Mall manager, city to discuss maintenance of medians

SO WHO REALLY OWNS THE MALL MEDIANS? Short answer — you, the public, do.

But the longer answer — and the one commuters really want — involves who owns the responsibility to maintain them.

Last week the city explained that in the Cottonwood Mall area, that responsibility lies with the mall.

And the resulting response from readers and the mall has made getting to a sale table on Black Friday look like a cakewalk. The company that manages the mall requested a correction, readers including Richard Moore were incredulous that the city would turn over medians to private businesses, and others like master gardener Sue Trevor vowed to join forces with whomever necessary to “get these medians cleaned up.”

First, the background:

A reader had pointed out that the “area(s) around Cottonwood Mall — Ellison, 7 Bar Loop, Coors Boulevard, etc. — are horrible in the summer. Is this the responsibility of the city or the mall? That area is highly traveled, and it is a disgrace.”

And Paul Hyso, marketing manager for the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, had responded that “city Legal and Planning Departments reviewed this along with the Parks & Recreation Department back in 2007, and the city had no role in development, and, therefore, has never maintained the medians. It is our understanding that it is the responsibility of Cottonwood Mall management to maintain those areas.”

Now, the latest:

Jeremy J. Strife, area general manager for SIMON Management Group, sent an email Monday morning saying, “Cottonwood Mall does not own those particular medians and does not have a contractual obligation to maintain the medians. However, our community is very important to Cottonwood Mall and we have agreed to meet with the City’s Parks and Rec Department to discuss the area and a potential solution. We would very much appreciate your assistance in rectifying this situation.”

On Tuesday, city Parks and Recreation Director Barbara Baca called to say the medians are public right of way, and the real issue is maintenance of the improvements — i.e. landscaping — on them. She says developers landscape medians to city specifications and then either maintain them or sign a maintenance agreement with the city.

And one was never signed regarding the medians around Cottonwood Mall.

Baca reiterated that the city plans to meet with mall management in March to discuss median maintenance, and in the short-term the city will treat the medians around the mall on Coors Bypass and Coors Boulevard as it does the unimproved ones it cares for, picking up trash and cutting weeds. She says one thing that needs to be addressed is the irrigation system, which has meters housed on mall property and “is aging and in need of repair.”

Another is how to pay for maintenance. Hyso says the “Park Management Division is budgeted $2,179 per acre for median maintenance. Assuming the median width is 25 feet, then the cost per mile is approximately $6,603. Factors involved in determining costs are plant material, water requirements, electricity requirements, weather, age of improvements, vandalism.”

Baca says the city already maintains 300 parks, 168 miles of medians and around 150 miles of trails, and she emphasizes that public-private partnerships are vital to expanding that system.

And that’s the goal of talks next month between the mall management and the city.

Assistant editorial page editor D’Val Westphal tackles commuter issues for the Metro area on Mondays and West Siders and Rio Ranchoans on Thursdays. Reach her at 505-823-3858; road@abqjournal.com; P.O. Drawer J, Albuquerque, NM 87103; or go to ABQjournal.com/traffic to read previous columns and join in the conversation.
— This article appeared on page 21 of the Albuquerque Journal