About 95 people packed into the library at Capshaw Middle School on Wednesday to hear about the proposed development of 20 acres around the Zia Road station for the Rail Runner Express commuter train.
There was some uproar about how prairie dogs would be affected, but residents of the area were armed mostly with questions pertaining to two aspects of the plan: parking and traffic.
“I have major concerns about the density of traffic,” local resident Jeff Campbell said. “There’s a very limited amount of space around Zia, and traffic is already backed up. ... This (the development) is insane. It’s like building a mall.”
The crowd sat through a series of quick slide-show presentations describing the development as a “village” for Santa Fe, where residential, housing and office buildings would combine around the train stop to improve the community.
Marilee Utter, a real estate adviser who specializes in transit-oriented developments, explained to the crowd that some households have begun spending more money on transportation than housing, and that transit-oriented developments improve communities by cutting down on that expense and encouraging bike riding or walking. She said such designs “create people places.”
A pair of designers discussed the project in glowing terms as well.
“This is a dream project for an architect or designer because it’s so progressive,” site designer Chris Gunning said.
Developers Merritt Brown and Marc Bertram of SF Brown Inc. then opened the floor to questions. Many mem- bers of the crowd wanted to know how the neighborhood could avoid becoming a parking lot.
The site projects to have 220,000 square feet of condominium-style residences, 300,000 square feet of office space and 70,000 square feet of retail establishments. Via the math of code requirements, all that space breaks down to a necessary total of 1,600 parking spaces, which will be provided for by aboveand below-ground garages and surface space.
As the plan stands now, 20 parking spots will be available for Rail Runner riders. That didn’t sit well with some audience members.
“Twenty parking spots means they’re going to be parking in our neighborhoods,” Campbell said.
Another member of the crowd, Mara Harris, said “I understand this is the first station in town. I don’t understand how this is not a parkand-ride.”
B er t ra m cont i nu a l ly stressed that the development’s primary intention is to get people out of their cars in the first place — walking, biking or riding some other means of public transportation to the Zia stop.
Brown said there would be an enforcement aspect to the parking plan.
“We’re going to have to do a good job policing parking,” Brown said. “You’ll need permits, and cars will get towed.”
The other major concern voiced Wednesday was traffic congestion.
“Traffic in this town is bad, and I won’t tell you we won’t add to it,” Brown said.
He said studies have shown the average delay in commutes due to area traffic is about 80 seconds — a statement that was met with a crowd-wide guffaw. Standard growth over three years — regardless of the addition of the Rail Runner or any developments — puts that delay at about 120 seconds in 2011.
“If we build, our added impact takes that delay to 160 seconds,” Brown said.
But, Bertram said, “the whole (transit-oriented development) concept is to get people out of their cars. Had these kinds of developments been done years ago, we wouldn’t have the problems we do today.”
Some of the attendees wanted to voice reservations over losing their views of the mountains. Two- and three-story buildings are another part of SF Brown’s plan.
“I spent a lot of money on my backyard, and I don’t want to look into someone’s dining room,” resident Tracy Crumbacher said.
Said another resident: “Construction for the Rail Runner is right in my backyard, and I can’t see the mountains. I don’t want three stories behind me. I just don’t want to see it.”
