THE SAN MARCOS PLAN

This won't be easy. But we have to start somewhere. Thanks-------for the nudge to focus on a plan (and not go all over the place with this.) Coal and solar are not the main issues here; planning is.

A search online seemed to have been the ideal way to get to the important San Marcos Plan. Otherwise, wading through all the county parlance and acronyms is inhibiting. And to most people, surely. 

https://www.santafecountynm.gov/growth_management/community_planning_center/san_marcos

I'll eventually try to find my way around this document, however partially or inadequately.

- It is important to tackle San Marcos planning. It's the site of the largest swathes of flat open land sitting along north 14 and that so delight large scale developers. 

- The area is immediately contiguous with other similar flat areas close to the city.

- There is no reason to believe that developers and county planners wouldn't want to continue large scale development (consistent with the Movie Studio, the Detention Center, the Police Offices, or even suburban development like Ranch Viejo more to the north.

- A metropolitan scale (diverging diamond) interchange would seem to favor a lot more traffic and development close to the city.

- The recent widening/paving of the shoulder all through San Marcos might raise suspicions regarding its purpose. Is it meant to facilitate cyclists? But since the widened lanes only continue to Lone Butte, while cyclists tend to go all the way south past Madrid, what would be the logic behind the recent widening? The widened stretch overcame public resistance in the past to DOT engineering of the stretch to facilitate more auto traffic, greater speed, and more straight-through traffic.

- The San Marcos Plan might shed light on the recent puzzling trends along the area stretch of highway.