Meetings watch: Local Growth Management Committee

The Local Growth Management Committee met Tuesday at the Clovis Police Department.

• The committee approved the usage of a $133,030 grant from the Office of Economic adjustment, on behalf of the Department of Defense.

The money will be used for a regional growth planner position, with up to $90,000 budgeted. Portales Community Affairs Coordinator Nicole Wilkening submitted the documentation for the position, which will be advertised as a request for proposal for Clovis, Portales, Albuquerque, Amarillo and Alamogordo — places with military installations.

Some of the duties include maintaining a regional growth management Web site, organizing meetings for the Housing Task Force, helping develop a recommendation strategy for Cannon Air Force Base’s Section 801 Housing, and attend bi-weekly Right Start meetings at Cannon to answer incoming personnel questions about the Clovis-Portales microplex.

Wilkening said the hope is to have the planner hired by April 20, selected by a five-member committee of the LGMC.

• The committee heard a presentation of a Joint Land Use study from Anthony Fruchtl, a planner with HDR Engineering of Albuquerque.

The study, driven by citizens and county commissions, would help determine requirements for how private residents and businesses would work with Cannon Air Force Base, and vice versa, near the borders of the base’s property and Melrose Bombing Range.

Curry County Manager Lance Pyle said three 6 p.m. public information meetings are pending:

• April 8 at Portales City Hall

• June 10 at the Melrose Senior Center

• Aug. 31 at the Clovis-Carver Public Library’s north annex.

— Kevin Wilson