FOLR Newsletter, April 2025
Dear Friends of Los Ranchos,
We hope you’re enjoying the Spring! If your spring cleaning has uncovered items you no longer need, please consider donating them for sale by FOLR at the Community Yard Sale in the Village barn on April 27th from 8 am-1:30 pm. In keeping with our mission of to preserve Village land, wildlife, culture and heritage, all proceeds will be donated to the Village of Los Ranchos' Open Space Fund.
We welcome clean and workable donations of all kinds. We’re particularly interested in jewelry and art, but welcome books, clothing and other items.
To donate: Text or call us at (505-589-9803 or 978-578-6297) to arrange a drop-off.
Visit us at the Community Yard Sale! Stop by our table on April 27th, we’d love to catch up. We are also planning a spring get-together in the near future that will give us all a chance to get caught up on everything.
The past year was a busy one for FOLR. Despite a court ruling against them, Palindrome kept on building. The past Lopez administration was found in violation of the Open Meetings Act, and staff approval of the site plans was ruled illegal. The court’s remedy was to have Palindrome submit their site development plan for approval to the Village’s Planning and Zoning (P&Z) commission and to the Board of Trustees. P&Z Commission has since approved Palindrome’s site development plan with conditions.
The BOT will hold a special meeting on April 10th at 5pm at the Village Hall to discuss Palindrome’s application for approval. Please visit the Village web site for more detail about this and other upcoming meetings. We hope you will join us at this important meeting and voice your opinion!
Other upcoming meetings:
April 8, 6pm: Regular Planning & Zoning Meeting
April 15, 6pm: Regular Board of Trustees Meeting
Wishing all of you a Happy Spring!
Marsha Adams, President
Marcia Smiley, Vice President
Nancy Nangeroni, Secretary
Update on Tuesday's P&Z meeting and other important meetings coming up!!!
by Robert Chavez
The P&Z meeting was 3 and 1/2 hours. The Palindrome site and plat items were last. The public comment period had three of the Friends of Los Ranchos speaking against the approval. The points made are listed below.
Tom Donelan spoke to the fact that Palindrome did not do what the village wanted for the Village Center. It was supposed to be mostly commercial with a little housing
The construction should have been stopped based on the 1st court ruling.
Multifamily apartments were not a permissive use in the VC zone.
The P&Z passed the Site plan with the conditions listed below 3 to 2. Dru and John voted against. Mary and Connie recused themselves. Gwen, Bob, and Claire voted for.
Wall on the south border should be built.
The Osuna access should be limited to right turn entry and egress.
Alternate parking plan should be done.
Economic impact report should be done.
Install landscape on Osuna to act as a barrier for better pedestrian walkway.
The next BOT will be Tuesday 1/21/25. It will consist of two meetings. The first one starts at 5 PM and is a closed meeting to discuss the purchase of water rights for the Agricenter. The regular meeting is at 6 pm and the important agenda items are listed below.
Vote for the appointment of Lawrence Rael as mayor.
Approval of the P&Z commissioners for this year.
a.) Gwenn Baldwin
b.) Connie Barrow
c.) John Edward
d.) Claire Heywood
e.) Mary Homan
f.) Robert Martinez
g.) Dru Tagliapietra
There is an open meeting scheduled for next Thursday 1/23/25 at 6 PM to get public input on the VC zone issues and suggestions for changes.
This is an important meeting that needs resident participation so the VC zone can be changed to meet what residents want in that zone.