County makes offer for ranch land

Santa Fe County will offer owners of Santa Fe Canyon Ranch $7 million for about 470 acres of the 1,300-acre property in the La Cienega area southwest of Santa Fe.

The County Commission approved the offer Tuesday.

The appraised price of the property is about $7.9 million, County Manager Roman Abeyta said.

The nonprofit Trust for Public Lands is negotiating with the ranch owners to buy about 700 acres, which would leave the developers with a little more than 100 acres.

The commission voted Tuesday to include in its offer a condition that the density of future development on that remaining acreage be limited to one unit per 12.5 acres.

Burn under way in city watershed

Prime weather conditions Tuesday helped Santa Fe National Forest fire crews burn a line around a planned prescribed fire area in the Santa Fe Municipal Watershed east of the city.

Crews plan to ignite about 850 acres about three miles east of the city, through the week as weather conditions allow, lighting the fire from a helicopter and by hand. Aerial ignition will cause an initial thick, black plume of smoke.

Lawrence Lujan, a Forest Service spokesman, said smoke again will be visible from the city and areas east of Santa Fe, as well as from Tesuque, Interstate 25 and from Glorieta to the Pecos Canyon area. Smoke may settle into lower elevations and drainage areas during the evenings but should lift by midmorning.

The burn is part of an ongoing effort to reduce the risk of an unmanaged wildfire in the 7,270-acre watershed. The Forest Service began thinning trees in 2002 and has burned piles of slash on about 3,400 acres.

For daily updates on the fire, call 877-971-FIRE (3473) or visit www.nmfireinfo.com.

Man held in shotgun incident

Santa Fe police are holding a man accused of firing a shotgun into the front door of one residence and threatening the occupants of another.

Donald Sabatini, 65, of 27 Sandia Road went to a home in the 1300 block of Don Diego Avenue on Monday "saying he was looking for his wife or something to that effect," Sgt. Jason Wagner, the city police spokesman, said Tuesday. "The people didn't know him. They turned him away."

Sabatini returned later to fire two blasts into the front door of a nearby unoccupied residence, Wagner said.

Court records indicate Sabatini, who used to run a construction firm, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated burglary, shooting at an inhabited dwelling, negligent use of a firearm and criminal damage to property.

Suit seeks rental permit refunds

Nearly 100 people who paid the city for permits to operate short-term rentals on their residential properties have filed a court action seeking full refunds.

At the request of a state district judge, the City Council held a hearing and decided in August to refund what it identified as "excess revenue" collected for rental permits but not spent for enforcement and operations since the 2008 rule went into effect.

An attorney for permit-holders argued in an appeal of the decision that the council should have refunded all of the cash. Based on calculations from a city councilor, Thomas Simons said, his clients are promised a refund of about $883 of the $1,000 they paid, but none of that money has been delivered.

Simons asks a judge to recognize an earlier court ruling that he says indicates the city can't retroactively change the permit fee and that fees aren't enforceable. The appeal he filed this week seeks a judgment awarding full refunds plus pre- and post-judgment interest.

Water outage set for Casa Alegre

The Casa Alegre neighborhood will be without water this afternoon for a city repair project.

The city announced Tuesday that water will be shut off from 1 to 6 p.m. so the City Water Division can replace a water main valve in the intersection of Osage Avenue and Hopi Road. Areas that will be affected include Osage Avenue from Cerrillos Road to Hopi Road and Hopi Road from Osage Avenue to Apache Avenue.

Residents are advised to draw water for personal use before the shutoff. In case of problems, call 955-4333 from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.) or 955-4300 after business hours.

Valdez: Behavioral unit won't close

Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center Chief Executive Officer Alex Valdez reiterated Tuesday that the hospital does not intend to close its inpatient Behavioral Health Unit.

The hospital is conducting a needs assessment of mental-health care services in the community, Valdez said, and may reconsider the number of beds in the inpatient ward, but has no plans to close the ward.

The ongoing needs assessment — which officials said will eventually result in a written report — had sparked concern among mental-health providers that the inpatient unit would closed, forcing mentally ill patients in crisis to be transported to Las Vegas, N.M., or Albuquerque for care.

Valdez made his comments during a meeting with representatives of The New Mexican.

Repairs to affect Rabbit Road traffic

Three miles of Rabbit Road — from the south end to the Santa Fe Waldorf School — will be reduced to a single lane today for road repairs.

Traffic will be stopped intermittently while a pilot vehicle guides motorists through the work zone, according to a statement issued by the state Department of Transportation.

Motorists should expect delays and will temporarily be driving on a gravel roadway during the one-day pavement repair project.

For more information, contact Karyn Lujan at 231-4431.

Food drive starts in city schools

A citywide food drive sponsored by the Mayor's Youth Advisory Board, The Food Depot and Warehouse 21 will begin at Santa Fe high schools this week.

The goal of the food drive, according to an announcement issued Tuesday, is to raise food donations as well as to raise awareness among youth about hunger in the community. Food donated between Thursday and Oct. 21 will go to Santa Fe Public Schools Adelante Program and Youth Shelters, along with The Food Dept.

The school that wins the contest by collecting the most pounds of food per enrolled student will be invited to host an event at Warehouse 21. The public may donate through food collection bins at City Hall and Warehouse 21.

Students to serve as interns here

Engineering students from Worcester Polytechnic Institute will be interns at Santa Fe Complex in 2011.

Santa Fe's Economic Development Division announced the partnership this week to trumpet achievements at the complex, which has been largely funded through a city grant.

The Massachusetts-based university chose Santa Fe Complex as one of its 26 global "project centers" and hopes it will provide students a chance to complete applied research in projects that combine arts and sciences, according to a city news release.

Between 24 and 28 students are expected to start the "Global Perspective" program in Santa Fe each year for the spring semester in 2011.

Free wellness lectures scheduled

Free lectures on wellness are offered each Tuesday next month by the Santa Fe Recreation Division.

Lectures in the third annual wellness series begin at 6 p.m. at the Genoveva Chavez Community Center, Classroom No. 2.

Topics include "Drawing the Dream Awake," presented by Uma Jill Markus on Oct. 6; "Introduction to Tapas Accupressure Technique," presented by Joalie Davie on Oct. 13; "Breaking Through the Creative Block," presented by Paco Mitchell on Oct. 20; and "A Better Balance, Bio Identical Hormone Restoration Therapy," presented by Kathleen Fernandez on Oct. 27.