Parties in Palindrome dispute agree to settlement

Village of Los Ranchos trustees have voted unanimously to pay $175,000 to plaintiffs in lawsuits challenging the controversial Palindrome project at Fourth and Osuna.

The village and Palindrome Communities, the Portland, Oregon, developer of the 204-unit affordable-living complex, will each pay $87,500 to the Friends of Los Ranchos and to Nancy Nangeroni, a board member of the Friends organization.

In return, all cases presented by the plaintiffs against the village and Palindrome are dismissed with prejudice, meaning they can’t be brought back to court.

Los Ranchos Trustees Frank Reinow, Gilbert Benavides and Jennifer Kueffer voted to approve the settlement during a special meeting Wednesday night. Trustee George Radnovich, whose company has a landscaping contract with Palindrome, recuses himself in matters related to the company and did not participate.

The Journal covered the meeting via Zoom.

Vincent J. Ward, the attorney hired to represent the village in the court cases, said during the meeting that the settlement was the result of a robust back-and-forth between the parties.

“This stops the hemorrhaging of the village for legal fees that are not sustainable,” Ward told trustees. “While no settlement agreement is perfect, ... I will strongly recommend approval.”

Ward estimated the village has been spending $50,000 to $100,000 a month in legal fees related to the controversy, which boiled to the surface more than two years ago.

Even before construction started on the Palindrome development, also known as the Village Center Project, in the summer of 2022, many village residents were outraged that a high-density project was being built in a community incorporated in 1958 for the purpose of staying rural and agricultural.

Residents were especially incensed when it was revealed that a previous village administration pushed the project through without having public meetings before the Los Ranchos Planning and Zoning Commission and Board of Trustees.

Friends of Los Ranchos, a group that supports conserving open space, sued the village for violating the state Open Meetings Act. In May, state District Judge Denise Barela-Shepherd ruled that the village did violate the act.

Even though construction on the affordable-living complex is well along, Wednesday’s settlement requires Palindrome to go through the public-hearing process to get approval for the project. Residents will have a chance to voice objections or support.

In voting in favor of the settlement, Trustee Benavides noted that getting three parties — the village, the developer and Friends of Los Ranchos — to agree to something is not easy.

“I’m OK with it,” he said.

Kueffer said she sees the agreement as acknowledgement that the village’s previous administration was not listening to residents in 2022.

“I think the settlement is a start to getting fair representation for the village,” she said.

Trustee Reinow, who is also village mayor pro tem, said full participation of village residents is important to the political process.

“We need to make sure we abide by the law,” he said.

Marsha Adams, president of Friends of Los Ranchos, said the organization is happy to have the court cases and settlement process behind it and to have the money to pay its attorney. She said the group is also glad the village will not have to continue to spend money on legal fees.

But she expects Friends to be a very vocal part of the upcoming public hearings.

“We still have issues with the development,” she said. “We still think it is illegal. This is not over yet.”