The Las Cruces City Council will meet at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 6 in Council Chambers at City Hall, 700 N. Main St., for a regularly scheduled meeting.
Tuesday, City Council will consider adoption of a Resolution to approve funding priorities and allocations to various Las Cruces nonprofit organizations for the coronavirus state and local fiscal recovery funds established by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
The City, as a recipient of ARPA Coronavirus (COVID-19) State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) from the U.S. Department of Treasury, implemented a Request for Proposals process from the distribution of funds for Community and Economic Development Initiatives. These resources are made available to the City to respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency and/or its negative economic impacts.
The City received 21 proposals requesting approximately $26.3 million dollars in funding for various projects.
The ARPA Scoring Committee recommends the following projects for funding:
- Mesilla Valley Community of Hope; Housing Risk Mitigation Funds $300,000.
- Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico/Bitwise; Equip Las Cruces $1,000,000.
- Community Action Agency of Southern New Mexico; Guaranteed Basic Income Project $1,700,000.
- Jardin de los Niños; Flourishing Families Infant Mental Health Program $350,000.
- Catholic Charities of Southern New Mexico; COVID-19 Recovery Fund $550,000.
- New Mexico Housing & Community Development Corp.; Peachtree Affordable Housing Project $2,000,000.
- Boys & Girls Club of Las Cruces; BGCLC New Facility $1,388,800.
- Cruces Creatives; Economic and Educational Recovery $1,000,000.
- Mesilla Valley Public Housing Authority; Oak Street Veterans Affordable Housing Project $305,853.
- Liftfund Revitalize Las Cruces Small Businesses $1,000,000.
City Council has the final approval authority on the use of funds. Once approved, the City will proceed with contract negotiations. Additional resolutions will be required to approve individual performance-based contracts.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the Council will consider adoption of a Resolution that could reverse a denial decision of the City’s Planning and Zoning Commission regarding a variance request of approximately 300 feet to the minimum 300-foot buffer required between a cannabis facility and a school. In this case, the distance is measured from the building footprint of a cannabis facility to the property line of the school, the New America School, 207 S. Main St.
The proposed cannabis facility is an existing pharmacy, Pharmtrue/Mesilla Valley Pharmacy, that also processes, or compounds CBD (Cannabidiol) based products for its customers. The pharmacy and the CBD processing/compounding and sales are an allowed use at the pharmacy, 227 S. Main St.
The pharmacy seeks the variance because it wants to expand its current operations to include Tetrahydrocannabinol, more commonly known as THC, as part of its product, or medicinal, offering.
The agenda for Tuesday’s City Council meeting is available online at https://lascruces.civicweb.net/Portal/MeetingInformation.aspx?Org=Cal&Id=369.
Tuesday’s meeting will be televised live on CLCTV, Comcast Cable channel 20, and will be available in high definition on Comcast Cable channel 928. The meeting also will be available online at YouTube.com/clctv20.