386 W. Rio
Communities Blvd.
P.O. Box 8
Belen, NM 87002
(505) 864-6654
(800) 359-8186
fax (505) 864-2826
link to home page link to About VIA link to About the Area link to Neighborhoods link to Maps link to Schools link to Parks link to Members Area
link to Board of Directors link to VIA Mission link to Goals & Objectives link to VIA Strategic Plan link to Contact Us

Our Goals & Objectives

Overall Strategy
Building Neighborhoods in Central New Mexico

Our mission:  to foster and promote the development of Rio Communities
through the wise allocation of resources to add value, provide service,
and create a sense of community for members and the area.

  • Create attractive, affordable, well-constructed and environmentally sound residential communities
  • Extend physical and social infrastructure to help support planned development
  • Help resident members obtain needed public services
  • Stimulate non-resident member interest in, and knowledge about, VIA communities
  • Expand trade programs to help any VIA member obtain more developable or desirable property or a discount on a home
  • Represent non-resident members before county and state agencies
  • Carry out VIA Functions with available resources

Goals

1. Market enough developed building lots to support VIA programs;

2. Sustain an effective community development program to meet not only  the quantitative requirements of Goal 1, but also the qualitative standards reflected in this plan;

3. Generate revenues to continue member services and evaluate the appropriate level of expenditures for these services in light of revenues on an ongoing basis;

4. Accomplish the above objectives in a manner which: efficiently utilizes VIA financial and staff resources; reduces VIA financial risks and level of indebtedness; and, maintains VIA's flexibility to react and respond to changes in markets or new opportunities and constraints;

5. Build a base for providing member services beyond the expiration of covenants that require the payment of assessments; and,

6. Vigorously insist on quality community development. Anything else, anything less, denies VIA's responsibility to the members. VIA's success benefits all members, no matter where their property is located.

The plan and objectives for specific geographical and functional areas for which VIA has responsibility are discussed below.

Community Development

VIA's purpose is community development.  For years, VIA has led and directed the development of viable communities, using a variety of approaches to accomplish that end, and focusing on property that people once thought would be impossible to develop.

Good community development involves the creation of more than just rooftops, and requires more than the construction of infrastructure like roads, water and sewer systems and other utilities. It means the building of neighborhoods with homes, businesses, schools, parks and public facilities

The neighborhoods that VIA is planning and developing are discussed below. 

A. Las Maravillas, just east of the University of New Mexico Valencia Campus, is currently a neighborhood of nearly 500 families, and is part of a master-planned community of some 750 acres. VIA and its partner-builders, Sivage Thomas Homes and D.R. Horton, Inc., are nearly one-fourth of the way to this community's build-out. VIA is soliciting both developers and other builders for additional partners to share in the vision presented in that plan, and in the community building effort.

OBJECTIVES:

1. Establish a building rate of close to 100 homes per year, or approximately 20 percent of the homes permitted in unincorporated Valencia County each year.

2. Establish a commercial area within the remaining, master-planned 500 acres.

B. Pasitos del Cielo, immediately adjacent to the University of New Mexico Valencia Campus, is now home to more than 100 families, and the remaining developed lots are being bought by Triad Construction of Placitas, New Mexico. One last unit of 127 lots has been approved by the Valencia County Commission, and VIA is discussing their development with several builders of entry-level homes.

OBJECTIVE:

Establish a building rate of close to 50 homes per year, or 10 percent of the homes permitted in Valencia County each year.

C. La Merced, located in southern Rio del Oro, next to Horizon Corporation's original development area, is a VIA project in planning. Concepts for a walled, gated, entry-level community are being discussed with a national builder.  No actual development project will start in the year 2000.

OBJECTIVES

1.  Negotiate the joint development of La Merced early in the year 2000.

2.  Establish a building rate of at least 25 homes per year, or five percent of the total permitted in Valencia County each year.

D. Comanche Springs, located nearly six miles east of Las Maravillas in the foothills of the Manzano Mountains, requires capital to get started. VIA staff have been focusing on elements of the community infrastructure, particularly water and wastewater treatment, and better accessibility.  Because of the importance of accessibility, and the high front-end investment, this project will not move into the actual development phase until 2003-2004.

E. Canyon del Rio promises to be VIA's biggest challenge. Nestled in the foothills of the Manzano National Forest, Canyon del Rio holds tremendous natural beauty and the challenge of dealing with a remote, isolated location.   VIA has identified a core area that will make a new community possible, and is working with members to change covenants and allow commercial grazing. This along with the further extension of electric power, will set the stage for the development of some economic base, like a RV park or a working cattle ranch, to attract visitors and residents. Even though VIA has improved roads to and within Canyon del Rio, and has extended electric power into the area, the distance from developed areas in Valencia County is a constraint to further development.

What Makes a Neighborhood?

A. A range of home choices and home-owning opportunities is one key difference between a "subdivision" and a true neighborhood.

VIA believes that a neighborhood should contain housing options for everyone's needs and everyone's tastes, regardless of age, family size, or income level. One challenge facing the association is to attract a range of builders who can fulfill that objective.

OBJECTIVES

1. Successfully introduce more builders at Las Maravillas without hurting active home  builders.

2. Introduce at least two builders in the latest phase of Pasitos del Cielo, and, through amenities and neighborhood design, give that neighborhood its own distinct character as an entry-level community. 

