Cluster-Snuck

The ongoing custody battle between Santa Fe County and the City of Santa Fe over an area between Alameda and NM 599 near the Agua Fria village boundaries has showcased the acrimonious nature of land use in the region as well as how the public can be left in the dark even if land developers are clued in to backroom legal wrangling.

Further complicating the issue: County Commission Chair Anna Hansen, one of two county elected officials who are part of negotiations with two city councilors over the long-overdue annexation agreement, has played a significant role in an effort to overrule the same negotiations she’s helping to spearhead.

The County Commission on May 1 heard four hours worth of divided public testimony over a swath of land deemed “Area 1B” that was supposed to be taken over by the city in 2018, according to a settlement agreement the city and county adopted in 2008. Negotiations over the tract—which includes established neighborhoods along Coyote Ridge Road and Calle Nopal as well as large undeveloped tracts—resumed in 2021 when both governments signed a joint resolution to take another crack at completing the annexation.

Meanwhile, people who live in the area banded together to take advantage of a provision that allows them to petition to be excluded from the annexation and instead join the village. Sid Monore, who has lived in Coyote Ridge for 20 years, says he and his neighbors grew tired of answering to the city for land use issues, but receiving only lip service when it comes to other needs.

“There had been all these promises of improved quality of life, because we would get trash service and eventually West Alameda would be better maintained, and we’d have better fire response and police response, etc, etc.,” Monroe says. “None of which happened at the time and none of which has happened in these 14 years.”

Monroe worked closely with Hansen to collect more than 200 signatures from area registered voters.

While the county was quick to sell former open space land near South Meadows Road to Homewise in another recent land-use fight, now the two are at odds. Homewise CEO Mike Loftin has accused those who want the boundary change of being anti-affordable housing in what’s become a bitter battle.

In an interview with SFR, Loftin calls the move by 1B residents a “ham-fisted attempt” at killing the annexation process “orchestrated mostly by Anna Hansen.”

“The argument will always be, ‘We’re not against affordable housing,’ and ‘We’re not NIMBYs, but we only want one unit per acre,’” Loftin says. “Well, affordable housing and 1-acre lots are antithetical to one another. One of these things doesn’t belong.”

Homewise owns several tracts in the area and claims rights to other tracts that are owned by different entities, a total of 200 acres. Negotiations between the county and city have been held in secret as stipulated in the 2021 resolution, but the city argued in a court filing intended to stop the petition that the county was not acting in good faith when it accepted the petition from the residents.

Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber urged commissioners at the May 1 meeting to reject the petition. An exchange between Webber and Hansen highlighted how little the public is looped in.

“We have an agreement in principle that’s been recommended to the City Council, the governing body, by our two negotiators, based on the counter offer that came from the county to us,” Webber said. “We’re ready to move forward with the terms of that agreement.”

Hansen interjected to ask if that agreement included the county shelling out money for a fire station she tells SFR the city failed to deliver on in 2008.

“Madam Commissioner, you know we’re not allowed, at this point, to discuss any actual terms of the agreement as proposed,” Webber replied.

Hansen thanked Webber for his comments, but also said he previously ignored her requests to take action on annexation.

“I think it’s unfortunate that this is the manner and way that it had to come about that we are speaking and communicating,” Hansen said.

According to sworn affidavits filed with the city’s injunction request, Councilors Jamie Cassutt and Signe Lindell claim the secret negotiations were moving along when Hansen started involving herself with the petition to stop the annexation process.

Loftin obtained a number of records documenting Hansen’s involvement in trying to tank the annexation process through an Inspection of Public Records Act, which the homebuilder shared with SFR. In December 2021, for example, Hansen requested from the county clerk’s office a list of all qualified electors in her district “to inform residents about annexation and options to annexation.”

On Jan. 5, Hansen sent a letter to residents notifying them of the ability to petition the commission to prevent the city’s annexation.

“In particular, I am writing to ensure you are aware of the right to petition the Board of County Commissioners of Santa Fe County (County) to declare the remainder of Area 1 as a ‘traditional historic community,’” she wrote. “Such a designation would make the designated community subject to County land use jurisdiction and effectively preclude annexation except by petition of a majority of the qualified electors within the ‘traditional historic community.’”

Hansen signed off with a disclaimer that she was not advocating one way or another. She did, however, drop contact information for Monroe.

“He has graciously offered to be the contact for you should you have any questions in this regard and has agreed to provide his phone number and email for your use,” Hansen wrote.

Text messages between Monroe and Hansen, also obtained by Homewise, show the county commissioner pressing.

“We really need to get this petition going,” Hansen wrote on February 14. “ASAP.”

Hansen has declined to comment to SFR on her role in the petition drive, but noted in explaining the board’s next steps at the end of the late-night hearing on May 1 that the issue was “a challenging situation.” The board plans to take up the issue again May 30.