:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-wordpress-client-uploads/sfr/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/11095444/landscape-driftwood-tree-nature-grass-rock-679438-pxhere.com_-e1544547303855.jpg)
Twenty years ago, Santa Fe County launched its Open Space, Trails, and Parks program. The first decade or so was focused on acquiring land, and today the program manages 6,600 acres.
Now the program is entering a new phase, which the county says will cost millions in construction, planning and maintenance for several trails—some 60 miles built since 2000—and piñon-juniper woodland properties the county bought in recent years.
Maria Lohman, the program's manager, says a draft of a proposed management plan through 2029 and beyond has been approved by the nine-member County Open Lands, Trails, and Parks Advisory Committee, after a public comment period in November. It's scheduled to go before county commissioners for consideration on Jan. 8.
If commissioners approve, Lohman says, the program's 12-member staff would be directed to implement the plan, including cooperation with other local, state and federal officials to enforce overlapping flora and wildlife preservation efforts.
Just over half of the 41 separate properties managed by the program are open to the public. The lands range in size from the half-acre Cerrillos Fire Station Park to the Thornton Ranch Open Space, which encompasses nearly 2,000 acres near Galisteo and is closed to the public for further development.
One of the most expensive developments continues to be the Santa Fe River Trail, a planned 13-mile trail for walkers and bikers that runs along the river and flows through the heart of the city and toward Highway 599. For the past decade the city constructed parts of the trail within its jurisdictions, while the county is developing a section that runs between West Alameda and Agua Fría Street.
The city and county have collaborated on some restoration actions along the trail path, including a 1-mile section between Frenchy's Field Park and Siler Road, The Santa Fe New Mexican reported.
Santa Fe County hopes to fund $35.5 million in construction, acquisition and development of the remainder of the trail through 2036. Officials have already earmarked $7 million this fiscal year for development of the trail, plus $5.5 million for eight additional projects.
The open space program started with $20 million in bonds, and later the county set aside a portion of its gross receipts tax for capital improvements to properties under the program's purview. Shifting funding priorities in 2011 slowed down development.
"It is essential to identify and secure additional non-county funds in order to complete and accelerate capital project completion," the draft report says.
Lohman tells SFR much of the program's future work is dependent on outside grants, including federal funds channeled through the state's Department of Transportation for construction on pedestrian ways and recreational trails.
However, a review of funding from this source indicates it only directed $58,000 for a portion of the Santa Fe River Trail several years ago, and nothing since. The DOT allocated another $309,000 to the city for its portion of the trail at that time.
Even if funding sources are questionable, another motivation for the new plan was compliance with the county's Sustainable Growth Management Plan.
Passed in 2010 and updated since, the SGMP is the county's authoritative outline of demographic information among the county's communities, as well as the general landscape surrounding population centers. It's also the basis for what the county is using to think about a vast potential trail network that goes from the edges of the county near Rio Arriba, passing west through Pojoaque Valley and down to Edgewood.
SFR has reported on environmental concerns stemming from one of the program's properties: The South Meadows Open Space, which sits next to the former Eberline Instruments facility at the corner of South Meadows on Airport Road. The plot of land is technically undeveloped, but informal trails there are accessible by the public.
The company that currently owns the Eberline property, Thermo Fisher Scientific, has a demonstrated record of misreporting dangerous radioactive materials stored on its premises. In October, US Rep. Ben Ray Luján asked state and federal agencies to clarify whether the property was in compliance with regulations.
An employee of Thermo Fisher attended community meetings held by the open spaces program, where neighbors met with architects and members of the county open space and trails division to discuss plans for the South Meadows space.
Lohman says if Luján’s inquiry yields significant new information, the county “would include analysis to determine whether the property is safe as we are developing it.”
With so much labor baked into the plan, Lohman says the county also hopes to rely on volunteers to bring its vision to life in the coming two decades.