Commentary:
Four years ago, the City of Las Cruces began the process of creating a new development code. It hired a consulting firm, established a technical advisory committee, conducted numerous community meetings and gathered input from its residents. In a public meeting in February, the city council voted and passed the new code, Realize Las Cruces, by a wide margin.
The Coalition of Conservatives in Action (CCIA) now opposes this code and is seeking signatures to stop its implementation by placing the question on the ballot in November.
This opposition is misguided and mistaken. Realize LC does not ban or impinge on single family housing as CCIA claims. In fact, it recognizes that we have a serious housing shortage in our city and removes unneeded or burdensome regulations from the building code. This lets developers build new housing more efficiently, including single family homes, driving down costs while making the best use of the land and preserving our wide-open spaces.
Realize LC recognizes and promotes walkability in neighborhoods with less reliance on vehicles. As such, it allows for limited commercial amenities where people can come together like small grocery stores and cafes in residential developments. These businesses, however, can only be located at intersections with boulevards or avenues and are mainly intended for future development. While the businesses can be in existing neighborhoods, they must maintain the area’s character and fit on the existing plot of land. The code limits the size of the business, the traffic it will create, and the disruption of the neighborhood. This means no tearing down of homes that are replaced with large grocery stores or noisy restaurants as CCIA implies.
Our city lacks reasonably priced housing options. The average cost of a home in New Mexico today is over $300,000. Realize LC addresses this problem by allowing more types of housing. For example, it allows property owners to build mother-in-law units or casitas that can be occupied by family members or rented out to others. It encourages builders to develop a wider variety of housing types like duplexes, triplexes and quadraplexes. This greater variety of housing provides starter homes for new families, and smaller homes for independent seniors who are looking to downsize. The more housing opportunities, the more reasonably priced choices residents have for finding their ideal home.
The new development code encourages redevelopment and infill within the city’s interior areas, such as the El Paseo and the Picacho corridors. These sections have long been neglected and desperately need attention now. Delaying implementation of Realize LC leads to more deterioration, lost city revenues, and greater harm to existing businesses located within these areas. Our city cannot afford such a delay!
It's always important to make sure you have the whole story before you sign something. In this case it’s essential. Realize Las Cruces is a big win for our entire community.
Beth Bardwell is Vice President of the League of Women Voters of Southern NM and a Commissioner on the Las Cruces Utility Board. Ruth Jaure is a member of the League of Women Voters of Southern NM. The opinions of Beth Bardwell and Ruth Jaure are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of KRWG Public Media or NMSU.