http://youtu.be/v8mv5OVBfak
Southern New Mexico and Las Cruces is full of history and strong local traditions, something that draws many to the city. A group of residents is working with the city of Las Cruces to make sure they can preserve that history.
For years, the city of Las Cruces has been discussing the possibility of a Historic Preservation ordinance, while local groups and volunteers have been volunteering to restore buildings as part of the Historic Preservation Coalition. At a City Council work session, the coalition told the council why this ordinance is needed.
David Chavez, President of the Mesquite Historic Preservation Society says it’s important to preserve buildings for generations to come.
“Once and old building has been torn down,” Chavez said. “We’ll never get it back. Other than in a photo, and we’re doing this for the next generations, not necessarily for this generation. But, if we can save buildings that can say something to somebody else in a younger generation later, that’s where we want to be. It’s all basically a component to educate the community and the tourists and visitors that there’s a lot of history here.”
City Council unanimously agreed at the work session to fast track the creation of a new ordinance. Mayor Pro-Tem Greg Smith was on the original ad-hoc committee tasked with creating the first ordinance that did not pass. He says he is happy to see the support now.
“The coalition will work on that and will be bringing it back I think late august,” Smith said. “I’m excited about that, I’m thrilled. I think it will help us respect the history that we have in our built structures, and respect the cultures and the history here. And all of that will benefit us a community, will benefit visitors and tourists coming here, and I think that also has an impact on our economy, as well as just our sense of place, our quality of life here.”
David Chavez says there are many economic benefits to encouraging historic preservation.
“Economic benefits of historic preservation- it creates jobs,” Chavez said. “And I’m a big job creator. I want jobs to be created by saving some of these buildings. Construction companies that are familiar with historic preservation, creating jobs if retail comes into historic districts, galleries, restaurants, you name it. Helping the residents realize that there is economic benefit, maybe in tax incentives, grants and a number of other things.”
Mayor Pro-Tem Smith says that by passing the ordinance and forming a committee for historic preservation they can become a certified local government and be eligible for more historic preservation grants.
“It’s not a whole lot of money,” Smith said. “But, on the other hand sometimes it doesn’t take a whole lot. And with the tax credits that you can get on restoring historic properties, and with the grants that are available through the certified local government program, those things can help in critical, spot point kinds of ways. Obviously, we aren’t talking about the budget amounts that we do with so many other city projects, but each of those kinds of things helps.”
The historic preservation coalition will be working with city staff to craft an ordinance and a guidebook outlining the city policy for historic preservation.
