City Council Meeting September 16, 2024 MINUTES City Council Monday, September 16, 2024 @ 1:00 PM City Council Chambers, City Hall PRESENT: Mayor Eric Enriquez, Councilor Cassie McClure, Councilor William Mattiace, Councilor Becki Graham, Councilor Johana Bencomo, Councilor Becky Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores ABSENT: 1. OPENING CEREMONIES 1.1 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE - COUNCILOR FLORES. 1.2 PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES OF APPRECIATION/PROCLAMATIONS - COUNCILOR FLORES. Mayor Enriquez recognized the Mayor’s Top Teens. Mayor Enriquez presented Tony Lara with a Certificate of Appreciation. Councilor Flores presented Ashleigh Curry with a proclamation for International Walk to School Days. Councilor Flores presented Deborra Hale with a proclamation for Constitution Week. Councilor Flores presented Lorenzo Alba with a proclamation for Hunger Awareness Month. Councilor Flores presented Michael Chang with a proclamation for Las Cruces Symphony Association Day. Councilor Flores presented Rio Lopez with a proclamation for Hispanic Heritage Month. Councilor Becky Corran moved, seconded by Councilor Yvonne Flores, to allow Councilor McClure to participate via Zoom. RESULT: Carried MOVER: Councilor Becky Corran SECONDER: Councilor Yvonne Flores AYES: Mayor Eric Enriquez, Councilor Becki Graham, Councilor Johana Bencomo, Councilor Becky Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores ABSENT: Councilor Cassie McClure and Councilor William Mattiace 1.3 JOBS OF THE WEEK. Sarah Raney, New Mexico Workforce Connection presented Jobs of the Week. 1.4 PETS OF THE WEEK. Carol Nielson, Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley presented Pets of the Week. 2. CONFLICT OF INTEREST INQUIRY BY MAYOR AS REQUIRED BY LCMC SECTION 2-27 (E)(2) 2.1 None. 3. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 3.1 Tim Jenkins, Member of the Public said at the end of this last week I witnessed 7 to 8 of our outreach officers alongside Mano y Mano at the dirt lot across from Craig en Taggert, clearing the lot, cleaning up all the trash, and interacting with the homeless to see how we could help them out. I witnessed many of these homeless people literally picking up their tents and putting them on carts and wheels and driving their entire tent away around the corner from our officers. Friday afternoon I drove back by, and the entire lot was clean and not a single tent or a piece of trash was left. I left town for work early Saturday morning and returned Sunday midday, when I drove by on Sunday not only were there tents set back up but trash all over the place again and about 10 or 12 homeless camping out in front of Casa de Peregrinos with a hammock set up in front of the front entrance of the store. It seems to me that we are all pushing as hard and as fast as we possibly can for housing for these individuals when they are not even willing to help themselves. I truly believe in my heart that we are putting the cart before the horse, and we really need to focus on the mental health and the drug addiction of these individuals. It literally makes my heart hurt to see what this city has become. We are here to help and support you guys in whatever way we can, please help us. Charles Wendler, Member of the Public said I didn’t know we was going to be preempted here but the Daughters of the American Revolution gave a proclamation, I didn’t know that was on the agenda but anyway here I am and I would like to add a little bit more to it. My good friend Larry Sedillo is here to help me because my eyes. Let’s see if we can add a little bit more to this critical document that we call the Constitution. Daughters of the American Revolution, they started about 1955, they petitioned Congress and by 1956, August the 2nd they got that passed through Congress, that resolution. On that date they did sign into law, Public Law 915, which says, any institution in our country that receives federal funds, and I imagine there is a good number, I don’t know what the percentage here in Las Cruces is receiving federal funds, New Mexico State University, our public schools, etcetera, etcetera. They are suggested very strongly by that Public Law to observe it by having a program in place for the employees to etcetera, etcetera. I am wondering if that is really being done? I hope that maybe next time that this council meets the first Monday of next month if we will be able to get a report of what activities they had for the employees here to observe this critical document. It has been in existence for 237 years, thank God. With that being said Larry will you read for me? Larry Sedillo, Member of the Public said these are the aims of the weeks Constitution celebrations are to emphasize citizens responsibilities for protecting and defending the Constitution. Inform people that the Constitution is the basis for America’s great heritage and the foundation of our way of life. Encourage the study of the historical events which led to the framing of the Constitution in September 1787. Constitution Week is a great time to learn more about this important document and celebrate the freedoms it gave us. Get involved by encouraging young people to sign the Constitution Week Proclamation Pledge and ask your local community officials to issue a proclamation about the Constitution, thank you very much. Terry Miller, Member of the Public said I am a board member of the Children’s Reading Alliance. We serve children and their families throughout Dona Ana County but our office is located at Community Action Agency and thanks to the generosity of CEO Dawn Hummer, CRA has been able to store its books and materials in CAA’s warehouse for the past 13 years and that is why I am here today. For the past many years CRA has received numerous used book donations and purchased new books for our three programs and for the past many years these books have been piling up in the warehouse because we simply didn’t have the woman or manpower to get them organized. However, a couple of months ago CRA’s board President Rorie Measure attended a Diersen Charities meeting and had a chance to talk about CRA and its programs. After the meeting Pat Acosta, the Supervisor of the Youth Development and Diversion Learning Center spoke with Rorie about finding opportunities for our two programs to work together and the first co-project they came up with were the books in the warehouse. So, on Saturday, September 7th, four staff members from the Youth Development and Diversion Learning Center pulled up in a van with 4 teenage program participants and they were all ready to work. Two students and two staff members worked with our board member Duncan Smith shelving new books according to grade level and two students and two staff members worked with me going through boxes and boxes of donated books and deciding which books to keep, which books to donate to Coas and which books had lived a good life but were ready to be discarded. All four students took their job seriously and got to work. I was really impressed with the students who were tasks in deciding what to do with the used books and watched how they looked at each book carefully before deciding their fate and within two hours all of the used books had been touched and placed where they needed to go. Then the icing on the cake is when the staff offered to drop off all those Coas boxes on their way back to the learning center which saved Duncan and me much time and energy. The thing is that I have never heard of this wonderful program and the good it does for our youth who have had some minor brushes with the law. I had no idea it was part of the Parks & Recreation Program and funded by both the City of Las Cruces and New Mexico’s Children, Youth, and Families Department and it was exciting to learn of a program that provides early intervention opportunities to work on community service projects that really make a difference in both our lives and the lives of the students who participated. So, I am here today to talk not only about how I am not only grateful I am for this program but to thank you Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem Bencomo, Councilors, and the Parks & Recreation Department for supporting the Youth Development and Diversion Learning Center and it’s amazing, dedicated staff. Henry Ford is quoted in saying, “coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success”, and I want to add for us all. Veteran Chavez, Member of the Public said we have Hispanic Heritage Month but no national holiday honoring Hispanics or Latinos. Back on June 2016, the city established Ordinance 2784, where it states the City of Las Cruces established a Veterans Advisory Board for the purpose of advising city council in matters effecting Veterans and to propose solutions to alleviate and remedy the needs of local Veterans. Don’t take personal what I am about to say. I would like to know what