on counselor pena oh she went away madam chair we are now live thank you counselors we are now now live we are being broadcast so i call this meeting to order this is the land use planning and voting committee of the city of count of the city council all committees members are present or will soon be today via zoom this is a remote or online meeting where all participants will be on a video or audio conference we appreciate your patience as lups meetings are conducted this way members of the public will be able to address the committee if they have signed up for live public comment for the rules published on the agenda on on on and can't speak tonight and on our website friday speakers will be moved into the meeting room two at a time they will remain muted with their camera off until they are called upon to speak at which point they can turn on their camera unmute themselves and will have two minutes to provide comments to the committee after that they will again be muted and returned to be an attendee of the zoom webinar written comments were also received and distributed to the committee members in advance of the meeting members of the public city staff and the media have the ability to view this meeting live through youtube and zoom webinar the live stream can be accessed from most smartphones tablets or computers for those watching on the live stream thank you for joining us we will start with public comment and hello to those joining us to provide public comment here are the public comment ground rules comments are to be addressed to the committee members only please keep your comments germaine to the topics on the agenda any disruptive conduct or non-germane commentary will result in removal from the zoom webinar as usual there'll be a two minute time limit the timer will start once you begin speaking then the zoom moderator mr moya will let you know when your time is up mr moya would you please call the name of the first speaker thank you madam chair our first speaker is jeannie allen miss allen please feel free to turn the video on unmute yourself and your two minutes will begin when you start speaking can you hear me yes ma'am please proceed thank you so my name is jeanette allen i'm a 15-year resident of albuquerque and a 50-year landowner in northern new mexico i have a master's degree in biogeography i just retired from a 40-year career as a science educator the last 20 years with our federal space agency nasa i have seen what it takes to design build launch manage and decommission a nasa spacecraft so i know competence and thoughtfulness when i see it the candelaria nature preserves the research management plan as exemplary for competence and thoughtfulness and for its visionary nature a group of volunteers known as the friends of candelaria nature preserve was formed initially by members of the technical advisory group as a means of community support so our purpose is to support the city's open space division as it implements the resource management plan i lead that friends group we know what an important place the candelario nature preserve is and how this treasure in the heart of albuquerque will distinguish our city as the rmp is implemented we are drafting an agreement with the open space division to be submitted soon we're also working with the osd superintendent of education to design a plan for public nature study and wildlife oriented recreation we would like to emphasize that improved ecosystem health and increased biodiversity of the cnp are of the utmost importance the excitement and magic of public opportunities for nature study and wildlife oriented recreation will stem from the richness of that protected and rewilded landscape thank you for your support of the rmp thank you our next speaker is is peggy norton miss norton feel free turn your video on and meet yourself and your two minutes will begin when you start speaking i urge your support of the rmp that represents five years of effort to write a plan to comply with lwcf guidelines and the original purchase intent two concerns expressed at the first meeting at arbor road were herbicide use which was not allowed on the fields and fields with no plantings i want to thank michael jensen councillor benton and brian hansen for their leadership roles in making this plan a reality as well as colleen mcroberts this plan brings together some very exciting environmental concepts healthy soils reduced water consumption rewilding and increased biodiversity from a mosaic of native habitats with access being primarily visual in the middle of a city of over 500 000 people the transition will allow observation of the process which is experimental and there will be trial and error we have had great financial support and enthusiasm from our state legislators bill o'neil and deborah armstrong and also the city amendment recommendations a method to resolve ambiguities interpretations of the plan reduce the goal of full habitat conversion from 12 years to 8 years delete the option for parks to use the tree nursery for green waste and other material clarify that school groups of 60 people would be split between the nature center and candelaria nature preserve special events should not include the allowed group tours set a goal date for removal of the asphalt pad herbicide use is a concern of mine and others because ipm allows herbicides perhaps only omri designated products could be allowed i am pleased to see the organic focus of ciudad soil and water district overseeing the transition of some of the fields and colleen mcroberts is backing that concept thank you thank you our next speaker is brian hansen please feel free to turn your video back on and meet yourself and your two minutes will begin when he starts speaking can you hear me yes sir please proceed okay i'm brian hansen i'm the chairman of the technical advisory group tag a volunteer group that met for several years to write a resource management plan for candelaria nature preserve the original intent of the 171 acres was for a wildlife preserve which included the rio grande nature center state park recently it was learned that management of the land did not comply with the land and water conservation fund requirements this new plan meets all requirements and will ensure that wildlife is the priority but also includes public viewing nature study and environmental education in new mexico riparian and wetland habitats have been reduced from 1 million acres to 482 000 acres a reduction of 52 percent this preserve will give back some of those acres to wildlife the plan includes establishing the various wildlife habitats found along the rio grande these habitats will support an abundance of species that can be viewed by the public the tag team included about 15 members with another 15 supporting experts during our 49 tag meetings we always started the meeting with time for the public to speak visits to other refuges and invited specialists at the meetings added to the expertise of the resource management plan the city hired experienced consultants to put the plan together the rmp has been approved by albuquerque parks and rec open space advisory board and the environmental planning commission the tag looks forward to the day when the city of albuquerque proudly advertises that the city has a wildlife preserve within the city limits this sets our city apart from other large cities and demonstrates to all that albuquerque values the natural environment and its wildlife please approve the plan and thank you for your work on this committee that's all i have thank you very much our next speaker is