Members of the Doña Ana County Planning and Zoning Commission asked staff to schedule a workshop to clarify how legacy master plans and the Unified Development Code (UDC) should be applied to proposed subdivisions, and they raised concerns about truck traffic routes affecting the Santa Teresa area.

Commissioner Mel (transcript variant spellings present) said confusion about how much weight the county's master plan should carry surfaced in a recent subdivision review in the Talavera area. "We need to resolve that because if Santa Teresa ever takes off... we’re going to be SOL if we don't know where the master plan fits and how much weight it carries," the commissioner said. Several commissioners and staff agreed a separate work session is warranted to review the role of the master plan, the comprehensive plan and any related language in the UDC.

Commissioners also raised transportation and heavy-truck routing concerns. One commissioner said the City of El Paso is considering restrictions on heavy road-use traffic at the border crossing, which could reroute truck flows through Doña Ana County. Commissioners asked staff to coordinate with the City of El Paso and assess potential implications for county roads, routing and permitting.

Staff noted that some zones in the UDC carry minimum lot-size standards (for example, the T2 zone's two-acre minimum for conventional subdivisions), and that exemptions and claim-of-exemption rules can allow smaller lots in specific circumstances. Commissioners asked staff to return with clearer explanations of those zoning-linked subdivision standards.

Ending: Commissioners requested a workshop to discuss the role of master plans, the UDC and subdivision standards, and asked staff to pursue interjurisdictional coordination on truck routing near Santa Teresa.