3. Tackle the need for a truly affordable home at La Merced with VIA's stable of builders.

B. Convenient Neighborhood Schools and Parks

All existing schools in Rio del Oro, including the University of New Mexico branch campus, have been built on land donated by VIA.  And, there are more than 60 acres of developed park that VIA maintains as part of the Association's park system. The Association will continue adding acreage to that park system with each new neighborhood, and will work with both the Los Lunas and Belen Consolidated Districts to provide suitable school sites. 

OBJECTIVES

1.   Donate sites to the Los Lunas School District for a new intermediate school and a satellite high school.

2.   Expand the VIA park system with parks at Pasitos del Cielo Unit 5 and at Paseo de Flores en Las Maravillas.

3.   Develop responses to resident recreation needs.

C. Reflect the Cultural and Geographic Character of the Region

VIA seeks to reflect the unique Southwest culture and climate in the design of homes, the names of streets, the choice of landscaping, the preservation of historic sites and the integration of sculpture and public art into neighborhoods and parks.

OBJECTIVES

1.  Identify all natural and cultural resources such as gravel reserves, archeological sites and natural springs, and weave them into neighborhood development efforts. 

2.  With the help of local and state historic groups, preserve and interpret Tomé Hill, the 140-acre archeological preserve at Comanche Springs, and the route of El Camino Reál, the King's Road that conquistadors developed to travel from Mexico City to Santa Fe .

3.  With the sculpture La Puerta del Sol drawing people to the base of Tomé Hill and the Tomé Hill Park on the Camino Reál, set aside land nearby for a Sculpture Park in which local and visiting artists can display their work in public places.

4.  Assist groups like the Greater Belen, Hispano and Los Lunas Chambers of Commerce to organize events that embody local traditions.

5.  To conserve water use in an arid environment, use natural landscaping in parks and open space, and employ treated effluent and natural spring water for irrigation. 

D. Transportation/ Access

Although VIA cannot do the job of the State or County, it can and does attempt to influence decisions on highways, bridges and access roads. VIA's goal is to provide and maintain, with state and county assistance, a balanced transportation system and network that meets the access and circulation needs of the region.  VIA has lobbied for funds to widen the major north-south link between Rio Communities and Los Lunas, and the major east-west link between Belen and Rio Communities; and, is working with planners on the extension of the Manzano Expressway and the development of a river crossing linking I-25 to HW 47 and the east mesa.

OBJECTIVES

1. Assist corridor study for a river crossing linking I-25 to the east mesa.

2. Assist County and planners to further extend the Manzano Expressway.

3. Working with County staff and state and federal agencies to develop bicycle and pedestrian paths linking Tomé Hill to area schools, UNM-VC, Las Maravillas and Pasitos del Cielo and Comanche Springs.

4. Encourage regional mass transit studies.

E. Community Services

Work with Valencia County and the State to provide facilities, services and programs for public safety, fire protection and social services. VIA has donated land for the Las Maravillas fire substation, and has worked with Neighborhood Watch, the Sheriff's Reserves and Volunteer Fire Department on the acquisition of equipment.

OBJECTIVES

1. Assist County on its Comprehensive Plan, which will provide a blueprint for addressing fast-growing Valencia County's growth policy needs.

2. Respond to community needs.

F. Economic Development

Neighborhoods need jobs. VIA's goal is to expand the light industrial base and complement it with commercial development and the development of tourism.

OBJECTIVES

1.  Support the Valencia County Economic Development Committee, the coalition of private and public sector organizations working to recruit new businesses and create new jobs in Valencia County.

2.  Develop programs that utilize Valencia County's history, heritage and cultural sites as tourist attractions. 

G. Utilities - Rio Grande Utility Corporation

VIA's goals are to maintain water and sewer systems that are competitive with nearby systems in terms of rates, and superior in terms of physical plant and service. In addition to maintaining RGUC standards for infrastructure VIA wants to provide electric power along major arterial roadways in Rio del Oro and Canyon del Rio. 

Objectives

1.  Extend electric power around Rio del Oro Loop.

2.  Extend the existing 10 miles of electric power in Canyon del Rio.

3.  Develop the reservoir system to serve Comanche Springs and Rio del Oro west of Comanche Springs.

4.  Explore the use of a wetlands system for wastewater treatment in the Comanche Springs area.

5.  Extend RGUC's service boundaries north and west to meet demand for centralized water and wastewater treatment.

Membership Services

VIA must serve the growing information needs of resident and non-resident members; give members a voice before state and local bodies; support the Lot Trade and Lot Acquisition Programs; and, support the Architectural Control Committee for resident members. 

VIA has fought to correct improper zoning designations in Canyon del Rio, to stop the routing of heavily loaded gravel trucks close to Las Maravillas, to curtail trespass cattle from overgrazing land owned by the Association and its members, and to educate resident and non-resident members about issues that concern them and the future of their community. 

OBJECTIVES

1.  Staff the Architectural Control Committee.

2.  Operate Lot Trade and Lot Acquisition programs.

3.  Ensure that members get up-to-date info through the newsletter, a web site being developed, special mailings and public meetings.
 

 

  
 

©2005 Valley Improvement Association
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