An environmental coalition is moving to join a legal battle over a rejected housing development after the project’s developer appealed a town commission’s denial to district court.
The East Mountains Protection Action Coalition filed a motion to intervene as an interested party in Campbell Farming Corporation’s appeal against the Town of Edgewood, the group said in a statement. Bernalillo County has also filed a motion to intervene.
Campbell Farming Corporation appealed to district court after the Town of Edgewood Commission unanimously denied its application in July to subdivide the proposed Campbell Ranch development. The project would include 4,000 homes, golf courses and a resort in an area facing water supply challenges, according to the coalition.
The legal dispute continues a decades-long effort to block the development, the group said.
“Frankly, we weren’t surprised by this action,” Dennis Kellogg, EMPAC board president, said in the statement. “Our reasoning for filing the motion is simple. It helps ensure that the responses and information submitted by the Town of Edgewood accurately match the hearing records.”
Kellogg said information that EMPAC and Bernalillo County provided to the town’s planning and zoning commission and town commissioners “ultimately led to the denial of Campbell’s application.”
He described the town as a former adversary that has become an ally.
“It’s an ironic twist that one of the parties we were fighting against — the Town of Edgewood — has now become an ally as our legal teams work together to prove that Campbell Farming has not met the requirements necessary regarding water supply and other issues for the development they are proposing,” Kellogg said.
A central issue in the dispute involves which ordinance applies to the project. EMPAC argues that Campbell Ranch continues to reference a 1999 ordinance instead of the town’s updated 2019 ordinance, according to the statement.
“The 1999R ordinance allows a minor subdivision, which does not require water rights,” Kellogg said. “In contrast, the 2019 ordinance permits a subdivision that does include the requirement of water rights. However, we continue to ask of either ordinance, ‘Where is the water?'”
During multiple planning and zoning and town commission hearings, East Mountains residents described wells on their properties running dry and the costs of drilling new wells or having water delivered, according to the group. Cheryl Bonino, vice chair of Edgewood’s Planning and Zoning Commission, said she has personally experienced two wells going dry and understands the community’s water issues, the statement said.
Bernalillo County hydrologists testified about declining water tables and expressed concern about a development of this size, according to EMPAC.
“With the information and expertise that our team brings to the table, we hope that the facts prove, once again, Campbell Ranch should not become a reality,” Kellogg said.
