Stagecoach Neighborhood Association (SNA)

Update on the Draft of the 2012
Taos County Land Use Code (LUC)

Update January 30, 2012:
To all SNA landowners,

• Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 9 am Public Hearing solely for Stagecoach landowners. The Commissioners want to hear that we are in agreement before this meeting but if you still have outstanding questions or issues that are not resolved this is your last opportunity to speak to the Commsissioners.

The Taos County Planning Dept. sent a mailing to all Taos County land owners presenting a list of scheduled meetings for the public to attend regarding the new draft of the LUC which they hope to adopt in early 2012. The final informational meeting will be held at 2pm on January 21, 2012. Then on January 31, 2012 at 9 am there will be a public hearing for the Stagecoach Neighborhood at the Commission Chambers at 105 Albright St., Taos. At this public hearing the County Commissioners will want to know if our neighborhood is in agreement with the current draft of the LUC as it pertains to Stagecoach or any general area of the LUC. In our case the 2012 version has stuck with the zoning requirements set up in the 2006 ordinance. The main change has been to reformat the presentaion of the information. Please download and read the following documents for Stagecoach and contact the Planning Dept. or Terry Thompson if you have any questions prior to the January 31, 2012 meeting.

Click here to download a pdf of the final draft Stagecoach section of the LUC as of January 30, 2012.

Click here to download a recent letter to Barbara Martinez, Taos County Attorney, explaining that we were not making changes to the 2006 code but only making corrections to errors in drafts as they were published.

Click here to go to the Taos County website page that allows you to download a pdf file of the latest complete draft 2012 Land Use Code (LUC). Then click on "View Regulations..." to download the 6 MB file. The section (5.15) pertaining only to Stagecoach starts on page 138. However, much of the language in our 2006 amendment has been moved to generic sections of the LUC where they have tried to standardize information dealing with all of the 11 neighborhoods which will now be covered in this 2012 update.

You can also obtain a paper copy of the draft LUC document from the Taos County Planning Dept. at 105 Albright St., Taos or at the Taos Library.

If you have any questions about any part of this LUC draft or process please contact Nathan Sanchez, Senior Planning Director for the Taos County Planning Department. He can be reached at 575-737-6443 or nathan.sanchez@taoscounty.org.
Questions about the Stagecoach section can also be addressed to Terry Thompson at terryt@taosnet.com

On the County webpage there should also be links to the list of meetings as well as to the comment and question forms that you can download to send any questions or comments to the Planning Dept.

Note that each neighborhood is scheduled for a session with the County Commissioners to allow for comments and questions about their neighborhood section. The meeting for Stagecoach is January 31 at 9am at the Commission Chambers at 105 Albright St., Taos. If you have any questions or comments about Section 5.15 which outlines the specific zone overlay for Stagecoach, we urge you to contact Nathan or Terry in advance of the Jan 31 meeting.

This LUC process has been evolving for about 18 months with updates to the SNA webpage as often as things changed. If you are interested, read the information and direct any questions to the above individuals.

Meetings:
Several public meetings are planned: (all meetings are at 105 Albright St., Taos in the County Commission Chambers)

• Thursday, December 15 at 6 pm there will be a public meeting for landowners of all 11 neighborhoods to ask questions and provide feedback to the County Commissioners.

• Saturday, January 7 at 2 pm there will be a general public meeting for landowners to ask questions and provide feedback to the County Commissioners.

• Saturday, January 21 at 2 pm there will be a general public meeting for landowners to ask questions and provide feedback to the County Commissioners.

• Tuesday, January 24 at 9 am there will be a general public hearing regarding Articles 1-4 and 6-11 of the regulations.

• Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 9 am Public Hearing solely for Stagecoach landowners. The Commissioners want to hear that we are in agreement before this meeting but if you still have outstanding questions or issues that are not resolved this is your last opportunity to speak to the Commsissioners.

The new ordinance follows a new format for all neighborhoods and our 2006 ordinance has been transferred into this new format. Our ordinance, along with 10 other neighborhoods' ordinances, has undergone an extensive review by the Taos County Planning Dept. and the Taos County attorney. All SNA landowners are urged to read the final draft. There are a number of changes. One significant change is the elimination of any ordinance requirements that the County now requires to be in CCRs (covenants) as they are not enforceable in the Land Use Regulation. Also, the Commercial Zone has now been divided into a 100 ft.-wide Highway Corridor Zone in front of the 1,100 ft.-wide Commercial Zone.

After the County Commissioners approve the LUR it will be too late to make comments. So get a copy and read it now while you can still have input. If you have specific questions about the new draft, please contact Nathan Sanchez, Senior Planning Director for the Taos County Planning Department. He can be reached at 575-737-6443 or nathan.sanchez@taoscounty.org.

