Chaparral has grown exponentially across Doña Ana and Otero counties in recent decades with no cohesive government. As the largest unincorporated community in the state, it’s officially home to about 16,000 residents, but county officials will tell you the population is closer to 26,000. Chaparral sits on the state line north of El Paso and is on track to be bigger than Alamogordo within a decade.
The lack of cohesion exposes this community to multiple harms. As the incoming state representative for House District 53, which includes Chaparral, I have spoken with residents who have had family members die or become disabled because the nearest ambulance was an hour away. Some Otero County sheriff’s deputies have transported the injured to hospitals in El Paso themselves, taking on immense liability in the process.
Residents speak about feeling unsafe because there aren’t enough deputies. The threat of cartel violence is ever-present because of Chaparral’s isolation and proximity to the border.
Dogs run rampant. I was bitten by one while campaigning on Election Day. Residents, including children getting off school buses, face this danger daily.
We have an opportunity in the 60-day legislative session to change this reality.
Otero County Sheriff David Black has spearheaded a proposal to create a $10 million public safety facility in Chaparral that would include facilities for the sheriff’s department, fire and EMS that includes an ambulance bay, animal control and road maintenance. The sheriff has spent thousands from his budget to create engineering plans and cost estimates.
There is no sheriff’s substation in Chaparral. Doña Ana County shuttered its substation in 2022. Chaparral has a fire station on the Doña Ana County side with three professional firefighters on a given shift. There is only a volunteer fire station on the Otero County side. A community of this size ought to have at least 16 full-time firefighters/EMS personnel on staff. Perhaps worst of all, the closest ambulance can be anywhere between 14 miles to 40 miles away.
About 80 percent of animals at the animal shelter in Alamogordo come from Chaparral, which is more than 70 miles away. Animals are surrendered or euthanized because of the distance and cost to retrieve them. A U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint between Chaparral and Alamogordo also deters some from retrieving their pets.
We have bipartisan and bi-county support for this facility. The Colquitt Company, a longstanding development and water business started by a founding family of Chaparral, is donating 7.5 acres of land for the facility.
I am partnering with Sheriff Black to advocate in this legislative session for funding the first half of this facility, which would put a sheriff and fire/EMS building on the ground at a cost of $5 million. We’ve been building local support, and we met recently with officials from the governor’s office and the state Department of Finance and Administration. The state officials expressed excitement about the project and a commitment to help Otero County find grant money to help fund the second half of the facility.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and lawmakers ought to champion this project by committing millions of dollars. The governor has a strong commitment to increasing public safety in New Mexico. The same is true of my colleagues in the House Democratic caucus, and many other lawmakers as well.
I will commit a great deal of my own capital outlay funding to this project. I’ve asked that colleagues whose districts include Chaparral do the same.
Chaparral, a place the rest of New Mexico often forgets, calls itself “a community that works.” It’s time that we work for Chaparral.
Sarah Silva, a Democrat, represents House District 53, which includes Chaparral, in the New Mexico Legislature. Reach her at sarah.silva@nmlegis.gov.