La Cienega residents ruffled by mayoral candidate's development.
Three years ago, Gene Bostwick and his family moved away from the hustle-bustle of Santa Fe's south side in the hopes of rediscovering the rural charm that lured them to the City Different three decades earlier.
The Bostwicks chose La Cienega, a small village of approximately 3,000 people, located just south of the city limits among vast, scenic plots of mountain prairie land.
***image2***Now they worry a massive development being planned in part by mayoral candidate David Schutz could potentially double the size of their village, forever warping its treasured rural living. The development, to be built on nearly 1,400 acres of ranch land, is in the preliminary planning stages and has not yet received approval from Santa Fe County. Nonetheless, its prospect is already raising eyebrows among residents.
"Everybody here wants to know how this is going to change where we live," Gene Bostwick, whose land abuts the planned development, says. "This certainly isn't rural. It's suburban at best."
The Bostwicks aren't alone in their concerns.
"I find it upsetting and frustrating that this big development clearly doesn't fit the lifestyle out here," Mary Dixon, who serves on the La Cienega Valley Association, says. "They're planning too many houses, and there's too little water."
Indeed, density and water are the most pointed concerns among local residents who've already met twice with Schutz about the project. (Currently, La Cienega residents get their water from private wells, a community water system or Santa Fe County).
"I hope the developers are willing to work with the community," resident Camilla Bustamante, who sits on the La Cienega Development Review Board, says. "It's been a number of years that the county has been saying there isn't enough water, but big projects continue to come forward with no water made available."
Through a message from Lisa Garcia, the manager of the general contracting
business Schutz and Company, David Schutz referred all comments on the matter to Jim Borrego of Borrego Construction.
According to Borrego, his family is the managing partner on the project and Schutz is the planner. Schutz also is an investor in the project, according to Garcia.
***image1***Borrego says his group has not yet decided how many units to build but notes that the county zoning code allows up to one unit per 2.5 acres, which would allow space for up to 526 units. Still, Borrego says he wants to come up with a "model community" that retains the area's rural identity and will have little impact on the existing La Cienega community. According to Borrego, the development could conceivably keep 60 percent open space and hold traffic to a minimum because of existing access roads to I-25.
"There's not a density issue, and there's not an environmental issue," he says. "There's quite a bit of acreage out there."
Borrego, however, concedes that the ubiquitous water question likely will determine whether the project is ultimately approved.
"We're trying to bring water in offsite-that's our ultimate goal," he says. "There's not enough 'in-basin' water to serve 526 units, so we'll have to get it from outside the area."
Borrego also points out that in addition to numerous meetings with residents, he and Schutz walked door to door late last year in an effort to get feedback. It's a strategy he vows to continue.
"We want to keep the dialogue open and address the residents' concerns," Borrego, who estimates the project could take up to 20 years to complete, says.
County Commissioner Mike Anaya, whose District 3 includes La Cienega, has yet to take a position on the development.
"I would like to know more about it," Anaya says. "They could probably spread those houses out or cluster them and still leave a lot of open space. We want to make sure this is good for the community of La Cienega."
For Gene Bostwick and Mary Dixon, it's difficult to imagine, at least for now, how such a potentially huge project will bring anything positive to La Cienega.
"The whole village is worried about this," Bostwick says. "It's going to have a huge impact."
