Lincoln County pursues better communication on land use issues

Lincoln County pledged $2,500 as its share of a match for a grant to cover the cost of establishing a committee to coordinate land development issues among three military installations, six counties and three cities. But Commissioner Tom Stewart said he'd like to see some of the benefits to Lincoln County better defined. In July 2012, the counties of Doña Ana, Otero, Lincoln, Sierra, Socorro and El Paso, and the cities of Alamogordo, Las Cruces and El Paso agreed to participate in the Southern New Mexico/El Paso Joint Land Use Study, County Manager Nita Taylor reminded commissioners at their February meeting. Their partners are the New Mexico State Land Office, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, Fort Bliss, Holloman Air Force Base and White Sands Missile Range. The entities entered into a Memorandum of Agreement for the purpose of organizing a regional planning organization and conducting a joint land use study. Lincoln County's fee for that phase of the work was $5,000. "The purpose of the (study was) to develop and to further strengthen clear and consistent channels of communication across all stakeholders groups in the region, and also to promote interjurisdictional and interagency cooperation on critical planning issues related to military-community compatibility," according to the memorandum of agreement. With the completion of the study and issuance of a final report, an implementation committee must be established, Taylor said. County Planning Director Curt Temple, who represents the county in the study group, said a $500,000 federal grant will cover the operational budget and each party is being asked to pay an amount that will bring in $50,000 for a 10 percent match. Lincoln County's share is $2,500, he said. "The basic study has been completed by the contractor on the original $1 million grant given by the feds with Doña Ana County as the fiscal agent," Temple told commissioners...more