Zia Civil Division expands with addition of community planning section

We are pleased to announce that Kirk Clifton, AICP, has joined Zia and will lead our newly formed community planning section. The addition of community planning is synergistic with Zia's civil engineering services and compliments our existing civil engineering planning and design capabilities.

As the Planning Director, Clifton will be responsible for land use planning, development of master plans and coordination with regulatory agencies.

Clifton holds a Bachelor of Science degree from NMSU in City & Regional Planning, with an emphasis on earth sciences and real estate law. Additionally, Clifton is a nationally certified professional planner (American Institute of Certified Planners). He brings over 17 years of professional experience in land use planning and community development. Notable professional achievements include: securing development approvals and entitlements on over 9000 acres of real estate; managing the completion of a new multi-million dollar championship golf course/community project; initiation of a comprehensive bicycle and trail plan throughout Dona Ana County; and writing Ordinances for municipalities.

"Las Cruces has always demonstrated its resiliency to a down economy at a national level. We continue to grow in many areas of the market where most communities are suffering," said Clifton. "From a transportation and weather perspective, this is a great place to conduct business. Not to mention the fact that we have the potential of becoming a premier example of a 'live, work, and play' model community."

With the addition of a full service land use planning arm, Zia can now offer full and comprehensive services to its clients. Zia can take a project from a conceptual level to a fully functional development.

During the past several months Clifton's efforts at Zia have been focused on:

• Commercial/Big Box developments and master plans
• Multi-jurisdictional land use planning for a variety of customers (private sector - large and small scale, and local, state, and federal government)
• Subdivision and master planning design

Zia helping Ruidoso rebuild

In July of 2008, the remnant circulation of Hurricane Dolly passed over the area and brought as much as 9 inches (23 cm) of rainfall. Hundreds of tourists, campers and residents were evacuated. One person was killed in the flooding, approximately 900 persons required rescue, approximately 500 structures were damaged, and initial damage estimates for Ruidoso were in the range of $15- 20 million. The peak flow measured at the Hollywood Station registered 1630 cubic feet per second. This was the second highest amount recorded at this gauge since records have been kept starting in 1954. The Village infrastructure was devastated by these floods and since July 2008, the Village had to undertake a massive rebuilding effort to get the community services restored. Today after 2 � years the rebuilding process is well on its way.

As one of the technical teams on this historic effort, Zia is providing environmental sciences, civil engineering and hydrology support to the Village as part of a $30 million Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reconstruction project. In cooperation with FEMA, Zia is fast tracking hydrologic analysis of nine bridge structures that were washed off during the 2008 floods. Zia is using an expeditious approach by completing all the hydrology and hydraulic analysis for the upstream and downstream channel cross sections and bridge openings at the nine bridge sites along Rio Ruidoso. Once the new structures are constructed, record drawings will be prepared and a request for Letter of Map Revision will be filed with FEMA. The Village is also using innovative approach to select pre-cast concrete bridge structure manufacturer for expediting replacement of the nine bridges.

Zia prepared Environmental Assessment documents for relocation of a sewer line which had been installed within the Rio Ruidoso channel. This line was significantly damaged during the 2008 floods. The Village is planning to relocate the sewer line outside the river channel in as far as it is practical while still maintaining gravity flows. Zia continues to provide numerous related services to help the reconstruction process move along.

Zia recognized for outstanding growth

For the third year in a row, Zia has been recognized by several media outlets for outstanding growth. This year, Zia was ranked the 33rd fastest growing company and one of the top 500 largest Hispanic owned businesses in the nation by Hispanic Business Magazine. Zia was presented the Sol Del Oro award by the El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for placing on Hispanic Business Magazine's top 500 list.

Additional accolades this year include recognition by New Mexico Business Magazine for a ranking of 19th on a list of top Hispanic Businesses in New Mexico, and a ranking of 6th for top environmental & ecological service companies in New Mexico. Additionally, Zia made Inc. Magazine's top 5,000 list for fastest growing private U.S. companies.

Our Safety Services

With a fully staffed safety section, Zia can now assist businesses and institutions to maintain a safe healthful workplace. When it comes to safety and health of employees, being proactive can save time, money and sometimes LIVES! We can assist in identifying potential problems in the workplace and help our clients provide a healthy and safe work environment for their employees.

More specifically our Safety/Health services include:

1. Develop and maintain safety/health program
2. Provide liaison with governmental agencies such as OSHA
3. Develop Database to track employee safety and health training program
4. Conduct Plant safety/health surveys
5. Safety/health consulting services to implement safe work environment
6. Conduct accident avoidance training and accident investigations

Zia salutes Las Cruces City Council's cell phone ban

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