HOUSE BILL 124
47th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2005
INTRODUCED BY
Roberto "Bobby" J. Gonzales
AN ACT
RELATING TO THE CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES; ENACTING THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT TESTING SITE ACT; PROVIDING FOR THE APPROVAL OF AREAS TO BE USED FOR NON-INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH AND TESTING DESIGNED TO REDUCE THE CONSUMPTION OF AND DEPENDENCE ON NATURAL RESOURCES; PROVIDING THAT CERTAIN RESEARCH ACTIVITIES WITHIN AN APPROVED AREA ARE EXEMPT FROM SPECIFIED LAWS, ORDINANCES AND RULES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. SHORT TITLE.--This act may be cited as the "Sustainable Development Testing Site Act".
Section 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.--
A. The legislature finds that:
(1) the increase in populations and the corresponding decrease in natural resources have created a critical need for more sustainable and environmentally appropriate means of supporting human habitat;
(2) existing laws, ordinances and rules protect the public and the environment by regulating conventional residential construction and development and encourage private developers to produce "more of the same" nonsustainable conventional dwellings and systems because there are fewer barriers between the developers and their profits;
(3) history has shown that new and unconventional theories and inventions must be tested to the point of failure in a research environment free of constraints;
(4) the existing regulatory framework inhibits needed new ideas, concepts and inventions that could lead to long-term environmental stability;
(5) if private developers in New Mexico are encouraged to create and develop new ideas, concepts and inventions, New Mexico can lead the country and the world in the evolution of more appropriate methods of living for the future; and
(6) without relaxing existing regulation of conventional residential development and while ensuring that permanent environmental damage will be avoided, a procedure can be established whereby certain areas can be permitted as test sites to allow specifically designated research to be performed free of conventional regulations that sometimes, by their very nature, prevent radically new and different concepts from emerging.
B. The purpose of the Sustainable Development Testing Site Act is to allow counties, after review by appropriate state agencies, to permit specific rural areas as "sustainable development testing sites" in which concepts and inventions related to residential sustainable development, including energy, housing, water harvesting, sewage treatment, food production and bio-fuel production can be tested to the point of failure under conditions involving real people inhabiting the site after signing releases of liability.
Section 3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Sustainable Development Testing Site Act:
A. "permittee" means a person who holds a testing site permit;
B. "planning commission" means a county planning commission appointed pursuant to Section 4-57-1 NMSA 1978; provided that, if no county planning commission has been appointed pursuant to that section, "planning commission" means the board of county commissioners;
C. "sustainable development" means a live-in environment composed of structures and systems that internally produce utilities and life-support systems free of existing conventional grids and disposal systems. "Sustainable development" includes:
(1) heating and cooling without the consumption of fossil fuels;
(2) the generation and use of electricity without the consumption of fossil fuels and free of connections to existing power grids;
(3) meeting water needs sufficient for domestic activities and food production without tapping into water aquifers;
(4) full containment and treatment of sewage without underground discharge;
(5) construction methods that make use of the vast resource of materials discarded by modern society;
(6) production of food for those living within the environment; and
(7) the development of organic fuels for consumption within the environment;
D. "sustainable development research" means activities conducted at a sustainable development testing site that test ideas, concepts or inventions designed to lead ultimately to sustainable development;
E. "sustainable development testing site" means an area that is:
(1) greater than five acres but less than two hundred acres;
(2) situated wholly outside the planning and platting jurisdiction of a municipality; and
(3) subject to a testing site permit and existing federal laws and regulations; and
F. "testing site permit" means a permit, issued by a planning commission, that designates an area as a sustainable development testing site and specifies:
(1) the sustainable development research that can be conducted within the site by the permittee; and
(2) the state laws, county ordinances and state and county rules from which the permittee and the research are exempt.
Section 4. APPLICATION FOR TESTING SITE PERMIT-- EVALUATION--NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING.--
A. A person desiring a testing site permit shall submit an application to the planning commission for the county in which the proposed sustainable development testing site is located. The application shall include:
(1) a detailed description of the sustainable development research that will be conducted on the site, including an explanation of the ideas, concepts and inventions that will be tested;
(2) a schematic layout of the site;
(3) the number of inhabitants and employees that are expected to occupy the site;
(4) an assessment of the state laws, county ordinances and state and county rules relating to construction or building requirements, occupancy, zoning, water use, subdivisions or environmental protection that may inhibit the proposed sustainable development research and an explanation of how damage to the surrounding area and permanent damage to the area within the site will be avoided if the permittee and the proposed sustainable development research at the site are exempted from the laws, ordinances and rules;
(5) an application fee, set by the planning commission, equal to the estimated costs of evaluating the application, holding the public hearing and administering the permit; and
(6) such other information as may be required by rule of the planning commission or ordinance of the county.
