24.7.3.030 Findings

The Council hereby finds and declares that:

(a) The Pueblo has been dealing with issues of roads trespass for decades and the number of unauthorized roads and the amount of unauthorized access over the Pueblo's lands has reached an unacceptable level.

(b) The Pueblo has attempted several times to negotiate with Santa Fe County (County) to address the issue of unauthorized roads within the Pueblo's lands.

(c) In 2015, the County issued a resolution stating that it would not sign a contributed funding agreement (CFA) for its share of the costs for the regional water system required under the Aamodt Litigation Settlement Act, P.L. 111-291, until it knew the cost to resolve the roads trespass claims of all four of the Pueblos of Nambe, Pojoaque, San Ildefonso and Tesuque who are parties to the Aamodt water rights settlement.

(d) In June of 2017, the Pueblo, along with the three other Pueblos and the County, were brought together to attempt to resolve the roads matter so that the County could sign a CFA with the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) for its share of funding for the regional water system.

(e) The Pueblo, the County and representatives of the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and BOR engaged in extensive negotiations over several months on the roads issues within San Ildefonso Pueblo.

(f) The Pueblo, County and the Department of the Interior reached a compromise solution that addresses the Pueblo's concern about unlawful roads and unlawful access over the Pueblo's lands while providing long-term insurable access to private land within the Pueblo's lands at specific locations on identified roads.

(g) The proposed settlement will also allow the Pueblo to identify its boundaries and prevent future unauthorized encroachment onto Pueblo lands with the construction of two new roads.

(h) The Council has been apprised of the proposed settlement terms and agrees with the following negotiated key terms:

(1) The County will construct two (2) new roads, Yellow Bird Loop and Blue Dove, at the County's sole expense.

(2) The placement CMR 84, CMR 84A, CMR 84B, and CR 101D, and the new roads, on the BIA Tribal Transportation Program Inventory (TTPI) and the grant of road rights-of-way (ROW) to the BIA for an initial 99-year term with an automatic renewal of a second 99-year term (198 years total).

(3) The "gap" issues where there is a gap of Pueblo land between a road a private lot will be addressed by the construction of the new roads and any remaining gaps will be included in the BIA ROWs as designated access points, provided the Pueblo will not maintain any gap or private drive to a road.

(4) The County will survey the road ROWs and access points for private lots, and conduct required archeological and environmental assessments, at its expense.

(5) The Pueblo will legislatively grant temporary access to private lands off of identified roads for a term of five (5) years or until the ROWs are granted for the current roads or the new roads are constructed; provided, this does not grant authorized access off of roads of convenience.

(6) The County will maintain the roads under a maintenance agreement with the BIA and the Pueblo for the duration of the road ROWs.

(7) The County will not issue road cut permits for installation of utilities for any road in the TTPI and the Pueblo has the sole authority to grant utility easements along those roads. The Pueblo agrees to use a standard appraisal method for valuation of utility ROWs for the specific portion of CMR 84B and CMR 84 starting at the end of the pavement on 84B (Latitude = 35°53'34.4633" North, Longitude = 106°06'49.7068" West) running approximately 2.44 miles to eastern Pueblo grant boundary (Latitude = 35°53'13.58" North, Longitude = 106°04'24.09" West).

(8) The roads will be renamed by the Pueblo in a phased approach.

(9) The Pueblo and County agree to cooperate to identify designated access points or common access points.

(10) The County will require access solely through legal access points for future development on private land.

(i) Litigation on the roads matter would be very costly and would further divide the community and by negotiating a compromise settlement, the Pueblo avoids the uncertainty and great expense of litigation to resolve the roads dispute.

(j) The Council finds that it is in best interest of the Pueblo to finally resolve the long-standing roads dispute with the County and approve a Settlement Agreement that will provide a long-term solution to the roads issues within San Ildefonso Pueblo lands.