The never-ending quest for the city of Española to obtain the Monterey Lane utility easements took one step forward and two steps back during a Dec. 3 Public Works Committee meeting.
After Councilor and Committee Chair Pedro Valdez announced that all easements had been signed at the Nov. 13 meeting, Interim City Manager Joe Duran said the project’s on hold while property owner Walter Gould tries to negotiate an exchange of easements.
While owner and former City Councilor J.R. Trujillo has signed his portions of the easements, Duran said in an interview that Gould is holding out the easements he owns, while he tries to acquire a right-of-way easement the city already owns. Duran said if Gould continues to play hardball, he could order city workers to stop repairing the pipe when it leaks.
The utility water pipe in question has become a second home to city workers, as the pipe frequently sprouts leaks. The city previously proposed replacing the existing half-inch line with an eight-inch one. Duran previously estimated repairs cost the city $5,000 to $6,000 a month.
“We need to work together for the better of the area,” Duran said.
Valdez said he would rather have the city replace the pipe without the easements, than see Monterey Lane residents continue to have water issues — even if it costs the city more money.
“I would just go ahead and put in the line and if Walter Gould sues, then we’ll countersue or whatever,” he said in an interview.
Councilor Robert Seeds has been a vocal opponent of replacing the utility line on Monterey Lane in both Committee and City Council meetings — arguing the lines had always been on private property and the responsibility for repairs should fall upon Gould and Trujillo.
“We can’t just create something that’s good for everybody today,” Seeds said in an interview. “We need to have consistency. Or else anyone can go up to the city and ask for money.”
From one property issue to another, Seeds requested in the “Committee Member Comments” section that the city look into Ernesto Garcia’s property.
Seeds said Garcia called him the day of the Committee meeting and asked him to come out to his property on the corner of North McCurdy Road and El Llano Road. Garcia showed Seeds documents with his property lines and told him that McCurdy Road and a couple of city fire hydrants run through his property.
Garcia put up a fence, but Duran said semi-trucks making wide turns on their way to Gallegos Recycling or Nathan’s Feed knock the fence down.
Seeds proposed the city buy the strip of property with the street and hydrants, which Seeds estimates to be 44-feet wide, at its widest.
The Council voted 6-1 Dec.9 to survey and appraise the strip of land. Duran said because of the holidays, the city would not be able to do it until mid- to late-January.