Vision plan to get city staff input

City staff would begin reviewing the Downtown Vision Plan and talking about how to implement at least some of its components under a resolution approved Monday night by the city Public Works Committee.

The plan was written by a consultant with the approval of a citizen-driven steering committee. Among its goals — arrived at after about 40 public meetings — are limiting the type and intensity of new uses and construction in the downtown area than would be allowed under the current code, according to a memo that summarized the plan for city councilors. It includes a parking strategy to promote downtown businesses as well as reducing traffic in the downtown core.

Public opposition to some of the elements of the plan have surfaced in the months since it was introduced this spring, and several people again criticized the plan during Monday’s hearing as a vision for development with little consideration for historic preservation.

Resident Ann Lacy said she was concerned that the plan had been hastily created and didn’t use valuable information from ongoing community efforts. For example, she said plans to build a “promenade” along the Santa Fe River were crafted without hearing from the city’s river coordinator.

“In a 400-year-old city, suddenly we have to hurry, hurry, hurry to make a plan in concrete?” she said.

Karen Walker, who heads the city’s Planning and Policy Commission, said she didn’t like the part of the plan that would consolidate various downtown subdistricts — each with development limits — into just three areas. “If we meld them into three subdistricts with homogenous rules, the downtown will lose its character,” she said.

But city councilors who appropriated nearly a quarter-million dollars for the plan and many who served on the steering committee say its time to move forward.

“The intent of this was .. how can we get away from the status quo and fulfill people’s desires to be a part of downtown?,” said Councilor Carmichael Dominguez, one of the co-sponsors of the resolution that would put city staff to work on the plan. “It would be a shame to shelve the vision.”

Councilor Rebecca Wurzburger said the staff review of the plan will move through the city committee process and have additional public hearings. The resolution to renew work on the plan will move on to the Finance Committee before heading to the City Council, said Kathy McCormick, director of the city Housing and Community Services Department.

To see the details of the Downtown Vision Plan, visit www.santafenm.gov, under “Hot Topics.”

Contact Julie Ann Grimm at 986-3017 or jgrimm@sfnewmexican.com.