the major Veteran’s needs or issues this advisory board is working on? I don’t see them listed anywhere. Where can I find them if they exist and what are the issues? What is the city and this board doing to address these issues if they do exist? I see these meetings and staff meeting with each Veteran organization and chair providing what they have done during the past month, but I don’t see any significant issues that have been identified by this board and what steps are being taken by this board to address them. Is there a one-year plan that lists the goals and priorities of this board? In my opinion there should be a minimum of 10 issues this board will work on for next year in 2025. The board should meet to identify and prioritize these issues around the October time frame and farm them out to wherever the board decides is a POC to start coordination and identifying whatever resources they may need in 2025 to accomplish their assigned task or tasks. Whatever resources are needed should be determined and finalized by the end of this year, 2024 that way the board has a clear understanding of what assistance and resources they may need to request from the city and if the task itself can be accomplished. The Coalition of Conservatives in Action has an initiative that they identify Veterans that need their American Flags replaced do to wear and tear and they go and replace these flags at no cost to Veterans. Does the City of Las Cruces have such a program in place? This could serve as an initiative or a priority for next year. The city could provide a flag exchange program for Veterans that need their flags replaced. Veterans could turn in their flags or their tattered flags for a new one at no cost to them. Also, the city could provide a flag to Veteran’s families upon the death of a Veteran when a Veteran is not entitled to a military funeral. Whose responsibility is it to provide guidance to the board? Is it city council and do they communicate directly with the board or is it through the liaison? Or is the board supposed to identify Veteran’s issues through the liaison and this information is communicated to city council? To me and other Veterans this is not very clear and transparent. Collectively it is going to take city council, the Veterans Advisory Board, and the liaison to make this a viable platform. Maybe it is time to develop and issue a survey to the community to identify Veterans issues and then prioritize the issues the city and board plan to address. The Veterans corner I understand it is on the city webpage to provide information to Veterans and I don’t see anything listed on this page that is helpful to Veterans aside from the Veteran’s liaison and the names of the Veterans Advisory Board. At minimum, there should be links to this page that takes the city ordinance establishing this board, the monthly minutes of this board, and the agenda, Veteran’s calendar events and Veteran’s issues that this board is working on. Marshall McCarty, Member of the Public said I live in District 2. I am an artist, a father, a community member, a youth advocate. Today I would like to propose to the city council an idea I have for a mural in honor of Officer Hernandez at the police substation adjacent to the dog park as the location I would like to do it. As we all know Officer Hernandez honorably sacrificed himself in service to our community. My vision for this mural is to honor Officer Hernandez and all other law enforcement Officers in a way that attracts community and attention, beautifies the city and encourages relationships between civilians and law enforcement professionals and invites youth. I brought some reference materials of some of my other murals I have done. I estimate that it would cost anywhere between $800 and $1,000 to get it done. I would be willing to do this all out of my own effort. I am disabled so I have more than enough time on my hands to help the community. It is something as a survivor of a stabbing it is something that I think about every day that I look in the mirror. It is something I would love to do for the community. Chris Pipsack, Member of the Public said I am a District 5 resident. As Marshall was explaining we have the idea for the mural. He had brought a portfolio of some of the work he does. Along with some contact information and I was curious if the council, Mayor, or Police Chief might have any sort of advice on what our next steps would be to coordinate with the city and possibly complete a formal proposal, submit some sketches and drafts and see if we can work together on a public art project to honor fallen Officer Hernandez. Susan Cabello, Member of the Public said I am the Executive Director of the Las Cruces Downtown Partnership. I was not here last time because we were onboarding some new board members. Justin Dermyer, a local luthier, which is a French word for a guitar maker and Brisa Byford, our first legacy board member. Her father was one of the founders of DLCP and she came down as a child to work with him. Really excited about having our two new board members on. I hope you get to meet them soon. Kind of also what I want to speak with you today is an opportunity to learn some of the stories of downtown. I would love for any of you who would like to go on a walk along with me of downtown and talk to some of your businesses. Kind of hear from them. I would just love for you guys to have the opportunity that I have to speak with our businesses every day and just hear it from them. So, if that is something that you would like to do with me and some of my board members if you would contact me let me know, make sure you get it straight from the horse’s mouth downtown. Hopefully it won’t be as exciting as a ride along with Chief Story but hopefully as informative. Really show you guys that downtown isn’t really a District 1 thing. Downtown is for everyone in Las Cruces. Dolores Lucero, Member of the Public said do you really want a city council that takes their time in getting things done because they are so wrapped in the social issues that cannot be controlled from this dais? In many years past there was so much for the council to concentrate on that involved the everyday lives of the citizens that should be represented. Safety in our neighborhoods, outreach to our seniors, mental health, children’s programs and well paved roads in everyone’s neighborhood. Now we see in the paper that we have a high rate of car theft and burglaries throughout our city. The unemployment rate is higher than that of the state and we don’t have many new jobs that pay more than minimum wage coming to Las Cruces. In fact, back in 2003, I was talking about our students leaving our community for better opportunities and how we needed to stop the drain. Here we are 14 years later and every elected official is still talking about stopping the drain. Seems to me that we have no priorities in place for this task. We have so many talk about mental health and how much help is needed but we can’t fund a facility, not even the one that is run by the county and shut down several times. The Just Weed It Program some of you might remember that is a great gesture is a great way of clearing weeds and trash as stated in the manager’s letter but yet we have a tent city that continues to grow, homeless children and senior centers such as Mesilla Park that has at its best days 20 seniors at any time. I read this to you because I wrote this on October 9, 2017, and it was printed in the Las Cruces paper at that time. Does many of these things still sound familiar to you? Are they still happening? Are we still talking about them every single day? Just today you had some amazing people here, students, children, and people working for the community, volunteers but this budget has grown substantially over the last 7 years that I wrote this. There have been salaries increased, almost doubled since the last city manager that I worked for. The problem is not money. The problem is dedicating the time that it takes to get it done one project at a time. Many of us have stood here and talked to you about the homeless, about the senior citizens. It is sad to me to hear Lorenzo Alba talk about increasing food every single year. We should be sad about that. I give him big kudos, he has worked hard at feeding our community across this county, but these situations continue to grow and until we target them and make them 100% priority in our community. This is my hometown and not something I am very proud of right now. 4. ACCEPTANCE OF AGENDA Councilor Johana Bencomo moved, seconded by Councilor Becki Graham, to accept the agenda as presented. MOVER: Councilor Johana Bencomo SECONDER: Councilor Becki Graham AYES: Mayor Eric Enriquez, Councilor Cassie McClure, Councilor William Mattiace, Councilor Becki Graham, Councilor Johana Bencomo, Councilor Becky Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores 5. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES 5.1 REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF AUGUST 19, 2024. 5.2 WORK SESSION OF AUGUST 26, 2024. 6. RESOLUTION(S) AND/OR ORDINANCE(S) FOR CONSENT AGENDA 7. RESOLUTION(S) AND/OR ORDINANCE(S) FOR DISCUSSION 7.1 RESOLUTION 25-035: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF LAS CRUCES (CITY) TO ACCEPT A GRANT AWARD FROM THE NEW MEXICO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (NMDOT). Crystal Silva, Associate Grant Development & Compliance Specialist gave the overhead presentation. Councilor Johana Bencomo moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to Approve Resolution No. 25-035. SECONDER: Councilor Becky Corran Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores 7.2 RESOLUTION NO. 25-036: A RESOLUTION APPROVING A REIMBURSEMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF LAS CRUCES AND SIERRA NORTE DEVELOPMENT, INC., FOR CONSTRUCTION OF A NEIGHBORHOOD PARK LOCATED IN THE METRO VERDE ARCADIA PHASE 3 SUBDIVISION, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $525,000.00. Cathy Mathews, Landscape Architect gave the overhead presentation. Councilor Flores asked the reimbursement goes which way? Cathy Mathews said the reimbursement is to the developer of Park Impact Fees paid. So, the development pays the Park Impact Fees and in exchange for design and construction of a neighborhood park the city will reimburse. Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to Approve Resolution No. 25-036. MOVER: Councilor Becki Graham Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores 7.3 RESOLUTION NO. 25-037: A RESOLUTION MAINTAINING THE EXISTING PARK LAND USE ASSUMPTIONS AND PARK DEVELOPMENT IMPACT FEES AND CONTINUING THE COLLECTION AND EXPENDITURE OF PARK IMPACT FEES UNDER THE CURRENT STRUCTURE NOT TO EXCEED A DATE OF JUNE 30, 2025, FOR THE PURPOSES OF COORDINATING WITH THE ADOPTION OF REALIZE LAS CRUCES. Katherine Harrison-Rogers, Parks Plan & Construction Administrator gave the overhead presentation. Councilor Bencomo asked you mentioned the end of the fiscal year, that is the timeline that we have right now for the extension? Katherine Harrison-Rogers said yes, because we have had a significant amount of study, and we have been working with TischlerBice and we are waiting for the culmination of Realize the end of the fiscal year for our purposes related to the Park Impact Fees and land use assumptions will be June 30, 2025. Councilor Bencomo asked between now and then will we be having some work sessions on this? Katherine Harrison-Rogers said I do anticipate that we can have some work sessions just to explain what we are doing, the results of Realize and how they impact one another and I am happy to add that to the schedule once we are a little bit more clear in terms of how Realize is moving forward and we are hoping of course that it will be sooner than later this fall and then ultimately in the winter. Councilor Corran said thank you for this presentation. I am really invested in Park Impact Fees and the ongoing conversation because I do want us to have really a deep dive even the previous agenda item really begs this conversation so I would like for us to have a very serious conversation to make sure we have a lot of inputs before we sort of do the updating so I am hoping in the spring we can have this conversation because I will just go on the record and say I don’t think our Park Impact Fees are enough and I know it is an unpopular position but I am going to put it out there and I hope the conversation can really help make sure that we are understanding what our needs are what our service is and how we are affecting sort of our overall park infrastructure in the city. So, I will state my unpopular opinion now and ask for more study in the spring. Councilor Mattiace asked I would just like a little history on the impact fees, where we are on the balance, and are the impact fees strictly dedicated to the parks? Is it restricted to parks improvement only? Katherine Harrison-Rogers said the Park Impact Fees were originally established in 1995. They have according to our studies not ever been quite enough to account for continuing what we consider our level of service. Basically, the amount of park acreage per resident in the city. They have gone up incrementally and in 2013 we saw the largest increase to the $2,600 that we see today and that has been maintained for over a decade now. Those fees again are utilized to maintain a high level of service in park land. We can use them for any park related facility. It can be used for trails, for acquiring land and it can be used for planning and designing of those parks and for improvements in those parks and so the resolution that you saw just before this one we were utilizing those Park Impact Fees that have been collected to then purchase essentially the improvements of that park in Metro Verde. Councilor Bencomo asked acreage per person and what is that? Katherine Harrison-Rogers said when the master plan was done in 2019, what they do as part of their level of services as part of the land use assumptions is we look at all of the park types and the amount of acreage per person in the city and for neighborhood parks it is .89 acres per 1,000 people if I am correct. Councilor Becky Corran moved, seconded by Councilor Becki Graham, to Approve Resolution No. 25-037. Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores 7.4 RESOLUTION NO. 25-038: A RESOLUTION REVERSING AN APPROVAL RECOMMENDATION BY THE PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION REGARDING A ZONE CHANGE REQUEST SEEKING A CHANGE FROM R- 1A (SINGLE-FAMILY MEDIUM DENSITY) TO R-2C (MULTI-DWELLING LOW DENSITY - CONDITIONAL) FOR PROPERTY LOCATED AT 2795 N. ROADRUNNER PARKWAY. SUBMITTED BY THE COMMUNITY OF MORNING STAR DRIVE. Christine Rivera, City Clerk said Adam I will do you first. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony that you are about to give is the truth and nothing but the truth under penalty of law? Adam Ochoa, Senior Planner said yes, I do. Christine Rivera said thank you. Adam Ochoa said thank you, Adam Ochoa, Community Development for the record. Before you we have essentially it is an appeal to a recommendation for a zone change done by the Planning and Zoning Commission for a property located at 2795 Roadrunner Parkway. To give you a little bit of background from the beginning of what we are dealing with here. The subject property itself is located on the southwest corner of what is Roadrunner Parkway and Morning Star Drive and it is approximately five acres in size. It is currently zoned R-1a single family medium density. The property is located though within the suburban neighborhood place type as called out by Elevate Las Cruces Comprehensive Plan. It is characterized low to moderate density residential intermixed with areas of commercial. Inclusive land uses include single family uses, multifamily apartments, commercial office, schools, quasi- institutional, religious institutions, and so forth like that. The property is currently vacant or undeveloped. It is not part of any master plan area in that area. This is kind of a stand-alone place. The remainder of the subdivision in those areas were all master planned essentially and that is why essentially it is just a sea of single-family homes with some quasi-institutional and then some multi-family further south on Roadrunner. Utilities are available directly adjacent to the site. There are some significant terrain and grade that exist on the property. There is definitely a lot of groundwork will have to be done whenever it gets developed or whatever it gets developed with. Surrounding land uses include single family residential including large single family residential neighborhood to the west, quasi-institutional, a church, there is offices in institutional uses, there is a school, there is open space, flood control, the Las Cruces Dam is pretty close by there, some multifamily and some other institutional in the broader area. Showing you here, that is that property zoned R-1a, as you can see it is completely surrounded by single family there. There is multi-family located here northeast of the property. That is a religious institution, the Las Cruces Dam over here. Here some area if you can see that a little bit better and again single-family homes, church here, and the dam and that is that property. You can kind of see some of that terrain differences how it goes up and down if you will so definitely an issue for this area when this property gets developed. Here are some photos of the surrounding road network. This is on Roadrunner Parkway looking south at Morning Star Drive, that intersection right there. This area is Morning Star and this intersection of Morning Star Drive and Roadrunner looking north along Roadrunner and this is looking directly west of Morning Star Drive you can see going into that single family residential neighborhood to the west. Originally