Eastern Sandoval Citizens Association

A report on the June 25 Bernalillo Town Council Meeting on the Santa Rosa apartments proposal.  After much discussion the Council voted to table the application for further discussion.

Bernalillo Town Council Meeting – 6/25/2012

Public Hearing on Santa Rosa Apartments 

Issue: Developer Ron Bohannon has applied for approval of an amendment to the Master Plan for Santa Rosa, aka Sole Toscano.  This amendment would allow for one or more 200-unit apartment complexes. The 157 acre property is on the I-25 frontage road, adjoining the Lafarge gravel mine.

Outcome: The Council voted to table the application for further discussion.

Council Members Present: Marian Jaramillo, Ronnie Sisneros, Dale Prairie – Presiding: Mayor Jack Torres

History: The property was annexed to the Town of Bernalillo around 2005.  A Master Plan was approved for “Sole Toscano” by the Town Council in 2007.  It was also zoned “Special Use”.  There were amendments proposed in 2010, but as they were never approved by the Town Council they are not in effect.

The approved Master Plan was for a mixed “vertical” development (which allows business and residential in the same building), with single-family residential and commercial, with moderately high density and some open space.

New application: Has dropped “vertical” development.  Requests addition of apartment complexes.  Originally Bohannon had asked for approval for 2 such 200-unit complexes, on the south part of the property.  At present he is seeking approval only for 1 such complex, with the possibility of an additional complex later.  These are proposed to have 40% 1-bedroom, 40% 2-bedroom-2-bath, 20% 3-bedroom-2-bath units.  Each building would have about 14 units, and would be 2 or 3 stories high.  These would rent at market rates – that is, comparable to middle-range rents for apartments in Albuquerque.

Also Bohannon proposes that there be senior housing, about 100 units, only vaguely specified at present, estate lots (with $500,000 and up houses), and some commercial (12 acres).  Residential housing would be from 1200 to 3200 square feet (with estate homes possibly bigger).  According to Bohannon, some banks have expressed interest in locating there.  There would be about 40 acres of open space.  Bohannon also talked of parks, which he said that the homeowner association (HOA) would be responsible for maintaining.  (But, as Mayor Torres and Councilor Jaramillo pointed out, what if the HOA was never formed, or reneged on that responsibility?  Wouldn’t the town then be stuck with the bill to maintain the parks?)

Main points:

