The state Department of Transportation is looking at extending Jaguar Drive on Santa Fe's southwest side and creating a new intersection at N.M. 599 with financial backing from Española businessman Richard Cook.

Cook wants to develop 371 acres he owns southwest of Santa Fe, on the west side of N.M. 599, as a commercial complex that might include state offices.

The extension of Jaguar Drive and a new interchange on N.M. 599 also would provide a new entrance to the Santa Fe Municipal Airport.

A state Department of Transportation spokesman says it's not unusual for private developers to underwrite road improvements that benefit a particular project.

"If a city or a county or us — the state — doesn't have the funding, or a particular project is not a high priority in a particular area because of a funding crunch and that sort of thing, a developer will sometimes will say, 'Look, we're willing to do it if you guys bless it or back it' in order to develop or get other projects going on land nearby," department spokesman Mark Slimp said.

He estimated the total costs at between $6 million and $10 million.

Tierra Contenta, the 1,000-acre tract of city land where some 2,300 housing units have been built since 1995, owns much of the land on the east side of N.M. 599. Jaguar Drive, which extends west from Cerrillos Road, now ends about a quarter of a mile east of N.M. 599, also known as Veterans Memorial Highway or the Relief Route, which was built several years ago as a west-side bypass to ease traffic congestion in Santa Fe. Cook also owns about 25 acres on the east side of N.M. 599.

James Hicks, executive director of the Tierra Contenta Corp., said he would welcome a westward extension of Jaguar Drive, since it would open up more land for housing development.

Hicks said an interchange between N.M. 599 and Jaguar Drive was proposed in the Tierra Contenta master plan in 1993 because it would open up a new access route to the Santa Fe Municipal Airport, which is about a mile west of N.M. 599. It also would allow crews at the new city Fire Station No. 8 direct access to the airport, he said.

The land in question is now outside the Santa Fe city limits, but developers are expected to seek annexation. On Nov. 10, the Santa Fe City Council passed a resolution recommending the Department of Transportation move ahead with the project. The sponsors, Councilors Carmichael Dominguez and Ronald Trujillo, both work for the department.

Scott Hoeft of the Santa Fe Planning Group, which has been working for about a year on the Cook commercial development, known as Pavilion, said the complex would include both retail space and offices, including a possibility of state offices. Hoeft said he will be prepared to talk about the details of the project at an early neighborhood notification meeting scheduled for today at the Southside Library.

Cook is a well-known businessman who owns a building-supplies store called Española Mercantile Co. and a paving and earth-moving firm, Española Transit Mix. He and his family also operate Copar Pumice Co., which mines volcanic rock on federal land in the Jemez Mountains.

In the Santa Fe area, Cook has developed houses near the intersection of N.M. 599 and County Road 62, operates Associated Asphalt and Materials near the intersection of N.M. 599 and Airport Road, and recently applied to drill deep-water wells near Las Campanas.

Slimp said today's public meeting will include a discussion of what kind of environmental studies should be done and whether noise barriers should be erected.

A traffic study under way will evaluate the need for acceleration and deceleration lanes on N.M. 599 to accommodate an interchange with Jaguar Drive.

Comments will be solicited on the bicycle, pedestrian
and equestrian issues in the area, as well as cultural and natural resources.

If you are unable to attend today's meeting, you can mail, fax or e-mail your comments to GL Environmental Inc., P.O. Box 1746, Las Vegas, NM 87701; 505-454-8093; or glenv@flash.net.

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.