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City council looks at red-light cameras, water conservation and retail development

By Erik Siemers
Thursday, January 24, 2008

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Green light to red lights

The City Council heard a report from the head of a task force charged with studying the controversial red-light camera program.

Ted Shogry, the city's performance improvement manager who led the task force, told councilors Wednesday that the group's recommendations boil down to this: Keep running the traffic enforcement program through 2009, but make significant changes.

The council is considering at least one of those changes — lowering fines — during an upcoming meeting of its Finance and Government Operations Committee.

Councilor Ken Sanchez is sponsoring a bill that would lower fines for red-light offenders from $100 on the first offense to $69. On Monday he said he intends to amend the bill so that fines would no longer rise with subsequent violations — which he said the task force called for.

The committee meeting is set for 5 p.m. Monday in the Vincent E. Griego Chambers at City Hall, Downtown. The meeting will be televised because of the anticipated public interest.

Troubled waters

To be introduced: A bill by Councilor Don Harris declaring the council's opposition to a recent action by the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority board imposing water conservation standards for home construction.

The big deal: The water board on Jan. 17 approved a bill sponsored by City Councilor Michael Cadigan that requires home builders to adopt water-saving measures such as high-efficiency toilets to meet a 180-gallon-per day standard.

Harris said municipal governments, not water authorities, have the authority to enact building codes. He attempted to make his bill a last-minute introduction Wednesday but was voted down. But he made a forceful case, calling the utility's action "unprincipled."

Cadigan disputed Harris' contention, saying that attorneys for both the utility and the city have said the city no longer has regulatory authority over water hook-ups.

"The rule passed by the water authority is not the usurpation of the council's authority," Cadigan said.

Next action: The bill will be included in the letter of introductions at the council's Feb. 4 meeting. It will then be referred to a committee.

More retail, please?

Deferred: A bill by Councilor Ken Sanchez that would authorize the city to study the feasibility of extending the West Central Metropolitan Redevelopment Area west toward the city limits.

Why this matters: Sanchez is concerned over the lack of retail or commercial development in Albuquerque's Southwest Mesa, where about 110,000 people live.

MRAs are commonly implemented in blighted areas as a means of spurring development. They allow certain benefits, such as making developers eligible for federal money and waiving some impact fees on construction, that Sanchez said could appeal to retail business owners.

Cadigan, however, questioned whether the area — much of which is desert — can rightfully be called blighted or a "redevelopment area" if it's never been developed.

He also aired concerns of having so much land become ineligible for impact fees, which are charged to developers to help the city cover infrastructure costs.

"Tens of millions of money from (capital improvement) projects will be unfunded if we take this area out of impact fee areas," Cadigan said.

Next action: Feb. 4.