shawn lewden mr ludin please feel free turn your video on and meet yourself and your two minutes will begin when you start speaking hello committee uh thanks for the opportunity to share uh my name is sean ludden i'm programs coordinator for pseudo soil and water conservation district and i'm project manager for this transition under the rmp with contract under the city of open space i wish to express support from the cod soil and water conservation district for the cmp rmp which represents a well-planned and thorough vision for the restoration of habitat on candela nature preserve i view this as an unparalleled opportunity for the city of albuquerque its residents and the region as a whole to encourage the prioritization of wildlife habitat within city limits cswcd is excited to work with the city in this effort and initiate transition from commercial agriculture use to a truly unique preserve in which wildlife and biodiversity are enhanced through the introduction of native plants and habitat features further this rmp will initiate benefits from carbon sequestration from planned undisturbed native vegetation develop recreational opportunities in nature study encourage educational approaches to engage public and youth and also encourage refinement of these strategies to implement work of this kind at other sites has potential positive outcomes cswcd supports the cnp rmp and sees this as a wonderful chance to provide even more open space enjoyment for residents and wildlife alike within our district current progress includes seeding wildlife farming fields with a diverse seed mix which includes native species and utilizing available irrigation to recharge soil moisture in key fields other areas are in the progress of planning approaches amidst this ongoing record drought and progress in these areas will likely take place later in the summer into winter with contractor services and community volunteer involvement thank you so much thank you our next speaker is steve ewing please feel free to turn your video on and meet yourself and your time will begin when you start speaking mr ewing you are uh still muted if you could unmute yourself is this better there you go please proceed thank you i apologize my name is steve ewing i live adjacent to the tree farm of the candelaria nature preserve my comments are directed to the tree farm aspect of that um the tree farm area of this plan was predetermined before the adjoining neighbors were advised and knew of this the open space advisory board on january 28 20 acknowledged that the that our neighbors were left out of the tree farm planning i would request an oversight committee be added to the plan number two the area is still not cleaned up it needs to be cleaned up for the safety of families children and visitors the language that i would like added as an amendment is the language at the epc recommended on 12 10 20 in their findings under 16e trash and other waste materials shall be forbidden from the tree nursery 16h the commission questions the appropriateness of uses like refuse transfer green waste transfer and landscape material trash at the tree farm site which is in direct contact with three residential neighborhoods furthermore noise dust and odors are a concern it would be appropriate for parks department to indicate in the plan that these are not to be done at this site there are other sites in the city that are more appropriate for this kind of use i would respectfully request that be added to the language of the resource management plan lastly until this area is cleaned up and we've been trying for years to do it it will not be safe for families visitors or any other people coming to the tree farm it is part of the candelarian nature preserve it should be treated like open space the city shouldn't be allowed to have sometimes trash there huge trash you can see from the photos i submitted earlier and it needs to be cleaned up immediately i would request that that be added too thank you very much thank you thank you mr ewing our next speaker is cameron weber please feel free to turn your video back on on meet yourself and your two minutes will begin when you start speaking okay thank you um my name is cameron weber and i serve as the conservation director for rio grande return we're an environmental nonprofit protecting new mexico's wetlands and riparian waterways um tributaries to the rio grande and our work focuses on just this kind of work where we're converting often degraded agricultural lands often public wildscapes into valuable habitat in partnership with the community we're under contract with the city of albuquerque and ciudad soil and water conservation district to assist with this conversion sorry for the noise um and uh i'm i'm wanting to register our support rio grande returns support as well as my own personal support for the rmp to move forward to a city council approval because this rmp includes aspects that are necessary for the kind of flexibility that is needed for this kind of large-scale conversion but also provides a a very sound scientific background for this design i urge the the commission to move the project move the rmp forward as it is um i am uh on the ground regularly on the candelarian nature preserve as of the last couple of months and have been engaged with the process since it started early on and have watched the level of community engagement around this and feel that the lessons that the community has brought forward have been incorporated to a great degree and the the tools that are available to us allow us to start making real progress on the rmp as it is so i urge you to accept the rmp and move it forward thank you thank you our next speaker is taja young miss young please feel free turn your video on and meet yourself and your time will begin when you start speaking good afternoon counselors can you hear me yes i am tasha young and i am vice chair of the city of albuquerque open space advisory board and one of the previous speakers said the open space board did vote in january of 2020 to support the the management plan i believe that was the unanimous vote we have just two specific concerns one is that we do have oversight responsibility um for this plan and and we look forward to uh continued reports so that we can maintain our advisory status um with you the second concern is is that uh we have as you have uh heard uh continuous um and serious complaints about the status of the tree farm and um and so we we would like to uh to have that issue um be resolved uh as soon as that's possible thank you counselors thank you our next speaker is barbara taylor miss taylor please feel free turn the video on and meet yourself and your time will begin when you start speaking miss taylor you are muted if you cannot meet yourself there there we go i think right um i'm barbara taylor i'm um a member of the open space advisory board i'm here primarily um to answer questions because i have the longest institutional memory of this project apart from the neighbors who participated i do want to say that i strongly support the proposal by peggy norton i thought her amendments were great with just one exception ipm integrated pest management is the standard of care um all over the state whether it's by de oro bosque del apache it does allow a certain amount of use of herbicide but it minimizes the use of herbicide and is really provides a comprehensive framework for the care of the property but i'm basically here today in case any questions come up about the history of this project thank you thank you miss taylor our next speaker is