Facebook Connect
This Week's SFR Picks
 
Best of Santa Fe 2012 Vote NOW

SFR's Best of Santa Fe Voting
SFReporter Subscription
Sign Up for SFR:
Email Newsletter

Weekly Poll

What do you think of SFR´s new cover design?

 

 

 

 

 

Discuss Vote   

Getting poll results. Please wait...
— Catch-19?
NM’s decision to review its gun policies has advocates up in arms
— All Business
Tanti Luce 221 is about more than just food--and that's a good thing
— Under the Wire
Blue Cross Blue Shield pushes for yet another rate hike—its seventh in eight years—before new financial transparency rules kick in
— Bus-ted
For years, local officials used a Texas price agreement to green-light bus purchases. Now they’ve stopped—but the same out-of-state bus company still dominates the market
— Making Enemies
Public Enemy is coming, but can you attend?

 

 
SFReeper 06.17.2010 0 Comments
 
 

More Broken Code

Check out Advantage Asphalt's 'small' residential business

By Corey Pein
advantage asphalt2 In this week's paper, SFR looked at some recent code complaints that have come in to the city and county bureaucracies.

 There were a few that we didn't have room for on the page, but which deserve a look regardless. 


 The first concerns Advantage Asphalt, a company that is under investigation by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's office in a convoluted money-and-influence scheme reportedly involving several local politicians, including state House Speaker Ben Luján, Santa Fe City Councilor Matt Ortiz and County Development Review Committee chairman Jon Paul Romero. 

 On June 14, the Journal Santa Fe reported that Santa Fe County officials had cited Advantage "for illegally storing heavy machinery and other equipment on a residential La Cienega property."
[County Development Review Division Director Shelley] Cobau said that [Advantage owner Joe Anthony] Montoya has a "home occupation" business license for the property. The license allows for small-scale operations, "something that doesn't affect the residential characteristics of the neighborhood," Cobau said.
SFR's photographer visited Advantage's Los Estrellas Road address last week. Does this like a "small scale operation?"

This appears to the house for which Montoya was initially denied a permit last Octobera decision that was reversed without clear explanation by County Manager Roman Abeyta, per the Journal.

County officials told the Journal they weren't sure when the most recent complaint had come in about Advantage's property on Las Estrellas. But the records obtained by SFR show an anonymous complaint referred to inspector Rick Lovato by Permits and Inspections Division Director Wayne Dalton on April 14.

The caller "believes there is an unpermitted structure going up at 57B Las Estrellas," the complaint says. "Neighbor believes that they are running illegal business. They start big machinery up at 6:00 A.M. The business is Advantage Asphalt."

--

Another complaint concerned a property at 6 Jennifer Way, owned by James S Ramsey, whom SFR was unable to reach. The complaint concerns "[a]nother RV lived in with no hook ups" and "debris and junk" on the property.

It still looked that way when SFR's photographer visited last week, although the complaint was recorded March 2, and Cobau says property owners are usually given 30 days to clean up after a code inspector's visit.

One thing the complaint didn't mention: These animals.

Thanks to SFR photo intern Ana Goni-Lessan for traipsing all over the place.

 
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
 
 
 
Close
Close
Close