By Lynn Janes

The Village of Santa Clara held a regular meeting April 10, 2025. Mayor Arnold Lopez called the meeting to order. Mayor Pro Tem Albert Esparza, trustees, Peter Erickson, and Ralph Trujillo attended. Olga Amador didn't attend.

The council approved the agenda, past meeting minutes and department head reports.

Lopez didn't have anything to report currently

Public comments none currently.

New business

The council voted to rescind the vote of March 27, 2025, for the application for the variance by Jamie Perez to conduct an automobile mechanic business on his residential property located at 703 Bard Street and 704 James Street. Yvonne Gonzales, village attorney, said it needed to be done again.

The council discussed the reconsideration of the rescinded vote of March 27, 2025, vote upon the application and March 5, 2025, hearing record concerning the application for the variance by Jamie Perez to continue his automobile mechanic business on his residential property located at 703 Bard Street and 704 James Street. Esparza said he had a number of issues with the business and the most being fire safety. He has storage of more than 10 vehicles, which would be against code, but he clearly has far more than that. He needs to meet a lot of fire and safety codes because of the chemicals and fluids. The council questioned how that would be monitored. Because of all the vehicles it could cause a problem if they did have a fire. The council discussed for some time the problems associated with the business and it being a residential area. The council felt they needed to do what would be best for the community.

Perez had the opportunity to address these problems for a long time and had not. The council expressed that if they allowed the variance, he still might not do these things. He had been cited numerous times and has done nothing to change anything in the past three years. The council came back to the concern about hazardous materials. It was brought to the council attention that the garbage trucks have picked up garbage and then found oil leaking out but could not say where it came from.

The council denied the variance for the application made by Jamie Perez to conduct an automobile mechanic shop on his residential property located at 703 Bard Street and 704 James Street.

The council approved to table two task orders from Stantec due to them not being ready. They had to do with the tanks, wells and the Fort Bayard building abatement.

The council approved a proclamation declaring April 14-19, 2025, as National Public Safety Telecommunicator Week. Leandra Esparza, village clerk, explained this recognizes the work of the Grant County regional dispatch and support all they do. Lopez said, "These people are always super busy." He had attended one of their meetings recently and they have been trying to build the staff back up. They have lost some people due to moves. Some have been doing double shifts. Lopez said they had 7,200 calls in the past month that include the small stuff to the bigger things.

Public hearing April 17, 2025, would be canceled due to the person wanting to put the cannabis business in would not be ready so it will be rescheduled.

Second regular meeting to be held Thursday April 24, 2025, at 4:00 pm

Meeting Adjourned