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Thursday, March 27, 2008

Mayor Pushes Plans for Racino in Moriarty

By Laura Nesbitt
Mountain View Telegraph
    The mayor of Moriarty and about 30 other municipal and county officials are making big plans.
    "He wants to be racing by late summer or fall of 2010," Mayor Adan Encinias said about plans Albuquerque Downs President Paul Blanchard told the mayor he had for moving the racino to Moriarty.
    Encinias was speaking to officials who had gathered at the Moriarty Civic Center on Monday night for a special planning and zoning meeting.
    Encinias has plans for Blanchard to make a special presentation about the racino's move to the Moriarty City Council on April 8 "so then we have April 15 in case we need a special meeting before a public hearing" later in the month by the commission, Encinias said.
    The racing commission has plans to hold a public meeting in Moriarty to gather comments on the proposed move by the Downs to a spot north of I-40 and east of N.M. 41, Commission Chairman Julian Luna said.
    That public meeting will be scheduled soon, although Luna is expecting it will be sometime in April.
    "Once we passed the tribal gaming rules and regulations, the economic impact study was something we were waiting for," Luna said.
    That long-delayed study on the impact of Hobbs' Zia Park Racetrack/Black Gold Casino on the four other racinos and the economy in southeastern New Mexico was presented to commissioners at the racing commission meeting last week.
    Because of the regular April racing commission meeting, Encinias told all the officials assembled "everything needs to be fast-tracked."
    "This is probably the largest economic development project this valley will see," Encinias said. "We have to dig into our souls to see if it's a fit for our community."