 feet from that same
perimeter over to the nearest portion of
the r1a zoning district
and that's the 110 feet which was
is required to be 300 feet
a couple of photos showing the site
i know these were taken in in the summer
but it kind of illustrates the point
that i'm going to try to make here
and that is the fact that you have the
existing development
you have parking already in place here's
that shared access point to the neighbor
to the south which is the gas station
you have clearly the landscaping
required landscaping element
and you begin to see some of these trees
along here that serve as the
buffer or screen to the residential
properties due north in this case those
apartments
this is a shot along looking down aspen
avenue from about the intersection of
valley drive and you can see that the
site
or the subject property that i'm
pointing to with this cursor
is already well hidden from those trees
by those trees
and then of course further down on aspen
this is the subject residential property
the r1a property that is within the 110
foot distance to the subject building
and certainly from that angle you can
see that there's
quite a bit of distance separated by a
drainage pond
for drainage from the commercial
property you got parking lot and then
you got the back of the building the
front of the building of course empha is
is facing
valley drive
in terms of notice notice was sent to
surrounding property owners
to date
two emails were received one was
included in your packet the other one i
handed out this evening
and one phone call was received all in
all objecting to the proposal
the objection cited basically further
encroachment of non-residential use
into the residential
development located west of the subject
property and there were also concerns
about what the proposed use might bring
in terms of
people that use drugs or
the opportunity for increased traffic
accidents and injuries
because of the location
and the anticipated traffic
that would be brought into the site and
brought into the neighborhood etc so
those were some of the concerns that
were cited
in terms of recommendation and findings
of fact
staff recommends approval of the
proposal
the findings are as follows
again going back to the
instance or buffer requirements for the
proposed use all other
distances are met
accepting the residential distance that
i've talked about
you have property that meets current
screening and buffer requirements
going back to those photos
i illustrated that some of the the
screens
do a pretty decent job of at least
buffering any visual impact
and potential any noise impact to the
surrounding properties
and those measures of course are to
mitigate some of those development
impacts that are that come with
commercial development
also there's a relatively high degree of
compatibility with other commercial
properties along valley drive
in context to what you see on the
subject site and the ingress egress on
that site is intended to mitigate
traffic impacts to the residential
neighborhood
it was a required element in terms of
the building permit process for a
commercial building
such as what you see there today
it
proposal also meets the purpose and
intent of section 38.2 the requirements
or the elements of that section are
identified in your packet
and
it's it's safe to say without any doubt
that the proposal
must meet any
other zoning code requirements required
by the city of las cruces and of course
the state of new mexico
those must be followed for any cannabis
related use
there are several goals policies and
actions that are also identified in your
report
uh that are consistent with the sup with
the suburban place type i'm sorry and
just to reiterate suburban place type is
characterized by low to moderate
residential densities with intermixed
areas of commercial
development and there's
single-family multi-family retail office
institution on public uses are a
component of that mixture
yeah in in summary in terms of the goals
and policies and some of the actions
it's safe to say that mixed-use
neighborhoods
are are mentioned in those goals and
supporting
policies that are presented in your
packet
you also have expanding economic and
opportunities that are
promoted both at a regional and national
level
you have increases to employment
opportunities to increase economic
security amongst individuals in the
community
and locating businesses along key
corridors and major thoroughfares is a
component of our comprehensive plan as
well
and this evening you have the following
options you can vote yes and approve
vote no and deny just recognize that
denial will
mean you'll have to come up with your
own
findings of fact to support that action
you could vote yes with condition
and i would strongly suggest that you
add those conditions in your motion
please so that they can be recorded as
an element for approval should you take
that that route or you could vote to
table
and that concludes staff's presentation
madam chair and i'll stand for any
questions you may have
i have a question mr venegas um
i was told that um
there
are other cases like this
where people who are
planning to open a cannabis
[Music]
store
had already purchased or or a
property or made arrangements or set up
a lease or something before the city put
out its
regulation it's 300 feet
regulation
is is was i misinformed or is that is
that part of the problem here that when
the the decision was made to open the
store in this location
the
city's ordinance for cannabis had not
yet been
determined
madam chair to the best of my knowledge
i know
