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CORRALES — It wasn’t anything major — just the future of the village of Corrales — that was called into question at the Corrales Council meeting April 22.
Two items were integral to the discussion: the 2027-31 Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan list and the Comprehensive Plan.
ICIPThe first item on the ICIP list discussed was the village’s portion of the Sandoval County Dispatch Center. District 5’s Zach Burkett wanted clarification on the funding.
“The dispatch Center, the $15 million, roughly, is that our anticipated share of the dispatch center?” he asked.
Mayor Jim Fahey clarified that cost is not covered by Corrales.
“All entities involved in it were asked to put that on number one. Now, I haven’t heard any different yet. I haven’t talked to Wayne Johnson yet, but that’s so that we can get the money for what’s now called a different thing, but it’s basically the 911 system emergency call center,” he said.
He anticipates the item will probably not be the first item on the list unless it is “absolutely necessary to get that last bit of money.”
“It’s basically going to start July 1st,” he said.
The total project cost, which is $15,312,405, has not been fully funded yet.
The council is set to have more information on its part of the Joint Powers Agreement at the May 13 meeting. At this point, having the dispatch center on the ICIP is precautionary.
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Some of the priorities on the ICIP are generators for all of the village facilities for next year and stand-alone bathroom funding. It also looks at funding for emergency services in both the Corrales fire and police departments, parking facilities, storm and flood mitigation, library services, electric vehicle charging, bosque access, air conditioning for the Old San Ysidro Church and more.
A resolution to approve the list won’t be voted on until June 24.
Comprehensive PlanDiscussion of the Comprehensive Plan in Corrales has been ongoing and heated since the Planning and Zoning Commission proposed changes in November.
The plan has changed yet again. The P&Z Commission issued a memorandum April 16 regarding its changes.
“We strongly endorse the plan’s overarching themes of continuing support and retain the rural characteristics of our village and fostering a ‘strong sense of belonging among residence,’” it states.
It added that the plan focuses on the need for more specific and deliberate future planning for the commercial corridor, the northwest sector of the village, fire suppression and water and public utility infrastructure.
They attached the revised version of the plan, which talks about the importance of Corrales’ historical context, value of tradition, rural character, community and health and safety.
Burkett wanted to hear from the Comprehensive Planning Committee about feedback members have. He more specifically asked if there were any inflammatory comments from the community the committee wanted to make known before the council dove into the discussion. Chris Allen, a Corraleño and member, said the process has been a lot longer than she or anyone else anticipated.
“We did a lot of interviews and data collection from the community. The vast majority of that was face-to-face with members of the public. We identified six values that the community felt they wanted to preserve over the next 10 years. From those values, we developed goals, and then we developed recommendations to help achieve the goals, which would support the values,” she said.
She reminded the council that the plan is meant to happen over the next 10 years and not within a six-month period. However, there are some items that she said should be considered early on, like lock controls.
The only topic the committee found “inflammatory” was regarding the Department of Community Planning. Committee member Sayre Gerhart spoke more on that.
“The CPRC would like to let you know that we’re against that P&Z revision number one and ask the council to create a Department of Community Planning,” she said.
She later said the village P&Z commission has been “all Z and no P,” adding that the proposed change to have a department to focus on planning would help with that.
“Today’s governing body may not have the budget or desire to create this department, but comprehensive planning is for 10 years and sets the bar high. The point is the community has expressed several values and goals which would require a very robust and professional approach than the status quo,” she said.
She mentioned a shift since the committee was formed two years ago. “Council and the citizen groups are already more engaged and implementing many of the things in the plan with the outside agencies and organizations for matters of major impact to our community and core values. The planning processes over these two years for this plan and for other community plans, such as local to use facilities in the Arts and Cultural District, have engaged a large part of the community and its volunteers, and we’ve had many difficult conversations, and you’ve had very many difficult votes on these things.”
She said the community planners are certified professionals and are trained for outreach in the community and for envisioning skills for effective coordination and implementation of multiple projects. “They have skills to implement the complex zoning tools included in the plan, such as conservation easements, transfer development rights as we heard earlier and complex analysis or variances, and for ordinances. A community planner will benefit the village by retaining and organizing volunteers.,” she said.
“Regarding these difficult conversations, our communities should be able to talk up front about gentrification because the CPRC heard from the community that is a contributor or a cause to many of the threats to the plan’s value threats, such as the loss of farmland and open space, property assessments, traffic noise and other incongruences for keeping animals. Some neighbors are are marginalized in their hometown, and this has to matter to us all.”
She clarified that raising those issues does not mean that new homes and newcomers are not welcome. “The plan does not intend that any one group, whether the Corrales descendant families or developers be given special treatment. It’s never said that anywhere in the plan.”
She stressed that the planning just needs “skilled facilitation”.
District 6 Councilor Stuart Murray expressed his resistance to transfer development rights, which are a zoning technique that encourage voluntary growth in designated areas while simultaneously preserving others, and it allows for private funds to be used to achieve public goals.
“Let’s get back to the TDR because everything about the TDR that I have read, it is about increasing density, which means it goes against everything in the abilities that we we hold dear, which is one acre of lots or two acre lots, depending on what’s on your end. So the TDR, as far as I’m concerned, it’s dead in the water,” he said.
He said profusely he would not support TDRs.
Fahey interjected, confronting Murray’s objections. He said that the matter, while currently up for discussion, was not being voted on at the moment. He said when the time comes to vote on whether to use TDRs or not, councilors could vote “no” but for now it is a mere suggestion to help the village obtain goals for the future.
The committee met April 24 to discuss final action on the comprehensive plan, which will be made known at a later date. The documents related to the plan can be read in the April 22 meeting agenda packet.
