By Andrea Vasquez
Campbell Ranch Corp. will have its second public quasi-judicial hearing and first one of the year on Jan. 30.
The meeting, organized by the Edgewood Commission, will be held at 2 p.m. at the Edgewood Town Hall, 171 A. NM 344.
The hearing will address an appeal for the recent minor subdivision approval request by Campbell Ranch Corp., which has many residents discontent.
While Campbell Farming Corp.’s request for preliminary and final plat approval to divide one lot into five parcels was made official, many community members disagreed with the subdivision decision and swiftly filed appeals that will be part of the Jan. 30 hearing.
The Town of Edgewood’s Planning and Zoning Commission approved the initial request on Nov. 21. The approval was granted under the guidelines of Ordinance 1999-R.
Despite this approval, appeals were filed on Dec. 6 of that same year to contest the decision.
Community members and the East Mountains Protection Action Coalition (EMPAC) have expressed significant opposition to the approval of these projects, citing several concerns.
Concerns include water scarcity, which is the most pressing matter, but also infrastructure impact, traffic congestion, emergency services limitation, educational strain, archeological risks and crime concerns. More information can be found on EMPAC’s website.
During the hearing, appellants, town staff and legal counsel will be allowed to present relevant testimony and evidence for the Town Commission to consider.
More details about the hearing and other documents are available at Edgewood Commission Agendas & Minutes.
For additional questions, Linda Burke, community liaison, can be reached at (505) 286-4518 or by email at lburke@edgewood-nm.gov.
The Planning and Zoning hearing is estimated to be three hours long and can be live-streamed here.
Thank you for writing this article to bring attention to this important meeting. A couple questions which I hope you can help answer for the community:
1) Is 1099-R the correct case-law to be using in this approval process? There has been much talk about how 1099-R is an outdated law which as been superseded by a new set of laws under which this division would not have been approved.
2) Will the local representatives for the affected communities be in attendance and can you get them on record with respect to their position on the Campbell Ranch development? The three I’m aware of are my relevant representatives:
– Eric Olivas, BernCo Commissioner, District 5: Commissioner Olivas has gone on record in the past as being opposed to this development and he sent his assistant Augustine Montoya to the P&Z Meeting to read a statement of opposition.
– Stefani Lord, NM State Rep, District 22: Mrs. Lord has been very quiet on the matter, even after making a promise on NextDoor to her constituents to fight this development. Despite asserting she would attend and speak at the P&Z Meeting, she did not and has been unengaged on this issue this far. All she has ever done is show up to some of the meetings, “just to listen.”
– Ant Thornton, NM State Senator, District 19: I have not seen or heard anything from Mr. Thornton on the matter.
Of course there are many other elected officials who represent interested parties with respect to this development. I think it would be a worthwhile journalistic endeavor to understand the position of those we have elected to represent us, as this issue is one of if not the largest matters facing the East Mountain communities at this time. If our representatives are not involved in this matter, then what are they doing and why have we elected them to represent us?