oscar simpson mr simpson please feel free to turn the video on and meet yourself and your time will begin when you start speaking if you can just then meet yourself mr simpson all right thank you very much oscar simpson i'm a north valley resident i attended most of the meetings in the development of the resource management plan for candida area farms i support the resource management plan my key issue is i want to make sure that the tree farm is utilized for access to the preserve but also for the ditch accesses so that needs to be a primary concern for a lot of the public there is limited access and parking in that whole area and that's a critical area that needs to be developed and utilized for public access and the tree farm needs to get all this junk and trash out of there and as i understand and addressed that we were developing plans and actions on how and what size and what the details are for the candela for the tree farm that's all i have to say and thank you very much thank you mr simpson our next speaker is joe almers mr elmers please feel free to turn the video on and meet yourself and your two minutes will begin when you start speaking okay thank you very much um my name is joe elmers i'm a resident of the alvarado gardens neighborhood and i like to say i'm in support of the cmp um i hope that the cmp will be providing off-street parking for all of its visitors currently we have two major attractions in our neighborhood one of them is the rio grande nature preserve the other is we have two access points to the bosque within our neighborhood and because of those two attractions our neighborhood has seen increased traffic increase speeding and increased parking in our neighborhood streets i hope that the city will provide off-street parking for existing attractions and for any future outdoor attractions in our neighborhood and throughout the city as they develop so that we can keep the quality of our neighborhoods intact thank you thank you very much our next speaker is diana hunt miss hunt please feel free to turn the video on meet yourself and your time will begin when you start speaking hello thanks for having me today my name is diana hunt i've been a resident of the alvarado gardens neighborhood association for the last 15 years and i am the current president of that association agna as it's known for short is adjacent to the southern boundary of the cnp similar to joe elmer's my concerns today revolve around parking for our neighborhood and i understand that there are the limitations imposed by the lwcf and i may have gotten those initials wrong um but i think you all know what i mean um and and those limitations previously did not exist um i believe the tag group did a fantastic job of drafting a plan that exists today but not much attention was given to addressing where off street parking would exist for the new needs of this public amenity i believe the tree farm to be a likely spot for this off street parking i am sympathetic uh to the to the uh wishes of steve ewing i certainly understand that that area needs to be cleaned up but uh in my mind it does make the most sense to provide parking there if there is going to be if there are going to be group tours uh from off the duranus uh off the ditch there and and access to a viewing area access to the woodward house um the the cnp is huge my other consideration has always been that i don't understand why all of the access viewing and parking should be to the south of that property so i asked that there be some consideration for access to the cnp from potentially the north side or uh as i understand it there will be some viewing access uh along the drainage thank you thank you our next speaker is eleanor walther miss walter please feel free to turn the video on and your time will begin when you start speaking counselors my name is eleanor walther and i'm president of the rio grande boulevard neighborhood association there are many things we like about the resource management plan for the candelaria nature preserve we do have some concerns however we oppose use of herbicides and pesticides at the cnp about five years ago when herbicides were used bird populations decreased and the spraying had an effect on surrounding properties we support a neighborhood oversight committee to provide direct community input to the management of the cmp the plan states that there will be minimal use of herbicides but does not define what minimal means we would like community input whenever pet herbicides are being considered for use we support a plan to return the preserved to natural habitat sooner than 12 years we also have great concerns about future development plans for the track known as the tree farm the track of land borders neighborhood residential properties on three sides currently the track is used for storage of vegetative refuse from city parks this violates new mexico state statutes the parks department has been unwilling to commit to a timetable for cleaning this up even though neighbors have been trying for years to remove the stump refuse the tree farm is also a staging area for construction materials for the parks and recreation department unfortunately this does not violate stats state statutes but we think this is an inappropriate use of for this property we also have reservations about plans for the tree farm we have heard um there will be there are plans to build buildings bathrooms lighting and parking on this prop property we do hope that the open space division will give more than lip service to the neighbors concerns and develop a plan that is acceptable to the neighbors thank you thank you ma'am our next speaker is jonathan siegel mr siegel please feel free to turn the video on and meet yourself and your time will begin when you start speaking good afternoon i'm jonathan siegel i live also in alvarado gardens within a block of the proposed candelaria nature preserve today i speak to the rmp for the preserve i've been assisting our neighborhood alvarado gardens which it butts the cnp in trying to solve parking problems many of our residents want to find ways to reduce on-street parking burdens although i personally do not find on-street parking to be a problem many of our neighbors do find it a problem and have variously considered permit only parking to extrapolate if permit only parking were to be in place visitors from around town and out of town would not be able to access candelaria nature preserve nor the bosque the bike trail and related amenities we think these access assets should have public access if the cnp wants visitors they need to consider accommodating them and their inevitable vehicles in the most unobtrusive way possible do not count on on-street neighborhood parking as primary public parking i do not favor lighted parking lots nor additional restrooms we would urge the city to continue to work with affected neighborhoods to minimize these burdens and i sent you also some suggested added language which reads as follows at page 104 and again at page 109 and possibly elsewhere words to the effect of the city agrees to provide adequate off-street parking for planned activities and casual viewing activities under no circumstances will the city add a parking lot off veranda road to the north to encroach into the resource area that's about it for that i stand for questions i do hope you'll take these matters into consideration any questions thank you mr siegel our next speaker is jennifer owen white miss white please feel free to interview anyone there you are your two minutes will begin when you start speaking thank you uh