An association of home builders has reached a compromise with wilderness proponents on the boundary for eastward growth of Las Cruces, both groups announced during a news conference Wednesday.
As a result, the Las Cruces Home Builders Association said it will endorse a plan by conservationists that would grant a federal wilderness designation to thousands of acres in Doña Ana County.
The groups had been at odds throughout a negotiations process about wilderness hosted by the city early this year.
Ranchers and off-road vehicle users remain opposed to the wilderness designation in most cases, though they've backed another method of protecting land from development.
Under the compromise announced Wednesday, conservationists agreed to move a boundary for development closer to the Organ Mountains than they had originally proposed, while home builders agreed move the boundary farther away from the Organs than they had originally proposed.
Jeff Steinborn, a state representative and director for the Las Cruces office of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, said the agreement is a significant. He said wilderness backers and home builders have been working for several months toward the compromise.
"We could have made the other boundaries work, and we definitely want to protect important lands, but at the same time, compromise is the essence of democracy, and compromise is the essence of progress," he said.
The 19-member Home Builders Association Board voted last week to endorse conservationists' proposal with the recent boundary revisions.
Home Builders Association member Judd Singer said the changes addressed his organization's concerns about having land available for development on the East Mesa.
"What we're saying in a clear voice is, there are lands appropriate for development all around Las Cruces, and there are lands that are not appropriate for development," he said.
Steve Wilmeth, a Doña Ana County rancher, said he's concerned about the home builders decision to endorse the conservationists' entire proposal, including the Broad Canyon and Potrillo mountain areas. Ranchers and off-road vehicle users have said they're worried the wilderness designation - which restricts most mechanized travel - would keep law enforcement and Border Patrol from easily accessing the land.
"This is a bigger issue than just ranchers ... here," he said. "When there is a legitimate national security concern, this is a reckless and irresponsible decision in the long run for our community."
Ranchers have contended creating wilderness will tighten restrictions on grazing land and hurt their livelihoods.
The new proposed boundary for the eastward expansion of Las Cruces is about a half-mile east of Weisner Road, a north-south artery planned for eastern Las Cruces. Conservationists had previously sought Weisner Road as the boundary. Home builders and developers had pushed for a wave-shaped boundary that would have been from 1Ú4 of a mile to one mile west of Baylor Canyon Road, a north-south dirt road that runs close to the Organ Mountain foothills.
Under the proposal by conservationists, the boundary represents the western edge of a proposed Organ Mountain national conservation area. Conservation areas are a federal designation in which local communities decide the access restrictions.
Also under the compromise, wilderness backers agreed to give up about 3,200 acres between "A" Mountain and Talavera, in exchange for acreage added to the national conservation area toward the southern end of the Organ range.
Steinborn's group had previously backed a 103,687-acre conservation area that included 20,800 of wilderness. He said the compromise has shrunk the conservation area to 96,469 acres.
Creating wilderness requires action by Congress.
