Until the Sierra County Assessor posts new owners on its website it will remain unknown who bought parcels during the July 29 auction that were once owned by Hot Springs Land Development and BK Family Investment Partners.
Higgenbotham Auctioneers Manager Angie Poole, in a phone conversation with the Citizen, said, “We don’t give the results,” and recommended going to the assessor’s website after closings occur in “90 to 120 days.”
Poole said 17 of the 18 parcels that were up for auction “are under contract.”
Poole wasn’t sure what water basins the parcels are in. The New Mexico State Engineer recently closed the Hot Springs Underground Water Basin and the Lower Rio Grande Water Basin is treated as a closed basin since all water rights have been appropriated. Poole said the Office of the State Engineer only sent her vague maps that did not give the range or townships. She “thinks” the parcels are in the Hot Springs Underground Water Basin and the Lower Rio Grande Water Basin. If this is correct, existing water rights must be acquired and transferred to a well site, unless the parcel purchase included existing water rights.
Please see the Citizen’s prior article for more information on the parcels: https://sierracountycitizen.org/hot-springs-land-development-is-auctioning-its-land/
Please see the Citizen’s prior article on the State Engineer’s closure of the Hot Springs Underground Water Basin, which attached the State Engineer’s order that includes a map of the Hot Springs, Lower Rio Grande and Middle Rio Grande water basins: https://sierracountycitizen.org/state-engineer-closes-hot-springs-underground-water-basin/