Hurley plan: Lack of property restricts development

The town of Hurley is in the process of updating its five-year comprehensive plan, and will hold a series of meetings through early May to address several of the areas it covers.
The meetings are open to the public and are conducted at 1 p.m. at the Hurley Community Center. Two meetings on a community profile and land use have already been held, and upcoming sessions will address infrastructure and community facilities on March 14, transportation on April 4, economic development April 11, housing on April 18 and hazard mitigation on May 9.
Emily Gojkovich, deputy director of the Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments, is working on the plan update with Hurley and other communities in the area. The last comprehensive plan for the town was completed in 2005.
A draft will be presented to the community at the opening celebration for the town’s pool in early June, and the public will be able to give its feedback on the report at that event.
“Comprehensive plans are supposed to be updated every five years,” Gojkovich said. “Unfortunately, with the craziness that our local governments have to deal with, we’ve seen some on the books for quite a while.”
The Council of Governments often compiles communities’ comprehensive plans into its own required plans, she said.
“Comprehensive plans are really mandated, especially if they want to go after CDBG dollars,” she said, referring to the Community Development Block Grant program from the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration.
At the March 7 meeting, Gojkovich and Hurley Mayor Ed Stevens discussed land use in the community, which is severely restricted. Hurley was originally a company town built by Chino Mines, Stevens said.
Setting goals for the town to be able to grow economically was one of the aspects of land use they addressed at that meeting.
“Really, as far as industrial growth, that will have to come either through annexation of land or a purchase thereof. The town is landlocked,” Stevens said.
A Dollar General will soon be built just off U.S. 180, but Stevens said even a small manufacturer would have a difficult time finding a location in Hurley.
“We have the infrastructure, but we don’t have the square footage of land to be able to provide for them what they need to do,” he said.
Among the goals discussed for the land use section of the comprehensive plan include confirming the town’s boundaries, taking an inventory of the buildings and land that are available and continuing to work with Freeport-McMoRan on potentially using or acquiring more land for commercial and residential development.
Continuing to develop beautification plans for the town, including a plan to clear dying trees from First Street, and developing a marketing plan for the town were also discussed.
—JUNO OGLE