![]() Capital outlay funding to the tune of $2.5 million has been approved for several facility upgrade projects on the historic campus of the New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Alamogordo. Some $1.6 million will go for work on the Garrett Dormitory, which is located on the south end of the campus and is named in honor of educator Elizabeth Garrett, the daughter of legendary lawman Pat Garrett. The school is also expected to receive exactly $940,000 for the renovation of the Paul and Lois Tapia Building on the far northeast corner of the campus. That structure was built in 1908 and is on the list of the National Register of Historic Places. Funding has been approved for work on the Quimby Gymnasium and Natatorium on the east side of the campus, with school officials additionally hoping to see the construction of new residential cottages. Located at 1900 White Sands Boulevard, the school is one of only 32 schools in the U.S. for the blind and has an enrollment of around 60 students on campus, aged 3 to 21. Through partnerships with other educational institutions across New Mexico, the school has a total enrollment of more than 3,500. The capital outlay funding for the school’s projects is part of some $6 million in projects funded by state lawmakers for Alamogordo. By Garry Boulard
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![]() For roughly four years, a proposal to build a 189-room hotel in what is known as the Hill Commercial Area in Boulder has been discussed and explored by city officials and area residents. The site in question is roughly a mile to the northwest of UC’s Boulder campus in a part of the city long popular due to the number of small restaurants, coffee shops, and bookstores it features. The project, which will also include some 10,500 square feet of commercial space, is slated to go up at the southwest corner of Broadway Street and University Avenue and would see the construction of two buildings, Opposition to the building plans have been voiced by members of a Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority house just to the west of the project, who have raised issues regarding the impact on parking, and the issue of shade being cast from the new structures onto the house’s sun deck. The subject of several public input meetings, the project will also see up to a quarter of the planned site set aside for open space. Known simply as the Hill Hotel, the project still needs the final approval of the Boulder City Council before becoming reality. By Garry Boulard ![]() Of the top ten fastest-growing midsize cities in the U.S., seven are in the West, according to new numbers released by the U.S. Census Bureau. And of that number, three—Tempe, Gilbert, and Scottsdale—were located in Arizona. While Frisco, Texas led the list as the fastest-growing midsize city in the country, with a 37.6 percent growth rate, the Arizona cities all saw double-digit increases in their populations, according to statistics filed for the 2013 to 2018 period. Tempe’s increase stood at 12.6 percent, followed by Gilbert at 12.0 percent, and Scottsdale at 11.5 percent. Arizona also placed high overall as a state, experiencing, along with California, Florida, and Texas, the largest absolute population increases in the nation. At the same time, Illinois, Louisiana, New York, and West Virginia were hit with the greatest population declines, mostly due to residents moving to other states. The net total population growth increase for Texas surpassed 300,000 people, with Arizona and Colorado receiving in excess of more than 100,000 new residents. New Mexico’s growth was more modest, but still on the up side with a population increase of less than 100,000. According to the Chicago-based Center Square, a state news analysis service, the West also stacked up well in the category of the ten top fastest-growing large cities with populations of more than 350,000. On that list, five were in the West, including Denver and Mesa, Arizona. Of Mesa’s 9.5 percent increase, the site notes that the third largest city in Arizona offers “affordable living, warm weather, and some of the lowest property taxes in the country.” Between 2013 and 2018, Mesa’s population was up by just under 44,000 people. Denver, with a 10.3 percent population increase, was lauded for its natural beauty, as well as its strong job market. The city, according to demographers, has in recent years uniquely attracted both young families and retirees. Between 2013 and 2018, Denver experienced a nearly 67,000 increase in its population. By Garry Boulard ![]() An airport whose origins date back to World War II, when it was used for fighter pilot training, will soon see the construction of a modern air traffic control tower. Officials with the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport say the tower is expected to cost around $30 million to build and will not only be taller than the current tower but wider. The current tower, which dates to the early 1970s, is 9 stories in height. The new tower will 16 stories high with roughly 