my name is jennifer owen white i am the refuge manager for the vaya de oro national wildlife refuge in the south valley and i appreciate this time to address the committee today i wanted to let you know that valle de oro national wildlife refuge has collaborated with the city of albuquerque open space and the candela nature preserve technical advisory group on the research and writing of the candelaria nature preserve resources management plan we have shared information based on our resource management planning at valle de oro process that we followed to create our own site plan and moving forward we commit to continuing to work with the albuquerque open space and candelaria nature preserve to bring the vision that open space the technical advisory group and the community have had to life we look forward to continuing to share resources back and forth as we each practice adaptive management in our work and as we learn from the work that is done at each of our sites thank you you madam chair that concludes public comments thank you mr moyo and thank you everyone who took the time to come speak with us and uh and enlighten us in many ways and we are now going to be moving on to agenda item a ec 370 and counselor borrego we'll move to you for this thank you counselor madam chair um i would like to make a motion that we accept dennis f odmiho for the position of the planning commission um and i'd like to tell you a little bit about him once i get a second counseling councillor borrego may i say something before we we since this is uh slowed down a little bit let's make it clear to the public that this is we're discussing ec 370 which is the mayor's appointment of mr dennis f marmijo senior to the environmental planning commission i will second that motion your motion council borrego thank you councillor jones um i'd like to tell you a little bit about mr armijo um mr armijo is an accomplished attorney from district five he is he has significant experience in patents and he practiced law in the city of albuquerque he graduated from the university of new mexico law school and he was also an adjunct professor at the university so he also has worked extensively with sandia national laboratories in the engineering science uh fields of telemetry and and pointing systems for sounding rocket programs um i'm really honored to have found this individual in my district and i'm happy to support him to serve on the commission and i believe uh councillor jones and councillors that are madam chair that he is also with us and he's he's prepared to speak if you if you'd like thank you councillor borrego are there any questions for council or staff or administration for council break or the staff or administration councilor benton yes i'd like to hear from uh from mr armijo and and his interest in the position i don't see him hello my name is dennis army ho you have some questions for me i just wanna i just wanted to hear uh you know your uh you know what what made you interested in the planning commission specifically and um and also if you've been made aware of the time commence commitments they're involved with it uh i'll answer your second question first yes uh i do uh know the time commitments and uh i'm pretty much aware of it and i'm ready to go ahead and proceed uh the reason i'm doing this is i practiced law for in fact this is my 40th year and uh i just retired i like giving back to the community i previously was a board member for petroglyph little league in fact we started petroglyphs little league here many many years ago so this is not you know i've been trying to do something for the community and with my experience and my education i felt this was a pretty good fit you know i am not well versed in zoning and planning or any of that kind of stuff right now but i understand that there's a lot of courses that i could take through the city to catch me up but i'm willing and able to participate all right thank you thank you sir uh counselor gibson do you have a question yes ma'am thank you madam chair uh so mr armijo um so thank you thank you for um volunteering for raising your hand and standing up for this this is probably my guess is this would be one of two of the toughest committees to be on volunteer committees that we that the city has the other one that comes to mind is the police oversight board um which takes a lot of a lot of arrows over there um and so this is real really really heavy land use things and you know we typically we had you know i was so naive when i came on council i thought environmental protection oh well that must be there must be a lot of environmentalists on there no not not so much they're you know people who are uh you know looking at at um the regulations that the city has in place and other other regulations i'm sure too and and uh looks at prospective uh uh projects and and they do other things too i'm sure of i've never even been to him i've been to one meeting i take that back so uh but you know what what what i think might help is that you are an attorney you know even if you even if you haven't done land use in the in the past that you know actually might be in your favor um so uh i you know i wish you well uh and and i i i think that you know the the fact that you said that you're uh you know what i'm paraphrasing i don't remember exactly where something about you know would work hard at it and and can learn things so i think that will also go to your favor but i i i appreciate you and i admire the fact that you are willing to take this on because this this is not a this isn't a small thing at all it's rather big thank you thank you thank you councillor gibson any other questions or comments if not i will say just a little bit i i think sir that this is a very daunting committee it is very detailed and has to do with a great deal of the planning development and the future of the city so are you prepared to put in the multitude of hours that it takes to work with this one i've been told sometimes they're sequestered for two or three days at a time you work on things especially when we're updating um different especially the ido things like that is is that something that will work within your lifestyle at this point yes it certainly will thank you any other questions or comments counselors counselor madam chair thank you um i i was uh one of the things that struck me when i was reviewing mr armijo's um background was he has a strong background of working with clients ranging from startup companies to established high-tech companies and you know with many of the uh recent uh lita projects and uh projects that we've worked on with the state i think that you know his background is very well suited so i just urge your support counselors thank you madam chair any other comments with that oh yes counselor benton yeah just to be clear i i i i neglected to read this last part of the staff uh right up that wasn't aware that it would that the membership was written this way but it is reid says at least according to the staff write up one resident per city council district with experience in community planning architecture landscape architecture urban design real estate development transportation civil engineering and or real estate finance and i think that's sounds like a pretty limited list could i ask staff is that is that the way the enabling legislation reads where is that paraphrase madam adam chair counselor benton i'm pretty sure that that text is taken directly from the ido but i was going to take a moment to pull that up to confirm okay um yeah i mean again i i i wasn't aware of