Update on Condos 3/23/06

Yesterday my daughter Rachel called the planning dept. code enforcement and informed them that dirt work was proceeding without a building permit. Today the County visited the site and were shown a building permit which was not posted. A worker there insisted that it was not necessary to post the building permit while preliminary dirt work was all that was happening. I have no idea if this is true. I also saw the building permit when I came by later.

This morning Nic Jaramillo called me. Andy Montoya had tipped him off that work was beginning, which was news to Nic He said that Allen Vigil had signed off on a zoning clearance for this project before Dec. 7. Nic requested that Vigil notify the neighborhood association that this had been done, so that we could file an appeal within the 30 day period allowed. Vigil replied that this was not usually done and was not required by law, but apparently said he would do it. Nic checked with the planning dept. today and learned that this had not been done. He spoke to Tom Blankenhorn, pointing out that the neighborhood association could not file an appeal if they didn’t know about the action. Nic said to me that he thought DMNA should file an appeal because we were not notified about the zoning clearance. Blankenhorn told him that the 30 day period would begin the day we first saw dirt work start – Mar.16

Later this morning, Tom Blankenhorn called. He said that Allen Vigil had to give the developers their zoning clearance because they had fulfilled the requirements before the grace period for the Land Use Ord. Amendment expired – Dec. 7. The project was then grandfathered. He said an appeal would fail, because there was no legal basis for it. He recommended not filing an appeal. I said I understood his argument, but that Des Montes Neighborhood Association might file one anyway

The 30 day window means we cannot wait until the next board meeting to discuss this. So some kind of decision made by email and/or phone is going to be necessary. The question is will this appeal benefit DMNA’s agenda in any way? As a neighboring land owner I do not see that filing the appeal would further any agenda of mine. Will it help us to be a minor thorn in the side of the County? Nic seems to think so, but maybe he was just trying to give us something to do.

What does the rest of the board think? How should we go about making a decision? As president, it might be a good idea for Kate to weigh in on this first, and we can follow any procedural process she suggests. There is a time constraint.

Looking forward to a quick reply.

Linda