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By JUNO OGLE
Daily Press Staff
Outdoor recreation and entertainment were the top two results from a recent survey seeking input on what the city of Bayard could do with the 675 acres of the Foy Ranch it purchased last year \u2014 but finding out exactly what that means to people was the object of a public visioning workshop held Tuesday.
\u201cOutdoor recreation is kind of a catch-all, and we\u2019d really like to have you spend some time helping us understand what that means,\u201d said Jason Godfrey, CEO of Better City, a Utah-based economic development consultant. \u201cBecause that could mean mountain biking, it can be pickleball, it can be trails, it can be a hundred different things, and so we really need to understand the context of what that means and especially what you don\u2019t have.\u201d
The workshop and the survey, which was conducted from March 5-16, are steps in creating a master plan for the property. That work is being funded by a Community Investment Grant from mining company Freeport-McMoRan.
Godfrey called the land purchase a generational opportunity.
\u201cThere\u2019s some prime real estate there, so this is an exciting opportunity,\u201d he said. \u201cThe one thing with real estate is you get exactly one shot to get it right.\u201d
\u201cWe want to make sure we\u2019re taking advantage of the opportunity in the best way for the local government,\u201d said Priscilla Lucero, executive director of the Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments.
About 20 people attended the workshop, and after Godfrey explained the results of the survey and some of the conditions that could dictate the use of the land, attendees in the group were invited to use sticky notes to write down more specific ideas and attach them to poster boards labeled \u201crecreation,\u201d \u201cplace,\u201d \u201cresidential\u201d and \u201cbusiness.\u201d
Juniper Aubrey, 11, brought more than just ideas. She drew her vision for the property and presented it to Godfrey.
On a large poster board, Juniper had drawn roads and trails, a large dog park, a pond, shaded picnic areas, a playground, a natural area for plants and wildlife, an indoor pool and spaces for a farmers market and shops.
\u201cMom helped me with a few things, but I drew it all,\u201d Juniper said, referring to her mother, Laura Aubrey.
While people presented a variety of ideas, ultimately the uses of the Foy property will be guided by several factors, Godfrey said \u2014 including the terrain, which poses some challenges.
The 675 acres encompasses land on both sides of U.S. 180 to the north and west of Bayard, extending the city limits nearer to Santa Clara. In the section north of Bayard, the terrain is hilly. On the west side of the highway, the Cameron Creek flood plain would prohibit housing construction.
Utilities are also an important consideration, Godfrey said.
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to figure out where the utilities come from Santa Clara, where they are from the Bayard side, what\u2019s the easier way to get there, because it\u2019s inordinately expensive to run utilities,\u201d Godfrey said.
It\u2019s important to identify the property\u2019s highest and best use, he said, which in one sense means how to get the highest financial return on the city\u2019s investment. It also means considering what makes sense from an aesthetic standpoint, and what the community\u2019s needs are.
\u201cAlong [U.S.] 180, that\u2019s a great commercial corridor,\u201d he said. \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t want to put a factory there, a warehouse, because that could be in back somewhere where it isn\u2019t a high-visibility place.\u201d
Turning to the survey, Godfrey said there were 157 total responses, with 42 from Bayard and 135 from the rest of the Mining District.
To the question \u201cWhat do you love about Bayard?\u201d 94 respondents said that it\u2019s a small community, friendly and family-oriented. Twenty-five mentioned its beauty. Other responses included its mining history, library, youth sports, businesses and restaurants.
The highest number of responses to the question of \u201cWhat would most benefit the community?\u201d was outdoor recreation, followed by entertainment and restaurants or coffee shops.
\u201cOther\u201d was the fourth-highest response, which Godfrey said included many specific responses that could have fit into other categories, such as apartments.
Godfrey asked the small crowd what \u201centertainment\u201d would mean to them, and the responses were indoor, family friendly activities such as a movie theater, arcade or roller-skating rink.
\u201cThere\u2019s plenty to do outdoors when it\u2019s warm here and you\u2019re outdoorsy, but if you\u2019re not outdoorsy or it\u2019s not warm, and you have money, where do you go?\u201d Mariah Crump said.
Several people said they go to Silver City or Deming for entertainment.
\u201cI think, too, having a space that could facilitate an amphitheater or a plaza or a little community square where different people could use for different reasons,\u201d Laura Aubrey said.
Bruce Ashburn, legislative assistant to District 39 state Rep. Luis Terrazas, suggested that a portion of the hilly area would be good for an amphitheater.
\u201cIf you looked at some kind of an entertainment situation out there, where we could bring in real bands, real music, and pull people in, I know the Chamber of Commerce is interested in partnering with something like that,\u201d he said.
Such a venue would benefit the area economically without adding more burden to municipal services, Ashburn said.
\u201cSo many of us don\u2019t want the area to change, but if you start pulling people in for a weekend, you get them to stay in the hotels, you get them to eat, and then they go home, then we don\u2019t have to increase the police force, you don\u2019t have to increase the fire department,\u201d he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to pay for all the extra people, and yet we can still reap the benefits of all the tax income and all the things that go along with economic development.\u201d
Others advocated for industry that would bring in good-paying jobs. Lucero said those options are being pursued.
\u201cWe\u2019re doing that under the comprehensive economic development strategy,\u201d she said.
Additionally, Lucero said, any of the categories that people suggested would bring jobs to the area.
Creating revenue is one of the more important guidelines for the project, Godfrey said.
\u201cWe\u2019re focused on doing something that has market demand, so it generates property taxes. Yes, there should be a gathering place, there should be a park. Everybody wants that \u2014 but how?\u201d he said. \u201cThe success of the project will be dictated by does it generate property taxes? Does it increase the prosperity of your community? That\u2019s got to happen.
\u201cWhen you increase property taxes, then you can do all kinds of fun stuff with parks and other kinds of recreation and so forth,\u201d Godfrey continued. \u201cBut at the end of the day, it\u2019s got to generate income, got to generate jobs.\u201d
The project now moves into developing a strategy document that combines research and the community input, Godfrey said. A draft is expected to be complete this summer, after which the City Council and the public will have opportunities to give feedback.
Juno Ogle may be reached at juno@scdai lypress.com.<\/p>\n
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\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.scdailypress.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (Press Staff Photo by Juno Ogle)Jason Godfrey, CEO of Better City LLC, at right, looks over a drawing by Juniper Aubrey, left, of possible uses of the former Foy Ranch property purchased last year by the city of Bayard. The property was the topic of a workshop held Tuesday evening at the Bayard Community Center. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2337435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2337434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Recreation-entertainment-top-Foy-Ranch-wish-list-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2337434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2337434"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2337434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2337436,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2337434\/revisions\/2337436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2337435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2337434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2337434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2337434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}