May Meeting Minutes

6:30pm | Preservation Station | Bonnie Anderson presiding | Prepared by Secretary Howard Dobin

Officer Report

Brittany Martinez, a civilian employee of APD, gave the crime report for April 2024. There was very little crime activity. Brittany reported 1 residential burglary and 2 auto thefts. Based on the streets given for the auto theft locations, David Tanner believes that was at least one more auto theft since he is aware of a stolen car incident that occurred overnight on April 15th/16th. Ms. Martinez committed to reviewing the numbers and to see if there is more information available on the Central Avenue issue reported at the April meeting.

Jane’s Walk

Krista Smith reminded the assembled that our neighborhood will be participating in this year’s international Jane’s Walk event on Sunday May 5th. Bonnie and Krista will conduct the guided walks scheduled for 8:30 and 10:30AM. She thanked Ann, Cindy, Janet, Bonnie, Howard, David, Sadie, and any others that did a variety of work to make our inaugural participation possible. The Range Café has partnered with us. They will provide some refreshments, and the walks will kick off from their location. There has been very good publicity for the event thanks to Danny Korman of Downtown Albuquerque News and David Ryan among others.

26 people are scheduled for each of the two walks. Thanks to the Tanners, the walk and associated historical documents are available on our website, HHHDA.org. A microphone/speaker unit will be used to overcome the residual noise that is endemic to our neighborhood.

I-25 Curve Update

Many people attended a forum organized a stakeholder’s meeting by those involved with project planners. Representatives from the planners are scheduled to make a presentation at our June meeting.

At the stakeholders’ meeting they revealed that there were ten plans considered: a “no build”, one to the east of I-25 through APS property, and eight to the west potentially impacting Huning Highlands. This has been narrowed to three options, two west and the one east. The paths to the west represent real encroachment to us, and it may include not only a new path for I-25, but ramps and frontage roads from Lomas to Cesar Chavez to support the highway. One path will have the proposed roads butt up again to a house on Highland and Silver.

Moises feels they “sandbagged” the “no build” option by taking the term literally and not including necessary infrastructure improvements. He continues to believe that the best option is to repair the bridges and other infrastructure, and to implement other tools, such as speed strips, to slow traffic flow and improve safety.

The speed limit through Albuquerque was increased from a reasonable 50/mph to 65/mph by a past Governor’s executive order. Fiona reported that the project personnel showed no interest in increasing the enforcement of the speed limit as a means to increase safety in the curve. Carlos Michelen felt that these meetings are just “box checking” exercises for the curve team. Everyone was reminded that there is currently an on-line survey open to voice concerns over the project (i25scurve.com).

Carlos fears the impact of busy frontage roads and ramps on the safety of bicycle and pedestrian traffic. Currently it is 430 feet to cross I-25 at Central, which is more than a city block. Scott Stine committed to begin fact-finding on options to fight any decisions on the project of which we might not be in support. Bonnie asked those in attendance to consider exactly what our group’s consensus opinion on the project should be.

Neighborhood Development, 701 Coal SE

Santiago Aceves, a graduate of UNM and a local real estate agent, is seeking to replace a vacant building at 701 Coal SE with a rental apartment complex. He comes into possession of the property on July 1st. Incipient design proposals were distributed to illustrate the project. He is hopeful of attracting long-term tenants who work nearby, like hospital employees who might walk or bicycle to work. Santiago is interested in feedback on the project. He can be reached at santiagoaceves@gmail.com.

The project will not be financially sustainable with less than ten units, so ten to twelve units have been proposed. He plans to use building materials that match well with our historic neighborhood including a brick façade. The project will have a large setback to accommodate more landscaping, which will be pedestrian friendly and sustainable. To accommodate parking, the lowest level will be dedicated to parking to avoid increasing the demand for street parking in the area. For security, unit parking will have gated access. There were some concerns regarding the monotony of a long solid brick wall being not pedestrian friendly.

Santiago is still working on the exact number of units and unit size. The building will be 2 to 2.5 feet under the height of the neighboring warehouse. Units likely will average 1,000 sq. ft. and proposed rents range from $1600 for a 1 bedroom to $2200 for a 2 bedroom. He is attempting to purchase the easement between his land and the warehouse. If successful, this area will become a garden and will make the area more secure.

Once in possession of the property, Santiago will be applying for a variance (for the number of units exceeding six). There was consensus that the existing structure is not historic and warrants replacement.