Here is a brief report from the August 17 RPA meeting.
Reed Liming did indeed announce that Dr. Reynis has been retained to conduct the fiscal impact statement for thew City. The report is due by the end of this year. Also, the City will not petition for Phase 2 until the very end of 2011 and that it will take the better part of a year, so that means Phase 2 would not be completed until 2013. Hence, it looks like 2014 for Phase 3.
Reed Liming noted that the most difficult part of the Phase 1 has been solid waste collection for the newly annexed areas.
Stay tuned.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
UPDATE: AGENDA POSTED FOR AUGUST 16 RPA MEETING
The agenda has finally been posted for Tuesday, August 17, Rehional Planing Authority meeting. Here is the link.
Of note, City of Santa Fe Director of Long Range Planning will give a brief update on the annexation and the fact that tthe City has hired Dr. Reynis at UNM-BBER to conduct a fiscal impact analysis for Phases 2 and 3.
Please attend!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
UPDATE: One Year Later, Where Are We?
We have become aware of a upcoming meeting of interest. According to a recent news release from Commissioner Virginia Vigil:
The Santa Fe Regional Planning Authority is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, August 17, 2010, at the County Commission Chambers. The meeting will convene at 4pm. An update on the City-Initiated Annexation Plan will be presented at this meeting. For a copy of the complete agenda, please contact Melissa Holmes at: msholmes@santafecounty.org
NOTE: When we contacted the above email address, Melissa Holmes responded that we should contact Reed Liming, City Long Range Planning Director. When we contacted his office, we were told "Reed Liming is out of the office and will return on Monday, August 9th." We are continuing to attempt to obtain an agenda for the August 17 meeting, when available, it will be posted here.
(Here are all the contacts for the Regional Planning Committee)
In case you missed it, the Santa Fe New Mexican ran this editorial on August 29:
City land rush ignored the costs
As Julie Ann Grimm reported in yesterday's New Mexican, City Hall is facing up to the costs and benefits of annexation. To which we'd say, it's about time, considering that our city councilors blithely ignored long-range planner Reed Liming's calls for caution when they were licking their chops over 10,000 acres they began putting under municipal jurisdiction in 2008.
The process is being done in three phases — a good thing, given the city's precarious finances and the price tag for providing services to territory long at the mercy of slick developers notorious for making — but less than famous for keeping — promises to homebuyers.
Anticipated costs were always in front of the council — yet most of its members chose to avert their eyes, focusing instead on some imaginary sales-tax windfall that would come with so much more property under their control.
Liming, say City Hall insiders, had suggested that it might take an across-the-board property-tax increase to cover this expanded realm. But again our local politicians flinched. Now they're floundering, and waiting for the results of a cost analysis — something they told Grimm was under way a year ago, but turns out to have only begun this month. This gives those elected leaders a chance to think about their rashness some other day.
But the residents of Menford Lane need action now. That roadway near the intersection of Richards Avenue and Governor Miles Road, just north of the freeway, now has an arroyo through it, owing to recent rains. And — surprise! — the city has no legal obligation to repair or maintain the lane.
What? Weren't the folks there told — by city employees, they claim — that, once annexed, the city would take care of their road?
The neighborhood was annexed this year, but it turns out that Menford and other lanes are private property. That, say the left-in-the-lurch homeowners, was supposed to change when they became part of the city.
Sorry, came the answer from their new government; we can't do anything for you.
Maybe not, on strictly legal grounds; annexation and roads have always been a bunch of statutory spaghetti. Short of condemnation procedures to gain governmental control, say land-use experts, the lane would have to be brought up to municipal standards before the city can accept it.
This is a Catch-22 case: Make the road worthy of public ownership, or it remains private — and it's up to the people who live along it to keep it passable. So where was the attraction in being annexed?
Surely some imaginative official at the city or county level, even at a time when the public paving of a church parking lot has raised civic ire, can call in a piece of equipment to push dirt into the ditch — while neighbors gather to divert it. Or must they pass the hat and rent a front-end loader for short-term relief? Meanwhile, they must be mighty proud to be part of our fine city ...
How many other annexees are finding themselves up the creek? And what can City Hall do for them without angering longtime city residents who also aren't getting the municipal services they should?
While financial experts from The University of New Mexico analyze the monetary costs of annexation, city staff and the council should be considering the political and social downside of expansion. Menford Lane, they're sure to find, is not alone ...
Stay tuned.......
The Santa Fe Regional Planning Authority is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, August 17, 2010, at the County Commission Chambers. The meeting will convene at 4pm. An update on the City-Initiated Annexation Plan will be presented at this meeting. For a copy of the complete agenda, please contact Melissa Holmes at: msholmes@santafecounty.org
NOTE: When we contacted the above email address, Melissa Holmes responded that we should contact Reed Liming, City Long Range Planning Director. When we contacted his office, we were told "Reed Liming is out of the office and will return on Monday, August 9th." We are continuing to attempt to obtain an agenda for the August 17 meeting, when available, it will be posted here.