• Bohannon is part owner of the property, and has been active in Bernalillo in engineering and development.  He admits that he and his partners are presently trying to sell the property to Shoshoni Properties, out of Dallas and Louisiana.  His continuing role (if any) would be as engineer and consultant.  This immediately raises a problem, as the Council was quick to see, in that Bohannon’s group would not be the one to fulfill any promises he might now make.  Thus any zoning approval would presumably put strict conditions on the actual developers, whoever they may be, to comply with these promises.
• It is reasonable to suppose that this sale of the property is conditional on Bohannon getting approval for rezoning for the apartment complex(es), as that would be the major initial cash cow, and thus would be needed to recoup the infrastructure investment.  Bohannon admitted that the first phase of development would be the apartments, and maybe also some senior housing units.  He indicated that before the recession major builders such as D. R. Horton and Pulte had been interested in putting houses there, probably like those at the Santiago development near Walmart in Bernalillo.  Bohannon said that Horton might still be interested, since all lots at the Santiago development are fairly much committed.  But he did not stress this more typical residential development as a priority.
• Bohannon indicated that commercial enterprises, such as banks, had expressed interest before the recession, and might still be interested.  But he said that getting commercial development there was a “chicken-and-egg” problem, since commercial companies would only commit once they saw zoning in place that would make their enterprises profitable.  So if zoning approval was dependent on getting those commitments this would not happen.
• The water and sewage for this development would have to come from the town, and presumably require running pipes under the freeway.  The developer would be required to pay all or part of the initial cost of the infrastructure.  However as always happens, the town would eventually be required to maintain it.  At one point Bohannon had proposed that this be a “Public Improvement District” (PID), which requires a tax assessment of the affected property owners to pay for infrastructure.  Bohannon appeared to say that he is now backing off the PID proposal, but at another time during the meeting he appeared to want to discuss this at a workshop devoted to this rezoning request.
• Mayor Torres pointed out that property taxes only account for 5% of the town’s income.  So if the town’s investment in services and infrastructure was to pay off, the new development would have to generate substantial gross receipts taxes (GRT).  (Apartment rentals themselves do not generate GRT.)  So either commercial enterprises on the property would have to generate this GRT, or it would have to come from people who lived there patronizing existing Bernalillo businesses.  But as many who would live in housing east of the freeway would commute to work in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, they might very well do their main shopping there.
• Mayor Torres asked the Police Chief and Fire Chief (both present) what the impacts would be on their departments if the property were developed as now proposed.  Both chiefs said they could not be certain, as the plans were still vague.  The Police Chief said it might require adding one more personnel.  The Fire Chief said it might require a doubling of fulltime personnel.  Then there would be the problem of where to house the responders who would service the Santa Rosa property, since there could be problems if the responders were located west of I-25 (as they are at present) and had to travel across I-25 during congested traffic.  So there would be significant additional services required, at the town’s expense, for the proposed development.  Bohannon said that his group had considered a $50,000 per year contribution to the town to help defray these costs.  Torres said that the Police and Fire Chiefs would have to provide full reports before this could proceed further.
• Torres and Jaramillo pointed out that the property is presently zoned “Special Use” (SU), and that this has caused problems, as planning and zoning administrators have been able to make major development decisions without getting approval from the Town Council.  Torres and Jaramillo proposed that if this request goes forward the SU zoning be revoked, and each section of the property be separately zoned using existing town zoning designations, both residential and commercial.  These designations are already well defined, so this would prevent developers from gaming the system.  Bohannon expressed willingness to consider this.
• Regarding the traffic impact, Bohannon said he had talked to the NM Department of Transportation (NMDOT), and that they had indicated that this would work.  However he provided no details.  Councilor Sisneros asked if NMDOT had done a specific traffic study of the impact of this property.  Bohannon answered No, but said that NMDOT expected a doubling of population in next 30 years or so.  Bohannon said that NMDOT expected population growth of 600,000 in the area over the next 30 years, so that such improvements as the I-25 interchange at Exit 242 was planned to accommodate that growth.  But Ron Alfred later pointed out that the 600,000 increase figure is for the wide stretch of I-25 from about Algodones down to Belen, so was nonspecific for any particular growth in the Bernalillo/Placitas area, yet only that is relevant to the traffic impact of any new development here.  Torres said they would need to see a response to this proposal from NMDOT before proceeding further.
• Regarding additional water, Bohannon says his group has already purchased 54 acre feet water rights, and would probably need 45 acre feet more.  These would be transferred to the town if a development agreement were reached.  He is willing to work with the town planners to show that Bernalillo does have the capacity for the additional water and sewage.  Councilor Prairie asked if the present water tanks would be sufficient for this additional load.  Maria Rinaldi, Director of the town Planning and Zoning Department, reported that the water tanks are presently being rehabilitated, but the present rehab project has not taken into account additional connections to this proposed development.

Some other points:

