The area identified on the Rancho Viejo (SunCor) plat as
“Unit 1 College Heights” was approved for development in late 1999. Over the next few years twenty single-family
residences were constructed on what became “Deans Court”.
Then in
April 2013 Univest-Rancho Viejo proposed two additional development areas on
the Rancho Viejo property: (1) 12 commercial lots (80+ acres) on the Northwest
corner of Richards Avenue and Avenida del Sur (to be called College Park) and
(2) 428 apartments in College Heights across from Santa Fe Community. At the same time the County of Santa Fe was
proposing the construction of what it labeled the “Southeast Connector
Road”.
A number of
HOA members calling themselves “Rancho Viejo Residents for Smart Development”
mobilized to oppose the U-RV apartment plans – and at one of the early meetings
of the group (as reported in April 2013 Rancho
Viejo Roundup) Univest-Rancho
Viejo Principal and Developer Warren Thompson “explained his position and how
the development company had donated land for several schools and colleges in
the Rancho Viejo area as well as land for open space to the point where there
are around 500 acres left to provide profits for the company to continue to
operate. He suggested that working in a collaborative way to try to meet the
concerns of residents while still achieving the developers business goals would
be a ‘win-win’ situation for all.”
On July 30,
2013 a meeting to discuss the Rancho Viejo Community Process was convened at
the IAIA Auditorium – the purpose of which was “To
learn about a proposed process that can be used whenever an issue emerges that
is likely to impact Rancho Viejo and the people who live and work there.”
The “Meeting Report” published by “The Community Store” summarizes
the meetings outcomes as:
“Carl Moore, the meeting facilitator, presented the
Rancho Viejo history and the proposed process.
Rancho Viejo residents had many suggestions, and a few stood out as
necessary action items:
·
Univest-Rancho
Viejo (URV) will need to further discuss the issue of how this process will be
initiated, particularly if residents identify an issue that they believe should
use this process. Warren Thompson has
stated that any master plan amendment initiated by URV, which will require
public hearings at Santa Fe County as a part of the approval, will go through
this process.
·
A meeting
participant identified the need for public participation to determine design
standards for commercial areas. This
should be highlighted as a possible use for this process.
·
Residents had
strong concerns about the proposed apartments, which cannot be brought into
this process by URV, and requested information about other projects that could
be taken out of this process.
·
During the
meeting, Carl stated that the report would include a statement that the design
team worked on that stated what people appreciate about Rancho Viejo. The statement is:
“There
are many reasons people like living in Rancho Viejo.
·
The LOCATION.
It is suburban with open space yet close to downtown.
·
It is a MIDDLE-CLASS NEIGHBORHOOD with paved roads
and city water. All homeowners want to
protect the value of their property and Rancho Viejo is a good investment.
·
There is a sense of COMMUNITY. It is not just houses. There are trails and open space and a mix of
institutional uses. If you live in
Rancho Viejo you live in neighborhood clusters but are close to the Community
College, churches and schools.
In order to protect their investment in community
living, residents want to be sure that there is a thoughtful, collaborative
process for making decisions.
“The next step will be to test this process on an
upcoming land use issue, yet to be identified. “
Evidently Thompson’s aforementioned
plea to collaborate did not carry the day.
And the Community Process did not smooth out relations between the HOAs
and Univest-Rancho Viejo relative to the proposed multi-tenant residences.
A May 6,
2014 posting by glens@ufl.edu on rvscommunityblog.wordpress.com
opines. “It is axiomatic that many things are conceived and initially created
well only to be subsequently degraded and even destroyed by their creators.
That axiom may now be underway with Univest in Rancho Viejo (RV). Over the past
four months, this [apartment] project has gone from 400+ units to 214, from a
57 acre parcel of land within Rancho Viejo (RV) to 22 acres outside RV via
de-annexation by Warren Thompson, from a Master Plan Amendment (MPA) to a new
Master Plan (MP) replacing the original College North Master Plan (CNMP), and
from planned single-family to piecemeal apartment development. We will have to
wait until about 8 May, when the Agenda would be posted, to learn the next
scheme by disingenuous Warren Thompson.”
Then at the
May 15, 2014 meeting of the Santa Fe County Development Review Committee (CDRC)
to approve to seek “Master Plan approval in conformance with the Community
College District Ordinance to allow a multi-family community consisting of 214
residential units on 22 + or – acres”, Randy Crutcher, spoke against the
College Heights Apartments on behalf of other Rancho Viejo home owners.
Crutcher stated
that the number of planned apartments had decreased from now 440 to around 200
– and that Warren Thompson was no longer the developer having “de-annexed” the
parcel of land on which they are to be built and selling it to “an Arizona
company which has no knowledge of the promises and commitments made to adjacent
homeowners via the covenants that run with the land.” He
also accused Warren Thomposn of trying to “’pull a fast one’ and void all the
promises and history on this property.”
Evelyn
Spiker, another Rancho Viejo homeowner, mentioned that the de-annexation states
“the property is no longer subject to any covenants and restrictions.” She also referenced the “hundred of
signatures in opposition to this proposal.”
Civil
Engineer Jennifer Jenkins spoke for the developer and “stressed that
multi-family housing is a necessary part of the housing spectrum…[and this
development] provides housing options to make Santa Fe County economically
viable.”
A motion to
deny approval of the development proposal was passed 5 for and 1 against. However the CDRC is an advisory panel only so
the actual approval decision fell on the Board of County Commissioners who met
on July 8, 2014 in the chamber at the county administration building, Palace
and Grant Aves. At that meeting the
commissioners went into executive session after which they postponed the vote
on the College Heights Apartments until the September 2014 meeting. The Apartment Complex Proposal was approved
at the September meeting.
The
apartments were still in the proposal phase as of November 2015. A paper prepared for Santa Fe County’s “NE
and SE Connector Alignment and Corridor Study” by OCCAM|EC Consulting Engineers
reported,
“directly east of College Heights on the
north side of SFCC, Univest Rancho-Viejo LLC (Univest) has proposed a luxury
apartment complex with resort-style amenities and open space. Univest’s development
objectives were discussed in newsletters serving the Rancho Viejo community...Univest
has future plans for additional development to the east of this proposed luxury
apartment complex. This area is shown in the newsletters as well as in the
Context Map in the attachments to the College District Plan…Concerning business
development, College Park is an area designated as an Employment Zone within
the College District Plan. Businesses within College Park include Bicycle
Technologies International (BTI). BTI recently opened in the summer of 2013)…
It also includes commercial lots that Univest intends to use for future
business development.
“Open space areas within future
development areas east of College Heights, including Univest’s proposed luxury
apartment complex, have not yet been formally designated as open space. When
Phase II or more of College Heights applications are submitted, Santa Fe
County’s Planning Division would be aware of any possible transportation
corridors including the NE and SE Connector and would request that they be
added to the plat notes.”
Sources:
picture_july_30_2013_rancho_viejo_meeting_report_77296
NE and SE Connectors Alignment and Corridor Study Phase A/B
Initial and Detailed Evaluation of Alternatives, Prepared for Santa Fe County by:
OCCAM|EC Consulting Engineers in association with, November 12, 2015