the buffer distance criteria that was
something that was discussed at
at some length and certainly at the
council level
something that
was later asked of staff to build into
the proposed ordinance
in terms of specifically whether or not
people bought
or secured lease on property prior to
i'm not privy to that
but we are holding meetings at present
every week
in meeting with cannabis related
potential businesses
to discuss opportunities and how the
code reads and how the law currently
reads in context to the city zoning code
and one of the elements that's
identified in that code is
is if you're
less than the 300 feet to resident
single-family residential zoning
district boundaries you do have the
opportunity to seek a special use permit
which is what we're talking about this
evening
okay thank you for that information
any other questions or comments from
any
comments from the public
okay let's take start on this side and
we'll start in row three
thank you
and your name is mark gilbord and do you
swear and affirm that testimony you're
about to give is the truth and nothing
but the truth and the penalty of law i
do
thank you go ahead
madam chair and
members i want to say first and foremost
that uh everest cannabis company is a
provider of jobs
we hire
locally and we hire a diverse staff that
reflects the values and mores of the
community
our employees spend their money in the
community they pay taxes attend events
in las cruces and they add to the tax
base for the city
i also want to say that we take pride in
being good neighbors our patients love
us and we provide a safe legal way for
people to find relief
we opened our
an existing dispensary in march of 2020
to my knowledge there have been no
complaints no increase in
any
concerns in the area
we are good neighbors to the jimmy
john's sub
place the dunkin donuts there are
doctors offices where our existing
location is on lowman
we
opened
and i wanted to mention that cannabis
customers
are not what most people think their you
know your neighbors your doctors your
teachers uh maybe even friends they're
uh professionals who spend on average
you know over sixty dollars a
transaction that's that's our average
transaction and they
they go enjoy our outdoor activities
and they are not a detriment
to to society which is a common
misconception
i'm the director of retail strategy for
everest cannabis company i invite your
questions about any of our retail
operations
we will have standard business hours our
existing location is
9 00 a.m to 8 p.m
and so we anticipate standard business
hours at this location
and that's all i have for you
thank you
questions or comments yes yeah that's
important
yeah i have it's just a simple question
is
i know what's happening now in new
mexico and of course in many other
states
with these new cannabis stores or retail
outfits or whatever you want to call it
being open
how does that relate to people who hold
medical cannabis cards
because you can go to a place here in
las cruces now
uh
a sacred garden or something like that
it's called my neighborhood all my
neighbors go there
and
they all have medical cannabis cards yes
in order to come to your establishment
do you need to have a medical cannabis
card yes uh until the law changes uh and
gets implemented in
april of 2022 currently only medical
card holders that are certified through
the program in the state of new mexico
are able to
enter and purchase cannabis so my
feeling is that the type of person who's
going to
enter your establishment to buy
something is not the type of person that
people think is going to be going in
there who's a dope addict or for a
better lack of
of a definition
i have
i know of my neighborhood alone there's
at least
five or six people who have been and
they all swear by it you know people
have these terrible problems with pain
and
and nerve problems and they will use it
and swear by it to me it says it's a
godsend and it was just an interesting
program on on cnn this weekend
where now they are using cannabis
to to treat
uh
uh children
who have all
what is it who have um
you know
pardon epilepsy no not only epilepsy but
who are
uh
autistic thank you i'm sorry i lost by
trying trainers who are artistic and
they've shown amazing results with the
use of cannabis
so i i know about from experience and
from my friends and what i've seen it's
to me it's
it's about time
any other comments or questions from the
commissioners
okay
thank you anyone else who wishes to
speak okay
again on that one two three four row
five
trishelle kirk
do you swear and affirm the testimony
you're about to give us the truth and
nothing but the truth under penalty of
law yes okay go ahead
i am the ceo of everest and um thank you
for your consideration tonight i can
provide some clarification on the timing
of our lease it was signed on july 13th
and i believe the new zoning laws that
we're currently requesting a special use
permit into effect in early september
and so we did have a lease in place we
have been licensed and in good standing
with the state of new mexico the
department of health and the um cannabis
commission kendrick control division
since 2016
we currently operate seven dispensaries
throughout new mexico we've been in las
cruces as mark said for over a year and
a half
and you know we just really look forward
to continuing to grow in the las cruces
market and really be part of the
community here in las cruces
and i'm available for any additional
questions
thank you any questions
okay thank you for your comments
and
okay
wait
too confusing who's already been up here
good evening uh