(Here are all the contacts for the Regional Planning Committee)
In case you missed it, the Santa Fe New Mexican ran this editorial on August 29:
City land rush ignored the costs
As Julie Ann Grimm reported in yesterday's New Mexican, City Hall is facing up to the costs and benefits of annexation. To which we'd say, it's about time, considering that our city councilors blithely ignored long-range planner Reed Liming's calls for caution when they were licking their chops over 10,000 acres they began putting under municipal jurisdiction in 2008.
The process is being done in three phases — a good thing, given the city's precarious finances and the price tag for providing services to territory long at the mercy of slick developers notorious for making — but less than famous for keeping — promises to homebuyers.
Anticipated costs were always in front of the council — yet most of its members chose to avert their eyes, focusing instead on some imaginary sales-tax windfall that would come with so much more property under their control.
Liming, say City Hall insiders, had suggested that it might take an across-the-board property-tax increase to cover this expanded realm. But again our local politicians flinched. Now they're floundering, and waiting for the results of a cost analysis — something they told Grimm was under way a year ago, but turns out to have only begun this month. This gives those elected leaders a chance to think about their rashness some other day.
But the residents of Menford Lane need action now. That roadway near the intersection of Richards Avenue and Governor Miles Road, just north of the freeway, now has an arroyo through it, owing to recent rains. And — surprise! — the city has no legal obligation to repair or maintain the lane.
What? Weren't the folks there told — by city employees, they claim — that, once annexed, the city would take care of their road?
The neighborhood was annexed this year, but it turns out that Menford and other lanes are private property. That, say the left-in-the-lurch homeowners, was supposed to change when they became part of the city.
Sorry, came the answer from their new government; we can't do anything for you.
Maybe not, on strictly legal grounds; annexation and roads have always been a bunch of statutory spaghetti. Short of condemnation procedures to gain governmental control, say land-use experts, the lane would have to be brought up to municipal standards before the city can accept it.
This is a Catch-22 case: Make the road worthy of public ownership, or it remains private — and it's up to the people who live along it to keep it passable. So where was the attraction in being annexed?
Surely some imaginative official at the city or county level, even at a time when the public paving of a church parking lot has raised civic ire, can call in a piece of equipment to push dirt into the ditch — while neighbors gather to divert it. Or must they pass the hat and rent a front-end loader for short-term relief? Meanwhile, they must be mighty proud to be part of our fine city ...
How many other annexees are finding themselves up the creek? And what can City Hall do for them without angering longtime city residents who also aren't getting the municipal services they should?
While financial experts from The University of New Mexico analyze the monetary costs of annexation, city staff and the council should be considering the political and social downside of expansion. Menford Lane, they're sure to find, is not alone ...
Stay tuned.......
Thursday, July 29, 2010
ONE YEAR LATER - WHERE ARE WE?
On Thursday, August 26, 2009, all of the residents of Area 1 were successful in taking a huge step in securing the character of our neighborhoods, collectively known as "Area 1". (See post here for more.)
Now, one year later, where are we? There is an interesting article in today's Santa Fe New Mexican that begins to shed some light on this question.
"Just this month, the University of New Mexico's Bureau for Business and Economic Research began a financial analysis on contract for the city — more than a year after former city officials told The New Mexican a cost analysis was "under way."
"Several of us during the municipal election took positions saying 'We are not sure we can afford all of this.' And that is where I still am," said Councilor Rebecca Wurzburger, who was among four councilors re-elected in March. "I am saying it is time to sit down and see what we can realistically do given the constraints that we have financially".
Read the full article here.
Folks, we were promised a dedicated Community Planning process that has not happened. The process was supposed to address zoning and open space issues, to preserve the existing character of Area 1.
It is time to get involved again to assure the best possible outcome for ourselves, our homes, and our neighborhoods. Please stay tuned and stay informed. There may be opportunities for our coalition to become more involved as the City tries to decide what it will do with the Annexation of Area 1.
Now, one year later, where are we? There is an interesting article in today's Santa Fe New Mexican that begins to shed some light on this question.
"City officials have approached a point where they must get serious about understanding the potential costs and benefits of large-scale annexations scheduled for the end of next year."
NOW THEY START TO "GET SERIOUS"?
"Just this month, the University of New Mexico's Bureau for Business and Economic Research began a financial analysis on contract for the city — more than a year after former city officials told The New Mexican a cost analysis was "under way."
"Several of us during the municipal election took positions saying 'We are not sure we can afford all of this.' And that is where I still am," said Councilor Rebecca Wurzburger, who was among four councilors re-elected in March. "I am saying it is time to sit down and see what we can realistically do given the constraints that we have financially".
Read the full article here.
Folks, we were promised a dedicated Community Planning process that has not happened. The process was supposed to address zoning and open space issues, to preserve the existing character of Area 1.
It is time to get involved again to assure the best possible outcome for ourselves, our homes, and our neighborhoods. Please stay tuned and stay informed. There may be opportunities for our coalition to become more involved as the City tries to decide what it will do with the Annexation of Area 1.
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