the applicant proposed the zone change to R-4 which is multi dwelling high density limited retail and office. The development focus is really conceptual at this time which was subject to change with the developer. Just wanted to see what he can and cannot do since under the R-4 zoning district you can kind of set your maximum densities as what is allowed by code that would be something they would be working out with staff but essentially what he came forward with a 96 unit apartment complex which would actually give him about a 92.2 dwelling units per acre density and related ancillary uses, offices, playgrounds, workout facilities. There are two points of ingress and egress along each frontage. The main entrance being proposed along Morning Star Drive itself, they were proposing two- or three-story apartment buildings with a clustering or groupings of 8 to 12 units together because staff did see potential issues from the surrounding property owners so per code staff is allowed to request the applicant to provide early notification to surrounding property owners. I don’t know if you remember but six, seven, eight, maybe nine months ago people were coming with we got these letters, who sent these letters, those were the letters that the property owner sent out. So, because of the early notification essentially what resulted was a neighborhood meeting that took place. It took place at the Morning Star United Methodist Church. The one that is directly northeast of this property on April 9, 2024. That meeting was very well attended. A couple of staff, the applicant was there, the property owner and a number of concerned citizens of course. Concerns brought up at that meeting were issues of speeding, congestion in the area, poor line of sight for the street work that is there, potential accidents, lack of signalization, on street parking, pedestrian safety, noise issues, decrease of property values, privacy, etcetera, etcetera. This is kind of a conceptual layout of what the applicant was looking to do. Here is Roadrunner Parkway, Morning Star Drive with the main entrance off of Morning Star Drive. Here are just some conceptual elevations of what those buildings would look like. The clustering is 8 to 12 units per building. Once staff did their analysis, they really saw no health, safety, or welfare issues identified when we were doing our review. We did deem though the R-4 request a bit excessive for the neighborhoods considering the large amount of nothing but single-family residential homes in the area. With that being said, staff did put a number of conditions on that R-4 zoning to be considered to achieve kind of a higher degree of consistency and compatibility with the area to still allow the multi family, just try to be a little more compatible with the area when it comes to densities for the neighborhood. The proposal is consistent with the suburban neighborhood place type for Elevate Las Cruces which actually calls out for growth densities and multifamily of 15 to 30 dwelling units per acre. Elevate Las Cruces does speak of the development of land and housing diversity, balanced growth integrating a new development with surrounding build environment with potential for job, housing balances, mixed use neighborhoods achieved in the attainable housing which is something that Elevate Las Cruces really speaks of as well. Elevate also speaks of consistency and compatibility when in proximity of developed areas again why staff placed those conditions to try to hold back on what could potentially be developed on the property. Staff did recommend conditions that would be aligned with all existing policy to try to achieve this proposal. Public notice was provided as per code by staff to the surrounding property owners. Staff did receive several phone calls, walk in inquiries, multiple emails, a petition, I believe that petition was of the part of you packet as well in opposition of the proposal. Some additional calls and input was also received by staff actually in favor of the request. So, on May 28, 2024, the Planning & Zoning Commission did take this proposal under their consideration, and they did go ahead and recommend an approval with conditions by a vote of four to one. They did though add or even more restrict the zoning on the property. They actually lowered the zoning designation that was being proposed. So instead of R-4 they changed it to R-2C, which is multi dwelling low density conditional uses limited to multiple family or single family residential uses as a primary use only, limited unit clustering. Density was limited to a 12 dwelling units per acre, total max of 60 units max for the property so a third less than what the applicant was proposing to do. Additional landscape and buffering requirements were placed on the conditions, architectural elements, building design elements and additional parking requirements to assure that whoever is living there will use the onsite parking instead of on street parking. Findings that were essential that were discussed was the property request for five acres for 96 units was dropped down to 60 per the Planning and Zoning Commission. Lesser zoning designation can be considered by P&Z for example if R-4 is deemed excessive, R-2 or R-3 could potentially align with Elevate Las Cruces in a built environment. Subject property is within the suburban place type character with lower to moderate density which is essentially what this apartment complex would achieve. The proposed zone change is supported by Elevate Las Cruces comprehensive plan and meets the purpose and intent of the 2001 zoning code as amended. Surrounding area consist of larger single family residential homes but there is quasi-institution, office institution and other open space and multifamily in the area. Zoning also aligns with that with R-1a zoning, A1, A2 zoning, office zoning, R-4 zoning in the area. Per Elevate the development/redevelopment of the property when in proximity of existing development should consider design measures that bring about greater levels of compatibility and per Elevate that the development/redevelopment of the property when in proximity to an existing development, that’s the same one. My apologies. So, with that, that was the recommendation made by the Planning and Zoning Commission. We did receive an appeal for that recommendation on June 11th of 2024. Recommendations from the Planning and Zoning Commission aren’t typically appealed because that is not under purview for final action. Typically, per code what is appealed is final action not a recommendation. City Council actually has final action on zone change cases so. This a situation where staff believes the appeal should have come after you all made your decision on the zone change. With the appeal essentially asserts nine arguments. They state there is no beneficial use deprevation, no public interest served by this proposed zone change, alternative parcels are available for development, there is no change in the conditions of the property requiring a zone change, uniformity and comprehensive planning is considered spot zoning, conditional zoning, quality of life, population and traffic density, and so on and so forth with something like that but I will let the appellants elaborate more on what their appeal is. With that just to clarify for you all. Your options would be one to vote yes. This will approve the appeal thereby reversing the decision of the Planning and Zoning Commission and the existing R-1a zoning will remain. Two to vote no and deny the appeal and this affirms the zone change decision made by the Planning and Zoning Commission. The ordinance will then come before you all for the actual zone change itself on a later date. Three to amend the resolution or four to table and postpone and direct staff accordingly. That is the conclusion of my presentation. I believe the appellants are here with a representative for them, but I stand for questions. Mayor Enriquez said okay, thank you Adam. We will go and see if the council. Councilor Flores, have any questions? Councilor Flores said yes, I do. Thank you and thank you Mr. Ochoa for the presentation. This is a tough one and I will tell you why because it used to be my district. It is now Councilor Graham’s after the redistricting pursuant to the census, whatever, 2020, and I have spoken to some of my former constituents, and I understand and sympathize and, but I do applaud the Planning Commission for lowering the number of residences or housing units. Lowering it to, did you say 60? From 90 something like that. Adam Ochoa said Councilor Flores, Mayor Enriquez that is correct. Sixty, maximum of 12 dwelling units per acre is what they are allowed under their conditions. Councilor Flores asked yes and then there were also some restrictions or on parking and the units will have parking spaces to eliminate that clutter in that area? Adam Ochoa said Councilor Flores, Mayor Enriquez yes, essentially, they