Las Cruces City Council has adopted a Resolution approving a real estate purchase agreement between the City and Lutheran Church Extension Fund-Missouri Synod for $1,819,000.
Source: City of Las Cruces
The purchase agreement enables the City to buy two vacant parcels of land, totaling 21.15 acres, at the southeast corner of Motel Boulevard and Bruins Lane. City Council approved the purchase during its meeting March 18, 2024, in Council Chambers at City Hall, 700 N. Main St.
The two parcels will be added to Legends West Park just north of the Field of Dreams. The parcels will provide new park facilities and connectivity to the Mesilla Drain Trail, Outfall Channel Trail, and La Llorona Trail via crosswalks through and around the Legends West subdivision.
Some of the amenities to be constructed within the park include parking, turfgrass, picnic and gathering areas, playground equipment, drinking fountains, and shade trees. The land acquisition aligns with the City’s strategic plan goals, Elevate Las Cruces, the City’s 2021 to 2025 Consolidated Plan, and with the Parks and Recreation Master Plan.
In July 2019, City Council adopted the Parks and Recreation Master Plan to identify and encourage a variety of neighborhood and community parks in key locations where trail systems and increased residential housing are established.
Also at Monday’s meeting, City Council tabled a proposed Resolution to July 15, 2024, that could have approved a request for a variance to Chapter 26 of the Las Cruces Municipal Code (LCMC) sought by Love’s Travel Stop. Chapter 26 pertains to city streets and sidewalks.
Before City Council decides on the variance request a work session will be conducted in June when City staff will present proposed amendments to the Las Cruces Innovation and Industrial Park (LCIIP) Overlay Zone. Love’s Travel Stop, who wants to expand its business at the industrial park, seeks a variance of the LCMC that would not require Love’s to build sidewalks at its location at the southwest corner of Robert Larson Boulevard and Crawford Boulevard.
In June 2002, City Council adopted Ordinance 1929 which established current City Design Standards requiring sidewalks for all City streets. Proposed amendments to the LCIIP Overlay Zone will address if sidewalks should be required in the industrial park.
When Love’s Travel Stop was built circa 1990, construction of the business did not include the installation of sidewalks along either of those two streets.
