The city of Socorro council discussed a potential housing development near the hospital on Tuesday’s regular meeting. Mayor Bhasker said 200 people are moving to Albuquerque because of the VLA expansion and he felt concerned about the lack of housing available in Socorro for those people.

“We should be working on trying to get someone to help us do a planned community with a public/private way of doing it,” Bhasker said.

Cheryl Marlow, an Albuquerque realtor, presented a potential partnership with the city in developing a subdivision.

“You need housing, you are losing money for the city and losing quality members of the community,” Marlow said. “Your city is suffering from lack of housing, there’s a need, you have the land, you have the infrastructure… I have the contacts, the history the experience to partner with the city.”

Mayor Bhasker said he would follow up with the legality of working with Marlow and said it could be a project of up to 300 acres.

In other business, all action items were approved including the capital outlay for Leroy Place, Walkway, Cassity Place and Mary Place. The fire department’s automatic aid agreement and the DFA Law Enforcement fund grant were also approved.

The next meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Oct. 17 and the community was also encouraged to give public input at the Hwy 60 project at 6 p.m. on Oct 11 at the Socorro Convention Center.

Jessica Carranza Pino, Editor