The Las Cruces City Council unanimously adopted an Ordinance that approves the redistricting of Las Cruces’ six City Council districts.
City Council approved the new Council district boundaries at its regularly scheduled meeting, in Council Chambers at City Hall, 700 N. Main St., on Monday, Oct. 17, 2022.
The new boundaries for City Council districts go into effect for the next City election upon certification by the Doña Ana County Clerk’s Office. A map of the new City Council districts is available at https://www.las-cruces.org/DocumentCenter/View/8930/LCCC_J_Map_AltText?bid;d=.
The Las Cruces City Charter requires “periodic review of the boundaries of the districts,” and each Council district “shall contain as nearly as possible substantially the same population - based upon the most recent federal census.” The Council learned that based on Las Cruces’ population of 111,385, from the 2020 U.S. Census, the ideal population of each of the six Council districts is 18,564 residents.
An ad hoc committee of seven City residents was formed to work with City Clerk Christine Rivera and representatives of Research & Polling, Inc., of Albuquerque, to provide public input and evaluate various redistricting proposals. From mid-April to early August, the committee met about every two weeks and reviewed 10 different concept maps.
The committee narrowed the concept maps to four, and the Council reviewed those in September. City Council came to a consensus at the work session to move forward with two concept maps, J and K. Map J was approved by the Council at Monday’s meeting.
Additionally, at Monday’s meeting, City Council unanimously adopted a Resolution authorizing the City to submit a grant application to the Federal Aviation Administration and approve a five-percent cash match commitment of as much as $440,000, for the grant award for the Las Cruces International Airport terminal development project. The deadline to submit the $8,360,000 grant application is Monday, Oct. 24, 2022.
The City will be notified in January if it has been awarded the FAA grant.
Las Cruces International Airport wants to apply to the FAA to develop a terminal building that would provide services to intra- and interstate customers for passenger air services, as well as for private charters and aircraft. On Sept. 22, 2022, the FAA released the second round of Airport Terminal and Tower Program funding opportunities through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to provide $1 billion a year for the next five years to develop airport terminals and airport owned control towers.
This funding would allow the Las Cruces airport to develop a terminal for air travel complete with the required Transportation Security Administration screening component.
The project includes the renovation of the airport building at 8960 Zia Boulevard and the construction of a TSA control building, which will provide areas for ticketing, baggage, TSA screening, rental cars, administrative offices, and a parking lot expansion.