Carlsbad gets new RV park as housing market recovers from COVID-19

Carlsbad is getting a new RV park to meet the continued high-demand for housing throughout the city.

Coyote Flats on Mescalero Street was announced to be open for business in August offering 335 spaces for RVs.

The park will offer hard-wired internet spaces along with laundry and shower facilities, intended to meet the needs of temporary residents, per a news release from the Carlsbad Department of Development (CDOD).

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“Exterior wireless internet at other parks does not function well to penetrate the RV metal exteriors. We believe we have solved that challenge by investing in hard-wired service for the whole park,” said Mark Mervine, park manager. “We seek to be a strategic partner to the retail community given our RV community size and guests with resources to spend liberally for convenience.”

CDOD Local Development Coordinator Sidney Woods said the park and several other ongoing housing projects in Carlsbad will continue to expand on the available housing in the city.

She said apartments in Carlsbad are at least 90 percent occupancy and that the recent decline in oil and gas activities due to economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic had only a mild impact on the city’s housing needs.

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“It hasn’t been a huge drop with apartments,” Woods said. “A lot of them have faced issues with COVID, but there hasn’t been a huge drop.”

Although many oil and gas operators reduced operations in the Carlsbad area, pulling workers out of the area, Woods said the need for housing remained high for workers in other sectors such as manufacturing.

“There’s diversity in our workforce. When we do job losses in the oil and gas industry, it doesn’t mean those housing needs vanish,” she said. “We have a lot of people working in different industries coming to town.”

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And with the price per barrel recovering in recent months from historic lows in April, Woods said the needs for housing could grow in the coming months.

“Moving forward, we’re thinking we’re going to need all those spots as things pick back up,” she said. “I still definitely think there is a need for Coyote Flats and for temporary housing. Overall, I think the perspective is there are still a lot of people here.”

Records show Carlsbad’s unemployment rate at 5.6 percent in May and 6.1 percent in April, an increase from March’s rate of 3.1 percent before the pandemic began to spread heavily in New Mexico and lead to its economic decline.

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In June, New Mexico’s statewide unemployment rate was at 11.1 percent, down from 13.3 in May.

“Carlsbad’s unemployment has remained low despite the recent downturn in the economy, and our community is uniquely positioned to rebound stronger than ever,” said Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway. “We support high-quality RV parks and similar facilities who represent growth in our economy.”

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.