Saturday, April 22, 2006

BF Council signs on to mobility plan

Jackie Schlotfeldt News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jschlotfeldt@news-bulletin.com

Bosque Farm Bosque Farms is still in the loop as far as the Valencia County Mobility Plan goes.

That was the message the Bosque Farms Village Council got Thursday as it approved the plan with revisions designed especially for their rural area.

Loretta Tollefson, special projects manager for the Mid-Region Council of Governments (MRCOG), explained what revisions were done specifically to the Village of Bosque Farms portion of the plan that addresses the long-term transportation needs of the county.

"We took your concerns to the steering committee and made some changes," Tollefson said.

One of the concerns was a proposed bus route that would travel through residential areas within the village. The other concern was a planned park-and-ride lot that was going to be located at the northern end of Bosque Farms Boulevard.

Tollefson said that the planned bus route and the park-and-ride lot were taken off the plan for the Bosque Farms area.

Councilor Dolly Wallace raised her concern that, once they were omitted from the plan, there would be no services available for those in the community who wanted or needed transportation.

Tollefson explained that service for those who want it could still be implemented, "just not big buses."

Questions regarding how a transportation service would work without a park-and-ride lot or buses was answered by Tollefson, who said "a service plan would have to be worked on this summer and possibly something along the lines of a bus stop could definitely be considered."

Wallace stressed that the village wants to preserve the rural life in the village but still have the availability. "Many people, including business people, are looking forward to it and, even though it's sort of the reverse of what we've been saying, we don't want to be left out in the cold," she said.

Tollefson assured the council that Bosque Farms will be in the conversation when the plan is implemented.

Councilor Bob Knowlton thanked Tollefson for representing their concerns and the council unanimously approved the mobility plan, with the changes.

In other news, Mayor Wayne Ake announced that the Village of Bosque Farms had been granted a three-year extension to meet the federal regulation regarding arsenic in drinking water.

"I want to thank Councilor Knowlton for his part in achieving this extension," Ake said. "He was instrumental in this, making trips to Albuquerque and Santa Fe and now we have two more years to work on it."

The new regulations state that water systems are allowed to contain only 10 parts per billion (ppb) of arsenic compared to the previous amount allowed of 50 ppb.

With the new regulations, more than 90 water systems across New Mexico fail to meet the current standard.

In other action, the council: