Rio Rancho planning board recommends special-use zoning for indoor soccer facility

The Rio Rancho Planning and Zoning Board voted unanimously on June 23 to recommend that the city’s governing body approve a zone map amendment to allow an indoor soccer facility on roughly 1.91 acres along South 29th Street Southeast.

Michelle Castillo, a planner with the City of Rio Rancho, told the board the request seeks to change the property’s zoning from NC (Neighborhood Commercial) to SU (Special Use) to permit neighborhood commercial uses and an indoor soccer facility. She said the application includes a site plan (Exhibit A) and meets the submittal requirements and criteria under the Rio Rancho Municipal Code chapter 150.07.

Castillo summarized technical details of the proposal, saying the building height is 30 feet, 2 inches, which is under the 32-foot maximum in the Golf Course Quarter Plan, and that the plan provides 13,353 square feet of landscaping—more than the required minimum. She told the board staff recommended approval to the governing body, with findings and conditions.

The applicant, Steve Kramer of Albuquerque, identified himself at the meeting and was given an opportunity to speak; no members of the public rose to speak for or against the item during the public-comment period.

After brief board discussion, Castillo moved to approve item number 2 and the motion was seconded. The clerk conducted a roll-call vote; Commissioners Hankins and Koffcher, the vice chair, Commissioner Hardesty and the chairman voted yes. The motion passed, forwarding the board’s recommendation of approval to the governing body.

The board adjourned following the vote. The governing body will consider the board’s recommendation in a subsequent meeting; no date for that consideration was specified in the transcript.