Las Cruces City Council approves affordable housing development, park on East Mesa
LAS CRUCES - The Las Cruces City Council approved an affordable housing grant agreement with Tierra Del Sol Housing Corporation to support a new subdivision in the northern part of the city, which includes a revised timeline for the completion of a long-awaited park in Council District 5.
The development, called the Skylark Subdivision, is planned at the corner of Central Road and Mesa Drive. It's planned to include about 19 single-family lots and a roadway cutting through it, according to the city.
At a June 21 meeting, the council approved the grant agreement between Tierra Del Sol and the city for an allocation of up to $100,000 with a 7-0 vote. The money will be used to finance "costs of financing infrastructure necessary to support" the affordable housing development, such as flood control, roads, green space, sewage systems, landscaping, and heating and air conditioning infrastructure, according to the city.
The city said the project will be funded through the Affordable Housing Trust Fund in accordance with the Affordable Housing General Oversight Ordinance.
The planned subdivision will also reportedly include a two-acre park for families who live in the area, which District 5 Councilor Gill Sorg has been calling for and which recently got council support.
The area lacks such a park, and the city council unanimously voted Jan. 4 on a resolution calling for the completion of a park "within a one-mile radius of the intersection of Mesa Grande Road and Central Road" by Jan. 4, 2022.
The Skylark Subdivision park will be within one-third of a mile of the intersection.
Sorg said during the June 21 meeting he wanted the park more centrally located for residents in the area, but he still thinks the park will be a "blessing" for the nearest neighborhoods.
"This is a compromise that I was reluctant to giving but I gave it away anyway," Sorg said. "It's a third of a mile from Mesa Grande (Drive), but even Mesa Grande is over half a mile from most of the people that would use this park."
"So we're talking about a lot of people who are going to be about a mile, and even more than a mile away from this park," Sorg continued. "So it's not going to be as useful as I would hope to be."
The planning process for the park will coincide with the planning process for the subdivision so there isn't a delay on the completion of the park. But the deadline included in the January council resolution, calling for park completion by January 2022, has been rescinded to better align with the design and construction process of the subdivision.
City staff told Sorg the park's design and construction process could begin as soon as the subdivision plan to be fully laid out and its engineering work had occurred. Park design could take between three to six months, and park construction could take about six months, staff said.
Michael McDevitt is a city and county government reporter for the Sun-News. He can be reached at 575-202-3205, mmcdevitt@lcsun-news.com or @MikeMcDTweets on Twitter.