East Mesa Complex
The East Mesa recreation and public-safety complex, raised repeatedly as an alternative site when spending is debated.
The timeline
- July 16, 2026The work session gets a date; the Young Park vote stays in September
Four members met with no public participation and no vote on Young Park. Staff proposed limiting the August 20 regular meeting to the chair election and holding the promised Young Park work session immediately afterward, with the decision left on September 17. The board also learned the city's park maps are frozen pending web-accessibility rules.
- May 21, 2026Young Park's future gets a price tag — and a postponement
A three-member board heard nearly two hours on a multi-million-dollar master plan for Young Park, then tabled the decision to September. The park sits in District 3, which has no board member.
- April 16, 2026Young Park pulled from the agenda; elections deferred for want of a board
The board amended its own agenda to strike the Young Park item before taking it up, then deferred board elections to May because too few members were present. Three of seven seats were filled; Districts 1 and 3 are vacant.
- February 19, 2026Board declines to name the new trail, and gets its first look at the GRT money
Staff asked the board to recommend a name for a trail system running through NMSU and along the Las Cruces Lateral toward the Village of Tortugas. The board postponed the recommendation to March 19 and asked for more names, maps, and the MPO's trail alignments. Staff also briefed the board on the new 0.325% municipal gross receipts tax and asked it to come to March prepared to recommend spending priorities.
- January 15, 202655% of the city's playgrounds are 20-plus years old, and this year's replacement money did not come
Parks Planning told the board that 55% of the city's 67 playgrounds are more than 20 years old and that a standard replacement runs about $300,000. The $1.5 million City Council granted for fiscal year 2025 was not repeated in 2025, and the director said catching up at five a year would take 13 consecutive years.
- December 11, 2025Ten projects in one sitting, and a gazebo whose lights nobody will claim
With no action items on the agenda, the board heard fall and winter athletics numbers from Meerscheidt and a staff walk-through of ten capital projects, from Apodaca Park's aquatic playground to a three-acre park proposed on the west side of Villa Mora Dam. Public comment concerned missing lights at the Pioneer Women's Park gazebo.
- October 16, 2025Young Park's engagement numbers land: 54 surveys, 1,100 data points, a splash pad on top
Staff presented the draft community engagement report for the Young Park master plan, reporting 54 completed surveys, seven focus groups and over 1,100 data points, with a splash pad ranked first overall. Apodaca Park's draft construction design was described as 90% set, with shovels expected in the ground over winter. The agenda carried no action items.
- August 21, 2025New impact fees, four new playgrounds, and a $192 million question headed to Council
A four-member board heard that the city's park impact fees were rewritten by square footage and took effect July 7, falling 22% for the smallest units and rising 42% for larger homes. Staff reported four playgrounds replaced in the last fiscal year and an East Mesa Pool that lost five weeks of the season to two pipe breaks. The director previewed a City Council work session on bonding against a voter-approved GRT increase totaling $192 million.
- April 17, 2025Half the city's playgrounds are past their lifespan — and Council has not agreed to fund the fix
Director Steven Bingham told a four-member board the city has 64 playgrounds, 32 of them 20 years or older against a typical life expectancy of 18 to 22 years, and that the recommendation is to replace five per year rather than bond for all 32 at once. Three of this year's five are being installed at East Mesa, Pioneer and Vlachakis; Apodaca and Young Park are in design. City Council has yet to agree to fund and continue that replacement.
- September 19, 2024Dog park rules get teeth after attacks at Hermosa — and a 70% veto clause
Staff brought the board a rewritten set of dog park rules, prompted by what the record calls a lot of dog attacks at Hermosa Park, and said that if 70% or more of the community is against them Parks and Rec would return to the drawing board. The board took no action items, and no one spoke at public participation.
- August 15, 2024A summer counted: 70,000 pool visits, 19,000 meals, and no action items
Six of seven board members heard summer program numbers from three staff presenters and a rundown of parks under construction. The agenda carried no action items, and no member of the public spoke at public participation.
- May 16, 2024"The response was not helpful" — a neighborhood asks what the Pioneer Women's Park gazebo costs
George Pearson, president of the Alameda Depot Neighborhood Association, told the board his association e-mailed city staff for the status of the gazebo project in Pioneer Women's Park and got an answer only after their meeting, with no specifics beyond construction starting in a month or two. He asked for the budget, the bidding schedule and estimated construction dates. No action items were on the agenda, and neither staff nor board members made any comments at the end.
