‘Hindered’ by annexation: Pointing to neighborhoods annexed by city, Area 1B residents continue to fight

Nov. 30—George Rivera had a half-century-old state liquor license when he operated a package retail store and the former Club Alegria nightclub for years on Agua Fría Street, just outside Santa Fe city limits.

To hear him tell it, Rivera faced unexpected headwinds in 2014 that nearly rendered the valuable license worthless.

That’s when the city annexed a residential Santa Fe County corridor with a string of local businesses, including his. The property long held by his family began to carry residential zoning under city codes.

The nightclub and store closed in 2014, but Rivera was considering remodeling the 5,000-square-foot building, which he eventually leased; it is now the home of Tumbleroot Brewery and Distillery. To ensure he could keep his liquor license active, Rivera had to have his property rezoned from residential to commercial, a complicated and costly process.

“What I am saying is that annexation was not very helpful to the people of Agua Fría who owned businesses,” Rivera said.

Since 2008, as part of an agreement with Santa Fe County, the city of Santa Fe has annexed a number of adjacent neighborhoods, assuming jurisdiction of areas that are home to thousands of people, primarily on the city’s southwestern edge.

One small area near the Santa Fe River, between West Alameda Street and N.M. 599, is the last stretch set for an annexation that hasn’t yet happened. As the city and county continue to wrangle over the future of Area 1B, as the section is known, residents cite what they say are unfulfilled promises by the city in other neighborhoods where the yearslong annexation process is complete.

Critics point to concerns about police response times in neighborhoods that have undergone annexation, a new fire station that was never built on the south side, and infrastructure issues such as the longtime lack of sewer lines connecting to the city’s wastewater system and the lack of functioning streetlights.

Bringing the debate into sharp focus in recent years is the long-running saga of the 1,075-acre Area 1B. The area has been planned for annexation since 2008. Residents there have been vocal, however, about their desire to remain in Santa Fe County, expressing concerns about the city’s ability to provide services and fears around encroaching development.

“You look at a city that is struggling to have basic services for its existing residents, and struggling with so many other problems, and we don’t want to become a part of that,” said Sid Monroe, a resident of the Coyote Ridge neighborhood in Area 1B who has been a critic of the planned annexation.

Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber said in a recent interview the vision for the 2008 annexation agreement between the city and the county was to create a “logical and sustainable” plan for city boundaries, allowing Santa Fe to streamline and concentrate public services while marshaling sensible growth that is environmentally responsible.

He pushed back against complaints the city has not followed through with its promises in new areas brought within city limits.

“I would not agree with his basic assumption, which is that the city is not providing basic resources to its residents,” Webber said of Monroe’s comment. “The city has a pretty good track record of providing a lot of services at a high level to people who are beneficiaries.”

Homes and businesses within city limits have more police and fire protection, he said.

He cited other benefits as well: “There’s improved access to city services, whether it’s our rec centers, our parks,” Webber said. “The benefits are substantial. In addition, if you are a part of the city, you get to vote in city elections. You actually have a say in your own government, and that’s a plus.”

Neighborhood concerns

Residents of Jemez Road and Vereda de Valencia — south-side neighborhoods off Airport Road that were annexed by the city years ago — were still waiting for a sewer connection in January while depending on septic tanks, which they said were old and failing, costing them thousands of dollars a year.

It had been an inordinately long wait for Isaac Dean, a resident of Vereda de Valencia.

“They annexed us, and then they didn’t take care of us. They basically neglected their duties for years and years,” Dean said. “All of us were paying this sewer and storm drainage fee without any sort of facilities.”

His road finally has sewer lines, Dean said.

Earlier this year, the city received appropriations from the New Mexico Legislature to install sewer lines on Vereda de Valencia — $160,000 — and Jemez Road — $210,000. State Rep. Linda Serrato, a Santa Fe Democrat, had previously secured money for the work, but more was needed because of rising construction costs.

“The project is moving forward, and there is service being extended to that neighborhood,” Webber said.

He acknowledged there are “pockets” of the city, recently annexed, that still need infrastructure improvements.

“These annexation issues, they take decades to play out. It really is a forecast into the future about what kind of a city and what kind of a community we want 10 to 20 years into the future,” Webber said. “And so in general, I think the process has been reasonable. … There are pockets of communities that we really have to extend those infrastructure services to.”

Plans to build a 14,000-square-foot fire station in southwestern Santa Fe, primarily to serve annexed areas, were put on hold in 2020 due to a budget shortfall.

In a 2023 interview with The New Mexican, Santa Fe County Commissioner Anna Hansen, who has supported Area 1B residents who oppose annexation, said the city committed to building the fire station near South Meadows Road and N.M. 599, “which they have failed to do.”

Residents in another annexed neighborhood, the Tierra Real Mobile Home Community off Airport Road, say they face persistent problems with homelessness and crime, issues they feel the city isn’t addressing.

“I think it’s been really tough on our community,” Evangelina Torres, a resident of the neighborhood, said of the annexation, noting the mobile home community does not have working streetlights, which can exacerbate crime.

A concerned group of residents in the community decided earlier this year to conduct their own cleanup, clearing out trees and other vegetation in parks and open spaces and removing heaps of trash. One day in July, as they tackled the project, at least a dozen needles lay strewn across a dirty mattress flanked by shopping carts in a wide alley running parallel to some of the mobile homes.

Tierra Real is considered private property on the city’s books; therefore, residents are responsible for maintenance, city spokesperson Regina Ruiz wrote in a text message at the time. The city has jurisdiction through the annexation and easement, however, to perform enforcement and policing in Tierra Real.

Torres and others in the neighborhood have called on the city to “step up” its enforcement practices.

The belief in the neighborhood is that crime has increased under city jurisdiction, Torres said.

