SEPTEMBER UPDATE from ZWNA President Susan Martinez

Post date: Sep 24, 2017 1:36:15 AM

Here's a recap of the September 9/11/17 ZWNA Meeting

9/11/2017

Drive Around prior to ZWNA meeting:

We drove our new District 8 Representative Cissy Lizarraga and her legislative aide, Chris Canales, around of our area to show her our concerns.

West Company bought the 35 acres of land formerly the Jovi Horse Farm. Plan includes:

*over 200 homes

*a hotel

*over 60,000 square feet of retail space.

*two bridges over the Montoya Drain onto Gibson-Veck Road for access and egress.

*second access and egress points from their project onto Sunland Park Drive.

Gibson-Veck:

*presently a 2-lane road

*a single stop sign is the only traffic control is at the intersection of Gibson-Veck and Sunland Park.

Frontera Road:

*Frontera Road adjoins both the New Mexico new housing development and the Texas subdivision of Colonia Escondida.

*Access/egress from the New Mexico side on Sunland Park Drive is not finished and hard to get to

*Lots of traffic congestion.

Potential for flooding :

*culverts built when Sunland Park Road was expanded to 4 lanes actually have a LESSER capacity than the drain did before the expansion.

*our area flooded right after the new culverts were built.

*culverts must be upgraded.

Coach Jack D. Quarles Park:

*presently a 25-foot right-of-way between our park and the New Mexico Land.

*West investor previously said the park could also serve as an amenity for their New Mexico subdivision.

*asked for guidance for best way to proceed to preserve our park including a 5-6 foot wall to separate Coach Jack D. Quarles Park from the New Mexico subdivision

*Ground-breaking ceremony and completion ceremony are being planned. Will keep you posted.

9/11/17 ZWNA meeting held at the Police Headquarters on Osborne Drive:

*Introduced new Representative, Ms. Cissy Lizarraga and Legislative Aide, Mr. Chris Canales.

*ZWNA Neighborhood Improvement Program (NIP) plan is in the design phase and hopefully will begin next Spring. Includes sprinklers, grass and trees (Pecan, Raywood Ash, Chinese Pistache).

*Representative Lizarraga and Mr. Canales gave us an overview of the city’s budget and explained that there are more funds available for projects like potholes, curb cuts, etc.

*Rep. Lizarraga invited personnel from various City departments to be present at our meeting.

*We requested their assistance for the best strategy to ensure that the Texas neighborhoods are protected from flooding and from traffic congestion.

9/19 Update from Rep Lizarraga’s Office:

*Legislative Aide Mr. Canales explained that they met with Sunland Park Mayor and City Council and explained all of our concerns.

*Notified ZWNA of the Sunland Park City Council meeting for 9/20/2017.

9/20 Notes from Sunland Park City Council meeting:

*West Company gave an update on their plans.

*Number of homes reduced to 178.

*Still plan to build a hotel (number of rooms or how many stories not yet known)

*One large retail space with several smaller restaurants.

*2-3 restaurants

*West is seeking funding from the State of New Mexico for their development.

*Sunland Park City Council explained that they had met with Rep Lizarraga and were aware of the concerns for traffic control and flooding.

Note:

Sunland Park does not have a dark sky ordinance.

Sunland Park does not have a park ordinance.

Sunland Park City Council does have the authority to request certain items be installed if they deem them necessary.

Request that you attend ZWNA meetings. We need your feedback!

We will keep you updated.

Susan Martinez

President ZWNA