The Las Cruces City Council was updated on the East Lohman Avenue Development Plan during its Monday, Nov. 9, 2020, Work Session. The City has contracted with Sites Southwest to prepare a development plan for City-owned property generally located south of east Lohman Avenue and west of south Sonoma Ranch Boulevard.
One task of the project has been to prepare an Existing Conditions Report. Sites Southwest presented a summary of the report to the City Council which highlights potential issues, key opportunities, site connectivity, potential land uses, and initial real estate analysis.
City Council provided its initial input and comments. The report can be previewed at https://www.planeastlohman.com/documents. Residents can also subscribe to updates at PlanEastLohman.com.
The goals of the next phase of the development plan are to quantify lane use in the project area and come up with recommendations for possible future land uses. The next steps will include conducting a visual survey of how the area could evolve and conducting public input sessions in January to gather feedback from residents about how east Lohman Avenue could grow. A virtual design workshop is also planned in January.
Since much of the land that can be developed along east Lohman Avenue is already owned by the City, staff told the Council the City will have greater control in its development.
Also discussed at the Work Session, the Parks and Recreation Department recently completed an assessment of the condition of the 22-year old Las Cruces Skate Park, on Walnut Street, with a consultant, American Ramp Company (ARC). The assessment from ARC recommended two options of renovations, one with an estimated cost of slightly more than $1 million and a second option, for substantial renovations to the 33,000 square-foot skate park, that could cost $1,458,000.
The City has received $845,000 in state legislative capital outlay funding for renovations at the park. It is anticipated the City could soon receive an additional $100,000 for the planning and design of a new skate park.
The Parks and Recreation Department will continue to seek input from the Las Cruces skate community as to which option will be chosen. The assessment can be found at www.las-cruces.org/LCSkatePark. Comments and questions can be submitted to ParksandRecAdmin@las-cruces.org through November 23.
Additionally, the City’s Legal Department made a presentation to the City Council on the 2020 Ethics Survey, a completely anonymous survey of City employees that has been conducted annually since 2014. In accordance with the Legal Department’s Mission and Strategic Business Plan, this year’s ethics survey has been completed and its results were presented to City Council.
Also, Parks and Recreation Department staff members presented an overview and provided information to the Council about the City’s Juvenile Citation Program, which the Council praised.