The Greater Community Stories About Planning and Places in New Mexico
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The GreaTer CommuniTy Stories about planning and places in New Mexico The New Mexico Chapter of the American Planning Association 2010-2011 Board of the New Mexico Chapter of the American Planning Association PRESIDENT Chris Hyer City of Albuquerque VICE PRESIDENT Jessica Frost, AICP New Mexico Department of Transportation SECRETARY Eric Johnson, AICP Marron & Associates TREASURER Sandy Gaiser, AICP Mid-Region Council of Governments of New Mexico MEMBER AT LARGE Wayne Grinnell, AICP CSAE Engineers PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OFFICER Claude Morelli, AICP New Mexico Department of Transportation STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE Lora Roberts, Master’s Candidate Community and Regional Planning Program, University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning PAST PRESIDENT Dan Pava, AICP Los Alamos National Labs The GreaTer CommuniTy Stories about planning and places in New Mexico Collected and Coordinated by the New Mexico Chapter of the American Planning Association and citizens and planners from throughout the Land of Enchantment Generous funding provided by the Chapter Presidents Council of the American Planning Association and the Small Town and Rural Planning Division of the APA 2007-2010 Managing Editors: Victoria Hirschberg, Andrew Gingerich Copy Editor: Robin Brontsema Table of Contents Introduction........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 3 Historic Preservation . Collaboration . Restoration Pajarito Village and the Gutierrez Hubbel House: Restoration of a Middle Rio Grande Landmark........................................................................................... 7 by Clay Campbell, AICP Agua Fria: Where History is a Way of Life....................................................................................................................................................................................... 11 by William H. Mehee Cimarron: A Community Dedicated to Historic Preservation........................................................................................................................................................ 14 by Janet Spivey The Healing Waters Trail: A Cultural Landscapes Approach to Planning a Semi-Urban Trail System in Truth or Consequences........................................ 22 by Lisa Roach Lincoln: Preserving the Past within a Living Community.............................................................................................................................................................. 28 by Eric Johnson, AICP Mora County: Documenting Tans-Basin Acequias in Northern New Mexico............................................................................................................................... 31 by Leslie Kryder Community. Initiative . implementation Step into Cuba: A Trails, Walkways, and Physical Activity Program for the Village of Cuba and its Surrounding Areas....................................................... 37 by Emily Piltch and Dr. Richard Kozoll Angel Fire: How Planning Transformed a Destination Resort into a Livable Community.......................................................................................................... 41 by Mark Rivera, AICP Las Vegas: Cinder Road and Bicycle Trail...................................................................................................................................................................................... 44 by Harold Mark Garcia Benefits of Urban Farming: Los Poblanos, Open Space Fields, and Foodprint NM................................................................................................................... 45 by Moanna Wright Environmental Protection in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region: A Model for Binational Collaboration....................................................................................... 53 by Kileen Mitchell The Albuquerque International District: Building a Healthy Community and Celebrating Cultural Diversity.......................................................................... 56 by Lora Roberts with contributions by Megan McKenna Silver City: Community Transportation........................................................................................................................................................................................... 61 by Dave Baker About the Contributors..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 63 INTRODUCTION very place has a story—of how it was born, how it grew, how it will continue to adapt and thrive. The Greater Community is a collection of these stories. All of the thirteen selections in this book are written by local planners who know, whether through professional or personal connection, the unique stories of a particular place. Places from throughout the state are highlighted, from the bustling heart of Albuquerque’s International District E to the quiet countryside of the Mora Valley. The 2007-2009 Board of the New Mexico Chapter of the American Planning Association (NMAPA) saw the project as an opportunity to bring together these stories and ideas so that citizens, planners, and local governments could learn about other communities and planning approaches. Born out of a desire to reach out to communities throughout the state and to facilitate an inclusive dialogue, this project is intended to serve as a useful tool for community planning and development. This collection provides examples of how communities across the state have worked together to address complex issues concerning economic growth and development, historic preservation and restoration, community health and well-being. Collaboration is at the heart of this project—as is a commitment to community improvement. Story after story shows show how residents, businesses, local governments, and federal agencies have come together to plan and implement real changes in their towns and cities. This is the “greater community,” in all of its senses: people from across the state working together for positive change, along the way creating new stories that each particular place will come to tell as its own. Acknowledgements The NMAPA wishes to thank the Chapter Presidents Council of the American Planning Association (APA) and the APA Small Town and Rural Planning Division for their generous funding. The NMAPA would also like to give thanks to all of the authors for their valuable stories and ideas, to the University of New Mexico students who contributed to this project in various ways, and to everyone who was willing to share a story about their community. All of your efforts made the story of The Greater Community possible. ACEQUIA MADRE photo by Lora Roberts Bernalillo County The Acequia Madre (or “Mother Ditch”) runs parallel to the Rio Grande in the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park in Albuquerque. This image depicts what many still consider to be the life blood of agriculture, culture and community in New Mexico. Snow on The Organ Mountains photo by K. Naoma Staley Doña Ana County A rare snowfall on the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces. VIEW OF SANDIAS photo by Lora Roberts Bernalillo County Looking across the Rio Grande Nature Center pond toward the Sandia Mountains, cloaked in winter cloud cover. Historic Preservation . Collaboration . Restoration Pajarito Village & the Gutierrez-Hubbell House Restoration of a Middle Rio Grande Landmark By CLAY CAMPBELL, AICP ract by tract, the rural and traditional The Pajarito Village would become a destination where history, character of the middle Rio Grande Valley Neighborhood Association: genealogy, agriculture, architecture, has been eroding. Up and down the Public acquisition and rehabilitation and open space could be blended into a valley, a landscape of fertile agriculture of Gutierrez-Hubbell would not have unique cultural and educational asset for T is transforming into cityscape. In the happened without the foresight of the the public. Albuquerque area, the trend started in Pajarito Village Neighborhood Association the 1950s in the North Valley and has (PVNA). Starting in 1997, Joe Hlifka led The community group that fought for the gradually spread south. Nowhere is this the PVNA’s opposition to a developer’s rehabilitation of Gutierrez-Hubbell would trend more pronounced than in the vicinity proposal to convert the historic structure later evolve into the Hubbell House Alliance of the historic Gutierrez-Hubbell house, a into a restaurant and subdivide the (HHA), intended to support Bernalillo 5,700 square-foot adobe structure built in surrounding farmland into a gated County in the operation, programming, the 1840s. Once a center of the Pajarito residential subdivision. The PVNA wished and maintenance of the property. farming community, Gutierrez-Hubbell to acquire the property and convert it has been on the State of New Mexico into a living history demonstration farm. Open Space Funding: Cultural Register since 1976. Here, the best of old and new agricultural The PVNA succeeded in getting the and architectural technology could be County’s attention in late 1997 about the combined at one site. Gutierrez-Hubbell future of the property; one year later a BERNALILLO COUNTY: figures from the 2000 U.S. Census Total Population: Median