550 square feet of work space. The project has now taken a significant step forward with a grant of $13.7 million from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Improvement Program. Additional funding is expected to come from the airport’s own funds, as well as from the State of Arizona. Airport officials say the new tower, upon completion, will allow for a vital and sweeping view of the airport’s entire 3,000-acre site. Work is expected to begin on the project in September, with an early 2022 completion date. Located at 5835 S. Sossaman Road, roughly 20 miles to the southeast of Phoenix, the airport was formerly known as the Williams Air Force Base. In a statement, Arizona Congressman Greg Stanton described the long hoped-for new tower as a “critical addition to help the airport keep pace with our region’s growth.” By Garry Boulard ![]() A nonprofit defense and security company offering space mission technical guidance and advice for civil, commercial, and military customers wants to increase its footprint in Colorado Springs. Based in El Segundo, California, the Aerospace Corporation has been operating out of a 78,000 square foot building inside the Peak Innovation Park since 2007. But now Aerospace Corporation officials say that building at 7250 Getting Heights is no longer large enough for their current purposes. In response, the corporation is making plans to build a 90,000 square foot addition that would include space for offices, and both meeting and conference rooms. Plans for the project have been submitted to the City of Colorado Springs. Aerospace Corporation’s expansion plans come on the heels of an announcement by Amazon to build a massive distribution center in the Peak Innovation Park. Founded in 1960 and with annual revenues in excess of $1 billion, the Aerospace Corporation last year announced the sweeping upgrade of its uptown Albuquerque facilities at 2155 Louisiana Boulevard. By Garry Boulard ![]() Continued and increasing local regulations governing new homebuilding are making such structures too expensive to build, claims an Arizona scholar in a recently published essay. Kevin Erdmann, a visiting fellow at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, says that an increase in restrictions governing where a new home should go up and what it should look like has led to both less homebuilding, as well as an increase in the price of houses that do get built. Zoning and building approval decisions, contends Erdmann, are being governed by concerns that “new units are too tall or too expensive, they cast shadows, they don’t match the existing character of the neighborhood, [and] they will attract the wrong sort of residents.” Writing in the National Review, Erdmann says that he has interviewed many people now living in Arizona who moved to the Grand Canyon State because of an increase in homebuilding restrictions in the metropolitan markets of California. Erdmann adds that homeowners in cities like San Francisco are now listing their homes for millions of dollars or renting them out for up to $4,000 a month because of the growing expense of building a new home in those same cities. The homeowners’ profits in this new market, he continues, “are a direct result of policymakers’ preventing developers from building new housing units.” At the same time, Erdmann notes that while housing affordability is becoming a greater issue across the country, “we are building new units at historically low rates.” Continues Erdmann: “By harassing and taxing developers and builders, policymakers in these urban areas help elevate the prices of new homes above those of existing homes.” Erdman, who makes his home in Gilbert, ultimately suggests that more open markets in mortgage lending and an easing of urban land use policies will allow for an increase in new homebuilding. “Solve the problem of access and affordability will follow,” he contends. By Garry Boulard ![]() State lawmakers have given their approval to more than $5.4 million in funding for the Taos Regional Airport. That funding is part of an overall $12.8 million given a green light by members of the New Mexico State Legislature for Taos County for a variety of infrastructure projects. The money for the airport, if finally approved by New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, would help pay for the construction of a new air terminal and hangar at the airport. Airport officials have maintained that the current hangar isn’t large enough to handle jets. The airport, located at 24662 US Route 62 and owned by the Town of Taos, inaugurated chartered jet flights to and from California and Texas two years ago. The airport unveiled a second crosswinds runway for its traffic in the summer of 2017. The following year the airport began a service called Air Taos, offering direct charter flights to and from Austin and Dallas. Heavily used by skiers on their way to the Taos Ski Valley, the Taos airport, located 8 miles to the north of downtown Taos, is a public use airport. By Garry Boulard |
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