8/13/09
The state Highway Department has dramatically scaled down a plan for Española’s Main Street area.
After multiple proposals to improve the Main Street section of Paseo de Oñate that would have repaired the Oñate bridge, realigned the intersection with Hunter Street and widened Railroad Avenue, Española residents will have to be content with a few blocks of new pavement, sidewalks, and street lights.
Department engineer Armando Armendariz presented the latest plan at a public meeting last month in the Española City Council chambers to a crowd that included several Department engineers and Española city officials and business owners.
“I know the Department has come previously and from one project scope it changes to another project scope,” Armendariz said. “This one is a very reduced scope from those others.”
Pending public comments, and an environmental assessment, the Department’s current plan will address the section of Paseo de Oñate between the former Corley Ford dealership at the intersection with the Los Alamos Highway and the Block-Salazar Mortuary, which is just west of the Oñate Bridge. Work would include repaving that section of two-lane road and restriping it to make two narrower lanes. The extra space would be used to make a 10-foot shoulder that could possibly be used for street parking, and a 5-foot sidewalk through the whole stretch. Armendariz also said the number of streetlights could be increased.
The work would cost about $2 million and would be paid for with a $4 million federal earmark obtained by the city for improvements to Paseo de Oñate, Armendariz said. Whatever is left over will probably be used for an initial study on replacing or repairing the Oñate bridge, Armendariz said.
Previous plans had a much larger scope. The most recent of these began as a $14 million endeavor that would have included replacing the Oñate bridge, adding a storm sewer system for drainage, and realigning the streets that make up the Los Alamos Highway intersection to make it safer.
The Department had blamed concerns over disturbing contamination at a federal cleanup site off of North Railroad Avenue for delaying the road project, and ultimately, most of the funding for the original project evaporated.
Española Mayor Joseph Maestas attempted to file a complaint against the Department under the federal Environmental Justice Act for discrimination because delays in the project were costing the city its funding, but City Attorney Paula Maynes said there was no way to do that. Despite then obtaining the assistance of Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) to get the mayor’s complaint heard, Maynes said the city has heard nothing further regarding the matter.
The half of the crowd that was comprised of Española residents and city staff were visibly dissatisfied with the limited scope of the proposal, asking the department staff present to account for many problems that businesses and visitors face in the area due to failing and poorly designed roadways.
However, some, like Diane Bowman of Española Valley Fiber Arts, acknowledged that the proposed improvements did need to be made. Bowman was particularly pleased that the plan would likely include street lights and sidewalks.
“Our customers fall on broken sidewalks,” she said. “And it really is so dark at night. There are no streetlights there.”
The Fiber Arts Center is located right in the middle of the proposed work area, but other property and business owners feel their primary needs, and those of the city, are not met with such a small project.
One of these is C.L. Hunter, who owns the property that until recently housed the Corley Ford dealership. He feels the first concern of any Main Street improvement ought to be the Los Alamos Highway intersection.
“(The intersection) is terribly awkward,” he said. “It’s a mess. You never know what to do, and pedestrians are always out there running for their lives. I think that connection needs to happen now.”
Hunter also expressed frustration with the uncertainty that has surrounded Main Street for years.
“I’m never sure what they’re going to do,” he said. “There’s contamination there and contamination there, and I never know what the plans are.”
Even more frustrated was Kelly Armstrong. Armstrong is the daughter of Española businessman Richard Cook, who owns Cook Home Improvement on Paseo de Oñate, and is on the Downtown Action Committee, an organization of local business owners. Armstrong said she is not pleased with the limited scope of the project.
“They’re really not making very much improvements or doing any of the infrastructure, and my understanding is they’re trying to turn it over to the city like that,” she said. “It is terrible. Española is always left behind and done as cheaply as possible.”
Mayor Pro Tem Alice Lucero was primarily concerned that the Oñate bridge be repaired if possible. As Paseo de Oñate is technically a state highway, the city cannot make the necessary improvements of its own volition. City Water Director Marvin Martinez pointed out that the water lines along Main Street have needed replacing for some time.
Armstrong said she and other business owners plan to do what they can to make sure the city holds the state accountable for far more than the currently proposed improvements before the planned transfer of ownership from the state takes place. Currently, the city will take ownership of the Main Street area after the state makes certain improvements. What these improvements will be is not yet finalized.
“If the city accepts it like this, the business owners will not be happy,” she said.
Armendariz said more than once none of what he proposed is set in stone, and no completion date can be set until the plans are more definite. However, once construction begins, the project should take no more than six to eight weeks to complete.
The Department will finalize their plans after an environmental assessment, and upon receiving public comments, which they are accepting now. A comment form will soon be available on the Department’s web site, but for now Española residents can request one by emailing the project’s environmental consultant Eric Johnson at eric@marroninc.com.
Earlier this year, the city entered into a $50,000 agreement with Southwest Planning and Marketing that formed an economic steering committee to plan for economic development on Main Street.
The committee is made up of city and Rio Arriba County officials.
The most recent meeting was July 29, where members discussed their vision statement, the possible boundaries of what they considered downtown and set a community open house to solicit comments from stakeholders.
The open house is scheduled for Sept. 1 at the Mision y Convento at the Española Plaza.