Summary

Open Space and Trail Network Meeting                                                         

September 21, 2005

 

Announcements:

1)      Bobby Parra announced that the Dona Ana County Parks and Facilities department is seeking a group to perform a one-time clean-up of the cemetery on Griggs.  There is grant money available ($300 ) to pay the workers; tools, gloves and bags will be provided by the county.   Two groups were mentioned as possibilities:  the Native American group at NMSU and the J. Paul Taylor Youth Center students (644-1334), who recently worked on an adobe restoration project.   

2)      Carol McCall mentioned a new city job posting for Coordinator of Beautification and Graffiti Removal.  She brought along copies of an article entitled “Open Space Zoning: What it is and why it works”, which appeared in the Planning Commission Journal.  Contact her if you would like a copy.

3)      Marnie Leverett announced the League of Women Voters Candidate Forum on October 20, at 7pm at the Munson Senior Center.  Three city council seats are up for re-election on November 8th.

4)      Sandy Geiger mentioned recent passage of a neighborhood notification ordinance by the city council and her hopes for increased public participation in future development decisions.  She announced the ETZ Authority meeting tonight, at 5pm at City Council Chambers, where a cluster subdivision procedure is under appeal. Tomorrow night an ETZ ad hoc committee will be selected from a list of many qualified applicants.  This committee will revise the Extra Territorial Zoning Ordinance to bring it into accord with the ETZ Comprehensive Plan.     Sandy reported on the American Planning Association meeting, which was held in Las Cruces this month.  Mary Ann Ustick, the keynote speaker, has a wealth of experience in civic and neighborhood organization, leadership training, and interaction with the university community.  A number of topics were discussed during the meeting, such as urban agriculture, sustainable agriculture, wetland preservation, local food production.  All presentations are available on the APA website; contact Brian Harper for details.

 

City of Las Cruces Arroyo Plan

            Carol McCall reported that the city’s arroyo planning process has begun, although currently understaffed.  The main concern is development of the East Mesa where there are four major arroyos, and where the State Land office will soon release a large tract of land for development.  She showed design options for trails along arroyos, and for erosion and flood control.  Mark Dubbin is dealing with engineering aspects, and the need to solve problems like arroyo crossings for especially wide roads like Roadrunner and Sonoma Ranch Blvd.   Exact boundaries of arroyos must be determined: e.g. should we measure 200 feet out from the top on each side, or use the 100-year flood zone?  Many arroyos are wide with shallow slopes, so there is a tendency for construction to be placed too close to the potential water flow.  It will be useful for the Network to provide feedback, for example, Nancy Stotz and others in the CTF have mapped vegetation along a 0.5 mile portion of the Alameda Arroyo.  Richard Hummel, a geologist with the HBA stressed the complexity and variability between different portions of any given arroyo; that the 100-year flood zone doesn’t work for all situations.  Carol and Mark would like the engineering designs to be flexible enough so that several options are available.  Another question is: how far east (how close to the Organ Mountains) do we implement the building standards?   There are a number of resources available, e.g. the cities of Tucson and Albuquerque have dealt with such questions, El Paso is working on an extensive arroyo plan, Kenny Stevens at NMSU has been advising people in flood-prone areas, Mary Sanchez of the NRCS deals with watershed communities.  After the recent heavy rainstorm, Councilor Wes Strain has called for a serious overhaul of the city’s flood control ordinance.  The situation is complex and solutions will not be easy.  Drafts of the arroyo plan, as it evolves, will be brought to the Network.

 

Network Planning Committee

            Nancy Stotz reviewed a bit of the history of the Network, which was established in fall, 2002.  CTF  applied to the National Park Service Rivers and Trails Conservation Assistance Program to request technical assistance in creating the Network to provide regional coordination,.  The NPS sent  Paul Cusumano to advise us and help coordinate meetings.  Nancy was thankful to him and for everyone who has participated. 

Now, to make the network more self-sufficient and inclusive, a Network Planning Committee has been designated:  Susan Krueger of the Town of Mesilla, Carol McCall of the City of Las Cruces, Luis Marmaleo of Dona Ana County, Tim Sanders of the BLM, Richard Hummell of the Home Builders Association, Ray Bowers of the Citizen’s Task Force and Paul Cusumano, in a consultant role from the NPS (Paul has a conference call line available for the group at all times). 

The committee’s task is to handle the logistics of Network meetings, to establish the agenda, working groups, subcommittees, room reservations, email notifications and to find a chair, since this is Nancy’s last meeting as chair. There was heartfelt applause to Nancy for all of her very hard work, perseverance and dedication!!

 

Groundwork Application

            Sandy Geiger and Susan Krueger  reported on the Groundwork proposal which they have assembled after several meetings with Stephen Silver (from Groundwork El Paso), Richard Hummell, Carol McCall, Pinkey Tinsley and Janet Darrow.   They passed out copies of a Letter of Interest, directed to the National Park Service Rivers and Trails Program, which will initiate the Groundwork application process, and also a Letter of explanation to interested persons, describing the rationale for this application.  The mission of Groundwork USA is “to bring about the sustained regeneration, improvement and management of the physical environment by developing community-based partnerships which empower people, businesses and organizations to promote environmental, economic and social well-being.” Our goal is that this program will evolve into the implementation arm of the Open Space and Trails Vision.   Unlike some other Groundwork projects which focus on brownfield restoration, ours will be pro-active, preventative; to keep the “Gone” out of “Growing, Growing, Gone”.

            If the letter of interest is accepted, then we proceed to Phase I, which involves a steering committee, a strategic plan and a feasibility study (funded by the NPS), all of which the Network can help to guide.  If results of the study are positive, then Phase 2 involves hiring an executive director, setting up a Groundwork non-profit operation, and obtaining local funding to supplement that provided by the NPS (minimum county matching funds are $25,000/year for each of 3 years). 

This scenario has been presented to the city, the Town of Mesilla and to a number of county officials (Marmaleo, Dugee, Granados, Cordero), and has met with enthusiasm as a mechanism for getting open space projects going.  City Manager Terrence Moore is drafting a letter of support, and the county officials will approach Chuck McMahon, County Planning Director.  We need additional letters of support, e.g. from the HBA, the League of Women Voters, neighborhood associations, etc.  There is a hope from Groundwork El Paso, that our two groups would eventually form a consortium, e.g. Groundwork Rio Grande. 

Paul indicated that the national review committee will be meeting soon and that funding for the Groundwork program seems secure at present.  Letters of support are needed soon, by mid-October at the latest.  The matching local money must be in place by the end of the feasibility study.

 

Minutes compiled by Janet Darrow