The Las Cruces City Council will meet at 1 p.m. Monday, Oct. 5, via video conference, for a regularly scheduled meeting.
The meeting will be televised live at 1 p.m. Monday on CLC-TV, Comcast Cable channel 20. The meeting will also be available live online at clctv.com and at YouTube.com/clctv20.
City Council will consider adoption of a Resolution to adopt the Las Cruces Climate Action Plan. The City of Las Cruces is a local leader on climate action and is committed to creating a healthier, more sustainable, and greener future for all community members.
In 2019, the City embarked upon multiple efforts to better understand the impact on climate change and identify greenhouse gas (GHG) emission mitigation strategies, while working to enhance community equity. This work was facilitated by Lotus Engineering and Sustainability, LLC (Lotus) and has included developing the City’s first community-wide and municipal GHG emissions inventories, a key stakeholder engagement process to develop GHG reduction strategies relevant for the community, and modeling the emissions reduction potential associated with the selected strategies.
The result is an actionable and aggressive Climate Action Plan that guides the municipality and community to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 73 percent by 2050 – based on the 2018 baseline. This work expands on many of the Elevate Las Cruces Comprehensive Plan policies in the areas of energy management, community and transportation planning, building design standards, and waste minimization. With the adoption of the Climate Action Plan, the City’s Sustainability Office will work with City departments and stakeholders to develop specific policies and actions that ensure an equitable climate transition.
Goals of the Climate Action Plan include:
An overall reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of 19 percent or greater (of the 2018 baseline) by 2030 including reductions using renewable energy (of 11.9 percent); alternative and clean transportation (by 11.7 percent); waste minimization (2.1 percent) and decarbonization of energy in buildings (1.7 percent).
An overall reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of 73 percent or greater (of the 2018 baseline) by 2050, including reduction using renewable energy (28 percent); alternative and clean transportation (44.5 percent); waste minimization (6.7 percent) and decarbonization of energy in buildings (16.7 percent).
Establish parallel or more ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets within municipal operations by 2030 and 2050.
Details of the Climate Action Plan can be found at: https://lascruces.
Also on Monday, City Council will also consider adoption of a Resolution approving an affordable housing development agreement between the City and Tierra del Sol Housing Corporation for the development of a currently vacant parcel described as Lot 2 Sierra Summary Subdivision. The City acquired the 4.49-acre parcel from the Las Cruces Public Schools (LCPS) in trade for a road improvement project on Bruins Lane through a mutually beneficial agreement.
The parcel, also known as the Sierra Tract, is just east of Sierra Middle School, and south of Spruce Avenue. On the Sierra Tract, Tierra Del Sol Housing Corporation will construct a total of 32 affordable housing units consisting of eight single-family homes, 12 townhomes, and a 12-unit apartment complex
The City conducted a series of meetings, in August and November 2018, that engaged surrounding neighbors of the Sierra Tract to provide their input on the potential development of the site. Input and comments received from those meetings led the City to initiate a Community Planning Blueprint for the subject property.
A Community Planning Blueprint is a plan that promotes the vision of the City's Comprehensive Plan and serves as a policy guide for City Council, the Planning and Zoning Commission, the City's Affordable Housing Land Bank and Trust Fund Advisory Committee, City staff and the public. The Blueprint guides the development of the parcel to create a quality, innovative, affordable housing development that will be conscious of the concerns of the existing surrounding developed area and will meet the needs and desires of the City.
The full agenda for Monday’s City Council meeting can be found online at: https://lascruces.