B. Upon receipt of a complete application, the planning commission shall:
(1) forward a copy of the application to the department of environment and to other state or local agencies charged with enforcing the affected laws, ordinances and rules identified in the application;
(2) set a date, not less than sixty days nor more than ninety days after receipt of the application, for a public hearing on the application; and
(3) publish in a newspaper of general circulation in the county an announcement of its receipt of the application, notice of the hearing and information concerning where an interested person can obtain a copy of the application.
C. The department of environment and each other state and local agency receiving a copy of the application shall, within sixty days after the application is submitted to the planning commission:
(1) evaluate the application and the proposed sustainable development research to be performed at the proposed sustainable development testing site. In making the evaluation, the agency may communicate with the applicant as necessary to make an accurate evaluation;
(2) determine whether:
(a) the proposed sustainable development testing site and the sustainable development research proposed to be conducted at the site will damage land, water or air adjacent to the site or will permanently damage the area of the site; and
(b) the proposed sustainable development research at the site is beneficial to sustainable development; and
(3) submit its findings to the planning commission.
Section 5. APPLICATION FOR TESTING SITE PERMIT--PUBLIC HEARING--DECISION.--
A. At the public hearing for a sustainable development testing site application pursuant to Section 4 of the Sustainable Development Testing Site Act, the planning commission shall hear comments from all interested persons, federal, state or local agencies and, if appropriate, responses from the applicant.
B. Within two weeks after the hearing, the planning commission shall, in writing, make its decision. The planning commission shall issue a testing site permit if it determines that:
(1) no state or local agency, evaluating the sustainable development testing site application pursuant to Section 4 of the Sustainable Development Testing Site Act, has determined that the site or sustainable development research proposed to be conducted at the site will damage land, water or air adjacent to the site or will permanently damage the area of the site;
(2) no existing federal laws or regulations relating to hazardous waste, drinking water or air quality will be violated by the proposed sustainable development research at the site;
(3) the proposed sustainable development research at the site is beneficial to sustainable development; and
(4) the site and proposed sustainable development research are otherwise beneficial to the county and to the state.
C. A testing site permit shall include:
(1) the specific sustainable development research that may be conducted at the sustainable development testing site;
(2) the maximum number of structures that may be constructed;
(3) the maximum number of individuals that may inhabit the site;
(4) the specific state laws, county ordinances and state and county rules relating to construction or building requirements, occupancy, zoning, water use, subdivisions or environmental protection from which the permittee and the permittee's sustainable development research on the site are exempt; and
(5) such other restrictions on the site and the permittee's activities as determined by the planning commission.
Section 6. TESTING SITE PERMIT--EFFECT.--As long as a testing site permit is in effect:
A. the permittee, when conducting sustainable development research that is specified in the permit, is exempt from the state laws, county ordinances and state and county rules relating to construction or building requirements, occupancy, zoning, water use, subdivisions or environmental protection that are identified in the permit;
B. no other permit or approval of the state or any of its political subdivisions shall be required of the permittee to conduct the sustainable development research that is specified in the permit;
C. employees and agents of the state or the county may, at all reasonable times, enter the sustainable development testing site for the purpose of inspecting the site and activities conducted on the site to ensure that conditions specified in the permit are being met;
D. the permittee shall annually, no later than the anniversary date of the permit, submit a report to the planning commission describing the sustainable development research conducted during the preceding twelve months and summarizing the results. All information contained in the report and all other information learned from activities pursuant to the permit shall be made available to the public;
E. the permittee shall allow no person, including participants, visitors and inhabitants, to enter the sustainable development testing site without signing an agreement to release from liability the permittee, state and county for any loss suffered by the person as a result of the person's entrance to the site;
F. the planning commission may revoke the permit if it finds, after a public hearing, that the permittee has violated a permit provision or a provision of the Sustainable Development Testing Site Act; and
G. a permittee may apply to have a permit amended by submitting a new application pursuant to Section 4 of the Sustainable Development Testing Site Act; provided that, if the planning commission determines that the proposed amendment will not substantially alter the sustainable development research or other activities conducted at the sustainable development testing site, it may waive the requirements of that section for notice and public hearing.
Section 7. SALE OF LAND WITHIN A SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT TESTING SITE.--Land within a sustainable development testing site shall not be sold in whole or in part unless:
A. the subsequent owner obtains a testing site permit pursuant to the provisions of the Sustainable Development Testing Site Act; or
B. if the subsequent owner does not obtain a testing site permit:
(1) the permittee complies with the New Mexico Subdivision Act; and
(2) the subsequent owner and the parcel sold are subject to all state and local laws.
Section 8. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2005.