Section 5-17-17 - Exclusion of territory. - New Mexico Statutes

5-17-17. Exclusion of territory.

A.     The boundaries of an infrastructure development zone may be altered by the exclusion of real property by the fee owners of one hundred percent of any real property situate in the infrastructure development zone filing with the board a petition requesting that the real property of the fee owners be excluded and taken from the infrastructure development zone.  The petition shall set forth a legal description of the property, shall state that assent to the exclusion of the property from the infrastructure development zone is given by the fee owners thereof and shall be acknowledged by the fee owners in the same manner as required for conveyance of land.

B.     The board shall hear the petition at a public meeting after publication of notice of the filing of the petition, the place, time and date of the meeting, the names and addresses of the petitioners, a general description of the area proposed for exclusion and notice that all persons interested shall appear at the designated time and place and show cause in writing why the petition should not be granted.  There shall be no withdrawal from a petition after publication of notice by the board without the consent of the board.  The failure of any person in the existing infrastructure development zone to file a written objection shall be taken as an assent on that person's part to the exclusion of the area described in the notice.

C.     The board shall take into consideration and make a finding regarding all of the following factors when determining whether to grant or deny the petition or any portion thereof:

(1)     the best interests of all of the following:

(a)     the property to be excluded;

(b)     the infrastructure development zone from which the exclusion is proposed; and

(c)     the municipalities and counties in which the infrastructure development zone is located;

(2)     the relative cost and benefit to the property to be excluded from the provision of the infrastructure development zone's services;

(3)     the ability of the infrastructure development zone to provide economical and sufficient services to both the property to be excluded and all of the properties within the infrastructure development zone's boundaries;

(4)     the effect of denying the petition on employment and other economic conditions in the infrastructure development zone and surrounding area;

(5)     the economic impact on the region and on the infrastructure development zone, surrounding area and state as a whole if the petition is denied or the resolution is finally adopted;

(6)     whether an economically feasible alternative service may be available; and

(7)     the additional cost to be levied on other property within the infrastructure development zone if the exclusion is granted.

D.     If the board, after considering all of the factors set forth in Subsection C of this section, determines that the property described in the petition or some portion thereof should be excluded from the infrastructure development zone, it shall order that the petition be granted, in whole or in part; provided that:

(1)     if the property to be excluded from the infrastructure development zone will be served by a proposed infrastructure development zone that is not yet organized, the board shall not order that the petition be granted until the proposed infrastructure development zone has been organized pursuant to the Infrastructure Development Zone Act [5-17-1 NMSA 1978], and notwithstanding any other provision of that act to the contrary, the property to be excluded may be included within the boundaries of the proposed infrastructure development zone; and

(2)     the order of exclusion shall recite in the findings a description of any bonded indebtedness in existence immediately preceding the effective date of the order for which the excluded property is liable and the date that the bonded indebtedness is then scheduled to be retired; provided that a failure of the order for exclusion to recite the existence and scheduled retirement date of the indebtedness, when due to error or omission by the infrastructure development zone, shall not constitute grounds for correction of the omission of a levy on the excluded property from the assessment roll.

E.     If the board, after considering all of the factors set forth in Subsection C of this section, determines that the property described in the petition should not be excluded from the infrastructure development zone, it shall order that the petition be denied, provided that:

(1)     any petition that is denied may be appealed to the approving authority for review of the board's decision.  The appeal shall be taken no later than thirty days after the decision;

(2)     upon appeal, the approving authority shall consider the factors set forth in Subsection C of this section and shall make a determination as to whether to exclude the properties mentioned in the petition or resolution based on the record developed at the hearing before the board;

(3)     the decision of the approving authority may be appealed, within thirty days of the approving authority's decision, to the district court for the county in which the proposed excluded area is located; and

(4)     upon appeal, the court shall review the record developed at the hearing before the board and, after considering all of the factors set forth in Subsection C of this section, shall make a determination whether to exclude the properties mentioned in the petition or resolution.