HOUSE FLOOR SUBSTITUTE FOR

HOUSE BILL 749

48th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2007

AN ACT

RELATING TO TRADITIONAL HISTORIC COMMUNITIES; REVISING QUALIFICATIONS.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     Section 1. Section 3-7-1.1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1995, Chapter 170, Section 5 and Laws 1995, Chapter 211, Section 4) is amended to read:

     "3-7-1.1. TRADITIONAL HISTORIC COMMUNITY--QUALIFICATIONS--ANNEXATION RESTRICTIONS.--

          A. To qualify as a traditional historic community, an area shall:

                (1) be an unincorporated area of a class B county with a population between ninety-five thousand and ninety-nine thousand five hundred, based on the 1990 federal decennial census or be an unincorporated area of a class B county with a population between twenty-six thousand and thirty thousand or sixty-five thousand and seventy thousand, based on the 2000 federal decennial census;

                (2) be an identifiable village, community, neighborhood or district that can be documented as having existed for more than one hundred years;

                (3) include structures or landmarks that are associated with the identity of the specific village, community, neighborhood or district seeking designation as a traditional historic community;

                (4) have a distinctive character or traditional quality that can be distinguished from surrounding areas or new developments in the vicinity; and

                (5) be declared a traditional historic community by an ordinance of the board of county commissioners of the county in which the petitioning village, community, neighborhood or district is located.

          B. A traditional historic community may be annexed by a municipality only by petition of a majority of the [registered qualified electors] voters of the territory within the traditional historic community proposed to be annexed by the municipality or by the arbitration method of annexation only upon petition of a majority of the [registered qualified electors] voters of the territory within the traditional historic community."