Southeast Neighborhood Association

To: City of Santa Fe Planning Div.

From: Southeast Neighborhood Association Board of Directors

Re: Development and Planning Concerns regarding the Sanchez Property

Date: 7/5/2005

Within the physical boundaries of the Southeast Neighborhood Association (SeNA), there is a 19 acre vacant parcel commonly known as the “Sanchez Property” positioned just southwest of Museum Hill between Cristobal Lane and Conejo Drive. Given the size and location of this property, development will have significant effect on the entire neighborhood, therefore Board of SeNA has drafted this letter to summarize our concerns and suggestions for the consideration of Mr. Branch, the Developer, and the City Planning Division during the planning and review process of the proposed subdivision.

After multiple meetings with residents it has become clear that there are several topics of concern that we hope to see addressed to result in the best possible context-sensitive development of this property. Our goal is to encourage the preservation of the character of the neighborhood, access to open space for residents and wildlife, and address design elements of the infrastructure that will impact the community. Accordingly, our main concerns are:

· Traffic...

Concerns include construction traffic, additional residential traffic, and potential pass-thru traffic since the current designs include extending and connecting Calle de Leon and Cristobal Lane, creating a "cut-thru" for commuter traffic. The volume, noise, dust and weight of construction traffic through existing neighborhoods and several already-dangerous intersections at either end are an issue, and would have an effect on residents along access routes, adjoining lots and especially those near the planned entrances. Suggestions to minimize impact include considering the following:

Eliminating one entrance completely to create a closed loop design, it would simplify a host of drainage issues to eliminate the Calle de Leon entrance completely.
OR simply "disconnecting" the Calle de Leon and Cristobal Lane extensions to create two dead-ends with a break-thru or coded gate in the middle if required for fire safety.
Configure internal streets/intersections to discourage pass-thru traffic.
Paving standard width streets with curb+gutter and storm drains would be strongly indicated on this lot to comply with current City guidelines and control the runoff as there is significant slope. The current design shows 18’ wide street, which is NOT acceptable since it would be very likely that resident parties having any street-side parking would block the street… The minimum street width should be at least 26’ (‘subcollector’) width to allow occasional parking on one side without blocking traffic. This in turn will have an effect on the design of runoff detention ponds and drainage control. Alternate ‘rural road’ designs without drainage control would NOT be acceptable as they typically erode along edges and do not offer safe street-side pedestrian use for the likely pedestrian traffic in this area. There may be alternate naturally colored materials such as "sand-seal", natural aggregate coatings, colored concrete, or asphalt that would satisfy City requirements. Sidewalks may not have to be concrete, and would preferably be ‘brown’, but should be permanent, hard, level surfaces to comply with ADA guidelines and provide space for pedestrians out of traffic.
Examining and upgrading off-site intersections for line-of-sight, volume and control issues. Specifically, the Ft.Union/Corrales, and Lejo/Corrales on one end and the Leon/Corrales, Leon/Ft.Union, Leon/Sebastian at the other end.
Ft. Union and Camino Corrales – hill must be lowered to improve sight distance and resolve an existing major traffic safety situation which will become unacceptable with added traffic.
Street lighting is also an issue… safety balanced with impact on daytime viewscape and nighttime ‘dark sky’ compliance. We would suggest single, low, shielded streetlights only at entrance(s) and intersections. Preferably along the lines of the ‘antique-looking’ ones recently installed downtown.

· Noise...

Noise during construction is a big concern. A project of this size and scope could easily take several years, during which time local residents would be subject to the sound of heavy equipment moving dirt, large delivery trucks, and all the pounding, sawing, and other noises associated with construction. Initiating a large development like this in the middle of an established, mature, and quiet neighborhood, will have a large impact that should be minimized as much as possible.

Suggestions to minimize impact include:

limiting construction hours to reasonable daytime hours, and NOT on weekends.
providing 6’ permanent adobe walls as sight/sound barriers prior to subdivision development for existing lots at entrances if requested by abutting residents. This consideration is critical at the Calle de Leon end where the planned entrance street is only about 30 feet from the current residents’ homes and headlights will be pointed directly at the rear of several homes when exiting the subdivision.

· Drainage...

Concerns include the fact that there are several arroyos thru the property that carry significant water. Water flow should not be impeded, increased, or course changed such that it affects adjoining lots. There is some concern that changing the flow and drainage may negatively affect some local private wells.

