New ski valley fire station to be finished next year
Taos Ski Valley, Inc. is building two new structures behind 7 Firehouse Road, the building that houses most of the Village of Taos Ski Valley offices and the municipality’s current fire station.
One of the new TSV buildings will serve as the new home for Mogul Medical, the ski valley’s health clinic. Nearly butting up against the existing village firehouse, the second building has 6,000 square feet of space designed to house a new village fire station, as well as copious office space for the ski corporation. There’s been discussion of providing space for the village post office in the building as well.
At the ski corporation’s request, in September the village gave a substantial discount on $312,055 in development impact fees due on the projects, reducing the amount owed to $199,520.
Part-time village resident Francie Parker protested the discount at the time, casting aside explanations by Chaz Rockey, director of operations for Taos Ski Valley, Inc. and director of business development for Belvedere Property Management, that the village’s recentlyenacted new development impact fees ordinance wasn’t “intended for fees to get charged on basements and storage in mechanical rooms — whether that’s us or a resident.”
“It should be across the board, whatever is charged,” Parker said, arguing that the village needs all the revenue it can bring in. “When you’re giving them huge discounts, why aren’t you giving everyone else who’s building huge discounts? We don’t have a lot of money, and we’re constantly playing catch up on trying to get all the facilities needed.”
Additionally, since the village has already signaled its intent to purchase the 6,000 square-foot bottom-floor firehouse, it agreed to hold in escrow $140,000 in development impact fees paid by TSV, Inc. on that particular space. Councilor Henry Caldwell emphasized during the council’s Oct. 25 meeting that the “intent to purchase” is subject to the village identifying a funding source that doesn’t incur debt, adding, “that would take loans out of the question.”
At the meeting, Rockey, who is also a founding member of the Village of Taos Ski Valley Tax Increment Development District board of directors, asked that the $140,000 be returned to TSV, Inc. “It does give us a little concern when we hear things like, you know, ‘If the village takes the space.’ We have a project participation agreement that the village has executed,” Rockey said, “and we’re building this facility right now under the assumption that the village is going to own this space.”
Caldwell questioned whether the village could readily afford to purchase the new fire station and also cast the lone “nay” vote against returning the money in escrow. Councilors Brent Knox, Councilor and Mayor Pro-tem Tom Wittman, along with Councilor Chris Stagg, who is also employed as a Taos Ski Valley, Inc. vice-president, voted in favor of returning the money to the ski corporation.
“Our intent, subject to obtaining the money, is to purchase the fire station,” Caldwell clarified. “The intent is for the village not to take on any additional debt. We can’t shuffle money around like we’ve done in the past. TSV should always keep that in the back of the their mind as a worst case scenario — that we don’t take possession of it. We still gotta come up with this money.”
Rockey’s rough estimate of the eventual value of the the finished basement was between $2.5 million and $3 million, meaning the village could pay $500 per-squarefoot for the space. The project is expected to be completed by next summer.
“Is that a done deal as far as the village is concerned?” village
resident Michael Fitzpatrick asked. “What are the sources of funds and what’s the price and what’s the impact on the lease in the existing firehouse? There are a lot of questions people have.”
Rockey responded that “a third-party appraiser will come in and value the first-floor space” to determine the purchase price, adding that “for some time now we’ve been offering our efforts to help come up with a finance plan for this space. It could be a mixture of impact-fee credits in the future, TIDD funds, state fire funds, maybe U.S. Forest Service funds — I think it’s going to be a finance plan that pulls from a number of sources. We also would like to get some clarity on this.”
Fitzpatrick again asked what would become of the 7 Firehouse Rd. building, for which he has requested deed or lease documents. Although he said it’s not clear whether the village owns the building outright, or if it has a lease agreement with another party, Village Administrator John Avila told the Taos News this week that “the village did not trade or sell our property.”
“If somehow all this financial arrangement comes to pass, and the village moves its fire equipment into this new facility, out of the existing firehouse, what happens to the ownership of that [existing] building?” Fitzpatrick asked.
Rockey said he didn’t know the answer to Fitzpatrick’s question, but Avila invited Fitzpatrick to come in and review the documents, adding only that, “In essence we still own the fire department.” Last Friday Fitzpatrick told the Taos News that he met with Avila, but hadn’t yet received the documents he requested.
“The building will continue to have a fire department function for the foreseeable future, but with sufficient funding could have expanded uses,” Avila told the Taos News. “A public property transaction has several anti-donation protections created in the New Mexico Constitution to avoid the pitfalls of government advancing private interest over the public interest. 7 Firehouse Rd. and the adjacent buildings could form another center of activity in the Village.”