chair thomas and members of the
commission i am what's your name
jefferson king okay do you swear in a
firm testimony you're about to give is
the truth and nothing but the truth
under penalty of law i do okay
as the director of marketing and store
development for the company i'm here to
make comment that
we put a lot of effort and design into
the look and feel of our stores we make
sure that our environment is very
inviting and also very professional our
stores are extremely well lit
and we follow all of the security
guidelines that are given from
currently from the
clc
so um
and as for any concerns regarding
stigma i would just like to speak to
what mark mentioned that
our cannabis customer is the
professional
it is the
younger patient it's the older patient
it's the single mother
it's me standing before you so just
wanting to let you know that we are
looking forward to
um bringing a lot more business to this
area and we think that our presence
there will make the area
much improved
thank you
okay
could you come back to the microphone
for a minute i think there was a
question
thank you madam chairman commission yes
uh yes sir you mentioned that you were
the director of marketing is that
correct yes could you
expand a little bit
this particular facility will it be
involved in what type of cannabis
licensure
is it retail sales is it growth is it
extraction is it laboratory what is the
your business strictly retail sales
particularly retail thank you okay
thank you
okay we're on road one two three four
five okay
austin dello
and do you swear and affirm a testimony
you're about to give is the truth and
nothing but the truth under penalty of
law yes ma'am thank you
okay so i just want to start out by
thanking you guys for coming uh i am an
assistant manager at our current
location off of loman that we have we've
been there for a little over two years
going on two years almost it's really
nice working there i don't feel like i
would have the benefits currently that i
have right now without this job
available to me i've lived here all my
life i've been a resident of las cruces
27 years pay my taxes every year you
know doing good stuff just trying to you
know make a good living i don't feel the
benefits that this company gives me
though i would be able to fully find
elsewhere they're very professional they
do everything simple we have good
rapport with the community and stuff we
have people that look forward to coming
and seeing us it's nothing harmful like
they were saying it's something that you
know
everybody not everybody but a large
amount of the community uses right now
and i don't see a large uptick in crime
a lot of my family i'm kind of like the
black sheep of the family everybody is
law enforcement
or military i'm the only one that kind
of went this route so it is a little bit
different and they come to me with
questions and stuff none of them are bad
people they're just looking to make
their lives a little bit better they
have pain management they're trying to
assess they have sleep deprivation
things that they don't need to go and
seek out other medication when they
already went the legal route of
obtaining a card and going through the
board and the systems that are required
you know what i mean so there's leaps
and ways to prevent bad people from kind
of attaining this type of product
another good thing that i think would be
really positive for the community i've
lived here all my life like i said is
the taxes that it's going to bring in i
visit a lot of different places
i've gone to places where it's legal in
places where it's not and you can
definitely see
sometimes day and night the difference
in the community like the highways just
everything built up the
people that it brings in for
visitation purposes and stuff like that
there's a lot of money to be made which
i know isn't everything but you know the
cannabis portion brings everyone kind of
closer together and then the money is
just extra you know that's always an
added bonus and that's all i really have
to say i'm very thankful for everything
i have thank you very much for your
comments yes ma'am thank you
anyone else over here okay one two three
i think you're in row six or seven
uh hello my name is cole it's cold speed
do you swear and affirm the testimony
you're about to give is the truth and
nothing but the truth and their penalty
of law yes ma'am thank you
awesome i just wanted to come up here
today and talk to all of you about how
awesome that verse has been for the
community aspect
um
i know personally since i've just grown
up here i've been along here a long time
it's been really nice to see them trying
to get us to reach out to other
businesses to reach out to other people
in our communities to try to set
something up that's bigger than just
ourselves but instead working towards a
greater future for just las cruces in
general
joining the company it was heavily
emphasized to me
that the community outreach was
important and that what we were building
was so much more important than just a
business
one
thing that i love to point out to people
that are coming into our store for the
first time or just coming around
is that we have hundreds of reviews on
google and they're all super high like
4.9 stars are average right now
and the reason that is is because we do
try to build a community with every
single person who comes into our store
it's really amazing to see and i've
never worked in sales i've worked in
multiple fast food i've worked in a
couple other jobs
i've never seen the type of relationship
that we've been able to build with our
