KSFR: Exclusive: Santa Fe County plans small-group meetings on Land Plan (2010-02-08)

-- Feb. 8, 10 a.m. -- All schools in Santa Fe now closed for the day.

Santa Fe County officials plan a series of discussions with local residents about the latest draft of the Sustainable Land Development Plan. Those public meetings could begin as early as this week. County Commissioner Kathy Holian says they're designed to get public input before another draft is written. The plan now is about 300 pages, down from the 1,200 pages in the first draft. To find out about these small-group meetings, contact Melissa Holmes, 995-2717 or msholmes@santafecounty.org, or Planning Manager Robert Griego at 986-6215 or rgriego@santafecounty.org.

-- 7 a.m. -- Another morning commute in Santa Fe with snow a factor...Updates frequently via Twitter.Com/KSFRnews.... Two hour delays announced for students at Santa Fe Prep, Santa Fe's Waldorf School, Saint Michael's High School and Santa Fe's School for the Arts and Sciences. Also a two hour delay for Santa Fe Public Schools as the district holds a parent-teacher conference for grades K through 12 today as report cards are issued.

According to a poll published by the Santa Fe New Mexican in its Sunday edition, if the Santa Fe mayoral election were held today, more than half of the voters surveyed would give their vote to incumbent David Coss. That compares with 27 percent for former city manager Asenath Kepler and just 8 percent for city councilor Miguel Chavez. The newspaper surveyed 400 registered Santa Fe voters over a three day period in early February.

There will likely be heated debate this week in the New Mexico state senate. They'll begin looking at a package of tax increases passed by the House that are the biggest in decades. Included in the package is a half-cent increase in the state's gross receipts tax, bringing that levy up to 5.5 percent. It also includes a surtax on high-income tax filers. Both measures would raise revenue by some $300 million. That's about half of the state's projected shortfall for the coming fiscal year.

Heading into the weekend, New Mexico's Senate approved legislation clearing the way for our state's Spaceport America to accomplish one of its prime objectives -- that being space tourism. Lawmakers greenlighted a measure that had earlier been tabled providing for an indemnity waiver for those partaking of sub-orbital flights. They'll be deemed participants, not passengers, and will sign waivers limiting any liability in the event of accidents or injuries. The measure now heads to the House.

Given our recent, frequent snowfalls, the latest federal estimates point to above-average snowpack in our state's mountains. The US Natural Resources Conservation Service also notes, however, that snowpack for southern Colorado is below normal. Combining the statistics, the agency expects spring run-off for the Rio Grande and Pecos River to be close to average. They caution that that expectation could be spoiled if we get a sustained bout of early warm or windy weather between now and April. On the flip side, government hydrologists say that if our series of storms continues, 2010 will be a significant runoff year.

Weather for Santa Fe...cloudy and cold today with a 60% chance for snowshowers. Up to an additional inch of snow could fall before noon. Precipitation decreases to 40% tonight with lows in the mid teens. Tuesday through Thursday will be cloudy, too, with slight chances for snowshowers throughout the period --highs in the 30s. And the weather service is watching computer models for a big snowstorm that could hit our area next weekend.

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