August 18, 2008
Rio Rancho Journal
Drainage Plan Cleared for CNM
By Rosalie Rayburn, Journal Staff WriterA City Center drainage plan approved Friday will allow Central New Mexico Community College to move forward with its plan to begin construction of a Rio Rancho campus next spring.
The plan prepared for Southern Sandoval County Arroyo Flood Control Authority envisions three drainage dams to address the risk of storm-related flooding in the City Center area where CNM and the University of New Mexico plan to share a campus.
SSCAFCA will buy land for the first dam in the system. CNM won't need the dam for its first campus building, but the college has agreed to contribute to building the dam, or other equivalent drainage projects, as it expands its campus.
Representatives from SSCAFCA, the city of Rio Rancho, CNM and UNM have reviewed the plan. SSCAFCA's board approved the plan at its regular monthly meeting on Friday.
"Approving the plan gives CNM, SSCAFCA and the city a basis on which to proceed with all the remaining approvals," SSCAFCA's executive director David Stoliker told the Journal in a phone interview after the meeting.
The plan approved Friday includes a funding mechanism for just one of the dams, the Upper State Land Office dam, which will be on a 17-acre site that covers part of the northwest corner of the campus. The dam will drain water from the La Barrancas Arroyo watershed. SSCAFCA has agreed to purchase the land. CNM has agreed to provide 1.9 acres of the campus site for the dam.
CNM's director of physical plant, Luis Campos, told SSCAFCA's board that CNM hopes to begin construction on the 60,000-square-foot building in May. The building will be located in the southern part of the campus, which is outside the flood-prone area.
But the campus will eventually consist of five buildings, with a total of 200,000 square feet of space on a 40-acre site east of Rio Rancho's new City Hall.
When CNM expands construction into that area, it must agree to pay for the dam or commit to building other drainage infrastructure that comply with SSCAFCA's standards, Stoliker said.
SSCAFCA estimates the cost of purchasing land for the Upper SLO dam at $1.9 million. The authority intends to use money from a proposed bond issue for the purchase.
Ballots in the November general election will contain a question asking voters to approve SSCAFCA's $18 million bond issue to pay for drainage projects.
SSCAFCA's board also wants to make sure the City Center drainage system will also include provisions for open space and amenities such as pedestrian and bicycle trails, Stoliker said.
Funding details for the other two dams in the drainage system — the 160-acre Progress Dam northeast of the campus and the 400-acre Paseo del Volcan dam, southeast of the campus — were not part of the plan details approved on Friday.