District court hearing set Friday in controversial Palindrome-development case

Petitions filed by both sides in the controversial Palindrome development case are scheduled to be heard in state district court on Friday.

The Village of Los Ranchos de Albuquerque is requesting a temporary restraining order and injunction to stop construction on the project — 204 affordable apartment units and micro-retail spaces — on the southeast corner of Fourth and Osuna.

Palindrome Communities, the Portland, Oregon, company building the project, is asking for a temporary restraining order and injunction to prevent Los Ranchos Trustee Jennifer Kueffer from taking official actions related to the Palindrome project.

Palindrome contends that Kueffer, who campaigned for her trustee’s post on a pro open-space, anti-high-density platform, has made public statements that appear to commit her to “a particular result” in decisions related to the development.

Friday’s hearing, set for 1:30 p.m. before Judge Elaine P. Lujan in 2nd Judicial District Court, is the latest episode in an emotion-charged and complex conflict that has been unfolding for two years and has found the village government first on one side of the fight and then on the other.

Change in direction

Construction on the Palindrome development, also known as the Village Center Project, started in the summer of 2022, even as some village residents were expressing outrage about a high-density project emerging in a village incorporated in 1958 for the purpose of staying as rural and agricultural as possible.

A previous village administration headed by Mayor Donald Lopez approved the Village Center Project. The Friends of Los Ranchos, an organization that supports the conservation of open space, filed several lawsuits against the village, including one that charged the village with violating the state Open Meetings Act by failing to discuss the project in public meetings before the village’s Planning and Zoning Commission and its Board of Trustees.

On May 2, state District Judge Denise Barela-Shepherd ruled that the process used by the previous administration to approve the Village Center Project did breach the Open Meetings Act. In response, Palindrome filed a motion for reconsideration.

Barela-Shepherd has given Friends of Los Ranchos until July 15 to respond to Palindrome’s motion and set July 30 as the deadline for Palindrome to submit a reply brief.

But even before Barela-Shepherd’s ruling, a village election in November 2023 turned the situation on its head. Joe Craig, president of Friends of Los Ranchos and the leading figure in the lawsuits filed against the village, was elected mayor, defeating incumbent Lopez. Kueffer and Frank Reinow, also a champion of open space, were elected to vacant seats on the board of trustees.

On May 9, a week after Barela-Shepherd’s ruling that the previous village administration violated the Open Meetings Act, Craig called for the shutting down of the Village Center Project.

Originally, Craig was included with Kueffer in Palindrome’s petition precluding official action on matters involving the project. But on May 21, Craig died following treatment for a medical condition that emerged soon after he took office.

The next round

On May 29, Los Ranchos trustees voted 2-1 to pursue a court injunction stopping the Palindrome development, which, after two years of work, is nearing completion.

Kueffer and Reinow, the board’s mayor pro tem, voted in favor of seeking the injunction. Trustee Gil Benavides, a holdover from the board that served with Mayor Lopez, voted no. Trustee George Radnovich, also a member of the board during the previous administration, recused himself because, prior to his election, Radnovich’s company secured a landscape contract with Palindrome Communities.

Now, the Village of Los Ranchos, once sued for approving the Palindrome development, is trying to stop it.

Chad Rennaker, chief executive officer of Palindrome Communities, said Palindrome’s mission is to make high-quality, affordable housing available to communities in dire need of it. He said Palindrome complied with all the village’s guidance, processes and requirements, but it is the company that stands to lose the most if the project is stopped.

Marsha Adams, who succeeded Craig as president of Friends of Los Ranchos, said Palindrome was aware from the start that it did not have proper approvals and permits for construction but continued to build anyway.

“It is totally wrong that (Friends) are against affordable housing,” Adams said. “We are against the way this project was done without proper permits.”

Friday’s hearing marks the next round in the ongoing battle.