Flying J opponents say facilitation meeting flawed

Some point out code was not followed

A community group opposing a proposed Pilot Flying J truck stop says county-appointed facilitators did not follow code when they failed to ask opposition groups to give a presentation at a Wednesday night “facilitation hearing.”

The hearing at Santa Fe Community College instead allowed residents from Rancho Viejo and other neighborhoods near the truck stop site — including many organized as the Santa Fe Gateway Alliance — two-minute speaking slots to make comments and suggestions.

The comment period followed a presentation outlining a conceptual plan from James W. Siebert and Associates, the local firm working with Flying J on a 10-acre travel center at the Interstate 25/Cerrillos Road interchange.

Under the county’s Sustainable Land Development Code, the county can refer a development application to the facilitation process if deemed controversial. The third-party facilitators then create a report outlining areas of concern or agreement. No agreement over the controversial travel center emerged Wednesday.

Kathy Bilton, a Rancho Viejo resident and Gateway Alliance member, told facilitators Rosemary Romero and Bruce Poster that the code states that facilitation meetings are to include project information from the applicant followed by “a presentation (if any) of residents or homeowners associations, followed by a discussion among the participants.”

Bilton said she emailed Romero Dec. 1 following the release of the meeting’s agenda asking whether any resident groups were asked to make presentations alongside Siebert, to which she received no response. Both facilitators said Romero didn’t receive Bilton’s message.

“I find it really egregious as facilitators you did not read the code, you didn’t talk to the county to include a presentation from opposition groups,” said Donna Ruscavage, a Rancho Viejo resident. “The county knows about the Santa Fe Gateway alliance and I feel this is really unfair.”

The facilitators then agreed the Gateway Alliance could submit a written statement to be added to their record. The alliance has created a petition it says has been signed by 1,750 people opposing the Flying J.

The facilitators noted that Wednesday night’s gathering was the first countysponsored facilitation meeting. The development code was updated in 2016. “We’re going to learn and the county will learn from how things go down tonight, and I’m sure things will be better the next time,” said Poster.

The rest of the meeting addressed the residents’ main concerns about the truck, including light, air and noise pollution, impact to the Turquoise Trail National Scenic Byway along N.M. 14 south of the truck stop and potential accidents at what was called an already-dangerous interchange. Of the nearly 30 speakers, only one supported the development, which also drew crowds of opponents at public meetings over the summer.

Once completed, the facilitators’ report will follow the Flying J application through its meetings before a county hearing officer, the Planning Commission and the County Commission.