Mine Moratorium

Santa Fe County wants to stall mine applications for a year

The Santa Fe County Board of Commissioners plans to hold a hearing next month about imposing a a mining moratorium in the jurisdiction for the next year, but officials won't confirm whether the rule is aimed at La Bajada Mesa proposal.

The board is set to consider the ordinance at a public hearing on Sept. 16 at 1 pm in the commission's chambers, 102 Grant Ave.

A county spokeswoman says the proposal is coming from Santa Fe County Growth Management Director Penny Ellis-Green and not from an elected official. It seeks to impose a 12-month moratorium that would prevent the county from accepting new or processing existing development applications for landfills, junkyards and "sand and gravel extraction activity requiring blasting."

Kristine Mihelcic, county public information officer, tells SFR she can't comment on whether the proposal would prevent the county from accepting the controversial application from Buena Vista Estates and Rockology to create a 50-acre mining zone on La Bajada Mesa. Rockology, an Albuquerque company, seeks to mine for basalt on the treasured slice of land, owned by Buena Vista Estates.  The county held public hearings about the application this summer but put off making a final determination.

Ellis-Green wrote in a memo to commissioners that the county's Sustainable Land Development Code will not go into effect until a zoning map is adopted, which is projected to happen by the end of the calendar year.

Part of the purpose of the ordinance, Ellis-Green writes, is to avoid "a rush of applications in advance of new regulations," as that new land development code is implemented.

UPDATE: Mihelcic says that since the proposal would prohibit the county from "accepting new or processing existing development applications," it would, if passed, prevent the county from accepting the Buena Vista/Rockology application.

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