County gets briefed on military Joint Land Use Study

ALAMOGORDO — County Commissioners were recently briefed on the Southern New Mexico – El Paso, Joint Land Use Study (JLUS), a cooperative process among city, county, state governments, public agencies and local military installations to look at issues such as land use and economic development in Otero County and other surrounding counties.

JLUS Project Manager in the Doña Ana County region Adrienne Johnson along with Alamogordo City Planner Darron Williams made a presentation to commissioners to update them on the latest JLUS developments.

Johnson said the study was created in 2012 and is funded by the U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Economic Adjustment.

“The study was conducted and funded by the Office of Economic Adjustment by DoD to look at land compatibility issues between military installations of Southern New Mexico and surrounding communities,” said Johnson. “It includes six counties including Otero County. The purpose of the study is to come up with strategies to recommend to communities and military installations on how we could both work together so communities could grow and military installations can continue their missions without disrupting communities.”

According to the JLUS website, the Southern New Mexico and El Paso region is unique among defense communities in the United States due to its physical size, cultural resources and emerging growth opportunities such as renewable energy and it’s important as a military training and testing environment.

The study looked at issues such as land use, economic development, infrastructure, environmental sustainability and the operational demands and mission changes of both military and civilian entities within the six counties of Doña Ana, Lincoln, Otero, Sierra and Socorro in New Mexico and El Paso County in Texas.

Johnson said residents who reside in the six counties can submit their comments and concerns through the new JLUS website, http://snmepjointlanduse.org/

“Before I came on board there wasn’t a lot of communications. I know there was a lot of issues and concerns. Commanders leaving after a number of years could sometimes lead to information not being transferred and that’s a problem,” she said. “We want your voices to be heard to let installations know what’s on your mind. Tell us what you like, what you don’t like and what you like to see.”

Commissioner Susan Flores said she was happy to see the JLUS at this point since when it first started in 2012. Flores along with other county commissioners and community leaders attended JLUS meetings since the study was first introduced in the county.

“This is what has resulted from all the different committees from county, city, mayors and all military branches. We did listen to the public at that time, they have been working on this for four years,” said Flores. “This is where we’re at. Back then there were no maps. We had meetings in Cloudcroft and at the library for four and a half years. I’m very happy to see that we’re here. Now we do have a chance to get your voices heard.”

More:Holloman seeks expanded training space for F-16 training

Last month commissioners were informed and educated on Holloman Air Force Base’s flight training areas in the county and learned that the current airspace is not suitable to train F-16 fighter pilots coming in from Hill Air Force Base, Utah.

Holloman Air Force Base officials said their flight training areas in Southern New Mexico was outdated and that some need to be expanded, reshaped and relocated – changes that would have F-16s flying over sparsely populated rural areas, not now used for that purpose.

During the meeting, several concerned residents spoke out against the proposal.

To submit comments and concerns regarding any military project in the area visit http://snmepjointlanduse.org/