clientele and the people in our city
that i've been able to build while i've
been at everest apothecary
that was all
thank you very much
any more comments okay the next little
bass row
name is uh ryan stoops
do you swear and affirm the testimony
you're about to give is the truth and
nothing but the truth under penalty of
law
yes thank you
my name is ryan stoops of course i've
lived in den down and around in the new
mexico area for a little over 15 years i
am currently a homeowner and a guest
advisor at everest cannabis co
currently right now my biggest thing
that i see with the way that we actually
run our company is we're very big on
integrity we're also very big on
sustainability everything that we do we
try to make sure it's completely organic
we try to minimize as much waste as
possible so there's not usually any
issues with like
floating containers bags or anything
like that you that you may see like
contraband wise everything that we do we
keep clean we maintain and we try to
make sure that everything is above
standard or even more so by the book
we try to keep things of course
you know with the way that we actually
run our company we are hugely bound to
new mexico and the way that we actually
run things of course most of our stuff
is up north at the moment but we are
trying to basically expand and create
more of a
home down here in southern new mexico
providing some of the highest quality
of both customer service sales and of
course cannabis that we can provide for
our community
the biggest things of course that i see
are the actual benefits that we do to
our patients basically providing
everything that we can between the
knowledge that we actually get
especially researching and making sure
that we have everything available for
our patients primarily because that are
our main focus that we actually have in
a company
we try to take care of
every patient's needs
basically one-on-one for the most part
we even make sure to actually keep
everything separate
there is a full-on waiting lobby between
we try to make sure everything is
sectioned off so that there is no
cross-contamination or anything we take
care of it all in house sanitized in all
thank you
thank you very much for your comments
anyone else
okay we'll come back to commissioners
any more comments up here or questions
discussion yes commissioner
yeah i just so i want to make a comment
real quick uh because i mean first of
all you know just so everybody in the
public knows cannabis you know is legal
in new mexico i mean it will be you know
as a vapor whenever the law is enacted
but at the same time you know like we
get emails like this and i'm not going
to read the whole email um this was
written by somebody that clearly you
know doesn't
i know i guess subscribes to old ideas
about cannabis um you know list a whole
bunch of things that are side effects
those are the same or worse as alcohol
and there is a gas station around the
corner from here there's one across the
street the sell alcohol so you know it's
like
picking and choosing just because of
something that you heard was really bad
back in the day doesn't you know isn't
fair to businesses like this one i mean
clearly they have a really big staff
very knowledgeable you guys all seem
amazing um i don't have a medical card
but whenever it's retail i may stop by
and visit i mean who knows right
but um you know like i think we just we
really need to remind people it's like
you know legalization of cannabis is a
lot in new mexico now and we are going
to see more like this you know so
i mean it just it just does what it is
brings businesses brings you know brings
employment brings diverse young
employment which is what we need in new
mexico so you know i just i just want to
remind people of that is that yes i mean
sometimes
are there myths that exist about things
yes there's myths that exist about
everything i mean mcdonald's you know
can kill you as well and people use it
all the time and that's not illegal
you know diabetes and obesity is not
illegal so you know just want to remind
people of that is like they're they're
there there's pros and cons to
everything so yeah
thank you any more comments from
commissioners that's commissioner smith
uh just
just to tie tag on too
my colleague just addressed um you know
i also read this email and um
you know i'm familiar with that area i
lived nearby within a mile
of this
proposed site and um you know
that neighborhood i'm familiar with the
neighborhood and
there have been businesses there before
i've been living in that in that area
for over 20 years and i know at one
point there was a verizon store there
and it's been a couple other businesses
there so you know that neighborhood
they're used to
uh retail they're used to
you know commercial businesses being
there and so that's something that
they're familiar with the difference now
is that you know there's a cannabis dork
coming in and so
they have this idea that it's going to
bring in drug addicts they're going to
bring in you know
problems uh in that area and of course
we know now especially over the years of
how cannabis is being used from
medically and scientifically that that's
not the case
so i i still want to be i still want to
be sensitive to
you know the the neighborhood and the
neighbors that you know so they can
understand that we're not sitting here
just uh you know to approve something
just because it's a it's a viable
business um you know for a tax base and
and for the city of las cruces
this is a company and many of the
cannabis companies that are that are
starting to open in las cruces are very
professional and they brought in their
entire staff to uh to make that point
and so i i feel that um
it is important that the the concerns of
the of the neighborhood uh are are
addressed and and that they do
understand that um this is not i lived
in new york city for eight years and i
used to
ride my bike in areas where there were
crack houses and
some of the comments that i've read in
this particular email is something i'm
familiar with like from a crack house
and this is not a crack house and so i
think as
these type of businesses continue to
grow in las cruces
uh it's important for the the residents
of the city to understand that these are
beneficial
businesses for the community and for the
in for the city and
we have laws and ordinances that will
make sure that these businesses are run
in a very professional way
thank you any more comments yes
i just want to i just want to correct
myself it wasn't on cnn it was on
uh 60 minutes on cbs
and i think that if anybody is watching
this meeting tonight if they have the
opportunity if
for example if you are on comcast
you can go to demand and bring up this
this uh 60 minute story
about the use of cannabis and i have to
tell you you could almost bring yourself
to tears to see what this is able to do
thank you any more comments
okay roll call
uh chairperson the
motion was made prior to hearing
mr banegas's statement concerning
conditions i didn't know whether those
needed or didn't need to be included in
the motion
mr benegas just to clarify madam chair
commissioners uh all i was
stating is that if there are conditions
please include them in your motion
staff didn't recommend
any conditions be added okay thank you
thank you uh board memes
i vote yes
and the reason for my voting
is cannabis
is really helped some of my family
members who have suffered with cancer
and i've seen it gave them a little life
so i give it a big yes
former vega
board member bennett
uh i vote to approve based on staff
recommendation and site survey
board member guerrero uh i as well
approve to or vote to approve based on
uh staff recommendations and as well as
you know just bringing jobs in the
diverse workforce to las cruces
board member smith
oh yes based on staff recommendation and
also based on a site visit
board member gordon i wrote a very
strong yes
based on staff recommendations
i wish you uh
success in this operation and go ahead
and i know that you will bring
tremendous tremendous relief to a lot of
people who suffer
and i have no other recourse but to use
cannabis
i believe me when i tell you i have so
many friends who
rely on this to get a night's sleep
to be free of pain
it's amazing what this product does even
the simple use perhaps maybe just cbd
which is which is a nothing as compared
to what cannabis in your retail store
could do
but if they have to take that extra step
and go get themselves a medical card
then it's something that they have to do
it's just unbelievable but
i don't hear anybody say anything
negative
so again i wrote a very strong yes and
good luck
chair thomas
i also vote yes
based on staff recommendations and site
visit
and so the motion passes
six
six to
zero next on the agenda is
commission commentary
thank you very much for coming and
sharing your information with us and we
wish you all success
you have commission comments
yes commissioner gordon yes i have
i think which is a very appropriate
statement to make
[Music]
knowing that
commissioner thomas is that this is her
last meeting
i have to tell you two years ago when
she joined the pnz i was so
thrilled to know that someone of her
stature and knowledge and history in the
city of being a councilwoman
being on a lot of commissions and
it's just amazing how much
she has been able to
to enlighten us in many cases
so we will miss you
and
i can only say that we have to hope that
everything goes well for you
that you know you take care of your
problems
and again we will miss you and i'm sorry
that you are leaving
thank you for that um i will miss
everybody as well
i have an additional comment as well you
know just yes the same thinking
commissioner thomas uh but also you know
i mean this this has been a really great
commission we've you know we've gained a
few new members such as rico and as well
as commissioner vega this year um and
i'm excited you know for i guess the the
fresh i guess maybe like like a fresh
in this commission i've been on it for
three years and
uh you know i've seen i've seen a lot of
things and i've seen our city continue
to grow and uh you know i just want to
remind people again um you know what we
saw today was just an example of growing
pains and we're going to have to
continue dealing with this for a while
and the new code is going to be
hopefully coming in soon and
i'm really excited that we all get to be
a part of that as well
thank you
okay i just want to say um
as many of you know i've i've tried to
retire several times
and it never seems to work out
so
we my husband and i retired early from
michigan state because he was diagnosed
with leukemia and our adult kids already
lived here and we're running our cafe so
we decided to move here
and i thought that i was i was looking
forward to getting back to pottery i
used to be a potter
and maybe doing some yoga
um so i didn't bring a pottery wheel but
i bought all my tools and my clay and my
glaze formulas
and
then i met jeff steinborn and he and
karen paris were setting up a little
group to study comprehensive plans and
there were i don't know eight or ten of
us
i don't think any of us knew what a
comprehensive plan was let alone what