that language but that's very specific language if you'll bear with us we'll make uh is there anyone else i'd like to make a comment before michelle comes up with her information for us i would um i must say yes counselor gibson um madame chair i just noticed that catalina lairs uh hand went up and i would like to hear from her please ah there we go thank you so much counselor gibson counselor gibson that is very unusual this is a committee meeting and we we've already taken public comments so sorry catalina oh your city staff excuse me i don't know everybody anymore go ahead catalina so sorry thank you very much no worries councillor jones my name is catalina lainer i am senior planner for current planning staffing apc since 2005. i also served as a director's designee for wireless matters since 2006. thank you um so yes i i believe that the language in the ideo is written as such however i believe that as long as the person has the appropriate type of experience to serve on a land use and planning board that that is indeed what is intended and is looking for and in the past there have been attorneys who have served on the apc and it's actually preferable i i believe because of the amount of regulations that we look at applying to each of the cases madam chair may i follow up with a question please you certainly may counsel gibson thank you so much leonard um did those previous um members of epc who were attorneys did they have other background or education in any of those disciplines that were just right off associated with epc counselors and counselor gibson one was a former federal attorney and i believe his service on epc was very effective and informative the other also had some experience in land development okay so the the federal attorney may or may not have any background in uh land use planning zoning development is that correct counselor gibson members of the committee that is correct however i i believe his service was effective because and we do look at a number of regulations that have to be applied and of course there are matters of policy and being specifically well versed in land use planning and zoning and application of policies and regulations is often a lot of it it's important to have related experience but there's not that many people that have exact experience it's more something that's learned on the job i mean i think if the provision was written very specifically it would you know be looking at finding retired urban planners perhaps but i think it's very important to uh kind of broaden that and just have experience that is related because a lot of it is learned on the job actually and we do typically offer trainings to the epc and new members to kind of onboard them and that's something that would be possible in the future madam chair yes ma'am did you mention engineers in that list also engineering and architecture and planning is that what you said earlier madam chair counselor borrego yes again the list reads as experience in community planning architecture landscape architecture urban design real estate development transportation civil engineering and or real estate finance i would just i would just offer that this gentleman has a bachelor's degree in science in engineering so um i'm not really sure what maybe we need to look at uh in the future because i don't think that we're trying to be you know we're trying to exclude attorneys but i you know i think this candidate is very well qualified and um apparently the mayor agrees with me so i would like to just make that my closing remark um thank you for that but i believe clarissa counselor pena has her hand up and would like to uh say something before you close uh counselor pena thank you madam chair actually i just want to say that you know i'd be more than happy to support mr micho as part of the epc um i served on the epc for a short time a long time ago and it's a very interesting uh process and it really i think you have probably a ton more experience of what i did when when i served on the board so i'd like to welcome you i think that we need a more diverse board on the epc i from what it appears that there are no other women on on this board and this would um looks like there's only one other person of color so i would i would look forward to the increased diversity as well so thank you thank you uh councilor payne here any other comments ms montoya we need to vote mrs montoya would you please call the roll counselor benton yes councillor bordego yes counselor gibson yes counselor pena yes and counselor jones yes and that passes on a 5-0 vote thank you congratulations sir thank you you're going to have one more you only have full council to go to now okay thank you thank you sir let's move on to agenda item b ec 370 this is the 2021 albuquerque climate action plan and i move receipt be noted second there's a motion in a second counselors any questions for staff for the administration seeing no questions do staff would the administration like to make a presentation ability office who was in charge of developing the climate action plan i see she's turned on her camera she might have a few words to say about this plan thank you miss shells miss raider do you have something to say or would you like to sit there and just have us ask you questions what's your will tonight good afternoon councillor jones and counselor thank you so much for having me uh we previously had uh myself uh director ryan mass and several members of the climate action task force present to you all uh just about a month ago on the may 17th meeting um however you know if you would like to have some additional points i'm certainly happy to make those but um otherwise happy to just take questions considering that we have previously spoken with you about it recently thank you counselors any questions counselor benton you know just no question what just wanted to thank ms raider and everyone who worked on this and and uh everyone who participated in the process it was as interesting i sponsored the the original bill to take another look at our old climate acting plan from the good old days of uh 12 years ago and um so it was really nice to see it evolve and i just want to thank everyone who was part of that and ms rader of course has done a great job as our sustainability manager so hats off to her thank you councillor benton any other comments in that case i believe miss miss montoya if you would take the role please counselor fenton yes councillor bordego yes councillor gibson yes counselor pena yes and counselor jones yes that passes on a 5-0 vote thank you and congratulations to the climate act to the mayor okay we're going on to see councillor benton this is uh r171 concerning the future management of candelaria nature preserve councillor benton thank you madam chair um yeah i'll move a do pass on r21 171 this is the uh management of the candelaria nature preserve and the approval of the resource manager management plan for that nature preserve i will second that thank you thank you sir and i think we have uh colleen mcroberts here from uh our open space superintendent and of course we heard from quite a few people who either served on the technical advisory group this another uh well this is something i had something to do with at the beginning of putting forth the technical advisory group and um kind of setting this plan in motion and it's been a lot of work over five years i want to thank that group including some people who spoke chair brian hansen i believe ms norton was a member of it michael jensen david parsons and carolyn siegel i don't know if i