Park impact fees
The fees new development pays toward parks, and the periodic study that sets them. Staff have stated on the record that impact fees legally cannot deliver park dedication.
The timeline
- December 19, 2024The board endorses park dedication — developers build the park, no reimbursement
Six of seven members endorsed the parks section of Realize Las Cruces, the first update to the City's development code since 2001. It would require developers to build a neighborhood park at their own cost with no reimbursement — a mechanism Las Cruces has never used — and, unlike impact fees, it can raise the level of service rather than just hold it.
- 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.
- 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.
- Motion carried unanimously (roll call: Engle aye, Schuller aye, McClure aye) — Table the renaming of Veterans Memorial Park to the August 18th meeting of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board.
- 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.
- January 21, 2021A park by resolution: the board asks what happens when Council skips it
Held via Zoom webinar. A resident objected that a City Council resolution to buy land and build a park in District 5 bypassed the board's normal process, and the board spent most of the meeting on what that precedent would cost. Staff said park impact fees are the only backup funding source and cannot be used for maintenance at all. No action items were on the agenda.