Proposed subdivision in East Mountains takes a step back

EDGEWOOD — A 25-year-old subdivision plan for the East Mountains that is opposed by a large and vocal group of residents concerned about water availability hit a new stumbling block after taking a small step forward in November.

Campbell Farming Corp. has been trying to build a new subdivision with golf courses and a hotel on an 8,000-acre area near Cedar Crest and San Antonito since 1999. The development plan took a small step forward in November when Edgewood’s Planning and Zoning Commission approved subdividing one 1,200-acre section of Campbell Ranch into five tracts of land. More than 100 disgruntled East Mountains residents showed up for the initial Planning and Zoning meeting, several of whom pointed to declining water levels in existing wells and dire predictions for water availability in the community for existing users over the next 40 years.

The Town of Edgewood Commission sent the matter back to the Planning and Zoning Commission for further review after a hearing Thursday where residents, advocacy group East Mountains Protection Action Coalition and Bernalillo County appealed the initial decision to divide the land into smaller units. Commissioner Stephen Murrillo said his biggest issue was the town failing to send documents related to the hearing in a timely manner, and he’d like clarity about why the town is using an older ordinance to evaluate the minor subdivision application.

“Does the Town of Edgewood really want to continue supporting a 4,000 home, two golf course, mega-development, when the reality is there’s no sustainable water resources to support the people who live in those homes or to water that grass?” Zachary Withers, who owns a farm adjacent to the Campbell Ranch property, said during Thursday’s hearing.

In the November meeting, multiple residents shared how they spent thousands to drill new wells after their water wells ran dry.

The project has faced substantial legal challenges around water use. Most recently, in 2023, the New Mexico Court of Appeals affirmed a district court decision to deny a groundwater application for the Campbell Ranch development.

A representative for Campbell Ranch, President Robert Gately, told the Journal the denied application was for additional or new water rights, and the developer already has “water rights sufficient for development, with senior rights that predate most water rights in the region — including one well in particular dating back to 1898.”

“What’s being presented as evidence of water scarcity often involves misleading interpretations of historical well depths, as well as unfortunate well locations, which due to their poor location only access small pockets of water instead of the massive water availability found in the area,” he said in a statement.

Hessel E. Yntema III, a lawyer representing the East Mountains Protection Action Coalition, an advocacy group of East Mountains residents who strongly oppose the subdivision plan, argued for the commission to defer the decision, because a final 2,000-page document related to the hearing was not sent to relevant parties until the day of the hearing. He also brought up concerns that the initial Planning and Zoning Commission hearing may have inappropriately limited who could participate in public comment and potential Open Meetings Act violations.

“We’re looking for sustainability,” EMPAC president Dennis Kellogg told the Journal. “We’re not looking for the property rights to be taken away, certainly not. But rescaling a project of this scale, I think, is appropriate at this time.”

“Are property rights truly legal rights if they can be stripped away because of personal agendas disguised as concern for water preservation?” Gately’s statement reads.