Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

Low attendance at land use meeting

PORTALES — Roosevelt County residents were a no-show Tuesday at the first town hall meeting to discuss the county’s Joint Land Use Plan in the county courthouse.

Several Elida residents showed to the second town hall meeting Wednesday in the Elida Community Center, but most expressed to county officials that they did not know where to begin with giving input on the plan because they did not understand what they were giving input on.

“We feel like it’s a very important process, and (it’s important) that the county has (a land use plan) too. Everyone has one. I know Curry County is working on theirs,” said Rick Ledbetter, a local farmer and member of the Roosevelt Soil & Water Conservation District, which has its own land use plan in place.

“If you don’t have this land use plan in place — it’s like this prairie chicken thing that came up; you go to arguing with the federal government,” Ledbetter explained to those gathered. “If you have a land use plan, it ensures you a seat at the table; by law, they (federal government) have to talk to you. This gives us a way to have input.”

Ledbetter and Roosevelt County Special Projects Coordinator Carol Acosta-Flores provided examples of why it is important for the county to having a plan that outlines the custom, culture and goals of the county and how they accomplish those goals and what resources the county has and needs.

The plan, they said, gives the county a legally-mandated voice with the federal government on issues like building wind farms and oil pumps in Roosevelt County, or during the forming of regulations for farmers because of an endangered species in the area.

“A lot of this customs and culture, you sit here and think, what’s the purpose of this (plan)? The purpose of this is they are our customs and culture, what we’ve done for years to make a living,” Ledbetter said. “All this garbage that’s coming from Washington D.C. — they don’t have a clue how we survive out here, so we have to fight ignorance is what we have to do.”

Acosta-Flores said the county has a land use ordinance and plan in place, but the county is due to update the plan and is required to receive public input from county residents and landowners if anything should be added to or removed from the plan.

She said New Mexico/Arizona Coalition of Counties Executive Director Howard Hutchinson is assisting the county in updating the county’s plan.

“He’s very knowledgeable on all this, and he’s helped other counties put theirs together,” she said.

The following is the schedule for other land use meetings being held this month:

• 6 p.m. Monday at the Dora Community Building

• 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Roosevelt County Courthouse Commission Room

• 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Floyd Senior Center

 
 
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