missed anybody if i did i apologize but um they really put in a tremendous amount of work on this as did the of course uh open space and parks chat staff and consultants um and and i like to hear from ms uh mcroberts but um and then the the open space advisory board who gave it due consideration as they mentioned as their representatives mentioned and would like to stay involved of course and we would hope that they would stay involved in observing how progress moves along but i'll turn it over to colleen mcroberts if she would like to speak and give a presentation good evening miss mcroberts welcome thank you madam chair and counselors i'm thrilled to be before you all today and present this plan because it has been a long time in the making um if it is okay with you all i'm gonna go ahead and share my screen and do a a presentation i will try to make it as succinct and short as possible um i also didn't know if shanna schultz wanted to introduce anything as well so i'll just put that out there madam chair counselor benson i i suspect that um miss mcroberts will be covering a lot of what i would have opened up with um i'll just say that this effort came out of a resolution passed in 2016 by the council to relook at how the property was being managed um it was potentially not being managed in compliance with some of the funding that was originally received to acquire the property so this long planning effort began um the most recent iteration of the plan before you tonight was recommended for approval by both the open space advisory board and then later on the environmental planning commission who had two hearings on the matter and recommended approval in january of this year i will leave it to ms mcroberts to get into the technical aspects of the plan and tell you more about what the plan itself does thank you michelle's ms mcroberts are you ready i am thank you one moment here okay and i will try to make this uh short uh so just to orientate you and and to i'll let you know that we i've identified four distinct areas within the candelaria nature preserve the area that you all are probably the most familiar with is the rio grande nature center identified here including on this little south tract but we also have about a hundred acres of farmland which includes part of a wetlands we have about seven acres known as the tree nursery track that's right off of rio grande boulevard and has been managed by park management for about four decades now and then we have the south tract as well uh that is fenced off so most people don't go here but there is a discovery pond uh that's managed by the uh nature center and kids go there to learn all about um wetlands so as meat mentioned and so i won't belabor this but um we purchased this property the city did in 1978 and part of the funding what did come from land and water conservation funds which you know has stipulations in perpetuity about how the property will be managed we had managed that property for four decades thinking we were in compliance but upon further investigation from the state liaison officer at the time she identified that there were some areas that we needed to look at and that we weren't in compliance and that kicked off um the effort to develop the resource management plan that was mandated through the two resolutions that you see there the resolutions also stated somewhat bit of an unusual planning process that's not very typical which is that the open space advisory board would lead the planning process rather than city staff and they would convene a technical advisory group who would then work with staff and we also hired consultants at some point just to move the planning process along the resource management plan does address the two major issues of compliance which is uh providing outdoor recreation as well as looking at our farming practices so we are going to completely revamp that as well and i will tell you about that but before i do i just want to emphasize what an extensive planning process this was so a number of people have said five years 49 meetings and it's true this was very extensive so it started in 2017 and it went all the way to 2020. uh people were meeting weekly monthly if not weekly at sometimes and there were additional stakeholder meetings there were discovery hikes on the property that were open to the public we had three major public meetings um and then in addition to that we had surveys we had a whole website that was developed for this process so that we could keep things posted on there and it still is actively used and then it was eventually voted on by the technical advisory group to approve the plan and it went to the open space advisory board where they unanimously voted to approve the plan and just recently it went to epc who after a couple of meetings and some revisions uh voted to recommend a plan the plan be approved by you all and so here we are so what is all the fuss about well it is pretty exciting a really a bold new vision has been conceptualized for this property where uh what people want to do what is outlined is how to transition all that farmland into this dynamic patch mosaic of wildlife habitat really optimizing the uh amount of wildlife and the diversity that we're able to support on this property which of course is really important because we've had diminishing wildlife uh for a long time through the bosque as we've you know channelized the river we've drained wetlands and all sorts of things over the years so this habitat the diversity of habitat is super critical and land managers are always talking about how to create this dynamic patch mosaic of habitat that includes things like grasslands and shrub lands and various different types of you know bosque type vegetation more wetlands so um this is uh all this is online i'll just mention again but this is kind of a look at how things were last year where most of the property was being managed for alfalfa and and wildlife crops that alfalfa was sold by a contract farmer who then was able to help us offset the cost for managing the property and then grow the wildlife crops the transition that we're going to be moving towards is no longer growing alfalfa commercially or for cell you know to help do that offset rather we are going to be uh continuing to do wildlife cropping in this transition phase for but specific just for wildlife and then other fields we're going to continue to transition into more native habitat and that includes a very long laundry list within the resource management plan of the specific types of plants we're going to try to cultivate there and we're also going to be increasing our wetlands significantly to 20 acres which is really exciting um eventually we hope in the 20-year plan to get to a point where we actually are not doing any wildlife cropping but the entire property has been converted to native habitat of a variety of different sources so the specific goal for this plan is to manage the property for its dual purpose of a nature study area that serves wildlife and provide compatible public outdoor recreation opportunities that word compatible is important um this is a 20-year adaptive management plan which is also really critical because the environment is changing and we don't you know this is a huge task we're taking land that has been cultivated for years for farming and trying to transition that back to something more native is actually very difficult task and will take time and the adaptive management allows a strategy that takes into consideration unique environmental factors that we can't even begin to fathom