I went to the Land Use ordinance meeting, and found it very
informative and helpful. The Stagecoach Neighborhood Association is scheduled to
go before a work/study meeting of the County Commissioners on Dec. 19
to present their draft zoning ordinance. If the County Commissioners
questions are answered, it will go to a public hearing in early
January. If all goes well there, the commissioners will vote on the ordinance
then.

The meeting today was well attended by a representative group of
Stagecoach neighbors including Hispanic large landowners. Nick
Jaramillo and Allen Vigil were there to speak on their support for the
draft document and the process and to answer questions. There were
specific questions about the the re-evaluation issue which was
discussed at our meeting and I have a more in depth understanding of
the law now in effect. I also got a good look at the process they
used, and the actual draft ordinance. This is on the Stagecoach
website. It is interesting to see how they tailored the process
followed by Upper Las Colonias to meet their situation. They had
strong subzone committees who made their own decisions about their own
zoning.

I hope to be able to convey what I learned to those interested in
pursuing a land use ordinance of our own. I think their experience
will help us make decisions about how to proceed.

I have heard no objections to meeting Tuesday 6:30-8:30 at the
Sanborns, but I haven't had any reply from some of the people who I
emailed about this last week.

Please let me know if you can come.l

Linda

I had a call from Terry Thompson, inviting us to their next Land Use
Planning meeting this Saturday, 9-11 am, at Kit Carson Board Rm on
Cruz
Alta. I hope some of us can make it.

You can learn more, and get a copy of their land use ordinance, at
their website: www.stagecoachhills.com

(Kate, they have been meeting on this for two years and have applied
the work of Las Colonias.)

Linda, can you please forward to other Land Use committee members

-Jim

Jim and I spoke at the public hearing this morning urging the Commissioners to pass 2005-10, which they did 4-0, Virgil Martinez absent. I spoke as a neighbor, an adjoining property owner and Jim spoke for the neighborhood association. He also presented our petitions. Rudy Pacheco, who worked on the subdivision regulations spoke, expressing some reservations about neighborhood associations having the power to speak for all in their neighborhoods when many don’t know what is being done or don’t agree. Fabi Romero spoke about the lack of input from the whole community during the subdivision process. Specifically she said that she thought that development should go on hills leaving the valleys for agriculture as was done in medieval Italy. She did not mention the condo development. No one from the real estate community spoke. Tom Blankenhorn said that some modest changes to the proposed amendment were made. He was explaining these when I walked in so I missed the gist. However, I understand that they all made the regulations more stringent. The new law will be posted on www.taoscounty.org

Check it out (give them a few days to get it up). Jim and I decided that the task force on zoning should meet soon to decide on a plan and calendar of action. I am thinking next week, Tuesday or Thursday at our usual time 6;30-8;30, at the Sanborns. Lets say it will be Tuesday unless a critical mass prefers Thurs. For this to work, everyone needs to reply to this email letting me know if they can come.

Who is on the task force? I start with those who signed up at the annual meeting: Michael Pascarella, Pat Manhart, Kate Duffy, Nancy Berk, Jim Sanborn, Subra Duncan, and myself. Add to that anyone who would like to be on the committee. Andy Romero?

LInda