Silverado residents want out of growth plan

By Dennis J. Carroll | For The New Mexican

11/30/2008

Residents of the Silverado area off N.M. 14 south of Santa Fe were the first to hear that many neighborhood growth plans in the unincorporated area will have to be redone becuase of the pending oil-and-gas ordinance.

About 75 neighbors east of N.M. 14 and off N.M. 44 gathered recently to petition county officials to remove their community from the county's master growth plan for a broader area known as the San Marcos planning district.

"We don't want anybody telling us where and how to live our lives," Francisco Montoya told county planners at the meeting at Turquoise Trail Elementary School.

He and the others complained that the county never asked for their advice when drafting the comprehensive growth plan for the roughly 66-square-mile area south of the city.

After numerous hearings over several years, the plan was recently approved by county commissioners, but Silverado residents complained they were not consulted.

Since approval of the master plan, county officials have been developing a zoning ordinance for the area to stipulate areas for business, livestock operations, residential-property regulations and a host of other restrictions that would guide growth in the area.

The Silverado residents charged that those restrictions should not apply to them because they were not consulted, and if they had been, county officials would know that the two Silverado neighborhoods have a much higher population density than the rest of the San Marcos area.

"People that live out here want to participate (in area planning)," said Roseanne Gonzales, the leader of the petition drive to allow the Silverado area to opt out of the larger growth plan. "We have animals, we have horses. The county has neglected us for 30 years."

Not to worry, County Planner Robert Griego told the Silverado group. Dropping out of the San Marcos plan should not be much of a problem because, in essence, that plan no longer exists. Not only that, but the ordinance that was being created to guide growth has been abandoned.

Griego said that recent oil-and-gas measures being developed by the county "changes everything," and are forcing planners back to the drawing board to draft new master growth plans for the various communities in the county.

Griego said previous growth plans and ordinances, whether still being developed or already approved by the county, will have to be abandoned or significantly amended to accommodate provisions of the oil and gas drilling ordinances in the county.

The Santa Fe County Commission Nov. 18 approved one of two draft documents aimed at regulating oil and gas activity in the county.

Griego said the communities' growth plans will have to be altered to accommodate numerous issues related to the oil-and-gas measures. Those issues include the habitats of animals and birds, archaeological sites, proximity to water sources, necessary paved roads and an area's sensitivity to oil and gas development.

He told the Silverado residents that county planning staff members will back their request to drop out of the now largely defunct San Marcos growth plan, although elements of the plan likely will be incorporated into any new proposals that will include the oil-and-gas issues.

The opt-out would have to be approved by county commissioners.

Griego said the Silverado residents would be advised of upcoming hearings within the next couple of months.

Contact Dennis Carroll at dcarroll@sfnewmexican.com.