right now and allow it allows us to tweak things so every four years we'll really review where we're at what successes we've made how we need to tweak things to meet that ultimate goal we also as in that resolution it states we'll be providing uh reports on an annual basis and presentations to the open space advisory board we're committed to continuing to work very closely with the friends group and habitat council and very importantly two really important partners sister sites by de oro and the whitfield conservation area who are doing similar things along the rio grande valley which is transitioning farmland to habitat so i'm so grateful we have these amazing partners the cost for doing this over the next 20 years is about 9 million dollars the hope would be to get the majority of that money initially so that we can really ramp up what we're trying to do here and meet this goal sooner than later um and the budget does break down uh what we're looking at both through capital and maintenance management expenses and staffing the other big part of this plan of course is recreation per that lwcf requirement um so there were two alternatives that were provided to the public through the planning process which was a more increased or limited access access limited access won the day and was voted on by the technical advisory group and um so that means we're not opening the gates there and allowing people to you know saunter in whenever they want rather uh we will only be doing guided tours we'll be involving uh the citizens all right people through citizen science and uh restoration projects and we will need a lot of people to support us in doing both of those things um and we're also doing wildlife blinds around the perimeter of the property so that people can have a limited but still an immersive experience so these blinds how they're being designed right now is entering more a little bit into the the property um and it's it's pretty exciting so we've been going through that planning process recently this is kind of a drawing um that shows what that is so these little purple uh binoculars are showing where public access already exists uh we did that for lwcf uh to show them that you know this is what's already existing so there is a blind here for example at the rio grande nature center and while this is not a blind it's a popular viewing area along the duranus lateral that is on the east side of the property um so these little yellow markers and this is doesn't really dictate exactly where these might be but is showing that we are you know part of this planning process identified that we wanted uh these various oh i just thought lost my mouse there these various viewing blinds along the perimeter uh again we have been doing the planning process and we're now in design for the blinds that will be on the west and east side um we're going to continue to revisit the one on veranda because there were still a lot of questions about that one and then we'll be doing uh the red trail shows you where we're formalizing a trail um and then we're also doing a viewing platform here and then we have identified the tree nursery tract to be an area where people can park and walk to access the viewing blinds as well as the property for guided tours rather than having people come and park directly into the preserve and that was done to really limit the um the effects of people too many cars and people in the preserve and that impact to wildlife this is though we do know there were still lots of things that we needed to consider with the tree nursery track planning so we will engage in that planning process once the resource management plan is approved and already have somebody on contract to do that we have a wonderful website again that has all of these things it has the wildlife blinds uh you can view the the public meetings and the conceptual plans there we've been able to complete a wetland conceptual design um that is also there available and um a whole bunch of other stuff that's listed here so uh we will continue to maintain that website so that we can present the information from the past the current and the future to the public and continue to really just you know involve them and let them know what we're doing the progress that we're making we are really um you know we hope that you will approve this plan and um just as it had as it is presented to you all knowing that it has had extensive public input and that there were revisions addressing a number of the concerns that were expressed during the epc hearings and the current plan uh represents those the open space division is committed to working with the community and partners to realize this plan and the bold vision that has been set forth in the resource management plan so thank you for your time i stand for questions and again i appreciate this opportunity thank you very much i appreciate it counselors are there any questions counselor counselor borrego and then counselor gibson um thank you colleen for that detail of your plan um my question is related to um asekias in this area are there i didn't see um i didn't hear any mention of the sec is and i know that it's really an important element of the valley i used to live in this area by the way so i'm very familiar with this area i used to walk i used to bike and so i'm just wondering um was there input from is there in a secular association was there input from them regarding the plan um how do we sort of balance that historical um you know sort of development of this area with the asekias and the uses that you're promoting as part of this plan madam jones councillor borrego thank you so much for that question um because yes i got a you know before i worked with the city i worked for the county for a long time and was fairly very much involved with the iseki association there as well as in the east mountains so i uh i definitely think that this is a very wonderful and unique part of albuquerque and our and how things are managed and uh has a great story to tell and so the duranus lateral is in between the candelaria north tract and the tree nursery tract and the viewing blind that we are developing there and we are coordinating that of course with mrgcd um will have interpretive signs within the viewing blind and one of the things that we have talked about recently is including information about the asekia and the amazing history specific to the duranas lateral um so we will definitely be doing that we have not been directly engaged with the asekiah association in that area so that is a really great comment and something that we will do as we you know continue to do the interpretive signage um we are working however with the budding candelaria friends group who um a number of them are very interested in docenting and interpretation and so we will be working closely with them as well in developing the interpretive signs and then an interpretive program that they can help us you know um you know they can help be the docents for and um counselor benton and i know this is in your district and uh colleen i would strongly encourage um having some uh contact with the asekia association and you know um as you develop that as you call it panel um that they be a a part of this uh and that that balance occur because candelaria yeah the whole history of candelaria is um very unique within itself and so i i mean if you go back and you look at the candle areas and the people who settled this area um you know there's there's a whole slew of um you know very very uh defined history um so i would strongly encourage that the other