Santa Teresa residents have several plans to keep Sunland Park from annexing Santa Teresa

Santa Teresa residents have a detailed plan to keep Sunland Park out of their neighborhoods.

In fact, several options are on the table.

The new plan for the incorporation of Santa Teresa includes several different options, one of which involves petitioning for a special election that could lead to the disincorporation of Sunland Park after more than three decades as a city.

“They took a stick and they hit the hornets nest and the hornets are flying everywhere,” said Kraig Carpenter, who is leading Santa Teresa’s effort to incorporate and avoid possible annexation by Sunland Park.

After researching the state municipal code, Carpenter laid out six scenarios in the plan, including Sunland Park deciding against annexation, Santa Teresa allowing itself to be annexed and the two sides negotiating some kind of agreement.

“The bombshell in reading it is, ‘Oh, how easy it is to dis-incorporate a city,'” Carpenter said. “It’s actually kind of shocking because there are no safety valves in the disincorporation.”

Scenario four threatens to disincorporate sunland park if Santa Teresa is annexed. That would be done simply by getting 25 percent of the registered voters to sign a petition. Within 50 to 60 days, Carpenter said the state would have to hold an election, and if 50 percent of the voters vote to disincorporate Sunland park, that would be the end of the city.

“If you do annex us then there is obviously an overwhelming amount of registered voters in the north that could certainly put Sunland Park out of business,” Carpenter said.

There are 5,399 registered voters in Sunland Park and 2,348 in Santa Teresa, a total of 7,747. Fewer than 2,000 signatures would be needed to petition for the election and fewer than 4,000 to disincorporate Sunland Park.

“We don’t want the tail to wag the dog,” said Ron Lotito, who is heading Santa Teresa’s arbitration committee. “I’d think that’d be devastating to Sunland Park. I think what they ought to do is come to the negotiating table.”

Santa Teresa residents have scheduled a meeting next week to discuss the plan.

Sunland Park Mayor Javier Perea said he has heard about Santa Teresa’s incorporation plan, including possibly trying to disincorporate Sunland Park.

“The disincorporation of a municipality should not be taken lightly,” Perea said. “Its effects could have a detrimental impact on the services a community receives. This would entail the loss of all municipal services, including police and fire protection.”