Planning new state building will require collaboration

Santa Fe is very fortunate to have the state Capitol in our town. But, having the seat of state government comes with the responsibility of ensuring our government has the proper buildings to function.

Our current legislative campus is bursting at the seams. The public needs bigger hearing rooms to participate in the legislative process and better parking to access the building. Legislative staff need more offices. Statewide elected officials like the treasurer and auditor need to be housed at the Capitol. Bottom line: We need more space.

The pending questions are: What will be built? Where will it be located? And, who will be at the table making these decisions?

The answer is contained in the 2009 law sponsored by then-Speaker of the House Ben Luján. It creates a process of consultation and collaboration between the state, the city and the local preservation community. The law allows for the appointment of a group of state, city and interested parties as the ultimate decision-makers, meaning neither the state nor the city has the final say.

The current law was modeled on the collaborative work done in the 1960s that resulted in the design of the current Capitol and the collaborative work done in 2007 and 2008 to design the parking structure across from the Capitol. During both of those projects, an architect representing the historic preservation community was involved in the design process.

It just so happens that the outside architect who redesigned the state Capitol in the 1960s was my grandfather, John Gaw Meem. He certainly understood the important role the historic preservation community plays in maintaining the unique character of our city.

In fact, he was part of the group of concerned citizens that founded the Old Santa Fe Association in 1926 to give the preservation community its voice, and he helped establish Santa Fe’s landmark historic ordinance in 1957. But he also

understood that the city’s historic preservation ordinance does not apply to state land.

Thus, the need for state officials and the historic preservation community to work together to be sure state buildings are compatible with Santa Fe’s historic fabric.

Speaker Luján’s law codifies that collaboration. I am confident that by following the process the speaker created, a solution can be found that works for the state and respects the unique character of our special city.

Peter Wirth is the majority leader in the New Mexico Senate. He is a past president of the board of the Historic Santa Fe Foundation.