• Public comments came from Steve Amiot of Bernalillo, and Shane Mahoney, Lynn Smith and Ron Alfred of Placitas.  None expressed support for the proposal, and all expressed concerns, such as about traffic congestion and construction disturbances.  Amiot raised the problem of commercial at this property competing with existing enterprises in Bernalillo.  Alfred pointed out that Lafarge will likely keep mining past 2015 (Bohannon had stated that they would be out by then).  Mahoney contradicted a statement made by Bohannon that there were no other residences within miles of the proposed development.  Mahoney himself lives less than a mile away.  Alfred also pointed out that the Bernalillo population east of the freeway would increase significantly if this were fully developed as proposed.
• Part of the proposal includes communication towers.  Bohannon said this could provide wi-fi, which could also benefit the town west of I-25.
• Bohannon said that there might be some “workforce” housing, with residences from 1200 to 1800 square feet.
• Torres stressed that they need more detailed maps, also details about building footprints, number of stories, etc.
• Bohannon had some “imaginative” ideas regarding the traffic impact.  He said that there would be good traffic flow through the I-25 interchange, and up to Hwy. 313 (Bernalillo’s main street).  Beyond that there would be a bottleneck, which would be the case anyway.  Bohannon says he has ideas how to remedy these problems.  (Doesn’t everybody!)
• Sisneros said that he doesn’t feel the real estate market is improving all that much.  There are still many foreclosures in Rio Rancho.  This concerns him as regards approving major new housing developments.
• Jaramillo said that the property is in a beautiful area.  She doesn’t like the idea of putting high density development there.  But she likes that Bohannon is willing to get rid of the SU zoning and replace it with individual zoning of the sections.  That would put definite limits on size, height, etc.
• Prairie asked about impact on schools.  Bohannon responded that he didn’t know.

The next step is probably a workshop.  Torres asked Town Attorney George Perez if the next hearing on the matter would be subject to public notice.  Perez said he wasn’t sure, and would check.

NMRETA Report – 5/15/2012

Possible New Power Transmission Lines in Sandoval County

On May 15, 2012, Reid Bandeen and I met with Jeremy Turner, Executive Director for NMRETA (New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority).  We were representing both Las Placitas Association and ES-CA.  This was a follow up to a meeting that Reid and I had with Mr. Turner in October of 2010.  The present meeting was largely prompted by a  May 3 article in the Albuquerque Journal (“$350M Power Line Proposed”) discussing the proposed preliminary map of the transmission line route.  The article stated that the line would “then stretch west – just north of the Sandias – into Sandoval County to PNM’s Rio Puerco switching station.”  This naturally raised concerns in Placitas that the new lines would go through Placitas, adding to the transmission lines already present in Indian Flats.

First things first.  Let me report what Mr. Turner said about the projected route “just north of the Sandias”.  NMRETA is presently in talks with the San Felipe and Santa Ana Pueblos, regarding locating the new line near to the present power easement which crosses I-25 just north of Algodones, significantly north of Placitas.  (You can see this power line crossing the freeway as you’re driving on I-25.)  According to Mr. Turner, this is not only the preferred route for the new lines, but the only viable route.  For the present easement running through Placitas to be used, it would have to be widened by 200 feet, and would require massive eminent domain condemnation of property, and the attendant complications of public process, environmental surveys and permitting.  NMRETA is an agency under the control of the state, and is highly resistant to such condemnation.  Furthermore, such a route would not only have to run through the northern portions of the Placitas area (and BLM lands immediately north of Placitas), but also through Bernalillo and Rio Rancho, requiring far more extensive condemnations in urban areas.  (Mr. Turner considers Placitas to be an “urban” area for the purpose of this evaluation.)

To route the line significantly north of the San Felipe and Santa Ana lands would also be impractical.

Therefore the only route across I-25 that makes sense from an engineering, environmental, financial and public policy standpoint is the one running through the San Felipe and Santa Ana lands.  So agreements with those tribal councils for the proposed route heading north of Algodones are necessary if the project is to happen at all, according to Mr. Turner.  Lacking those agreements, the project would probably die, according to Mr. Turner.

It should be noted that NMRETA does have condemnation authority.  Their authorized eminent domain condemnation procedures can be found here: http://www.nmreta.com/images/stories/pdfs/eminent_domain_rule_17.8.3_published.pdf

Having such authority, however, does not imply a willingness to use it where costs and public resistance would be high.  There are more than enough other complexities and difficulties involved in bringing this project for renewable energy transmission to fruition, for the partners in the project to wish to add to these by entering into very contentious condemnation proceedings in urban areas.