“I know when I first got here, I didn’t worry about locking the gate or people coming in the yard,” she said. “Now it’s, like, even with the gate locked, they’ll just jump the fence and come in the yard.”

Some have argued the city’s south side has long been underserved.

“It seems like this is kind of a neglected side of town,” Dean said. “… It’s night and day between sides of town.”

Rivera, the owner of the former Club Alegria, eventually was successful in getting his property rezoned to allow operation of a business and ensure his liquor license remained valid, but it cost him considerable time and effort, as well as money, he said. He had to hire legal counsel to assist him.

“When you have a half-a-million-dollar investment in a liquor license, well, you put it to use,” Rivera said. “And I wasn’t able to do anything with it because they zoned it residential. … They just did it, and it hindered us. All the commercial businesses along Agua Fría were hindered by that annexation.”

Webber noted the city’s zoning code has a provision creating default residential zoning for properties annexed into the city.

History of annexation

Through annexation and a deluge of new housing developments, Santa Fe has welcomed many new residents over the past decade.

The 2020 census reported the city’s population had ballooned by nearly 30% since 2010, an increase of about 20,000 residents, and a large portion came via a series of annexations of populated areas as the result of the 2008 agreement with the county to shift 10,000 acres into city limits.

In 2014, the city annexed 4,400 acres on its southwest side, adding about 13,200 new residents.

Residents of annexed areas have long complained about the process, accusing the city of taking on too much new territory and not being able to keep up with the service burden.

“The cost of that annexation far exceeds any income that it might raise. The cost of one trash truck alone is over $300,000, and the projected plus from the annexation was what, $1 million? That math never worked, and the people that were annexed had little voice in the process as well,” one person wrote in a March 2015 opinion piece in The New Mexican.

“They are taking too much land too quickly, and there is no plan … and so everyone has languished,” William Mee, president of the Agua Fría Village Association, said in a recent interview. The organization helped secure the state designation of Traditional Historic Community for the village, which remains in the county.

A fiscal impact report for the 2014 annexation — Phase 2 of the yearslong effort — had estimated it would mean $9.8 million in new costs over four years, with $4.2 million in operating and personnel costs and $5.6 million in one-time capital costs. The report also estimated $2 million a year in new tax revenues.

The city saw a larger purpose: Annexation creates control of development in areas brought into city limits, allowing for denser neighborhoods and the prevention of sprawl.

“We don’t want to be like other places in the country where there is sprawl and a lack of attention to the environmental consequences of development,” Webber said. “That has really been the driving philosophy behind the annexation policy.”

Residents in limbo

Area 1B residents, weary of waiting for annexation, contend their neighborhoods have been thrust into an undesirable limbo in which the city exerts authority without providing any services.

As negotiations between the city and county over the proposed annexation were underway in 2023, county commissioners passed an ordinance designating about 60% of Area 1B as part of Agua Fría village — giving it the Traditional Historic Community status and ensuring it stays in the county. The vote came in response to a petition from residents.

The move spurred a legal dispute between the city and county that swung in the city’s favor in May. State District Judge Bryan Biedscheid, who had heard arguments in the city’s lawsuit against the county, issued a ruling overturning the ordinance that called for Area 1B parcels to remain under county jurisdiction.

The county opted not to appeal the judge’s decision. Commissioner Justin Greene said although county leaders “strongly disagree” with the ruling, “for the greater good of the community, let’s move on.”

Ruiz, the city spokesperson, wrote in a recent email the city is “going to contract for a fiscal impact study to assess the operational impacts of annexation, such as environmental services operations and vehicles and anticipated public infrastructure.”

City officials are also going to meet with the residents of Area 1B to better understand their perspectives, Ruiz wrote, adding “with that additional information, the City will provide the County a counterproposal,” meaning the city plans to work with the county in the near future to establish a path forward.

Monroe and others in Area 1B — where they note horses and poultry are a common site — said they don’t want to become city residents.

“We’re very distinctly different than a city neighborhood,” Monroe said.

He has lived in a bucolic neighborhood he loves for more than 20 years, he said, adding Area 1B has everything from mobile homes to “home-built earthy structures,” with a topography consisting of ridgelines with steep slopes and arroyos — “a slice of New Mexico living.”

Homewise Inc., a nonprofit housing developer, owns property in the area and plans to build on it. The organization successfully requested to be left out of Agua Fría village under the county ordinance. Monroe said 1B residents are concerned about the prospect of a large housing development, which they fear will increase traffic.

“You get tired of living in limbo with a threat hanging over their head,” he said, accusing the city of “contempt” and “continued disregard” for the residents.

Residents of Arroyo Negro and Pueblo Quemado who oppose Area 1B annexation said in a recent statement, “For over two decades, the City of Santa Fe has expressed its intent to annex this area but has repeatedly failed to do so in a timely and ethical manner. The City’s deadline for annexation expired seven years ago, even after a five-year extension.”

The statement continued, “Furthermore, the City’s own zoning agreement and development promises remain unfulfilled. The City has admitted that the funding and staffing does not, and never did, exist to provide the promised city services. Thus, we reject the City’s commitment to ever fulfill promises.”

The Agua Fría Village Association adopted a resolution this fall outlining some concerns about annexation, according to an email from Monroe.

Concerns outlined in the document, signed by Mee, were the appearance of homeless encampments in neighborhoods that have been annexed, the “myth” of annexation benefits, the “overdevelopment” of neighborhoods within the city limits, and the “lack of progress” on the adjudication of water rights.

Webber said, however, the city has heard from people in the area who support the annexation plan.

“The city has heard from quite a few people who live in Area 1B who are very supportive of annexation,” the mayor said. “So Mr. Monroe and those who oppose annexation don’t speak for a majority of the residents.”

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