Las Cruces Mayor Eric Enriquez recently stopped by the KRWG Public Media studios to discuss the Realize Las Cruces development code update. Mayor Enriquez talked with KRWG's Anthony Moreno about the code and other issues facing the city.
Here's the transcript of part of their conversation:
Anthony Moreno: Joining us for the conversation is Las Cruces Mayor Eric Enriquez. Mayor Enriquez thanks for joining us.
Eric Enriquez: No Anthony, thank you for having me. It’s a pleasure to be here.
Anthony Moreno: I want to start with Realize Las Cruces, a new zoning and development update that was recently approved by the council. Now this is something that was controversial. You had some vocal supporters and opposers to this move. Can you share with us why you support this effort?
Eric Enriquez: You know it is a hot topic, and it is something that I think there's a lot of misinformation that's going out there and I'm for it, because what it does is it replaces a 20-year land-use code development that we've had. We’re constantly having to rezone, we're constantly having to take things to appeal to PNZ, to zone changes, constantly taking place over and over, because it's an outdated code. So, this new code allows for the flexibility of creating new opportunities for public space, for setbacks, for things that are going to help our community and help it grow and develop.
Anthony Moreno: You mentioned that this code is outdated. How long has it been since this city really updated this?
Eric Enriquez: 2001, so going on 24 years and it's been a three-year process. We’ve been working on this for three years. We've had 33 public meetings. We've met with the home builders, we've met with the historic preservation. We created a TAC committee with engineers, and business owners, land users, developers, everyone on this committee to share their input on this. We also hired a consultant to make sure our staff was guided in the right direction and what we needed to do. So, this has been a three-year process.
Anthony Moreno: You mentioned misinformation circulating around about Realize Las Cruces. Can you kind of share a little bit about what you identify as misinformation regarding this?
Eric Enriquez: Yes, the biggest one is the new land use code has neighborhood one, neighborhood two, neighborhood three. So, it’s NB1, NB2, NB3. What it appears is that we've taken out single family dwelling, and we're not taking away residential. Residential is still in the neighborhoods and NB1 is residential and NB2 is residential with multifamily. NB 3 is residential, multifamily and commercial. So, a developer has the options for all of those. We’re not taken away single-family dwelling. Our biggest income development in or growth and opportunities in our community is building homes, and like I said, the home builders were part of this process. We would never do anything to hurt our residents or our economy.
Anthony Moreno: How will this new update with Realize Las Cruces make Las Cruces more friendly towards pedestrians and also for those who may be traveling on bicycle in the area? Can you give us an understanding of that?
Eric Enriquez: Yes, the new Realize zoning code creates the flexibility for connectivity, so that you can have commercial, multifamily residence in a development together. So that you can walk or you can ride your bike, and we see a lot of that already on the east side of I-25, and those are some things that we can also do in other areas that need to be developed on the west side of 25. So, it creates that flexibility with either setbacks, sidewalks, trails, complete streets, and create that connectivity that's available for people to walk and bike.
Anthony Moreno: What about those starter homes that may keep some folks here in the area who are graduating from NMSU and may be interested in buying a home? Can you share with us how this update may affect that?
Eric Enriquez: Well, it's like I said, we have the NB1, NB2, NB3. A lot of developers may come in and not have the large parcel of land to do commercial and multifamily. They may just want to do residential and not to call it affordable housing, but this code also allows for opportunities for more affordable housing. But what we want to call now, attainable housing, so that you can develop and design and get with our community development and look at we just want to do single family residential in this area, and we want to make it attainable housing. How can we work that aspect?
Las Cruces Mayor Eric Enriquez shares more on the updated development code, affordable housing and public safety in this full conversation with Anthony Moreno.
