Currently, there are three open zoning violations that all relate to gravel quarries. The beauty of this area has attracted many people who have built moderate and high end rural homes, and the gravel, used mostly in the urban areas for landscape, roads and concrete, has attracted the gravel mines. There is an expected tension between the beauty of the area and its abundant stone and gravel. The regulation of that tension for the protection of property rights, investments, and peaceful ownership for our unincorporated communities falls under the Sandoval County Zoning regulations. Prior to enactment of the County regulations, the Town of Bernalillo / Sandoval County Extra-Territorial Zoning (ETZ) Commission regulated most areas of Placitas excluding the Village. The last Chairman of the ETZ which disbanded in 1995 was Tom Swisstack, presently Mayor of Rio Rancho. On a per household basis, Placitans pay some of the highest per capita property taxes in the county. There are no severance taxes for gravel extraction. If you would like to see gravel mining and the associated truck traffic double or triple, do not read any further.
The first of the three open violations relates to the old McIlhaney Gravel Mine. It was partially reclaimed, or restored wherein grades are re-shaped to emulate the surrounding area and then seeded. This reclamation occurred about 1999. As this occurred four years after the ETZ, page 19 item 5 of the “Extra-Territorial Zoning Ordinance”, was never enforced. “In the event that a use authorized as an S-U Zone is permanently discontinued, the S-U Zone may be cancelled and removed from the Zoning Map under the provisions for an amendment to this Ordinance. That area delineated by such discontinued S-U zone shall be rezoned to the prevailing surrounding zone as determined by the Authority following recommendation by the Commission.”
On October 21, 2010, Sandoval County repealed the ETZ Ordinance. Then on November 18, 2010 Sandoval County violated several of its own ordinances when it brought the long discontinued S-U Sand/Gravel special use, originally granted by the ETZ, into the Sandoval County Zoning Map with Ordinance 10-11-18.7B3. The purpose of the Zoning Ordinance is to protect property rights by providing clear expectations. Special Use is spot zoning and is not a right conferred upon a governing body or property owner, but is allowed through due process if enabling zoning ordinance will allow:
Section 16, Non-conformities, Abandonment. “Whenever a nonconforming use has been discontinued or abandoned for a period of one year or more, such use shall not thereafter be reestablished, and any future use must be in conformance with the provisions of this Ordinance.”
Section 10, A., Intent., SU Special-Use District – “… The County Board may not grant a Zone Map Amendment for establishment of a Special Use District unless satisfactory provisions have been made:
1. To assure the compatibility of property uses shall be maintained in the general area.
2. To preserve the integrity and character of the area … [same as the Placitas Area Plan language].
Section 10, C., Removal of Zones., SU Special-Use District, – “In the event that a use authorized as a Special Use District is permanently discontinued … shall be restored to the prevailing zone district …”. In fact “discontinued” means for an extraction site, no extraction by the operator has occurred for more than 6 months.”
Per the Sandoval Zoning Ordinance, this property should have reverted to the zoning of adjoining properties and the overlay zoning of the Placitas Area Plan. Continuing this spot zoning violates both the intent and the letter of the zoning ordinance and threatens properties nearby. If you want to see this property, it is south of 165 and the next properties, just south of the illegal Fisher gravel mine, and just north of the Bernalillo water tank reservoir. This property is owned by the Sandia Tribe, but it’s not a part of the sovereign tribal lands. Sandia has proven itself over time to be an exceptionally good steward of the land, but it also allowed decades of gravel mining to occur between Bernalillo and the Pueblo before requiring that the land be reclaimed.
The next violator is Fisher. It is not happenstance that these properties are neighbors. There is plenty of gravel up and down the Rio Grande corridor, and the Placitas Area just happens to be closer to Albuquerque than a lot of other mines. The short story on Fisher is that they feigned a “Terrain Management” re-grading of their property for future commercial lots instead of going through the process for an S-U (special use) Sand and Gravel permit. ES-CA and the community took the Sandoval County Commission to task on this violation when the asphalt equipment moved on site. The county sent a compliance letter to Fisher on January 27, 2012 and in accordance with Section 15(F) of the Zoning Ordinance, they were to remove all equipment and stock piles of materials. The equipment and material remain on the site and the original faux use agreement expired in December of last year.
The last site is not unlike Fisher in thumbing their nose at the Sandoval County Government and its citizens. Lafarge came in on the coat tails of another mining operation approved by the late ETZ. As this mine has been in continuous use and not abandoned or use discontinued, the County was obligated to bring the ETZ use in under Section 10 (1), J., SU Sand and Gravel Mining, Existing Current Uses / Grandfather Clause. Lafarge does not interpret things the same as the County and has expanded its mine past the ETZ approval and do not think they should have to follow the parts of the ordinance that require application and process described earlier for S-U Sand and Gravel. There is a lot more to be said about this property and the neighbors near this property will tell the rest of this story.