made a good one
but we learned a lot several people from
that group actually ended up running for
office
nathan small gil sorg you'll recognize
the names i think we all got inspired by
jeff
then there was a group that wanted
kenmegashima to run for
mayor and he said he wouldn't do that
unless he knew who was going to run for
his seat and so
they asked me to go meet with them and i
met with them and and then he won and
and um and announced at his
meet at his uh party that night that i
was gonna run for his seat so
so then i had a new career and
so i wanted to learn more about planning
i spent a lot of time with my daughter
who's a planner and i started going to
conferences and
and i have to say that my husband who's
watching has put up with a lot over the
years he learned to
get those rotisserie chickens from
albertsons and find stuff to go with
them
did a good job on the meals
he put up with a lot of conferences and
meetings and and uh got very adept at
saying wait you need to talk to that
person over there
so it was kind of a two-person job
so but we just didn't get to the
comprehensive plan we did a strategic
plan but comprehensive plan didn't come
along the county got a grant they did
their comprehensive plan i worked a lot
on that and also on the implementation
so i kept hoping that we were sometimes
going to do that but it didn't look like
it was going to happen so i retired from
the city council and then lo and behold
the city decided to do a comprehensive
plan
so when i had the opportunity to join
this group you know that was i've jumped
at that opportunity because that's what
i'd been wanting to do from the very
beginning when i first
became a part of the city council so
so i said that i i want to thank all the
commissioners
several of you who are up here
worked on the comprehensive plan you all
put in extra long hours you know
just to make sure we had a good plan i
think we have a good plan and i want to
thank you all for doing that
as you've pointed out there's still work
to be done
the implementation is coming and you're
going to be seeing a lot of drafts and
and so
i would like to be here to do that but
my family at health issues don't make
that possible so so my charge to you is
that you make sure the comprehensive
plan gets implemented when all those
drafts come forward and that you pay
attention so
so i hope you'll be very familiar with
the comprehensive plan and see that the
implementation really does live up to
what we all put into the comprehensive
plan
so that's my charge to you
and in the meantime i think i'm going to
go look for a potter's wheel
staff announcements
larry if you if you don't mind yes
please go ahead okay uh
madam chair members of the commission i
i do want to let you all know that um
january as had been stated previously
during this meeting is going to be a
very very full agenda of course we had
the tabled item related to the halfway
house
there is going to be a zone change
related to the country club the old
country club property and there is also
um going to be a discussion item related
to where we are
uh in terms of the drafting of uh the
realized las cruces development code our
consultants will be in town
to talk about where we are
and how we're proceeding and so i just
just want to remind you that it's going
to be a long night but hopefully a good
night
so there's that and i also just wanted
to to thank you very very much uh
commissioner
uh thomas it's been a it's been really
nice to to work with you over the last
several years and we're gonna miss uh
really your care and passion for what we
all do and
you know i it's my profession and i i've
i've appreciated
that that you really do care deeply
about it so thank you
thank you and you know and i want to say
in that i've really enjoyed working with
the staff over all these years too it's
been a lot of years i've seen staff come
and go
and um i find the staff to be very
accomplished and and professional and
and help me learn more and more about
how all this works so i really
appreciate
the work the staff does
thank you madam chair larry nicholas
community development
i had four items uh announcement but
catherine has covered all of them
so i won't
labor any further on that
except for the last one and that is uh
with this meeting tonight
uh chair
thomas is attending her retirement
and passing will be soon passing the
gavel to
another member of the commission
and we want to express our sincere
appreciation for your
years of service to the city of las
cruces
both on the city council and on this
commission
and your your
public service is a
very challenging endeavor
but i can't think of any
more
rewarding one
than public service
which you have given many
many years and hours
so we want to thank you
sincerely from the city
and the community development staff
for your sage advice and direction and
decision making
and as you broaden your perspectives and
look for new horizons
we wish you all the best
thank you chair
yeah but one last thing before you
retire you had to sign a lot of mylars
what did you say i said before you
retire you have to sign a lot of mylars
oh you're stacking up the mylars for me
right before i can leave
yeah well i have to say you know i
thought your
retirement would be
much different than what it turned out
to be it's like having a whole nother
career and a whole another life and it's
been exciting and wonderful thank you
all
i'll entertain a motion to
i make a motion with you journey
is there a second uh commissioner
guerrero seconded all those in favor say
aye aye aye adjourned
thank you
oh
you