Missed Connections

Deal fizzles between city and state for future Richards Avenue arroyo crossing

BY ANDREW OXFORD oxford@sfreporter.com

Twenty-three acres of land the state Game and Fish Department owns smack in the middle of Santa Fe faces an uncertain future.

A deal between the city and state fell apart over the last week that would have seen City Hall buy the land to extend Richards Avenue from Siringo Road to Rodeo Road. After the state Game Commission rejected the city’s proposed offer of about $2.1 million on Jan. 27, Mayor Alan Webber and councilors voted unanimously in a special meeting Jan. 30 to scrap the deal altogether.

Now, the Game and Fish Department is getting a real estate agent to put the property just north of the Genoveva Chavez Community Center up for sale on the open market, and councilors are wondering aloud about using eminent domain to get the land they want for Richards Avenue.

The votes mark a setback to the city’s long-discussed plans of joining up the northern and southern ends of Richards Avenue, though city officials say they’re not abandoning the connection.

“We will fully move forward with the project,” Public Works Director Regina Wheeler told the City Council.

What’s unclear is how, and what will be-

WILLIAM MELHADO

come of the big piece of largely undeveloped property around it.

The proposal has surfaced opposing views, too. Backers argue the connection would alleviate traffic on the southwest end of Santa Fe but neighbors maintain it would steer more drivers down residential streets.

Webber tells SFR he expects the city will still be able to buy the parcels of land it needs to build the connection. But he would have liked the city to be able to use the larger property around it for affordable housing.

“It’s a punted opportunity,” he says.

All of this comes as Richards Avenue becomes an increasingly important path to neighborhoods and educational institutions below Interstate 25. Santa Fe County is moving ahead with a different project to connect the northern and southern ends of Richards Avenue from the interstate frontage road to Avenida del Sur, creating an arterial network around the Santa Fe Community College campus and several developments.

The city’s deal with the state ultimately fell apart after the two sides got very different assessments of the property’s value.

The Game and Fish Department initially sought $3 million for the property. Largely undeveloped and bisected by Arroyo de los Chamisos, the department has long considered offloading the parcel. But city officials say the department was uninterested in selling off just a portion of it to extend Richards Avenue and aimed to sell the whole plot.

However, an assessor for the city said the land was only worth about $1.4 million, not close to what the commission was seeking.

The city and Game and Fish Department got a third appraiser, who came back with a different price: $2.1 million. The third appraiser said the other prices were based on comparisons to sales that in some instances were several years old or didn’t reflect the physical characteristics of the property.

Councilors agreed to the $2.1 million price during a meeting on Jan. 11. But the commission rejected that offer with no explanation after a closed-door session on Friday and voted instead to put the property up for sale on the open market.

The move seemed to surprise or at least confound city leaders, who say Game and Fish previously had treated the sale as urgent.

Some councilors seemed skeptical of the deal even on its face.

District 3 Councilor Lee Garcia noted the arroyo bisecting the property means about 5 acres are actually in a flood plain. Calculate for the land needed for the road and there’s a little less than 18 acres that can actually be developed, city asset manager Terry Lease told the council.

District 1 Councilor Signe Lindell raised the prospect of using eminent domain to acquire land for the road connection—an option if negotiations fall through with a future private owner, city officials say.

The next steps remain unclear. Since 2007, the city’s first responders have used an emergency access road that connects Fire Station 7 to both sides of Richards in the area.

A spokesman for the Department of Game and Fish tells SFR the agency does not have an estimated date for when the property may go on the market.

Meanwhile, the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department is leasing part of the property from Game and Fish for its Returning Heroes Wildland Firefighter Program.

That lease expires June 30. But a spokesman for EMNRD tells SFR the agency plans to extend its lease.