increased the minimum number of parking stalls required on site because they want basically if you live there, you park there and not on the street trying to lessen the traffic and the parking on the streets so that is why they increased the number of parking stalls on site itself. Councilor Flores asked okay, would that be two per unit or? Adam Ochoa said that is correct, ma’am. Councilor Flores said okay, perhaps this is a little dicey but when there is an empty lot adjacent to a property, especially a residential area that is already established is there any way of either the city taking the responsibility because I don’t know if contractors or the land owners would be required to do anything but for the city to let the prospective buyers of the homes that would be effected if that empty lot to be developed. If there be any notice given at that time and the reason is because when people buy a home they figure, oh we have this beautiful empty corner lot there, but it is not really walkable or anything. It is not like the community park where you can walk it, but nonetheless I don’t know if the city has the onus or if it doesn't, would it be able to ask the builders or the landowners as to what their plans are and I like to just share this little story. When I was campaigning for the first time, and I was met by people who were very angry over by the East Mesa because when they bought their home, they were led to believe that there would be no further development and some of them have moved away, and they were very upset because the view of the Organ Mountains had been blocked. So, the question I asked them was, who told you that? They said the realtor, the real estate person. I said well, ya they want to sell a house and I said it would have been better for you to ask who the owner is or who the developer, or the owner of the land and go that route but you know it is too late. What is it, the chicken has already left the coop, or whatever. I don’t know what the expression is. But I said that very cocky and you know I thought well you know there are about four or five people there who gave me really dirty looks and I said okay well don’t vote for me, you know whatever. All that being said I do sympathize with the people who live there. What I do applaud is our Planning Department, our Community Development Department to have gone in and have had an impact on the amount and our Planning Commission to reduce the number of homes there and given the shortage of homes that we have these would be more affordable. Would it take care of the homeless issue? Absolutely not. Would it provide housing for the missing middle? I am hopeful that it would, but I don’t have that crystal ball. So, I sympathize with the people from that area because, but I just wanted to share my sentiments with you and the residents from that area and I do want to share that I think that the development there has been lessened. It has so maybe the homes or units will be a little bit bigger so there is less whatever, not 90 but 60. But I just wanted to share those thoughts, and I wanted to also clarify but thank you Mr. Ochoa. Thank you, Mayor. Mayor Enriquez said Councilor Mattiace. Councilor Mattiace said thank you. Mr. Ochoa can you tell me whether how the vote goes either denied or approved, what is the impact of Realize New Mexico? The new land usage code that will occur if this was to come up for? Are they allowed a second appeal? Or can they bring it forward again? And how would that Realize New Mexico change the landscaping there if any? Adam Ochoa said Mayor, Councilor Mattiace it is still under review right now. There is a potential that the densities and the land usage would be permitted on this property of what they are proposing sir, but nothing has been finalized yet so multifamily could still potentially go on this property when we finalize Realize Las Cruces considering its size and the zoning that it will be sir, but nothing has been 100% finalized just yet, sir under Realize right now. Councilor Mattiace said okay thank you. Adam Ochoa said yes, sir. Councilor Flores said Mr. Mayor I have another question. Mayor Enriquez said go ahead, Councilor Flores. Councilor Flores said Mr. Ochoa based on Councilor Mattiace’s question my understanding was that Realize that this would be in conformity with Realize and it was and there wouldn’t be any change. Am I wrong? Adam Ochoa said Councilor Flores that is correct. The actual densities though have not been finalized yet. So, the land uses is something that is being permitted on the property but the actual densities not completely 100% finalized just yet ma’am but it would be a permitted land use, yes. Councilor Flores said yes but the density I think when you said there would be 60 units instead of 90, that is like a third or two thirds of what or instead of the full 90. I mean that is a big difference, but you are saying that that is not the case. Or is it already? Wait a minute, I am sorry. P&Z reduced it to 60 so that will stay? It depends? It is already established? Adam Ochoa said Mayor, Councilor Flores that is correct if the applicant wishes to continue with his zone change and the ordinance for it that would be the condition on the property ma’am. Councilor Flores said okay, thank you, thank you very much. Thank you, Mayor. Mayor Enriquez said seeing none others. We have the spokesperson for the Community of Morning Star Drive, is that Ms. Sandy Bein? Ya, the City Clerk will swear you in. Christine Rivera said hi Sandy. Sandy Bein, Member of the Public said hi. Christine Rivera said do you swear or affirm that the testimony that you are about to give is the truth and nothing but the truth under penalty of law? Sandy Bein said I do. Sany Bein said Mr. Mayor and city council thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today and for the extra time since I am representing so many. My name is Sandy, and I am not here just to speak for myself but for all the people in the community that you see before you as well as a great many more that couldn’t be here today. We are here with a request to reverse the approval recommendation made by the Planning and Zoning Commission for the property detailed in your packet. We do not believe that the Planning and Zoning Commission recommendation demonstrates an understanding of our concerns. We are here in support of a no zoning change to this property and there is a plethora of reasons our community is opposed to any zoning change. I will be highlighting many with the intention that it will help you understand our position and ultimately agree with it. This property has been zoned R-1a single family medium density for more than 28 years and perhaps it has always been zoned that way. I am not sure. I bought my home five years ago. Some of my neighbors bought their homes more than 25 years ago. All of us checked the zoning before purchasing and based part of our decisions to live in this neighborhood on the single- family home zoning status. This is a neighborhood of all single-family homes. Anything else on the property would not be compatible with the current neighborhood. It would have a negative impact on those of us who live here and whose expectation is that only single-family homes would be built at the five-acre property. Changing the zoning on this land would not fit into the expressed position of the zoning ordinance Section 38.2. which states consideration of the general welfare of the community and purpose of improving citizens lives. This in no way would improve our quality of life. It in fact would be detrimental. Some find it so detrimental that they would consider selling their homes and moving if apartment buildings were put up on those five acres. We bought our homes in this neighborhood for a reason and with the expectation that only single-family homes would be built on that land. Let me share some of the ways that this would be a detriment to our neighborhood. Traffic is a big concern. Roadrunner is a very busy thoroughfare between Lohman and Highway 70, and we have already many apartment complexes on Roadrunner to the south and more would elevate traffic concerns. Exiting and entering either Stellar or Morning Star is already difficult. Camino Real Middle School is across the street and just a few blocks north. Car and pedestrian traffic during drop off and pick up times is a huge concern and our children’s safety must be considered. Parking though addressed previously it is still a problem. Even if only two spots are allocated many apartments have more than two drivers and certainly when friends and people come to visit it would spill over on to Morning Star. The east portion of Morning Star is a feeder street and our end of Morning Star is not it is in fact a cul-de-sac with no outlet at the of the property in question. Adding traffic and parking would be an undesirable feature for those of us who call this neighborhood our home. Parking on the street