Rocky Acres flood district reboots after rocky start

Jan. 13--LAS CRUCES -- Residents of Rocky Acres Trail northwest of Las Cruces still vividly recall the severe flooding that swamped their neighborhood in the fall of 2014.

An intense summer storm dropped inches of water on the Robledo Mountains just to the west of the subdivision. It poured down an arroyo and slammed into a decades-old drainage control structure that proved to be woefully inadequate to stop the flow, which resembled a river.

The water topped the structure and gushed into the subdivision. Resident Max Schroeder's house flooded with more than 2 feet of water. He wasn't home at the time, but the water left plenty of damage in its wake. The family had to live elsewhere for about eight months while the house was repaired. Some items, such as a computer that had years worth of his children's photos on it, were irreplaceable.

Schroeder said he was grateful no one was injured, but the event was still traumatic to a degree.

"It was a life-changer," he said. "Nobody had flood insurance. We have it now."

Residents of the area then began researching their options for how to prevent a recurrence in the future. Part of the aging flood-control levee that was topped during the flood was on private land, and another portion was on U.S. Bureau of Land Management acreage. But at every turn, in discussions with Doña Ana County and federal officials, residents said they hit dead ends. So some residents decided to try to form a watershed district under the New Mexico Watershed District Act, which allows such districts to be formed for conversation, flood control and erosion control.

"I think it's falling on our shoulders," Schroeder said.

The group went through a series of steps, including an election in 2016, to form the Rocky Acres Watershed District covering roughly 75 properties. And they advertised two public meetings, held at one of the resident's homes. But at the second meeting, held Wednesday night, the group announced an abrupt change of course to roughly 50 residents who attended: The watershed has been dissolved. It's null and void because of a procedural error during the formation, they said.

The group mistakenly missed a step, said Joe Delk, a supervisor Doña Ana Soil & Water Conservation District, described as a supervisory organization to the watershed district. He said he'd read the statute several times but missed one of the requirements: advertising the proposed formation of the watershed district for three consecutive weeks in a local newspaper. As a result, the watershed will have to be re-formed, this time following all the steps, he said.

"We'll go at it again because this is too important not to do," he said.

A number of residents from a nearby street that had been included in the geographical boundaries of the watershed during its brief existence attended to express opposition to it. The residents, who lived on Paradise Lane, said they were concerned about the future possibility of property taxes and bonds that could be issued by a watershed district. Several noted their homes didn't flood, though other residents said they believed Paradise Lane would have been at risk in 2014, had people not taken steps during the storm to re-route the floodwaters.

Proponents of the watershed district were proposing a 1 mill levy to be assessed on properties, which would have resulted in an average cost of about $55 per year on the parcels. They said there were no plans to issue bonds.

Paradise Lane resident Kate Maynard said she's not opposed to residents raising money on their own to address the flood risk, but she doesn't want a governmental entity to form. While the current residents might not want to impose much of a tax or bonds, she said they can't guarantee what future boards would do.

Several Paradise Lane residents during the meeting asked watershed district organizers for their neighborhood to be removed from the district during its next formation attempt. And organizers agreed to remove them.

Maynard said many Paradise Lane residents were "relieved" at that decision.

"We all have compassion for the residents that were impacted by the flood and want to help them find solutions," she said in an email. "We are working on that now and hope they are receptive."

Some organizers said they felt frustrated because all along, they've been trying to improve the safety of the entire neighborhood, Paradise Lane included. But some residents seemed to take that good will as bad will, organizers said.

"We're just neighbors," Schroeder said. "We're just trying to help each other."

Resident Dick Gorham, whose house also was flooded three years ago, said the organizers had no intention of being secretive about the watershed district. In addition to letters, emails and knocking on doors, he said he personally paid for a certified letter to be sent out to residents to notify them about the situation.

"We're just trying to do the right thing and follow the steps," he said.

Organizers said, though no one was seriously hurt or killed in the 2014 flood, an elderly couple was covered in silt and water to about chest level and had to be rescued. Small factors could have led to a worse outcome, they said.

If the district is able to form again, Rocky Acres Trail residents said they think one of the biggest benefits will be united voice and an official standing that will allow them to seek state and federal grants to seek improvements to the hazardous conditions in their neighborhood.

Gorham also had more than 2 feet of water pour into his home during the flood. He said he understands that some residents whose homes didn't get flooded might not want to contribute financially to the watershed district. But he said people who went through the disaster have a keen sense of how difficult and dangerous a flood can be. Ideally, the district will be able to counter that risk.

"That's what we're trying to do is the preventative work," he said.

Diana Alba Soular may be reached at 575-541-5443, [email protected] or @AlbaSoular on Twitter.

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