The present status of the NMRETA project is outlined in the May 2 PNM Press Release copied below.  Everything hinges on “fast tracking” the process for acquiring transmission rights, which must be approved by the FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission), which is something like a federal-level NMPRC (New Mexico Public Regulation Commission).  NMRETA has requested an expedited hearing with the FERC, and might receive FERC’s response as soon as August, 2012.

As pointed out above, agreements with both the San Felipe and Santa Ana tribal councils are also crucial.  There are ongoing discussions with these councils, and positive signs of potential agreement.  This project could be a benefit to the two Pueblos, providing some revenue from the purchase of easements, and also the possibility of revenue through generating power on the tribal lands, which could then be connected to the new power lines.

Were everything to go just right, the new lines could be constructed and power running through them by mid 2015.  There could be as much as 1500 megawatts of new power running through these lines, which is considerable given that PNM’s total use is now 2600 megawatts.

Here is the press release from PNM:

For Immediate Release: May 2, 2012  Contact: Susan Sponar / (505) 803-1008 / susan.sponar@pnmresources.com; NMRETA: (505) 983-4458, nmreta.com

STEP TOWARD REALIZING N.M.’S SUN AND WIND POTENTIAL:
PNM, RETA Request to Clear the Way for Merchant Transmission Line

(ALBUQUERQUE, NM) — PNM, the N.M. Renewable Energy Transmission Authority (RETA), and Power Network New Mexico filed a joint request with federal regulators today that would clear the way for construction of a new merchant transmission line to deliver renewable energy from eastern and central New Mexico to western markets.  Power Network was created to develop the new power line.

“PNM supports this project because it represents a practical near-term solution for addressing the lack of transmission needed for additional New Mexico renewable energy development. We will continue to work with transmission customers to implement long-term process changes that improve access for all projects,” said Jeff Mechenbier, PNM director of Transmission/Distribution Planning and Contracts, noting that RETA has arranged for private capital that protects PNM customers from any cost risk.

“RETA was created to meet the public interest objective of developing transmission to facilitate renewable energy projects in New Mexico, and this project will accomplish this goal. This project will provide significant job and tax benefits to the state,” said Jeremy Turner, executive director of RETA.

RETA and Power Network are jointly developing the Central New Mexico collector transmission line, a $350 million transmission project that will deliver 1,500 megawatts of renewable energy from eastern and central New Mexico to PNM’s Rio Puerco switching station northwest of Rio Rancho.  From there, existing PNM transmission lines can carry the energy north and west to the Four Corners switchyard, which is a gateway to western markets.

The project was sized based on the existing New Mexico transmission system capabilities and the need expressed by developers who are ready to build solar and wind projects that depend on the new power line.  Anchor customers have committed to participate in the development — and the project is backed by equity from GS Infrastructure Partners II, the primary vehicle through which Goldman Sachs invests in infrastructure assets and companies.

The project is targeted to be in service in 2015.  To accomplish this result, there must be a change to the current federal rule governing the process for acquiring the rights to deliver electricity via the transmission system.  Currently, PNM must study customer request on a first-come, first-served basis, but those at the front of the line may not be ready to proceed. PNM solved a similar logjam with approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) by adopting a first-ready, first-served approach for developers interconnecting with the transmission system.  Almost immediately, the logjam cleared, with developers themselves selecting how they wanted to proceed on an expeditious basis toward execution of an interconnection agreement.

Given that success, PNM, RETA, and Power Network are asking FERC to permit a similar first-ready, first-served approach for the project by allowing a limited one-time waiver of the first-in-time rule.  If FERC grants this request, PNM can study the Power Network request before studying the many other pending requests so that new renewable energy resources that are most ready to proceed with their development can proceed quickly by signing up for service with Power Network.

In the meantime, PNM will work with others that have requested transmission service from PNM on process changes to help eliminate any remaining logjam of customers not ready to take service from the collector system. PNM must submit any such change for FERC approval.

