Proposed Edgewood subdivision moving ahead (again)

EDGEWOOD — In a déjà vu moment, a plan to build thousands of homes in Edgewood took a small step forward Thursday, despite East Mountain residents’ worries over water.

For the second time in six months, the Edgewood Planning and Zoning Commission approved an application from Campbell Ranch Farming Corp. to divide a 1,200-acre parcel into five sections. The commission meeting was attended by well over 100 residents and stretched into the early hours of Friday.

Despite a mysterious pro-Campbell Ranch mailer sent to Edgewood residents, the public comments were overwhelmingly negative. Even when locals began with concerns about being neighborly or following ordinances, inevitably their fears came back to wells running dry while a hydrologist testified that groundwater levels are dropping because of overdevelopment.

Commission Vice Chair Cheryl Bonino said she’s personally had two wells go dry and understands the community's concern about water.

"I’m compelled to do something that perhaps I wouldn’t do if I were able to just say, 'Oh, let’s not do it,' because I have to have a legal basis for turning it down," Bonino said before the board took its 5-0 vote.

The plan to build 4,000 homes and two golf courses near Cedar Crest and San Antonito began in 1999 but has hit legal and financial roadblocks. A master plan was signed with the Edgewood mayor in the early 2000s that is still in effect. The company’s latest attempt to move forward is dividing one of its parcels through an archaic minor subdivision process, something the Planning and Zoning Commission originally approved in November.

Dividing the parcel will make it easier to find investors, said Campbell Ranch representative Sheldon Greer. He expects there will be changes to the master plan if the project finally gets to development.

"I seriously doubt there will be two golf courses," Greer said.

The Edgewood Town Commission had concerns about delayed documents, and in March reversed the approval with a 3-0 vote, remanding the decision to planning and zoning.

"Our region is dead if there’s no water," Sandia Park resident David Thompson said during public comment.

Republican state Sen. Ant Thornton, who represents the East Mountains, spoke in opposition to the project after getting over 1,000 letters from his constituents.

"People talk about the water, but it's not just the water: it's the infrastructure, it's the traffic, it's the additional schools, the police force, fire department, all of the other stuff that has to be put out," Thornton told the Journal. "And all of a sudden we don't become the East Mountain community. We become another city like Rio Rancho, which is not a bad thing to do, but that's not what we want out here."

Campbell Ranch President Robert Gately previously told the Journal the developer has "water rights sufficient for development, with senior rights that predate most water rights in the region," but during Thursday’s meeting Greer said water for the development was unsolved and a question for further along in the process.

Corbin Carsrud, a hydrogeologist for Bernalillo County, testified that aquifers in the area are dropping an average of 2 feet per year because of overdevelopment.

Several residents complained about divisive mailers sent out ahead of the meeting. Someone, although it’s unclear exactly who, tried to generate grassroots support for the Campbell Ranch master plan, sending out mailers titled “Save South Mountain” with a QR code linked to savesouthmountain.org and an online petition.

"Non-residents are attempting to speak for US at city meetings," the mailer reads. Many of the people objecting to the Campbell Ranch development plans don’t live within Edgewood, but live next door to Campbell Ranch’s property and would be affected by new homes or wells there.

The website says that protecting the Campbell Ranch master plan would protect South Mountain from development. The master plan does include commitments to maintain open spaces, as well as plans for thousands of new homes.