The city might need to strengthen its archaeological ordinance and its platting process if it's serious about protecting cultural resources, according to a local neighborhood association, a prospective homeowner and members of the city's Archaeological Review Committee.

When the builder of a 16-lot subdivision (Casas de Cipriano) off Paseo de la Conquistadora bulldozed one of the last home lots last summer to begin construction, he was red-tagged for possibly destroying a section of the historic Acequia de las Joyas. The builder claimed he had only bulldozed into an easement designed to protect the ditch, but had not harmed the acequia.

Now the city committee faces the prospect of vacating the easement because, as ARC Chairman Jason Shapiro said, "Once a resource is damaged, there's nothing to protect."

Shapiro and others on the committee believe the placement of the acequia easement on the development plat doesn't match the placement in an original archaeological survey, but they're not willing to say on the record what they think happened. They are waiting for a new archaeological report before deciding what to do. "We have a cultural resource that looks like it's been destroyed and we have an easement that doesn't appear to protect anything because it is in the wrong place," Shapiro said.

Even if it turned out somebody tampered with the plat, the punishment allowed in the law is minor. But "if we're proud of these cultural resources, we need to see a little more muscle put into these ordinances," said ARC member James E. "Jake" Ivey.

The acequia, abandoned since the 1960s, once irrigated some 2,000 acres of prime farmland south of the Santa Fe River. A historian hired by the city in 1988 recommended preserving its entire length.

In 2005, archaeologist Tom McIntosh surveyed the 2.9-acre Casas de Cipriano property and recommended protecting 183 feet of the ditch that runs through it with a 32-foot easement. The committee agreed.

The La Joya Neighborhood Association fought the proposed development all the way to the City Council, but finally signed an agreement with Dennis Branch, then the owner, and Lawrence Boyd, the builder. The agreement included adding a protective easement for the acequia on the development plat, according to assistant city attorney Kelly Brennan.

But "there seems to be a lack of agreement on where the acequia originally existed and where the easement is shown on the plat," Brennan said.

She said there are a number of possibilities for how the ditch ended up outside of the easement — errors in the archeological report or in the plat, or a discrepancy that city staff didn't catch.

Boyd said all he did was plow 4 feet into the acequia easement shown on his plat in order to build a retaining wall. "I don't know where the acequia is at," he said.

The residents are outraged. "We thought we had reached a civil, public agreement," said Nancy Fay of La Joya Neighborhood Association. Suddenly to have all that work come to nothing is disheartening."

Tres Schnell, who owns the lot Boyd was bulldozing, is also distressed. She lived for three decades in San Jose, N.M., where there is an active acequia association, and she believes in protecting the ditches. "My whole attraction to that piece of property is its historical relevance and that it includes part of an acequia," Schnell said.

"I think a lot of balls were dropped along the way even before Casas de Cipriano was in place," she added.

On Oct. 15, the committee asked Boyd to hire a new archaeologist to survey the site. "The committee wants to know if there is any archaeological resource remaining and where is the easement and whether the ditch actually ran in the easement shown on the plat," Brennan said.

Ivey doesn't think vacating the easement will send the wrong message to developers. "The clear failure of the process in this situation means there is a flaw here that needs illuminating," Ivey said. "The neighborhood association is right. They thought they had fought for and preserved the acequia legally."

Shapiro said the committee vacated another acequia easement after the landowner excavated into the garden ditch on East Palace Avenue that once irrigated Bishop Lamy's gardens.

Penalties for violating the archaeological ordinance include fines of no more than $500 or up to 90 days in jail. The city is revamping the codes including the archaeological ordinance. David Rasch, head of the city's historic preservation division, said the ordinance will be ready for public hearings next year.

The state Office of Historic Preservation also has some jurisdiction over acequias, but they have to either be actively in use or eligible for listing on the state or federal historic registry, according to spokesman Tom Drake.

Contact Staci Matlock at 986-3055 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com.