Recap of December 8 Annual Meeting

Hi neighbors:

Thanks so much to the neighbors who attended our semi-annual community meeting last night. Terri and Michael Jerry provided delicious refreshments, we collected several board election ballots and dues checks, and welcomed some new faces. Below is a re-cap of info from our invited guests. I'll send a second notice with other ARPOA information, including financial details, dues collection, etc.

Our fire dept. speakers had to cancel at the last minute, but did share the following information:

* The hazardous fuels reduction project in the state land parcel in the center of the neighborhood will probably begin in April 2011; if you see the red FD truck up there, they are currently gathering data about the property. Wood suitable for firewood will be hauled to the edge of the road where residents WITH A FREE STATE LAND PERMIT will be able to collect it. Permits will be available to the neighbors closer to the actual clearing activity. Residents will not be permitted to go into the land parcel to collect wood, but the crew will be moving it to an accessible spot for us. Any questions, feel free to contact Greg Gallegos, 995-6527.

* Residents who put up locked gates this summer should contact Hondo Fire Dept. directly to order a specialized lockbox that will provide a key or code access to EMT/Fire personnel in the event there is an emergency on your property and you aren't home to open the gate. We're waiting on information from the fire dept and will pass that on to you as soon as we have it...

Additionally, we got a *lot* of information from our County Commissioner Kathy Holian on two issues of special import to Apache Ridge residents.

LOT SPLITS: The County is revising its regulations on lot splits. Currently, family lot splits have been allowed without regard to added stress on infrastructure. That is changing, due to excessive sprawl and random development under the radar that has created problems with water, roads and utilities. New regulations will require all property owners to include homeowners associations in the approval process and will require more stringent attention to infrastructure.

Relevance to us? There are several large undeveloped parcels scattered through our neighborhood. Any development on those properties, whether it's bobcatting a new access road or chipping off a small section to sell and/or put a house on, must go through the standard legal zoning and regulatory processes to ensure such development will not stress the water limitations or add to road deterioration. Ms. Holian stressed that if you see such development occurring without the large yellow placard announcing the permit, that is an illegal activity and you can report it directly to her, and she will follow up with the county. Considering approximately half the residents in the neighborhood  believe they are exempt from road maintenance responsibilities, it is likely that we can also expect future development that attempts to bypass these regulations, having a direct impact on YOUR water table and YOUR road.

NEW PRIVATE ROAD ACCEPTANCE RULES: Ms. Holian also advised us that these rules are changing in our favor (for once). A new policy for accepting private roads and undocumented subdivisions into the county's purview is currently in the works and should be completed early next year. The county is of the legal opinion that private roads that are poorly maintained present a safety hazard to EMT/Police/Fire personnel, and therefore should be adopted into the county and provided proper maintenance, which ideally would include at least 2 gradings a year plus SNOW REMOVAL. While there may be some burden on residents to upgrade a road before it is taken over by the county, the standard will be determined at a much lower level than we originally had been led to believe (ie, we though we would have to pave, and that apparently is not the case; in fact, most of Apache Ridge is probably perfectly acceptable as is, thanks to our diligence at maintenance; residents on the side roads may need to address their own needs if they want county attention).

Ms. Holian will keep us informed of the progress of this regulation and how Apache Ridge can take advantage of this opportunity. Again, considering that only about half the residents currently contribute to maintenance and snow removal expenses that benefit the whole neighborhood, and considering the huge amount of energy being expended by a few hardy souls to make sure this happens on a regular basis, again for the benefit of the whole neighborhood, the board is inclined to work closely with Ms. Holian and the County Commission to make this a reality in the coming year. Stay tuned for details as they become available.

Please note: Ms. Holian did say that the county does reserve the right to make this decision without the approval of the residents if they deem the necessity of safety to emergency personnel to be strong enough. Considering that the fire dept considers Apache Ridge an "extreme hazard" in terms of potential fire emergency, it's entirely possible that they will lean on the county to amend our road status regardless of resident's input.

*One last item from Ms Holian: she has applied an organic road stabilizing material used extensively on Canadian mine access roads on her own driveway on Glorieta Mesa, in an experiment to find a cheaper and better alternative to base course. The material is made with lignans, which are tree fibers, and which, when mixed with road material, create a forgiving surface that is hard enough to withstand heavy traffic but does not create dust, washboarding or potholes. It creates a hard surface that is 4 inches deep but is not slick, making it ideal for driving in bad weather as well. Depending on how well the material performs for her in the next year or so, it's possible that Santa Fe County may investigate further and eventually adopt this material as an alternative to basecourse for the entire county. It's half the cost of basecourse with minimal maintenance later, and one-tenth the cost of paving, according to her. We are looking forward to hearing more in the future about whether our road and others in the county will be able to take advantage of this technology as well. (note; this is not the "enzyme" material some people have tried in the past, nor is it a chipseal product).

More details to come later...



Candelora Versace
Apache Ridge Property Owners Association
ARPOAboard@gmail.com
www.arpoa.blogspot.com
2010 Board: Candelora Versace, Kristin Ryan, Gustav Kocsis and Terri Jerry.