45th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2001

PROPOSING THE SALE OR LONG-TERM LEASE OF THE FORT STANTON FACILITY IN LINCOLN COUNTY.

WHEREAS, Section 13-6-3 NMSA 1978 requires ratification and approval of any sale, trade or lease for a period exceeding twenty-five years of state property of over one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) in value; and

WHEREAS, since Fort Stanton was established as a federal military fort in Lincoln county in 1855, it has played a variety of important and colorful roles in local and regional history and is a rich and valuable cultural asset; and

WHEREAS, Fort Stanton is one of the eleven most endangered properties in New Mexico, is recognized in the state register of cultural properties and the national register of historic places and is comprised of forest and grazing lands, agricultural fields, historic building complexes, archaeological sites, two cemeteries and a distinctive cultural landscape; and

WHEREAS, use of Fort Stanton as a state health care facility was discontinued in 1995 as a result of a federal court mandate; and

WHEREAS, since 1995, the property control division of the general services department has found no suitable long-term state use for the Fort Stanton facility; and

WHEREAS, Subsection I of Section 34 of Chapter 23 of Laws 2000 (2nd S.S.) appropriated fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) from the general fund to the capital program fund for a feasibility study on uses of the Fort Stanton facility; and

WHEREAS, the property control division is desirous of finding a viable use for the Fort Stanton facility, which may involve the sale or lease for a period exceeding twenty-five years of the facility; and

WHEREAS, the sale or long-term lease of the facility may include the adjoining state-owned Camp Sierra Blanca facility, currently operated by contract as a environmental work camp for juvenile offenders under jurisdiction of the children, youth and families department; and

WHEREAS, Fort Stanton is more particularly described as a tract of land containing one thousand three hundred twenty-four and eighty-seven-thousandths acres more or less and improvements thereon as shown on a plat of a boundary survey record in CAB F, SL 205 of the records of Lincoln county, which acreage includes Camp Sierra Blanca; and

WHEREAS, the property control division of the general services department may decide to eliminate Camp Sierra Blanca from a sale or lease, and that property is described as a tract of land containing fifty-seven and eight-hundred-six- thousandths acres more or less and improvements thereon as shown on a plat of a boundary survey recorded in CAB F, SL 205 of the records of Lincoln county; and

WHEREAS, the legislature finds that the best and highest possible use of the significant historical resource of Fort Stanton is other than providing state services; and

WHEREAS, the property shall not be sold for less than the value of the property established by the taxation and revenue department using generally acceptable appraisal techniques for this type of property;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the proposed sale or long-term lease of the Fort Stanton facility be hereby ratified and approved pursuant to the provisions of Section 13-6-3 NMSA 1978; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that if the Fort Stanton site is sold to a private non-governmental entity, the state shall place protective preservation covenants on the landscape and all of the character-defining features of the fort as well as the necessary water rights for the long-term preservation of the site for the people of New Mexico; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be transmitted to the property control division of the general services department and the board of county commissioners of Lincoln county.