County Talks Vacating Roads

By John Severance

SOCORRO - County manager Delilah Walsh brought up the subject of vacating roads in Rio Grande Estates and Tierra Grande Estates Tuesday night at the County Commissioners meeting.
Not everybody was on board with it.
Longtime Veguita resident Tom Kimball vociferously pronounced his opposition.
“I have lived in Rio Grande Estates since 1992 and I can not believe the County Manager and County Attorney are telling me those roads go nowhere and the roads not exist.
These roads do exist and I will challenge you if you vacate any roads in that area.”
Walsh said there are several roads named in the original subdivision plats that don’t and never did actually exit on land. In order for the County to make changes in that area and ensure proper addressing and road signage, it maybe in order to vacate all roads of that subdivision that do not have homes.
“This would help us narrow our scope of work and responsibity for roads that actually exit and would help us tremendously with cleanup for a better E911 program.”
In a memo, Walsh wrote that if the commission was interested a committee would be appointed of three freeholders to review the plats and aerial photos from the assessor’s office in order to determine which roads are actually used in the subdivision.
“This committee would then make a recommendation to the commission on which roads to vacate. At that point, the County can review our road maintenance and street signage to determine where we could better serve our constituents.”
Walsh added, “If we want to get services out to constituents, let’s do it with what we know.”
Nance, though, said there are some legal ramifications if the county vacates the roads.
“If we give this away, we will never get it back,” Nance said.
There is some history to this issue.
The Rio Grande Estates subdivision was originally created in the early 1960s. The state’s new subdivision lands, which require the county to maintain dedicated roads once accepted in a subdivision, came into effect in thelate 1970s. If the Rio Grande Estates subdivision had been presented to the commission when those laws were in place, it would never have been accepted by the County and would have been illegal, Walsh said.
“This are has been a problem for the County for nearly 50 years and we should start working on resolutions for future development and road work,” Walsh said. “We can come up with solutions that are best for the County and overall public safety of the area.”
Roads superintendent Marty Greenwood backed the plan as well.
“We can’t even tell where the roads are at,” Greenwood said. “I strongly support what the county manager has presented. It would cost $20,000 to $30,000 per mile to develop those roads out there.”

County Talks Vacating Roads