- April 18, 2024Park rangers, $2.55 million for two parks, and half the playgrounds over 20 years old
Director Steven Bingham laid out a budget request built on four priorities, including bringing back park rangers as Police Aides to monitor the skate park and higher-crime areas. Staff also presented the near-final Grindline design for the new skate park at the East Mesa Sports Complex and a ten-year wayfinding signage plan that will do ten parks at a time.
- November 16, 2023Two vacant seats, one subcommittee paused, and December cancelled
With Districts 1 and 5 vacant and District 3 absent, the board voted to delay the community outreach subcommittee's report until it has a full board, cancelled the December meeting for want of action items, and tabled the dog park rules to January 18, 2024. The sports field usage committee created in October has not met yet.
- August 17, 2023Dirt bikes on the non-motorized trails, and no money to enforce anything
Vice-Chair Engle reported a dirt motorcycle riding from Jason Jiron Park up the berm and onto trails that are supposed to be non-motorized. Staff listed signage, volunteers, barriers and education as the available approaches and said there are no significant funds for enforcement, that the wayfinding plan that would supply the rule signage has no funding to implement, and that bollards do not stop motorcycles. Staff agreed to bring an education plan to next month's meeting.
- June 16, 2023A $845,000 skate park redesign, a wayfinding plan with no money to build it
The board heard a near-final skate park design funded by an $845,000 state appropriation and a completed park and trail wayfinding plan whose grant is nearly spent, with no funding identified for the system it designs. Staff also walked the 2018 and 2022 GO bond programs, including a $6.9 million East Mesa sports complex continuation.
- April 20, 2023A fee schedule passes by acclamation with its language still to be written
The board approved the 2023-2024 Fees and Charges and Facility Use Policy "with language added regarding bathroom use and field rental process" — language that did not yet exist when the vote was taken. A motion to table the item to May died, and the reason given on the record was that the policy is already in the queue for City Council in May. Public Participation: "There was none."
- 2022-12-12Work Session minutes
Mentioned in the minutes. Not confirmed as an action on this project — read the line and judge it.
- p2 “we’ve already issued other GO Bonds and looking at the East Mesa Complex,”
- p3 “the East Mesa Complex Recs. Is that on our side, the contractor’s side, can you”
- November 17, 2022A light pole falls at Harty, and the board names a course "The Big Enchilada"
Staff reported that a 30-year-old light pole delaminated and fell during a softball tournament at Harty Ballfields, missing an umpire and closing the facility pending testing of the remaining 17 poles. The board voted to recommend "The Big Enchilada" as the name of the city's new disc golf course and cancelled its December meeting. Staff outlined a proposed tree ordinance and the roughly $7 million Parks received from the 2022 GO Bond.
- September 15, 2022New pool, new prices, and the end of Frenger — the board sets rates for a 50-meter pool that will not pay for itself
The board approved fees and operating hours for the Natatorium, the city's new 50-meter pool opening early January 2023, and accepted staff's recommendation to close Frenger pool when it does. Staff presented El Paso's numbers as the benchmark: $70,000 in revenue against operations over a million. The naming of a new disc golf course was tabled to October.
- 2022-08-01City Council minutes
Mentioned in the minutes. Not confirmed as an action on this project — read the line and judge it.
- p6 “anticipated to develop the entire East Mesa Complex or were there intervening”
- July 21, 2022Veterans want a designation, not a playground — and the director tables the name change to go ask them why
The board tabled the renaming of Veterans Memorial Park to August after the Parks & Recreation director said she had not been part of the earlier conversations and wanted to put questions to the Veterans Advisory Board first. The Veterans Advisory Board's vice-chair told the board the group wants a special-use designation rather than a name change. Three of seven seats were filled.
- June 16, 2022The park where the playground is already scheduled to disappear
The Veterans Advisory Board asked this board to recommend that Veterans Memorial Park be designated a special use park and renamed "Veterans Memorial." Board members learned during the discussion that the adopted master plan already removes the playground, and tabled the item to July 21, asking to see the master plan and the LCPD vandalism reports first. Staff then presented a $28,040,752 FY23 budget.
- 2022-06-13Work Session minutes
Mentioned in the minutes. Not confirmed as an action on this project — read the line and judge it.
- p5 “out. One of them was the Pickleball Courts for the East Mesa Complex. Would”
- p6 “for the East Mesa Complex.”
- May 26, 2022"Next week he will file a discrimination thing with the City"
A former board member told the board that disabled veterans cannot use the Apodaca pickleball courts because there is no restroom and an 8.1% grade, that he would file a discrimination complaint the following week, and that the city wastes roughly a third of its GO Bond money by issuing RFPs instead of bidding work. The board then approved a $8,000 crosswalk-art project whose preparations had already begun and whose press release had already gone out.