Terry Thompson
email: terryt@taosnet.com

History:
In August, 2006 the SNA Land Use Ordinance Amendment 2006-8 was approved by the Taos County Commissioners. Our amendment became part of Taos County Land Use Ordinance 2005-10. As a result, the SNA is divided into 5 zones. Each zone has its own unique development standards. As of September 14, 2006 all building of new homes or remodeling must comply with this ordinance which is now County Law.

Note that many parts of the SNA also have covenants. Covenants are not enforced by any government agency. Covenant violations are addressed through private legal actions initiated by the affected landowners.

The land use ordinance requires that the SNA form a Development Standards Advisory Board (DSAB). The ordinance states:

"1.c. All land use applications, building permit applications and appropriate permit applications applicable to this area as outlined in this section require the Taos County Planning Department to notify the Neighborhood Association by certified mail and enclose a copy of the applicable permit application.
1.d. The Taos County Commission, Planning Commission, Zone Administrator, or County Manager may refer any application to any appropriate agency or official of the United States or its subdivisions, any tribal or pueblo government, or the state of New Mexico for an opinion concerning whether the application should be approved, disapproved, or approved with conditions or modifications.
1.e. The Stagecoach Neighborhood Association (SNA) shall:

1. Form a Development Standards Advisory Board with a representative from each of the five zones.
2. Provide analysis and findings to the Taos County Planning Department or Taos County Commission on any proposed improvements, subdivisions, special use permits or other activities affecting this neighborhood.
3. Provide analysis and findings for each permit application in the Stagecoach area.
4. Respond to all inquiries in 30 calendar days or less."

The chairman of the DSAB is Johannes Kolshorn. His email is "jocatjo@aol.com".

Once an applicant for a building permit has received approval on their Zoning Clearance, the Taos Planning Department will send the following to the SNA Board of Directors so that they can be reviewed by the DSAB:

Copy of building permit application
Copy of their covenants
Copy of Zoning Clearance approval from the Planning Dept.
Project's site plan
Project's building plans

The applicant or property owner should at this time also notify their adjacent property owners so that the adjacent neighbors may review the plans at the DSAB meeting which will be scheduled by Johannes Kolshorn. It is important that neighbors work together as much as possible to work out any issues that the building plan may present to neighbors. In this spirit of cooperation, issues unforseen by a builder can be modified to everyone's benefit.

Once the DSAB review is complete, the SNA will sign the form and return it to the Planning Dept.

DOWNLOADS

To compare our existing approved ordinance with the proposed one, you can download an Adobe pdf file of the 2006 SNA Land Use Ordinance Amendment (188 KB).

(If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader, click to download the application.)

Request a JPG image of the SNA map showing boundaries and the 5 zones at printing resolution (3 MB) or screen resolution (550kb).

If you cannot download a copy of the land use ordinance amendment from this website you can get one from the Taos County Clerks office.

Many thanks to all the property owners who have participated in making this neighborhood effort successful.

A Comprehensive Land Use Steering Committee for the Stagecoach Neighborhood Association met monthly since November 2003. The goal of this committee was to facilitate the SNA general membership in writing a plan regulating the use of land within the SNA boundaries. This is the procedure established by Taos County for controlling the development within the different neighborhoods. Once the County accepted the amendment in August of 2006 it became part of the County Land Use Ordinance (law). At the time of this writing, only one other neighborhood association, Upper Las Colonias, has successfully completed such a plan. Nick Jaramillo, our County Commissioner and Allen Vigil, past County Planning Director, gave us their full support in this process.

In early 2004 we began the process of discussing what the property owners wanted in the way of uses within the SNA area. It was exceedingly important for everyone to participate in these meetings, surveys, and respond to drafts of the ordinance. The steering committee solicited everyone’s input in order for us to complete the process by working with the County Planning Department and the County Attorney in writing the final ordinance for submission to the County Commission.

We developed a database of all known property owners in the SNA.This database created our mailing list.We sent out US Mail or email announcements of each general meeting to the property owners in our database.

The members of the steering committee were: Doug West, a past president of SNA; Dean Pulver 2005 vice-president; Tom Podleski, 2005 president; Toby Martinez, whose family owns approximately 1,400 acres of undeveloped land on the west side of the SNA; Peter Kolshorn, a builder of residential homes along Tune Drive; Janelle Sperow, accountant and potter; Terry and Linda Thompson, who have a writing and photography business. All are property owners within the SNA boundaries.

Thank you for your help in achieving this goal.