question that i have is with regard to um the rio grande itself and um you know a lot of the trees that are you know sort of going away because they're aging and how those some of those are being balanced to bring them back because i know that there is a group that works with the flood control agency that is working specifically to ensure that as our trees are aging and and kind of dying off that they're replenishing that sort of ecosystem which um you know so i would strongly encourage you to maybe uh reach out to jerry lovato and find out the name i can't think of the name right off the top of my head but i think it's really important to our our whole ecosystem for that area and not just that area but the entire rio grande so um with those comments i i'd like to see that in the final plan if possible yeah um madam chair counselor borrego if i may just go on a very short tangent and tie it to candelaria which is one of the exciting things about a project like candelaria is that we can do some real research so it's not just about the cottonwoods senescing aging out but it's also about the water table dropping and issues with climate change that are affecting the bosque and it will very well look different in the future so a place like whitfield and vito arrow and candelaria allow us to learn things and do some experiments in a more controlled environment and there's a lot of conversations going on right now about the different genotypes of cottonwoods and really honing in on which ones are more resilient and that we can plant in the bosque and really using science as a way to tackle this enormous problem that we have before us and so that's a potential that we have you know to help solve some of these difficult issues through this amazing project that we're presenting before you and one other thing that you i didn't hear you mention um was the water utility authority because i believe they have a reclamation center right close by and is that being considered as part of your dynamics in this area yes madam chair counselor brego we are uh working with the water authority on a number of projects within the bosque um who is more of a potential partner um from the standpoint of the wetlands in this area is the department of transportation our hope is you know that was a big ticket item to do you know do this resource management plan to materialize it we're looking at ways to offset those costs one of the ways would potentially be to work with the department of transportation to actually construct our 20 acre wetlands that's being proposed and that would be amazing so you know we hope to uh to see something like that happen in the near future and madame uh chair just one last comment um you know this is a very uh i mean the approach you're taking is is is very impressive but i think that there are some things that i would like to really see in the final plan because it's important that we balance not only um you know sort of the indigenous cultures that this area developed you know partly because and the future of the area so i i mean you have a tall task ahead of you thank you uh councillor gibbs or counselor borrego uh counselors are there any other questions counselor gibson do you have a question still no no but thank you i just let me just say that uh uh you know i think this this is great i know it's a long time coming and uh thank you for all the work you have put in it and i i'm very happy to support this so thank you very much thank you councilor gibson any other questions or comments uh councillor borrego would you like to close this or was that your clothes um counselor my bill sorry counselor benjamin sure thanks i i'll i'll make just a couple of statements and then and then close uh i did want to i forgot to thank um jeannie allen who spoke earlier and she's they're putting together this friends of the cnp group and i think they're going to really be a great overseer of this along with the open space board um and i believe judy kowalski was on it was colleen did i she's the person i think i forgot on the tag so uh and judy was very helpful because of her experience with the state parks and uh and and great knowledge of the land and water conservation fund um by the way i hear they're swimming in money so can we get some of that money anyway uh so that was one thing um the other is in response to mr ewing's public comment the neighbor uh and and concerns about the uh not just steve but but others who mentioned the uh the tree farm and uh i know for a fact that they are that parks uh and open space is working on cleaning up the treed farm but i think the most important thing to note is that that will have its own site plan development plan that will go to the planning commission so that will have a robust public process of its own of what that really looks like in the end so it's important to note that and um yeah i think other than that i think we're ready to to uh to move on i urge your support counselors that this get a recommendation of do pass and then i do want to move an immediate action after that man chair thank you councillor benton let's proceed with the vote uh for a do pass the motion made by councillor benton would you call the role please counselor benton yes councillor borrego yes councillor gibson councillor gibson counselor pena yes counselor jones yes counselor gibson that passes on a 4-0 vote thank you and counselor benton you have another motion yes man madam uh chair uh i moved a let me ask uh let me ask does this require five votes or does this require a unanimous vote madam chair committee it would require a unanimous vote it appears that councillor gibson would be categorized as excused at this point unless she comes back to the meeting up there she is and so it requires a unanimous vote of those sitting and voting and so she's back sorry i just stepped out of the room yes my vote is a yes okay thank you okay and then so i'll move in immediate action thank you i'll second that there's a motion and a second for immediate action is there any discussion let's call the role on that one councilor benton yes councillor i'm sorry i was muted yes councillor gibson yes counselor pena yes councillor jones yes and that passes on a five-zero vote thank you counselor councillor borrego madam chair um i would like to ask for reconsideration of um i believe it was 270 uh the planning commission i don't have the agenda right in front of me is that 270 370 370 thank you like to make a motion for immediate action um is that necessary or does it i mean let me check on this chris okay chris i'm sorry mr melinda's would you like to comment on that that's fine um so the the um confirmation of the committee's suggestion that the nominee be confirmed would be reported out on the 21st um however if council borrego would like to move immediate action with that she does not need to reconsider the motion so much as move that if that's an okay thing to do in your discretion madam chair i have no problem with that if the other counselors don't so counselor borrego would you like to make a motion i would thank you madam chair and thank you chris um i would like to make a motion for immediate action on r370 e370 e37 thank you there's a second on that from [Music] whom from counselor pena there's a motion in a second let's uh call the role council benton yes councillor bordego yes councilor gibson yes councillor pena yes councillor jones yes that passes on a 5-0 vote thank you counselors i believe that's the conclusion of our business this evening seeing no further business uh this meeting is adjourned thank you all