Proponents of a new citywide development code in Las Cruces say its adoption may lead to an increase in new affordable home construction.
Based on a 400-page draft put together more than a year ago, what is being called Realize Las Cruces puts an emphasis on updating zoning and building ordinances and marks the first time that the city has tackled code modernization in more than 20 years.
The document also provides new updated guidelines on roadway development standards, outdoor lighting and signage, and historic preservation.
Realize Las Cruces also governs subdivision development, drainage projects, park landscaping, and both roads and rights-of-way.
One of the most important features of the program centers on housing. Notes Sarah Smith, co-leader of the New Mexico Freedoms Alliance and critic of the plan: While some Las Cruces neighborhoods have long been zoned to allow only for houses, Realize Las Cruces will “allow apartment complexes and businesses in neighborhoods.”
In a column written for the Las Cruces Sun-News, Smith remarked that “the size of the apartment complex allowed would vary depending on the neighborhood, ranging from 16 dwellings per acre up to 60 dwellings per acre.”
The plan has prompted mostly favorable comments during meetings of the Las Cruces City Council, although questions have been raised regarding a requirement that all subdivision development projects must include, at minimum, a 3-acre park.
But the park requirement also allows for developers to pay a fee; with the revenue from that fee used by the city to either maintain existing parks or build new ones.
Realize Las Cruces now won the approval of the city council on a 6 to 1 vote.
February 25, 2025
By Garry Boulard
