Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Sun Ranch could triple Belen's size

Haley Wachdorf News-Bulletin Staff Writer; hwachdorf@news-bulletin.com

Belen The long stretch of empty land between Belen and Los Lunas could be filled with houses and businesses in the next few years, and the City of Belen could nearly triple in size, all thanks to the sale of a 6,000 acre tract of land.

Mayor Ronnie Torres has confirmed that Sun Ranch, an approximately 6,000-acre property that has been listed for sale by CB Richard Ellis for several years, was purchased in late 2004 by a development firm from California. Torres declined to name the company, but said this group has purchased and developed similar tracts of land in Arizona, California and Nevada and was interested in the Sun Ranch property because of its proximity to Albuquerque.

The property lines of Sun Ranch touch those of the planned Huning Ranch community, which was annexed into Los Lunas in the 1990s, and whose lines provide the southwest limits for the Village of Los Lunas. The Sun Ranch property is primarily on the west side of I-25 and stretches south to the northern Belen exit, ending where the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad train tracks intersect with Interstate 25. The only piece of the land included in the sale that is on the east side of I-25 sits near the CEMCO factory in Belen.

Torres said that Belen's water and utility lines are adjacent to the Belen end of the property, and the developers have approached the city about having Sun Ranch annexed into Belen so that the planned developments can connect to the city's lines. Although no formal agreement for annexation exists, Torres said the City of Belen is ready and willing to annex the Sun Ranch property gradually and hopes to be approached about the first phase of annexation within six months. In the meantime, the developers are purchasing the water rights to support their plans for the land.

"They're coming in in phases," he said. "As they come in, they have to come in with the proper amount of water rights, so it wouldn't deplete any of the water rights we have. Right now, we have the ability to handle quite a bit more growth, but as any development comes in, if it's going to affect our current sewer system or water system, we ask that they fix it or update it or expand it. They have to invest in it. The development has to do that themselves. All we do by annexing is that they have the right or privilege to use our system."

The City of Belen currently spans 3,400 acres. If all of the Sun Ranch property were annexed into Belen, it would nearly triple the city in land size, and the city limits of Belen would touch the village limits of Los Lunas.

Los Lunas Village Administrator Phillip Jaramillo said on Tuesday that he has not spoken to the developers of the Sun Ranch property and does not know if they have any plans to approach Los Lunas about annexing part of the land.

"They've haven't talked to us, so we don't really know what their plans are," he said. "We don't know if they want to be annexed into Belen or Los Lunas."

Torres said the developers are creating a master plan to demonstrate their ideas for the property, but so far they seem to be interested in developing residential areas, commercial areas and some industrial projects.

"When we talked to them originally, they had planned about 3,000 homes for the first phase, but that has since changed," he said. "They're going to have to redo their whole master plan and so no figures have really come our way as to how many, so it's hard to say. But all that will benefit the city immensely."

Development will not begin overnight, Torres said, but residents will notice some activity in the coming months. At the southern end of the property, the New Mexico Department of Transportation will begin updating the north Belen exit to allow motorists to drive to the north off the exit to an area that the development group hopes to turn into a residential community. Currently, the exit only allows motorists to drive south onto the 1-25 Bypass Road. Torres said if all goes well, groundbreaking for the housing development could take place within the next two years.

Phone calls to CB Richard Ellis, the firm that closed the land sale, were not returned on Tuesday.

Claudette Baca, executive director of the Greater Belen Economic Development Corporation, said that an increase in residents could be of tremendous help to Belen in attracting business chains to the area.

"People sometimes don't realize that certain businesses look for a population of 10,000 at a minimum before they consider coming to a community," she said. "With Belen at 7,100 now, adding more residents and more housing could make Belen much more attractive to businesses."

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