because there is no overflow from any proposed apartment complex would overburden an already crowded street create a dangerous situation for our children and an unwelcomed one for the rest of us. Other concerns related to having apartments on this property to consider. Well, if you have not seen this piece of property for yourself, I strongly encourage you to do so. My home for example backs up to the property separated by a four-foot rock wall. Same situation for many of my neighbors. If a zoning change is approved it would be very likely that right across that rock wall where I sit in my back yard or on my hammock would be dumpsters, cars, and the back side of the apartment complex. Would you want that in your neighborhood, in your backyard? I sure don’t. Some homes that surround this property are actually elevated yet border the property and they are concerned about the stability of their homes to construction of this nature begin. Other concerns include privacy issues. Even two-story buildings will create privacy issues for some of the homes. Buildings will have apartments looking right into existing backyards as well as blocking the view of the mountains, an increase of trash necessitating dumpsters, would not just be distasteful but also noisy. There are concerns about water runoff, flooding, property values declining, noise levels increasing, traffic accidents and incidents increasing. We are community that is greatly concerned about the negative impact to rezone could have on our lovely neighborhood and on our quality of life. There seems to be a lot of community concern and upset regarding zoning changes around the city. We have seen other yellow signs around town. In some cases these signs indicate that Elevate Las Cruces is being properly used for new development but in a few such as ours where we are established neighborhoods it does not. We have our doubts that changing zoning in these areas are the intended use for the program. There are so many thoughtful and wonderful programs and initiatives that the city provides please extend the same thoughtfulness to this situation. Careful consideration and concerns should be given to all the residents in the city in situations like ours. We understand that the city council has an obligation to protect the wellbeing and financial investments of the residents of Las Cruces. We are asking you to do exactly that in this situation and deny any rezoning request for this land. We are asking for compliance with Code 38.2 L which states, ensure that development proposals are sensitive to the character of existing neighborhoods. Our neighborhood is a single-family home only neighborhood, please, please respect that. Elevate Las Cruces was designed to promote diversity in new neighborhoods or redeveloping neighborhoods. This is an old established community that should remain single family homes. I know that you all have copies of the appeal of Planning and Zoning decision keeping in mind the general health, safety, and welfare of our community, please be reminded that the goal is to improve each citizen’s quality of life. Apartments in this area would not accomplish that but work in direct opposition. I ask that you carefully review the appeal, consider my words, the needs and the best interest of our neighborhood and do the right thing. Do not allow any zoning change on this property. Thank you so much. Mayor Enriquez said thank you Sandy. Any questions by council? Adam was there anything else? Adam Ochoa said no sir, I will just stand for any additional questions you all might have. Mayor Enriquez said ya, I will go ahead and allow some public comments if there is more members of the public that want to speak. We will give you two minutes since there is a large crowd. Catrina, can you assist and help out with escorting? Jim Hurst, Member of the Public said my name is Jim Hurst. I am not, I don’t live in the affected area, but I am a citizen of this community. The principle of democracy is the greatest good for the greatest number. To the people of that community, being a property owner does not entitle you to a world that doesn’t change around you. It doesn’t entitle you to keep poor people out. There is a lot of poor people in this world and there is a housing shortage in this community. So, you have an obligation to help your neighbors by helping to provide a place for them to live. This is not your world. You bought a home not a world. Thank you. Two other things, you can move, we can’t. The city can’t move. If you don’t like it here you can go somewhere else, growing cities grow property value. Population increases means property value increases. So, population growth is to your interest and second, you are going to be gone someday and the city is still going to be here. So, the city has to think of itself first and its residents second because that is how cities grow, and growing cities are valuable cities and healthy cities. Thank you. Jesus Torres, Member of the Public said my name is Jesus Torres. Just an observation from the gentleman that said this is not our world. I realize that but this property where I live. Mayor Enriquez said sir, can you come a little closer to the microphone? Jesus Torres said okay. What I said is that the gentleman said that this is not our world but it is our official land where we own that property the way it was and what I am asking is first of all when I saw all those school children that were walking around in here I remember seeing a lot of school kids because there is a school right there within a block of where they want to build all these supposedly beautiful apartments and it is really sad to see school children running across the street because of the traffic coming you know. There is a hill on one side where you can’t see the cars until the right coming down, there is a curve on the other side that really blocks the traffic. So what I am saying and I want to ask is all of the city council, all of you is first of all think of the safety of the children and think if the safety of pedestrians that walk there and the big traffic congestion and as you live there and drive in and out on a daily basis you don’t really know what it is like especially during traffic hour and every sixty or fifty, whatever they cut it down to is still going to add all of those vehicles going in and out every day and Roadrunner, Morning Star is not a through street. You have to turn around and come back to able to get out of there. What I am asking is please, please keep it the way it is. God bless you and thank you so much. Joni Highsmith, Member of the Public said when I moved here. Mayor Enriquez said ma’am can you state your name please? Joni Highsmith said oh sorry, Joni Highsmith and when I moved here, I believed this was a community that we had zoning rules. So, I checked zoning rules before I moved to the area. I don’t happen to live in this area, but I don’t understand what the benefit to the town is in changing a neighborhood into it. All down Morning Star there is so much property available so what you are telling me is somebody can buy a piece of property knowing it is zoned as one and then they can make a bigger profit on it. If I didn’t think there was any land available in the area, I would totally say yes we need to change this because we need housing but I am seeing all of this happening on Roadrunner and I see all the empty places that are all the way down Morning Star heading there. So, it doesn’t make sense to me why you think this is in the best interest. What it is telling the people is when you come to Las Cruces, oh top community to live in, don’t worry because we are just going to change things whenever we want without a reason and this does not have a reason. You talk about two parking spaces, if you have ever driven on Morning Star and tried to get back out on Roadrunner, if those cars are parked on the right side of the road to the guest, for the people who have children, who have teenage cars, we won’t be able to see. It’s not wide enough to have cars parked on one side of Morning Star and parked on the other if you are looking at parking you need to allocate at least four places for each place so that you have plenty of extra things. There is just no benefit to this. I have tried to walk across from Morning Star, and I have done it with little kids in strollers, it is scary because people are flying down. So maybe you need to look at other areas. Mayor Enriquez said ma’am, thank you, your time is up. Thanks. Richard Griffin, Member of the Public said my name is Richard Griffin. I have lived there for 28 years. I think I am the longest living resident in that neighborhood. I am handicapped. I have two autistic kids. My now twenty-year-old daughter used to literally have to run across Roadrunner. It is not his problem, but they are failing, the police are failing. There is no crossing guard, children are walking across the street every day and cars are