“With the level of interest in developing renewable energy in New Mexico, a first-come, first-served rule has resulted in lengthy waits and frustration for PNM and its customers.   We need improved processes that are fair and meet the needs in our region for timely and efficient transmission and generation development,” said Mechenbier.

With headquarters in Albuquerque, PNM is the largest electricity provider in New Mexico, serving 500,000 customers in dozens of communities across the state. PNM is a

subsidiary of PNM Resources, an energy holding company also headquartered in Albuquerque. For more information, visit PNM.com.

At tonight’s (May 8th) Bernalillo Planning & Zoning Commission Meeting, the reconsideration of the approval of the “Santa Rosa” Master Plan, revised to include over 400 apartments, was on the agenda.

Before the item could be taken up, Town Attorney George Perez explained what the P&Z Commission was allowed to do.  First, Mr. Perez said that he had consulted as to whether the P&Z Commission could make the final decision to approve or reject the revision of the Master Plan to include the apartments, or if instead the final determination has to be made by the Town Council.  He found that it is in fact the Town Council that must ultimately approve or reject the revision, and that the P&Z Commission could only make a recommendation to the Town Council.  (This is similar to how rezoning is done in the County, with the P&Z Commission only making recommendations to the County Commission, which has the final say.)

However, in order to legitimately make a recommendation, the P&Z Commission must have a quorum.  Now, that Commission has 7 members, and for a quorum it needs 4 members.  However, 3 of the present members are new, and weren’t involved in the original approval of the revised Master Plan, so in the April meeting they recused themselves from this agenda item.  And at tonight’s meeting Commissioner Joseph Rinaldi was absent.  Consequently there were only 3 Commissioners present who could vote, and that does not constitute a quorum.  So Mr. Perez said that he had consulted with the applicants (Tierra West) and their attorney (who I believe is Tim Flynn-O’Brien), and they all felt that what the P&Z Commission should do is send this item up to the Town Council without a recommendation.

The P&Z Commission took this suggestion, and voted to send the item to the Town Council without recommendation.  (I’m wondering why they were allowed to vote on this without a quorum, when they couldn’t vote to issue a specific recommendation without a quorum.  Seems a bit “irregular” to me, but then I’m not an attorney.)

So we should expect the item to go before the Town Council at some point.  Their meetings are typically on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month, and it would be fairly abrupt to put this on the agenda for the May 14 meeting, though that isn’t impossible.  The next Council meeting would probably be May 28.  Anyway, we’ll be monitoring this.  Stay posted.

This Tuesday, May 8, the Town of Bernalillo Planning & Zoning Commission will be considering a Master Plan for the “Santa Rosa” parcel of land which includes over 400 apartment units.  This parcel, which was annexed to the Town of Bernalillo a few years ago, is on the I-25 frontage road, just south of the La Farge gravel mines.  You can read the Signpost article about the April Bernalillo P&Z Meeting, where this application was reconsidered, here:

http://www.sandovalsignpost.com/html/up_front.html#b (second article)

The meeting will be at 6:30 PM on May 8, at the Bernalillo Town Hall.  Those who are concerned about this proposed apartment complex right on the west border of the Placitas Area might wish to attend.

One of the major concerns here would be the additional traffic from the estimated 617 housing units, including the over 400 apartments.  This on the frontage road, which already has significant traffic from residents in the westernmost Placitas subdivisions, the gravel trucks, and will receive even more traffic once the Petroglyph Trails subdivision is developed.

JoAnn English did some estimates of the additional traffic load, due to this Santa Rosa Master Plan:

According to the Institute of Transportation Engineers Trip Generation:  for apartments

Average weekday trips=6.72 trips/dwelling unit=4146 tips per day

AM Peak (7-9 am)=0.51 trips/du=315

PM Peak (4-6 pm)=0.62 trips/du=383

This was assuming 617 units.