Flood Plain evaluation is indicated prior to ANY development:

The most recent FEMA Flood Plain Boundary map of this area is quite old, and there are a number of considerations indicating that development should not proceed until a detailed update is completed. There has been considerable development ‘upstream’ in the St. Johns and Wilderness Gate area, resulting in possible increase in runoff due to compaction and roads as well as substantial silting of the flood plain itself as evidenced by measurable deposits under the Old Stand Fe Trail Bridge crossing Arroyo Chamiso. The clearance under the bridge has been decreased over time from approximately 8’-11’ to less than 5’… indicating massive deposits in the channel, which most likely have caused the flood plain boundaries to widen. Our concern is that current and future residents of the proposed subdivision have proper channeling, drainage, and flood plain mapping for insurance purposes. The proposed lots along the currently mapped flood boundary may well be within the revised 100 year flood boundary and would require significant dredging, wall, or other solutions to be ‘build-able’ or insurable.

Suggestions include:

Planning/platting drainage easements to handle flow along current contours. Making the easements wide enough to allow for water, walkers, and wildlife movement thru the development.
Designing robust drainage control and channeling to prevent overflow flooding at peak volumes in the arroyo at the Calle de Leon corner of the parcel. The current design is inadequate in a number of ways… so much so that the plan should be summarily rejected, redesigned, and re-submitted:

There is no detention pond to handle street runoff from the northeast end to the cul de sac, it is shown as dumping uncontrolled in a shallow surface ditch directed off the property toward existing residences.
There is no culvert under the road to handle surface runoff above the Calle de Leon entrance; which would dam and shunt surface water directly onto neighboring property rather than drain to the existing arroyo.
The lower detention pond has a very long, flat, and undersized drain… almost guaranteed to plug, combined with no provision to handle overflow; overflow is again shunted directly onto neighboring property rather than draining to the existing arroyo via any surface ditch and culvert system.
The Calle de Leon entrance itself has no detail design documented in the Appplication as to how they plan to bridge the arroyo to match to the existing street… a critical oversight considering the volume of water, and complication of building a road extension right on top of what will probably be an extension of the 60’ wide drainage easement from the opposite side of Conejo, further complicated by the low overhead power line.

· Water Use/Conservation...

A major concern of ANY additional development includes increased water use.

Suggestions include:

strict covenent control over house designs to REQUIRE plumbing for gray water capture from sinks, tubs, showers, and laundry drains as allowed by law. Also requiring features to capture roof runoff to reasonably large buried cisterns for on-site irrigation needs.
convenant control to limit the size and location of landscaping available for grass, regardless of current city water restriction ordinances. Promotion of artifical turf as an alternate, still limited in size, and not visible from the streets.

· Existing/Planned Trails...

Concerns include the fact that there are a number of trails that have been used by local residents for many years to access the larger arroyos to the South and East. The current plat limits access, and provides only one easement that could potentially be preserved for trail access to Arroyo Chamiso.

Suggestions include consideration for establishing additional easements and a "no-build buffer" around the perimeter and "cross lots" to retain access to arroyos for hikers AND wildlife. Access to trails of this nature is proven to raise property values, and would be a very positive feature to add to development. The City Parks and Rec dept. should be involved early to review the plat for suggested location of a trail easement for the Arroyo Chamiso trail to fullfill (or exceed) the development open space requirements. It should be noted that the Arroryo Chamiso trail extension is a planned feature in the City Master Plan for Future Land Use.

· Utilities...

Concerns include the visual impact of above-ground poles and distribution boxes for power, phone, and TV cable. Of particular concern is the powerline that is currently above ground across the proposed Calle de Leon entrance as it is low, and crosses a significant arroyo. Additionally, there have been questions concerning the peak capacity of electric, gas, and water with the additional demands; residents would like to see capacity estimates and approvals from all utilities prior to project approval.

Suggestions include requiring buried cables throughout the development, and distribution boxes hidden behind walls, trees, rocks, or other geographic features.

· Architectural and Land-use Consistency...

Concerns include the visual impact possible designs inconsistent with the neighborhood in size, style or color. In addition to design and construction, people are concerned about rental of guest houses and Casitas raising the effective residence density from R-1 to R-2.

Suggestions include requiring the formation of a Homeowners Association and appropriate Covenents to control Architectural design, development and land use. Specific language should be included in the Covenants to control the look, feel, and use of the property. Items that should be specified include at least the following:

maximum home size and height restrictions
restricted "style" to adobe and limited palette of adobe colors
limited types of fencing, and fencing setbacks to ensure corridors for walkers and wildlife.
landscaping limitations (limited grass, ponds/fountains/pools and non-xeric elements)
design and construction required to include gray water plumbing and roof water capture
no rental of guest houses
no on-site storage of RVs
no home businesses that involve daily client visits or service pickup/delivery