going by at 60 or 70 miles per hour around a blind intersection. There is no adequate, how many houses could go in there? Twenty, thirty? And you are going to do sixty? That is probably 100 cars. You know there is no way of having exiting. That is a cul-de-sac neighborhood. Everything is going to come in and out the street. I don’t know if anyone of you have seen that intersection near the middle school during drop off time? You guys all need to consider one of these kids is going to die and I don’t want it to be my granddaughters. You guys have no idea how much impact it is going to be on us. He needs to get a cop out there and literally stop those people going 70 miles an hour. Get a crossing guard at the school. You guys have blood on your hands if you vote for this and I don’t mean to be rude. How many houses can go in there? Put houses there. Why are you going to congest that whole neighborhood? You are going to kill somebody. You are going to add to the congestion. There are accidents on that street corner weekly and you are going to have apartment buildings there? You all if you vote for this you will have blood on your hands, literally. My kids literally ran to school to cross Roadrunner. Put a light up. Get a cop there. If you have a cop, there right now maybe one day a week. Do something about it. Don’t vote for this. Francis Philip Brennan, Member of the Public said Mayor, council members. Thank you for this opportunity. My name is Francis Philip Brennan. I do not live in the road in question here, but I do live on Moonlight Ridge Arc, and I can attest to this previous gentleman’s comments about lack of police enforcement. You are waiting for an accident to happen. That drop off zone in the morning and in the afternoon, you have vehicles backed up onto travel lanes which neck down two lanes to one. You have children as I said literally running across the roadway because there is no traffic crossing guard. There is nobody there. You have morning traffic and afternoon traffic Monday through Friday literally running down, speeding down the road because there is no police enforcement on that road. You are waiting for an accident to happen to a child, or somebody get runover and damage for life if not killed outright. Thank you. Davis Davidson, Member of the Public said good afternoon I will try to be as quick as I can. My name is Davis Davidson I do live in this community. I had a quick question as to the density it is currently zoned at? How many single-family homes can you get on there per acre? So how many is that five acres? Okay, so the difference between 40 and 60, they are asking you to increase 20 units, correct? Pretty much over what we currently have zoned. So, the question is, is 40 enough or do we absolutely need 60? Sixty changes the community inherently. Forty leaves our community exactly the same. Your goals are met. You have increased housing. You don’t destroy our community, you don’t increase traffic, people will stop yelling at the Chief, right? That is the inherent question. It is not, hey they did a good thing going 90 to 60. The developer shot for the moon and asked for 90. They got lucky and got 60, he probably expected less. Let’s leave it at 40. Forty homes in that community is fantastic. We will take that. We are a diverse community. We are quiet. We like our community. Let’s leave it that. Find a place to put those other 20. The other thing in the Zoning Commission was really heavy when they voted on it is they said it was walkable. These apartments will not be walkable to any amenities. There is no grocery stores, no convenience stores, there is nothing. There is an insurance agency and a church and a middle school. To get to Walmart which is the closest one is a horrible walk up Roadrunner where you guys have put the sidewalks right on the curb probably a little over a mile is the closest, so it is not walkable, and two they argued that it was affordable. This is not affordable housing in any way, shape, or form. Those apartments will cost more than any of our mortgages. So, if you want affordable housing, you want to keep our community safe. We want to meet you guys’ goal for growth. We want 40 homes in there. We want it to look like the community we bought. We have a pediatrician from India, we have a nurse from New York, it’s a diverse community. Leave it how it is. And we will accept your 40 homes. Mayor Enriquez said okay, thank you. Okay thank you for your comments. Is there any other questions? Council? Go ahead Adam, what are the options again and if you could? Let me just clarify what the options and know what the options are. Adam Ochoa said sure thing Mayor. So, your options today is one to vote yes. This will approve the appeal. Thereby reversing the decision made by the Planning and Zoning Commission. Two to vote no, this will deny the appeal and affirm the zoning decision made by the Planning and Zoning Commission and the ordinance will come before you on a later date. Mayor Enriquez said go ahead Christine. Councilor Johana Bencomo moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to Approve Resolution No. 25-038. RESULT: DEFEATED. AYES: Mayor Eric Enriquez, Councilor William Mattiace, and Councilor Yvonne Flores NAYS: Councilor Cassie McClure, Councilor Becki Graham, Councilor Johana Bencomo, and Councilor Becky Corran 8. BOARD APPOINTMENTS 8.1 CHADI EL-KHOURY Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to appoint Chadi El-Koury to the City Art Board. Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores 8.2 ALEXANDRA MCKENNEY Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to appoint Alexandra McKenney to the Lodger’s Tax Advisory Board. 9. NOTICE OF PROPOSED ORDINANCE(S) 1) There will be no public discussion. 2) A Councilor may ask staff for clarification on the proposed ordinance(s). 9.1 None. 10. CITY COUNCIL MEMBER BOARD REPORTS AND COMMENT 10.1 COUNCILOR MATTIACE None. 10.2 COUNCILOR GRAHAM None. 10.3 COUNCILOR CORRAN I wanted to give a quick shoutout to Dawn Duncan and Animal Companions of Las Cruces for their fundraiser on Friday which was really a very extraordinary event. I appreciated seeing a lot of folks there and the commitment and the can-do attitude of Dawn and team to improve the lives of animals and their companions in Las Cruces. So, I just wanted to share my gratitude for that event and tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m., we will have the groundbreaking for Fire Station 9 which will be at the corner of Sonoma Ranch and Central. This is a GO Bond project, and I really appreciate the voters having us put the first fire station north of Highway 70. So, I am looking forward to the groundbreaking at 3 p.m. 10.4 COUNCILOR FLORES The South Central Regional Transit District, it goes all over southern New Mexico and into El Paso is doing very, very well. The numbers were good before the Covid and then the numbers now, they are just off the chart. It is just amazing. David Armijo, the fellow that heads that has been doing a fantastic job getting federal grants and making sure that this part of the USA gets a fair share of the federal funds. 10.5 COUNCILOR BENCOMO Ultimately you know I think I am very concerned about the traffic issues that folks keep raising here. I think we have a laundry list of streets where folks are telling us that they absolutely need traffic calming. The budget for traffic calming is not more than $80,000 a year, I think maybe less and so this is clearly an issue that keeps coming up. I look and hoping that Vision Zero is coming to a Work Session soon, but the reality is in the last 20 to 30 years, we have built this city to be a car centric city. It is truly not walkable. It is completely around the needs of drivers and vehicles and that is a sad reality that we should address that I think is related but separate from housing development. I think in the last almost five years that I have been on this council there has not been a time where someone has not been against an apartment complex. Even items that don’t come to council people will email me about their concerns about apartment complexes and I think we really have to explore the deeper meaning of that. What it really means for people to be against apartment complexes and multifamily dwellings because it has been an issue every single year and it doesn’t, the excuse hardly matters at this point. It is either traffic or those people that we don’t like living in our neighborhood but the reality is that every time an apartment complex has come to council people have wanted us to vote against it and so we definitely have to separate the two conversations but continue the conversation around traffic calming and this reality that we have a very much car centric community that impacts the very wellbeing of our neighborhoods. That is just a couple of comments I wanted to make regarding that last item. Speaking of traffic calming, we are having a meeting right here in city