Edgewood 947 acres larger, but that’s only a start
First published in The Independent newspaper, Dec. 10, 2008.
By Scott Albright 12/10/2008
Edgewood - Edgewood added 947 acres of open space last week, but that’s only the beginning of a process that could make the sparsely populated town one of largest municipalities in the state.
The council approved Dec. 3 the concept of annexing a large number of properties to fill in holes in the town’s checkerboard map. But his was only the first step in a lengthy process.
The town staff will specify the properties and return to the council in January with details. After council approval, the plan would go to the governor’s office in Santa Fe. The governor’s office would then hold a public hearing in Edgewood with councilors and affected residents.
The proposed annexations are both south and north of N.M. 333, but town officials have not calculated the total, acreage involved.
Before passing the in-fill resolution, Councilor Glenn Felton asked, “Does this now make us the single largest geographic municipality in the state of New Mexico?”
“We’re about to beat Rio Rancho again,” Karen Mahalick, community planning and development manager, responded. “With the fewest service per square mile,” Felton added.
Edgewood already has a larger area than Santa Fe.
Meanwhile, town councilors voted unanimously to annex open space Edgewood leases from the State Land Office in Sections 29 and 32 on Edgewood’s southwest border.
The land is only to be open spece for now, but the town hopes eventually to build hiking and horseback trails on it. The problem is that the only public access is a rough four-wheel-drive dirt route off Barton Road.
The town would like to improve access from the southwest, but has no plans to make any of the private roads into the property main thoroughfares.
T.J. Maloy, a resident on the north side of the land, was pleased to hear that private roads in his neighborhood would only be used by emergency vehicles.
“I feel like these promises have been made in the past, and tonight I still hear that they’re maintaining that promise,” Maloy said. “People who have stated this in the past are still stating that, and I do appreciate it.”
Mahalick reassured Maloy that the only reason vehicles would be travelling on private roads to the annexed property would be for emergencies. She said state, county and town officials could gain access to the property using private roads even before annexation.
Felton asked Maloy if the property has been used illegally in the past.
“At one time, and maybe some of us in this room, if you’d gone to Moriarty High School prior to 10 years ago, you were back on that property probably with a keg and having a good time with a campfire,” Maloy said. “Is there still activity? There’s been a few ATVs, we hear a few gunshots, but I think due to the isolation of it, it’s fairly quiet.”
Mahalick agreed: “I have lived adjoining that property for over 20 years. I have never heard of an emergency call in the area. Sue West has lived there. I don’t know that other than gunshots in the vicinity we’ve ever heard anything.”
The property is zoned for special use.
Also at the meeting, the council declared a piece of property off Church Road to be a public nuisance, a sign ordinance update was discussed and Audrey Jaramillo announced her decision to run for school board in District 5. The council discussed pending litigation during a closed session prior to adjourning the meeting.