Sunland Park approves annexation of land within Santa Teresa

Sunland Park city council voted to annex land from Santa Teresa Tuesday.

The 229 acre lot is near Country Club and McNutt Roads. Another portion of the land is just north of Country Club Road.

Santa Teresa residents working to incorporate their community told our New Mexico Mobile Newsroom the property in question is within their borders. For years, they have fought to keep the two neighboring communities separate.

Sunland Park City Manager Bob Gallagher tells ABC-7 a developer who owns the property plans to build 867 homes. Construction on the first 95 homes could start next year.

Gallagher says the developer will pay to reconstruct Country Club Road to meet city standards. He says Sunland Park will maintain it. Gallagher says the city will not maintain any parks or walkways built inside the community. He says the $17 million investment was brought to the city solely by the developer.

“Annexation was requested 100% by the property owner,” Gallagher said. “The reason why they wanted to be inside the city is because they wanted to have quick response time by police and fire and I believe they feel they can build a nicer neighborhood if they built it by city standards rather then county standards.”

Tuesday’s vote came with a lot of opposition from Santa Teresa residents. Some told the council they fear the development will make their property values go down. They’re also concerned about congestion taking over Country Club road.

Those who want Santa Teresa to become its own city say council should’ve waited until after the courts have made its final decision on incorporating.

While some councilors agreed with their concerns, all except Councilor Olga Nunez approved to annex.