chambers regarding the South Melendres traffic calming efforts that we have been discussing the last couple of years. That meeting is going to be held right here in city chambers Thursday, September 26th, at 5:30 for about an hour. I will be here. Our constituent services folks will be here, city staff, Public Works. We will have a conversation about South Melendres and that is September 26th and then this Saturday, September 21st from 9 to 12 a.m. we will be holding a neighborhood cleanup event for the Branding Iron Circle neighborhood and I just really want to thank Catrina and the constituent services team for setting that up and Catrina and Andres, my Intern went and did door hangers and everything last week inviting folks to participate in that neighborhood so I just really wanted to say thank you all and hopefully that event is successful. Then just lastly, I participated in the MRA discussions last week. I was only able to go to two but the first one I went to was on Monday and it was really well attended. There was a lot of engagement. It was really exciting and then I went for the last day on Wednesday and I just have to say that the questions, the engagement, the conversation just felt so fruitful and someone even said I just experienced so much joy coming to these last three meetings and I think that is what happens when we really focus in on an area that deeply needs it and an area that has been historically neglected like El Paseo/South Solano and I am just really excited. I am most excited to really dig deeper on the conversation and the plans that they presented. I really think we have an opportunity to do some short-term planning and very much long term visionary planning but at the same time while we are doing that is really keeping the spirit of all of this intact which is ultimately the redevelopment of El Paseo as a corridor and South Solano as a corridor. They presented so many incredible things from a bunch of other areas in the MRA which are really exciting and incredible, and I don’t want to lose focus of ultimately the spirit of the MRA which was really honing in on that redevelopment and revitalization of El Paseo and the South Solano corridor. So, thank you to staff so much, Economic Development, all the staff for getting us here. 10.6 MAYOR ENRIQUEZ I just want to say again congratulations to the City of Las Cruces and voting yes on the GO Bond on Friday there is a grand opening for the East Mesa Sports Complex, the baseball fields, the soccer fields, multi-use fields, practice fields and the pickleball courts that are there. It is a great thing for the community. Again, we thank all the residents that said yes. That is something that has been accomplished and still continuing to grow but it was a great event. It is a great thing for Las Cruces to have a sports complex in that area. So, congratulations to Las Cruces. Again, thank you to Parks & Rec, Public Works, and everyone else that worked on that campaign and on that project. The other thing that I want to mention is that we had the Walk to School Proclamation as Ashleigh mentioned. The last couple of Thursdays I have taken upon myself to walk with Hermosa Heights Elementary. I think Chief Smith remembers, I am not sure maybe he wasn’t on yet, but we had Adopt a School back in the day. So my challenge was when I had a fire station was each crew or each shift would adopt a school and that was our school that we adopted and we would go and we would mentor and read or play in the playground and that was our school that we adopted as fire fighters and I took that upon myself as a Mayor to adopt Hermosa and go walk with them in the morning. I challenge council to adopt a school in your district. Walk with them. Go visit with them. It means so much to them that when they see leadership of this community showing an interest in them and showing them that we value them and I have to tell you the security guard told me the second time I was there he said I am glad you are here because a little girl just asked, the Mayor, is he coming again or is it just a onetime deal? They are very pleased to see us more often. So, if you all take that challenge, adopt a school as Mayor and council and walk with them, read to them, talk to them, whatever you can do. I know they will receive you well. 11. CITY MANAGER REPORT 11.1 IKANI TAUMOEPEAU For Parks & Rec, Thursday, September 19th at 6 p.m. the advisory board meeting, there will be dog park rules presentation after which the public may comment on the rules during the meeting. Also, the last movie in the park of the season will held this Saturday, September 21st at Young Park. We will be showing the Little Mermaid which is rated PG. Movie starts at dusk. Also, the P&R Department will offer a two-week camp during Las Cruces Public Schools fall break and intersession Monday, September 23rd through Friday, October 4th. The camp will be open to youth in grades Kinder to 12th grade. Camp hours will be from 7:30 to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Cost is $20 per participant. For more information call 541-2550. Lastly for the department the Aquatics team will be offering swim lessons throughout October. Swim lessons registration will be held Saturday, September 28th from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Regional Aquatic Center. VLC of Las Cruces is hosting the New Mexico Outdoor Economic Conference on September 23rd through 25th at the Las Cruces Convention Center. The Mesilla Valley Balloon Rally is back and will be held on January 17th to 20th in 2025 at the Field of Dreams. So, there was a rumor, and I believe it’s true, or I would like to believe it is true that before the balloon festival was up north it started here in the south. In the real New Mexico this is where it started. So, in a way it has returned to its original home. Hats off to VLC, to Rochelle and her team for talking to the right community of stakeholders to make that happen. Update from the Finance Department regarding minimum wage based on the latest CPI increase of 2.35%. The Finance Department calculated the new minimum wage to be $12.65 an hour and the new tip wage to be $5.06 an hour. The current minimum wage is actually $12.36 an hour and tip wage is $4.95 an hour. The state minimum wage remains flat at $12 an hour. The Communication team will be working on the required notification to be posted on the website in October and the new minimum wage will go into effect January 2025. For the City Manager’s Office, Catrina and her team we appreciate them. They have started along with various departments the Know Your City Seminar Series which have begun and takes place each Wednesday evening and already has taken place, session one and two has passed but we are upcoming for session three on September 18th, 2024, that touches on the city’s financial services. This is located here in City Council Chambers from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday. There is no registration needed. Just drop in and learn more about your government. If you attend all you can receive city council recognition. The schedule is available online. There are a few highlights as mentioned third session will be September 18th, this Wednesday here in this room and next week it will be September 25th on Wednesday, Economic Development, Transit Department both will be highlighted. For Public Works we have the completion of the Bellamah Drive Reconstruction Project. This is between Luna Street and Lees Drive, project cost about $3.4 million. Project is to be completed within the contracted time. Improvements include green infrastructure with the storm catchments of Locust Street, pedestrian safety with wider sidewalks, reduce street crossing exposure, with realignment of Locust Street, increased street lighting, ADA improvements along the entire project limits and Midway Avenue Reconstruction Project, this is between Gasline Road and Mesa Drive. Gasline Road is a private easement over a large petroleum transmission line. Project cost about $1 million. Improvements include connectivity over privately owned easement, closing sidewalk gaps, no sidewalks before new curb and gutter, improving drainage roadway, added new street lighting, and ADA improvements. In Quality of Life, construction in continuing on repairing the entry particles, vigas, and other wood architectural elements to the historic Branigan Cultural Center. Work should be completed by the end of October and for Utilities a Griggs Walnut Superfund Project open house is Thursday, the 19th from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and is located south of the baseball field. Entrance is off Walnut and there will be signs. Everyone gets a commemorative cup while supplies last. The tour is very informative and educational. Hope to see you there. 12. ADJOURNMENT 12.1 Councilor Johana Bencomo moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to adjourn at 3:41 p.m. Mayor City Clerk