- January 20, 2022Four members, no public, and 74 pages of attachments
The board met at City Hall with four of seven seats filled and approved the minutes of July 15, 2021 — the meeting before it. Staff briefed it on the Go Bond program, a 50-meter competition pool at 15% complete, a special-projects spreadsheet, and a fees-and-charges red line the board will take public input on next month.
- May 20, 2021"The City of Las Cruces basically has blatantly lied" — a Cool Corridor complaint, and a $2.4 million parking lot
The board met by Zoom webinar with five of seven seats present and no action items on the agenda. A member of the public told the board the Nevada Cool Corridor's costs had grown past what the city stated and that 60% of its plant life had been replaced; the director said she would bring back a full report on the project. Consultants presented a 95%-complete design for the Veterans Memorial Park parking lot and pavilion.
- March 18, 2021Fifty staff to fifty-seven, and acres added every year: the maintenance math
Held via Zoom webinar. Staff presented the maintenance impact of adding a new facility, reporting parks staffing has gone from 50 to 57 since 2008 while eight positions lost in the recession were never recovered. A second presentation covered splash pad water systems, including that a splash pad costs about $550,000 and that the city's one flow-through pad uses over 2.5 million gallons a year. Capital projects presented total just over $24 million.
- February 18, 2021GO Bond program at 26% on time, and the District 5 park gets a number: $675,000
Held via Zoom webinar. Public Works reported the GO Bond park program is 26% on time and 32% on cash, with Apodaca courts due in May and demolition started at Young Park. Staff said the new District 5 park has a funding source of approximately $675,000 from the Philippou settlement. Board members reported that three City Councilors each described the resolution as a one-off.
- November 19, 2020A resident asks where $2.2 million went, and the board gets the whole budget — an $18 million department with closed facilities
Meeting by Zoom with all Parks & Recreation facilities closed under the Public Health Order, the board heard a resident question the accounting on the Nevada Cool Corridor and got the Public Works director's answer on the record. Staff then walked the board through the entire FY21 budget — $11 million in general fund, a little over $18 million in total. The board approved two youth-painted murals and cancelled its own December meeting.
- August 20, 2020Two dozen players write in against the 45-minute court rule — and the board takes no action
The board met on Zoom with no action items on its agenda while a court reservation policy taking effect four days later drew about two dozen emailed public comments, printed in full across pages 11 to 49 of this document. The Chair read the emails aloud; the board took no vote on the policy, and the Director committed to answering every writer individually within 48 hours.
- August 20, 2020The same meeting, filed without the emails: ten pages that say the Chair read them
This is the city's ten-page filing of the August 20, 2020 board meeting — the minutes with no attachments. It records that the Chair read all emails submitted about the pickle ball and tennis scheduling change, that the board took no action on the policy, and that the Director committed to answering every writer within 48 hours. The emails themselves are in the other filing of the same meeting.
- June 18, 2020Two GO Bond plans go forward on Zoom, and a resident asks who is paying for the entry road
Meeting by Zoom for the first regular session since February, the board accepted the East Mesa Recreation Complex master plan presentation to move to City Council and approved the Parks & Sports Courts improvements. Three emailed public comments were read verbatim, one of them alleging that entry road funding had been taken "directly from the Go Bond funding as feared" — which the Interim Public Works Director denied on the record. A power outage cost one member his vote.
- Roll call as printed — Mr. Montgomery: I; Ms. McClure: I; Ms. Schuller: I; Chair Harrison: For. Motion passed. — Accept the presentation as presented, to move forward to City Council.
- February 20, 2020"Just putting another band aid" — tennis and pickleball push back on the GO Bond court plan
The first presentation of the GO Bond sports court rehabilitation to the board drew sustained objection from tennis and pickleball players, who said earlier meetings had led them to expect full resurfacing and professional-grade courts rather than crack repair. The board tabled the action to a special meeting and asked for two revisions — one with as much professional grade as possible, one showing what the existing money buys. A parent also told the board a discrimination complaint he filed in December 2018 was still unresolved.
- Motion carried unanimously. — Approve the special meeting for March 9, 2020.
- January 16, 2020The community pool gets its final concept — three of five public comments answered
A four-member board accepted the final concept design for the new community pool, with ASA Architects reporting that three of the five comments from the August 2019 public input meetings fit inside the project budget and two did not. The board also approved a revised fees and facility-use policy and a Youth Board logo, and tabled its own work session and meeting-location questions to February 20.